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Marketing Awards in 2023: The Competitions You Should Know About

Brandon Johnson — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:00:53 +0000

All right. You and your marketing time have put a ton of blood, sweat, and tears into creating high-quality content. Now it’s time to show it off. Marketing awards are a fantastic way to demonstrate your value, individuality, and quality as a marketing brand. This article will guide you on the right marketing awards you should apply for.

Why are marketing awards important?

The digital marketing space today is highly competitive and oversaturated. It can be tough for you and your team to stand out. Marketing awards can help with that!

Why You Should Apply

- Recognition and Prestige: Winning an award establishes you as an impactful thought leader in the industry. It also gives you street cred with clients and potential business partners. Plus, getting to showcase your work as “award-winning” is a great way to market yourself and your business!
- Networking and Publicity: Marketing awards ceremonies are a fantastic way to network! You can connect with other professionals and build valuable business relationships. You also increase your visibility in the marketing space. Before you know it, new collaborations, opportunities, and partnerships are around the corner.
- Benchmarking: Applying for awards allows you to evaluate your work. You get to see how your brand performs against the award-winning standards of the industry. It can also generate new ideas on how to improve the quality of your work.
- Boosting Morale: Don’t forget about boosting morale. It’s important! Winning awards can be a powerful motivator and a massive morale boost. It instills a sense of pride and accomplishment in what you are all doing. It also inspires your team to continue striving for excellence.

One way to ensure your content is award-worthy is by having the correct content marketing statistics and data at your disposal so you can make the most informed and accurate content marketing decisions for you and your team. Knowledge is power.

Where You Should Apply

How do you know what marketing award to apply for? Good question. There’s a bunch. But here are a few things to pay attention to when deciding on the right award:

- Budget: Submitting costs money. Decide on the amount you’re willing to spend. Use that to narrow down your application choices.
- Correlation: Not every awards show corresponds to your campaign’s storytelling and objectives. Research each of the awards and hone in on which ones your brand feels connected to.
- Past Winners/Competitors: If you aren’t sure where to apply, look at an award show’s past winners list.
- Reputation: Submissions cost time and money. It is only worth it if the awards have a level of quality that makes them valuable to your brand. Always verify an awards show’s reputation before submitting. Like the ones below!

The top marketing awards to target in 2023

Finally, the awards! Be sure to follow the links to each of the awards for details on how to prepare your entries. Most of them offer tips and advice on their website on how to best position your application. Let’s get to it!

Content Marketing Awards

These awards are one of the most prestigious marketing awards in the industry. Award categories total more than 80, involving all aspects of content marketing. Definitely worth checking out. Even being a finalist for one of these awards is an incredibly high honor. These awards are open to any company in content marketing. Submissions can come from any country; entries must have been created in 2022 to qualify.

How to Submit: Online here

Deadlines: Early Bird – April 16, 2023, Regular – May 21, 2023, Late – May 26, 2023

How Much: $199 for early bird, $260 for regular, $290 for late entry

Marketing Week Awards

The Marketing Week Awards reward work that combines creativity and innovation. They want content that raises the standard of excellence in the marketing space. The eligibility period runs from 6/1/22 to 6/1/23. But, work launched before that period can be entered if you can prove a substantial return in that time. Open to any brands or agencies entering on a brand’s behalf. Open to any international organization.

How to Submit: Online here

Deadlines: Early Bird – April 19, 2023, Regular – May 3, 2023

How Much: £359 plus tax for Early Bird, Regular Entry £399 plus tax

The Drum Marketing Awards

A highly regarded marketing awards program, The Drum Awards reward marketing teams that truly understand their customer base through their measurable impact. These awards are open to anyone who has carried out a marketing campaign. Eligibility requirements are content that went live between April 2022 and April 2023.

How to Submit: Online here

Deadlines: Extended Deadline – April 6, 2023

How Much: $555.50 for extended deadline

Hermes Creative Awards

One of the oldest marketing awards around. The Hermes Creative Awards places its focus on imagination and creativity. Something cool about them is the Pro Bono category, where you can enter work you did for free. These awards are open to anyone that’s produced marketing content after January 1, 2021 (That’s not a typo. It’s a two-year window.)

How to Submit: Online here

Deadlines: Final Deadline – April 13, 2023

How Much: $120 for single submissions, $195 for each campaign, plan, or app entry

Digiday Awards

One of the most prestigious marketing awards out there and worth checking out. They place particular importance on modernization (there’s a category for A.I. use). Past winners include Edelman, Vice, and Coca-Cola. In addition, Digiday sponsors multiple awards programs. For example, this year’s Digiday Content Marketing Awards have already closed. But the Digiday Awards are still open. Anyone can submit, and the submission eligibility period is April 27, 2022 to April 27, 2023.

How to Submit: Online here

Deadlines: Early Deadline – Apr 27, 2023, Regular Deadline – Jun 08, 2023, Last Chance Deadline – Jul 20, 2023

How Much: $499 for early, $599 for regular, $729 for last chance

Folio: Eddie and Ozzie Awards

These awards are for all the websites and publications out there. They focus on editorial distinction. Organized so brands compete within their peer group. Categorized by the specific market they are in or what publication type they are. Any content published between May 1, 2022 and May 18, 2023 is eligible.

How to Submit: Online here

Deadlines: Standard – April 6, 2023, Final – May 18, 2023

How Much: First entry fee is $300, and $270 for each additional entry

PR Top Women in Marketing Awards

PR Daily is an organization that sponsors a number of awards programs. These specific awards acknowledge the top female leaders in the marketing industry. They are looking for women who are pushing boundaries and elevating the brands and products they work for. You can nominate anyone working in a marketing role, including yourself. The eligibility period is from March 2022 to March 2023.

How to Submit: Online here

Deadline: Final Deadline -March 31, 2023

How much: $725 (factoring in the late fee)

Effie Awards

The Effie Awards would be right at the top of this list if the deadline for this year hadn’t already passed. They are on par with the Content Marketing Awards. They carry a level of prestige and distinction that dates back over 50 years. Any and all marketing efforts are eligible for submission. Keep an eye on this in the future.

How to Submit: Online here

Deadlines: TBD

How Much: $995 – $3,245 (past year numbers)

B2B Marketing Awards

The B2B Marketing Awards are the most distinguished marketing awards in business-to-business marketing. They reward the most forward-thinking B2B marketers who show strategic innovation through their data-driven campaigns. Anyone in the B2B marketing space can submit. Submissions aren’t open until later in the year. So keep an eye out and register your interest below.

How to Submit: No submissions are allowed yet

Deadline: Not open yet, but you can register your interest here

How Much: £280 plus VAT

Final Thoughts

In a digital marketing industry that is only getting more competitive, winning a marketing award can be a huge achievement that separates you from the pack. Even if you don’t win, being active in the digital marketing awards space can create all sorts of opportunities for you and your brand.

If you need help getting your brand recognized (either by your audience or one of the great awards listed above), set up a Content Strategy Session with ClearVoice and we will get you sorted out. Also, make sure you are using content marketing strategy essentials to put yourself in the best position possible to make award-worthy work. Good luck!

The post Marketing Awards in 2023: The Competitions You Should Know About appeared first on ClearVoice.

The 2023 Essential List of Content Marketing Statistics and Data

Brenda Percy — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 19:00:48 +0000

Content continues to reign supreme year after year. However, there’s much more to content marketing than publishing loads of content pieces for your business. Effective content marketing is not centered on running a content mill, but rather on deliberate, high-quality content that helps convert your content pieces into lead-generating assets that educate your audience and keeps them coming back for more.

Knowing why your content works will help you continue to create the best quality content for your business by replicating success and giving you visibility into what’s not working. From blog posts to videos and podcasts and everything in between, content marketers evolve year over year, creating the types of content consumers are looking for. Data is key to adapting and adjusting your content marketing strategy for success.

To get you started, we’ve compiled the top content marketing statistics of 2023.

How do you compare? Read on for a good benchmark of your content marketing efforts.

The State of Content Marketing

Content marketing effectiveness relies on adapting content strategies to meet the industry’s and consumers’ changing needs.

