Author Archive: Gerry Moran
MarketingThink by Gerry Moran > Articles by: Gerry Moran
Gerry Moran
12/31/2014
Are your customers sampling your small business from the comfort of their smartphone? If not, then they’re positively salivating over your competitors’ Instagram, Twitter and Yelp pictures and posts. Much of this content is published by patrons! So, let’s use a restaurant as an example for how small businesses can approach their content marketing strategy. Picture this. Your customers are posting their smartphone snapshots and comments on their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Yelp accounts while sitting at your restaurant’s table. What a yummy idea! Are you helping your customers feed…
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Gerry Moran
12/30/2014
Are you in touch with your LinkedIn personal branding strategy? My great grandmother used to tell me, “Gerry Moran, you need to take advantage of every LinkedIn opportunity to reach out and touch your contacts. Build and nurture solid relationships by paying attention to the relationship triggers, authentically messaging and paying attention to the little things.” These B2B relationship-building tools and touchpoints are at your fingertips in your LinkedIn account. You just have to understand how to participate actively! LinkedIn gives us the opportunity to combine good connections and…
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Gerry Moran
12/29/2014
Meet John – or Mary, or Tom, or Vijay – the (brand) evangelist – a critical part of your employee advocacy strategy. No, I am not talking about a Bible-like evangelist. I’m talking about an even more efficient way of spreading the word about your company – the social media evangelist who sits inside your business. He works for your company and has an entirely different social network that can be reached by your business’s owned for paid channels. If you unleash the power of your company’s individual evangelists within an…
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Gerry Moran
12/28/2014
You work on your curbside appeal before you sell your house, right? So, you need to work on your brand’s social media appeal- personal and business – before you start selling, too. Think about it. You would never sell your house without making sure you presented it in the best light – mowing the lawn, painting the exterior and picking up around the property. The same goes for your small business, big company and personal brand on social media. When you say that you are able to solve problems with…
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Gerry Moran
12/27/2014
My great grandmother Michaelena always told me when I was growing up as a young boy, “Gerry, if you want better content, then you need to figure out a better way to ask for it!” Little did I know that this grandmotherly advice would translate into a very useful content marketing strategy. I find many B2B organizations linking business units to the feet-on-the-street sales organization without effectively integrating content into this supply chain. The hierarchy might be efficient, however, many times the content marketing strategy misses the mark. And, the…
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Gerry Moran
12/26/2014
Would you agree to go out on a date with someone who you did not know and called you out of the blue? Of course not! You’d expect a little flirting and romancing first, right? And, you’d want to have an idea who’s asking you out too. Well, B2B decision makers expect that same flirting and romancing before they agree to a first appointment with you – even if you promise you can save them money, make them money or fix a problem you think they have! I bet you…
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Gerry Moran
11/22/2014
If you write a blog post and no one reads it, did you really write it? Hmmm. Now that’s a question for a content marketing guru, ninja or king to answer. Many marketers have met the challenge of finding and motivating co-workers, internal thought leaders and executive leadership to write blogs. These subject matter experts (SME) are an excellent reputation-building resources a brand. This blogging ‘win’ is huge, since only a few years ago finding in-house content creators was like finding a four-leaf clover. While some marketers have solved the…
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Gerry Moran
11/02/2014
Forrest Gump tells us “Stupid is as stupid does.” Well, if that is the case then we should stop being stupid with our annual content marketing planning. Rather, the new quote should be “Simple is as simple does.” Simplification is the new innovator. Simplification is the new disruptor. Simplification is the key to a deeper customer connection. Let’s make things more simple in 2015! Too many brands have an enthusiastic, scattershot and complex approach to their digital and content go-to-market strategy. Sales, marketing and content creation have converged. The sooner…
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Gerry Moran
11/01/2014
Do headhunters find your background and value appealing? Or, is your head in the sand with your personal brand? If you grew up when televisions were black and white, you probably saw many Tarzan episodes where he was saving a jungle visitor from lions, tigers and … headhunters. Flash ahead to today and many job seekers want to run to headhunters, or recruiters, instead of running from them. However, not all recruiters find your ‘head‘ appetizing, or even know that it‘s there! They are not hungry for your background for a number controllable (by…
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Gerry Moran
10/30/2014
Can posting the right content for the right customer on the right channel at the right time really speed up a sale? When it’s put that way, that type of sales success sounds more like it’s driven by publishing instead of selling, right? I thought only call-blitzing sales rep could make a sale close faster. So, here’s a news flash! Successful sales reps and marketers need to be good at publishing, too. Good content skills speed up the quota-busting long game. If you are not integrating your content marketing strategy…
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