Cryptocurrencies. Depending upon who you ask, they’re either the next big thing to take e-commerce by storm, or they’re just an overhyped fad that will crash much sooner than enthusiasts want to admit. Regardless of your feelings on the matter, learning about this new technology can be interesting, especially when you see how many different cryptocurrencies are currently available for purchase and the sheer volume of new currencies that are currently in development. Bitcoin is only the most famous example of cryptocurrency—it’s definitely not the only player in this market!

In today’s video, we’ll give a brief overview of cryptocurrencies; namely, how they “work” in regards to blockchain technology and enforced scarcity. The individual units of a cryptocurrency (be they Bitcoins, Litecoins, or Dogecoins, or something else entirely) don’t have any inherent value on their own—but can’t the same be said for the paper money and digital transactions that rule most consumers’ lives these days?

We’re not saying that you should definitely rush out to buy up Facebook coins the moment they become available. We’re not saying that you should definitely ignore the company’s attempts to hop on the cryptocurrency bandwagon, either. Instead, we’re suggesting you keep an eye on this trend and join us in seeing where it goes!

Let’s talk about you and…well, you. More specifically, let’s talk about you talking about you.

If that’s getting too meta, stay with us.

By now, you know that having a company website is non-negotiable. So, think of it this way; If your brand were a person, your site would be the clothes it wears. And the about us page, the subject of today’s chat, would be its shoes. The overall outfit would be incomplete and awkward without them, but not all pairs are a fit.

We’ll show you how to write the about us page of your website, complete the look, and step into the world looking irresistible, header to footer.

Why Everyone’s Talking about About Us Pages  

Say you were interviewing for a position, which, in theory, is what your website is: a one-way interview with customers. You wouldn’t spend tons of time and effort carefully picking out your suit, ironing your button down, and meticulously combing your hair only to slap on a pair of flip-flops to complete the outfit. Same goes for the about us page of your website.

Just like sloppy footwear, sloppy copy on your about page can ruin your chances of getting the job.

Though the web design features can create a professional exterior, you still need the goods to back it up and finish your look. Visually appealing web graphics and a good layout won’t do you any good if you’re leading with a poorly written ‘about us’ page that was clearly an afterthought.

Writing your About Page

Be it a potential customer who is piqued by your social media presence, a local journalist who’s covering businesses in your area, or a potential new employee sizing up your company culture; it’s everyone’s go-to page. The place they can mine a wealth of information about who you are.

The important thing is to be ahead of them and in charge of the conversation.

Here are five suggestions to make it a productive one.

1. Treat it like sales collateral, because it is. Of all the marketing copy you write, this one page is the most central to who you are. It’s also a breeding ground for answers to frequently asked questions that, once addressed, can encourage a connection with your brand. Remember that when a potential customer lands on your about page, they’re considered a captive audience. Or at least they will be the more intentional you are about your big reveal. May we recommend sending your core values to the front?
2. Show your story – don’t just tell it. Unless you’re writing an open letter format, which certainly works for some businesses, a wall of words might not be the best tactic. Instead, try breaking up the text with emotion-packed marketing Or, better yet, introduce your company with a video. It’s personal. It’s proficient. And it’s the best way to pack a lot of information into just a few frames. In fact, according to McQuivey’s Forrester study, How Video Will Take Over the World, “Video is worth 1.8 million words.” Not sure what to write? Speak from the heart instead.
3. Put a face to your name. There’s competition in every industry, but there’s only one you. As corny as that may sound, it’s your best, if only way to truly differentiate yourself. Let users see the human beings behind the brand and have your team share a little personality while they’re at it. Even if customers never meet you in person, you can be so personable that they’ll feel like they’ve known you all their lives. And as we’ve seen, the more personalized your website, the higher your CRO – plain and simple.
4. Share what others are saying. From testimonials and prestigious awards to press clippings, the about page is a great opportunity to share your story through other people’s eyes without cluttering up your home page. It shows the impactful quality of your brand and is an integral part of your story – past and present.
5. Call them to action. Let your about us page be a hub in the wheel of your website. CTAs can be plentiful and increase the traffic on other pages of your site. Take visitors by the hand and gently lead them to influential social media channels, your company blog, or careers page. You can even bate them to continue their journey by signing up for your email list.

