blogging

My, How Marketing Has Changed

Digital Marketing - How It Has Changed

I’m no super expert on Digital Marketing, but I do enjoy following the trends. I’m amazed at how much the mix of necessary tactics has changed in only a few short years.

The past (recent history):

  • Direct mail
  • Trade shows
  • Cold calling
  • Print ads
  • Email marketing
  • Website / SEO
  • SEM
  • PR
  • Referral marketing
  • Media buying
  • Social media
  • (What have I forgotten?)

New:

  • Some of the above (less cold calling, less print, less tradeshow spend)
  • Social selling
  • Employee advocacy
  • Influencer marketing
  • User-generated content
  • Customer engagement
  • Community management
  • #Hashtag optimization (shameless plug => @topicurious)
  • Content marketing (blog, video, infographics, eBooks, etc.)
  • Marketing automation
  • Big data
  • Personalization
  • Growthhacking
  • Mobile
  • UX
  • C-Level personal branding
  • Human-to-Human (#H2H via @BryanKramer)
  • Return-on-Relationships (#RonR via @TedRubin)
  • (What have I forgotten? => help me expand this list by commenting)

There is still no silver bullet. A smart mix of tactics is still required, but the mix is very different than it used to be.

Wordle: Best. App. Ever.

Word Cloud, Tags, Infographic, Marketing

I don’t remember specifically where I’ve seen these “word clouds” before, but I think I’ve seen them on well designed blogs, infographics, fancy presentations, etc.  I’ve always thought they were such a cool way to show the popularity of tags or words on a website.

My Word Cloud

The word cloud you see above is the snapshot (as of today) for my blog http://www.craigthusiast.com.  Apparently, right now I’m kind of into Photography, Twitter, oh and… Pineapple!

Wordle – Best. App. Ever.

I can’t take credit for this.  A business acquaintance showed me this recently and my jaw dropped.  It’s just so cool.  Check out this best app ever: Wordle

Hit the Create button, and have fun…

Some Ideas for Good Word Clouds:

  • What does your resume say about you?  Use a word cloud to see what themes you’re promoting about yourself.
  • Are you crafting Marketing emails?  Use this tool to determine if that really important primary message of your emails are getting through to  your readers?
  • What about Search Engine Optimization of your website?  A really important aspect of SEO is having pages that are keyword rich on the search terms with which you want to attract visitors to your site.  Are your important website pages keyword rich with the right keywords?

Any Other Cool Ideas?

I’m keen to hear other ideas for good uses of Word Clouds.  If you have a good idea, hit the Leave a Comment link above and share your idea!

I finally got “A Round Tuit”

Getting around to it

Hello, people of the interwebs. I’ve been thinking about starting up a personal blog for a while now, but I’ve been procrastinating. Well… I finally got myself “a round tuit” (see the image of the the round thing hanging on my wall), so I no longer have any excuses.

Why blog?

I’ve been asking myself that very question for quite a while. I’ve often wondered why people would publish their personal thoughts, in all their glory, for the whole world to see. I guess, since I’ve been putting my thoughts out there in 140 characters on Twitter and status updates on Facebook for a few years, I’ve become a little more comfortable with such a public forum.

A good blog has many important attributes. Interesting topics, quality writing, and frequent posts, just for starters. Those attributes require a lot of work and commitment, and I’m finally ready to jump in with both feet.

Why the name Craigthusiast?

I have many interests. Some are work-related, and many more are fun-related. I also love to learn. I don’t like being a noob at something. I prefer to be knowledgeable and expertly. I tend to become a student of the subject. Some might even say, an enthusiast.

Hopefully others will find my interests interesting too. I guess we shall see…

Some of the topics I hope to blog about:

  • Wine
  • Food
  • Music
  • Photography
  • Books
  • Sports
  • Current events
  • Being a Dad
  • Sales
  • Marketing
  • Social media
  • Technology and gadgets

Hope you enjoy! If you do, perhaps you’ll Tweet, Like, or +1 me to your networks.

+1… is that a verb now?

Also, please comment on this for me. I’m looking for some feedback. In your mind, what is the most important attribute of a good blog that makes you want to come back and read future posts. I’m still learning about this whole blogging thing, so I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks!

Craig