Cortex Marketing

February 22, 2021February 23, 2021

Search Engine Optimization in 2021

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.

So if SEO is that simple, what’s all the confusion?

Part of the confusion is the comparison to where SEO was at 10-years-ago. Search engine optimization has always been a mix of content and good coding. You used to be able to do a lot more with the coding to help influence the way that a “search engine robot” — or simply “bot” — would search through your site you see if the search term was relevant to your content.

Now, bots work on an algorithm that makes the content a much “heavier-weight” in value, providing a better search-term result for the person searching the relevant search term. The term “weight” is the term used to express the value of the components that make up an optimized website or webpage.

In the world of Search Engine Optimization, content is king!

The weighting is constantly analyzed by search engines for different factors. However, experts agree that the content of a website is one of the most important criteria for ranking in search engines.

So how much content do I need? Well, the optimum length for a webpage or a blog is a minimum of 300 words, however, we also know that longer content produces higher search rankings… so is longer, better? Not really, it all depends on your goal(s); simply put, studies show that longer content dominates page one of search rankings. Webpages and blogs with 900 or more words are considered “cornerstone content” and this gives the highest weight to the search engine bots for a positive return.

So what SEO do I have to do to optimize my site?

Well, the first thing that we do is take a look at the site and the content and the coding. There are so many things that come into play as far as factors of what the search engine optimization companies, like Google and Bing, I’m looking for in the results that they returned for you. this is their value proposition, in general: “Delivering the best search results based upon what you are actually searching for.”

That said, SEO is much deeper than it used to be 10-years-ago — and for that matter even 5-years-ago!! SEO is a balance between what topic you have on your page, the length of your copy (how value-rich your content is), the keyword focus density, whether it is optimized for mobile.

So, how do I optimize my website for SEO? Here are 8 simple steps:

Analyze all of your website data.
Conduct thorough keyword research.
Produce long and value-rich content.
Optimize for on-page SEO.
Optimized for off-page SEO.
And then Optimize the website for mobile.
Speed up the pages.
Get quality backlinks.

It should be noted that backlinking has been a point of much debate over the past 5 years. The reason is that a lot of SEO strategies focussed on backlinking and in 2021 the latest algorithms from the search engine optimization companies have changed the weight of backlinks to help stop search engine spamming (trying to get you to see their site because they have lots of people linking to them); the strategy now is relevant-backlinking.

Does backlinking really help my SEO?

Backlinks are essentially links from a page on one website that point to another website. If you link to another website, then they have a backlink from you. the advantage of backlinks or because the search engines see that as a sign of legitimacy. So essentially when done correctly, backlinking can help legitimize your site and make you come up higher in search engines.

Some search engine experts swear by them, and other search engine experts don’t give backlinks much weight. the reality is, none of us really know as the algorithms that are written by the search engine optimization companies are a very closely guarded secret. They (SEO companies) give us clues but they never really tell us exactly how much weight each component factors in. we do know, however, that content is King.

Are you looking to see how your site ranks?

I provide an evaluation for marketing efficiency and content. This $75 service is currently on sale through March 31, 2021, for 80% off or $15 and at that price, you cannot afford to be uninformed. Schedule a time for marketing efficiency and content evaluation here. What you get is a clear report as to the things you need to do for the optimization of your website. Optimized websites will help you generate more sales and that is the goal of your Search Engine Optimization, right?

Let me be more direct, the bottom line is of your Search Engine Optimization to make your content seen by more people so you are known as the expert, which in turn leads to more sales; the reason you are in business. Read other blogs on SEO or General Marketing or Social Media or Copywriting, all of which will help you increase your sales.

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021

Email Marketing: Top 9 Steps To Successful Campaigns

These email marketing tips are presented by our partners at Hubspot. The original article was written by Lindsay Kolowich Cox @lkolow.

