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How to Use Wrike for Content Planning
Marketing 5 min read

How to Use Wrike for Content Planning

It is crucial to plan ahead so you always have ideas at the ready. It's even better if you have finished and recyclable content pieces that can be published at a moment's notice. That's the purpose of this blog post: to walk you through a three-part process for planning out your content in advance of deadlines and sudden needs.

The Art of Writing: How to Create Content Like a Pro
Marketing 7 min read

The Art of Writing: How to Create Content Like a Pro

Even if writing isn’t exactly your forte, the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively is essential—both for your leadership skills, and your ability to develop a strong online presence for your brand.  Imagine this: you’ve spent a good deal of time and money developing a beautifully designed, user-friendly website for your company, and you have high expectations for it to lead to greater brand awareness and more sales. But that website needs fuel in the form of great content. Moreover, you’ll have to promote it via social media, with… you guessed it, more great content.  Many of you don’t need to envision that scenario: you’ve faced it already, and you know that you simply can’t afford to neglect your writing skills. How to Master the Art of Writing Of course, there's aren't any instant shortcuts that will make you a brilliant writer overnight. It's a skill that takes a lot of practice, commitment, and diligence. However, there are certain methods that will help you improve your creativity and writing technique with less effort, including these key strategies and tools: 1. Understand the 'Why' Behind Each Piece of Content Think the purpose of content is simply to promote your brand? Think again! Your primary goal is to help the reader. Your reader should not come away believing that promotion was your main objective, but that your content is helping them in some way. Here are the main goals your content should have: Delivering value for the target audience, in the form of problem solutions, tips that improve their lives, answers to their questions, or entertainment Growing relationships with your audience that keep them coming back over the long term Defining your brand (or yourself) to target readers Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the most emailed articles from The New York Times. The results were surprising: people liked sharing elaborate articles on intellectually-challenging topics, and they preferred recommending articles that awakened positive emotions. What about your brand? Analyze your own audience's preferences and then craft content that will meet their expectations.   2. Create How-To and List Articles Although some audiences prefer long form content based on in-depth research, they still want it organized in a clean, easy-to-skim format. Even if listicles and how-to articles seem like an outdated form of content, they are still effective.  The trick is, you need a very specific topic that will separate you from the competition. So, instead of writing an article named Top 10 Movies from the 80s, try something like Top 10 Movies from the 80s to Watch in October.  3. Use the Right Keywords It's not enough to write great content—you have to make it easy for your audience to find. You know how Google works: you enter a set of keywords and the engine lists relevant results. Obviously, you want your content ranked as high as possible in results pages for the search phrases your audience uses most often. This is where SEO optimization comes in. You’ll need to use the right keywords in the right places, without letting those keywords take over your content. You should always put the human reader first by making sure keywords make sense within the context of your writing.  4. Ask Questions Questions are great because they make your content interactive. When you ask a question, the reader will answer it in their own head (and hopefully in the comments section of your article as well). In addition, questions awaken curiosity. It's a perfect opportunity for you to guide them to another of your articles or content pieces that discusses their question in greater detail and offers answers.  5. Express Your Personality Uniqueness is the factor that makes your content recognizable. It doesn’t matter whether you’re learning how to start a blog, a social media page, or you’re writing email campaigns. You have to find your unique voice! Your content should convey your company's distinct organizational culture, and it should make your brand recognizable.  You’ll connect better with your audience if you write in first or second person, as if you're speaking directly to them. Adding some humor, storytelling, and real-life experience to your posts will help make your content even more engaging.  Tools to Make You a More Efficient Writer Now that you’re aware of some tips to help you reach your the target audience, let’s go through some tools that will support the process. Google AdWords – Keyword Planner This is where you’ll get SEO keywords from. In addition to keyword ideas, the tool gives you a chance to organize your overall content writing campaign. You will see how a list of keywords may perform, and you can create your own keywords by combining different suggestions.  EduGeeksClub Professional Writing Service If you need outside help generating content for your blog, email campaigns, and social media updates, you can outsource with a service like EduGeeksClub. This writing service connects you with professional writers from different niches, so you’ll always rely on experts who will work under your specific instructions.  Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator A great title is a critical part of attracting attention, especially when it comes to standing out in a sea of online content. If you have no idea where to start, this tool will give you a solid starting point. Enter three nouns relevant to the theme you want to work on, and the app will give you suggestions for a captivating title.  CoSchedule Blog Post Headline Analyzer If you've brainstormed a few options for a headline but don't know which to use, this tool will predict how each of them will perform before you even publish the content. It gives you a grade based on word choice, emotional appeal, and the power of the topic.     Are you ready to start working on your writing skills? Try the tips and tools suggested above and inform us about the progress you make! Author Bio Karen Dikson is a marketing expert and creative writer.  She finds her inspiration in books and traveling. Connect with Karen on Twitter.

How To Do Your Video Production Planning With Wrike
Wrike Tips 5 min read

How To Do Your Video Production Planning With Wrike

When planning your next video production project make sure you’ve got the right tools. Learn how Wrike makes video production planning more efficient.

Go Viral with Contagious: Why Things Catch On (Book Review)
Marketing 5 min read

Go Viral with Contagious: Why Things Catch On (Book Review)

Going viral is every marketer’s dream, and Jonah Berger explains how to infect the world with your brand in his bestseller, Contagious: Why Things Catch On. Discover some of the key points in this book review.

How to Foster a Positive Company Culture in the Age of Social Media Reviews
Leadership 10 min read

How to Foster a Positive Company Culture in the Age of Social Media Reviews

Company culture is a key concern for many applicants. But how do you foster a positive culture in an age of Glassdoor and Facebook reviews?

How Do Social Media Marketing Gurus Become Super-Productive?
Productivity 3 min read

How Do Social Media Marketing Gurus Become Super-Productive?

Well then, how do social media gurus manage to be productive and get things done right on time? They have their own productivity tools and technique, as well as marketing terms and concepts, that help them stay efficient in this vibrant environment. The good news is that social media professionals don’t mind sharing their tips. For example, one of them, a popular social media marketing expert and coach, Laura Roeder, told us what helps her stay on top of multiple projects and effectively collaborate with her team members. “Getting things done fast is perhaps the most important skill you can have to make your business move forward,” says Laura. “The flexibility of Wrike project management software allows us to be super-productive, and it helps our own business grow rapidly.” Read the full story and find out how Laura’s social media marketing team benefits from Wrike’s unique features.

