Believe it or not, there’s more to marketing than digital media. Websites can coexist with billboards, and email doesn’t replace direct mail. The best marketers learn how to leverage both of these types of marketing to work together.   Why should people care about non-digital channels? Because some can be effective.  Not everything can (or should) be digital. You should have a balance of offline, too. While we’re a digital marketing firm, our main goal is to do whatever is best for our clients.  If that means using offline methods, so be it. What are examples of offline c ..read more

If you’ve ever been on the internet, you’ve probably seen some video content—it’s everywhere. Some platforms—like YouTube and TikTok—are completely video based. There’s a reason why video content is so effective, but it’s not that easy or cheap for every business to create quality videos. This episode is your guide to understanding video and where to get started. Why is video so popular with digital content? Video is dynamic. It’s easy to consume (but difficult to create). Video creation is exploding which means there’s a plethora to consume. Video feels more personal because you can see peop ..read more

There aren’t many magic bullets or quick fixes in digital marketing—but there are a few. One of them is this surprisingly powerful and sneaky checkbox in the backend of every WordPress site. Here’s how that Magic Checkbox works and why you should probably avoid it. Today on the Brighter Web Podcast, we’re talking about the WordPress magic checkbox. We did an episode on the Magic Email, and this is another magical episode. We call it that because it’s a surprisingly simple fix that can generate nearly instant results. What is the magic checkbox in WordPress? It’s the opposite of the magic emai ..read more

Does anyone like being interrupted by unsolicited promotional emails in their inbox? Because that’s what cold emails are—and they’re not the only form of cold marketing. Let’s talk about why we don’t like cold emails and discuss some better alternatives. Why we don’t like cold emails They’re an interruption in a place you don’t want to be interrupted. They feel like an invasion of privacy. They don’t stop even after being ignored. It’s frowned upon by email service providers. Why do people send cold emails? Because it sometimes works (at a large scale) Because it’s the easy way out Because ..read more

We won’t bury the headline for this episode—because that’s how important headlines are. Unfortunately, they’re often overlooked and underrated in digital marketing. We’ll help you craft more effective headlines with a few ideas and suggestions. We don’t want to bury the headline, so that’s exactly what we’re talking about. Whether its a website or an email, we spend ages on design and body copy—only to mail in the headline at the last minute. But often, that should be the first thing we think about and refine. Headlines are underrated. People judge books by their covers. Your headline is your ..read more

Are the robots coming for our jobs? Artificial intelligence is nothing new, but new innovations are pushing AI to the forefront of digital marketing. Businesses will need to adapt to how new machine-learning tools are changing how we do online promotions. Welcome to the future of marketing. Why are people so excited about AI? It makes hard tasks quick and easy. There are some amazing use cases, for example: “write 500 words about the Civil War at a second grade reading level in the style of The Rock.” It’s fun! How does AI impact marketing? It can generate content for you, both text and ima ..read more

Most people say that they’d like to write a book one day, but few ever do. Book publishing is a challenging but rewarding process that too few get to experience. Luckily, one of our co-hosts has firsthand experience to share with any marketer or business leader looking to write a book. Our co-host Robert Carnes has written three books, including his latest book The Story Cycle, all about storytelling for businesses. He shares his insights on the process of writing a book and how it’s more achievable than you might imagine. Writing the book Choose a topic you can live with for a year Collect i ..read more

Nonprofits are unique organizations for many reasons, including how they approach marketing. This can be both a benefit and a challenge for the professionals marketing for nonprofits. Let’s take a look at what makes charities different and how they can make the most of their digital marketing. What makes nonprofit marketing different? Your organization has a mission Closely tied with fundraising. Sometimes slower to adapt to technology Organizations more willing to share with each other. Less competitive. What challenges do nonprofit marketers face? Limited budget & resources. Marketing ..read more

When it comes to WordPress plugins, less is more. You don’t want to bog down your site with too many plugins, but you also need a few to help with your site’s functionality. Here are 10 of our favorite plugins to help your WordPress site operate smoothly. Security and Spam Content wins, and just producing solid content and keeping your site safe is the key. Akismet: filter for spam comments BlogVault: site backups ManageWP: a single dashboard for handling multiple sites Search Engine Optimization You can’t depend on these exclusively for SEO, but they can be a good guide. SEO Press: all-in ..read more

We encounter so much information daily—it’s easy to get lost or confused. One of the best ways to combat this is to have a good note-taking approach. But how do you take effective notes and keep them organized enough to be useful? Why is it valuable to take notes? Our brains are quite fallible. We work hard to keep it strong, and you can still forget things. Notes are a great way to know what was said, and what that meant to you at the time. What can you take notes for? The two big ones are meetings and books, for different reasons: Meetings, to remember what we said and serve our clients ..read more