Last week, Limo University Content Manager, Gabby, had the opportunity to speak with Sam Mallikurjunan, a Hubspot Fellow. Hubspot is one of the leading platforms for businesses to conduct their marketing and sales strategies. Sam has filled many roles within Hubspot - ranging from serving as an Inbound Marketing Consultant and Head of Experimental Marketing to Head of eCommerce Marketing and Head of Growth for Hubspot Labs. Currently, he travels across the world in a Sprinter with his wife and their dogs - presenting at conferences and teaching a digital marketing course at Harvard University.

Listen to the interview, read the transcript, or glance at the brief overview of Sam and Gabby’s conversation below.

How to Navigate the Always Changing Digital Marketing Landscape

Sam talked about a variety of topics, but the overarching theme was clear. Businesses are and need to continue rethinking how they attract, convert, and retain customers and clients. Here are the top takeaways...

Over the past couple of years, the use of video on social platforms has exploded and Facebook has led the way with this trend. The social media titan has announced they will invest over a billion dollars in their video services over the next year and have even launched their own original programming. The trend of video is only getting started as Cisco predicts that by 2020 over 75% of the World’s mobile data will be video. When the statistics are this strong and Facebook takes action like this, so do we. Now is this time to improve your strategy and make sure you are building the best Facebook video campaigns possible.

Here are 4 fast ways to best utilize videos when advertising on Facebook:

1. Grab the User’s Attention in the First 5 seconds

Video ads in the Facebook news feed are watched on average for 5.7 seconds. This means you have those first 5 seconds to make your impression in order for them to continue watching.

2. Use Video Even in Link and Carousel Ads

Video...

Speed. Initiative. Endurance. Qualities of an elite athlete? Or characteristics of an effective follow-up email sequence? 

The answer is BOTH. 

Limousine show season is full of fun and education, but it also provides operators with a wealth of opportunities to meet potential affiliates and take steps to grow their businesses. 

While it's unlikely that you'll secure an affiliate partnership over the course of a couple days at a conference, other avenues exist for streamlining the process. Leverage the power of email with a short, but valuable follow-up sequence for the potential affiliate partners you meet at shows. 

Remember when I mentioned speed, initiative, and endurance at the beginning of this article. Your potential affiliate follow-up email sequence should start immediately (I'm talking the same days as your warm introduction). It should deliver a tangible value up front - whether it recommends a book about a topic you discussed previously or it gives...

Your website’s homepage is like the exterior of a house. The appearance of a house from the outside is typically an accurate indicator of what lies inside. If the bricks are sturdy and the side paneling intact; if the bushes are trimmed and the lawn is mowed, you’d assume that the carpet in the living room is without specks of dirt and the dining table is shiny and smooth.

When visitors first land on your homepage, you want to give them both the manicured exterior and the well-kept interior. For today’s Wednesday Drive, however, we are going to pay close attention to that exterior because oftentimes, this is as far as many of your visitors may get in your website.

When deciding what type of information you should include on your website’s homepage, the secret is to balance your business objectives with your buyer personas’ objectives. Sometimes, the goals of all parties will be the same. For example, you would want to book more rides and your potential...

Social media is a keystone asset to any marketing plan in the modern age. An ever-growing channel of shared content-- be it links, .gifs, pictures --the white noise of any outlet you choose is a daunting measure for every business. The challenge of cutting through leaves most feeling like it’s an impossible task and therefore it gets dramatically under utilized.

We’re here to help you change that.

Good social content starts with three items:

Relevancy: the content has to make sense to the audience. How does it pertain to them?
Timeliness: the content has to be posted at a time when the audience is engaged with the platform.
Agency: perhaps the most important, the content being posted must be shared for a reason and not just to become “part of the noise.”

So how do you determine these items? Take a bird’s eye view of your social media audience and ascertain who your personas are. Consult back to your buyer personas and use them to define your strategies.

...

Whether you are creating a video for your website to show off a new addition to your fleet or you are putting together a motion piece for a Facebook ad describing a client experience, the visuals won't engage your audience without high-quality audio. 

"Little things can make such a big difference during recording." - Matt Cameron

You may believe that high-quality audio only comes with equipment you would find in the recording studio of Guns n' Roses. In reality, you don't need a bunch of fancy gear to produce crisp, clear audio.

Jesse True, our videographer at Limo University, covers some quick tips and techniques in the video above that you can easily implement when you start planning your next video project. 

1. Invest in a microphone.

A $10 investment will get you this lavalier lapel mic for your phone.

2. Avoid big spaces. 

The larger the space where you are recording your audio, the more room sound has to occupy. A lack of directional focus will result...

We all want to build an effective campaign but we need a roadmap to know where to begin! THIS is that roadmap.

This week, we were inspired by an article Ryan Deiss, wrote describing the thoughts of a typical customer. You see, your customers and clients don't carry an iota of concern about your new service or the size and quality of your fleet. 

They care about themselves. They care about how they can maximize their time and their money. If your content isn't addressing these simple facts, you could be disappearing into the sea of words and imagery that your audiences encounter on a daily basis.

Not convinced? Listen as Limo University Founder Bill Faeth narrates "An Open Letter from an Apathetic Customer" by clicking on the video above.

"I didn’t wake up and start looking for you.

You’re an interruption. A distraction, at best, from my momentary boredom.

In fact, at this point the only reason we’re still having this conversation is because I shifted it from you back to me.

I do that a lot.

I like me." 

View the entire article by Ryan Deiss...

With over 2 billion users engaging with Facebook, the chances for you to communicate with your target audiences on the social platform are varied. From regularly posting to your Facebook page to boosting your posts for greater reach, the opportunities are nearly endless. 

One of the most effective ways to speak directly with prospects and leads is through Facebook ads. While 93% of marketers use Facebook advertising, only 42% believe they are receiving adequate returns on their investments.

For this week's Wednesday Drive, Bill Faeth sits down with Daniel Daher - the newest member of the Limo U team - to discuss specific actions you can take to improve the performance of your Facebook ads. 

Q: Tell me the number 1 mistake you say people make when running Facebook ads.

A: I would say it starts with the most powerful aspect of Facebook advertising which is in the ability to target who sees your ads. If you aren't spending the majority of your time in that audience...

3 free tools for determining your ideal prospects

From your Facebook ads and landing pages to your emails and sales pitches, the words you combine to communicate with target audiences matters more than you may realize. Oftentimes, small business owners revert to what they know best - their services and products. Unfortunately, features aren’t as attractive to cold - or even warm leads - as stories that relate to your potential customers.
Researchers have proven that text demonstrating knowledge of unique struggles is more engaging than feature-driven information. In fact, Copywriter Today found that traffic to your website automatically increases by 7.8X when you use compelling copy.

Let’s say you want to start a marketing campaign with the objective of selling a package for group travel to travel managers in your area. Before you open up a Microsoft Word or Google document, define the exact person you need to target. Buyer personas exist to keep all of your data on a...