Articles Written by the Edge Marketing Team


Four Questions to Consider

by Vicki LaBrosse

Our team just returned from a wellness retreat where we spent time relaxing, rejuvenating and reinvigorating our physical, mental and emotional states. Many of us arrived tense, stressed and anxious about keeping up with work while trying to be present in what was supposed to be team bonding and leisure time. It didn’t take more than one or two hours in the sun, away from screens, calendars and phones to come to the realization that what we were embarking upon – a brief, but much needed getaway – was just as important as answering emails and meeting deadlines. We left feeling rested and refreshed, ready to get back to our busy careers, families and social obligations. We as a culture have become all about “work first, life second” and often fail to recognize that this is not always to our benefit. We change jobs, get promotions, put in more hours, work harder, work remotely and do all we can to achieve work-life balance, but we still feel burned out. We often blame our jobs, but perhaps we should ask ourselves: What really is the underlying cause of burnout?

It’s not just workload – the most common scapegoat for burnout – that leaves you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and stressed. There are other areas in your life where you can feel the imbalances that cause burnout. But take heart! There are ways to combat these imbalances to help you have a fulfilling career and a meaningful life without sacrificing one for the other.

Who are your people?

Think about the people you work with or around. How supportive and trusting are those relationships? A strong sense of community is characterized by good teamwork, low levels of conflict and positive social interactions.

If your workplace lacks a sense of community, ask yourself what you can do to increase positive social interactions with colleagues. In many cases you can’t choose your colleagues and clients, but you can improve the dynamic. It could be as simple as taking the time to ask others how their day is going, sending an email to someone to let them know you appreciated their presentation or choosing to communicate something difficult in a respectful, nonjudgmental way. Burnout can be contagious, so to elevate your individual engagement, you must shift the morale of the group.

Are you in control?

In order to feel satisfied and competent in our jobs, we need to have a sense that we’re in control of our tasks and their outcomes. Feeling like you lack autonomy, access to resources and a say in the decisions that impact your professional life can take a toll on your well-being.

If you find yourself feeling out of control, step back and ask yourself what exactly is causing this sensation and what you can do to shift this situation. Consider asking your employer for more autonomy or responsibility. If you’re not feeling mentally challenged or perhaps you’re undertrained in a certain area, take steps to learn new skills or new technology that can help take the company and your career to the next level. If you’re experiencing any ambiguity about your role or responsibilities, be proactive and clarify exactly what’s expected of you.

Is the reward worth it?

If the rewards for your job don’t match the amount of effort and time you put into them, then you’re likely to feel like the investment is not worth the payoff. This includes financial rewards such a fair pay and good benefits, social rewards such as recognition from those around you and intrinsic rewards, which include the feeling that you’re doing a good job. If you’re lacking in any of these three areas, you’re more likely to feel dissatisfied with your work and may be more susceptible to burnout.

Burnout is more likely when your rewards don’t match your expectations. Look within and determine exactly what you would need to feel properly appreciated. Perhaps you need to ask for a raise or promotion, or maybe you require more positive feedback and face time with your boss. Experiment to see which rewards would make what you’re doing worth it to you and whether there is the opportunity to receive more of those rewards within your current work environment.

What are your values?

A mismatch in values is what you have when your personal values and goals aren’t in line with those of the organization. If you value something that your company does not, your motivation to work hard and persevere can significantly drop. When you’re assessing this element of burnout, you need to think carefully about how important it is to you to match your values with those of the company.

Consider how your boss, team and organization make decisions and invest resources. Do you feel good about those underlying motivations? Do they seem open to change? While smaller, less significant value mismatches can often be accommodated within your current job, finding an organization that supports similar values may be preferable.

Burnout is about far more than just working long hours. Asking yourselves these questions is one way to help you understand and recognize the symptoms and causes of burnout and provide a defense against its impact and an opportunity to reevaluate your priorities and values. Make sure to also take time for proper self-care (e.g., adequate rest, healthy diet, exercise), setting aside part of every day for relaxing, enjoyable activities and spending quality time with friends and family. Our company wellness retreat gave me a chance to exhale, refocus my energy and enhance my personal well-being so that I was excited about going back to work.

