Make The Logo Bigger

OpeningToday we are talking about two of my favorite topics - content and agency-client collaborationIntroduction of GuestXenia is the CEO and Co-Founder of Planable, a content review and marketing collaboration platform used by over 4,000 teams at brands like Jaguar Land Rover, Viber, and World Food Program. Prior to launching Planable, at 20 y.o. she built a digital marketing agency and led social for clients such as Coca-Cola.Xenia has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and she spoke on the Innovation Stage at Cannes Lions in 2018. Xenia graduated Tim Draper's startup academy in Silicon Valley and took Planable through the Techstars London accelerator in 2017.Welcome XeniaYou have already had quite the impressive career, at a very young age - tell us a little about that journey...Agency to SoftwareProblem(s) you're trying to solveChallenges and confusion of tracking complex projects, tasks, and people in email threadsCreating high quality relevant content - at scaleOmnichannel marketing is requiring more and more content - problem only getting worseHow collaboration tools like Planable make things better for the clientHow do collaboration tools like Planable create a higher quality productWhat are the specific next steps for agencies to takeWhat are the specific next steps for In-house marketing teams to takeGuest GoalsSure, we would like to cover the topic of agency-client relationship and collaboration. We’d like to tackle the subject from the perspective of an increasing demand for content and as a result, a pressing need for flawless and efficient collaboration:Speed, quantity, and quality are all important when it comes to content marketingBrands expect synergy with their agencies. Flawless collaboration is now essential because at the moment:Agency - client collaboration is often inefficient due to poorly designed workflows and archaic tools/way of workingInternal agency collaboration isn’t clearly defined eitherAny miscommunication between the client and the agency can quickly turn into a PR crisisAll of the above problems will be supported by results from the Content Marketing Report, such as:More than 1 in 3 agencies produce over 10 content marketing pieces per week1 in 3 agencies have colleagues working remoteIt takes a week in average from creation to publishing a piece of content. Out of that time, a third is spent in collaborationExcessive emails, Project scope isn’t well understood/ defined, a lot of meetings are considered the biggest time-wastersWe’d see this as an actionable episode and after highlighting the issue, Xenia could propose a few actions to improve agency-client workflows.Let us know how this sounds and if there’s anything else you would need from our side.

Introduction of guestJust to give you a little background on Trisha...Trisha Winter is a former SaaS CMO who now specializes in creating content for companies looking to amplify their content marketing. Trisha's strength lies in B2B technology marketing and her ability to make the complex simple and relatable for target buyers. You can learn more at her company website: FocusedB2B.com or reach out to her via LinkedIn or Twitter.https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishawinter/https://focusedb2b.com/https://twitter.com/TrishaWinter InterviewWrap upTrisha: Here’s my recent blog post on this topic - feel free to break apart and turn into Q&AWhy Auditing is the Most Important Job of Content Leaders (And How to Do It) Blog PostAs a content lead, you care about the quality of content that your team is releasing to the wild. You likely spend a great deal of your time planning content strategy and brainstorming themes. You make sure that everyone knows their role in the orchestration of the content engine. But is auditing a part of your role? If you truly want to improve content performance, you may need to take a closer look at your content—and I don’t mean your assets.Content you need to be auditingWhen I was in your position, I always had a heavy hand in whitepapers and major assets. I did a thorough copy and design edit in multiple stages. I made sure that asset would be the best it could at engaging our target audience. Then after promotion, I reviewed the data to see how many likes, shares, click thrus and downloads we got. But you know what I didn’t do? I never audited all the content pieces and parts that surrounded that asset. And that was a big mistake.It doesn’t matter how great your asset is, if the content used to promote it isn’t good, your asset will never reach its full potential. That’s where auditing needs to be a part of your weekly routine.Here are the key content pieces you need to be auditing (in order of importance):Landing pagesEmailsSocial posts/AdvertisementsAssetsWait, the asset is the least important? Yup! It’s irrelevant until the roads leading to it are high enough quality to get people to that destination.How to audit marketing contentAuditing is the practice of taking a small sample of the overall content and checking it thoroughly for mistakes. This does not mean you should put yourself in a review workflow for every piece of content. Instead, block a few hours in your calendar once a week to dedicate to auditing. Here is how to review each type of content.Landing pagesDepending on the number of landing pages you have, try to look at 10-20%. If you have 40 landing pages, take a look at 8, if you have 100, take a look at 10.Check for:A hook in the first sentence3-5 Clear reasons the reader will get value from the assetWorking/correct form and links Common mistake: Marketers often rush the landing pages. Sometimes a designer will create them when a colleague misses their deadline. This results in copying and pasting the intro or not clearly thinking about how to convince the reader to fill out the form. (Read article on how to fix these mistakes)EmailsSelect 3 different assets and look at the emails used to promote them. If you only send one email per asset than go broader

