About this Episode Before the internet, buying was different. When I was younger, I remember whenever my family would get a new car: we’d head down to the dealership, walk through the showroom, and talk to the salesperson. We’d leave with brochures and spec sheets. Then, we’d come back and my dad would test drive one or two. Then, we’d return again and make a final decision.  This was normal for the time. In the 1990s, on average, car buyers visited the dealership more than four times for a new car purchase. Today it’s usually done in a single visit. And this is by no means isolated to ca ..read more

You’ve got really big goals for 2024 — and your business website is critical to driving the traffic, leads, and sales you need to grow and thrive in the coming year.   And now, as you’re sitting in a sales call with a web design agency, you hear something that quickens your pulse: You’re thrilled. You were expecting the process to take months. Thirty days sounds amazing! But then, doubt starts to creep in. You hear that little voice in your head asking the question you didn’t want to ask yourself, "Is this too good to be true?"  Is the offer too good to be true? After ..read more

About this Episode At its best, a website is your best salesperson — one who never sleeps or takes a vacation. Day after day, month after month, your website is out there attracting leads and turning them into customers.  But at its worst, a website is a money pit. An endless liability that’s a buggy, outdated, poor reflection of your business. via GIPHY The reality is that most business sites are somewhere in between. But because they can be an enormous expense, each business should evaluate the ROI of its website investment.  To do so, says Vin Gaeta, head of web strategy here a ..read more

About this Episode There are plenty of reasons businesses buy new websites. Maybe it’s part of a rebranding effort — or because the new CMO claims it’s a necessity. Sometimes they buy a new site just because the old site feels stale.  If you’re in one of these boats and are about to call up an agency and write a big check, slow down. According to Mary Brown, lead website strategist here at IMPACT, many businesses invest in a full website redesign when they really don’t need to.  Mary says that conversion rate optimization and strategic improvements often yield better results than com ..read more

About this Episode The tech world is changing under our feet, and the pace of innovation only seems to be increasing. Every well-known tool has added AI capabilities, and thousands of startups are out to capitalize on this era of disruption. What’s more, everything is becoming more and more capable. That tool that offered ho-hum results six months ago is now an industry leader, and things that seemed the stuff of science fiction a few years ago are now right around the corner.  In this episode, Briana Walgenbach stops by to discuss AI trends, tools, and tips so you and your team can stay ..read more

About this Episode If you’re like most of the professional world, the first you really heard about AI was the launch of ChatGPT. Not so for Mike Kaput. He’s been studying AI for more than a decade. For him, ChatGPT was less of a revelation and more of a culmination.  He and Paul Roetzer have been monitoring AI and its potential impact on marketing for years. Together, they wrote the widely-cited Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing, and the Future of Business. They also run the Marketing AI Institute, where Mike is the Chief Content Officer. Each year, they host MAICON, the Ma ..read more

  About this Episode Video content allows your buyers to get to know you and your brand before they ever walk into your store or fill out a form on your website.  We teach our clients to develop a "culture of video" so that video content goes hand-in-hand with anything they produce: Salespeople send 1-1 videos to prospects Website landing pages have videos explaining next steps Social posts include videos that show people and processes and so on. This way, video becomes part of your brand DNA. And there's good reason for this. According to research from HubSpot more than 90 percent ..read more

About this Episode All too often, businesses think they know just what they need when it comes to video: A nice "About Us" video to live on their homepage that will resonate with customers and bring in leads. Not so fast, says Marcus Sheridan, author and marketing expert. While an "About Us" video can be tempting, there are other ways you can better spend your video dollars. If you really want to move the needle, use what Marcus calls The Selling 7. Seven videos that are the most likely to get results and bring in revenue. These videos increase conversions, shorten the sales cycle, and get tho ..read more

About this Episode Imagine if we applied the same principles we use in our marketing to our process for recruiting new employees. As we teach our clients at IMPACT, marketing is about education. Your potential customers have questions. If you can answer them openly and honestly, you’ll build trust and shorten the sales cycle. Now, think of your applicants the same way. Just as your customers are trying to gather information so they can make the right purchase, your candidates are gathering information so they can land the right job. In a famous study done in 2018, Jobvite found that a third of ..read more

Although many business websites today are built so that marketers and non-coders can update them, to handle more ambitious and technical website projects and maintenance, you will need an in-house website specialist.  This position might not be necessary for your business. You might only need occasional design and development help from a freelancer or a tech-inclined team member. Then, when you need larger projects to get done, you can work with an agency. But if you find yourself wanting to make frequent updates and alterations, and you have recurring design or maintenance needs, you’re ..read more