Who is Gary Vaynerchuk?Starting as a born entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk has been a part of many businesses throughout his career. He started as most kids do selling lemonade and then brought his business skills to the schoolyard. Through his high school career, he managed to sell tens of thousands worth of baseball cards. If you are suddenly thinking you spent your high school days wrong, you’re not the only one! Finally, as he moves from high school business, he starts to build his father’s local wine business into an electronic empire. With this expansion of the business, he decided to expand in the video industry and did a long series on youtube, the WineLibraryTV. As he spoke more he became more well known. He moved up in his career, focusing his books on media, communication, and marketing. Obviously what he was doing was working, he started another business with his younger brother. Making VaynerMedia a flourishing business today with over 800 employees. Not only is Mr. Vaynerchuk an exceptional businessman, but he also is known for his writing and public speaking skills. He has written 5 best selling books about business and can give valuable advice on the internet marketing industry. 
When you find the right platform/platforms to start internet marketing, you also have to provide the right content. Make sure it fits the platform and gets the message you want to send across. Giving the right content will have your target market interacting more frequently with your business.
Knowing your market goes across all business criteria. However, you have to know your target demographic when marketing online. You should know which social media platform they are spending most of their time on. This way you can create the perfect stories that match this platform.
No matter which platform you are using, you should give quality information and content to your viewers. Give them what they are asking for because they will want to spend time interacting with your site. Once they feel comfortable with your brand and company this is when it is acceptable to ask for their business. Know since you are giving your customers a lot, there is no need to feel guilty about asking for customers.
To learn more about internet marketing techniques, read about other internet marketing experts that OCG Creative has provided.
You can have the best product ever - even better than existing competition - but if no one knows about it because you didn’t market it correctly, it might as well not even exist.
Amy Landino is an award-winning YouTube creator, best-selling author, and international public speaker. Her enthusiastic and transformative content has changed the ways marketers are tackling vlogging and video. Landino has also been traveling as a professional keynote speaker to share her insights with new markets. She has an innovative approach to leverage digital attention to drive traffic.
Video + blogging = vlogging! Video marketing has become a very popular trend in the marketing field within the last few years. As a way to convert more leads to sales, companies are deciding to invest in video to increase their reach. Not only does she work with vlogs, but Landino is also a best selling author of the book, Vlog Like a Boss. However, she dives into the idea that vlogs can create so much more than just a video but a brand. With research and real-life examples, Landino confirms her insight. A company can be successful if they kill it online and invest in the right resources. Her book is perfect for go-getters and creators of internet marketing, whose goal is to communicate in an innovative way.
There are many key takeaways from Landino’s book that can transform your video marketing tactics from a fixer-upper to can’t-stop-watching content. One tactic she writes about is narrowing the market and finding a niche for your vlogs. Specialization is very important. It will help you reach more people in less time. In addition, planning your content out prior and creating a schedule can work wonders. Most importantly, Landino emphasizes that you can not let your fears of video stand in your way of creating amazing content in your industry. Check out how to start making and editing videos below!
#VlogLikeABoss with Amy Landino. Be sure to check out her website, Twitter, and Youtube. If you would like to learn other internet marketing tips, read up on other top internet marketers.
Who is Jeff Bullas?The rise of social media was a "game changer" says top marketing influencer, Jeff Bullas. The introduction of social networks did much more than make it easier for people to connect, it skyrocketed online marketing. Bullas saw the potential for social media marketing back in 2008, ancient times in terms of Twitter, Facebook, and platforms alike. It came to him after he had noticed the opportunities the platforms had given him in his personal life. Bullas began his own website, JeffBullas.com, where he wrote content about social media and its hidden features and potential. These conversations revolved around social media growth and impact which quickly became relevant to all companies.
As social media grows, so does our knowledge of what trends will take off. I don't mean what clothes will be in style or what meme will cause global laughter, I'm talking about social media marketing trends. What people react to, respond to, and engage with is more of what we're interested in. That being said, Jeff Bullas believes influencer marketing will be significant to social growth and brand exposure for companies in 2019. However, not in the same way as 2018. Data will be the new factor in choosing influencers and measuring their success. Not intuition.