Introduction of guestJust to give you a little background on Trisha...Trisha Winter is a former SaaS CMO who now specializes in creating content for companies looking to amplify their content marketing. Trisha's strength lies in B2B technology marketing and her ability to make the complex simple and relatable for target buyers. You can learn more at her company website: FocusedB2B.com or reach out to her via LinkedIn or Twitter.https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishawinter/https://focusedb2b.com/https://twitter.com/TrishaWinter Further Reading:https://focusedb2b.com/2019/06/17/how-to-fix-the-most-common-content-marketing-mistakes/ InterviewWhat types of content, the breakpoint between in-house and outsource, MC’s Top 5 are…No entertainment value or story (speaks to the quality issue)Promotion means more PR than sharingNo partnershipsYou should probably guest post half the timeDiversity of Content to Expand ChannelsMy list of the five most common content marketing mistakes I see and tactical advice for how to fix them:Ignoring Target Audience - The writer doesn’t stop to consider: “Who am I writing this for?”, “Why will my target audience want to read it?” and “What value am I delivering to them?”Fix: Write down the persona(s) you are writing it for and why they would want to read it before you write. Focusing on Features - we’ve all done this. The more marketers share the revenue objective with sales, the more they feel pressure to sell in early stage marketing content.Fix: Think about your content relative to stages in your marketing and sales pipeline. Start simple by creating just three categories:Engaging & Generating Demand: Thought leadership content that is value oriented - no features.Develop Opportunities: Content that describes the solution to a problem they are having - benefits, but still little to no features.Moving Opps Through Sales Cycle: Content that explains the exact features that solve their problems.Rushing the Landing Page - So typical to find rushed LPs. They are commonly 1) a copy/paste of the intro of the asset, 2) written by someone who hasn’t read the asset, or 3) simply doesn’t tell the target audience the value they will get from reading/viewing the asset. Fix: The goal is to have landing pages that specifically call out the key value for the target audience so they make the time to fill out a form and actually absorb the asset. There are two ways to approach this problem. Have the author of the paper write the landing page. Have the landing page writer read the asset cover to cover. Generic Promotion - Emails and social media are critical pieces of the content marketing engine that help draw your target audience to your content and into your pipeline. Unfortunately, many companies have these functions working in virtual isolation from content creators and the end result is generic promotion.Fix: There are two approaches for resolving this issue. Have the author take their message all the way downstream by also creating email copy and social posts. CoSchedule.Require your authors to create value prop statements as part of the draft header. When they are listing out the value to the target au

Joining us today is Colin Campbell, the Director of Marketing at Sales Hacker, the world’s largest B2B sales community. Before Sales Hacker, he ran an Account Service & Strategy team at a marketing agency in Boston.On this episode of Make the Logo Bigger we talk about how you can use content to create an audience of buyers to generate high-quality leads.

In this episode, we’re discussing why your organization should be embracing the Gig Economy. And to help us guide this discussion our guest today is Trisha Winter, a long time friend of Mike and myself and repeat client of our agency, but she has transitioned from the corporate side to agency side or as she might say, into the gig economy.

Wordpress theme designers and developers too often take an overly utilitarian perspective in designing and developing websites - form over function. If you stay here, you’ll find yourself unable to charge premium rates for your services and probably facing a lot of frustrated customers that expect their websites to generate revenue. In this talk, I’ll take Wordpress professionals into the mind of the web visitors they should be serving. We’ll discuss some basic, but very powerful UI/UX patterns that consistently get customers dialing phone numbers and filling out web forms.We will walk through very specific design elements, functionality, and the plugins that should be used on every Wordpress website that we build.

Congratulations! You’ve just been promoted or hired to be the new marketing director or CMO of your organization.The excitement of getting the job has worn off, and now you’re starting to get a bit worried.You want to absolutely smash it within your first 3 months as marketing director. You want to come in hot with actionable plans to get great marketing work done as well as plans to network and build relationships in your new position.Easier said than done, though, right? We’re going to make it that much easier for you by going over exactly what you need to do to crush your first 90 days as marketing director.Get the Lay of the LandWhere does the Revenue Happen?What do you have to work with?Find Out What Is and What Isn't WorkingBe QuickAssume They're Doing the Right ThingUnderstand the MarketplaceQuick Wins Make an ImpressionSome Specific TacticsReady for your first 90 days as Marketing Director?