The Ultimate Strategic Guide For Evolving Your Digital Marketing Game
Marketing 7 min read

The Ultimate Strategic Guide For Evolving Your Digital Marketing Game

Keeping up with today’s marketing challenges is tough. There is a lot of information to process and examine before formulating a strategy, plus many startups and small businesses have limited budgets. They have to focus on the most cost-effective marketing channels to see positive results. So as a marketer or aspiring entrepreneur, where should you focus? Here are a few tips to maximize your reach through digital marketing. 1. Know your audience and competitors  This is the cardinal rule of marketing. Without knowing your audience, you can't effectively speak to them or grab their attention (What are they interested in? What are they looking for, and where do they go to find it?). In-depth knowledge of your target audience allows you to pinpoint your strategy for the people who are most likely to purchase your product, and most willing to contact you directly.  So how do you get to know your customers?  Step 1: Start with the data that you already have (past surveys and Google Analytics) Also, hold interviews with the major stakeholders to better understand what they like about your organization. Step 2: Once you have enough data, it’s time to create an audience profile worksheet. Step 3: After you’ve created an audience profile, use it as the basis for each and every decision. This will ensure your organization remains customer-centric.  Also, whether you’re a small business or an established brand, you have to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. By analyzing your competitors, you can future-proof your business and have an idea of what’s in store. Analyze at least five close competitors in your industry.  Keep these points in mind when conducting competitor analysis: What potential threats do your competitors pose? What opportunities do they create for you? Which mediums do they use to market their product or service? Are they doing content marketing, and how successful are they? What topics do they cover? Which keywords do they use? Tools like SEMRush, SuggestMtrx, and SEOchat can help you determine top competitor keywords.  2. Define an engagement strategy  According to a survey of marketers conducted by Econsultancy.com, most respondents want to improve customer engagement and brand building by providing a positive experience — they're just not sure how to do it. This is where you have to rely on the data you’ve collected on your customers and competitors to formulate an engagement strategy backed by data (see point 1).   Identify the channels (Facebook, Google+) your customers are active on Target those channels and attract customers with relevant content and positive customer reviews (social proof) Use gamification to increase brand engagement Connect with customers by responding to comments, queries and requests Surprise customers by sending them coupons and other incentives on their birthday or holidays Develop an omni-channel user experience 3. Retain current customers  82% of companies agree that retaining customers is cheaper than acquiring new ones. The moment you see churn numbers start to rise, take steps to find out where the problem lies.  Some questions to investigate: has your customer left you for a competitor? Are your communications no longer personalized? Or does your product no longer meet their needs? You need to know these answers to retain your customers.  4. Focus on search engine optimization  Well executed SEO can bring in a tremendous amount of traffic to your website. According to Social Media Today, 57% of B2B marketers say SEO has the biggest impact on lead generation. But optimizing your website isn't easy, and it requires time and patience.  Tips for optimizing your website: Learn how search engine spiders work Before you write content, do some research on keywords and build your material around them Perform A/B tests on your headlines and website copy  Update content on a regular basis Share and promote your website address Include a targeted call-to-action on each page of your website Use Google speed insights to improve your site's user experience Have you wondered how much business you’ll be losing by not having your site optimized for mobile users? Well, the answer is A LOT. The number of smartphone users worldwide is expected to grow to 4.77 billion in 2017 — and those numbers will continue to skyrocket in the coming years. So don’t forget to optimize your content, website, and apps for mobile users.  SEO will also lead to improvements in your content marketing results, since you can focus on creating articles, eBooks, and infographics that potential customers are most interested in reading — and can easily find. Knowing exactly what keywords and topics customers are looking for makes it easier to provide targeted, discoverable content.  5. Start promoting your brand on social media Social networking sites are a great way to help you stay connected with existing customers, and will encourage you to seek out potential customers.  For instance, let’s say you’ve recently opened a coffee shop. Using geo search, you can find people who have tweeted about coffee close to your location, and then reach out and offer them a coupon to try your coffee. Apart from the points mentioned above, here a few other areas to concentrate on: Vary your content types, including videos, Slideshares, and infographics. Enforce a multi-channel digital marketing campaign with the help of tools like Pardot, Eloqua,and Bizible Include social media buttons on each page of your website Use email campaigns to nurture leads Offering solutions, education, and entertainment matters. Providing value to customers is the best way to engage and connect. Once you have generated leads, learn to manage them efficiently with tools like Integrate, Pipedrive, and ProsperWorks If you are promoting your brand on multiple channels, be consistent across them all.  Instead of trying to do everything, focus your digital marketing resources on excelling in a few key areas.  Success in marketing means you never stop learning, keeping up with the latest trends, and above all, listening to your audience. You can read about digital marketing until your eyes cross, but at the end of the day, there is no better guide than dialing in to your customers.  Author Bio: Sandra Christie, a writer for @IdigicNet, has several published articles about social media that talk about general improvement of your social feed, and get more brand presence using it.

The Definitive Experiential Marketing Guide
Marketing 10 min read

The Definitive Experiential Marketing Guide

Experiential marketing is a great way to delight customers while achieving your brand’s marketing goals. Read on for experiential marketing examples and strategies.

Digital Marketing Tools Your Team Can’t Go Without
Project Management 7 min read

Digital Marketing Tools Your Team Can’t Go Without

What digital marketing tools are must-haves for your team? Here are 10 powerful, online marketing tools so you can choose the best ones to accomplish more.

Why Use Wrike as SEO Project Management Software?
Project Management 5 min read

Why Use Wrike as SEO Project Management Software?

Manage campaigns, store keyword research, and map SEO strategy. Make Wrike your SEO project management software for better results every time.

Why You Need a Marketing Plan Template
Marketing 7 min read

Why You Need a Marketing Plan Template

A marketing plan template helps teams achieve better campaign outcomes. Organize and execute smarter campaigns with Wrike’s strategic marketing plan template.

B2B vs. B2C Marketing: What is the Difference?
Marketing 10 min read

B2B vs. B2C Marketing: What is the Difference?