1. Understand who you’re emailing.

Have you ever heard the saying from Meredith Hill, “When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one“? What Hill is getting at here is that if you’re watering down your message to apply to your entire audience, you’re leaving an opportunity on the table — the opportunity for creating high-value, specific, relevant content that speaks directly to the recipient.

With this in mind, the key to a great email marketing campaign is identifying your audience and using email segmentation to ensure you’re delivering to the right people at the right time. If you can accomplish this and build it into your strategy, you can get more creative and specific with your messaging.

2. Create a goal for the Email Marketing campaign.

Low-Risk and High-Reward of Email Marketing Even with email marketing being a relatively low-risk and high-reward activity, you don’t want to send emails for emails’ sake. In other words, you won’t be successful simply because you marked it from your to-do list.

Instead, you should be intentional about what you want to get from your emails because that will help you target the right audience and build the right emails. For example, if you know you want to nurture leads from MQL to SQL, you can create a segment of MQLs and create content that is educational and persuasive enough to move them closer to a buying decision.

3. Outline the email (or emails) that will be included in the campaign.

Once you know who you’re emailing and why, it’s time to strategize how to move them from A (where they are) to B (where you want them to be, the goal of the campaign).

A confused Mind - Email Marketing Keep in mind that you can’t expect a single email to do everything. Your email campaign can be made up of multiple emails, so consider taking your email recipients on a journey with each email serving a single purpose. This will increase the odds of each email being successful in its role toward reaching your goal. After all, “A confused mind says no.”

For example, if you’re doing a lead nurturing campaign, you might have a few educational emails to take them from the awareness stage to the consideration stage before providing more conversion-focused content.

The longer the buying process and sales cycle, the more emails you’ll need.

4. Spend time on the subject lines.

No one gets to the body content of your email unless they first click the subject line. That’s why it’s so important to consider your subject lines carefully: They’re like gatekeepers for the rest of your information.

Check out our article on the best tips for writing email subject lines.

5. Write copy that’s suited for them.

Once you know the purpose of each email you’re sending and you have the subject lines, you can write the copy that will engage your list. Consider where your audience is in their buying journey and provide the type of content that they’ll find useful. For example, it doesn’t make sense to promote products if you’re emailing a segment of subscribers who are largely in the awareness stage of the buying journey.

6. Use a comprehensive email builder.

Once you’ve written the copy for your emails, you’ll want to build them out in the email software client you’re intending to use.

There are several options depending on your needs, including Constant Contact of which you can start for FREE today, with no credit card required. Within this FREE-TRIAL offer, if you click on this link, you will also get a call from Constant Contact’s awesome customer service team and get a 30% discount for the first 90-days/3-months.

With a comprehensive email builder, you can create, optimize, and personalize your own email campaigns without needing any technical or graphic design experience.

7. Email Marketing should always include personalization elements and excellent imagery.

Marketing emails need to be personalized to the reader and filled with interesting graphics.

Few people want to read emails that are addressed “Dear Sir/Madam” — as opposed to their first or last name — and even fewer people want to read an email that simply gives them a wall of text. Visuals help your recipients quickly understand the point of the email.

8. Email Marketing campaigns should Include calls-to-action where appropriate.

Remember, if you’re taking-up your audience’s time — and inbox space — with another email, your message must have a point to it. Consider what you want your email recipients to take away from the email.

In most cases, you’ll want to add a call-to-action (CTA) for them to take further action.

Your goal behind the CTA may vary depending on the audience’s buyer’s journey stage and what you want to accomplish with your email campaign. For example, you may simply want to engage them further with another piece of content, or you might want to get them to make a purchase.

Regardless of what it is, you should follow CTA best practices such as making the ask with clear language and emphasizing it with contrasting design elements.

9. Test your emails and make sure they work on all devices.

Once your emails are built out, check them over before hitting the send button. Effective email marketing campaigns are designed for all devices on which users can read their emails — desktop, tablet, and mobile. Consider sending them as a test to a colleague and checking them across multiple devices and email clients.