Are you protecting the reputation of your brand and your key leadership? What is Reputation Management?Knowing what people are saying and influencing your perceptions of you brand and leadership for the good.Why Reputation Management SEO is ImportantDefensiveMost people don’t think about their branded searches until it is too lateOffensiveReputation Management SEO StrategiesChanging who ranksChanging rank orderChanging content on ranking pagesChanging Google SERP featuresShift search demandReputation Management SEO TacticsGetting links, with key anchor text, pointing to strategic pages not necessarily all pointing to the home page. Pitching Journalist/Bloggers/EditorsCreating your own content - Medium, Huffington Post, Forbes, Inc., Guest posting - don’t necessarily need to get back linksInfluencing the reviews - TOS Legal - Filing trademark violation - email or letter from an attorney - other legal approaches - DMCA protocols - directly through Google - Protest on pageBranding and influencer marketing - start using your preferred “search branding keyword” in your marketingAnchor text and surrounding text in your page to reshape suggested searchesUsing sites that influence Google features - Pinterest (photos), Youtube (video), News, local review sites (Maps)Separate keywords specific domains - not usually a strategy/tacticsNegative SEO attacks - buying review sitesMonitoring brand and rankings - tools

What does content do?Helps your clientsShows you’re credible, builds brandPre-sells your products and servicesWhat does SEO do?Gets your content in front of prospectsShows you’re a leader in the fieldFends off competitorsPre-sells your products and servicesHow to correctly use them togetherUnderstand how your prospects behave - SEO Keyword Marketplace AnalysisWhat questions do they need to answer - SEO Keyword AnalysisWhat research and business case must they make - SEO Keyword AnalysisWho are your competitors and what are they doing? - SEO Keyword Marketplace AnalysisCreate an editorial strategy that serves your prospects and edges out your competitors - Editorial CalendarCreate and publish content that is SEO and marketplace optimize - Content ProductionPromote your content to your market - Content MarketingIf you can only afford to do one or the other, do it like this1. Get your web platform in order2. Use Wordpress. It will get you 75% there3. Create some basic cornerstone content, informed by SEO4. Post frequently and consistently5. Promote your content6. Do some advanced SEO

Welcome to Make the Logo Bigger where we help marketing directors and CMOs stay tuned in on trends and topics that can up their game.This is Bill Rice, I’m the CEO of Kaleidico, a Digital Agency and with me as always is Mike Carroll, the head of Growth at Nutshell a SaaS CRM company.Today, we’re talking about Chatbots and specifically about Chatbots in the context of Lead Generation.What are chatbots?Kind of an extension of live chatLive chat was never really perfect unless you kind of had a “digital” call center of chat reps - waiting, routing, filteringMost of the time it turned into a web form and email captureChatbots now allow for you to create automation logic that somewhat simulates that early navigation assistance that web visitors need and the filtering and qualifying process your sales team needs. The state of lead generation Web forms are the capture mechanismThen we spend a lot of time and energy chasing people down via phone calls and emails to actually have an initial conversation they were ready to have when they were on website.The state of web formsWe’re working around them with the following:AutofillPassword ManagersSocial sign-insWhat can chatbots offer?Create a more human experienceImprove the research and decision support experienceHelp qualify and filter leadsOptimize initial contactSupport prospects and customers 24/7Chatbot SolutionsTrue ChatbotsDriftIntercomHubspot - HubbotFacebookManychat - Creating a Facebook Messenger BotEmailConversica - Takes this kind of engagement to the email inbox, a critical part of the sales lead conversion cycle - lead nurturing.Old SchoolOlarkSnapEngageLiveChatCustomer Service and SupportZenDeskSuggested Reading:https://www.whoson.com/chatbots-ai/chatbots-vs-webforms/https://www.toptal.com/designers/ux/end-of-web-forms-conversational-uis-chatbotshttps://www.marutitech.com/conversational-interfaces-will-replace-web-forms/https://www.formisimo.com/blog/do-chatbots-convert-better-than-forms/https://acquire.io/blog/chatbots-preferred-contact-forms/https://databox.com/forms-vs-chathttps://chatbotsmagazine.com/the-complete-beginner-s-guide-to-chatbots-8280b7b906cahttps://sproutsocial.com/insights/topics/chatbots/https://medium.com/@ana.chat/how-a-chatbot-can-replace-your-webforms-1b92ea3e49ca