While B2B and B2C marketing are different, they share the same goals and objectives. There is an art to both B2B and B2C marketing, with their strategies and thinking being both separate, and in some cases, the same.  This article will clear the confusion and explain the fundamental differences between B2B and B2C marketing, along with guidance and considerations for each marketing type. Keep reading to discover tools and tips to uncover the subtle yet significant differences between the two.  What is the difference between B2B and B2C marketing? Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing techniques are focused on attracting two distinct audiences. B2B refers to businesses that are focused on serving other businesses instead of themselves. Some examples include software, manufacturing equipment, and repair services for long-haul fleets.  B2C refers to businesses that are focused on the needs and interests of their customers, who are often individuals. In other words, they sell to everybody but professionals. Think toothpaste, grocery stores, and mobile gaming apps. While these brands may also appeal to businesses, the bulk of their customer base comes from consumers, so their marketing reflects that.  There are also cases where both B2B and B2C initiatives happen at the same time. For example, an interior design agency might design rooms for hotels as well as homeowners. On the surface level, B2B and B2C marketing campaigns share the same technical and behavioral best practices. However, there are several strategic differences that separate the B2B and B2C campaigns. Potential sales volume B2C campaigns can reach anyone interested in a product even if they aren’t the intended buyer. For example, a product intended for children might appeal to the decision-maker in the household by also targeting them to get them to purchase something. While B2C companies can cast a wide net and still expect a solid ROI on their campaigns, B2B brands don’t have that same advantage. That’s because, in B2B marketing, the products are meant for businesses, and there are typically far fewer businesses than there are people in any demographic.  While specificity is key for both, B2B marketing has to niche down even further by industry, business size, approximate revenue, and much more when choosing their target audience.  Average budget per customer There's a big difference in the budget that an individual has versus what a corporation has.  While spending five figures on a piece of equipment might be out of reach for the Average Joe, it's likely already built into the company budget for a business. And, as you can probably guess, how you market a $5 item is quite different from how you market a $50,000 item. This distinction is important because it highlights another one of the biggest key differences between B2B vs. B2C marketing: volume. Volume of sales needed to reach goals Because B2C products are typically sold at a lower price point, they need to rely on a significant number of purchases to reach their goals. This is often reflected in the frequency and variety of their marketing. Even the B2C channels they use offer mass appeal. Podcast ads, paid social media ads, and even billboards are excellent examples of this.  Conversely, B2B products are sold at a higher price point and need fewer yet more highly targeted accounts to make a profit.  These types of campaigns rely more on reaching the right quality of audience rather than the right quantity of audience.  In other words, more is not necessarily more in B2B marketing.   Even if the B2B marketers are targeting a specific set of individual decision-makers within a company, they are still benefiting from that company's access to a greater amount of financial resources than the average individual would have.  In short, B2C marketing is often aimed at individuals with smaller budgets, while B2B marketing is all about targeting corporations with larger budgets. Decision-making timeline In both B2B and B2C marketing, ads need to immediately inspire customers to take the next action. The difference here is that the next action for B2C audiences might be to make a purchase, while B2B buyers tend to have a much longer decision-making timeline.  For B2C, consumers should be able to see an ad and decide whether or not they like the product enough to go in-store or online to make the purchase. While they might do additional research, the time it takes to read reviews or watch product videos on YouTube is a much quicker turnaround than in B2B buying. For B2B brands, there may be many different decision-makers from a variety of departments involved in the purchase. Often, a few different budget approvals and negotiations will take place between the business’s first initial ad viewing and the final purchase.  When put together, the B2B marketing timeline can often be significantly longer than the B2C marketing timeline. Emotion vs. logic B2C marketing also relies on appealing to emotions to make quick buying decisions. This means their content is often more fun or entertaining. Think TikTok videos, YouTube reacts, and paid social media sponsorships.  For B2B, marketers often aim to move their leads to the next stage of the sales funnel. That could mean anything from setting up a free demonstration to starting a subscription. B2B marketers have to consider which campaigns will target which parts of the marketing funnel. This helps them reach the right audience with the right messaging at the right time.  Also, the demand for efficiency and expertise is higher among B2B audiences than among the consumer group. As a result, the purchase decision is often influenced by both logic and financial incentive more than emotion.  Personal attention Unlike in a B2C environment, B2B customers expect their sales and marketing teams to be focused on them because of the higher ticket price. This means providing personalized service, getting to know their team members on an individual level, and tailoring solutions to fit their changing needs over time.  Customer experience is an important factor for B2C audiences too. However, the average consumer doesn’t expect to get to know a sales representative at their favorite laundry detergent brand before buying their next bottle.  Do B2B & B2C marketing intersect at all? Both B2B and B2C sales require extensive experience and knowledge about customer service. In fact, “on average across 20 industries, there is a 38% difference in likelihood to recommend between consumers rating a company’s [customer experience] as ‘good’ versus those rating a company’s [customer experience] as ‘poor’” according to Qualtrics XM Institute.  In other words, good customer service really matters for most industries and can positively impact the decision-making process for both types of audiences.  Another way the B2B and B2C marketing intersects is shared goals. The primary goal of both B2B and B2C sales models is to convert a prospect into a customer. The ways they go about it or the specifics of how many sales they make might look different. But at the end of the day, they are focused on the same big-picture vision.  Another similarity between B2C and B2B sales is that their customers are (or have the ability to be) very well-versed in their products and services. In addition to viewing ads, customers will often research products on their own and ask their network for referrals. Both B2C and B2B marketers will have to consider how they’re appealing to their target audience outside of the physical and digital spaces they have control of because of this.  B2B Vs B2C Marketing: Which approach is best for me? If you're trying to decide between B2B vs. B2C marketing, you need to consider who you're going to reach.  Again, it all goes back to businesses versus individuals. If you are aiming for audiences in both sectors, you can use a combination of B2B and B2C marketing techniques in separate campaigns.  Another thing to consider is budget. B2C marketing typically casts a wider net across platforms, channels, and ad types. If you can afford to reach the masses on a variety of mediums, then the B2C marketing approach is worth considering.  There's also a chance that your B2B product might have mass appeal to individuals or vice versa.  In that case, you can test a small campaign using the opposite approach to see which works best for your brand.  If you have a smaller budget or a niche product, then the B2B marketing approach is ideal. It may take more planning, but you can easily reach high ROI leads using this methodology.  B2B vs. B2C OKRs: What is the difference? OKRs help marketers align their efforts with the goals and objectives of their companies. They can also affect the people who work with them and offer actions steps for marketing operations and management.  B2B and B2C objectives and key results are identical for the most part. That’s because B2B and B2C brands often have goals that fall under the same category. The details, such as the specifics of the objective and the steps they’ll take to achieve each goal, might look different. But for the most part, any marketer can use the OKR system for establishing goals and next steps.  Here’s an example of OKRs in action:  Objective: Become the go-to product for this pain point on the market  Key Result: Provide one new product update every quarter to reflect industry trends  Key Result: Reduce the number of steps it takes to make a purchase through the website from 10 to two Key Result: Increase average star meter review score from 3.5 to 4.5 stars on major industry review website Notice how this can apply to either a B2B or a B2C marketing campaign? While this example is a bit generic, there are instances where the OKRs will look different, especially when it comes to the approach.  How do B2C and B2B marketing approaches differ? B2C and B2B marketing approaches differ and how and when they reach potential leads. While both B2C and B2B customers are more likely to purchase after seeing an ad, the latter is also more likely to take longer to make a purchase. People tend to make impulsive decisions when it comes to buying goods and services on their own. On the other hand, buying a business product or service can be more challenging to change once purchased. There's even evidence of this in the marketing tools B2C and B2B marketers use most often. For example, most ad platforms have shorter windows of attribution for B2C customers. For that reason, B2B businesses should also check these settings and ensure that they are being used correctly. B2C and B2B marketing management approaches also differ in how they motivate buyers. B2B and B2C customers both typically buy because they see a product or service that they can use in some way. However, B2C customers are looking for ways to improve their lives. Even though emotional appeal is important in both B2B and B2C, it needs to be tied back to the business and not just the sales pitch. Can I organize B2B & B2C marketing campaigns with Wrike? Wrike for Marketers is a robust and pre-packaged solution that enables marketers to easily create and manage their marketing plans. Marketing teams use it to streamline and keep track of their work for both B2B and B2C marketing. They’re able to clearly see all active projects, statuses, and tasks in one shared system, all while monitoring performance and improving ROI as they go.  Some ways you can use Wrike to organize B2B & B2C marketing campaigns include:  Create use requests, tasks and projects to streamline your intake process for both B2B and B2C marketing initiatives.  Organize incoming work from clients, partners, and third-party collaborators.  Create an actionable timeline for campaigns and individual assets.  Easily compare and approve files and materials while also commenting on files directly in Wrike.  Run reports on internal and external progress to see how your team is doing across all departments.  To sum it up: Wrike can help both marketers and businesses plan and execute their marketing strategies and campaigns. Start your free trial. 