Here’s what the current landscape looks like:

82% of marketers have a content marketing strategy (Hubspot)
22% of businesses want to create original content (The Manifest)
When it comes to content marketing usage, the majority of your audience is online with 85% of adults going online on a daily basis (Pew Research)
Content with more than 3000 words gets more reads than shorter content (SEMrush)
Well-written how-to guides can generate a click-through rate of 20 -30% (Good Firms)
60% of marketers say that content marketing helps generate leads (Content Marketing Institute)
51% of companies that have invested in content marketing publish content daily (The Manifest)
The top goals in content marketing are to boost sales, increase brand awareness and build customer relationships (eMarketer)
85% of consumers watch videos without sound and marketers should focus on creating interactive, live, and immersive videos, and providing captions to reach those viewers (DigiDay)
69% of marketers invest in SEO (Hubspot)
Large businesses publish more frequently than small businesses (The Manifest)
60% of companies use data in their content marketing strategy (The Manifest)
31.01% favor lists for high click-through rates (Good Firms)
60% of searches came from mobile devices (Rellify)
95% of marketers stated that key performance indicators (KPIs) should be tied to business goals to matter (Rock Content)
92% of marketers have embraced account-based marketing (ABM) (Kentico)
88% of marketers have generated brand awareness through content marketing (Content Marketing Institute)
Augmented reality (AR) is on the radar of marketers (Outgrow)

Blog Content Statistics

Blogging continues to be a key strategy in both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) content marketing. The top content marketing data pertaining to blogging that we’re seeing in 2023 include:

48% of businesses with a content marketing strategy incorporate blogging as part of this strategy (Hubspot)
80% of bloggers report that blogging delivers results(Orbit Media Studios)
Out of the 1.9 billion websites in the world, there are 600 million blog posts (Web Tribunal)
Bloggers are writing longer articles but are publishing less often (Orbit Media Studios)
Long-form content averages 77.2% more links than short content (Backlinko)
Every day, more than 6 million blog posts go live (Web Tribunal)
Those who use 10 or more images in each blog post reported strong results (Orbit Media Studios)
56% of marketers consider blogging to be effective (Hubspot)
97% of bloggers promote their content using social media (Statistica)
The global content marketing industry is expected to grow by $417.85 billion through 2025 (Report Linker)
71% of bloggers update old content (Orbit Media Studios)
Titles with a word count between 6 and 13 words get the most traffic (Hubspot)
It takes bloggers an average of 4 hours and 10 minutes to write a post(Orbit Media)
The more backlinks a page has, the more organic traffic it gets from Google (Ahrefs)
73% of readers skim through blog posts (Hubspot)
34.48% report an average click rate of 1 – 1.9% (Good Firms)
68% of the online journey begins with a search engine (BrightEdge)
69% of businesses publish blog posts (The Manifest)
The average blog post length is 1142 words (Orbit Media Studios)
10% of marketers consider blogging to generate their largest return on investment (Hubspot)

Podcast Content Statistics

Podcasts provide a new way of connecting with audiences and continue to be an important aspect of a leading content marketing strategy.

The popularity of podcasting continues to grow year over year:

Podcasts remain strong in content marketing with those in the United States tuning in to 15 billion hours of podcasts (Outgrow)
There are 383.7 million listeners worldwide (Demand Sage)
By the end of 2022, there will be 424 million podcast listeners (Demand Sage)
Podcasting will be a $4 billion industry by 2024 (The Verge)
162 million citizens in the United States have listened to podcasts and 41% listen every month (Demand Sage)
8 podcasts are listened to on average each week (Influencer Marketing Hub)
The largest increase in podcast listeners is in the 12-34 age group (Edison Research)
82% of marketers plan to invest the same or more in podcasts or other audio content types (Hubspot)
There are more podcast listeners in the United States than Netflix account holders (Edison Research)
The peak listening hours for podcasts are between 8:15 and 8:30 am, followed by 11:00 to 11:15 am and 5:30 pm (Influencer Marketing Hub)
18% of US-based companies intend to incorporate podcasts into their marketing strategies (Hubspot)
Monthly podcast listeners grew to 125 million listeners, an increase of 6.1% (eMarketer)
80% of consumers listen to all or most of each podcast episode (Podcast Insights)
79% of podcast listeners tune in on their mobile phones(Influencer Marketing Hub)
Podcast ad spend is estimated to reach $1.74 billion this year (Statistica)

Video Content Statistics

People consume content in different ways. Some prefer to read a blog post while others may favor videos. To reach a larger audience, companies must provide content that appeals to these preferences.

Videos continue to be an effective content marketing asset:

93% of marketers agree that video content converts better or the same as other types of content (Vidyard)
70% of viewers purchased from a brand after viewing it on YouTube (Google)
62% of video marketers say success is measured by the engagement (likes, comments and shares) of their videos(Wyzowl)
Business websites and social media channels are the most popular places to publish video content (Vidyard)
51% of B2B marketers state that webinars have delivered the most optimal results for them (Content Marketing Institute)
92% of marketers consider video to be an important component of their content marketing plan (Wyzowl)
72% of businesses publish video content (The Manifest)
86% of marketers consider video to help generate leads (Wyzowl)
72% of consumers would prefer to watch a video than read a post (Rock Content)
94% consider video to have increased understanding in service or product (Wyzowl)
Articles that include video get 83% more traffic (SEMrush)
55% of marketers create their own videos in-house (Wyzowl)
When it comes to organic traffic, YouTube is the second most visited website in the United States (Ahrefs)
32% of video marketers use a combination of outsourced and in-house videos (Wyzowl)

Social Media Content Statistics

Social media continues to be one of the leading marketing channels, making it the ideal platform for promoting content. However, there are some tactics to keep in mind when creating social posts:

Headlines that ask a question receive 23.2% more shares on social media (Backlinko)
When’s the best day to post on social? It doesn’t matter. Research shows that social shares are evenly distributed evenly regardless of which day it was posted (Backlinko)
By 2023 users aged 65 and over will outnumber the 18-24 age group (Insider Intelligence)
The best length for maximizing your social shares is 1,000 to 2,000 words (Backlinko)
62% of companies use social listening as a social media marketing tactic (Hubspot)
The average consumer bounces between 7 different social media platforms each month (Sprout Social)
Facebook is the platform used most by marketers worldwide (Statistica)
TikTok and Reddit are the two social platforms that are growing the most. TikTok users will reach 78.7 million and Reddit will reach 43.3 million (Insider Intelligence)
Facebook Messenger is expected to reach 3 billion users (Statistica)
Instagram dominates engagement in social streaming services with 81% engagement versus Facebook’s at 8% (Sprout Social)

Key Content Marketing Takeaways

The format in which content marketers promote content continues to play an important role and has evolved. Video use is growing and where we use to see large quantities of content, it’s now more about the quality.

Content marketers can incorporate these ideas into their strategy as we head into 2023 and continue to nurture their content marketing efforts. Success in content marketing will demand marketers to evolve and create a multifaceted strategy, consisting of long-form content, video, and the use of the most effective social media channels to promote these efforts.

Need help with your content marketing strategy? Learn how ClearVoice can help you create a powerful content plan.

The post The 2023 Essential List of Content Marketing Statistics and Data appeared first on ClearVoice.

Best Practices for Twitter Hashtags with Case Studies

Altimese Nichole — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 17:00:39 +0000

As a freelancer or client manager, you have clear intentions for your social media presence. Each post, tweet, or piece of content is designed to build an audience, nurture or engage a community, with the goal to convert followers into customers.

While social media is one of the most effective marketing mediums for gaining, retaining, and converting your audience, hashtags are the key to organic growth.

The likelihood is you are familiar with how hashtags function, but may not know as much about their history and how to use them effectively. Twitter being the place of origin for the hashtag, we will explore its history, Twitter’s hashtag best practices, and case studies so you can discover what type of Twitter hashtag strategy is right for your brand.

The History of the Hashtag

Have you ever wondered, “who started using hashtags for social media?” Well, you can thank technology expert Chris Messina in 2007. His question introduced the idea of hashtags as a way to organize thoughts and Tweets on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/chrismessina/status/223115412

His tweet revolutionized how we use social media and created living-breathing content lanes for like-minded users to discover and connect with others on the platform.

Now, we’re living in the land of hashtags in the digital era, and it’s crucial to know the rules of the game. These tips will help you leverage your organic conversations on Twitter and learn how to maximize hashtags.

Twitter Hashtag Dos and Don’ts:

DO make it a habit to check the trending hashtags daily. Hashtags change constantly, and the conversations change every hour. Suppose you’re monitoring the hashtags you use for your brand weekly. In that case, you’re missing an excellent opportunity to include your brand in relevant conversation or aligning with things that may not be the best fit for your brand’s messaging. Make it a habit to check your hashtags daily and review Twitter’s trending Hashtags as well. They may seem disconnected from your brand initially, but that’s where you can have a lot of fun with your audience if timing and relevancy align.

Bonus tip: Did you know that you can modify Twitter’s trending topics list by geographic location? If you want to change the location of your trending topics, here’s how:

Adjust your trends settings via Twitter for iOS:

In the top menu, tap your profile icon.
Tap Settings and privacy, then tap Content preferences.
Under Explore, tap Trends.
Drag the slider next to Trends for you to turn on and receive personalized trends.
When the feature is disabled, you can change your location by tapping Change location. In the search box, type your desired Trends location or choose from the list.

Adjust your Trends settings via Twitter for Android:

In the top menu, you will either see a navigation menu icon or your profile icon. Tap whichever icon you have, and select Settings and privacy.
Tap Content preferences.
Under Explore, tap Trends.
Drag the slider next to Trends for you to turn on and receive personalized trends.
When the feature is disabled, you can change your location by tapping Change location.
In the search box, type your desired Trends location or choose from the list.

