Month: January 2017

Marketing Content Creation – Tips & Resources

Marketing Content Creation – Tips & Resources

Any technology is as good as what you plan do with it. In the case of Marketing Technology Platforms, Content is the ultimate King.

For Marketers, generating high-quality content day-in, day-out poses a significant challenge. Especially if you are just starting up with your marketing efforts or rely on external agencies for the majority of your content generation needs.

I always recommend Marketers to generate their own content and not rely on external resources. No one knows your business better than you, so whatever content is generated externally can be done better if done internally. You can always take help with regards to the actual production of your content, but the idea and brain behind your content piece should come from you.

Just think about it, you have spent years in mastering your trade and know your audience better than anyone else. Relying on someone else, no matter how skilled will only do injustice to your brand as well as its audience. Unless you are in an industry which requires very generic knowledge of things and your priority is quantity over quality. I guess you understand where I’m coming from.

So how do we generate high-quality content week-in, week-out?

Here are some tips and resources based on content type.

Website Content, Blog, Collateral Documents, White Papers, Guides, etc.

In this age of Video Streaming, Podcasts & Memes. Text-Based Content still remains the most affordable, easy to create and elaborate form of communication.

Text-based content is also warranted across various channels including web, documents, presentations, blogs and so on.

If you have a precise brief and structure for your content piece, below are two resources which you can leverage for production. Think of it as your extended team of experienced writers.

Writer Access is a great resource to find high-quality writers. You can select writers based on industry, specialty and star rating, which will help you zero-in to the ones which meet your criteria. Make sure you hire only 5 or 6 Star rated writers.

Crowd Content is another decent resource for crowdsourcing content writers. Again make sure you hire only 3 or 4 Star rated writers.

Infographics, Graphics & Creatives

Design Crowd is a good resource for crowdsourcing designers. I have personally used them for several Brand Identity projects. Though there are many amateur designers on their platform, you will have to be precise with your brief to get the best out of them. Also, they have a 100% money back guarantee in case you are not happy with the outcome

99 Designs is yet another platform for crowdsourcing designers. Though it is more premium than Design Crowd, they offer better value for the money.

All in all Creatives and Designs are subjective to each brand’s positioning and inspiration, so you can go for what best works for your brand.

Video Content

Explainer Videos
Fiverr is a good resource to get explainer videos for cheap. But mind you, don’t expect exceptional quality considering the price you are paying for it.

Product Demonstration
If you are looking to make product demonstration video, I would recommend you use Camtasia for screen capture and then hire a Voice Over artist from Fiverr to give it a professional appeal. I’m assuming the script and storyboard for the video is done internally.

Live Motion
If you are looking to make Film or Live Motion Video, there are no shortcuts or cheap thrills unfortunately, you will have to recruit a professional agency. Drop me a note if you want references for reliable Video Production agencies and I will be happy to share few names which I have used over the years.

Podcast, Voice Over and Audio Content

Again Fiverr will be the right resource to hire Audio Artists on a budget.

Another alternative is to use Text to Speech software, which is nothing but a Robot emulating human voice and emotion. I recently used IBM Watson’s Text to Speech Software and I must say I was impressed. Moreover its free, so no harm in trying it out and experience it for yourself.

I hope you found value from the above article, do inbox me your suggestions or requests for future articles.

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GetResponse Review – The Good, Bad & The Brilliant

GetResponse Review

Welcome to another review post from MarTechReviews. Before we jump in, here’s wishing you a Splendid 2017 with unprecedented number of likes, follows, mentions and visits 🙂

Wow, what a start to the year it has been. MarTechReviews managed to get 120+ organic followers on Twitter in just three weeks from launch. Not bad, I would say.

Thanks to all of you who have encouraged me to write more by visiting this blog, following me on twitter and Sharing/ Retweeting my posts. It really means a lot to me.

Today, we will be reviewing GetResponse

I had been waiting to try out GetResponse for a while. Having read good things about it elsewhere I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Here is my initial impression after playing around with it for just over a week.

GetResponse is a powerful contender if you are evaluating a Marketing Automation platform and don’t have the budget or skills to go with the Top 3 platforms which I covered in my earlier post.

On paper, it offers almost all features which you come to expect from a Marketing Automation platform. Once you dig deep, you realize it tries to maintain a fine balance for B2B and B2C companies.

GetResponse positions itself as an All in One, Online Marketing Platform. It has four core modules i.e. Email Marketing, Landing Pages, Webinars, and Marketing Automation. Together, these capabilities result in a formidable engine which can take on any platform in this price segment. In fact, it has some unique capabilities which I have not seen in many of the top-end platforms as well.

Here are things which I loved about GetResponse

Visual Workflow Designer

It has a very nice looking and functional workflow designer which enables you to automate repetitive tasks based on specific triggers and conditions. I really like the fact that it captures each and every event, condition, filter and action. The visual designer gives you a bird’s eye-view on the flow of activities based on lead behavior, segment, history and more.

Webinars

Webinars integrated within your Marketing Platform is a brilliant idea. Why didn’t anyone else think about it, I wonder. This capability comes in very handy for B2B Marketers as they no longer need to rely on external web conferencing tools like WebEx or GoToMeeting.

Furthermore, it allows you to send invitations and capture responses from right within the platform.

Surveys

Customer Survey and Feedback is another brilliant addition. I constantly find myself using Google Forms and similar tools to capture customer feedback and preferences. With GetResponse I need not worry about it anymore.

eCommerce Capabilities

GetResponse has some unique capabilities built specially for businesses who sell online. For example, it has event tracking for Cart Abandonment, Purchases, Page Visits, etc. using which you can trigger personalized campaigns. This can help you boost your conversion rate and take corrective actions for drop-outs.

Here are things which I did not like about GetResponse

Lead Tracking

I could not find a way in which I could track direct visits from subscribers. Also, there is no way to see web activity log for each individual lead/ subscriber. After chatting with their customer service team I understood, that is part of their eCommerce Module. Still, I’m not sure it can provide lead insights as offered in some of the other platforms.

This one is a deal breaker for me. Without Lead Intelligence I cannot have meaningful conversations with the prospect.

I have asked them for a trial of their eCommerce Module, hopefully that proves me wrong. Will update this post as and when that happens.

CRM Capabilities

GetResponse has no CRM capabilities whatsoever. You will have to rely on an external CRM platform which has ready integration with GetResponse.

The Verdict

GetResponse can give other Marketing Automation Platforms a run for their money. It offers so much more at a reasonable price tag. I really like the out-of-the-box thinking, simplicity and functional aspect of this platform.

Only one caution is the Lead Tracking capability which I highlighted above. Do expect an update to this post in the coming weeks.

As always, thank you for reading my blog. Do subscribe to receive all my future posts via Email.

That’s all for now, have a good one. Until next time.