Will Your Company's Social Media Marketing Efforts Pay Off? (Infographic)
Marketing 3 min read

Will Your Company's Social Media Marketing Efforts Pay Off? (Infographic)

In order to be successful marketing your business in social media, you need to invest time and resources, and understand what is targeting in marketing. This decision tree helps you see if you're ready to launch a full-scale social media effort that will lead to more attention and business leads. Will your company's social media efforts pay off? See the decision tree below. Embed this infographic in your site using the code below: Wrike Project Management Software What ingredients are key to social media success? What do you think the most essential ingredient is for a social media strategy? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The Ultimate Guide to SEO Project Management
Project Management 10 min read

The Ultimate Guide to SEO Project Management

Boost search engine ranking with these SEO project management best practices. Learn how the right SEO tools and management platform can increase traffic.

5 Best Affiliate Programs for Bloggers
Marketing 3 min read

5 Best Affiliate Programs for Bloggers

You've been working hard to fill your blog with unique and inspiring content, carefully choosing topics and polishing sentences. Now it's your moment of glory — and you've gotten hundreds or even thousands of comments, shares, and retweets! If you're at this point and you haven't started monetizing your blog with top affiliates programs, then it's high time to jump into the world of affiliate marketing. When launching an affiliate program on your blog, keep in mind these ground rules for success: Choose a niche, best-seller product that appeals to the majority of your readers. Ideally it should be a product you actively use, or have a good understanding of how to use. If you're not quite sure which tool to choose from a list of market competitors, check out ratings on review sites to see how real users feel about it. Check out the main affiliate conditions: besides commission rate, take a look at minimum payout, cookie length, and reporting systems for tracking your referrals. Use a combination of promotion tools: writing a detailed review from your own point of view is always the best. Combine it with social media promotion, banner placement on your blog, or featuring it in your newsletters for better results. Don't hesitate to contact vendors you're going to promote for more details about the product, best practices, product screenshots, or any other promotional materials. To help you get started monetizing your blog, we've prepared a short list of best affiliate programs in various niches: Business: Wrike Wrike is a leading work management and collaboration tool that helps teams all over the world complete projects on time and on budget. You'll get $100 per paid Professional subscription and $200 per paid Enterprise subscription. Travel: TravelPayouts TravelPayouts.com is actually a mini-network of three travel engines that scan through popular sites to help users find cheap, easy travel and accommodations. As an affiliate, you will receive up to 70% of the income on each sale, for an average of $9 USD on airline tickets and $30 USD on hotel bookings. Books: Amazon This niche has one obvious, trusted choice! If you want an established affiliate program to support your book reviews, check out Amazon Associates. You'll get up to 10% in advertising fees. Health: HealthyWage Earn money by helping others win big, lose weight, and get healthy! HealthyWage is a friendly weight loss challenge site. Earn $60 for each HealthyWager sign-up you generate, or $40 for each Team Challenge participant sign-up you generate. Education: Udemy Udemy is one of the largest marketplaces for online education courses. You'll get 50% commission for any course you sell both to new and returning customers. What other top affiliate programs do you recommend? Have you tried monetizing your blog? Which tools can you recommend with high-paying affiliate programs to help writers earn and provide value for their readers? Help everyone out in the comments below!

The Complete Guide to B2C Marketing Strategies
Marketing 10 min read

The Complete Guide to B2C Marketing Strategies

Want to create a B2C digital marketing strategy? Find out how your company can attract and engage customers in this guide to B2C marketing strategies.

Email Marketing KPIs & Metrics You Need to Know
Marketing 10 min read

Email Marketing KPIs & Metrics You Need to Know

A marketing strategy is incomplete without email marketing KPIs to monitor performance. Here are the email marketing metrics to track for campaign success.

New eBook Highlights the CMO’s Strategy To 3x Your Digital Marketing Campaign Results
News 5 min read

New eBook Highlights the CMO’s Strategy To 3x Your Digital Marketing Campaign Results

An increasing number of companies are heading back to the office and with the Next Normal taking shape, marketing leaders are re-evaluating their campaigns to complete the next phase of company growth. Digital channels will be key, as many organizations have upped their digital advertising spend — an amount that has spiraled up into the billions across multiple channels:  Source: emarker.com Even during 2020, many digital marketing analysts thought that spending would slow, yet it continued to project upward — why? Digital transformation and brands’ reliance on online channels to reach customers. Digital transformation has already been happening around the world, and 2020 accelerated that trend even further. When one in four companies plan to increase marketing activities and 78% of B2C marketing leaders aim to increase digital advertising spend this year, how can you be confident your ad spend is generating positive returns across all channels? Before you can answer that question, are you able to first extract all of your data, make it accessible to anyone on your team, and act on the insights instantly? Marketing leaders understand that any 2021 recovery plan starts with data analytics for digital marketing. But there are issues to contend with to make sense of it all and develop a revamped plan this year. The 3 biggest problems with digital marketing data Marketers have more data at their fingertips than ever before. The data you’re seeking probably exists already; it just may not be readily accessible or available in an easy-to-interpret format. Problem #1 In 2019, 92% of businesses were investing more in AI, analytics, and big data. Amidst the 2020 economic downturn, using data to inform analytics only grew in importance. Meanwhile, CMOs identified two blockers to effectively using analytics:  Proving the value of analytics to marketing efforts  Demonstrating the overall impact that investing in data will have on their organization  So, the first hurdle is curating all the digital marketing data cleanly so that everyone on your team, including non-technical members, can view, interpret, and act on the data in real time without requiring external resources. Numerous BI software can tap into your digital marketing channels and collect data, yet the data often requires an analyst to interpret it for marketing team members. This slows down the decision-making process and affects campaigns (see problem #3). Since streamlining data access is an ongoing issue for marketing decision-makers, opening up access for more team members to view data would empower them to take more ownership. This will in turn free up time for more digital marketing data analysis instead of data preparation.  Problem #2 Even when data is extracted, it’s not standardized in a uniform view. Take YouTube and LinkedIn, for example. The former has “subscribers” whereas the latter has “followers.” Both are the same metric but these are traditionally looked at separately. Cost-per-mille (CPM) and cost-per-view (CPV) are other examples. Both track the cost of views, but each is calculated differently. With more channels and martech solutions than ever, it’s becoming harder to find simplistic methods for digital marketing data analysis across multiple channels. Problem #3 Once a marketing team has standardized the data, presenting it in an actionable way continues to be a challenge. Digital marketing moves too fast for teams to struggle with attempting to interpret the findings so that they can iterate in real time. Think about ad auctions where it takes, at most, 300 milliseconds to complete an auction and where billions of auctions occur every hour. A data analytics for digital marketing strategy that takes weeks or months isn’t acceptable. This delay in visibility leads to wasted budget in campaigns, channels, and resources. Marketing leaders must have complete visibility and an easy way to automate data collection so they can iterate in real time to optimize results. The CMO’s Formula To 3x Your Digital Marketing Campaign Results As a marketing leader, you’re not alone in experiencing these problems. There’s a better way to solve these pain points, and it starts by reviewing our latest eBook, “The CMO’s Formula To 3x Your Digital Marketing Campaign Results.” Here’s what you’ll get inside: The 5 most pressing questions CMOs face The 5 digital marketing best practices for CMOs to adapt to the changing digital landscape Wrike’s tailor-made solution to view performance insights and provide instant visibility across 50 digital marketing channels to optimize investments Access the eBook here, but don’t stop there because it’s only a primer to Wrike’s capabilities with digital marketing data and providing actionable insights. Try out Wrike Insights and see the difference for yourself — no more siloed teams or tracking results with spreadsheets.

