Internet Marketing

12 Stellar Digital Marketing Resources You've Got to Check Out In 2019

By Ashutosh Jha → Thursday, February 7, 2019

The new year has rolled around and is already speeding by. The last thing you want to happen is for your business to not progress just as fast. You can make the most of this year by applying the right tools and utilizing the appropriate information to help your business.

12 Best Digital Marketing Resources In 2019

Sometimes it's difficult to figure out which tools you should actually invest your time and money into. Here are 11 great digital marketing resources for you to use to manage and grow your company in 2019.

1. SEMRush

Sometimes it's best to mind your business and other times it benefits you to take a look at what the other businesses are up to. SEMrush is one of the best digital marketing resources for researching your competitors. You can even check out the keywords that they are ranking for.

This digital marketing tool is great for giving you a little insight and direction in regards to keyword targeting and what seems to be working versus what might not.

URL:https://www.semrush.com/kb/15-getting-started

2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a tool for search engine optimization and works well if you want to enhance your site's rankings on Google. It allows for backlink analysis, website audit reports, SEO analysis, URL ranks, and more. 

Although SEO is important for digital marketers, it can be overwhelming sometimes to keep up with all the rules, terminology and new changes that take place often. In this case, you may want to consider hiring a Utah SEO consultant to save time and ensure great results.

URL: https://ahrefs.com/blog/

3. Hubspot Academy

Hubspot is definitely close to a one-stop shop in terms of digital marketing resources. The Hubspot Academy provides endless value for entrepreneurs and business owners on inbound marketing.

They have a course that includes tons of video training series, quizzes, and extra help guides. You can also receive certifications if you've scored high enough on the overall exam after each course.

URL: https://academy.hubspot.com/

4. Canva

Canva is on the list of convenient digital marketing resources for creatives - or non-creatives! You can choose from lots of templates to create all types of different marketing materials, such as social media posts, website headers, newsletter templates, and even logos.

The best part about using Canva is you don't need to be a professional or have any type of photoshopping skills to get good quality results. If you are wanting a little more creative freedom, however, you can opt-in for the paid version and take advantage of awesome features like uploading your own fonts.

URL: https://www.canva.com/learn/digital-marketing/

5. Moz Resources

Moz is another great pool of knowledge when it comes to digital marketing resources. There are breakdowns of important information that will assist you in your SEO efforts. 

There is also a Moz Academy offered with more in-depth articles, guides, quizzes, and video series for advanced lessons.

URL: https://academy.moz.com/

6. CopyBlogger

If you think you're getting far without mastering copywriting- or at least hiring a copywriter- in 2019, you should think again. The power of words isn't going anywhere and its impact in marketing isn't diminishing any time soon.

CopyBlogger is a website dedicated to teaching all about how to harness this power and turn it into more leads, sales, and, ultimately, money. They have blogs, articles and a super helpful library of eBooks to learn from.

URL: copyblogger.com

7. The Content Marketing Institute

The Content Marketing Institute is a great place to go if you want to learn the basics and beyond of everything content marketing related. There's guidance for content strategy and advice on how to apply it to your business.

You can visit the website for online information via the blog and other resources. And there are also opportunities for you to get guidance in person at one of the in-person events.

URL: contentmarketinginstitute.com

8. Crushing It! How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business And Influence - And How You Can Too by Gary Vaynerchuk 

If you're not familiar with Gary Vaynerchuck, aka Gary Vee, then you might want to check him out for some hardcore motivation. Gary has a magnetic personality and fire in his delivery of motivation entrepreneurs and people who want to achieve success in life in general.

Gary Vee has written quite a few books on navigating the entrepreneurial and self-development world. However, his latest work, Crushing It!, offers perspectives and motivation on building a personal brand via individuality and uniqueness and making money around your passion from his own experiences. Vaynerchuk has a very "NO nonsense" approach to inspiring others so be prepared for a little force.