Jeff Bullas has experience working with a ton of different influencer marketing softwares over the recent year and he recommends GroupHigh over them all. GroupHigh helps companies find the best social media influencers. The software filters out fake influencer accounts and leaves you with real data of the top profiles or sites that have engaged and loyal audiences. GroupHigh offers the ability to find influencers in some of the most niche markets also. Bullas has also noted that this marketing tool is more affordable than most softwares similar to GroupHigh. Social media marketing will continue to become more and more integrated into strategies for brand awareness and brand exposure. Check out the Jeff Bullas website to read more about Jeff Bullas or trending marketing ideas. You can also read about our previous internet marketer of the week, Ian Cleary, and the idea of the importance of utilizing technology to achieve optimal inbound and outbound marketing results.
These days, a marketing strategy without technology is virtually nonexistent. Luckily, internet marketing experts like Ian Cleary teach us how to utilize technology so we are seeing real results from our marketing efforts. Our internet marketer of the week is the founder of RazorSocial, a company that helps businesses drive traffic and sales through inbound and outbound marketing. Ian is also passionate about speaking to audiences and passing on his knowledge of internet marketing. Although acquired in October 2018, Ian helped launched a software product called OutreachPlus. The software helps speed up the process of sending personalized emails in order to generate more leads and increase traffic.
As we've learned from many marketing experts in the past, engaging content is the key to getting more eyes on your material. In order to develop content that targets a very specific audience, Ian explains that we need to figure out the personas of who we're targeting. Once you have a clear understanding of who your audience is, the rest falls into place organically.
Once we get qualified eyes on our content, Ian sees that this can help build up an email subscriber list. As we collect individuals who are genuinely interested in the product or service, you can start to target them in a much more personalized way. We, here at OCG Creative, can certainly attest to Ian's theory. The more personalized an email, the higher the open rates and the response rates. Keeping your audience constantly engaged with your material is the best way to keep them coming back for more. Leave something in their inbox that dazzles them and makes it easy for them to access, but difficult for them to refuse.
In today's age, internet marketing is changing constantly. In order to keep up, Ian spends four or five hours a week not producing, but learning. Ian is always reading and testing out new things to see what works and what doesn't. In the internet marketing world, there is no one "panacea" or "miracle drug." Internet marketing is all about trial and error, and putting in the time and effort to develop material that is truly engaging for your audience. And, of course, staying up to date with the latest trends. According to Ian, the best way to do this is to follow influencers and to listen to what others are discovering on a daily basis. In order to learn more about Ian and what he's creating, visit RazorSocial and follow him on social media.
A tequila collector, proud alumni from The University of Arizona, and an internet marketing genius scratches the surface of who Jay Baer is. Though we're all probably curious what types of delicious tequila Jay has stored away, there is much more to be interested in rather than his stash of booze and Wildcats foam finger. Jay Baer is the current owner of his fifth multi-million dollar company, Convince and Convert, which builds some of the best digital marketing strategies. He has also written multiple books including Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype which landed #3 on the New York Times business best seller list and was placed as a #1 Amazon bestseller. To top this all off, Baer is a member of the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame due to his inspiration and expertise in marketing, word of mouth, and customer service.
Jay Baer has an innovative take on how to strategize digital marketing plans. His two-step process is used by his colleagues at Convince and Convert to double the performance of a company's marketing within a year. Sounds pretty enticing if you ask me. Here's the process:
Analyze the entire business. They review social media, content, word of mouth, website, reviews, and more since they are all tied to one another in the eyes of the consumer. After this, they interview members of the company, the stakeholders, and the customers to find where gaps are in perceptions and actualities. They'll even interview your competitors. At the end of this phase, they give the client an overview of what they found with the research conducted and information gathered. The overview is always tailored with spirit for the process moving forward.