Edge team celebrates 25-year anniversary at Edge Summit 2022 in Key Largo

 

About the Author

Vicki LaBrosse, director of global public relations for Edge Marketing, has more than 18 years of marketing and communications experience in both the legal and accounting industries. LaBrosse works with clients to develop and execute comprehensive PR and marketing strategies that will help grow their business.

/by Vicki LaBrosse

by Tanya Amyote

Business owners can find themselves and their firms at the center of a crisis unexpectedly or as the result of a planned and deliberate operational change.

Regardless of the catalyst, there can be no better or more swift reaction than one that is carefully and intentionally crafted to mitigate a negative outcome or perception, as opposed to one created while trying to stay afloat.

A business crisis can come in many forms, but a few commonly requiring a crisis communication plan are:

  • A natural disaster or world event, such as the pandemic
  • A financial or operational event, such as filing for bankruptcy, closing locations, reductions to your workforce or changes in ownership through a merger or acquisition
  • A personnel or human resources issue, such as workplace misconduct or an incident requiring a severing of ties with an employee or stakeholder
  • A technological or service outage or anything that would affect business continuity and/or the delivery of your company’s services to your clients.

Schools conduct fire drills to ensure teachers, staff and students know what to do in case of an emergency. Trying to think clearly and come up with and implement an effective exit plan while flames are licking at your heels is a recipe for disaster. So, before the sirens start blaring for your business, here are some steps to take to make sure everyone gets out safely:

  1. Identify your company’s Crisis Response Team. Who is responsible for each phase of your crisis communication plan? Create a call tree or text chain including all key players. In a typical call tree, Person A will contact Persons B, C and D, who will each contact others, until all relevant parties have been reached. This enables quick dissemination of information while also keeping communication lines open.
  2. Identify a spokesperson. Who is calm under pressure and can speak to the media on behalf of the company?
  3. Prepare holding statements: generic responses for the spokesperson to deliver immediately. Crafting your comprehensive communications plan will take more time and thought, but a holding statement can buy you valuable time while you assess the situation and get your bearings. Your holding statements should be clear, concise and honest.
  4. Develop a Q&A. Having bought some time with your holding statement, you can anticipate and craft responses to the questions your audience might have. Again, you must ensure your story is clear, concise, honest and consistent for all audiences including staff, clients and the public.
  5. Monitor results. You need to know everything that is being said about your organization. The use of a media monitoring tool can alert you to coverage of your company – whether good or bad. This tool can also help your team measure the tone of the response should a crisis communication plan be implemented.

Crafting a comprehensive crisis communication plan takes time and clarity of thought. The best time to do it is now.

About the Author

Tanya Amyote joined the Edge team in 2016, as marketing assistant, Excel guru, and token Canadian.

When not solving the world’s pivot table problems, Tanya is an avid reader, fountain pen user, and advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion.

/by Tanya Amyote

by Mary Obregon

A current question on a lot of marketers’ minds: “Is Twitter worth the trouble?” For some companies, Twitter may be the best social media platform; others may not say the same. Let’s discuss Twitter and whether the time and effort needed are worth it.

Background

Twitter took off in 2006 and became a prime platform. Since then, many other platforms have gained market share and Twitter has begun to take a backseat. Apps like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc., have all become very popular. Although many people still use Twitter, it has also changed with time.

When it first started, Twitter was a platform people used to post status updates for their friends and followers. Now Twitter has become one of the top platforms for news consumption, but mainly for journalists. About 69% of journalists regularly use Twitter to share or receive news, whereas about 13% of everyday Americans use Twitter for their news consumption, with Facebook being their top.

Why Twitter May Not Be Worth It

Decreased Users

Based on current statistics, it is seeming that most of Twitter’s usage is to view news. If you are trying to advertise or market your company by merely posting tweets with no relevant news information, it may not be the platform best suited for this. If you are looking to engage with industry news or post news yourself, however, then this might just be what you’re looking for.

