Monday Morning Coffee with Title Boxing Club

Posted on February 18, 2013 by admin

14086667_mDrop and Give Me Twenty: It’s Tough-Love Fitness

By now, everyone’s a little saturated with health and fitness information, with blogs, articles and social media following the typical January trend toward getting in shape.

However, there’s something new on the scene worth mentioning; it’s a fast, intense approach for both genders and various ranges of ability. It’s Title Boxing Club, and it’s built on the concept that you can get a little mad, if you will, in a good way … while you kick, punch and sweat your way to a healthier total body in 2013. The chain has franchises in several locations, but has recently opened a new center in St. Joseph, Mo., and beginning to build a local following.

The concept of a Boxing Club seems to resonate with consumers. It’s not called an outright “fitness center;” this is something new and subtly promoting the the idea of joining a club. The name “Title Boxing Club” brings back images of the old-school boxing gyms of the past (and valiant scenes from Rocky movies) yet reaches out to a large base of females along with males. The famous “power hour” is prompted across various success stories on the Title Boxing Club website, appealing to both emotions and fitness. The images across the site quickly convey that this is serious, tough and seriously fun – not to mention effective. Catchy taglines like “Your first shot is free” complete the lure.

The “club” concept is also utilized across Facebook and Twitter, as well as a newsletter, and all with a similar message and visual appeal. The newsletter enables that join-up mentality right from the start. A consistent use of no-nonsense imagery and text isn’t complicated, but it works. You can almost begin to hum Joan Jett’s classic “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” when you interact with Title Boxing Club. Easy to digest fitness tips from experts are another nice content addition, building on the no-fail concept that valuable content encourages interaction.

We congratulate Title Boxing Club on their expansion, and on their ability through content tools to make many consumers begin to imagine themselves knocking the daylights out of a punching bag — and living to tell about it.


Posted in Blog Writing, Monday Morning Coffee, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Support Local | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ways of Successfully Drawing Traffic to Your Blog

Posted on February 15, 2013 by admin

12832528_m (1)Blogs are definitely an important part of any content marketing mix. But what happens when your blogs aren’t getting the proper readership they deserve? Drawing traffic to your blog doesn’t have to come down to shameless Facebook or Twitter plugs, which may put a sour taste in your reader’s mouths before they even view your content.

When it comes to drawing traffic to your blog, an article posted by Social Media Today offers a few simple tips:

  1. Steer clear of gimmicks. We’ve all done it – signed up for something because there was a free give-away attached. But this type of incentive won’t keep driving traffic to your blog. You must rely on great content to do that. Freebies work best after a blog following has been established, and they should be limited and relevant to your business.
  2. Invite guest bloggers. Guest bloggers offer a fresh opinion and take on matters which can attract new audiences and help build your fan base. This type of partnership can also be reciprocal, giving you an opportunity to get your name out into new communities by sharing blogs on their company sites, as well.
  3. Incorporate Links for Content Sharing. Work smart, not hard – make it easy for your followers to share your blog content with others. This will help establish your brand as a credible source of information, products or services with their friends without having to say a word.
  4. Create Captivating Content. The best and easiest method for drawing traffic to your blog is though quality content. Don’t forget that the title needs to be an attention grabber, too, as it’s what pulls the reader in for more. Developing a reputation for top-notch content in areas of reader curiosity will establish your company as an expert in the field, and that is what will instill a following.


Penning skillful content that aids in drawing traffic to your blog is a bit of an art. If you need a little assistance, we’ve got you covered.

Posted in Blog Writing, Consistent Customer Communications, Content Marketing, Copywriting, Creating Links, Link Building, Marketing Strategy, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

No Random Tweeting: Twitter for Your Business

Posted on February 14, 2013 by admin

17428103_mUsing Twitter for your business: In short, if you’re not using it to share information with your customers, you’re missing out. Twitter continues to occupy social media space as a stronger business tool now more than ever, feeding an audience that wants to learn about innovations and products that make their lives better.

But, using Twitter for your business isn’t quite as simple as just Tweeting and reTweeting now and then, as highlighted in a recent article on PC Mag. A strategy with consistent use and carefully planned information sharing is critical to avoid the random act of Tweet – and instead move toward true brand strength and lead generation.

1. Start with an understanding of why people use Twitter. Consumers use Twitter to gain valuable information and to engage with others who share their same drive for this valuable content about specific topics. When using Twitter for your business, realize people don’t Tweet for casual reasons, like to update their status; rather they go to Twitter for specific purposes (mainly to learn about products and share this learning with others).  This is more than driving website traffic.

2. Use an editorial calendar to manage and optimize Twitter for business. Place your keyword phrases strategically within an editorial calendar, and use these in your Tweets while you’re incorporate blogs, online news postings and other content creation tools. Use links in your Tweets that align with users’ interest in gaining meaningful information.