Want a quick refresher on how to master marketing email? Check out this helpful video:

Now that you know how to responsibly wield email marketing, grab some inspiration on other topics for your marketing.

January 31, 2021February 10, 2021

Social Media, Groups Or Pages; Which Is Best?

When Social Media started in 1997, there wasn’t much to it.

It started to get its rise in the early 2000s — when the first big-idea(s) regarding the power of online networking started and was in its infancy.

In fact, there were many great ideas that came across the social media platforms at the time. Two of the most popular features, with the staying power of time (amazing within a social media world), have been “groups” and “pages”. Now, almost all of the major networking sites, e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, NextDoor, etc., have them for you to join or create.

As such, we are now in a time where these features, and how they work within the platforms, are fairly standard… yet they serve two very distinct purposes.

So what are the Social Media differences regarding Groups & Pages?

Essentially, if you’re looking to establish a brand and promote your business to a large number of people, a Facebook or LinkedIn Page makes the most sense. If you’re a new or small business looking to establish a presence, a group can be of great help, especially if you sell niche products.

Further “Groups” are great for things you are passionate about that you want a sense of community. Pages, on the other hand, are more for broadcasting your message or narrative of your brand. They will both support your big-ideas, blog announcements, daily thoughts, however, the decision on which to have, is largely how you want the interactive & engagement aspects to take place.

So… which is best for you?

Social Media Groups

Groups make it easy to connect with specific sets of people, like teammates or coworkers. Groups are dedicated spaces where you can share updates, photos or documents and message other group members, which makes them great for networking as well as sharing.

Facebook is easily the largest social networking site in the world and one of the most widely used. The general advantage of Facebook is that your message can get to virtually everybody who’s on social media anywhere in the world. The disadvantage is that your message can get to virtually anybody who’s on social media anywhere in the world, so you have to be clear about the purpose is of your group and ensure your description is easy to understand, as well as, create a set of rules and guidelines, so you can moderate the page effectively.

This also goes for the other major business networking site, which is LinkedIn. I personally love LinkedIn and they have a very strong library of groups that you can join. However, with both of these group platforms, if you are not regularly active, you can get lost in the mire of it all.

Social Media Pages

Inherent to the nature of social media, pages are unique in that they are primarily for a business’s brand and are, overall, fantastic for being able to capture a brand’s web presence. However, you are much more likely to get an issue-based engagement directed at your customer service.

Pages are great for customer service in that you can see who your directly dealing with — as Facebook has vetted that for the user to be able to speak to you — in other words, the customer has almost immediate access to you and your service-complaint-department, allowing them to feel more in control; one of the key component to an effective customer service department.

There Are Many Social Media Platforms With Groups & Pages

I am not sure of how many platforms have groups and pages, as that number is changing almost monthly. However, most Social Media allow you to create, manage and engage, within a much more specific way via your interests. Some of the top ones are:

- - Facebook
  - LinkedIn
  - NextDoor
  - Twitter
  - Instagram
  - Pinterest
  - Reddit

100+ Social Media Demographics that Matter to Marketers in 2021

Hootsuite just released “100+ Social Media Demographics that Matter to Marketers in 2021” where “Understanding social media demographics will help you fine-tune your marketing strategy and reach the right people with your message.” It’s a good read and I highly recommend it!

Anyway, if you need guidance with your marketing, Cortex provides a variety of services that may be a good fit for you. Please reach out at 1-888-502-3523 or schedule a quick chat and I will call you.

Writing Your Social Media Descriptions

Are you a small business owner that is struggling with the all too typical problem of not knowing what to write, how to start, or how to position what you want to say to be compelling and influential? I know you did not get into your business to write about it, however, this is overwhelming for many.

Cortex has you covered; I specialize in creating compelling content & marketing copy when you find it difficult to create it yourself. Let’s have a no-cost, no-obligation quick chat and let me help you get seen, get heard, and get noticed!

