Witmer Group Marketing Blog

Over the past 10+ years I’ve worked with a lot of companies – CEO’s, CFO’s, Marketing Director’s, etc doing a variety of tasks related to marketing and online lead generation. I was reading an article recently about how CEO’s continue to rely on costing cutting – even when very specific growth is projected. Aligned with this are a lot of small business owners we work with who range from the very cautious to an ‘I’m all in’ mentality – where every cent is being put back into the company via staff, marketing and technology. As I think of my roots in advertising and more traditional marketing practices, I have recently been contemplating –

I am sitting here with my team member, Kristina Witmer – owner and managing director of Witmer Group, we have been tossing around blog topic ideas. One that resonated with us is the process a business goes through when identifying their marketing needs. We know it can be a painful process, and even doomed from the start, if the marketing team doesn’t ask the right questions, get buy in from leadership, and have clearly defined, measurable goals.

It’s true. Search is still the #1 activity on the Internet and will likely hold its well-earned place for years to come. As long as there are searchers, there will be search engines. And searchers are vital to your marketing strategy. After all, they are the most motivated people on the Internet and (if you’re lucky) the ones who visit your website.

Like many in SEO and content marketing, I have been reading a lot of articles on Google’s Hummingbird update. A Witmer Group team member forwarded an article to me that we think is the best we’ve read, Gianluca Fiorelli’s “Hummingbird Unleashed.” His article covers what the Google update is and isn’t in fantastic detail.

It’s true that social media has revolutionized marketing. And, it’s also true that social media makes it easier to reach a much larger audience more quickly and at a measurably lower cost. However, companies and businesses need to be aware of the risks and potential liability tied to advertising and marketing in social media.

I often see companies get bogged down by activities that are unrelated to their core business (selection of tech vendors, choosing platforms, etc). It’s such a universal situation that I think it warrants a little space on the Witmer blog. And, it actually got me thinking about Google+ – which everything seems to lead back to nowadays anyway.

Don’t let negative reviews destroy your online business reputation!  Everyone has heard the phrase, “any press is good press”. Vanna White has been credited with this statement. But, does this sentiment still hold true? Nowadays the inclination seems to be along the lines of, “bad news travels fast”. People now have an easily accessible venue to read and write reviews about you and your business. Unlike yester year, when the press was limited in range and the reach of your bad press was easily managed, anyone and everyone have courtside seats to your businesses lowest moments.

There are several link building practices that are available to increase your online marketing presence. The trick is finding the right kind of tactic for your business. It’s important you know what positive v. negative link building services are. Smart online marketing strategists must evolve as new standards that search engines, like Google, have continued to implement (such as Penguin). Smart businesses are following in kind.

Blogs, newsletters, e-letters and website content are all intricate parts of a successful marketing campaign. The obvious goal is continued customer engagement while maintaining relationships.  With everyone climbing aboard the “content train” how can you ensure your organization will stand out from the crowd?

Google Authorship and author rank.  Heard of these concepts?  Maybe you have if you follow Google’s algorithm updates as we do in content marketing, but there is a good chance you haven’t.  Google Authorship has been brewing on a low simmer and has just recently begun to capture the attention of content creators and SEO experts.  It is no secret that Google has been working on a way to link good content with authors, or as they say ‘agents’, for some time.  Google+ is the cornerstone of this effort.