by Fronetics | Dec 20, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain, Talent
Here are our most-viewed blog posts from 2018 about talent, including analysis of industry trends, and influencers you should be paying attention to.
New Year’s is the time for resolutions — personally and within your professional life, as well. Take a look at your company’s track record for identifying strengths and interests within your employees, and hiring and retaining great talent, and evaluate how to improve upon it.
We’ve assembled our top 5 talent posts of 2018. We hope these can be a resource to help your business overcome challenges and achieve your goals for the new year.
Top 5 talent posts of 2018
1. 6 Reasons Your Supply Chain Employees Are Looking for New Jobs
This guest post from Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting examines the most likely reasons why passive candidates seek out new jobs, particularly in Supply Chain and Procurement. It’s not out of a desire for more money as often as you might think. More often than not, it’s the more intangible factors. Read more
2. 7 Supply Chain & Logistics Professionals to Follow on LinkedIn
With LinkedIn Publishing, users are able to create long-form posts and articles to communicate their subject-matter expertise and interests. Following LinkedIn members gives you access to their profiles, as well as any original or third-party posts they publish on their newsfeeds. So your newsfeed becomes populated with the content the users you follow are publishing and sharing — meaning, if you follow the right people, you get invaluable insight into industry leaders’ thoughts and trends. Here are some of our favorite supply chain and logistics professionals to follow on LinkedIn. Read more
[bctt tweet=”With LinkedIn Publishing your newsfeed becomes populated with the content the users you follow are publishing and sharing — meaning, if you follow the right people, you get invaluable insight into industry leaders’ thoughts and trends. ” username=”Fronetics”]
3. Top 10 Mobile Apps for Supply Chain Professionals
Supply chain and logistics professionals are finding mobile applications to be a necessary tool these days. In an industry focused on the transport of products and goods, mobile apps are giving supply chain professionals a new freedom from the confines of their desks. Here are 10 mobile apps for supply chain professionals to be familiar with. Read more
4. Top 5 Logistics and Supply Chain Careers
With the talent gap growing wider every day, ambitious current and future supply chain professionals have many interesting opportunities. And not only that — logistics and supply chain careers are increasingly high paying. Here’s a look at five of the top logistics and supply chain careers available to today’s professionals. Read more
5. Industry Report: Supply Chain Management is Becoming Younger, More Educated, More Diverse
A major new survey shows that millennials are moving into the workforce in a big way, changing its Supply Chain’s demographics and disrupting the industry. It’s a far-reaching report with a lot of results busting down stereotypes both about Supply Chain and millennials themselves. Here were some of our biggest, and most surprising, takeaways. Read more
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by Fronetics | Dec 19, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Leadership, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Our most-viewed leadership posts from this year discuss the characteristics of effective leadership, point out industry trends, and provide resources for leadership growth.
Our top leadership posts from 2018 examine what makes a good leader, as well as what makes a bad leader, and the ramifications of each. They also look at some executive thought leadership about industry trends, notably corporate social responsibility, and talk about how supply chain leaders can make use of social media.
Here are our top 5 leadership posts from 2018.
Fronetics’ top 5 leadership posts of 2018
1. Why CSR: Four Benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a pretty broad term to describe how a company is working to improve its community. And 55% of consumers are willing to pay more for products from socially responsible companies. What does that mean for you? It means that corporate social responsibility is as good for your community as it is for your own brand. Here are four major benefits of corporate social responsibility. Read more.
[bctt tweet=”55% of consumers are willing to pay more for products from socially responsible companies. What does that mean for you? It means that corporate social responsibility is as good for your community as it is for your own brand. ” username=”Fronetics”]
2. 5 Must-Read Books for Supply Chain Leaders
Great leaders embody the ability to inspire and empower their teams to succeed. Here are five books that we recommend reading to keep getting the job done: empowering your team, learning about industry trends, updating your management practices, and other key insights. Read more.
3. 5 Social Media Tips for Supply Chain Executives
Supply Chain Management and its related functions (Procurement, Planning, Vendor Management, Logistics, Operations) are on the opposite end of the spectrum from functions like sales and marketing – areas where your brand is everything. But from our perspective, there are still lots of different benefits that Supply Chain and Procurement executives can gain from building their social media brands. Read more.