Final words

A brands about us section is likely to be a high traffic page on your site. It’s usually also the first to be visited, but if not done well, it may also be the last.

Having writer’s block or finding it hard to brag on yourself? Let our content experts write an about page for you.

What if we told you that you had a team of team of untapped marketers and salespeople waiting to help spread the word about your business? They don’t require a salary, and you might never meet them in person, but you also can’t afford to ignore them.

No, we’re not suggesting you “invest” in an unpaid intern. Instead, we recommend crowdsourcing content from willing brand ambassadors.

Need a refreshed marketing strategy to help you break through the noise and increase your organic reach? By connecting with your customers with user-generated content, you can.

User-Generated Content Defined

Anyone outside of your business who interacts with your brand on social media has the potential to supply you with click-worthy user-generated content (UGC). This type of collaboration turns followers into content producers. With it comes a steady supply of photos, videos, and unsolicited testimonials about your business.

Why is UGC Effective?

User-generated content satisfies two key pillars consumers base purchasing decisions on: trust and authenticity. Not only are they more likely to trust peer recommendations, according to Social Media Today, “60% of consumers said user-generated content (UGC) is the most authentic form of content – 3X more authentic than brand-created content.”

User-generated content also helps your business by:

• Giving your marketing department a break, allowing them to focus on other essential tasks outside of content creation.

• Expanding your organic reach, turning followers who evangelize your brand to their family and friends into mico-influencers.
• Building relationships with your online community, providing personal insights into your target market audiences.

How to Source User-Generated Content

Now you know what UGC is and why it’s essential, but where do you find it?

It’s probably not as simple as a Google search. However, your customers and their lives are most certainly online. It’s just a matter of zeroing in on the compelling content that furthers your brand.

Here are five ways to hone your hunt for quality user-generated content:

1. Host a contest or give-a-way. Very often you get what you give(-a-way). Try incentivizing users to offer up their personal content in exchange for prizes or experiences that directly relate to your business. Putting out a call for photos or videos that have a specific theme will help you broadcast on-brand messages. Pro tip: specify that the photo with the most likes will win, and you can all but guarantee good engagement when you re-post it.
2. Cruise your geo-tags. Periodically check to see who’s been tagging themselves at your place of business. If you see something you like, use an app like Repost to re-share with your followers. Be sure to tag them in the post, so the original is credited appropriately.
3. Brand your hashtags. You’re well within your rights to search out general hashtags as they relate to your brand; however, creating hashtags that are specific to the work you do will instantly catalog and categorize potential submissions. Airbnb had of the most popular campaigns of 2017 using this social media strategy. While the #WeAccept branded hashtag reinforced them as a global brand, the UGC they posted was wholly representative of their mission of non-discrimination. (A value-based marketing win that we can definitely get behind.)
4. Call for submissions. You can use your existing social media presence to simply request customers tag you in their photos and stories, but if you want to take it a step further, request photos:

• in your newsletters – have a specific section with hashtags to use and other instructions to ensure you can find the photo.
• on your homepage – create a banner directing them on where and how to submit.
• with signs onsite – put up an irresistible background or photo booth that will make folks naturally want to gravitate and re-share.

5. Don’t forget about the employees. We recommend letting customers peer behind the curtain once in a while. The backstage look has an inherent core of authenticity. And what better way to personalize your brand than to share a bit about the people who make it run? Even if you remain strangers IRL, having employees share your company content and supply you with personal posts of their own will help users feel more connected.

In the end, there’s no wrong way, or place, to share user-generated content. Be it on your website, in your email marketing, or posted to your social media accounts, the message is clear: polished and perfect is out. ‘Real’ is the real deal.

Online ordering is the way of the future. Whether it’s through apps or desktop websites, more and more eateries are now offering consumers ways to assemble a meal, pay for it online, and either have it delivered to their door or be ready for pickup at a store within the hour. Not all eateries offer this kind of service, of course; many still require customers to either call in their orders or simply drop by in-person. But restaurants that DON’T allow people to obtain food with a few keystrokes or screen taps definitely run the risk of being left behind. How comfortable are you with online ordering? Does your company offer it for the goods and services that it provides?

