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Influencer marketing is a somewhat new term, but the practice is far from new. What has developed more recently, thanks to the digital landscape, are the opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to capitalize on influencer marketing, often at a very attractive ROI.

Do any of these sound familiar? I'm spending money on online ads, but I'm not getting qualified leads from them Only spammers fill out my website's contact form My website loads slowly My website isn't ranking well in Google All of my business comes from offline, so I don't update my website I'm not sure which metrics I should track

Chatbots were seen as one of the biggest trends and most exciting digital marketing tools in 2017. While enthusiasm was tempered a bit this year, they are still extremely promising and can be a very effective part of your marketing strategy. Chatbot adoption has been slower than expected, partly due to limitations of early bots, and the hurdles of understanding how they work and how to set them up. However, they are still projected to be very prevalent by 2022, and account for $8 billion in cost savings according to Juniper Research. It's time to give them another look.

In a recent broadcast, we explained how companies can identify which digital marketing tactics they should be using on using the Attract > Engage > Convert framework.

When you should (and should NOT) use the most popular digital marketing tactics Even the most effective digital tactics can sometimes be the wrong way to invest your money. In our last Facebook Live show, we covered the best times (and worst times) to spend money on SEO, PPC, CRO, social media, marketing automation and more.

Could a new website derail your digital marketing results? We've seen digital marketing results plummet when a new website is launched. Even if you have the most eye-catching, user friendly design and amazing content, you can destroy your website traffic if you haven't taken the right steps when transitioning to the new site.

You've no doubt heard about the controversy over Facebook's use of customer data. For marketers, Facebook has developed excellent targeting capabilities that can produce an impressive ROI. But if Facebook is in hot water over improper data handling, what does it mean for advertisers? If you currently advertise on Facebook, or have considered trying it, we want to update you on how you may be impacted.

There is no single tool that can handle all of your digital marketing needs. There are several platforms that come close, particularly marketing automation systems, but you'll still need to supplement that system with some additional programs to round out your digital marketing toolkit. One way to go is to hire a marketing agency that already has all of the systems needed at their disposal, but when you're starting out or if you've only contracted out a portion of your marketing efforts to an agency, you can take advantage of some very effective low-or-no-cost DIY tools.

On several occasions, I have had the privilege of speaking to credit union or bankers groups and marketing professionals on the topic of unlocking YOUR digital marketing formula. I emphasize "your" because everyone shouldn't use the same digital tactics. What works for one business may not work for another. We preach this message to our clients, including our many bank and credit union clients. Despite being in the same industry, the location of these financial institutions and what they're ultimately trying to achieve can vary. To figure out the right formula, we need to break down who your specific customer is, what THEIR goals are, and how you can help them achieve those goals. (See the theme starting to develop? This is about them, not about you.) We kicked off a past workshop session by showing some industry trends (who doesn't love to take a peek at what everyone else is doing?). With marketing expenses representing around 7 to 12% of total revenue, investing in the wrong strategies is a costly mistake.

We've issued a challenge to small and medium sized businesses for 2018: Double your blog traffic in the next 12 months. It starts with a four stage process, at the heart of a successful content marketing strategy. Without following these steps, content marketing for your company can quickly become a waste of precious resources when your carefully crafted content isn't being seen by your target audience.