4. What’s the Cost of Bad Leadership in Procurement?
Everyone knows that a bad hire can be really costly to a business. When you account for hiring, training, and onboarding costs, plus the opportunity cost of not hiring a successful employee – not to mention the impact on workplace culture – hiring the wrong person can set a company back tens of thousands of dollars. Read more.
5. Supply Chain Leaders: Do These 4 Things with Your Social Media
We’ve written many times before about the importance of supply chain leaders being on social media as the face of their brands. Social media presents a huge opportunity for executives to use their relative industry celebrity to be an extension of their organizations. So you are ready to commit to a more active social media presence (or you’re going to be ghost-posting for your executive). Where do you begin? We’ve come up with 4 tips for supply chain leaders to making the most of their presence on social media. Read more.
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by Fronetics | Dec 17, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Data/Analytics, Marketing
Implementing automation can help supply chain marketers become more efficient and more successful in earning and converting leads. Here are our most-viewed automation posts of the year.
Automation is changing the way supply chain marketers do their job. When properly executed, automation can drive efficiency and reduce time spent on repetitive tasks, freeing up marketers to focus on other priorities.
Marketing automation is the process of using software to complete repetitive marketing tasks designed to nurture sales leads, personalize marketing messages and content, and — in the process — save marketers time and effort. Supply chain marketers are using marketing automation to streamline processes and increase qualified leads.
Jumping into marketing automation can be overwhelming. Utilizing the right software and knowing where to implement automation into your marketing processes will help nurture leads and get you back to more pressing tasks.
[bctt tweet=”Utilizing the right software and knowing where to implement automation into your marketing processes will help nurture leads and get you back to more pressing tasks.” username=”Fronetics”]
Here are our top automation posts from 2018 that define how automating your marketing processes can help your efforts.
Top 5 automation posts 2018
1. Our 6 Favorite Marketing Automation Tools for Supply Chain and Logistics Marketers
The term “marketing automation” refers to a variety of tools used to automate the process of personalizing leads’ interactions with your business. The sheer variety of these tools can sometimes be overwhelming — so we’ve pulled a few of our favorites in the categories of email workflows, social media scheduling tools, and customer relationship management. Read full post
2. Increase Leads by 451% through Marketing Automation
Automation is changing today’s supply chain, and not just because robots and autonomous vehicles are scooting around warehouse floors. Supply chain marketers can use automation to drive efficiency and improve our success rates. Read full post
3. Marketing Automation: Social Media Scheduling Tools
Managing your business’ social media accounts might sound like a simple task — a fun one, even. But once it falls on your plate, it won’t take you long to realize: it’s a lot of work. Social media scheduling tools can make your job much easier — and improve your bottom line. Here are some of our favorite tools and some helpful tips for using them. Read full post
4. 5 Tips for Using Automation in Email Marketing
Marketing automation can help you provide more personalized experiences for your prospects through email. It can also save you a significant amount of time, as you won’t have to create individual emails each time a particular prospect takes a particular action.
But not everything can, or should, be automated or scheduled in advance. As you begin to incorporate automation in email marketing, here are 5 tips to get you started. Read full post
5. Marketing Automation: CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Integrating marketing automation into your CRM strategy can improve efficiency, streamline workflows, and make communications more consistent. Here are a few examples of how CRM and marketing automation can work in tandem. Read full post
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by Fronetics | Dec 10, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Data/Analytics, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
Here are our most-viewed blog posts from 2018 about analytics and ROI, including articles about how to calculate your marketing ROI and competitive benchmarking.
Content marketing is increasingly popular in the B2B sector. In fact, 91% of B2B marketers used content marketing as a part of their strategy last year. But marketers still struggle with proving the return on investment.
Evaluating your analytics gives you valuable insight into what’s working (and what’s not) with your content marketing strategy. But 47% of B2B marketers reported not measuring content marketing ROI. And of those marketers, 86% sited lack of knowledge, time, and convenience for reasons why their company doesn’t calculate ROI.
[bctt tweet=”47% of B2B marketers reported not measuring content marketing ROI. And of those marketers, 86% sited lack of knowledge, time, and convenience for reasons why their company doesn’t calculate ROI.” username=”Fronetics”]
This year, Fronetics examined new analytics tools and numerous ways to calculate ROI — within the context of supply chain and logistics operations, as well as how these methods can be used to improve overall marketing performance. Here’s a look at our most viewed analytics and ROI posts in 2018.
