Mike Sweeney

As part of a marketing evaluation we delivered to a client this week, we covered Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and in particular how the volume of indexed content plays a major role in the success of any SEO effort. The situation was simple: one of this company’s biggest competitors showed hundreds of indexed content pieces, and our client showed around ten. Game, set, match to the competitor, right? Not so fast, my content marketing friends. First, think about the sales funnel: While there’s no universally accepted set of steps in the sales funnel, I typically use the following: Awareness Interest Evaluation Commitment Referral While volume of content is important, in the B2B world in particular, churning out content generates traffic that typically fills the top of the sales funnel—the awareness phase. So what’s a marketer to do about the middle and bottom of ... (more)

10 Things You Should Include in a Social Media Plan

While the 4 Ps of marketing are still relevant, it’s the 7 Ps that are most applicable to modern day marketing. Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. This is especially true for social media planning, where all too often the plan revolves around a murky set of objectives and a band of interns. When done right though, a social media plan for marketing, recruiting, or customer service is a thing of beauty. Having completed a handful of these plans on behalf of clients in the past few months, here are the 10 components that belong in your social media plan... (more)

Distribution is King

Authors work with publishers to gain access to cash, connections, and blueprints for distribution and marketing. Choose the right publisher, and the chances of commercial success are increased, although not guaranteed. Choose the wrong publisher, and even a brilliant novel or biography may never make the Amazon Best Seller list. Publishers add tremendous value to the production, packaging and promotion of a book. For decades, publishers have taken original content, put a nice wrapper on it and distribution plan around it, and helped sell more books than an author could ever drea... (more)

Startup Marketing: 10 Things To Do In Your First 90 Days

So you got yourself involved with a startup company.  It may have happened by circumstance or by choice.  You're either a founder or one of the first employees.  You either envision your concept as a potential single to be flipped in 3-4 years, or a grand slam that will allow you to socialize with the likes of Brin, Bezos and Cuban. Awesome.  We all love a good startup story.  Unless you've got an inherently viral concept on your hands (and by the way, keep in mind that there have only been about 5 inherently viral products introduced over the past 5-7 years), you're going to nee... (more)

You Don’t Need a Social Media Superhero

New Media on Ulitzer “I hear you guys are the social media gurus in this area. Can you help us blow out our efforts on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook?” These were seemingly innocent words from a prospective client, spoken just last week. As we dug a bit deeper, the red flags started flying. He wants help with social media only, and wants to address only those three properties. He doesn’t want us to worry about how the website, blog, search, email or other areas might impact social media. He is concerned about tracking the effort, but his tracking and measurement will focus on volu... (more)