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The Ultimate Guide to Choosing an Internet Marketing Company (part 2)

This is Part Two of a new educational series called: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing an Internet Marketing Company.  Part One can be found here.


In part one, we discussed the importance of goal-setting.  After you’ve done some initial planning, it’s time to start looking for an Internet marketing company.

Find an Internet Marketing Company that Delivers the Four Core Services


Your search can be based on location (i.e., Toronto), types of services or perhaps even industry expertise.  There’s lot of criteria, which can narrow the field, but perhaps the most important revolves around whether or not the Internet marketing company offers the Four Core Services.

[Read more…]

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The Ultimate Guide to Choosing an Internet Marketing Company (part 1)

This is Part One of a new educational series called: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing an Internet Marketing Company.


It’s no secret.

The Internet has fundamentally transformed the way people find things, shop and even connect with other.  Over the years, audiences have become increasingly tougher to reach as they lose patience with old-fashion, traditional interruption-based marketing.

As a result, businesses have shifted, more and more, from outbound to inbound digital marketing - and with good reason.  Companies who part with traditional marketing methods to follow their audiences online are getting more leads and customers, for a better overall return on their marketing dollars.

[Read more…]

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Internet Marketing Tactics To Turn Sales Reps into Rockstars

Let’s be honest.

In most companies, the Sales and Marketing teams don’t really work well together.

Sales reps don’t loop back with Marketing to give feedback on new insights they’ve discovered concerning what the client or customer’s needs are, which would help improve Internet marketing efforts.

On the other hand, Sales will say Marketing doesn’t do a great job helping sales generate and nurture leads.

[Read more…]

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3 Fatal Mistakes Companies Make With Internet Marketing

If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems.  And that’s a big mistake. - Frank Wilczek, 2004 Nobel Prize Winner in physics.

Don’t get me wrong.

Mistakes are not a bad thing.  In fact, when it comes to inbound or online marketing, making minor mistakes in the pursuit of business growth is all part of the game.  It just means you’re not afraid to try new things and improve.

On the other hand, making the same mistakes - over and over - is not a good thing either.

In my 13 years of marketing experience, specifically with inbound and online marketing, here are the top 3 fatal mistakes I have seen businesses make again and again.  Sure, there are probably more than the three I’ve listed below, but these are what I call the “fatal 3.”
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Live-blogging Canada’s premier digital conference (#mesh12)

The Fruition team will be attending the mesh conference in Toronto May 23 and 24th at the Allstream Centre on the CNE Grounds (visit conference Web site).

Team members will be live-blogging the event over the course of the two days, bringing you some of the latest insights and innovations from the worlds of digital marketing, citizen engagement, e-learning and online media. Just look for the #mesh12 hash tag on our blog posts.

You’ll also be able to connect with members of the Fruition team on-site during the conference, as well as hear from Fruition’s Mitch Fanning in his mesh workshop on content marketing on Thursday, May 24 at 1:05 pm.

See you there!

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Are Email Addresses the Real Currency of the Web?

I’ve been thinking about email a lot lately.

Partly, how I use it, but more about how it relates to building an audience.

But, first, a short story.

Over the years, I’ve become somewhat of an email nazi (see link for Seinfeld reference).  When it comes to personal email habits, I’m a big believer in attempting to process your inbox to zero on a regular basis.

As a result, my inbox has become my own little save haven. These days, most of the emails I receive are not junk. (My @gmail account, which is a catch-all account is another story).

Okay, here’s my point. [Read more…]

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Performance Pricing and Building True Client Partnerships

I recently came across a post on DigiDay.com, which is fast becoming one of my new favourite blogs, called Agencies Must Embrace Performance Pricing.

The gist? Old-school agencies, be warned: your clients want you to put your money where your mouth is.

The article argued that the shift to performance pricing is inevitable.

Business leaders and their marketing heads expect more from their marketing dollars. They want partners who truly understand marketing’s responsibility beyond just impressions. Those who can build a brand by directly building revenue and market-share are the agencies that will endure in the 21st century. [Read more…]

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Why Every Smart Startup and Business Should Act More Like a Digital Media Empire [In the Making]

Citizen Kane 1941 by Orson Welles

Sometimes I feel as though I sound like a broken record.

But I’m on a mission, so forgive me if you’ve heard this all before, but it’s worth repeating.

According to a recent study conducted at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, blogging is on the decline as social media tools [like Facebook] are on the rise among Inc. 500 companies.

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Why Traffic Is Not That Important

What some companies do on a monthly basis with their online advertising budget.

Despite the fact this headline will likely infuriate some industry folk, it must be said.

When people think about online marketing, some still see traffic as the all important success metric. In fact, some still call it “hits.” (As in they want to get more hits to their site, which is not the same as unique visits or traffic).  The logic seemed simple - as long as we get plenty of traffic, we’ll get business.

Yes, traffic is great, but more importantly, your website must have an effective mechanism (or strategy) for capturing and tracking leads and/or sales.  Otherwise, traffic is useless.

For example…

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5 Common Misconceptions and Assumptions New Clients Have About Google Adwords

This blog post is long overdue.

Let me explain.

Recently, we’ve had a few situations with new clients who are working with us to get better results from Google AdWords.  Specifically, after a month or so, they’ve voiced similar concerns about how their campaigns were performing.

This is a common occurrence with new clients unfamiliar with Google AdWords a.k.a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search engine marketing.  In fact, many of our Toronto-based clients who are familiar with AdWords often have the same concerns (or misconceptions) when they first start working with us to optimize existing online marketing campaigns. [Read more…]