Time Consumption

Twitter is an extremely time-consuming platform. In order to stay continuously relevant and gain a following, the effort involved may be somewhat tedious. Making sure to push content frequently and at a high volume is the first difficult task. And this is on top of replying, retweeting, engaging with followers and more. Time is precious, and some brands cannot meet the demands of an active Twitter account, especially if their efforts are better used elsewhere on a channel that will drive more traffic and revenue.

Bots

With the increase of internet users and advancements in technology, Twitter, along with other platforms, is bound to have spam accounts, bots, misleading/false information and more distractions. This sometimes takes away from the personalization of the app and connecting with users.

Difficulty Differentiating

With new algorithms, changes to the Twittersphere and other shifts in usage, gaining a following from scratch is a difficult task. Each day on average there are 500 million tweets. With these tweets oversaturating peoples’ feeds every day, it is difficult to stand out from the crowd. Even if you are tweeting daily, sometimes it feels like you are shouting into the void. There may be other platforms that are better suited to your company and its needs with less saturation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we believe that Twitter is worth the trouble if you already have a significant following or if you are looking to share industry news. When starting from scratch, though, it may not be best to put all your eggs in this one basket. Taking time to weigh your options and see what platform may be best suited to your company is probably the best strategy.

About the Author

Mary Obregon joined the Edge team in September 2020, amid the pandemic, in order to gain experience in the field by any means. Mary is now HubSpot certified, Yoast certified and Google Analytics certified! When not working, Mary is most likely spending time with friends, family or her boyfriend.

/by Mary Obregon

by Megan Miller

“By clicking ‘Accept All’, you consent to the use of ALL cookies. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent.”

How many times per week do you encounter a website alert with a message like this? Do you take a moment to set your preferences or just blow through it and accept all cookies?

A recent survey by NordVPN shows that almost half of U.S. web users hit the “Accept All” button whenever they run into a cookie notification, effectively allowing more information about their activity to be shared.

What Are Third-Party Cookies?

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve small pieces of data from your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience.

Third-party cookies can capture demographic and geographic information, and advertisers use that data to target, retarget and display ads. Cookies are at work, for example, when you look at some sunglasses on a shopping site and you later see ads for those sunglasses on other websites. Cookies also can remember your passwords and keep items in your shopping cart when you exit the browser.

Privacy and Security Risks

Privacy and transparency concerns among consumers are causing many businesses to reconsider their use of third-party cookies. A growing number of state privacy laws, in addition to existing GDPR regulations, require businesses to disclose to customers what information they collect and how they use it. The cookie preferences pop-up when you visit a website for the first time is an effort to allow users some control over their data. Given that most users agree to all cookies, it’s clearly not an effective long-term solution.

Security experts also warn that cookies do follow you online. Even if you hide your IP address by using a VPN, cookies can track your online activity and form a partial ID of who you are. Some sites earn revenue by selling third-party cookies data.

Enter the Cookie-Cutter

We’ll focus here on Google, as the Chrome browser has an over 60% share in the browser market and, coincidentally, Google’s cookie-based ads are a $150 billion-per-year business. So Google is on a mission to increase online privacy while replacing cookies with a technology that the ad industry will welcome and can smoothly transition to.

In June 2021, Google announced it would phase out third-party cookies in late 2023, with new tracking technology to replace them. In response to ad industry demands for more time to plan a transition, Google announced in July 2022 that it will now hold off until 2024.

How Will the End of Cookies Change Digital Marketing?

The end of third-party cookies will alter or even eliminate hyper specific targeting and retargeting as we know it. Marketers won’t have access to data about what people search for and look at on websites and apps other than the information they offer to us when they visit our website (first-party data). So the end of cookies will drive us to put a greater focus on alternatives to cookie-based marketing.

What Can You Do Now?

