The SpotOn team participated in the 2021 HubSpot Inbound virtual conference. The event was chock full of learnings, best practices, and ideas to take back to all of our stand-out clients. We’re breaking our top takeaways into a 3 part monthly series starting with Content Strategy Priorities, followed by Lead Gen Lessons in November, and then end the year with Inspiration for Business Success. Start here for your top 3 priorities in your content strategy.

Content marketing is a somewhat loaded topic. It can mean a lot of things and encompass many different tactics. So it’s not surprising that a lot of brands and businesses have questions when it comes to content marketing.

We’re here to provide some insights and answer five of the most common content marketing questions.

If you want to improve your marketing, don’t jump right into launching more tactics. Don’t simply create more content, send more emails, or spend more on ads. Instead, take a step back and focus on your strategy. Create an updated marketing strategy to guide your next steps.

Branding is something that organizations usually focus on at the inception of their business. Logo, icons, imagery, taglines, and messaging are all priorities at the launch of a business, and then they are often deprioritized as time goes on. But, branding should remain an ongoing task. Here are a few reasons why an organization might need to rethink their branding strategy and reposition their brand.

You’ve been working on a website development project for weeks. You finally set the site to live and sit back and bask in a job well done, a job completely complete. Well, not so fast. When your website goes live, you have ended one project, but started another. You’ve moved from the website development phase to the website maintenance phase.

In 2020, many brick-and-mortar businesses had to pivot. With their doors shut, they had to find another way to serve customers -- so they built an online store. Many brands launched eCommerce stores to help their business survive COVID-19 lockdowns.

Now, many brands are realizing that the opportunities of an online store can outlast COVID-19 closures. An online store can continue to create additional revenue, especially when you optimize and amplify it.

If you want to continually attract your ideal audience and encourage them to take a step toward working with you, you need an effective lead generation strategy. And, that doesn’t mean simply adding a contact form to your website.

To effectively and consistently generate quality leads, you need a variety of elements that help you reach the right audience and encourage them to take action.

To build a fully functional lead generation strategy, use these eleven elements of an effective lead generation strategy.

Social media is an easy marketing effort for B2B brands to underestimate and overlook. While most brands know they need social media added to their marketing mix, they don’t always understand how useful it can be with the right strategy. Nor do they properly estimate the commitment it takes.

The truth about B2B social media is that it can be effective to bolster your brand, build trust and connect with your customers, if used in the right ways.

Your business is only as good as your brand’s reputation. When a customer is trying to decide whether to work with or buy from you, they will look to a variety of trust signals to tell them if it’s a good idea or not. So, how do you provide the trust signals that customers need to keep going down the path to work with you? It starts with reputation management.

Advertising is one component of a larger marketing strategy. It specifically refers to the tactics used to make customers aware of a business, product, or service. Advertising involves paying a third-party media or channel to promote your brand to their audience. Advertising exists in many forms, from traditional outlets (TV ads, newspaper ads, billboards, etc.) to digital platforms (display ads, search ads, social media ads, etc.).