This area is designed to finish with a full digital marketing operating plan to leave your company with. All the way from what you need to do, when you need to do it, and how to measure it. Also in the plan is complete guidance on how to staff and the technology you'll need to fulfill the plan's destiny. Jay Baer continues to find innovative ways to market online. Like Convince and Convert, our team at OCG Creative aims to develop modernized ways to effectively meet our clients' goals. For more information on Jay Baer, check out his personal website or his company website.
As a high school student, Neil Patel was interested in making money…lots of money. Instead of looking for a job on Monster Jobs, Neil decided to start his own job board called Advice Monkey. He spent $5,000 building the job board, he launched it, and then he realized he would need to market it. He hired three marketing firms back to back, and then ended up firing each of them for providing little to no results. Neil then chose to learn how to do internet marketing on his own…and was pretty good at it. Even though Advice Monkey ultimately never succeeded, it was Neil’s pathway into the world of internet marketing.
During Neil’s first college class, he gave a speech on how search engines work and was able to score a consulting gig with Elpac Electronics. He realized there was a lot of money to be made doing internet marketing for companies, so he and his sitter’s boyfriend started up an internet marketing company together. Over the years, Neil has invested in several companies, some successful, others not so much. Ultimately, what Neil does, is help companies grow their revenue.
Neil Patel is very simply an internet marketing genius. He recognized that the ultimate goal is for more people to see or listen to your content, and to turn those people into customers. And, we agree with Neil, that you need an SEO plan in order to get these kinds of results. Neil's plan consists of three steps that can be done in three months.
The first month of the SEO plan consists of extensive research. In order to turn visitors to your site into customers, you have to make sure you are targeting the right keywords so that your leads are actually converting. Really the best and only way to do keyword research is to use a keyword research tool. Here at OCG Creative, we use SEM Rush to help us understand which words we should be focusing on so that we are bringing traffic to our clients’ sites.
The second month of Neil’s SEO plan is to optimize your on-page code and to build content. At OCG, we’ve taken this recommendation to heart. Because all of our sites are WordPress websites, we use a variety of tools and plugins to make sure they are readable to both Google and users. Also, building up your site's content is crucial, so we make sure to post frequent blogs and continuously update content.
Month 3 of the SEO plan is where the real work begins. Building your domain authority through backlinks is hugely important to Google. Also, doing as much as you can to get eyes on your content is key. That’s why we help clients with developing and implementing a social media strategy.
As one of the top online marketers in the world, Neil is passionate about continuing to help companies grow their revenue. Both the United Nations and President Obama have recognized him as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the ages of 30 and 35. Neil continues to live up to this title and continues to inspire internet marketers like us. Visit neilpatel.com for tips on how to grow your business.
Veronica Romney is an experienced entrepreneur and incredible thought-leader in the IM industry, currently serving as the President of LoSoMo. In 2014, Veronica and her husband, Scott, founded LoSoMo, an online marketing agency that specializes in location-based marketing. This was not her first venture into building a business from the ground up, Veronica founded and managed 4 online businesses prior to opening her company.
With over 10 years experience in the IM industry, Veronica has become an expert in SEO, SEM, PPC, Web Design and Development, Email Marketing, and Reputation Management. Prior to co-founding her own company, Veronica worked for industry leaders such as Ancestry.com, Crexendo, 180Fusion, and Entrata. She held various marketing positions at these companies like SEO Account Manager, Director of Business Development, and Director of Marketing Suite Products.
One of Veronica’s greatest passions is connecting with fellow internet marketers and speaking at conferences. She has spoken at a wide range of conferences including Advanced Search Summit, Digital Growth Unleashed, and most recently Unbounce’s Call to Action Conference. At CTA 2018, Veronica spoke about marketing through Facebook ads and how to make them work for your business. She showed how to dive deeper into Facebook advertising with various targeting techniques and how to properly find data in Google Analytics. In addition, Veronica explained the benefits of layering Google Ads and Facebook Ads to create the greatest impact. Veronica’s presentation provided a fresh look into advertising through Facebook. Read more about other Internet Marketers of the Week similar to Veronica Romney!