What's a Good Process for Content Approvals?
Marketing 7 min read

What's a Good Process for Content Approvals?

As a content marketer, conceptualizing and then writing the content must be followed immediately by an efficient review and approval process. But what makes a good approval process for content?

The Definitive Guide to Multi-Channel Marketing
Marketing 10 min read

The Definitive Guide to Multi-Channel Marketing

Multi-channel marketing is a complex yet powerful strategy that marketers use to reach more leads using various platforms. By implementing multi-channel marketing, you can reach out to your customers at every stage of their journey. It also allows marketers to study behavioral patterns, making sending targeted messages relevant to their interests easier. Keep reading to discover what multi-channel marketing is and how to make the most of it with the right tools. What is multi-channel marketing? Multi-channel marketing is often defined as the strategy of communicating with prospects and customers across various channels. Instead of running a single campaign or tactic, marketers are now mirroring how consumers operate in various places all at once. It enables leads to take action in response to your offer or service without requiring them to purchase it using one particular channel. There are many types of channels that a business can use to reach potential customers. The most popular ones are: Social media Digital marketplaces Paid and native advertising Content creation Podcasting Blogging Direct mail marketing Mobile marketing Voice assisted search However, not all channels are created equal. The platforms you start with will largely depend on your industry, your audience, and your team’s workload capacity. For example, a B2B software startup may need to focus on building an engaged audience on LinkedIn before expanding to additional channels to build long-term success. With so many marketing channels to choose from, it's no wonder that many companies still struggle to create multi-channel campaigns that can stand out from the crowd. Yet, as the number of marketing channels continues to expand, it becomes more important to develop multi-channel marketing campaigns that can reach all of your potential customers. With multiple channels in play, it's also important to measure the effectiveness of each one. Through closed-loop analytics, marketers will be able to identify which channels were most effective and which ones were not. Why is it important to your business? Multi-channel marketing is important for the simple reason that customers are everywhere. Today's world is full of more channels than ever before, and the need to embrace multi-channel marketing is becoming a critical one. With the rise of digital marketing, customers have more control over their buying decisions. And for many, they’d prefer to consult multiple channels before coming to a conclusion. So it’s easy to see why having the ability to customize how people interact with your business is very helpful for increasing conversions. Another reason why it’s so important to participate in multi-channel marketing is that many consumers expect it these days. Think of it as an opportunity for your brand to stay consistent across various mediums, which helps keep it fresh and relevant. What are the benefits of multi-channel marketing? 1. Access valuable data By implementing multi-channel marketing, you'll be able to reach out to your customers at every stage of their journey. And by analyzing their behavioral patterns, you can send targeted messages that are relevant to their interests. 2. Improve campaign effectiveness Through multi-channel marketing, companies can create an integrated approach that combines various communication channels to reach their customers. This strategy allows them to measure and respond to each other in real-time. Plus, by creating a multi-channel marketing platform that enables marketers to connect and execute cross-channel campaigns, you can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing efforts while also reducing costs. For example, having more touchpoints in your funnel helps you collect more data. After all, knowing your audience can help determine the best way to reach them. 3. Develop strong ecosystems A good multi-channel marketing ecosystem ties all of your customer touchpoints into one overall experience. You're able to measure and react to each customer's behavior across all of your marketing channels so that your messages are always aligned with theirs. 4. Track wins accurately It can also help you measure your success and identify areas where your promotions are performing well. With that information, you’ll be able to perform A/B testing with the same message on a variety of channels. Or send different messages per platform once you drill down on who uses which channel for what. 5. Engage audiences more A multi-channel marketing campaign can help drive engagement and enhance a customer's experience at all touchpoints. For example, if a customer visits a shoe store, she might receive a discount code after choosing to receive a personalized message from the store. After choosing to receive a welcome email, she'll also be prompted to download the brand app. 6. Understand customers better A successful multi-channel marketing campaign is one that will help you understand your customer's communication and brand preferences so that you can constantly deliver relevant offers across all of them. After they've completed the onboarding process, you'll start providing targeted promotions based on their interests. For instance, if a user has saved their interests for future purchases, you can offer them limited-time discounts or promote products that match their saved interests. When your customers engage with your brand through various methods, you can use their behavioral insights to deliver highly personalized marketing messages. These insights can be used to inform content that's relevant to their interests. Multi-channel marketing examples Not sure where to begin? The simplest approach that many successful companies take is to add a complementary channel to an already established campaign. Here are some multi-channel marketing examples that illustrate this idea: Google Ads are used to promote various products and services. These extensions allow advertisers to easily integrate mobile and web activity into their ad campaigns. Some mail-order catalogs feature URLs or QR codes that direct viewers to a website. This feature is popular because it lets users order online without manually navigating to the online portion of the brand. Many television shows take advantage of the second screen effect by featuring a Twitter hashtag overlay during their shows. Some also verbally encourage their audience to participate on Twitter by following, retweeting, and using the hashtag while watching. Ways to improve your multi-channel communications Despite the advantages of multi-channel marketing, this approach does come with its own unique challenges. First, multi-channel marketing can be very costly. Second, it can take a while to develop a strategy and implement it. Third, it can also be difficult to measure the success of a campaign. With these common issues in mind, here are some simple yet effective ways to improve your existing campaigns: Be consistent. One of the most powerful factors that drive a successful customer experience is consistency. If your customers have varying experiences across all channels, then you run the risk of alienating