First, don’t panic. Cookies and cookie preferences will be around until 2024, or even longer. In the interim, new technologies and ad software are likely to emerge. Until then, consider the tools you have in your marketing toolbox, and keep an eye on Google.

Focus on First-Party Data

The post-cookie world will not eliminate prospect and client data. You keep a CRM database with contact information and notes on prospects from trade shows and marketing campaigns. That data, combined with client or customer activity, is a valuable source of first-party data. Plan to dig into that first-party data to get insights about customers and to look for patterns that allow retargeting.

Consider Contextual Ads

Publishers are particularly concerned about the new cookieless world, and with good reason. A Google study of 500 major publishers found that cookieless traffic delivered an average of 52% less revenue than traffic with cookies. It’s not clear how Google will address this issue. For now, Google has just said it is exploring different technologies aimed at meeting privacy standards and publishers’ needs.

In the meantime, marketers and publishers should consider contextual advertising. In contextual advertising or targeting, users receive ads that match the content they view instead of ads that match their data. Contextual ads match a website’s content using keywords and topics. For example, a user reading about legal practice management might see an ad for practice management software on the same page.

Google Topics 

An alternative in its fledgling stage is Google Topics. Topics groups users anonymously by interest, based on websites they visited in the past three weeks. Topics lets marketers continue to serve targeted ads.

With Topics API, a user’s browser determines a handful of topics such as Law and Government/Legal Services or Finance/Accounting and Auditing, which represent the top interests for the previous week based on the browsing activity. When a user visits a participating site, the Topics API will share up to three topics from the past three weeks with advertisers who can use it as one of many signals for interest-based advertising.

So, in professional services, we will be able to promote legal and accounting services to people who have browsed the relevant categories. We’ll just be doing it in a way that is more private than using cookies and identifying information.

Google Won’t Take Away Ads

The end of Google third-party cookies isn’t the end of digital advertising. However, marketers should consider their options in the next two years and keep an eye on the evolving Google Topics and digital ad technology.

About the Author

Megan Miller is a senior consultant with Edge Marketing, assisting clients in development and execution of strategic marketing plans and implementation of marketing technologies. A global technology hound, Miller has built brands, trained teams and introduced successful products for global companies and startups. A certified eDiscovery expert, Miller has written on trends and topics in electronic discovery, consumer electronics and the internet of things – before the IoT was even a thing. Her work has appeared in Attorney at Law, US Tech, TechnoLawyer, ACEDS and other industry publications.

/by Megan Miller

by Jennifer Marsnik

Not long ago, core business activities like advertising, public relations and marketing content creation were silos within an organization. But today’s communication channels lend themselves to a more integrated approach.

The PESO model is a communications strategy that combines four categories of media: paid, earned, shared and owned.

Integrated programs use a variety of communication assets and channels in all four PESO categories. Together they work toward building brand awareness, creating audience engagement and establishing credibility to achieve marketing and public relations goals and objectives.

PESO media types are essentially what their individual names imply:

  • Paid media encompasses traditional and modern channels including print, radio and television ads, sponsorships, native advertising placements and display ads or sponsored content on social media platforms. It may include nominal investments for sponsored tweets or significant spend on Super Bowl commercials. Paid media options are available today to reach nearly any audience with an array of messages and fitting almost any size budget.
  • Earned media is publicity gained on its merits, such as placements of bylined thought leadership articles, brand mentions and in-depth coverage generated by press releases or story pitches and source quotes in editorial content. Today, outreach to secure this coverage isn’t limited to journalists, but by pitching bloggers and other influencers who reach your core audiences. Earned media requires time and patience, but the credibility it builds can be invaluable.
  • Shared media occurs when paid, earned or owned media is distributed to a wider audience. This occurs directly, by sharing it via website, blog, social media, emails or even things like traditional mailers. It also occurs when others share that content or media asset, an outcome with both benefits and risks. Having others organically share your content puts it in front of more eyes and provides a strong endorsement for your message. The risk is the loss of control over who shares that message or any subsequent comments they might make about it.
  • Owned media is content that resides on your website, blog or other platform and is generally useful to your audience. This may include informative blog posts, white papers, e-books, webinars, podcasts, videos and other content. Assets like a company LinkedIn or Twitter profile may be considered owned media. As the creator or curator and owner of the content, you control its message or the narrative you want told.