Source: www.help.Twitter.com

DON’T use a hashtag out of its intended context. Suppose you find yourself looking at hashtags like #TuesdayMotivation or #Scorpion. If you plan to join the conversation of either Hashtag, make sure you understand the meaning and purpose of the Hashtag’s origin. For example, you wouldn’t want to tweet #TuesdayMotivation on a Friday or #Scorpion when your campaign refers to Beatles.

DON’T expect your audience to use your brand hashtags without a real reason or incentive. Brand hashtags are often unique and recognizable for your brand, whereas generic hashtags have no brand identity. It takes time for consumers to remember your brand hashtags, because they have no reason to—that is, unless you give them a reason. For example, within your social media strategy for an upcoming campaign, create a user-generated incentive to use the Hashtag. It can encourage fans to use the hashtags while tagging friends to your content for a chance to win a prize. Sometimes, the incentive is being featured by your brand. For your audience, that’s a huge compliment, and it gives their profiles additional exposure while you receive the user-generated content and contribution to your Hashtag.

CASE STUDY

The beloved worldwide brand of Coke released their #ShareACoke Campaign in 2013, encouraging fans to participate in the act of giving through sharing a Coke drink to bring a smile. The kickoff or the campaign was brilliant and holistic. From social media and experiential marketing to the brand’s television and billboard advertising, its campaign messaging aligned with beautiful harmony. Consumers not only remember the campaign, but they happily share and tag the company in posts regardless of the platform to join in on campaign participation.

According to a study noted by The Guardian, the campaign reportedly generated over 18 million impressions for Coke and grew their Facebook page by over 870%. Fans around the world shared posts with friends and family while tagging the brand in hopes of engagement recognition. The campaign is still active today, but by fans not and not actively by the brand.

I can't think of anyone id rather #ShareACoke with. pic.twitter.com/yr3JRiPHuZ

— Ambassador of Noodles (@EpinardGuard) July 1, 2021

Bonus tip: If you plan to create sweepstakes, familiarize yourself with the laws around consumer sweepstakes on social media. Any gifts over a certain amount must be taxable, so be sure to maintain compliance legally. Don’t overlook this requirement as your building out your UGC strategy for Twitter campaigns or any sweepstakes you’re planning to execute.

DO check your spelling, but DON’T use apostrophes, commas, or grammatical symbols. Those of us that are avid writers spot grammatical flaws almost instantly. However, with hashtags, #TheyCanLookLikeOneWord. Suppose you’re not careful, #YouMayHavATypo. Capitalizing your words helps you identify potential errors in your hashtags that could interfere with tracking, consistency, and overall Tweet exposure. Symbols that break hashtags are !, @, $, %, &,*, and any dashes or equal signs. Here are examples of broken hashtags:

- #NewYear’sDay
- #Me,myself,andI
- #Peace&Love
- #Ihave$1,000,000dollars

DON’T use ALL CAPS. This rule aligns with that of email etiquette or digital communication overall. When writing your content, do not use all caps. Your words could translate to your audience as an aggressive tone. Keep all caps out of your content in general, but especially hashtags. The Only exception would be acronyms. An example would be #NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration).

DO educate your audience on your brand hashtag meanings. If you have unique hashtags associated with your campaigns, be sure to let your audience know the meaning behind your Hashtag—and why they should use it.

CASE STUDY

The Proctor & Gamble brand, Always, created a memorable user-generated Twitter campaign named the #LikeAGirl Campaign. The company rooted its request for fan participation in purpose-driven marketing that encouraged fans to showcase their own perspective on women empowerment to shift the narrative of what it means to be like a girl. With its launch in 2014, the campaign continues to gain traction, and the Hashtag is still active and thriving on Twitter and all platforms.

Source: Always

DO prioritize consistency for your brand campaign hashtags. Consistency is more than the presentation of the hashtags within your copy. Your repetition helps your audience build lasting awareness of your campaigns, which funnels to consideration and usage from your audience.

DON’T forget to be consistent in your messaging and engage with your audience. Now that you have your campaign active on Twitter, be sure to acknowledge those using your hashtags. It’s disheartening when people engage with your brand to be ignored, without a response. Do the impactful work of engaging with your audience, and remain consistent.

Bonus takeaway: Twitter is unlike other platforms. Hashtags thrive in real-time, relevant conversations, whereas original content struggles to get traction. The exception to this involves brands and Twitter profiles that have a significant influence on the platform.

As you think of your hashtag strategy for Twitter, do not neglect the power of real-time conversation on the platform. Opportunities of virality happen during events like:

Physical and virtual conferences or webinars: Whether you’re speaking during a fantastic event or joining as a participant online, you can leverage the power of Twitter by using the official event hashtags. Your content will be seen by many participating, including the audiences beyond that first touchpoint of exposure.
Twitter trending topics: Trending topics are more than just what’s happening at the moment. It connects people in one common conversation. The tending topics amplify the possibility of viral tweets and organic follower spikes on the platform.
Major news events: This is similar in concept to the Twitter trending topics. However, with major news events, I recommend you be mindful of your Tweets’ tone, messaging, and approach. Making light of a weighted circumstance have an adverse impact on your brand.

Having learned overall hashtag best practices for social media and Twitter, it’s time to implement. Do the research necessary and have fun engaging. Test live-Tweeting and try to focus on the conversation. The growth will immediately follow.

The post Best Practices for Twitter Hashtags with Case Studies appeared first on ClearVoice.

20+ Content Marketing Statistics to Help You Make the Most of 2021

John Boitnott — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 17:00:02 +0000

In 2021, content marketing continues to dominate for one simple reason: Your audience doesn’t want the alternative. They hate popups and disruptive ads with irrelevant marketing messages and no personalization selling things and services they neither want nor need.

Audiences have come to expect and want useful, valuable information about real solutions to their actual problems. That’s why an overwhelming 90% of all companies and other organizations use content in their marketing plans, including 91% of B2B marketers and 86% of B2C marketers.

Perhaps that improving ROI capture is translating to a wider adoption of content marketing in general, as 70% of brand marketers and CMOs are investing company resources into content marketing strategies. Further, 70% of those who are pursuing content marketing strategies report that their efforts were more effective in 2020 than in the previous year.

This makes the statistics on content marketing budgets and anticipated spends even more interesting. During 2020, 54% of marketers expected their content marketing budget to increase either a little (up to 10%) or a medium amount (11 to 25%), while 14% of them expected a more significant increase (over 25%). By the way, that 14% figure is an increase from 2019’s 9% of respondents who answered the same. It would seem that the global pandemic hasn’t depressed content marketing spending, at least.

Video content performance and ROI

Video marketing plays to the strengths of content marketing where your audience is concerned. It’s a medium that lends itself particularly well to storytelling formats that both capture the attention of prospects and evoke an emotional response in your customers.

Marketers are paying attention to their prospects’ increased preferences for video, with 60% of all businesses responding to one Biteable survey on video marketing, saying they spend some of their resources on video marketing. Moreover, 36% of responding marketers aren’t just putting out an occasional video every month or so — they’re creating and promoting videos a few times a week to take advantage of consumers’ desire for fresh video content.

An impressive 94% of marketers participating in the Biteable survey who create video content (or oversee its creation) intend to keep doing so. What’s more, 61% of responding marketers view video marketing as either a very or extremely important component of their brand’s marketing strategy. Just under 75% said that video offered a better ROI than static graphics and images.

Video’s popularity isn’t restricted to YouTube, either. On Facebook, 4 billion video views take place daily, amounting to approximately 100 million hours. Additionally, Twitter states that video is the site’s “fastest-growing advertising tool,” with over 2 billion viewings of video on the platform per day. That’s an increase of 67% YoY.

Blogging content is still effective

To paraphrase a popular misquote of Mark Twain, “The rumors of the death of business blogging are greatly exaggerated.” Blog posts and articles still offer an effective, persuasive way to provide valuable information to your users and prospects.

Overall, blog posts represent the biggest portion of the content brands produce, with 92% of marketers reporting that blogging is a part of their content marketing mix.

Going long with content brings strong results

Longer blog posts may provide a bigger payoff for your brand than shorter pieces. Foundational blog content, which tends to be higher in word count and both broader and deeper in approach, helps improve your content marketing program overall.

In fact, when an article or blog post contains over 3,000 words, it outperforms shorter pieces in the following ways:

3x the traffic
4x the shares and promotion by readers
3.5x the incoming backlinks

That being said, longer isn’t necessarily better. Dense blog posts packed with meaty information aren’t the only kind of content that performs well. In fact, listicle blog posts get an average of 80% more traffic and twice the shares compared to other kinds of posts and articles.

Active blogging improves reach

There’s another benefit to blogging that shouldn’t be overlooked, and that’s its impact on search engines. In fact, active blogging can yield a 434% increase in search-indexed pages, and a 97% increase in indexed links. This boosts your brand’s visibility, enhances its authority, and attracts more prospects to your pages.