them. Stay focused. Creating highly choreographed campaigns that are designed to influence multiple channels and devices is not realistic. Instead, marketers should constantly develop and coordinate campaigns that are designed to deliver consistent experiences across all platforms. Simplify everything. Creating targeted messaging that is both accurate and memorable is key to keeping your customers engaged. If you don’t already have one clear idea in all of your content, it’s time to reorganize your calendar. Research more. A clearly defined buyer persona helps marketers identify their ideal buyer and formulate their marketing efforts. Having a clear view of the customer is also critical to understand their behavior. It can help you identify areas where you can improve and develop new strategies to engage more effectively with them. Grow together. Your customer view must evolve along with their experiences. Doing so means constantly updating and revamping your data models and systems. Also, stay on top of marketing trends for each channel. Recognize your limits. Success doesn't come by being present on all of these channels. It comes by addressing the various areas of multi-channel marketing that are necessary to be successful. Use retargeting. Retargeting is a form of advertising that shows targeted ads to people who have bounced from your website while on other platforms. By understanding how many times website users have visited your pages and clicked on your ad, you can then customize your messages and offer them more relevant offers. Include activities. An activation sequence is initiated when a customer makes a purchase or opts in to a marketing offer across various platforms. This step typically begins by sending an email to confirm their account information. How does multi-channel marketing compare with omnichannel? Omnichannel and multi-channel marketing have one big thing in common. They both require you to know which of your channels are most likely to work for your buyer persona and your goals. Other than that, they are quite different. Unlike with omnichannel marketing, cross-channel marketing is the key to successful multi-channel marketing. It involves creating a strategy that works seamlessly across various channels and platforms. Cross-channel communications are also a great way to promote loyalty programs. You can reach out to your users through email and SMS and then provide them with in-app and web push notifications. A unique multi-channel marketing strategy helps you get a clear view of the buying cycle and identify opportunities to improve it. It also allows you to customize messaging and communications to reach each individual customer. For example, SMS marketing and push notifications have become popular channels for personalized engagement. This also means that channel combinations are as important as individual channel strategies since some channels work better with each other than others. For example, TikTok videos are easy to share on Instagram and vice versa. Multi-channel marketing is also reliant on your team’s bandwidth and skillsets. You probably have team members who are experts in different channels. It's possible to end up with a disjointed approach where each team member has their own channel expertise. That’s where a well-rounded marketing team with niche experts for every channel comes in. Omnichannel marketing’s biggest limitation is reach. There are different demographics of people who interact with each channel type. This means that a singular channel approach may not lead you to the right leads in the right way. Additionally, even if the channel is something everyone is familiar with, such as email, there will be differences in the ways each demographic uses the platform. And although messaging should be consistent across all channels, you'll also have to be strategic about what works on each platform. How can I improve my multi-channel engagement? If you want to improve your multi-channel engagement, you have to master the art of the follow-up. Whether it’s ad retargeting, email, or another channel, your channels should all work together to achieve seven or more touchpoints with each lead. Make sure to always offer value when you communicate with a warm lead. That value could be a free trial, helpful content, or anything else that will support your target audience. Also, track the data from your follow-ups the same way you track your initial interactions. Learn from and tweak your strategy over time to find the right combinations of messages and channels that will create a magnetic buyer's journey. What are the challenges of multi-channel campaigns? Content creation for one channel is hard enough. But creating content for multiple channels in a way that ensures they’re all working together cohesively? Even tougher. Still, having a clear goal and roadmap for how you’ll use each channel will make decision-making that much faster. Also, never be afraid to recycle content across platforms. Sometimes people need a few different mediums to learn something new. What are the different types of marketing mediums? Marketing mediums include online and offline channels. Popular online channels include social media, email, paid advertising, SEO, and mobile marketing. Offline channels typically use the mediums of print, television, mail, and radio. How to plan your multi-channel marketing strategy with Wrike A good multi-channel marketing automation system is essential to track all of your leads' interactions and engagement. It can also help you make better decisions and take action on your leads' unique paths. That’s where Wrike comes in. Wrike is a marketing project management software that allows marketers to plan, execute, and analyze multi-channel marketing campaigns. Simply create a new project for your strategy plus additional projects for each deliverable so that every deliverable has a beginning and end that are easy to track. To create unique structures for your many channels and subprojects, add tasks for each step in the process. For example, you can designate content drafting, design elements, and publication as separate tasks by channel. Each task can include approvals from other team members and automatically notify whoever is responsible for the next task once this step is complete. After that, add milestones for the deliverable share or publication date. This will create a deliverable calendar you can share with stakeholders to summarize all current and future initiatives. You can also use Wrike as a centralized marketing data hub with supplementary document and asset storage. Not only does creating a centralized marketing data hub get that single customer view, but it also consolidates all the customer data in one place. You can also use Wrike to create an integration strategy. An integration strategy involves seamlessly weaving various platforms and methods to enable organizations to manage all of their customer communication activities across various channels. This strategy could: include a unified inbox to track all of your customer communication a marketing operations platform that helps you manage all of your publishing and analytics activities a CRM that tracks interactions and engagement Choosing the right multi-channel marketing tool is challenging when you need to manage more than one platform at a time. Wrike helps marketers create fluid and foolproof roadmaps with the help of advanced features perfectly suited for simplifying even the most complex projects. Start your free trial today.

