Author: John DOZ

This post is a contribution from Cecilia Foxworthy from Revision Ventures, an online marketplace that matches the digital skills of low-income youth with the marketing needs of local small businesses to create economic prosperity in underserved communities. They are a non-profit organization working to create economic opportunity for the underserved. Small businesses need customers, not loans. Sounds obvious right? The things is, we often get caught up in the prevailing narrative that small businesses simply need loans to grow. If you get the loan, you’ll get more sales, be able to pay back that loan, and will be well on your…

This post was written by Helen Nesterenko, Founder and CEO at Writtent.com. You can find Helen on Twitter @HNesterenko or on Google+. Copywriting is critical for the growth of your business whether you’re at the head of a startup or leading a company that’s been around for decades. However, copywriting may be an aspect of your business that you haven’t paid much attention to until this moment. Here are three reasons to take notice and put energy into making sure your business copywriting is up to snuff. Copywriting Can Make or Break Communication with Others Whenever you communicate with…

This post is a contribution by Clayburn Griffin, founder of the subreddit r/BigSEO, accomplished SEO and content marketer. You can find him on Twitter @Clayburn! In my years of working in digital marketing, I’ve noticed a few particular trends among beginner SEOs (and sometimes even veteran ones!) that are preventing them from taking their SEO game to the next level. I’m tired of seeing these amateurish mistakes and thought I’d write a little bit about them. If you find yourself doing some of these, hopefully this can help you realize it and curb the habit so you can be a better SEO. Talking…

The following post was contributed by Shannon Oborne, online marketing expert on DOZ. Discover 7 steps to build the perfect social media strategy and create an essential framework for the online conversations and communities that will supercharge your business. Step 1: Define Your Goals. This one sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how many companies jump into social media without having a specific set of objectives in mind. The ease and familiarity of many basic tasks – from creating a Twitter handle to setting up a LinkedIn profile – often tempt marketers into creating a plan that yields little in the end.…

The following post was contributed by Casey Shea, online marketing expert on DOZ. Social media sites can actually be incredibly useful. Twitter, Facebook, and the rest have created new means of communication and enabled companies to connect organically with users whose interests are already vetted. That said, they can also be destructive. The difference lies in the way you use them: If you publish an article on your own website, tweet about it, and post a link on Facebook, that’s fantastic. If you post an article as a Facebook note and then share it, your marketing and outreach are headed for…

This post is a contribution by Ally Greer, Director of Community & Content at Scoop.it. You can find her on Twitter at @allygreer or @scoopit! Content curation works. Over the last few years, it has surfaced as an important element of online publishing and, more specifically, content marketing. For Marketers, Content Curation not only saves money and time but adds credibility, generate leads, brand awareness and improves SEO. Whether you’re a seasoned curator or just getting started, check out these ten tips for curating rockstar content. 1. Choose a topic that you deeply care about. When considering this first one, it can be either…

Social media is more than a new trend from the last decade, it has become a new way of life, and the way to express ourselves. With the growth of multitasking, a new challenge is to be able to access social media, anytime, anywhere. Following this trend, the internet is now conquering television. A new internet access: online TV Online TV is the answer to people who are always on their smartphones while watching TV (for example, 49% of British people say that their Facebook account is always open). TV becomes the only tool to do both, and therefore is a big…

This post is a contribution by Philip Dawsey, Product Marketing Manager at SunEdison. Many companies sell something that could be considered a widget, or very close to it. No one likes to admit this, but it’s true. I’ve worked in big pharma where companies develop drugs that are so close to an existing competitor but legally different it’s crazy, solar where most crystalline modules are fairly interchangeable, and now energy storage, where it’s hard to identify which lithium ion battery is better than the next and no one can tell if Duracell really lasts longer than Energizer. What we are sure…

This post is a contribution by Adam Metz, V.P. of Business Development, PandaDoc, author of The Social Customer and Lean Startup For Sales. Hindsight is 20-20, right? Well, it is in marketing, at least. There are definitely a handful of marketing books that I wish I’d read 5 years ago, in 2009. (Two of these, you couldn’t have, because they weren’t out then,but four of them were.) If you can knock 3 or 4 of these out in the next couple of months, you’ll be a far sharper marketer than I was five years ago. 1 – The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen If…

What are you doing when you have a problem with a product? A few years ago, your first reflex would be to call the hotline. Now, people go online to find a solution. What are the opportunities for companies? Is the traditional customer service dead? Social customer service, a highly reactive channel Why 57% of consumers prefer to search online to solve a problem instead of calling a hotline? Because when you tweet USPS for a lost packet, you’re sure the community manager will answer as fast as possible, instead of waiting for 30 minutes listening an irritating music. Sometimes (we…