In this video, we discuss a special promotion that was run jointly by Burger King and Instagram in Spain. Spanish burger-lovers were able to use polls on their Instagram Stories to customize their perfect Whopper, adding and subtracting ingredients as they saw fit. But this wasn’t just an exercise in opinion gathering. After sharing their ideas for their ideal sandwich, customers could then go to their local restaurant and enjoy their one-of-a-kind Whopper…for free! By the end of the event, Burger King had given away over 30,000 hamburgers, and they’d engaged with even long-time customers in a way that was fun and revolutionary.

Small businesses eager to get on track with online ordering systems would be wise to keep an eye on Instagram. This social media giant has already experimented with an in-app payment system, meaning that it could one day be a viable platform for virtual shopping. Folks who adore Instagram will likely welcome this additional use for the application…and people who just like the speed and convenience of e-commerce will be happy for the opportunity to expand their horizons.

Without customers, your brand isn’t worth much. Most large and small business owners have been conditioned to focus almost solely on acquiring more and more customers. And sure, there’s a time and place for that. But what good is a growing customer base if you’re losing the ones you already have?

The literal and figurative cost of acquiring new customers is steep – not unlike customer acquisition marketing itself. According to Marketing Profs, taking a new customer through the sales cycle will cost you more than five times what it typically takes to make a second sale to an existing customer.

Looking to expand your profit margins in 2018? Time to deepen and nurture your current relationships. Here’s how customer retention marketing strategies can help.

Sell More, Do Less

Five happy customers who each sing your praises to one friend are worth 100 potential clients waffling in your pipeline. In this way, retention marketing helps to reframe your approach with current customers. Done right, and you’ll turn them into free marketing and sales help.

Your current customers are also likely to be more responsive to your cross-promotional marketing efforts. When they know the quality of your goods and service, they’re less likely to hesitate in the face of an upsell or price increase.

Keep your name (and excellent service) in the brain’s current customers, and you might just insulate yourself from customer attrition due to competition, too.

Retention Marketing Basics

There’s only one way to get where you want to go: start where you are.

We recommend you begin with your brand voice. The more your internal goals and external communications align, the more likely customers are to actually listen. Make them clear, make them consistent, and just like your customers, make them current. Bonus points if you have a customer support lead weigh in on crucial marketing copy. They can help you make sure your messaging is airtight.

While you’re at it, why not give your most loyal customers the floor? Whether by testimonial or social media review, make sure you’re amplifying the voices of those you’ve impressed along the way. Keep your ear to the ground for truly compelling stories, and don’t stop shy of handing them the mic. (Literally, invite them to speak at your next hosted event or a conference you’re attending.)

Of course, there are still two groups aside from your happy customers that can’t be overlooked: the unhappy ones and the competition. Lose sight of the former, and you miss a valuable opportunity to learn how to improve your processes. Ignore the latter, and you’re out a chance to plug a potential customer leak.

The more you prioritize current customers in your content marketing and social media strategies, the more you’ll recognize ways to engage, stay in touch, and reach out with new opportunities.

Ultimately, stands to reason the more time and attention you pour into your current customer base, the fuller your sales – and leaner your marketing budget – will be.

Need help crafting an out-of-this-world marketing strategy? Get us on retainer.

The customer journey has transformed over the years. What was once driven by analyzing outbound channels has transformed into a two-step process. The old and linear process is now a dynamic one that goes beyond concentrating on outbound alone.

Today, the customer journey should be analyzed with email and how it mixes with outbound and inbound channels. Analyzing the customer journey from both the inbound and outbound sales point-of-view will give you more insight into the customer experience and what they know about your business to help you improve your SEO, your reputation and more.

Customer Journey Basics

Mapping the journey starts with you: You need to use what information your organization has to create an interesting offer to be able to see what catches the customer’s eye. Once the customer bites, this is where the customer journey is initiated for organic or paid search.

TIP: Providing valuable, actionable information to new customers regarding their recent purchase or inquiry is a great first step.

Once the customer inquires about or buys your product, your job is to follow up with the customer journey by emailing them with content to help them get the most out of their purchase while also helping you increase your SEO (should they research about what you sent them for further information). After this, send out relevant information about local attractions, events and the nearest store location.

Your most important job in defining the customer journey is developing interactions that build value, relevance and brand trust with your target audience.