Elements of a Standout Social Media Template
Marketing 7 min read

Elements of a Standout Social Media Template

You can find no shortage of social media templates online, but very few offer the flexibility and ease of use needed to keep pace with an evolving social strategy. We’ve isolated the crucial elements of a standout social media plan template to help you build a lasting presence across multiple channels.

How to Plan a YouTube Marketing Strategy
Marketing 10 min read

How to Plan a YouTube Marketing Strategy

There are 2.3 billion YouTube users worldwide, and the platform’s popularity has continued to increase significantly in the past few years. This, combined with the fact that the site is the fourth most visited on the internet, only proves just how much incredible marketing potential YouTube has.  Most social media marketers don't spend enough time on video marketing on YouTube. It's often overlooked by those trying to create a successful content strategy because of how complex it is to manage this type of project. There are, however, lots of tools and methods for creating a YouTube marketing strategy that is both competitive and easy to execute. Here’s a guide on making and executing a YouTube marketing strategy that any brand can do.  What is a YouTube marketing strategy? YouTube is a powerful platform for marketing. Whether you’re looking to create a video for your audience or to promote your brand, it has plenty of opportunities to achieve your goals. That being said, you do have to create a strategy for your YouTube marketing itself. The YouTube marketing strategy you create should be a carefully executed plan that involves consistent posting and a strong understanding of where you fit into your niche landscape on the platform. Your YouTube marketing strategy can be as detailed or as simple as you need it to be. It often involves planning out what you will create and how you'll create it. Your strategy will also heavily rely on target audience information for decision-making. Many YouTube strategists conduct competitor research at the beginning. You’ll also want to factor in search engine optimization for both YouTube and Google.  Other factors go into YouTube marketing strategy off-site that you should be aware of. They include your other online properties such as your website, social media, and other content marketing channels. These will help with promotion and, if you already have an audience built up in one area, it will be easy to translate them to YouTube. If you don't already have an audience of one thousand or more highly engaged participants, you can build one from scratch. Whether you're a startup or an established business, a strong YouTube marketing strategy will help you identify who your content is meant for and what kind of content will help them out the most. In other words, what content will have the most engagement long-term?  In a nutshell: a YouTube marketing strategy is a roadmap to achieving your goals for this channel. It should be attainable, realistic, and well-researched. How do you create a YouTube marketing campaign? In 2021, YouTube is full of amazing creators who have figured out how to conquer the algorithm and have been doing so for many years. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for one more brand. The good news is that a lot of the legwork has been done for you in terms of learning from beginner mistakes on the site.  Here’s the simplest and most effective way to create a YouTube marketing campaign that will cut through the noise. Follow these steps to assert your brand as an expert for your topics, no matter what the competitor landscape looks like: 1. Think long-term You can set a ten-year goal, but this step should be done in a way that works for you. As a general rule of thumb, it takes an average of one to two years to achieve YouTube monetization, which requires a certain amount of watch hours and subscribers for approval.  2. Choose a target audience Who do you think is most likely to find and benefit from your videos? Even if you attract other audiences, your north star for content brainstorming, formatting, and editing will be clear if you nail this from the beginning. Age range, gender identity, and interests are good starting points for your research. Pro tip: If there’s a group of people you can easily reach now with your YouTube content, use them as a jumping-off point for faster channel growth. You’ll eventually reach your long-term audience, but growth is slow in the beginning, so reaching more people immediately is a good idea if it’s easier for you.  3. Strategize distribution Use your channel niche to create a promotion strategy that works best for your brand. Popular promotional channels include: Social media Facebook groups Instagram Stories TikTok teasers Reddit Forums Quora answers Niche blog communities LinkedIn Free virtual and in-person workshops Don’t forget about optimizing for YouTube SEO. This can be done in every aspect of your video, from your topic to your title and description.  4. Consider your content Think about what your target audience wants to see, what your brand needs to promote, and what kinds of topics will do best on this specific marketing channel (hint: education and entertainment are consistently top performers). Then, decide on what type of video you’ll produce.  For example, this can be unedited live stream playbacks from virtual events on your other platforms. Or it could be highly edited and original comedy sketches made specifically to rank on YouTube, given what you’ve seen competitors do on the platform already. Whatever format you choose, make sure it aligns with audience expectations based on what’s already out there and also shows off your unique brand of YouTube content.  5. Use a project management tool  YouTube video production and distribution is a complex process, which is why a creative project management tool like Wrike is so important to have when you first get started. Whether you’re a solo marketer or working with a hybrid team, the organization and communication features offered by this type of solution are priceless.  What is the best way to plan a YouTube marketing campaign? The best way to plan a YouTube marketing campaign is to understand your audience and see what has worked for your brand on other channels in the past.  To understand your audience, you need to know what they are looking for when they go on YouTube. Consider what other pieces of content you've published in the past have gone viral for your niche. Look at what topics you've covered on your blog or website and identify what has resonated with them. Then, build your strategy around that. Alternatively, if you're creating a YouTube marketing campaign specifically for a launch, you want to create a series that teases, promotes, and explains what your new product or service does. You also want to consider how your target audience will use the product or service.  Then, create content that directly addresses questions they've asked your customer support team. You can also search for comments you've seen on social media that need further explanation or highlight interesting uses for your product they might want to know before buying. Your YouTube marketing campaign planning should begin as soon as you have a launch date. You’ll want to post at least once a week for a month leading up to any important dates that coincide with your campaign.  If the campaign is ongoing, make plans to consistently create and post your videos before ever going live on your channel. Consistency is key for establishing an audience when you're just starting on YouTube and for the algorithm itself. Having systems and tools in place now will pay off in dividends in the future. Additionally, you need to consider what's realistic for your team. Plotting out what you need to do and when for each element of your campaign will help everyone visually see the workload they're taking on.  This is a prime opportunity for your project management skills to shine. For example, a Gantt chart may help you understand and justify the expense of investing in a contracted video editor now rather than stretching your team too thin later. Decisions like these can only be made if you first have a marketing campaign management strategy in place before moving on to the next phase of your campaign creation.  How to assess your YouTube competitors with a SWOT analysis A competitive analysis is a great way to identify areas of improvement and opportunities for your channel. To identify the right competitors to analyze, start with three to five primary keywords. Search for them on YouTube and see which channels come up the most. Then, once you know who you’re comparing your strategy too, you’ll need to do a SWOT analysis.  A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique that helps identify the various factors that could affect a person or organization's business operations. This procedure involves analyzing multiple layers of the company. It helps identify the potential threats and opportunities that could arise from a business venture or project. For YouTube, this means identifying video content gaps and looking for ways you can do what competitor channels are doing, but better.  YouTube managers use the following framework for their analysis:  Internal strengths. This can include having a strong project management tool or an in-house team member who has YouTube experience. Build and enhance each of these over time.  Internal weaknesses. Time poverty is a common example of this. Mitigate the risks of anything on this list getting in the way of YouTube goals before you launch. Eliminate any you can upfront.  External opportunities. You may find that there aren’t direct competitors in your niche on YouTube already, or if they are, they may be producing low-quality content. That’s where you come in. External threats. There may be a lot of competition for your chosen keywords. Problem-solve around these and consider what new problems may arise in the future that you can safeguard against.  Can you promote YouTube video campaigns? Yes, you can promote YouTube video campaigns using offsite channels, providing incentives for engagement, and with paid ads.  First, create a website or social channels that include links to your video. Blogs with freebies, shops, and behind-the-scenes information are a popular way to attract viewers from your channel to your other branded properties.  Next, consider how you’ll reward channel visitors for engaging early and often. YouTube marketing expert Cathrin Manning suggests being engaged with your audience in the comment section of your video the first full hour it goes live. This helps build community and gives people a reason to tune in right away, which is a great ranking boost.  YouTube ads are also a great way to reach audiences on other related and non-competing channels. Along those same lines, working with an influencer to create a brand presence on YouTube when you’re just starting may speed up your initial growth.  