While the PESO acronym is useful to remember the four media types, they aren’t necessarily employed in that order; in fact, the reverse order is more common. Owned content assets are often created to serve as the foundation for a holistic PR and marketing program. Then, as part of an integrated campaign, shared media can be used to distribute that content, earned media to validate it and paid media to amplify it.

It is where these four media intersect that we achieve things like SEO, lead generation and a community of advocates and partners to help promote your brand and key messages.

Want to learn more? Contact Edge Marketing to see how a PESO approach can work for you.

About the Author

With Edge Marketing since 2007, Jennifer Marsnik specializes in helping clients develop and implement strategic plans that support their overall business goals.

She lives in the Twin Cities area with her husband and two daughters, and enjoys golf and cheering on the Twins, Vikings, and U of M Gophers.

/by Jennifer Marsnik

by Cindy Kremer Moen

As she was getting ready to return to the office, one of my friends recently said, “It’s time for me to put my hard clothes on.” With the return of many in-person conferences and trade shows, many of us are digging out our “hard” clothes – not to mention our uncomfortable shoes – and getting ready to shake hands and network and socialize with colleagues, clients and prospects.

The lack of industry events has been difficult for companies targeting other businesses. Leads dried up and forced companies to be more innovative with their techniques for developing new prospects. We all realized how important it was to connect face to face with the people we target. With the return of in-person events, we can once again realize the power that spontaneous conversations, sharing a meal or meeting on the convention floor has in our business development efforts.

As you are developing your plans for trade shows and conferences, it is a good idea to remind your sales team of some simple booth etiquette guidelines that will help them – and your company – make the best possible first impression with new prospects.

  • Only bring to the booth the items necessary to get through your day. Booths almost always have limited storage, so leave briefcases, coats, large bags, etc., in your hotel room.
  • Do not eat in your booth. Step out when someone is covering the booth and eat elsewhere. There’s really nothing worse than greeting a prospect with a mouth full of food.
  • Keep to just drinking water in the booth. When you’re not sipping, cover your bottle and put it out of sight. If you’re in need of other beverages, step out of the booth to consume them.
  • If you need to accept a phone call while you are scheduled in the booth, excuse yourself from the booth, if possible, to take the call. Only accept business calls during exhibit hall hours if the exhibit hall is quieter and you don’t have attendees waiting to talk.
  • Bring mints and discreetly consume them as needed.
  • Avoid browsing and scrolling through your phone. Phones should be in pockets or in your storage area while you are in the booth.
  • Dress to the dress code of the conference and wear comfortable shoes.
  • Appreciate that people have different comfort levels with social distancing. Decide on your level of comfort with handshakes or hugs, and monitor the body language of those you are meeting to assess their level of comfort with these activities.

It should go without saying, but I’ll mention it anyway: If you are showing signs of illness, do yourself and everyone at your conference a favor and stay away from the exhibit hall floor.

With a little practice and breaking in, the “hard” clothes soon won’t feel so difficult to put on, and the shoes will become more comfortable. Remember these basic booth etiquette pointers and your company will be in a great place to make the first few in-person events enormously successful.

DID YOU KNOW?

According to Statista, the largest U.S. trade show is the Consumer Electronics Show, topping out at 2,930,421 square feet of exhibition space (2019). As a comparison, AICPA ENGAGE in June will have 89,295 square feet of exhibit space and ILTACON in August will have 178,787 square feet!

About the Author

Cindy Kremer Moen has helped Edge Marketing clients with strategies and tactics to meet their goals since 2006. She and her husband have two college-aged sons and recently relocated to fulfill a lifelong dream of living near the shores of Lake Superior.