These statistics are deeply impressive and show the breadth in diversity when it comes to the content your audience craves from you. Even though you should definitely incorporate video into the mix, it’s also important to pay attention to the written word. In other words, dust off that blog.

Podcast content is now even more popular

Podcasting is rising in popularity with content marketers, although it’s still at the bottom of the list for now. The number of brands producing podcast episodes rose from 11% in 2019 to 15% in 2020.

Podcasts keep trending upwards

In the U.S., 57% of people have listened to at least one episode of a podcast at some point. That’s an increase of a few points from 55% in 2020.

While many people listen to podcasts only occasionally, there are over 16 million self-identified “avid podcast fans” in the U.S. The most popular show genres are comedy, education, and news.

Demographically, podcast fans tend to have disposable income, as about 45% of regular monthly listeners report an annual income of $75,000 or more. For 2021, 51% of men and 46% of women are monthly listeners to podcasts.

Younger people are listening more

Approximately 3% identifying as non-binary or other say they regularly listen to podcasts. Podcast listeners trend younger, with 56% of those aged 12 to 34 identifying as regular listeners in 2021, up from 48% the year prior. Older millennials and Gen Xrs who listen regularly dropped one point, from 40% in 2020 to 39% in 2021.

Interestingly, in the U.S., those individuals who identified as weekly podcast listeners averaged eight podcast episodes per week from 5.1 shows. Fans still tend to be mostly white but podcasting is enjoying significant gains among Hispanic/Latino and black listeners.

Try a new content marketing approach in 2021

No matter what business you’re in, no matter what you’re selling, and no matter what kind of audience you’re trying to build, content marketing can work for you and your brand. The key is to identify the optimal mix of content types that mirror your target audience’s interests and preferences. Then, create a strategy that incorporates a mix of content to deliver the information those audience members want and need at each step of the way along the buyer’s journey.

Play to your marketing team’s strengths, but don’t be afraid to try out new approaches and strategies if the data supports such a move.

The post 20+ Content Marketing Statistics to Help You Make the Most of 2021 appeared first on ClearVoice.

How to Manage and Be Mindful of Other Teamlancers’ Time

Rachel Weingarten — Fri, 07 May 2021 19:00:11 +0000

When in a group setting, one person’s time management can be a headache for others. For example, what would happen if I missed the deadline for submitting this article? No doubt, my fellow teamlancers on the project would have been forced to miss their own deadlines. My editor would have missed her deadline in submitting her request for any revisions from me which would then have delayed her delivery of the polished copy to the web team. The illustrators probably would have missed their deadlines in creating the visuals to run with the piece, and so on and so on, until everyone involved in production might have been negatively impacted.

Individual Slacking Leads to Collectively Missed Deadlines

Had I slacked off on this assignment, the team’s future workload would have suffered as well. Even more, their future workloads might have suffered since missing a deadline would have forced them to use time budgeted for other projects to catch up on my delayed article submission. Fortunately, I fully intend to submit this article on time. While not every assignment is critical, every element of production is — or at least it should be.

Being Polite vs. Professional

There’s a fine line between being attentive vs. being a doormat, especially at work. Paying attention to details makes you a valuable member of a team. Being so obsessive about things where you put the needs of others before your own, will probably cut into your own productivity and success rate. But aren’t we always told to help or mentor others at work? When it comes to time management, though, it’s critical to realize you can’t elevate someone else’s needs above your own responsibilities. It may sound cruel, but if someone on your team believes deadlines are fully elastic, it’s not in your interest to keep helping them out to the detriment of everyone else involved in the project. But how can you determine how much time to spend on your own responsibilities while still being attentive to your fellow team members?

One more thing to think about, what if you’re the weakest link on a project? Maybe it takes you longer to catch on to a project’s necessary parameters or perhaps you like to chew on things for a while before jumping in. While that might work for solopreneurs, as a teamlancer you need to ensure you’re not wasting anyone else’s time along the way.

Can you leave a meeting or conversation that’s a waste of time?

To paraphrase Tesla owner and entrepreneur Elon Musk’s somewhat controversial advice, if you don’t feel a meeting is working for you or it’s a waste of your time, just get up and walk out. But the ever-evolving workspace doesn’t exactly work that way. Most of us will still be working in a remote work environment for the foreseeable future, and that means it’s unlikely we’ll be able to cut to the proverbial chase in person and will instead have to figure out how to keep working in a more interconnected way for best results. In a virtual teamlancing environment, you can’t just leave mid-project but rather have to check in with your colleagues to see if you’re needed or can move on to a different project element or client.

Three tips on how not to waste other people’s time:

Before you ask a colleague for help with a topic, do a quick search through the team’s communication channel or email chains, the information might already have been covered.
Don’t always rely on one person to help you out of tough situations. If you’re new to a project, consider reserving one question for each colleague instead of peppering one person with every problem.
Pad your deadlines. If you’re the slowest to finish and think a project might take longer or you might need extra help, add a few extra days (or weeks if it’s more detailed) for onboarding or last-minute edits and updates.

Create a team with the best possible dynamic and work style

Teamlancers often find themselves as members of multiple teams, and that sometimes involves creating teams for others. In addition to pulling together qualified professionals, they also determine the ideal teamlancer setup, including which skills work best together.

Sam Neeser, Director of Service Delivery at ClearVoice, has spent the better part of the past three years working with “teams of people whose full-time job is to curate the best content for the client.” He explains the core team works on teamlance initiatives they’re no longer exclusively the experts of the content anymore, but have evolved along the way. At this point, Neeser and his teammates are “galvanizing the teams to work together on creating the best content.” Which means being hyper-aware of how to create a team with a strong dynamic and shared work commitment. Neeser believes this style is creating an added layer of support.

Pay attention to the time zones

In my own professional life, I was on the East Coast while my then-business partner was on the West Coast. Adding to the merriment, my neediest (and most well-paying) clients were in the U.K. and the Middle East. Depending on our workload, I’d start my days at 4:30 a.m. EST and recap the end of the day with my business partner at about 9:00 p.m. While I could have handed off project elements to others, I felt to stand out to clients and keep them happy, I had to give up all semblance of any healthy work/life balance. I would not be doing that again.

Neeser explains in managing an international team, he’ll “hire anyone in the world, as long as they fit the client needs.” Neeser said a major goal is to create workarounds to keep teamlancers happy. So for instance, when creating a team, a lot of the deciding factors include, “who’s going to be good and who’s available for freelance right now,” Neeser explained. So, what happens if a European freelancer is the best possible content creator for an American company? Neeser said they’d likely be assigned an editor who worked in Denmark so they could work the same hours without lag. “Freelance management is definitely a moving target,” Neeser said. Potentially complicating things, “Everyone is on their own timeline and in their own timezone.”

Something to keep in mind when assembling a team is not only the need to work well together, but also to figure out a way to minimize a lag in interaction. Despite the fact that most of us are comfortable working remotely these days, there’s less of a disconnect when you know your concerns can be addressed whenever possible.

Two ways to keep your international team connected:

Pair team leaders and team members with shared time zones when possible
Choose team members with similar work ethics or levels of commitment

A more accurate measure of productivity

Attention to how much time is spent on a project is crucial, especially if pesky details keep dragging on and prevent you from meeting deadlines. Even if you closely track the time theoretically spent on a project, that doesn’t always mean you’re keeping track of all your work— much less the time spent daydreaming or brainstorming. While many teamlancers use tools like Toggl to track billable hours, the constant time tracking might not be as effective as you’d think. In fact, at times, obsessively tracking your hours could end up hindering productivity.

Time Tracking isn’t Necessarily the Key Measure of Productivity

A recent article about employee productivity on SFGate.com detailed some of the more well-known tools used to track and measure employee hours when working from home. Just because someone is at a keyboard or tracking their hours does not mean that they’re actually working, much less doing their best possible work. The article also highlighted how we are all probably incorrectly measuring productivity. As the SFGate article puts it, “confusing inputs for outcomes.” Insisting that people work a certain amount of hours daily doesn’t mean that they’re accomplishing their goals, much less leading the team in the right direction.

Trust, Rewards, and Check-Ins

If respecting others’ time is something you or your team struggle with, it’s time to take a new view of project management.

In early 2017, the Harvard Business Review published an article by Paul J. Zak called The Neuroscience of Trust. Zak, founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and the author of Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies, presented a premise that employees in high-trust workplaces have greater productivity, energy, collaborative skills, and staying power with their employers compared to those working in low trust companies. Zak also said employees in those spaces also “suffer less chronic stress and are happier with their lives, and these factors fuel stronger performance.”

Another way to create a happier and more productive workspace is to consider implementing a reward system. And rewards given don’t have to be as dramatic as a Mary Kay pink Cadillac to work either, consider a gift card for a food delivery system randomly given to the person who leads a team to an early delivery date.

