Start off your week strong with our curated list of tips and inspiration around every aspect of the digital marketing world. This is the Mad Fish Catch of the Week.
SEO
Watching how you stack up against the competition is a big part of SEO. As we all fight to stay on the top of page one, it’s important to keep an eye on how competitors are doing and making sure that you’re keeping an eye on what you’re up against for the search terms that are important for you. Keeping an eye on visibility, indexation, links, and attention will help you understand now just how you’re doing on your own, but what you’re up against. Get the details on what you should be looking for here.
PPC
Going from search engine marketing to social media marketing isn’t always easy. While our Mad Fish PPC team is well versed in both, we loved this perspective from a search marketer just getting started on social ads. Understanding the nuances between the two is important for marketers, but noticing the downfalls and upsides of each platform can help us create stronger campaigns and deliver superior results. Read Ted’s account of his experience here.
Design
We’re always excited to try new things with design, but getting into the details of how trends impact what we’re doing helps us identify what things will stick, and what things could go wrong. For instance, we’re all about the cool details and experimental layouts, but not when they come at the expense of the user’s experience with the product. Learn more about how you can use the trends without distracting the user here.
Social Media
Instagram is a darling in the social media world. With new shopping tactics for e-commerce, connection, art, and profits are colliding on the platform. We love making Instagram a place for our clients to play and show their personality, but these tips from local Portland breweries have us stoked to keep testing. Check out the best things Portland breweries are trying (and how they can work for you) here.
Content Marketing
Writers often can’t resist putting a paragraph where a sentence would do. As a person who struggles to keep sentences under paragraph length, learning how to exercise brevity instead of a verbose exposition has been complicated, and sometimes, as you can tell, unsuccessful. I was inspired again this week by this ad from Struck. It shows the power of leveraging simplicity, letting a visual brand sing, and cracking a joke that lands whether you’re familiar with the brand or not. Check it out, and think about how to keep it simple.
Culture
If you love your job, odds are you probably put a lot into it. For some that may be high-level strategy, for others, the actual clocked hours at the office. Knowing what matters, how to manage your work, and how to keep your priorities aligned with that you love can be complex. Whether it’s working 60 hours a week or noticing work creep into your home life, setting boundaries at work can be complicated. Even if you love your job, there’s such a thing as too much. This piece from a game designer who realized passion wasn’t everything has us thinking.
Productivity
If you can’t put your phone down in the morning, you’re not alone. We’re all reaching for that dopamine fix of the Instagram likes and retweets. While it may be appealing to continue to reach for and reward that part of yourself, thinking about how to begin your day so you’re as productive and engaged as possible can be the first step in getting there. A green smoothie instead of a donut, a glass of water in addition to coffee, time spent with your loved ones or just with yourself in meditation can help you. Learn more about letting go of your smartphone and taking back your mornings here.