It is after you do your email marketing and event-driven marketing that you go back to analyzing your customer journey. See how the customer reacts to your outbound marketing by gauging their wants, needs and interests at a particular moment—i.e. when the email was sent out, correspondence about a particular event, etc.

Understand the distinct needs of your customers by analyzing how you may need to refine your message based on response rates, purchases and upgrades or changed in location. The way you analyze your data is your one-step away from creating a personalized customer journey.

Be sure to subscribe to our blog so you can get up-to-date information and a notification when our next post on how to turn the customer journey into sales goes live. We will also delve into the specifics of what to look for in your analytics when tracing the customer journey.

Top 10 Fastest Growing Marketing and Ad Agencies in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro

Dallas, TX August 16, 2018 – Inc. magazine today ranked Globe Runner 4203 on its 37th annual Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing, privately-owned companies.

Globe Runner achieved a three-year sales growth of 81%. The Addison based company joins a select number of digital marketing agencies recognized in this year’s list.

The Inc5000 represents independent small to mid-sized businesses with revenue and employee growth year after year. Notable companies in the Dallas Metroplex include Poo-Pouri, Studio Movie Grill, and Nothing Bundt Cakes.

“When I started Globe Runner in 2009, our mission was to help companies grow digitally,” said Globe Runner CEO Eric McGehearty. “We are growing today by continuing our mission of full-service digital, delivering results to clients.”

In January 2017, Globe Runner acquired Black Lab Creative allowing the internet marketing company to offer in-house design, creative, and printing solutions.

Recently, 2018 delivered two Addy awards (Bronze and Silver) to Globe Runner by the American Advertising Federation.

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000

The 2018 Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2014 to 2017. To qualify for the list, companies must have been founded and began generating revenue by March 31, 2014. They had to be based in the US, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2017. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2014 is $100,000; the minimum for 2016 is $2 million.

As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.’s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found on www.inc.com/inc5000.

About Inc. Media:

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures, Inc. is the only major brand dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies, with the aim to deliver real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. Winner of the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in both 2014 and 2012. Total monthly audience reach for the brand has grown significantly from 2,000,000 in 2010 to over 18,000,000 today.  For more information, visit www.inc.com.

The Inc. 5000 is a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation. Started in 1982, this prestigious list of the nation’s most successful private companies has become the hallmark of entrepreneurial success. The Inc. 5000 Conference & Awards Ceremony is an annual event that celebrates their remarkable achievements. The event also offers informative workshops, celebrated keynote speakers, and evening functions.

All humans like to feel seen, valued, and dare I say, special. It’s one reason why targeting is such a huge part of effective marketing. Try to capture the attention of everyone, and you’re unlikely to impress anyone.

If you’ve been unknowingly – or willfully – gearing your web content toward an unspecified, broad audience, it’s time to get personal. Your CRO (conversion rate optimization) depends on it.

Think about it. Your target audience is bombarded daily with tens of thousands of ads that are all but screaming at them for a sliver of their fragmented attention. Successful brands know how to treat their websites like a handwritten love letter personally addressed to their ideal customers and clients.

Here’s how to break through the noise and capture the mind of your potential customer by personalizing your website.

