Must Market

Marketing's Evolution

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. The one most responsive to change wins in the end. Darwin's ideas are on dramatic display these days as marketing evolves faster and faster, better and better. 

Better Blogging Resources

Much like riding a bicycle blogging is harder than it looks. I thought I knew how to ride a bike until I rode 3,300 miles across America. That trip taught me there is always lots to learn. 

Same is true for blogging. Our new better blogging Flipboard curates the best bloggers, tips, and tools to help any blogger publish better content. Flipboard is a cool tool since it easily allows curation of content across a broad spectrum of users. Every blogger from beginning to advanced will find helpful resources, tips and content on our Better Blogging Flipboard. 

https://flipboard.com/@curagami/blogging-better-236gfgi8y 

Must Follow & Learn From
Mark is a friend and digital marketing, SEO and branding teacher. If you have a need to communicate, sell, and be successful online you should follow Mark on Flipboard, read what he curates and attend one of his many talks. 

https://flipboard.com/@marktraphagen 

Apple's 5 Steps To Becoming A Trusted Brand

This is a good read about how to construct a brand instead of just selling stuff online. Apple is the king. Read Grow a great book by an ex-P&Ger Jim Stengel for more insight on branding. 

* Position your brand with the big picture in mind
* Define your brand's personality
* Develop your visual look and feel
* Pick your platforms
* Create a brand charter

Five Tips From Durham Art and Frame

Durham Art and Frame did a great job with my Shepard Fairey prints. Such a great job I noticed at least five things every web marketer should steal including:

• Story – Lewis explained every detail in stories 
• Specialized Segmentation – Know who you are
• Simple – Their template is simple and easy to use
• Artistry and Expertise – Know and love your business
• Ask – Ask for help

Lewis Bowles and his wife Tiffany could teach every Curagami client important lessons in how to thrive in an Internet time. 

After the election one thing is clear. The future will be confusing. The election also contained at least 3 important lessons for web marketers such as:

• It's the economy stupid
• Habituation Happens
• Change vs More of the Same

Read the post on Curagami http://www.curagami.com/obama-hope-3-election-web-marketing-lessons/ 

Modern Marketing
We liked this Modern Marketing Infographic from Hubspot so much we wrote notes on 3 of the graphics key points:

#2 Builds Personalized Connections
#3 Integrates Omnichannel Strategy and Tactics.”
#5 Maximizes Efficiencies Through Technology and Automation

on Curagami: http://www.curagami.com/modern-marketing-infographic/ 

What is Tripwire Marketing?

Tripwire marketing involves segmenting your leads based on interest and selling them a low-priced entry level item before buying into your main item or service and then further upselling them from there.

Confused? Let me break it down for you. The process revolves around the tripwire offer itself. The tripwire offer is a low-cost, painless offer that is easy for your prospect to buy into. So instead of asking someone to buy, for example, your monthly fitness subscription service for £30 per month, you would first offer them your complete subscription service for 30 days for just £1.

This is not only something painless for them to purchase, but teases them to what you offer as a full package.

The Video Marketing Challenge shares the create a few expensive branded videos or many cheaper videos rich in feedback loops problem digital marketers face.

AI As Marketing Gimmick

We agree AI is being used as a gimmick right now. We understand why too. Marketers and marketing love shiny new things. We tend to hop aboard before fully understanding the math. 

We have left brain creatives for the most part and so such early hopping is understandable and, to some extent, what we are paid to accomplish. Artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize marketing and make even the most creative among us learn some new math. 

We agree with the premise and recommendations here but are more kind in our evaluation of the "why" behind why fellow travelers are gimmickizing AI. 

Oracle Blogs Rock Great Content
Oracle gets the tie between great content and selling ideas such as "social listening analytics." Oracle's blogs are full of great, relevant and spot on "new marketing" content. But there's a problem. 

The messy URLs Oracle's blogs generate make sharing difficult. Just goes to show no matter how big and smart you are it helps to walk among the little people a little. Testing the ease of sharing your content across social media platforms is a great lesson to learn from Oracle's messy URLs. There are many great lessons to learn from Oracles content too. 

Marketing Automation

Is your Sales Force hooked up to your content curation, blogging and tracking tool like Marketo? For most digital marketers the answer to at least one of those questions is no, and even if you are an uber-mensch at marketing auto this post still shares come cool "new to us" tool. We were surprised. 

Thinking Differed about Marketing

Digital marketing is different. Networks create power dynamics that wrap marketing's space/time. This Curagami post connects books by Barabasi explaining how networks really work to Flash Boys by Michael Lewis since the stock market is one big ultra-fast network now. 

The post discusses:

• Internet Time Is Always NOW
• Networks Are Different
• Movement Marketing = Biggest Digital Marketing Trend NO ONE Understands
• Influencers & Force Multipliers – Do You Know Yours
• WHY not HOW

Join the conversation, share your wild west digital experiences and how you think marketing is being wrapped, changed, and manipulated: http://www.curagami.com/digital-marketing-gravity/ 

Don't Plan, Live in the Now

MIT Media Lab's chair and author Joi Ito's NOWISM TED Talk where he shares the "new thinking" that led to the most successful citizen's science project ever is more than inspirational. Ito's grasp on how the e-commerce, social, and always-on Internet world is shifting informs and admonishes. 

Plans don't work when the time it takes to create them also negates their conclusions and directives. Ito has the solution and that is why we summarized his important ideas in a 3 minute version of his 20 minute TED Talk on Curagami: http://www.curagami.com/five-planning-disruption-tips/ 

The Big Shakeout
The inevitable shakeout of social media marketing tools is on. Twitter's Vine is gone and it's owner is in pain. Twitter's layoffs and inability to get sold signal we've entered the BIG SHAKEOUT. 

Read thoughts on that the big social media marketing tools shakeout means for your online efforts on Curagami: 
http://www.curagami.com/social-media-death-vine/ 

Do you need to create content on the go? Discover six mobile apps to create content for your social media profiles.

Video Hosting Tips
We found a great post from GoAnimate about 8 Hosting Alternatives to YouTube. YouTube is a ROACH MOTEL - customers go in but they rarely come out. 

Finding alternatives such as Vimeo, Viddler, and Wistia is important. Getting SEO JUICE inside your stack is important too. YouTube = NO JUICE, so finding a way to use your videos to promote your site and help with SEO is a CSF (Critical Success Factor). 

This is NOT to say there aren't times YouTube is the RIGHT choice. Just don't use YouTube as your main and only video host...Ever. 

Scoopit Over 300,000 Views - Thank You
Thanks to many friends, followers and teachers our @Scoopit fees went over 300,000 views yesterday. I would thank everyone here, but for some reason I haven't been able to see the @name links on Scoop.it since the move to this UI. I can see 'em, but they are behind my Scoop and so unreachable. 

This post links to GPlus where I tried to say THANK YOU to those who've helped teach me. The list is LONG, too long to fully include anywhere, so if you follow me, have collaborated with me or linked to and made suggestions for our Scoop.it THANK YOU. 

As I noted on GPlus. Scoopit is an enormously important tool now given all of Google's changes. Using this "safe" environment to test and then commit to content, ideas and memes is what will separate tomorrow's content curaiton winners from content shock losers. 

Marketing Questions on Quora Summary
We’re answering a marketing question a day on Quora, and we’re frustrated. We are frustrated by difficulties of incorporating other platforms into our site.


NOW = Gamification, Content Marketing & Content Marketers
Wish every platform would sign...Read More