URL: garyvaynerchuk.com/books

9. Hubspot CRM

Not leaving out a CRM on your list of digital marketing resources could really help you big time in 2019. Hubspot offers a great CRM, or customer responses manager, for different levels of entrepreneurs. The handy tools helps you with organizing and tracking your leads to build more quality relationships seamlessly.

Hubspot CRM tracks interactions with customers and leads in various places (calls, emails, etc.). The tool can be easily synced with your Gmail or Outlook inbox for more convenience.

URL: hubspot.com/resources

10. Dropbox

Dropbox is might be one of those digital marketing resources that you didn't even know you needed but it definitely comes in hand. It's essentially a folder and you can utilize it like the other folders that you use on your computer. However, Dropbox has the ability sync online automatically.

This allows all the items that you drag into the folder to transfer to your online account, as well as any other computer or devices that are linked to the account that you setup. It surely covers you if you lose flash drives a lot.

URL: dropbox.com/business/resources

11. The 10x Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone

Grant Cardone brings you a very simple, yet valuable, message in book form that basically preaches that there's one thing standing in-between you and success. And that one thing is whether you take action - massive action.

The 10x rule is a book designed to help companies and individuals guarantee themselves accomplished goals by introducing the 4th degree of action rule. This will definitely help put your to-do lists and daily efforts into perspective.

12. Clique University

Clique Studios is another great site to get the resources to learn the digital marketing. The company works to create the digital experience to grow the business. Clique first create the strategy, and then develop the design which solve the purpose of the site.

The Clique University offers some amazing content for the digital marketing which help you learn design and market your solutions.

Looking For More Info On Digital Marketing Resources

You definitely should not be skipping out on utilizing digital marketing resources and tools that will make things easier for you while trying to grow your business.

For more information on marketing, check out our blog section with tips on getting traffic and scaling.

Internet Marketing

New Year, New Marketing Plan: 5 Marketing Ideas for 2019 and Beyond

By Ashutosh Jha → Wednesday, January 9, 2019

New year, new budget -- and all-too-often this new budget includes downscaling.

The harsh reality is that when it comes to budget cuts, the marketing department is the first to be hit. But let's put a stop to that, here and now!

Smart business marketing doesn't have to be expensive if you're doing it right. After all, it's not always about the money, but the time, effort, and innovation put into your marketing tactics.

Here are 5 marketing ideas to kick off your 2019 and revive your business marketing strategy. 

5 Fresh Marketing Ideas for Your 2019 Strategy 

The bottom line is that inexpensive marketing works by engaging your customers and building upon relationships.

The main aim is to keep your brand at the forefront of your customer's mind. Read more here on the strategy used behind some of the world's most successful big name brands.

As mentioned before, it's not always about the budget, but the ideas behind your marketing strategy that tend to hit home.

Marketing for small business or big business is all about creativity and keeping your content fresh and relevant.

Here are 5 ways to up your marketing activities this 2019...

1. Update Your Marketing Pitch 

Is your business using the same old marketing jingle from back in the day? Newsflash, it's time for an update!

Your business should be marketing itself all the time, and using an outdated pitch is completely futile in an ever-changing business market.

An average, you have roughly 6-8 seconds to capture an adult's attention. And just over a minute thereafter to engage them. 

Invest in crafting a catchy, concise, modern, and 100% relevant business pitch that both new and old customers will remember.

Make sure it includes relevant information to your target audience, offering a service that they genuinely would be interested in.

2. Look For Community Support 

Has your business been thinking a little big for a little too long? If you're missing your target market, think about turning your focus to your local community.

Take a look around -- what's going on in your local community that your business can get involved in? It's so important to get to know your local customer and spend your time catering to their needs.

Spread your marketing message by getting involved in local events, such as a charity run, a school events day, or a local playhouse.

Leave marketing material at local coffee shops, grocery stores or the library. This traditional form of marketing is not completely dead yet!