Hana Abaza is the head of Marketing for Shopify Plus, Shopify’s eCommerce platform for big-name online stores and brands. Hana has had years of experience in a variety of leadership roles, including being both the Head of Strategy and VP of Marketing for Uberflip, a content marketing software that aggregates a business’s content into one powerful user experience.
With her years of experience marketing to both individual customers and businesses alike, Hana has developed some valuable insights about the marketing funnel and the true buyer’s journey. She has found that a person’s journey is not so linear. In reality, people will switch back and forth between stages, drop out entirely only to re-enter later, or simply sit stagnant in a stage. With this in mind, how you engage with customers can (and probably should) be different than how you are currently. Basically, rather than have the customers conform to your sales process, consider your customer’s process and adapt to them.
Working with large brands at Shopify Plus means that Hana and her marketing team have spent plenty of time collaborating closely with sales teams. When working closely with a sales team, the most important key to being successful is to set shared goals. Hana’s sales and marketing teams share what’s called a “revenue playbook”. Essentially, a revenue playbook is a shared document that defines objectives, goals, and actions in response to both hitting and missing goals. Unlike a service-level agreement (SLA), a revenue playbook unites the sales and marketing teams into one unified team. As Hana puts it, acting as one team driven by the same goals leads to stronger communication and greater success. At OCG Creative, every day we are inspired by leaders in the marketing industry. For more information on Hana Abaza, visit her website to follow her work.
Who is Ross Simmonds?When selecting an internet marketer to be the subject of this weekly blog, we look for somebody who is making an impact in the IM industry. Ross is the perfect example of somebody who has become an IM and B2B thought leader. Ross is a B2B specialist with expertise is content marketing, social media, and storytelling. He has a passion for, in his own words, "technology, the future, good people, good coffee, and storytelling". Along with this he is an experienced entrepreneur. Ross owns a variety of businesses and brands that aim to help his fellow marketers, strategists, and entrepreneurs.
Ross is accomplished in many facets of the business world. To start, he's a B2B and content marketing expert. Ross has worked with businesses ranging from startups to Fortune 500 brands to increase their brand awareness and ROI. As Ross puts it. "You can't add fans & followers to the balance sheet. That's a reality. But for many agencies & B2B professionals, that's where the goalpost are and it's exactly why many struggle to see ROI." Ross uses his knowledge of the marketing process to help brands reach their ROI goals using content marketing. Along with his hands on work with brands, Ross wrote Stand Out: The Content Guide for Entrepreneurs. This book is Ross's ultimate guide to understanding the 'Why' behind content marketing.
Ross works with other brands, but he also builds his own. As the founder of various companies, Ross has applied all of his B2B and content marketing knowledge to his own brands to build them into successes. He is the founder of Hustle & Grind, an eCommerce store specifically geared toward entrepreneurs, as well as other brands. Ross exemplifies the forward thinking content marketer that we, here at OCG, aim to bring onto our team. For more information on Ross Simmonds, you can visit his website and learn even more about what he's working on.
Internet Marketing Background:With over 25 years of experience as a writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and best-selling author, Ann Handley knows what it takes to do incredible marketing, and is pioneering the way for marketing innovation. Ann focuses on "inspiring marketers to create marketing magic that gets real-world results." And she's really good at what she does. Her commitment to being an expert at content marketing is inspiring others to rethink their business to attract the right kind of customers.
Ann is a Wall Street best-selling author of Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content and Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) that Engage Customers and Ignite Your business. She is also a keynote speaker as well as the Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs.
Ann has strong opinions about what it takes to do great marketing. According to her, the first step of great marketing starts with a human marketer having honest empathy for an actual customer. It is easy to get lost in the business aspect of marketing, but taking a step back and recognizing that there are humans on both sides of the product is essential for ultimate success. After establishing the necessary human element of marketing, creating content that tells a story will leave your content consumers wanting more. As marketers, we must create content that engages and captivates audiences. We are all human- so marketers need to remember who they're marketing to. Dull content will create dull results. A huge part of content marketing through story telling is being able to concisely tell that story through writing. Being able to write is essential in many careers, but marketers must be able to effectively communicate with others and make those people care about what is being said. Ann is a thought leader who inspires all of us here at OCG Creative to create work that we're proud of. For us, marketing isn't just one aspect of our business, it's our whole business. Everything we do revolves around creating strong and effective marketing. Elevating the work that we do for clients is our top priority, and looking to marketers like Ann Handley for advice helps us do just that.