3. Create a human-like presence with real employees who Tweet. Consider Twitter as a dialogue or conversation tool. It’s much more inviting to communicate with a human face, so use images of employees on your Twitter page. You may want to utilize creative background imagery to show users who they’re speaking with, and use abbreviated or initial versions of employee names. Allow your Twitter team to act as customer service agents, with a friendly, generous and accessible persona. Don’t forget you can include upper management as a Tweeter – this can be very impactful to your audience.

4. Select carefully when following other Tweeters. When using Twitter for your business, be strategic when you follow other businesses or people on Twitter, opting for quality rather than quantity. Look for accounts who communicate respectfully and diligently.

When placed within a careful strategy, Twitter can be a powerful part of your content creation success. You can place a great deal of information within that tiny character limit, and become a true content curator on Twitter in a brief period of time while seeing lasting impacts.

Posted in Consistent Customer Communications, Content Marketing, Editorial Calendars, Marketing Strategy, Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Website | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What Truly Constitutes Unique Content Marketing?

Posted on February 13, 2013 by admin

10337426_mIt’s the goal of every firm out there – to secure a coveted top position in the search engine rankings. But with so much content out there vying for a piece of your audience’s attention, how do you make that happen?

It all starts with the creation of unique content. However, a lot of marketers forget that unique content must also incorporate unique value. For instance, an article taken from another source which is simply rephrased with different words could technically be considered an original piece. But if there is no new information presented, the content isn’t providing readers with any sort of unique value.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t take a You Tube video or certain section of information from an online newspaper or encyclopedia to be brought in and captioned in your piece. Including small segments from other sources does not constitute duplicate content and will not be treated as such by the governing algorithms, so long as the new piece does contain unique content and substance of its own.

According to a video blog featured at SEO MOZ, contrary to popular belief, there’s no magic mix of duplicate and unique content that will fool algorithms. In fact, algorithms are more sophisticated than ever these days, and just because the new content is 51 (a majority) percent unique doesn’t mean it will fool the search engines. Any talk of a magic mix is myth.

In an effort to reward high quality sites, Google introduced Panda in 2011. Panda helped promote the ranking of news and social media sites while lowering the return on sites heavy in advertising. Google has even put its guidelines for high marks out there for the world to see – there’s no secret formula per se – just keep the focus on high quality, unique content and the rest will fall into place.

Duplicate or poor quality content featured in one section of your site can actually damage the overall ranking of the entire site. To learn more about how quality copywriting can help your business earn a top spot in the ranks, call or click today.

Posted in Consistent Customer Communications, Content Marketing, Copywriting, Marketing Strategy, Online Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Content Marketing Surge: Making Sense of the Impending Mumbo-Jumbo

Posted on February 12, 2013 by admin

17499806_mUse of content marketing is becoming more mainstream with each passing day. An increasing number of businesses are taking the plunge and are wading in the content pool as they discover the connection it can help forge with followers. But we all know what happens as the pool starts to fill up – the probability of some young kid soiling himself increases, and suddenly, the quality of the swimming experience begins to diminish.

A blog featured at HubSpot highlights the fact that everyone and his brother will soon be dipping his hand into the pot of gold that is content marketing. It’s not just other content marketing companies, either, which will soon be a source of information – it’s everyone out there who’s creating content on the same topic, including those in the data search, social media, email and web advertising fields.

The increasing number of players joining the content marketing space isn’t what’s creating an issue, per se. Instead it’s the haphazard spew of poor quality information that occurs as everyone furiously rushes to leave his mark. And as the HubSpot blog pointed out, it won’t be long before things really start to stink.

The good news is, we haven’t reached the point of saturation yet; we just know it’s coming. In the 1950’s when advertising made its national TV debut, the first players to the market were the ones to secure the biggest chunk of market share. This was a rather resilient place to be – in other words, as long as the incumbents didn’t flub up, the newbies were going to have a fairly difficult time chipping share away, out from underneath them.

When the flood of copycats comes rushing in, consumers tend to block out much of the “new” stuff to prevent going into overload. Those who have already forged a trusted reputation with buyers will be the ones left standing in the end.

Don’t wait to swim through the sea of junk. Good, quality copywriting and content marketing is available right now to help you clench your edge.

Posted in Blog Writing, Consistent Customer Communications, Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Website | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dress for Success: Strategize

Posted on February 8, 2013 by admin

Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions, LLC is a marketing company dedicated exclusively to campaigns and content creation for non-profits and SMBs. The sole business purpose is to provide a new avenue of promotional effectiveness for these brands so they can secure incremental donations/revenues with key donors/clients.

 

Posted in Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Nonprofit Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pinterest: Of Socks, Pesto and Inconspicuous Branding

Posted on February 7, 2013 by admin

16845458_mAwe-inspiring sock collections. A thousand uses for an old dresser. A hundred visually-stimulating recipes for pesto. It’s all just a click away on Pinterest, but is Pinterest useful to business?

You bet your sock monkeys. A recent Digital Nirvana article hits home with the facts, such as more than 25 million people are Pinterest engagers and some Pinboards tote more than 85,000 followers. Yet you may be asking yourself the question, is Pinterest useful to business?