Finally, if you think someone on the team is lagging behind, set up a group check-in system or one-on-one goal buddies. While some people thrive in isolated work environments, others really need the warmth of a connected environment. It might even be the key to keeping team members from missing deadlines.

Quick ways to create a more in-tune team

Set up team check-ins – whether it’s daily, weekly, or at set milestones, let team members know they’ll be accountable to each other
Change up your inspiration – if the idea of successfully completing a project isn’t enough to motivate everyone, add some elements that inspire those lagging behind.
Define benchmarks and success — try to come up with ways to share even small milestones: an accepted draft, the creation of an editorial calendar, anything that shows how well your team can work together and succeed together.
Consider a reward system — try surprising everyone from time to time. Sending a gift card to a meal delivery service along with a friendly note about treating team members to dinner reminds them that you appreciate them meeting or beating deadlines.
Plan virtual teambuilding events — talk to your team and see if they’d be open to teambuilding events. This could be as simple as a quick coffee chat or happy hour over Zoom or even an in-person meeting if you live near each other.

Need to learn more about managing your outsourced team time and bandwidth? Look no further. Connect with a ClearVoice content strategist on all things content outsourcing and managing fractional talent to ensure seamless content marketing production.

The post How to Manage and Be Mindful of Other Teamlancers’ Time appeared first on ClearVoice.

Meet the Teamlancers Part 9: The Semi-Retired Teamlancers

Rachel Weingarten — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 17:00:26 +0000

While I’m mostly a lifestyle and business writer, over the past few months, I’ve been delving into financial writing where one of the hottest topics is retirement. Whether you’re far away from retirement, planning for retirement, or easing into it, there’s often a discussion of saving properly or even partially to help cushion your future.

And of course, things get a bit more interesting — and more complicated — when you’re part of a Teamlancing collaboration rather than a more traditional work structure.

Delay retirement or start another career?

Late last fall I wrote an article in Millie magazine on what to consider if you might need to delay retirement. The premise was that, once the pandemic hit, many millennials who’d lived in extreme frugality in hopes of retiring young had to suddenly reconsider all of their options. It was more than a bit depressing to have to acknowledge that the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement had been extinguished.

In October 2020, personal finance app Stash and Lending Tree released the results of a survey discussing the lasting financial impact the pandemic had on Americans. Of the 5,000 people surveyed, 3 out of 10 reported rethinking their retirement plans.

But there was an interesting upside as well. In the article discussing the survey results, Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst for LendingTree, suggested that having a side hustle might be another option to avoid a money crunch.

“There are countless ways to bring in a little extra cash on the side, and doing so can make a huge difference when you’re trying to weather a crisis,” he said.

While some choose teamlancing as part of their career path intentionally, others find that it works best when easing out of their existing career into retirement. And the numbers in the current gig economy back up the idea that people are working longer, even if it’s not a full-time gig.

Introducing semi-retirement

In January, Investopedia ran an article called The Rise of the Semi-Retired Life. They explained that for the most part, semi-retirement was a transition from full-time work to fewer hours. For many, that also meant leaving a more demanding job for one with less stress or one that was more of a passion project.

Some people preferred this option since it allowed them to delay taking social security, while others prefer to remain at a position that provides benefits or some sort of an income. Still, other partial retirees have chosen to keep working so that they can better enjoy their leisure time.

Mark, a former emergency physician at a busy New York City hospital who chose not to reveal his full name for reasons of professional privacy, said that the stress of running an emergency room eroded his quality of life. He added that in solely caring for others, he’d stopped being able to care for himself.

Mark left his full-time job and now consults in telemedicine, which allows him to help emergency centers create immediate emergency response centers. Mark said he’s happiest knowing his current gig allows him to interact with an extended freelance team without having life or death stressors as part of his day.

Why a semi-retired life could work for you

You still love your career path, but not your job
You prefer to keep an income stream going, but don’t need to earn as much as you once did
You like the idea of working with a team, but not on a daily basis
You’d like to keep the benefits going

2 famous (and really creative!) semi-retired teamlancers

In case you’re still not sure if being a partially retired teamlancer is for you, let me remind you about one of the most famous semi-retired teamlancing couples in America: Barack and Michelle Obama.

After serving as the 44th president and first lady of the United States from 2009-2017, the Obamas were too young and vibrant to fully retire. They also had a lot more to say outside of the political arena.

In May 2018, the Obamas signed a mega-deal with Netflix to produce docuseries, documentaries, and features. At the time, Michelle said, “I have always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire us, to make us think differently about the world around us, and to help us open our minds and hearts to others.”

She also recently announced a new cooking show in partnership with Healthier America. It’s a great way of creating positive messages. In this way, the power couple has segued from the White House to the realm of influencers on a global scale. Interestingly enough, with mostly remote teams, in theory, the Obamas are also a hardworking pair of creative (and wildly successful) teamlancers.

Former world leaders aside, how does someone transition from a high-power job to one that’s potentially more creative, and in everyone else but the Obamas’ case, less financially rewarding? By choosing to highlight the talents you might not previously have been able to.

Figure out what you want to do in semi-retirement by trying out different jobs

Marina (who chose to keep her last name private because her employer does not know she’s job-hunting) has been secretly looking for a part-time job or gig for the past year.

Unbeknownst to her current employer, Marina has been trying on other jobs on the side, including social media manager, project manager, and even ghostwriter for a baby food company, though none of those teamlancing gigs were the right fit.

And while Marina loves working as part of a team, she hates the competitive nature of her current job. “That pressure seeps into everything, even my time off,” she said. “I keep trying to work with other teams to see if it’s the idea of working, if it’s the job in general, or maybe I’m just burnt out.”

When asked what bothers her most about her current job, Marina said she much prefers teamlancing since she can connect or remain distant depending on her mood.

Ultimately, she wishes she could work in a pet shop. Barring that, she hopes to work with animals in some way in the future.

“I feel like I’m cheating on my boss by trying out part-time jobs but I think that fits me better,” she said. “I’m ready to be happy at my job, and if that means I have to retire and make a fraction of what I used to earn, I may be ready for that as well.”

Segueing to a semi-retired lifestyle

Leave your past job behind you. If like Barack and Michelle Obama, you’re ready to completely switch careers, make sure you’ve left the old one behind. It might be hard for others to take you seriously if you still hang onto remnants of your previous career.
Try other jobs on for size. While I’m not recommending stepping out on your current employer, this is a really good time to check out other potential opportunities. And working only part-time means you don’t have to fully commit to anything until you’re sure.

An unexpected bonus

If you’re financially savvy, you might wonder about your ability to keep contributing to your IRA even past your retirement date. The SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act allows individuals with earned income to keep contributing to their IRAs even when they’re past the age of 70.

If you’re unsure about how your finances will hold up once you partially retire, you might want to consult with a financial expert to help you figure out how to gracefully try something new without going broke.

Tackle debt first

The finance experts I’ve been interviewing lately all had the exact same advice when it came to trying out a new job in retirement — tackle your debt first. Since their advice was nearly identical, I’ll paraphrase.

Most of the experts said that, for anyone at any age, retirement can come as a shock. If you owe money before you retire and then earn less than you did previously, you’ll probably feel a greater pressure about the exact same amount of debt.

The best jobs for semi-retired teamlancers

While retirement once meant collecting a gold watch from your former employer and then being relegated to a park bench, today’s retirees are often younger than in generations past. They also seem open to a wider variety of opportunities.

If you’re looking for a bridge job to take you from working all the time to working some of the time while trying on retirement for size, try using your existing skills in a new way.

If you were an accountant, consider becoming a math tutor. You can set your own hours, use your mathematical skills and not worry about an audit. Bonus, with the popularity of Zoom, you can probably tutor online.
If you worked as an art director, consider trying — and merchandising — a new craft. I’m a little obsessed with Cricut Mug Press, the newest machine from the wildly popular crafting company that allows you to create pro-quality mugs in minutes at the touch of a button. Over the years, I’ve interviewed many entrepreneurs who use their ideas, talents, and various Cricut machines to create modest craft-based empires. It’s one of those quirky creative subcultures you didn’t realize existed, or at least I didn’t!
If you’re a great planner, consider setting up a business where you plan virtual events. With travel still so limited, there’s much room for growth in virtual gatherings. There are also many types of software to allow you to manage logistics. And if it feels too stressful to figure out a new system, bring on some teamlancers to handle tech or gifting while you plan the event or handle invitations.
Try consulting. One of the most interesting men I’ve met over the past few years is a retired cosmetic chemist. In his heyday, he invented formulations for some of the top skincare brands in the world. In his current incarnation, George teamlances for the brands he once considered competitors. He still has the thrill of creation without the added pressure of overseeing the full process.
Help companies create their own branded products. A former friend left her job in branding to create customized wines. Much like Wines that Rock, which creates everything from Hallmark Wines to wines inspired by The Grateful Dead, this allows a company to translate their brands to products (and revenue streams).