3. Leverage the Power of Cross-Promotion

If you're looking to spread the word of your services or a new-and-improved product, cross-promotion works wonders. Scout out new businesses in your area who are willing to work with you and benefit from cross-promotion too.

Make sure these businesses are non-competitive and synergistic -- in other words, you'll all work well together!

Think along the lines of business brochures, fliers, shared website links, social media links, and guest blogging services.

4. Up Your Referral Game

Contrary to what you may think, asking for a customer referral is not as cringe or cliche as you imagine. Majority of people are willing to provide a referral if asked -- it's just a matter of asking!

Sample Referral Program Working

If you're looking for a referral, don't shy away from asking your customers. After all, there is a high likelihood they will not do it of their own initiative.

5. Jump on the ''Free Trial'' Bandwagon

In today's economy, consumers are pickier than ever before. So anything that can be trialed for free is an added bonus.

If they like your product, the chances are high that they'll want to purchase more of it!

So take the plunge and set aside a small budget for free customer trials and watch your numbers soar.

Grow Your Website Traffic With TricksRoad 

Looking to increase the popularity and ranking of your website? TricksRoad offers a plethora of internet marketing ideas to boost your traffic.

Find all the tricks of the marketing trade here, and learn about the ins and outs of social media, SEO, link strategy and more. 

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social media marketing

3 Ways to Market Your Own Digital Agency In 2018

By Ashutosh Jha → Thursday, September 27, 2018

Marketing a digital agency takes time, and you could actually fill a textbook as thick as your arm with the proper steps to take, and information necessary to properly take those steps. This is no textbook, but is rather a “menu”, if you will, describing a number of dishes which precede, sustain, and follow a meal.

Content marketing will be explored specifically in this writing, as it has a very high level of ROI—though it’s worth noting that the same general precepts apply to other avenues of marketing. For example, content marketing requires a certain level of original content to be created and disseminated for proper effect. In the same way, using a billboard would require a certain level of time left standing to reach the requisite number of potential clients and have any real impact. It’s the same thing, just in a different medium. Accordingly, variables change.

You’d need to cover them all in detail to be comprehensive; but if you understand where those variables are, and that marketing essentially reflects the same kind of practice in different ways, then you can take a general article like this one and apply it to a broad level of outbound marketing strategies.

So following we’ll look at the “meal”, beginning, middle, and end, which most generally characterizes the most popular and, as some would consider them, successful means of digital agency marketing today.

1. The Appetizer, Marketing Built Around User Experience

A good way to get around all of these is to focus your marketing campaign around fulfilling the needs which have resulted in a certain kind of user experience. Say, for example, that your digital agency develops apps for smartphones, and is specifically designing one that is used in dating.

You’d want to collect as much information as you could pertaining to other dating apps, and that which is both lauded and despised in their regard. You’d then want to compile that information and associate it with your new app. In terms of marketing, you would want to focus on how what your app does is better than the competition in one area, and fixes problems of the competition in another. You’re focusing on singing your app’s praises, and fixing problems that similar apps have that monitors and showcases problems for developers.

User experience is a great way to reap this information, and you can find it for free all across the web—all you need to do is research appropriately. When you have that research, both the quality of your digital agency’s products or services, and the quality of marketing surrounding them, will be more effective. Additionally, this “appetizer” sets you up for the main course: developing actionable content that is likable, sharable, interesting, and valuable to target markets.

2. The Entrée, Continuously Produced And Creative Content

There’s a process here that looks like this:

• Research is conducted pertaining to the market your digital agency serves
• Ideas are generated for content addressing that market
• Varying online markets sympathetic to your agency are identified
• Content is created that is informed by all these facts
• Content is published
• Content is promoted

Here’s an infographic from Moz.com which really illustrates these points:

There are a few things to add to that, like recirculation and guest-blogging. Both would technically fall under what’s known as promotion. Basically, you want to get your content—written or otherwise—featured on guest sites that serve markets which either correspond or are adjacent to your target market.