/by Cindy Kremer Moen

by Tanya Amyote

Diversity and inclusion are more than buzzwords in today’s climate of “wokeness” and “cancel culture.” They are meaningful and moving targets. They are actionable terms to describe an ideal and attainable goal. They are the very building blocks of a healthy business with happy employees serving satisfied clients.

A review of your organization’s internal demographic data can yield insight into your employees’ gender identity, age, race and any intersectionality of all of the above. That concrete data can shed light on the diversity – or lack thereof – within the organization. It can also bring about awareness of positive adjustments to hiring and advancement practices, such as blind assessment tools to battle unconscious biases and additional training for those in positions of power or decision-making. It can also point to a lack of diversity in specific departments or organizational levels.

What that concrete demographic data cannot tell you, though, is the degree to which your organization is actively nurturing a sense of inclusion among the members of each demographic segment and intersection.

According to Stanford University researchers, three key aspects of inclusion in the workplace are:

Objectivity:
Do your employees feel that your firm’s policies, practices and promotions are fair, transparent, and universally applied?

Growth Mindset:
Do your employees feel that they are given opportunities to grow, evolve and increase their own value within your organization? Is their growth supported through mentoring and professional development or education?

Belonging:
Do your employees feel safe, respected and free to be their authentic selves in the workplace?

How can you as a business owner ensure that your organization is fostering a culture of inclusivity? Here are three ideas to consider:

Anonymous surveys:
A surefire way to check the pulse of your organization’s climate is through anonymous surveys. Your team is much more likely to share their true feelings if you foster a culture of openness, honesty and collaboration. Throw in the option to remain anonymous and you’ll quickly get a baseline for how your firm is doing with regard to employee satisfaction, retention and the potential for attrition.

Mindful scheduling:
The Law Society of Ontario canceled the March solicitor exams due to a potential leak of test materials. This led to the exams being rescheduled during the month of Ramadan, observed by practicing Muslims through strict sunrise-to-sunset fasting, prayer, reflection and community. The situation highlights the complexities of scheduling in a multicultural society.

Another aspect to keep in mind is location, location, location: That team retreat sounds like a fantastic opportunity but, if the meeting room can only be accessed via a flight of stairs, it could pose a problem for anyone with respiratory, cardiac or mobility issues.

Employee resource groups (ERGs):
According to Business Insider, HR-sanctioned groups can be formed based on any number of criteria including common demographics, life stage or even job function. These groups can provide opportunities such as top-down and bottom-up mentoring. For example, Rajesh with 25 years of experience in sales could provide mentoring to newcomer Taylor who, in turn, offers social media or SEO guidance to Rajesh.

ERGs offer opportunities for employees with shared identities or life experiences to communicate and collaborate, leading to increased effectiveness and productivity.

An ERG can work to raise awareness of its members’ shared experiences, through acting as a resource for colleagues within the organization as a whole or in working with the firm’s leadership team to influence recruiting and hiring practices.

As firms allocate more time and resources to diversity and inclusion initiatives in 2022, it’s crucial to remember that your employees are not just boxes to tick on a list of quotas.

In the words of Maya Angelou, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.”

About the Author

Tanya Amyote joined the Edge team in December 2016 as marketing assistant, Excel guru, and token Canadian.

As a person with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease), Tanya is an outspoken advocate for diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

/by Tanya Amyote

Tips for a successful post-event strategy

by Vicki LaBrosse

You made it! Another successful event is in the books! All that careful preparation, creative promotion and your professionalism during the event itself have paid off. The works is done, but not so fast . . .

What happens after the event is an important part of the overall event program, so don’t save your post-event planning for the last minute. Start preparing early so that you can begin executing your strategy immediately after the event is over. Every post-event communication plan will be unique depending on your goals, but there are certain elements every successful post-event strategy should include. You can mix and match and supplement these with your company’s standard after-event procedures.

Here are some ways to keep the momentum going after an event:

Send a thank-you email

Thanking attendees who took time out of their busy schedules to come to the event is a must. It’s also a great reason to connect with them again. You will be surprised how far the small gesture of sending a simple thank-you email goes.