2 things to do when you’re semi-retired:

Be part of the team. Unless someone hires you to be a project manager or part-time CEO, chances are good that in your semi-retired life you’ll be a team member. Learning to be a team player is important to ensure that people will enjoy working with you as much as you do with them.
Evolve. You were great at your last job. Hurrah! But now you’re on to the next. Holding on to your memories or outdated ways of doing things will stand in the way of enjoying your new iteration.

The post Meet the Teamlancers Part 9: The Semi-Retired Teamlancers appeared first on ClearVoice.

Facebook Analytics

Tiffany Verbeck — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 17:00:26 +0000

What is Facebook Analytics? Facebook Analytics is free data provided by Facebook that tracks your page’s likes, views, and more. It gives insight into your business’s audience and how they interact with your page that you can use to grow the interactions.

Facebook Analytics is also called Facebook Insights, and it provides a deep look into the 2.7 billion monthly users that interact with your business’s page on Facebook. The data helps you track results from your campaigns and posts and understand the Facebook algorithm.

Take note that you can only use this platform with a business’s Facebook page rather than a personal account. To view this data, navigate to your Facebook Analytics page. Then click on the Dashboards tab on the left-hand side of the page to view data for items like retention, journeys, and events.

The data shows detailed information for things like views, likes, clicks, new followers, orders, and engagement. It can also track Facebook ad results, as well as allow you to see results from each of your type of posts to understand better what resonates with your audience best. To get the most out of Facebook Analytics, you’ll need to take the information you learn to improve your results in the future. For example, you can better target a different audience based on age, location, device used to view based on what data you find. Then you’ll want to repeat what works.

Common uses for Facebook Analytics

Find who you should be targeting with Facebook ads
Create effective marketing funnels for your business
Examine your business’s Facebook audience to adjust posting strategy
See what’s working best for your audience
Use the data to grow your audience
Understand who goes from viewing your content to ordering from your business

The post Facebook Analytics appeared first on ClearVoice.

Meet the Teamlancers Part 3: Working With Brand Ambassadors and Influencers

Rachel Weingarten — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 23:00:15 +0000

I recently started a new series, Meet the Teamlancers, where we get to peek at the behind-the-scenes routines of collaborative freelancing teams supporting major agencies or brands. This time, we’re going to meet with teamlancers who regularly work with influencers and brand ambassadors.

And to offer a fair representation of the process, this article will be split in two with the first part sharing insights from the teamlancers who hire or collaborate with ambassadors and influencers while the second part of this feature will share the point of view of the influencers and brand partners themselves. Stay tuned for the second part of working with brand ambassadors and influencers who will share their points of view.

Still with me? Good, because the Teamlancing collaboration shared by ambassadors and brands or corporations can become multi-layered, and on some level, even more nuanced than a traditional teamlancing relationship. Where else do you have someone who is known in their industry for being one type of expert, partnering with someone else potentially in an entirely different industry to figure out a way to best co-promote each other?

Brand ambassadors and influencers are almost always teamlancers

Up until a few years ago, most of us hadn’t even heard the expression influencers, much regularly worked with them — or aspired to be one. But with the ever-changing careers market comes gigs that once sounded a bit unusual and now are just another part of doing business.

When lecturing or keynoting, I frequently refer to cross-branding partnerships offering elevation by association for one or both parties. It’s an expression first shared with me some time back by a pal I’ve since lost touch with, Russell Barnett, My/Mochi Ice Cream managing director and chief marketing officer. Barnett inherently understood the value of brands promoting brands, even before we all had a name for it.

In a successful influencer or brand ambassador relationship, both parties benefit, be it in the form of expanded brand reach, increased viewership or eyeballs, or quite literally when one is paid to promote the other’s product. And yet, of all the teamlancing relationships there are, the ambassador or influencer remains steadfastly true to their own brand ideals while hopefully in support of another.

Transparency and consistency are key

Brand ambassadors bring teamlancing to a different level. They do their own thing but work closely with brands/team members, and for the length of the campaign, are part of a team building the brand, connecting and using their expertise while the rest of the time they’re working on their own projects or with other organizations. It gets tricky when egos are involved or when managing multiple teams of ambassadors or other individuals representing — though not actually part of — the brand.

When working with an influencer, it’s crucial to first understand your own brand before expecting them to represent you. Meredith Jacobson, influencer marketing strategist & founder of We Are Boosters, a teamlancing collaborative of 20+ influencer marketing specialists, began her career in the more traditional elements of talent management.

From there, she progressed to managing brand partnerships for digital talent and worked closely with brands to educate them about influencers. As her career evolved, she reviewed proposals from all of her former competitors and other vendors and realized “just how many inconsistencies are out there, how some agencies operate with an astonishing lack of transparency, and on a positive note: how many interesting and valuable partners/solutions are out there.”

3 things to keep in mind when hiring an ambassador

Have a clear understanding of the potential ambassador’s audience. It doesn’t matter how many followers they have if these people ultimately aren’t your own target audience.
Choose someone genuinely interested in your brand. Have they tweeted or posted about your product in the past? Great. They already seem to have expressed authentic interest or knowledge in your product.
Try each other on for size. “I always recommend that the brand starts with a one-off test campaign to see how the partnership goes,” Jacobson said.

Do your due diligence

No one likes to admit it, but we’re often taken in by huge numbers and the claims people make about their reach or past partnerships. But if you scratch the surface, you’ll see the seamy underbelly of influencer marketing complete with so-called brand ambassadors pretending to represent products they have no ties to.

WWD had a really interesting article in early January where they delved into the popularity of micro-influencers and even nano-influencers and took it a step further to the genuinfluencer, the genuine influencer.

As explained by the trend forecasters at WGSN, the rise of genuinfluencers was a direct result of past health and political misinformation. It might blow your mind to know that the World Health Organization asked Dude With Sign to post accurate COVID-19 information to his 7.4 million Instagram followers. Then again, that particular dude is part of the frequently sketchy F*ck Jerry manufactured group of influencers, so despite being incredibly popular, how much of a genuinfluencer is he really?

To ensure that you’re creating the best possible brand partnership for your client, Christie Childers, founder & influencer marketing consultant of Best Day Ever, says that it’s crucial to “be very thorough when choosing partners for your clients.”

For Childers, that means “doing a deep dive into their past content and ensuring brands they’ve partnered with recently are aligned with my client and wouldn’t raise any red flags for them.”

Most importantly, Childers says that “you need to understand your potential partners’ audience, as those are people your brand will be having a conversation with in the storytelling of a branded endorsement.”

The potential influencer might tick all the right boxes in theory, but not be someone your client’s audience can relate to on any level.

Really listen to what they’re saying

I’ve sat in on a few ambassador searches along with my colleague and fellow teamlancer at The Content Factory, Brian Markowski, who’s been working with brand ambassadors for about the past three years. While I’m used to interviewing people to draw out their stories, I noticed that Markowski’s process felt a bit more circuitous, and he explained why.

“Every client has their varying needs or quirks or unique aspect they’re looking for.”

There’s generally an interview process that can go about an hour-long, during which time Markowski said that he’s “gauging their knowledge and what they can bring to the table.” More than that, he’s also interviewing them and learning if they’ll sound good on TV or a podcast.

What to listen for when interviewing a potential ambassador

How much fresh information are they offering? If they keep repeating the same two things, they won’t prove to be interesting to potential press or partners.
How well-versed are they on their topic? If they keep stopping and starting or tripping over their words, they won’t come across as experts and that could weaken your own brand in the process.
Do they take themselves seriously or not seriously enough? Only you can know what the right fit is to represent your brand.

You’re going to have to put in some hard work too

I’m so sorry to be the one to break this to you, but working with ambassadors and influencers means that you’ll have to at least have some working knowledge of their topic. Markowski listens carefully when interviewing potential partners.

“Do they sound like they really grasp the specialty?” More than that, if it’s a company around medicine, he prepares questions in advance and asks them about current events.

“I do my research on what is the bleeding edge information. That’s how I know if they’re a good fit.” He also listens carefully to their voices. “Passion comes through in conversation.”

In that way, you know if they’re excited about their topic and representing your brand.

Manage everyone’s expectations

Most of us know the feeling of starting a new gig and feeling pressure from all ends to keep everyone happy. There can be an added level of anxiety when working with influencers and brand partnerships since you’re inviting veritable strangers in to represent you or your client’s brand.

One of the keys to keeping everyone happy is understanding that this isn’t necessarily a traditional partnership, it’s one that for all intents and purposes is built on exchanging skills or reputation for promotional purposes… and it’s all based on trust. To ensure that all parties feel the partnership is a success, one must create a roadmap for success.

“From the beginning, it’s important to clearly lay out timelines for everyone involved,” Childers said. And it shouldn’t be one-sided, everyone involved has to agree to the timeline. Childers added that “you should have specific deadlines laid out for your influencers and your clients alike if you will need assets and deliverables from both sides.”