1. Stick the landing (page) by personalizing it. Load your landing page up with unnecessary details, and you’re likely to lose a user’s interest, quickly. Repeat information they already know, same story. To get the conversions you’re after, you need personalized messaging. That’s what ultimately turns browsers into buyers. Keep your text, short, sweet, and with a personal beat. Try adding a personalized CTA to the bottom of your copy and see how it impacts your conversion rate optimization. Something as simple as “Greetings, Googler! We appreciate you searching for Dallas SEO Companies. Here’s a free case study to show our gratitude. Enjoy!”
2. Show some emotion. Emotions are the one thing we all have in common. They’ve evolved over eons to help us navigate the wilds of life. Today, the more you can relate on an emotional or personal level, the more likely you are to convert prospects into purchasers. Your messaging should center around positive sentiments that inspire confidence or evoke nostalgia. Show them you understand their pain points and tell them how you’ll swoop in to make the fix with the click of your CTA button. Here are some more examples of emotional marketing done well.
3. Make your content buyer-specific. Read: time to bust out your buyer personas. Before you ever sit down to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) pull out your personas and review their preferences. Pretend you’re writing to Erin Sanchez, young professional who loves cats, not 22 to 32-year-old females. It’ll help make your content more pointed and personal. While you’re at it, make sure the copy itself is broken up into bite-sized pieces that Erin, or any other reader, can easily take in. The larger your text blocks, the less likely she is to wade through them. Instead of straining her eyes, get to the point quickly, and make your ask as obvious as possible, as soon as possible.
4. Speak to them through videos. The importance of video marketing is present on a lot of fronts. None so much as its ability to increase your conversion rate optimization. Users are likely to spend loads more time on a website with video. Be it product videos or video blog content, including vids can improve a customer’s chances of buying by up to 64%-85%. It’s a no-brainer way to literally speak directly to your target audience in a highly personal way. In fact, we do it every week! In essence, the more visually you can show off your products or get customers comfortable with the folks who’ll be performing your services, the better. Have your CEO speak, or better yet, let them hear from the rest of your staff, so they get to know the everyday people behind the brand!
5. Provide local specials. What better way to connect than by addressing them on the home front? With geo-targeting, you can use available technology to post content that’s specific to the locales of your ideal consumer. While you’re at it, don’t forget to bring these changes directly to the hands of your customers. In other words, ensure all your content is mobile ready or be prepared to get left behind.

We live in a world where digital and personal are seemingly at odds. All the more reason to tailor-make your online spaces personalized. Not only will it help you stand out from the competition and improve your CRO, it’ll show you understand your customer, creating the long-term relationship that leads to brand loyalty.

Want some help writing your personals? Let us pen some compelling, personalized content to help you make contact!

The language-processing center is one of the most developed parts of the adult brain. It’s a highly advanced system that allows us to decipher meaning from pure silence. With little effort, black and white symbols take on all kinds of meaning.

1. Prioritize your keywords over your customers. If you’re too focused on creating a keyword driven content calendar or devoting too much space to talking about yourself, it’s time to shift focus. Remember that your audience is more interested in what you can do for them rather than the keyword(s) that brought them to your site. Sure, you absolutely need to sprinkle in some specific turns of phrase that will ping the search engines. But it’s more important to use your words to show and tell customers how you’ll bring value to their lives. Do so in a storied way that grabs their attention. A keyword or two may have gotten them there, but it’s the rest of your words that will make the sell.
2. Present a problem in an abstract way. All good stories need a little bit of tension. It adds interest and keeps readers engaged. Use the sections of your website to create mini-vignettes that bring your potential customer’s problem into focus. The quicker you do so, the more likely you are to hold their fragile and limited attention. The more crystalline your mission to address their pain points, the more likely you are to move them down the sales funnel.
3. Forget to push readers to take action. In life, and good writing, action is almost everything. Pretty words count for a lot, but they alone aren’t enough to close the deal. For that, you need to be explicit about what you want your reader to do next. Simple instructions like ‘click here’ are banal and diluted from overuse. Instead, try turning your CTAs (calls to action) into problem-solving hybrids like “start getting more web traffic” or “increase your Google ranking.” Make an action item out of the pillars that matter the most to your potential customers.
4. Hit them with a wall of words. Precise and concise is the name of the game here, folks. You may have a compelling backstory, but save it for your About Us page. When they first land on your website, you want to quickly move them through your most important offerings and on to the commitment portion of the evening. Create a labyrinth with your language, and you’ll lose them forever.
5. Make mindless headlines and hyperlinks. For the text you do have, be sure to break it up with thoughtful headlines that are at once compelling and descriptive. That way if they only skim your text, which, let’s face it, is highly likely, they’ll at least get the main takeaways out the gate. It’s ok to pepper some hyperlinks into the copy, too. But just like salt, too much or too little is a problem. Over link and the search engines that get grumpy. It implies that your content is unoriginal. Too few, and you might not be able to back up your words with the right level of authority.
6. Fail to let others speak. Few of us are really gifted at talking about ourselves. In fact, businesses do much better when they let at least a few other authors toot their horns in the form of compelling testimonials. The more past success you can show, the more future success you’re likely to have.

Still not sure how to use your words wisely? Let us do the talking for you! Our expert content marketers know how to write for both human and electronic readers to help you stand out.