SHOW NOTESConversational data more preference richMore actionable dataNavigation fasterCustom apps are deadVoice interfaces have a more personal feelTechnology and users are preparedPhones Smart speakersIoTUnifying platformsFrictionless experience for consumer and salesInherently personalized experienceConversational interfaces convert at a higher rateWill change the way we do designPersonasConversation flows - think script writersAnticipatoryContext cuesPrioritize data and guides to move the conversation alonghttps://kaleidico.com/podcast/episode-20-will-conversational-interfaces-replace-your-website/

At the start of every new year, we get a lot of inquiries for website redesigns. Like many other new year’s resolutions and reboots, this is probably not the most effective approach to getting better results.Show Notes:- Consider objectives and your audience- Church Websites Looking to Increase Visitors- Senior Living Websites Looking to Increase Residents- Analyze your traffic and conversions- Think about your content in terms of playlists- Consolidate, lengthen, and (maybe) diversify your content- Consider every page having a video- Coach your clients- Build your list and monetize more with email- Be present and available for your clientshttps://kaleidico.com/podcast/episode-19-2019-website-strategies-to-grow-traffic-and-leads/

Everyone has a website, but few use it as a primary channel of revenue. In my experience this is often because of two critical blind spots: we don’t know how Internet traffic (i.e., website visitors) really works and we don’t know how to get those visitors to turn into sales leads (i.e., inquire about our products and services). This week we’re going to walk through the nuts and bolts of what I like to call the Lead Traffic Formula.

Sales and marketing, a phase that is used more often than practiced. However, when they are tightly integrated incredible value is unlocked. This week Mike and I talk about strategies to get your marketing team working closer with sales and harvesting some of the easiest revenue in your organization--sales sitting inside of your CRM system.

Is Google getting ready to kick your website and it’s web pages to the bottom of their search index? If your marketing department and website is not thinking mobile-first then this absolutely might be your fate, very soon.

I’ve been in the business of marketing for a couple of decades. I’ve observed and trained a lot of young marketers. Of course, I was also a beginner. We all make mistakes, but here are a few pointers that can help you dodge a few. That’s what we’re going to talk about this week.

The Creative Brief is one of the most powerful weapons and assets of an agency. It’s the way we convey ideas and innovation to our client--sparking their excitement and vision in three pages or less. This week we talk about the Art of the Creative Brief.

Work almost always involves collaborating with people and organizations that have competing priorities and objectives from your own, but you need to create alignment with them to get your own goals accomplished. How do you do this? Empathy.

Marketing has a distinct role to play, alongside the product team, to create a better post purchase customer experience to increase the LTV of your customers.

Have you ever lost a key team member? Have you ever lost a great manager, a key department head, or maybe even a loved President or CEO? How did the organization behave. Kaleidico takes you behind the scenes after losing their President.

A great many people, companies, marketers, etc… still think of Wordpress as a blogging platform or a “simple” CMS. Wordpress is an enterprise CMS solution and can do almost anything.

This week, we’re talking about where to start when you’re looking for your first digital marketing tactic(s). In this state, you’re usually lacking data and any understanding of your how your ideal audience might react or respond. But, you need to start somewhere? Where?

This week Bill has a rant. Please, please make your about page interesting! Mike and Bill are going to talk about why your About page is so important and how to make it more interesting.

This week we go back to the basics and talk about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Regardless of your online marketing strategy, learning about SEO will improve your performance. This week Bill and Mike talk about how paying attention to SEO can improve your overall marketing campaign.

Are you and your company an influencer? At no time in history has it been so easy and effective to create a personal brand. Knowing how to do that and what social platforms can help you do it better is the topic of this week’s podcast.

Getting your marketing campaigns up and performing is probably more about relationships than tasks. At the core of project and campaign management is creating valuable and trusting relationships between business units. In this episode, we’re talking about how to build powerful relationships between marketing departments and agencies and stakeholders.

Bill Rice and Mike Carroll launch Make the Logo Bigger, a podcast about marketing from inside Kaleidico, a full-service design and marketing agency. This week we talk about why you MUST consider content management when you’re doing web design.

Minimalism has been in and out of fashion as a design aesthetic, but it always has a timeless appeal. This week we talk about why you might want to consider this for your next web design project and the advantages it can bring to dynamic or transitioning businesses.

This week Bill Rice and Mike Carroll talk about designing for the real world--a distracted one. When you design are you using a blank, uncluttered canvas or are you designing as one of a half-dozen other browser tabs and applications running on the desktop? We’re going to tell you why you should consider that latter.

How do you create scale and consistency in your marketing department? You probably need to start collaborating with your sales team and consider automating. This week we tackle some of the benefits and challenges of implementing marketing and sales automation.