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Budgeting & Planning

3 Ways You’re Wasting Your Social Listening Tool

Want to know what your customers are thinking? You’re in luck. Billions of people share their thoughts and opinions on social networks every day. To make sense of these online conversations, you need a social listening tool. If you don’t have one yet, you’re in the minority: TrackMaven research shows that 66 percent of brands…

Content Marketing Dashboard: How to Build It So the Budget Will Come

We live in a golden age of marketing; an age where we as marketers can finally prove our worth to the organization and show off how indispensable we are. Metrics allow us to demonstrate our value to the company and at last receive credit where credit is due. But only if we have the wit…

Vanity Metrics and the Annihilation of Marketing Productivity

We’ve all seen the horror stories around how employees waste time at work. Talking or texting on mobile phones, visiting non-work related websites, and gossiping with co-workers are likely the three biggest culprits of subverting marketing productivity in the workplace, according to a Career Builder survey. But there’s another way your team could be wasting…

Higher Education Marketing: Why Universities Are Skyrocketing on Social

School is cool again. Scoff all you like; the numbers don’t lie. Higher education marketing statistics show that educational institutions experienced the highest follower growth across the social media landscape in recent years, with an average annual follower growth of 77 percent. In comparison, the wellness industry had the second highest annual growth at a…

The One Reason Why Your Marketing Compensation Plan Is Failing

You’re falling short of you marketing goals. You’re going back and forth trying to find out where you’ve gone wrong. But there’s on area of your process you forgot to inspect: your marketing compensation plan. Did you know that, although more than half of marketers say their primary objective is to increase sales, less than…

How to Make Your Case for Attending the Spark Marketing Summit

The Spark marketing summit is right around the corner! Over 300 marketing executives have already packed their bags in preparation for some martech goodness at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on May 18. Spark 2017 is the exclusive marketing leadership summit on the future of marketing technology, analytics, and data-driven creativity. This is not a…

3 Ways to Future-Proof Your Marketing Team Structure

So you’re trying to reach device-swapping, channel-changing customers. How’s that working out for you? Instead of blaming the millennials, perhaps it’s time to change with the times yourself. Yes, it could very well be time to consider a complete overhaul of your marketing team structure. Why? Many of the traditional ways in which marketers manage…

3 Ways Misalignment is Sabotaging Your Marketing Team

Data-driven management is essential to mobilize and motivate a well-oiled marketing team. Equip yourself with actionable strategies, technology recommendations, and budgeting trends in TrackMaven’s 2017 Marketing Leadership Survey. Studies (and common sense) tell us that when marketing is aligned with cross-functional teams, businesses see faster revenue growth and higher profitability. With all of this evidence,…

Don’t Expand Your Omnichannel Marketing Strategy Without Following These 10 Critical Steps

The more channels retail customers use, the more they spend. These are the results of a recent study published in the Harvard Business Review, which found that customers who used four or more channels spent an average of 9 percent more than consumers who used only one channel. But businesses that already have an omnichannel…

Have You Really Found the Best Marketing Analytics Tool? Think Again.

So your company has finally listened and decided to invest in the best marketing analytics tool? Fantastic news! You’re one step closer to turning your marketing department into a well-oiled, revenue-generating machine. But wait — which ones are on your shortlist? You’ve got a web analytics tool, a social media analytics tool, and a content…

The Best Social Media Analytics Tools of 2017

Your social media budget may be rising, but how do you know if your company’s social content is impacting business goals? The sad truth is, only 4.6 percent of marketing leaders say their social media efforts contribute “very highly” to business performance. If you, too, are struggling to show impact, this list of the best…

2017 Marketing Budget Planning: Trends, Tips, and Top Priorities

All marketing budgets are finite. So how do you decide where the money goes? To break down the spreadsheet gymnastics that is marketing budget planning, we invited Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing, to advise marketing teams on the top five core budgeting considerations for 2017. Matt joined #TrackMavenLive to outline the planning approaches that help the…

How to Create an Effective Marketing Plan (With Template)

If you want to create a go-to-market strategy for your company’s products and services, you’d better start with a clear plan. But what does that entail, exactly? Our Marketing Plan Template outlines everything you need to cover to clarify expectations for your team and win the support of senior executives. Download your free Marketing Plan…

10 Negotiating Tips to Cut Your Marketing Costs

As you plan your budget for the next year, and allocate spend across marketing activities, you’ll come to realize that many of your marketing costs come from expensive external vendors. However, you can reduce marketing costs without reducing the product and service support provided by vendors. It’s all in the art of negotiation. Save money…

5 Marketing Spending Trends for 2017

To get the most out of your marketing spend you can’t just look at what’s worked in the past; you have to anticipate future trends. Where will marketing teams invest in 2017? What new technologies will compete for your budget? To help you build a frame of reference for planning next year’s budget, I’ve outlined…

How to Plan an Effective Email Nurture Campaign in 10 Steps

You’ve published amazing content, attracted new audiences, and generated leads. Now what? How do you get those leads to turn into customers? Here’s where an effective nurture campaign comes into play. The idea is to nurture leads further down the marketing and sales funnel, with the ultimate goal of turning them into customers. One of…

How to Manage Your Marketing Budget (+Free Template)

Do you have your marketing budget planned out for next year yet? If not, don’t panic! I’ll walk you through how to create one step by step, and give you a free marketing budget template to help you get started right away. Download the Ultimate Marketing Budget Template now to follow along! Why planning your…

How to Build a Content Marketing Team

I am not know for my deft use of sports references. But when it comes to the ethos of team building, Vince Lombardi nails it: “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” The truth is, you don’t need a…

How to Use Excel: 23 Easy Excel Tips and Tricks

In the era of big data, the amount of information marketers need to analyze is overwhelming. In fact, according to a Hubspot report, marketers spend an average of 3.55 hours a week just collecting, organizing, and analyzing data. Becoming more data-driven is a good thing; it means you are making smarter marketing decisions. However, if you’re…

The 5 Habits of Highly Effective Marketers

As a marketer, how can you step up your game while handling all that’s working its way into your ever-shrinking day? The most successful marketers call upon a mix of simple, tactical tricks and smart strategies to tame the chaos of being a modern-day marketer. #1: Successful marketers really understand their audience Before crafting any…

21 Writing Tools That Help Content Marketers Stay Creative

“Why write? Where does writing come from? These are questions to ask yourself. They are like: Where does dust come from? Or: Why is there war?” Lorrie Moore nails the fugue state that the act of writing induces in most humans in her essay “How to Become a Writer.” But for today’s content marketers and content…

How to Guest Post for 25 Top Business Websites [CHEAT SHEET]

Creating time to research and pitch a guest post is hard. But the upsides are too good to ignore. Guest posting increases website referral traffic, improves search rankings, and expands brand awareness. It’s also a great way to build your personal brand and thought leadership. Ready to reap the benefits of guest blogging? Don’t let…

Google Analytics for Marketers: How to Track Your Website's Performance

If you want to improve your website’s content, conversions, and user experience, Google Analytics is the place to start. Google Analytics is used by 52.9 percent of all websites on the Internet, more than 10 times more than the next most popular alternative. But for many marketers, Google Analytics is overwhelming. It has in-depth navigation…

40 Marketing Awards To Win Your Brand the Recognition It Deserves

Marketing awards help to promote your brand, showcase the work of your team to your company and executives, and they look great on your resume. You’re also a professional marketer, so crafting a winning award entry is right down your aisle. Marketing awards should be on your radar, and your agenda. However, while researching awards…