Make a post-event page

Having a post-event page on your website allows guests to revisit the experience and those who were not able to attend to see what they missed. You can simply edit and add to the landing page you already created prior to the event. Include speakers, sessions, award winners, entertainment, event stats, social media buzz and, of course, lots of pictures and videos.

Have your sales team follow up

If your event’s goal was to drive sales or customer engagement, have your sales team to reach out after the event via email or phone to potential clients. If you’re nurturing leads after a trade show or event, keep in the mind that prospects might have forgotten they stopped by your booth, so make sure your team doesn’t go straight into the sales pitch. Instead reach out with a relevant piece of content that provides helpful, non-salesy information.

Ask for feedback

Send a post-event survey to your guests and ask for feedback on the event: what worked, what didn’t, what their favorite part was, etc. Their responses will help shape your next event, hopefully making it even better. It’s not always easy to get prospects to fill out a survey, so it may help to incentivize it by offering a free product sample or trial, discount code or entry in a drawing to win a prize.

Invite them to the next event

If you have another event coming up that’s similar to the one they already attended, extend an invitation to them to continue the conversation at the next event. This is a great opportunity to build off of the buzz from this latest event and get prospects excited for your next one.

The best part of the post-event communication is that through your follow-ups, you’ll start to see which prospects are the most engaged and which ones you should prioritize your time for in that next step – whether it’s to book a meeting or invite them to a future event. Hopefully, the experience leaves you with new insights, a better understanding of what works, more knowledge about your attendees and great ideas about what to do next.

About the Author

Vicki LaBrosse, director of global public relations for Edge Marketing, has more than 18 years of marketing and communications experience in both the legal and accounting industries. LaBrosse works with clients to develop and execute comprehensive PR and marketing strategies that will help grow their business.

/by Vicki LaBrosse

by Nicolle Martin

Many companies, especially small and midsize companies, need marketing support but don’t know exactly what to get. Often, they will hire a marketing coordinator, thinking that person can come in and make a difference. The problem is that a person in a coordinator-level position most likely doesn’t have the experience necessary to provide strategy and planning. Instead, that person becomes a glorified assistant doing reactive work.

A fractional CMO is an outsourced marketing executive that can perform all the functions of a chief marketing officer, including strategy, planning and implementation, without a company having to commit to a long-term, full-time salary. These professionals have in-depth marketing experience and can assess your organization, deliver a full marketing plan and budget, as well as help with the day-to-day implementation. If you have a team in place, a fractional CMO can provide direction and oversight for the work they are doing to make sure it fits the overall goals and plan objectives that have been put in place and agreed upon by the senior managers.

Here are a few things to consider when looking at fractional CMO candidates:

  • What is their experience level? You want to make sure you find a professional that has the right experience to be effective as a fractional CMO. What roles have they had in the past? What differences did they make for the companies they worked for? You can interview these professionals just like you would someone you are bringing on full-time.
  • Have they worked in your industry? Having someone with experience to your specific industry or a similar industry is very important. They can bring with them relationships to editors, bloggers and other thought leaders in the field. Also, they understand what is important for your company to participate in and what is not. We all know there are a ton of awards and other recognitions out there – some are legit, others are less so. Someone who is familiar with the industry will be able to provide proper guidance.
  • Are they a fit for your company? If you have a marketing team, make sure they have experience managing and giving direction to a team. If you don’t have a team, make sure they have the resources available to them to get the work they are putting in their strategic plan completed. Do an interview. Make sure their personalities and ideas are a fit for the team you have in place.
  • What do you want to accomplish by hiring a fractional CMO? Know what you are trying to accomplish by hiring a fractional CMO. Are you looking for someone to come in on a contract basis to help with strategy and goal setting, or are you in the market for a full-time CMO, but need someone in the interim to fill the gap? Having this conversation upfront will help ensure whatever path you are on is successful.