The answer lies in how Pinterest creates, essentially, a back door for branding efforts. While users peruse your Pinboards and thousands of others, they’re clicking through to your site or your blog and learning more about what makes you stand out. You can also use Pinboard pictures of your storefront, providing a more direct link to sales pages and luring in the visually stimulated audience.

Because Pinterest allows you to be a little zany with your content, you can also maximize its value to showcase the lifestyle our product or service creates. Or use Pinterest to showcase your team’s hands at work, along every phase of the product cycle. Show off a gratitude board where you put up pics of customer letters or employee awards. Think even farther when asking yourself the question “is Pinterest useful to business?” and show off alternative uses for things like the packaging your product comes in. Or how your company is recycling these materials.

As Digital Nirvana suggests, images on Pinboards can also be lures for readers to find your blogs, online articles or a recent industry whitepaper. Regardless of how you pursue your own Pinboards, Pinterest can be an effective part of your overall content marketing strategy because it hits home with a huge base of online consumers with just a little time and creativity.

Is Pinterest useful to business? This we know for sure: Pinterest isn’t just for women. It’s not just for hobby-lovers. It’s not going away, and it can carry a strong brand message for your organization. Maximize this unique platform to demonstrate what you do (and why you do it better) with a clever visual angle.

Posted in Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Online Marketing, Pinterest Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bad SEO – Not a Victimless Marketing Tool

Posted on February 6, 2013 by admin

12437746_mMost of us growing up had the phrase “cheaters never win,” ingrained into our heads. The idea is that getting ahead by use of trickery or other deceptive methods doesn’t usually pan out in the long run. Bad SEO or what’s commonly referred to as black hat SEO, is using sinister means to rank higher in the search engine listings than what would happen organically. Not only does bad SEO undercut those who are trying to play fair, but it’s also obnoxious to the end user who expects high quality web content and instead spends his time sifting through a false match.

But bad SEO can actually get uglier than that. Besides leading readers astray – some of whom may be swindled by the dubious tactics and led into making unscrupulous decisions – bad SEO can be constructed to actually damage the websites of others as a means to take out the competition. Obviously, this is unethical.

Though for someone who has put in the hard sweat equity and earned their top spot on search engine rankings, this can be an especially hard pill to swallow. It’s like training for a competition naturally and having your opponent get first place only to find out he or she won by using performance enhancing drugs.

In the end, the real loser is the consumer. That’s why Google has fought bad SEO tactics so aggressively with the release of Penguin and Panda algorithms. Google Penguin and Panda help ensure that the end user will get what they came for – good, quality, relevant information.

In its least obstructive form, bad SEO can lead to annoying Spam. But even Spam can affect people in ways even its creators might not have intended.  In a blog for freemakemoneyadvice.com, author Ben Austin writes that his girlfriend recently received an email from a Spam source that assumed the name of a mutual friend. The only problem was – that friend had been dead for two years.

Quality copywriting services can help you naturally get that coveted top spot in the search engine rankings. Well-written copy will also provide your readers with that something of value they crave.


Posted in Content Marketing, Copywriting, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Six Online Marketing Trends for 2013

Posted on February 5, 2013 by admin

14332287_mToday’s digital consumers are increasingly turning to the web as a part of their purchasing behavior. Whether it’s using the Internet to research, compare ratings, or actually make a purchase, the online experience cannot be ignored if you’re to convince customers the value of your brand.

A blog featured at ioninteractive.com highlights several online marketing trends for 2013 – six of which are featured here:

  1. MOBILITY is one of the key online marketing trends for 2013. The online experience no longer primarily originates through PCs. This year Gartner predicts that more people will surf the web via cell phones than computers. Is your brand accessible on the go?
  2. Incorporate ACTIVE CONTENT. Meaning, don’t leave followers wondering what to do next. For example, provide a call to action, direct readers to subscribe to the eNewsletter, or ask them to “like” you on Facebook.
  3. Employ SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY. When using social media, don’t let it replace your website. Third party sites shouldn’t dictate your visitors’ social experience. Instead, use social media outlets to drive traffic to your page, and from there strategically redirect to social platforms as needed.
  4. Don’t forget about the ZERO MOMENT OF TRUTH, which refers to the fact that it only takes a split second for consumers make up their minds about you.  Therefore, the visual layout, usability, value proposition, relevancy, and wow factor of your digital experience need to be spot-on.
  5. Of the online marketing trends for 2013, one you shouldn’t overlook is GAMIFICATION. Those companies who continue to search for novel ways to engage with their followers are the ones who will still be around five and ten years down the track.
  6. Provide a CUSTOMIZED EXPERIENCE. Who doesn’t like to feel special? Small details like using people’s names, tailoring to their location, and playing off prior search inquiries or past behaviors can really help forge a connection.

Your marketing strategy is evidenced by the online experience you provide to consumers. For help in aligning your promotional strategies with the online marking trends for 2013, give us shout.

Posted in Blog Writing, Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Mobile Content Marketing, Newsletter Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments