What are the 5 biggest content marketing trends we'll see this year? 2024 promises to be a year where personalized content and short-form visual media equal success for your business. Both B2C and B2B content marketing teams will find more traction with familiar, local faces than glossy, glamorous online influencers.  It's also a year where generative AI takes a backseat to real, human expertise — but AI still holds a valuable place in the content strategy process. Here are 5 trends in content marketing for 2024 I'll focus on in this article (jump to the topics that interest you!): Goog ..read more

Throw your direct mail campaign and bloated advertising budget in the trash. Learn the secrets to a cost-effective NJ business marketing strategy from a ,professional who quit the name brands to help New Jersey small business owners win. My father owned a 3-man NJ construction company his whole life. He woke up every day for 45 years and worked his tail off to feed our family. He fell off ladders. He bled. He sweat, he got dirty, and he never complained — all to make an honest buck. To me, there's nothing more "Jersey" than that. About six years ago, I looked at my father as he neared retirem ..read more

There are over 950,000 small businesses in New Jersey, according to the NJ Small Business Administration. We account for 99.6% of all NJ businesses, and nearly half of all NJ employees. You have nearly a million competitors for local customers and brand awareness — marketing strategies for small businesses in the Garden State must be visible, memorable and engaging. When I talk to New Jersey small business owners, they mention 2 key barriers between them and better marketing ideas: “It's too hard to find the time.” “It's too hard to determine a budget.” These are valid concerns, but they're ..read more

Ian Goh is the founder of authenticLEADERS, Asia-Pacific's first workshop course dedicated to nurturing and developing LGBTQ+ leaders in the workplace. From my first conversation with Ian Goh, I knew we had to work together. His vision for a corporate world where LGBTQ+ professionals could bring their authentic selves to work and lead with honesty, humanity and love resonated with me deeply. The authenticLEADERS website outlines its goals for LGBTQ+ professionals in 3 words: Safe to come out as their authentic selves Inspired to contribute to their life’s work Fulfilled by the impact they cr ..read more

What is your brand identity? How can you tell if it's successful? Learn how to answer these 10 brand identity questions and kickstart your content strategy. How well do you know your brand? If I asked you 10 simple brand identity questions about how customers perceive your brand image, design and message, could you answer them? What if I told you that the answers to those 10 questions would increase the average lifetime revenue you gain from every customer by 10%? (They do.) By the end of this article, I'll give you 4 valuable branding tools: A clear understanding of what brand identity is ..read more

Whether you need new customers, a better social media presence or higher Google results, you're asking the same question as millions of entrepreneurs: “What small business marketing strategy should I use?” Take 90 seconds to answer 7 questions, and I'll show you where to start! After you're done, I'll tell you what your quiz results mean — and how to overcome the 5 biggest marketing challenges that small business owners face. What Small Business Marketing Strategy Should I Use: Take the Quiz! You've got enough on your plate as a business owner. You don't need some complicated Q&A filled w ..read more

Creating a consistent tone of voice is crucial to your brand. Discover 4 easy tips to define your brand's voice — then set up a ,free chat with us about how to bring that voice to life. Your brand needs a tone of voice as clear as your message. Define your brand's voice — now. It can't wait. When you speak without a defined tone of voice, it adds zero value to your business. It creates a sense of confusion about who you are, what you do, and who your brand is for. But how do you start creating a tone of voice for your brand messaging? It's not just about what you say, it's how you say it. When ..read more

Every great piece of digital copy is measured by 5 core metrics. Learn the 5 Cs of great digital copywriting and jumpstart your content marketing strategy. You spend hours sweating over every word of your digital marketing campaign. Each one feels like a make-or-break decision. "Do I say 'learn' or 'discover'? What's a good synonym for 'captivate'?" Please do yourself a favor — don't stress so much. Good digital copywriting is measured by 5 words. The rest really don't matter. Establish 5 Measurables for Your Copy. If you're looking at my website, you probably aren't a copywriter. That's why ..read more

I've worked in content marketing for over 15 years. I have clients on 3 continents and have written successful copy for everyone from startups to enterprises. Even after I deliver great content strategy results, my clients still ask me the same question. ,“What does a content marketer do, exactly?” So let's answer it once and for all. The big question — “What does a content marketer do?” — ties in the answers to a bunch of smaller questions. Here are 6 content marketing questions I'll tackle in this article: What are the goals of content marketing? What are the benefits of content marketing ..read more

Local SEO tips are everywhere. If you aren't a marketing company, it's difficult to find balance between great local search results and quality written content. Heck, sometimes it's hard for us marketing companies too! But it's important to get local search optimization right if your small business or startup is relying on local customers for revenue. Let's start with the elephant in the room — what is search engine optimization? It's okay to not know! In the simplest terms, search engine optimization (SEO) is a series of steps that help your website achieve higher search results and visibili ..read more