Internet Marketing BackgroundWhen it comes to internet marketing, Scott Stratten is no amateur. He and his partner Alison have co-written five best selling business books and co-hosted over two-hundred podcasts. From music industry marketer, to national sales training manager, to professor, Scott finds himself at the forefront of marketing innovation. He now spends all of his time keynote speaking at conferences to engage audiences on how to succeed in business today; to get them thinking more and doing more about marketing.
Internet Marketer Scott Stratten focuses on helping businesses “unlearn” the traditional ways of marketing that cause them to fade to the back of customers’ minds. He helps businesses understand how to stay at the forefront, so that when your clients are ready, they choose you.
After watching Scott speak at the Unbounce CTA 2017 Conference in Vancouver, Canada, I became fascinated with his ideas for how to market authentically. He is not only funny, passionate, and inspiring, but also incredibly informative. Also, his expert insight and blunt advice have audiences rethinking their marketing strategies. Scott can’t stress enough the importance of engaging with clients and creating those loyal, lasting relationships so that they need you.
Each of Scott’s books has something different to offer the world of business, all providing tangible value. He always includes real-life examples, guidance, and strategies so that a business can begin applying new, effective strategies immediately.
Adding the prefix “Un” to key marketing terms, Scott encourages businesses to rethink the way they do things. Unbranding focus on branding from the core as opposed to covering up things that are broken with implementing a “quick-fix” strategy. Unselling has to do with creating those ties so that your customers become loyal, repeat customers.
In today’s ever-changing business climate, Scott reminds us that we need to remember what is important. Great products and great service are what ultimately make a great business. Scott’s passion for what he does inspires each of us here at OCG Creative to create something that truly matters. We want to create business that is “awesome,” as Scott would say.
Check out Scott and Alison’s website unmarking.com to learn more about how to start engaging.
Internet Marketing BackgroundEntrepreneur, professor, speaker, author, and internet marketing specialist are just a few words used to describe Brian Halligan. After meeting Dharmesh Shah as an MBA student at MIT in 2004, Brian and Dharmesh co-founded Hubspot just two years later. As CEO of Hubspot, Brian has created a company with over 40,000 customers in over 90 countries. His goals include helping companies develop a marketing strategy that will attract, engage, delight customers.
Inbound Internet Marketing specialist Brian Halligan has found a way to make the internet marketing process more "human." He says that companies need to stop talking about extracting value from customers and instead start talking about how they can add value to their customers. Marketing human to human is the new way of marketing business to business.
After becoming aware of the tools that Hubspot offers marketers around the world, I became interested in learning more about co-founder Brian Halligan. His advice and insight into the world of marketing are invaluable in todays ever changing business climate. Connecting with customers using old, "outbound," marketing tactics such as cold calling and mailing lists are out of date and ineffective. People want to be helped. Hubspot is widely regarded as having coined the term "inbound marketing." This method focuses on pulling in customers as opposed to pushing them away. Drawing customers in and making it easy for them to get the product they need is key for business. In addition, Brian can't stress enough the importance of using email and social media to connect with customers. If you're not using these, then your approach will simply not be effective. Part of Brian's success with Hubspot comes from the creation of a unique company culture. He looks up to Google and strives for a company where people want to work. He knows that millennials want leadership that is authentic and transparent. Part of the way Brian creates this culture is by sitting with the rest of the employees at Hubspot. Also, he gives himself a salary similar to that of other Hubspot employees. According to Brian, Hubspot was created through a lot of luck, god decisions, and good hires. When companies are made up of fantastic people who are given the right tools, business dreams really come true. Check out Hubspot.com. Hubspot.com to learn how to apply the inbound methodology to your marketing strategy. Interested in other Internet Marketers of the Week? Learn more here.