Two other tips she offers are to keep up consistent communication to keep your project on track. Most of all, keep in mind that “you also need to show a little grace, as influencers are real people with real. Roadblocks may arise and timelines may shift.” So it’s crucial to remain flexible at all times.

Fail gracefully

Despite the best-laid plans of agencies and influencers, sometimes brand partnerships fail, but you’ll really want to take action instead of allowing a poor fit to fester.

“If it’s decided they’re not a good fit, you want to find out quickly,” Markowski said. Depending on the field of expertise, he said that “It can take months to build a successful brand/ambassador relationship but if you’re paying the ambassador and you don’t see ROI relatively quickly, you might want to take action.”

But before you give up entirely, you might want to try to rescue things first. “Look for solutions, not excuses,” Jacobson said. “Mistakes happen all the time, and while there’s a time and place for a moratorium, the best way to handle them is to figure out how to fix the problem rather than harp on who or what caused it.” She also reminds us not to commit to a long-term brand ambassador program with someone you’ve never partnered with before.

3 things to think about before working with influencers

Identify shared issues: No partnership will work if you’re each promoting your own angle. Find the thing that unifies you and promote that outlook or product or vision together.
Decide who gets the link: If the backlink is your priority, you want to make this crystal clear to your ambassador. That said, most journalists will choose the more impressive pedigree, so if your ambassador outshines your brand, you might want to shift your messaging slightly.
Part friends: There’s no worse feeling than sharing the keys to the kingdom with an outsider only to have them reject your vision. Even if a partnership fizzles, try to find a way to split amicably — you never know when you might work together again.

The post Meet the Teamlancers Part 3: Working With Brand Ambassadors and Influencers appeared first on ClearVoice.

5 Ways Teamlancers Can Add Unforeseen Value to Your Marketing Mix

Gregg Rosenzweig — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 17:00:35 +0000

If you’re a C-suite executive or mid-level marketer, chances are COVID-19 has forced you to redefine how you speak about your company’s everyday existence.

What qualified as “normal” prior to March 2020 has transformed into “the new normal.” You’ve come to learn that “P” for “Pandemic” also means “P” for “Pivot” — and though you’re working hard to give Ps a chance, you now realize that tighter margins mean full-time employees are a costlier undertaking than pre-COVID-19… and it might just be time for your first teamlance.

Understanding teamlancing and its value

Not familiar with teamlancing? Think of it like the first dance at a wedding where a couple of people — or flash-mob-like group — are working in lockstep to deliver something sensational when all eyes are on them. For some, this may be a two-person tango akin to something called “teams” in advertising (i.e., a happy couple that just works). For others, it’s a bigger endeavor with a complementary set of puzzle pieces (a networked team) working together to support the broader team. Call that the wedding party, if you will.

Except, as the orchestrator of this teamlance, you’re not married to any of them. But you can rest assured that this group shares one common goal: doing great work to make people proud and not making a fool of each other at an inopportune time.

Prior to the pandemic, teamlancing was a preference of certain companies that preferred flexible business models and interchangeable pieces to keep things on the leaner side. But, in the face of COVID-19, that luxury is gone for many. Teamlancing is more a necessity now inspired by shrinking budgets, tighter margins and/or the need to employ a remote workforce.

Meaning? It’s never been a better time to test the teamlance waters.

5 ways teamlancers add unexpected value

Fear not, marketer, if you do the dance right and with the right teamlance squad in place, the value can exceed even your wildest expectations. That’s because the teamlancer likes to impress by design because they know their client could always look elsewhere.

So, despite the obvious benefits of outsourcing to a teamlance crew based on their unique skill or specialty areas, there are five other places you might not realize teamlancers can add value to your workforce as you evolve in these trying times.

1. Teamlancers have perspectives that extend beyond your four walls.

If you’re in a position to build a team, conventional wisdom traditionally dictates that it’s easier to trust in-housers who live and breathe the brand on a daily basis. The thought is: it’s easier to trust the home team — the one that’s been around, who has fought the battles and has built up brand equity with your product or client base. And there might be something to that.

However, with repetition and comfort can come all sorts of other issues. When you’re dealing with the same group of employees all the time, harmful patterns can exist where ego and bureaucracy affect the status quo. Places where “group think” tends to overwhelm the process of nurturing bold, new ideas. This can stifle creativity and create toxic landmines on the road to success.

Teamlancing embraces outside views and often, thrives because of them — because you’re dealing with talent that comes from different places (literally, they may live all over the place) that possess diverse perspectives born from varied experiences, not the same.

Sure, there can be learning curves in this pursuit, but if you align stars right, teamlancers can infuse their magic starting day one.

In my interview with WONGDOODY CEO Ben Wiener, he pointed to one of the most compelling reasons why his agency’s use of freelancers had risen 25 percent in the previous years:

“You want to be able to build a custom team for what a client needs. Not give clients what you happen to have sitting around. If your agency’s got people sitting around and you hire the agency, guess what, those are the people that are going on your account. They’re not the best people; they’re not the right people; they’re the people who have the time. Freelancers allow us to custom assemble a team that’s completely right for what a client needs, to focus on what a client needs.” – Ben Wiener, CEO WONGDOODY Advertising Agency

2. Teamlancers are incentivized to be better than most.

Having worked a global launch project for Autodesk three years in a row at WONGDOODY, I can say that our team of freelancers made good on a promise to deliver the goods to the in-house team because we were focused on one thing: delivering the best possible results for this project without being distracted by other agency business or bureaucratic BS.

To be honest, we had to. Falling somewhere under the Darwinian principle “survival of the fittest,” the teamlancer’s desire to keep working demands you deliver what’s being asked for — so that calls for focus and maybe less TikTok videos at work.

When you’re a team lancer-for-hire, you’re at the mercy of project-based, finite periods of work — so you must keep your skills, technical capabilities, and overall marketability up to date. Whether through updating your software skills, refining soft skills or staying atop what’s trending in your industry, a strain of never-get-too-comfortable is an innate trait of the time-tested teamlancer.

As someone in a position to hire, oftentimes you may “go outside” the house to find talent that possesses skills that don’t exist inside your four walls. Teamlancers have often prepared for these moments — by understanding how to execute in varying degrees of non-ideal circumstances. So, if you’re in charge of sourcing talent, know there are teamlancers who are prepared for tactical situations — who are used to delivering in a pinch and can provide possible earthquake insurance if/when the ground shakes internally or a fire drill becomes necessary.

It’s in their DNA.

3. Teamlancers can have a better understanding of the competitive landscape.

If you’re a tried-and-true teamlancer, chances are you’ve moved around a bit and have accumulated hands-on experiences in a variety of settings. Perhaps you’ve even become a specialist over time when you started out as a generalist. (For example, my experience on the Honda and Acura account at RPA made me desirable for a freelance project on a different automotive assignment years later for TrueCar.)

Unless there’s a non-compete clause in play (unusual for independent contractors), you’ve likely accumulated firsthand knowledge of how things work in an industry that could hold value for a broader teamlance effort.

This is not to say that teamlancers share insider information — no, no, no — but teamlancers can up their appeal by:

Possessing a greater holistic understanding of the competitive landscape and thereby shortening the learning curve.
Sharing workable insights by having teamlanced for other competitors in the space.
Smoothing processes for your company through palpable, firsthand experience gained at competitive shops (but again, without divulging industry secrets that would violate an NDA or non-compete clause).

4. Teamlancers have connections that can help build out your teamlance tree.

Truth be told, unless you have access to a pool of talent like ClearVoice, chances are you may not have relationships with quality freelancers already in place. Perhaps this works some of the time, but not when you need them most, in a pinch. This could be during a global pandemic when you’re forced to lay off or furlough employees — or during a campaign pitch when a quick turnaround requires ramping up resources so as not to tax the full-timers already spread thin within your walls.

Naturally, if you’re working with ClearVoice as your teamlancing solution, your problems are solved by the Customer Success Team. However, if you’re building a teamlance solution from scratch, you might consider tapping into the connectivity of your top teamlancers to recruit the superstars they’ve worked with on previous teamlance jobs. Chances are they’ve collaborated with talented people along the way who’ve also delivered remarkable results on time, on brand and on message.

By adding solid contacts and new branches to a company’s teamlance tree, this special ops unit can save you time and the need to post job reqs that lead to a tidal wave of resumes and applicant reviews. After all, teamlancing is all about collaboration through networked teams — so maintaining good relationships is crucial.

At several stops, I’ve teamlanced with talent that I’d recommended for other jobs in a heartbeat. Professionals I worked in the trenches with under tight timelines, who possess talent that supersedes anything ‘meh’-diocre. These referrals go a long way, benefit from magical word-of-mouth and offer the added assurance of knowing a teamlance dynamic has already worked.

It’s one of the great untold secrets of teamlance-a-lot.