November 12, 2020January 14, 2021

Emotional Selling and Why It Works

If you are new to sales & marketing or even someone with some experience under your belt, emotional selling is much more prevalent than you have likely ever realized.

Emotional Selling and Apophenia In fact, the more you learn about emotional selling, the more you will discover that this is a lighter form of apophenia, a condition where one has the spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated phenomena… kinda like owning a Volkswagon Beatle and then seeing them everywhere. Now you perceive like you are part of a club and this is the way many successful items and services are sold & marketed.

All decisions are based on emotional selling hooks.

So, in an effort to not make this a “how to take advantage of cognitive biases to make people want what you’re selling” post, I had to examine my own language in this blog. This is NOT about manipulating your audience.

People are extremely emotional with their cognitive biases.

What is Cognitive Bias? Common in psychology, the term cognitive bias refers to an error in reasoning that causes us to deviate from good judgment and make illogical decisions. If you’re responsible for selling, you’re responsible for understanding people – so you should try to learn about cognitive bias and use it to your advantage. Again, this is NOT about manipulating your audience.

Emotional Selling Effectiveness Our irrational behaviours are not random. If consumer behaviour is predictable, then success in sales comes down to understanding emotional selling and communicating accordingly.

You can’t control the final outcome, but you can influence your prospect’s decisions with confidence. We may feel like we’re making logical and rational decisions, but so many influences subconsciously affect our emotions and steer our judgment.

DISCLAIMER: With this knowledge, comes a responsibility — use it wisely (cue Star Wars theme). There is a big difference between persuading someone to buy your solution and manipulating or misleading them. You are also susceptible to these biases so imagine the situation in reverse. Treat this tactic as an ethical influence. Use it to try and overcome objections, but remember that if you convince someone to buy something they end up not finding valuable, the negative customer experience could have a nasty impact on your business!

The anchoring effect of emotional selling

Don’t you love it when you go to book a holiday and the booking site has suddenly displayed a price drop? The cost is still high, but it’s half the price it was before. That’s surely reason enough to justify handing over your credit card, right?

This is the anchor effect and we have all fallen victim to it at one point or another. In fact, 100% of our decisions are based on our emotions — the interesting part is that this is not psychological, but biological.

Us humans are more emotional than we like to admit and rely heavily on the information we’re given. However, that ten turns into an emotional response and we intuitively use that information as a base for how we feel about subsequent decisions that we need to make, e.g. buying or acquiring something.

Emotional Selling Buyers Decisions In fact, the very first thing you say matters in emotional selling. So, whether your first point of communication involves a call or email, you should always, carefully, plan out how you want to introduce yourself and make sure the first piece of info your prospect receives about your product sets a positive tone for the rest of the conversation.

Play to this bias by unveiling the price of your solution in stages.
If you are offering a discount, start with the full price and follow with the discount cost.
Alternatively, demonstrate a price comparison by referencing a competitor price that’s higher.
When your prospect sees the second price, they’re more likely to view it favourably as they still have the initial quote in mind.
Strengthen your case by sharing testimonials that show how customers have earned or saved far more than they paid for your solution.

The Ambiguity Effect

Imagine you had the choice between two routes to reach your destination. You’ve travelled the first route often and you’re familiar with the roads. You can plan your time of arrival down to the second. You have never taken the second route before. The roads could be bumpy, traffic could be bad. You can’t guarantee you’ll reach your destination on time.

Which route are you more likely to take? Most people are risk-averse and will opt for route one. This is called the ambiguity effect and it causes people to lean towards the familiar and avoid options that are unknown. It also causes people to shy away from making decisions if they don’t fully understand what’s involved or what the results will be.

So, before you reach out to your prospect

Emotional selling requires that you make sure to anticipate any knowledge gaps. Having the relevant information available to hand over when your prospect has questions is key to conquering this bias.

