As essential as it is for a growing business, thinking about your own marketing can feel as foreign and confusing as learning a new language.
As you may have gathered from our previous posts, marketing and branding, though different, go hand in hand. With the possibilities of marketing quickly and constantly evolving thanks to new strategies afforded by advancing tech, it’s important for small to medium businesses to keep a finger on the pulse of this industry.
Intro
While your branding involves the long term establishment of ‘who’ you are through your brand identity and strategy, your marketing is all about the ‘how’. A marketing strategy doesn’t have to be daunting – think of it simply as a plan of action – but it helps to get familiar with industry terms and basic principles.
And you don’t need to go it alone. Our agency can partner with you and bring your brand to life in your marketing material in a plethora of creative ways. Take this example: we worked with Google Workspace to produce for them a useful infographic on ‘The Resilience Formula’, breaking down their findings on organisational resilience and productivity solutions. You can check it out here.
Whether it’s online advertising or directing marketing print campaigns that you need, our support could give you the edge on your competitors with high value content that positions you as the expert.
We’ve got your back, so here we’ve rounded up some of the best online resources out there today to help you navigate the big wide world of effective marketing for your business. Even if you have a marketer on staff, it pays to keep yourself in the know. We hope it’s useful, and we’re here to help fill in the gaps.
Hubspot
The HubSpot Marketing Blog is full of approachable how-tos and marketing lessons, along with resources to help maximise your team’s efforts and general knowledge base. They also offer free templates for downloading, not to mention their well recognised marketing courses for those who feel ready to take their learning up a notch.
Digital Marketing Institute Blog
The articles section of the Digital Marketing Institute is a real treasure trove of useful information and concept breakdowns to get your marketing mind running. You can subscribe for free to the member level to gain access to more content like their premium articles, webinars, podcasts, community forum, select eBooks, case studies & toolkits.
The Drum
This online marketing publisher covers news and trends in modern marketing, agency business, creativity & the future of media. On The Drum you can find a tonne of handy articles analysing real world strategies and marketing best practices.
Social Media Today
Social Media Today is a destination for the latest features, statistics, and tips on using social media for your marketing efforts. They cover digital strategy, content marketing, social marketing, and news updates for all the popular platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and more. The site also has a library with industry insights and deeper research, and regularly hosts live chats on Twitter.
And of course, there’s no good reason to let the visual effectiveness of your social campaigns suffer. We’re on hand to help with your social media creative – check out what we’ve designed for other businesses over on our portfolio.
Copyblogger
Copyblogger has everything you could ever need to know about copywriting. This blog has a strong focus on content marketing and copywriting, and they go over topics like SEO, email marketing, keyword research, and landing pages. The information here is top-notch, and it’s a great place where beginners and experts alike can pick up some new tricks and develop their skills.
Unbounce
Unbounce is a forward thinking landing page tool, and their blog is a great source of information. They dive deep into conversion techniques, including copywriting, split testing, and site design. In addition to their blog, they also regularly feature expert interviews, video webinars, and virtual events.
Sales Hacker
SalesHacker is constantly putting out new, high-value content from a large network of contributors. All of these contributors are experienced in sales and marketing, and they offer valuable insights into how to get the kind of long-term results that you want.
Every article on SalesHacker is in-depth and actionable, so you can understand how to apply the theory of whatever you’re reading. And since there’s such a large contributor network, there are always some new takes here that you may not have read elsewhere.
Podcast: Everyone Hates Marketers
If you want a new take on marketing, try this podcast. It’s a marketing podcast that’s geared towards brands who are tired of sleazy, in-your-face marketing.
The focus here is on generating more site visitors, leads, and customers by using actionable and applicable strategies to help your business actually stand out. There are great guests who give hyper-detailed information on exactly how to do so.
Closing Thoughts/CTA
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but hopefully it’ll help get you on your feet and on your way to more effective marketing for your business in spite of these trying times. And if you’ve come across any great resources that we haven’t included here, we’d love to hear about them! Head to our socials to let us know.
And don’t forget – branding lies at the heart of your marketing strategy. As an agency that understands the form and function of a brand, we can help you achieve your marketing goals with our branding and social media creative expertise.
Since you’re here, why not get in touch to chat about a branding or marketing package that’s tailored to your needs? Just use this form.
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