Adjacent markets can bring crossover clientele and expand your market reach. Target markets are more likely to have those in a demographic sympathetic to your products or services, and apt to convert. Again, these principles generally apply across all kinds of outbound marketing. Research, creation, and dissemination of advertisement materials follows an essentially uniform process.

Where your digital agency really differs has to do with specific online means of presentation. Not only do you want to have this content available in visual, video, blog form and other video streaming sites on your company’s website; you want to utilize things like social media to get the word out. This step is, appropriately, the “dessert” of the whole enterprise and one which will provide you with a clear understanding of how white-hat works.

3. The Dessert, Maximizing Social Media Platforms

Check out this infographic from DailyInfographic.com showcasing twelve steps worth considering for social media marketing success:

That says it all in a nutshell. Again, you can see how the principles outlined in the creation of general content above have some parallel qualities to those explored in this process. Researching what you’re going to write, and where it’s going to go, creating the content, promoting it—all are very similar to conventional content creation and dissemination which exists regardless of dedicatedly social platforms that constitute the bulk of today’s media.

Where you’re going to find some differences between the conventional process, and social media marketing, is in terms of data examination and re-examination. Social media has an amorphous quality that is constantly shifting. Where in terms of conventional blog-related content marketing, you’re looking at broad trends designed for ROI in a year or two’s time, with social media you can catch a “wave” and ride it in to viral success very quickly if you’re wise about how you conduct your campaign.

In the process outlined in the infographic, you’ll find a section pertaining to KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators. Now these are going to be different for different social media platforms, and there are a lot of social media platforms out there. Snapchat, Facebook, LinkedIn, Minds, Twitter, YouTube, Gab, Reddit, the list goes on. Each has enough KPIs to write an article as lengthy as this one. You need to determine which platforms are in greatest alignment to your target market, and which KPIs to focus on branching off from there.

At that point, you want to get all the team-members who’ll be involved in the social media campaign “on the same page” regarding KPIs and the like which you plan to focus on. Only then do you start producing the content which will eventually be disseminated across the social media platforms which align to your operation.

Scrum at the start of each week in order to establish weekly social media goals, and review your progress at close of business on Friday to see what was accomplished and what still needs work the following week. Part of that scrum should involve planning out content campaigns. Think of it like the release schedule for Marvel’s recent proliferation of superhero films. Disney execs got together and ironed out a schedule of release, making a sort of tree on a whiteboard that helped them organize based in terms of plot, budget, marketing, etc. You need to do the same with your social media marketing team.

It also makes sense to utilize more than one social media channel if at all possible, and treat each of those channels idiosyncratically. You need individuals dedicated to answering prospect responses both positive and negative, and you need to review the campaign every month to see what needs improved, what isn’t working, and which forward steps make the most sense.

A Fine Marketing Meal

With an appetizer of market research pertaining to user experience, you can establish what kind of content to produce such that it most appropriately meets the needs of your target demographic. When you design that content, you’ll have a research and development process unique to each marketing campaign, but which will most likely take a year or more to reach maturity.

In that time, you want to create about 1.6 pieces of content a day at a size of 500+ words per piece. That works out to about 50 a month, or 600 a year. These should be disseminated across a variety of blogs you run, and guest blogs you’re able to post on, as well as social media. If you can design visual and video content, do so.

Social media is a means of advancing your primary content, which is why it is listed in this writing as a “dessert” of sorts. While it is an end in and of itself, you’ll need to design content for it specifically; so it makes sense to use what you’re already spreading through other digital avenues, as such crossover minimizes marketing cost over time.

That said, there are quite a few different ways to go about marketing, and as has been pointed out, there is enough information out there to write many books about. Which is most pertinent to you will depend on your business. That being said, the primary thrust of your marketing campaign for your digital agency will involve research of the market, creation of content, and dissemination of that content in a managed way that adapts as necessary.