 And when you decide hiring a fractional CMO is the right move for your organization, make sure you provide the resources and information needed for this person to be successful. Remember, your fractional CMO is coming into your organization as an expert in marketing but will need to learn your company and your resources. The more available you are, the more success you will see from the relationship. Bottom line – a fractional CMO is a great option for companies looking for a professional that can advise on strategy, budget and goals and objectives, all while helping with the implementation and details around accomplishing those goals.

About the Author

Nicolle Martin is a senior account manager for Edge Marketing. She has more than 20 years of experience doing public relations and marketing in the legal and accounting industries.

Nicolle and her husband have two teenaged daughters and a dog, Jax, who is treated like a human member of the family.

/by Nicolle Martin

by Mary Obregon

Creating or upgrading a website is hard work. The main goal is to get as many eyes on the site as possible. Over the years the internet has become overloaded, so what is the best way to make sure a website stands out from the rest? Are there specific measures that can be taken to put your site on top?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website’s content for the purposes of increasing its ranking and visibility for users surfing the web. When you rank higher in search engines, it is more likely that a user will choose to visit your site over lower-ranking options.

When creating or upgrading a website, here are five SEO best practices to keep in mind:

  1. Always Keep Your Audience Top of Mind

It is critical to keep the audience in mind at all times. The main goal is to make the website suitable to their needs. It’s all about creating a clear, straightforward website that your customers can understand and navigate seamlessly. The more user-friendly a website is, the lower the number of users who land on your homepage and exit without triggering another request (bounce rate). Ensuring that your website doesn’t frustrate or confuse your audience is the most important step in website formulation.

  1. Speedy Site

The faster a person can obtain the information needed, the better. If your website is slow, your bounce rate is likely to increase. To get the instant gratification we’ve all come to expect online, a speedy website is a must. The quicker and more convenient the flow of your site is, the more likely the consumer is to remain on your website and click through to other pages within it. The higher the site speed, the higher the ranking within a search engine. There are many options available for checking your site’s speed, but one recommended option is Google’s PageSpeed Insights.

  1. Improve Your Internal Linking Structure

It’s always a good idea to make it simple for search engines to crawl your site and determine which articles are the most important, since this will assist your users in finding what they’re looking for. To aid the process, strengthening your internal linking structure is a no-brainer. Ensure that your most important articles have the greatest number of internal links pointing to them. To avoid orphaned content, don’t forget to include links to your most current postings. It’s critical to make sure that links are relevant to the context of an article; otherwise, neither the search engine nor the user will understand them.

  1. One H1 Heading Per Post or Page

Within website creation platforms, page headings are often ranked. Headings make it easier for your readers to skim the text and figure out how it all fits together. Search engines also try to decipher the structure of your text by “reading” headings. Instead of reading the standard text on your website as your audience does, search engines go to the HTML version of your site and read the HTML heading tags. Headings are also beneficial in making your content more accessible to all. Your readers and Google may become confused if there are several H1 headings. As a result, if there is no clear delineation between main and subtopics, customers might decide to leave your website.

  1. Add Alt Text to Images

Alt text is a bit of information that describes what is depicted in an image. Not only will adding alt text to your images make your website more accessible to all users; it will also improve your SEO ranking. Alt text gives search engine crawlers context for what a picture is showing, helping them to properly index the image, making it more searchable, enhancing its SEO. If you don’t use alt text for photos, your website will be difficult to interpret for screen readers and browsers, resulting in a poor user experience for anyone who is visually impaired. Make sure that all of your website’s photos include alt text so that visitors and search engines can more easily access and understand your content.

Final Thoughts

The information outlined here will serve as a great starting point for taking charge of your search engine rankings; however, staying on top is a long-term process. Taking the initiative to improve your SEO ranking is already a step in the right direction. It’s a challenge to get to the top of Google’s search results, but consistent effort will help get you there!

About the Author

Mary Obregon joined the Edge team in September 2020, amid the pandemic, in order to gain experience in the field by any means. Mary is now HubSpot certified, Yoast certified and Google Analytics certified! When not working, Mary is most likely spending time with friends, family or her boyfriend.

/by Mary Obregon