What are YouTube best practices? YouTube best practices are critical to know for business marketing teams who want to overcome common beginner mistakes. Here are the top ones to be aware of:  Create a brand account. A brand account is better than a personal account because it allows multiple users to log in at the same time. This is a great way to keep everyone up-to-date with everything that's happening behind the scenes of your channel. Use the analytics. It can be overwhelming at first, but YouTube provides a great dashboard with historical channel data for you to keep tabs on your progress and audience. Their reports include data about your audience size, age range, and viewing preferences. It also shows where the majority of users live, as well as their preferred language and how they engage with your videos down to the second they typically click off.  Create for your audience. Go to the comments section of your videos and read through them to see what viewers have to say. Use this data to identify the types of content that your audience is most likely to consume. Then, create video content that fits their needs. Monitor channel growth. Track key metrics such as subscriber count and viewership to see how they measure up against your goals. We recommend tracking these stats at least once per month. Block competitor ads. You can prevent your competitors from displaying ads on your videos by using the Ad Manager feature in Google. Be smart about keywords. Identify the weaknesses and strengths of your competitors in YouTube search based on which keywords they use and the new keywords you’ve chosen. Fill in their knowledge gaps within your content wherever possible.  Use every YouTube feature. Maximize the word count for your description and keyword input. Include CTAs in your script and on the video itself. Add posts to your community board to engage your audience in between videos.  How to optimize for YouTube By optimizing your channel, you'll be able to attract more followers and appear higher in search for target keywords. This 11-step strategy will help you get started on the right foot with YouTube marketing.  Conduct research Watch channels by your favorite brands or competitors and start thinking about how you can use YouTube to promote your product. This will help you develop a content strategy that fits your brand and the landscape your future viewers are already participating in.  Understand the algorithm Like Google, YouTube uses various unknown factors to rank videos. Then, it uses an algorithm to recommend the best ones. Even though no one knows for sure which factors affect YouTube SEO, we do know that high-quality production, interesting topics, and entertaining or educational content will rank highly in every category. Over time, you can conduct A/B testing to see which site formats, keyword combinations, and other video elements help your channel get discovered.  Create channel art Even before titles, thumbnails are the first thing people see when they search for a video. Using custom art will help your video's thumbnail stand out more. Make sure that the image and title make sense together. And don’t forget your banner. It’s a great place to summarize the primary focus of your channel and introduce your hosts. This space can also be used to promote events or new products. You are also able to link out to your website, social channels, and landing pages at the bottom right-hand corner so design your banner with this in mind.  Film a channel trailer A good channel trailer is like a teaser movie for your YouTube brand. It’s best to create one that’s specifically for YouTube and your specific goals for the platform. The entire purpose of a channel trailer is to create a compelling brand statement that will entice new viewers. Draft a content calendar Although you may only post once per week, there are many steps in between coming up with the idea and hitting publish. Relying on memory or habit for this portion, especially if you have a big team, is a recipe for disaster. A content calendar should organize every pre-production, production, and post-production task you have to complete for the coming week, month, and quarter. It should include individual timelines for each phase and some form of accountability among your team. Your content calendar should also be very easy to understand at a glance so that everyone knows the status of these various moving pieces at any given time.  Plan out playlists Playlists make your channel easier to navigate but they also help boost your YouTube SEO. Design playlists so that they are cohesive and have a definite progression. For example, you can set up tutorials from beginner to advanced levels. You can also create playlists for partner videos.  Outline your videos At the very least, you need to have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Prioritize saying a brief description of your video topic in the first few lines of your script to help with SEO and to let audiences know what to expect.  Create a production workflow Templatize your production workflow with a simple task list or within your marketing project management software. YouTube video creation tasks are often repetitive. Some key ones to keep in mind for any video you create are: Brainstorm idea Outline script Define top-of-video CTA Define the end-of-video CTA Create shot list Secure or prep your location Gather props or supplementary inserts Film A roll footage Film B roll footage Edit your video Create your thumbnail Add an SEO optimized title, description, and keywords Schedule your video for publication Promote your video release online Engage with your audience during and after video publication Strategize when and how you post A good time to post is when there’s a high amount of engagement and viewership. This step can be easily done using your channel analytics. You can also schedule videos for release in advance from the Creator Studio or another tool like Hootsuite. Tools like these help keep your videos consistent and on auto-pilot. Add supporting features Adding captions to your videos will make them accessible to non-native speakers and those with hearing impairments. YouTube offers a Creator Studio feature that allows you to view the top languages your subtitles are typically used by subscribers which helps with market research too. If you’ve put the time and effort into creating a video, having your transcript translated is worth it. You can also add clickable links through cards and end screens that give additional information or offers.  Assess your performance Take a moment to review your past videos and subscriptions to see what drives your audiences’ attention. Make a note of patterns you see among your top-performing video topics, thumbnails, and formats. Later on, you can replicate your most successful elements in future videos. Not sure what other KPIs to look out for? Changes in subscriber count, audience demographics, and video playback locations are a great place to start. Comments sections are also ripe with audience feedback. Some are more helpful than others but tracking constructive criticism over time will help reveal creative new ideas. Although time-consuming, it’s important to learn how people are talking about your video and what they think about your channel to help make decisions in the future.  How does the YouTube algorithm work? YouTube relies on its algorithm to identify high-quality videos that best match each search query. How does it determine quality and match? Every element of your video is a factor in its ranking. That includes everything from what you say in the video to what colors you use in your thumbnail.  It also includes direct audience feedback from the number of likes, comments, and subscriptions your channel as a whole earns. If a video doesn’t immediately gain traction after it’s posted, the good news is that YouTube may begin showing it more in search results later on once your reputation with the algorithm is established.  Pro tip: If you're familiar with Google SEO, you’ll find that a lot of these optimization practices still apply here on YouTube.  How to manage your video marketing campaign with Wrike Wrike is a professional services management software that can handle the complexities of a YouTube marketing strategy for a single person or large teams.  Wrike makes it easy to visually break up your entire production process into separate phases. You can use color coding and Gantt charts to illustrate your project roadmap. This is especially helpful if you’ve got more than one video in production at a time, which is often the case for creators who choose to batch shoot.  Wrike also offers workflow templates that make it easy to carry out miniature projects within your projects. For example, you may find that your YouTube video editing process involves cutting out pauses, cleaning up audio, and color correction. You can add all of these steps to a repeatable workflow template specifically for video editing that teams and partners can reference for every new project.  And because there are many different tasks involved with YouTube video creation, you’ll want to stay on top of each of them with individual task assignments that include details such as descriptions, approvals, and individual due dates.  The tasks within Wrike are also great communication tools because users can chat in one central location about the task they're referring to in that very same task assignment. That way if anyone else joins the conversation later on they easily catch up with what's been said and everyone stays on the same page. And finally, Wrike offers useful app integrations such as Adobe Premiere that make it easy to provide proofing and approval for every new video.  Ready to get started on your YouTube marketing strategy? Begin Wrike’s two-week free trial to set your channel up for success with organization and communication tools that will put you ahead of the competition. 

10 Elements of a Successful Content Marketing Engine (Infographic)
Marketing 3 min read

10 Elements of a Successful Content Marketing "Engine" (Infographic)

Content marketing is critical component of many companies' marketing strategies. For those who are trying to build up what I call a "content engine" or for those who are looking to do a tune-up on their marketing vocabulary, this infographic provides ten areas that need to be addressed. Use the infographic below to understand the areas and to assess your company's situation with regards to content marketing. Which areas need the most attention? You can share this infographic with your team! Share this post, or copy the embed code below to put it on your site: Infographic brought to you by Wrike Which areas are the hardest to fix? Let us know in the comments!

Digital Marketing Guide: How To Drive Success at the Tactical Level (eBook)
News 5 min read

Digital Marketing Guide: How To Drive Success at the Tactical Level (eBook)

Wrike’s latest eBook is the only digital marketing guide your team needs, covering how to drive success at a tactical level online.