Don’t overload your prospect with information on your first email or call – focus on the highlights and simplify what you are offering.
Try to gauge the existing knowledge of your prospect. Don’t use jargon, acronyms or technical terms, especially if they don’t fully understand what you are selling. It will scare potential buyers away.
Focus on results and clearly inform your prospect of what they can expect. Include case studies to share concrete examples of customer results.
Do your research on your prospect to help anticipate questions or objections. Smart contact data allows you to find valuable insights quickly to prequalify your leads. This allows you to store key information so you can have it on hand when contacting your prospect.

The bandwagon effect of emotional selling

From Beanie Babies to Bitcoin, at some point in our lives, we have all fallen victim to the bandwagon effect. You might also know this bias as a social influence or social proof. As an example, the cool kids on Instagram have a new career path because of the human urge to compare ourselves with a peer and aspire to their position.

The Bandwagon Effect

As such, it goes without saying that social influence can have a profound impact on how people make decisions. We like to think that we’re strong enough to resist letting others influence our decisions. But whether we like to admit it or not, we tend to trust something a lot more if we know it’s already popular with others.

Talk about your customers.
If your first point of contact is on a call, leverage social influence by referencing other customers in your conversation, for example: “Most of our clients use X to achieve Y”.
If you are reaching out to your prospect via email, include case studies that demonstrate how your prospect’s peers are using your offering. Don’t be afraid to show your prospect what their competition is doing.
Why not run a split test to see which customer stories are most effective to create interest and close deals.
Social proof is powerful – when you hit a customer milestone, broadcast it on social channels, your email newsletters and whenever you can drop it into the conversation!

The halo effect of emotional selling — first impressions matter.

Nicholas Boothman claims when you meet someone, you only have 90 seconds to make an impression. If you don’t spark a connection within that time, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever trigger their interest, and the timing is critical. If your prospect likes you, they are more likely to have positive associations with your business and product.

Emotional Selling - Do First Impressions Matter?

The opposite is also true, so it’s important to set a positive tone from the very beginning of any relationship or customer conversation (on email, over a call, and in a face-to-face meeting).

Pay attention to your facial expressions, eyes and body language. It’s essential for all three to convey a sense of warmth and openness.
Position your body with your heart facing towards your prospect and avoid crossing your arms.
Don’t be afraid to make eye contact – it is an effective way to gain trust.
Smile! It shows that you’re enthusiastic. Like yawning, it’s infectious so it won’t be long before your prospect is smiling back.
Make sure your voice, body language and expressions match. Lack of consistency can make you appear ingenuine and compromise your credibility.
Mirroring your prospects’ mannerisms also brings synchronicity into the conversation. As human beings, we do this quite naturally and it helps to build rapport. This can include posture, the volume of speech and facial expressions. A mismatch in communication styles can destroy a deal. If your prospect is particularly softly-spoken, loudness certainly won’t work in your favour! Focus on what you want to get out of your conversation. Ask the right questions and actively listen. Truly understanding your prospect and where you can bring value is key to building a genuine connection.
You can also use this to your advantage when pitching your solution. Focus your pitch on your best skill or product benefit first – then let the Halo Effect shine onto your other products and services too.

The Ikea effect of emotional selling

Have you ever assembled a shelving unit by hand? It may be a little wonky, however, I bet it means a lot more to you than the superior antique shelf that you had delivered. The pride you feel in your creation is described by the IKEA effect! People value something significantly more if they feel they have played a role in building it (regardless of the result).

Work with your prospect to customize your solution to cater to their specific needs.

Make them feel like they have a hand in shaping the solution. Offer them a free trial and ask for feedback.
This can also work nicely when it comes to customer retention.
Get your customers involved in BETA trials for new products. It makes your customers feel important and shows you value their opinion. In return, you receive valuable feedback to enhance and refine your offering.