5. Teamlancers are more likely to overdeliver — because they live in a world of discomfort.

If you work as a teamlancer, your livelihood is dependent on these gigs to pay your rent, mortgage, medical bills, et al. But without full-time fringe benefits, each and every teamlance job becomes a try-out for more work down the road. That’s why bonafide teamlancers must be on their A-game all the time because they know they’re more expendable than a full-time employee. It behooves them to impress at every turn in efforts to generate repeat business and a possible teamlance encore.

In many cases, this means going above and beyond to satisfy the wildest expectations of the client.

As a C-level executive or mid-level marketer, this means teamlancers are more likely to:

Show up to work ready to go with preparations for how to succeed in the role already thought through.
Be professional within the confines of a team that has been brought on to be tactical and to complete a task.
Possess a positive attitude without carrying around the residue from their last raise or vacation request denial.

It also means teamlancers are less likely to:

Call-in sick (even remotely) because oftentimes, they only get paid for the hours they work and perform.
Book appointments at inopportune times that put stress on other team members to carry the load.
Complain of workload because simply put: this is what pays their bills.

Luckily, in the case of another teamlance I worked as a copywriter for Harman Kardon, we were a creative collective captured from different places and put together in complementary teamlance fashion — copywriters, graphic designers, art directors.

From my vantage point, the teamlancers did able-bodied impressions of full-time professionals (despite far less job security) and were valued for their contributions. Ultimately, this made for a fun and functional atmosphere where people enjoyed clocking in.

Who will fill out your teamlance card?

Putting aside the fact that teamlancing also gives you the opportunity to test-drive talent before bringing them on full-time, the teamlance dance has other positive benefits. Given the uncertain future — in a post-COVID world where remote work is expected to be more prevalent than ever — it makes sense to work with people who are used to volatile conditions where financial risk, remote tag-teams and demanding clients rule the day.

Teamlancers are used to working without the promise of future work and have adapted accordingly — so if you’re going to teamlance, do it with the people who’ve done it before.

The post 5 Ways Teamlancers Can Add Unforeseen Value to Your Marketing Mix appeared first on ClearVoice.

Temporary vs. Permanent Content Strategies: 5 Ways to Determine Which

Lindsay Tigar — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 15:00:53 +0000

How is your rollercoaster of 2020 going? All industries have been holding on tight, preparing for the next topsy-turvy turn and bracing for impact. Though the pandemic state in March and early April saw a significant dip in internet traffic, now, the pace is picking up again and — dare we say it — returning to pre-pandemic numbers.

Since marketers are tasked with advising their clients about current trends, it’s time to update your strategy and approach. During this strange, unpredictable season, the first step is determining which content shifts were temporary and reactive — and which ones might be permanent. (Or at least, for the foreseeable future.)

Believe it or not, we will soon be thinking about planning for 2021, as we inch closer to the last quarter of the year. To set our clients (and thus, our business) up for success, dig deep into what’s working, what’s not, what needs to be updated and what may be here to stay. Here, leading marketing executives offer perspective.

1. Look at technology as a guide.

To gauge the staying power of your marketing plan, Jennifer Barcelos, the co-founder of Namastream recommends looking to the tech tools associated within your client’s industry as a guide. “Technology is the currency of power, and innovation is a catalyst for change,” she continues. “Where there is the technology in place to meet a temporary demand, there’s a higher likelihood that the shift will remain permanent.”

As a solid example, consider Zoom. Before COVID-19 spiraled through the world, it was still an emerging company. Within a matter of weeks, they were seeing a major uptick in new customers across all industries. In fact, their growth prompted Google to offer Google Meet to all users, regardless of whether they were businesses. Naturally, they adjusted their content marketing plan to focus on the ease of working from home, the ability to stay connected to colleagues in the same city, and so on.

Even after offices re-open again, Zoom will still be around, so their content approach still works, making it permanent. The phenomenon will likely grow, since many of the tech giants — like Facebook, Twitter, and so on — are adapting their policies to include the option to never return to the cubicle.

2. Determine if the shift brings more problems than solutions.

Part of the reason contractors are attractive hires for companies is their expertise, sans the cost of full-time employees, which often require benefits, paid vacation, and so on. When you were brought on during the pandemic, you were likely asked to make moves that made a difference in their numbers. Some of that, maybe, was uncomfortable, and the messaging didn’t sit perfectly with their brand. It’s time to figure out if the shifts caused more problems than solutions by asking these questions:

How do you feel about our approach in March versus now?
What are some difficulties you’re having with the current plan?
Have we found any new effective solutions?
Is it time to try something new?

By having a candid discussion, marketing guru and CEO of The Bright App, Nerissa Zhang says you and your client can decide if it’s time to turn to tried-and-true tactics that work. It’s reasonable to expect many customers to experience pandemic fatigue and be burnt out of always hearing references to the current state of affairs. This could provide an opportunity to focus on evergreen content, double-down on SEO optimization, and other meaningful investments.

3. Consider if the shift is extreme in nature.

It’s okay if you felt as if you were scrambling when having client discussions in the late spring. You definitely weren’t alone — nearly every company sent out a newsletter, posted a blog and shared a post on social media platforms, reacting to the situation at hand. And for many content marketers, this meant a huge upswing in client work for a few weeks, only to hit a dry spell right after.

Now that most people are coming up for air, clients may want to swing the pendulum from one extreme to another. In this case, Zhang says the shift was a temporary one. “This indicates an initial reactionary change in the business or industry, which usually means the change was shortsighted or flawed,” she continues. “This will inevitably need to be balanced out or corrected with a balanced and responsive plan of action instead.”

With this in mind, now is the time to reach out to past or prospective clients to get a pulse on their current state of affairs and see where you can be helpful. With existing clients, don’t be afraid to bring up strategic planning for the rest of the year, and recommend a shift away from the previous reactions.

4. Listen to what the data say.

When it became clear that marketing plans needed to change — and fast — during the pandemic, it was an all-hands-on-deck type of energy. Along with employees or other contractors, you likely worked as a team to divide and conquer all legs of marketing. Maybe part of your job was developing content where the founder could speak to their customers on a human-to-human level. Or, newsletters became a place to update their list on the latest news, as well as their current offerings. Maybe internet readership went from peaking in the morning to peaking in the evening. Whatever the case, dig into the data, says marketing expert and the CEO of Exclusive Calls, Mohsen Amin:

Compare traffic numbers three months before, as well as throughout the pandemic. Compare those numbers to last year.
Analyze which pieces of content — whether social media posts, newsletters or blog posts — performed the best. Look for any trends or common themes.
Compare the best-performing with the worst-performing, and see if you can deduce any learnings to share with your client.

If data illustrate that the current content marketing approach is working, keep at it. Perhaps the change in tone and context resonated with customers, and it’s something the company should keep moving forward. Such was the case with Amin’s company, which usually experienced the most successful sales between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.

However, since more people are working remotely, the ideal time to pitch has shifted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “When you see a major spike like this, it can often mean temporary, but in fact, we are seeing the numbers even out and have remained stable. This is most likely attributing to the fact that this is going to be a more permanent shift made available by a large number of people continuing to work from home for years to come,” he notes.

5. Decide if you still need to address the elephant in the room.

There are plenty of idioms to reference here: the elephant in the room, beating a dead horse, and the list goes on. But as the pandemic continues forward, many are exhausted of all of the news, debates and politics surrounding it. There is still a looming sense of anxiety and uncertainty — but do you have to address it all forms of communication? As Adam Seaborn, the director of sales and media for Kingstar Media shares, while customers expect brands to be of the moment, that doesn’t mean all marketing messages need to be explicit all the time.

Addressing COVID-19 all the time is a temporary shift, and now it’s time for brands to find permanent solutions that’s sensitive of the time but not redundant. “It means that sales offer you are presenting, new product launches or brand building events need to be up to date and reflective of our current reality,” he continues. “Reach customers with messages that are relevant to the new list of challenges they face, and they will reward you with loyalty and sales.”

The post Temporary vs. Permanent Content Strategies: 5 Ways to Determine Which appeared first on ClearVoice.

Archive - ClearVoice

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5 Ways Teamlancers Can Add Unforeseen Value to Your Marketing Mix

Understanding teamlancing and its value

5 ways teamlancers add unexpected value

1. Teamlancers have perspectives that extend beyond your four walls.

2. Teamlancers are incentivized to be better than most.

3. Teamlancers can have a better understanding of the competitive landscape.

4. Teamlancers have connections that can help build out your teamlance tree.

5. Teamlancers are more likely to overdeliver — because they live in a world of discomfort.

Who will fill out your teamlance card?

Temporary vs. Permanent Content Strategies: 5 Ways to Determine Which

1. Look at technology as a guide.

2. Determine if the shift brings more problems than solutions.

3. Consider if the shift is extreme in nature.

4. Listen to what the data say.

5. Decide if you still need to address the elephant in the room.