The sunk-cost fallacy

We instinctively want to finish what we start. We are often irrationally, committed to finish and stick it out when we have already invested time, energy or money into it. Think about a game of monopoly that goes on for hours and hours. Everyone’s starting to get tired and there is no end in sight, but you feel like you have to keep playing. Otherwise, it all would have been for nothing, right?

Encourage your prospect to agree to small commitments. This is similar to the IKEA Effect – you want your prospect to get involved.
Send questions for your potential buyer to consider before your next meeting. This is also a useful technique to frame how your prospect thinks about your offering.
Email some reading materials and useful resources to your prospect. This not only works to increase commitment but shows that you are helpful and want to add value.
If your prospect has cooperated with the requests so far, it’s likely that they’re interested in your solution. Why not offer a free trial to dial up the commitment levels?
This also plays nicely into the Hyperbolic Discounting Effect (yes it’s a real thing!) – we are more attracted to immediate wins, than long-term rewards. Delayed payment terms are an effective way to satisfy your prospect’s desire for an instant pay-off.

Use cognitive bias to create urgency and increase your conversion rate

Research shows that if you know your prospect before you reach out, your chance of a deeper connection is 200-300% greater! Match prospects against lookalike customers to anticipate any possible objections, challenges and preconceptions.

Are you ready for a one-on-one copy-boarding session to identify your emotional selling points? It is currently only $95.; schedule now.

To help your cognitive biased copy, actively listen and ask open questions and give your prospect the opportunity to express their opinions and needs. Active listening establishes rapport. Try to truly understand your prospect’s values, pain points, and wants, and most importantly, what they already believe.

First impressions matter

Carefully plan your opening line, how you want to present your solution, and how you present yourself. You need to be likable, confident, and positive immediately to build a strong connection.

Emotional selling focuses on the prospects’ needs and creates value

Focus on something your prospect really cares about, like a personal desire or individual career goal. Look at your solution from their perspective. Think about the person, not the business. What problem can you solve for them? How is your product or service going to make them more successful?

At the end of the day, when selling, you must remember, you’re not selling a product, you’re selling outcome.

“Sell the problem you solve, not the product you have.” ~ Mike Serulneck

Let’s have a complimentary discovery chat about your business.

November 12, 2020

Being Mobile-Ready, Are You Ranking?

Being mobile-ready is crucially important, and as more people are now mobile dominant, finally, Google pulled out all the stops in helping businesses that support the mobile user.

All websites ranked in Google will switch to mobile-first indexing in March 2021.

What does this mean and are you prepared and focusing on being mobile-ready? Your website may not rank well when Google goes mobile-first indexing.

Google has announced that in March 2021, all websites will rank organically based on how the mobile version of your website performs.

With this change, your organic traffic will be directly impacted whether or not your customers use mobile regularly. Where you show up on the Google search engine results page will be impacted by mobile website speed, ease of mobile navigation, and what keywords you rank for on mobile.

When was your website built? Was it designed with a mobile responsive or optimized approach?

SEO Is Changing Forever Regarding Being Mobile-Ready

There have been several huge SEO changes over the years. We all know about Panda and Penguin, but the big consumer-facing changes may have an even bigger impact — like Google’s Knowledge Graph. Knowledge Graph optimization is simply the process of helping Google understand what your web page is about. This is the future of search, a fact that became evident after the release of Hummingbird.

The biggest change of all, however, has been the mobile revolution.

Google announced its mobile-first index in November 2016 because they were trying to solve a problem.

Being Mobile-Ready Requires Up-To-Date Technology

If your site is older than 3 – 5 years old and/or you’re unsure of its mobile readiness, your website might not be designed responsively or optimized for a mobile-first world.

Essentially, you have until March 2021, giving us a few months of time to develop and implement a plan to protect and increase your traffic.

If you’re looking for increased organic traffic and conversions in the years to come, contact Cortex Marketing today for a free consultation and assessment of your website’s mobile performance.

Cortex Marketing

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