Top 5 analytics and ROI posts
1. The Art of Measuring Podcast Success
Podcasts are an increasingly popular content medium, but measuring their performance is difficult. Here are some tips for measuring podcast success in spite of the challenges. Spoiler alert: it’s an art, not a science. Today’s busy professionals are increasingly driven to make their “down time” more productive and engaged. The popularity of podcasts rises every year, with more than 50% of American homes now classified as “podcast fans” by Nielsen. Read full post
2. Top 10 Social Media Analytics Tools
Analyzing your social media performance is critical to a successful marketing effort, especially in light of recent changes to Facebook’s News Feed. You need the tools to determine what’s working and what isn’t, as well as the best time to post your content for your target audience. At Fronetics, we use a variety of tools to measure social media success. Here are our 10 favorite social media analytics tools. Read full post
3. 4 Metrics to Measure the Impact of Content Marketing on Brand Awareness
A successful content marketing strategy strengthens the relationship between brands and their target audiences. And brand awareness is a key component to any successful content marketing strategy. Ultimately, the more aware audiences are of your brand, the more likely they are to buy your products or services. Read full post
4. Use These Metrics to Benchmark Marketing Performance against Your Competitors
Competitive benchmarking is the process of comparing your company’s performance against that of your competitors. You can use various metrics to benchmark what these businesses are doing better than you are and where you have the edge. Benchmarking marketing performance is an important step in the process of evaluating the success of your content marketing strategy. Read full post
5. Infographic: 4 Ways to Measure Blogging ROI
Why do you blog? It seems like a simple question, but the answer has a huge impact on the content you produce and the outcome of your efforts. As with all aspects of your business, you should give the return on investment of your content marketing efforts ample attention. That is especially true for blogging ROI, if generating new business is indeed one of the reasons you blog in the first place. Read full post
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by Elizabeth Hines | Dec 6, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
As content marketing continues to increase in popularity, here are six trends to consider when planning your 2019 strategy.
A recent article by Forbes on content marketing notes: “As recently as a few years ago, marketers handled content mostly as a side project. It was more of a bonus than an essential role — something you did when you had time because it took a backseat to more traditional marketing projects and responsibilities. That’s changed.”
Boy, has that changed. The content marketing industry is expected to be worth more than $400 billion by 2021.
The 2018 report from the Content Marketing Institute shows just how prevalent content marketing is, and how essential it has become to creating brand awareness, educating your audience, and building credibility and trust with your customers.
Supply chain & logistics marketers: Trends to watch
So, where is content marketing headed in 2019? Content marketing budgets are still on the rise, and supply chain and logistics companies are increasingly seeing the value in moving to an inbound marketing strategy driven by original content.
These are the six notable trends to consider when planning your 2019 content marketing strategy.
1. Video
Video is currently the most popular form of content being consumed online today, and video marketing will continue to have substantial value in 2019.
Smart supply chain marketers should start the new year by developing a visual storytelling strategy that offers consistent delivery of valuable content.
What’s your best bet? Be helpful and teach your audience something worthwhile to them.
2. Chatbots
The rise of chatbots – automated computer programs that simulate human conversation in messaging apps – is expected to continue in 2019. Business Insider recently reported that the number of people on messaging apps surpassed the number of users on social networks!
[bctt tweet=”Business Insider recently reported that the number of people on messaging apps surpassed the number of users on social networks!” username=”Fronetics”]
Chatbots are just one of the ways artificial intelligence will shape the content marketing landscape in 2019, but their ability to drastically increase customer engagement puts them on the short list for a major trend to watch in the coming year.
3. Voice search
Voice search is becoming an increasingly prevalent means of attaining information. Statistics vary, but it’s expected that anywhere between 30-50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020. A recent report by NPR and Edison Research found that the rise of smart speakers is substantially changing consumer routines and purchasing behavior.
A good content marketing strategy for 2019 should consider how your customers might use voice search in your industry, and what you can do to maximize your content’s ability to respond.
4. Long-form content
I love this one, because it harkens back to humble beginnings of content marketing and the desire to put informative, quality content in front of a targeted interested audience.
Long form content – white papers, case studies, and lengthier blog posts e.g. – will have a resurgence of renewed appreciation in 2019. Why? Because many industries, including supply chain and logistics industries, are saturated with tons of mediocre short form content. People are increasingly looking to weed through it all for substantial quality posts from trusted sources. In addition, search engines will favor longer posts in results rankings.
Cheers to 2019 being the year of quality over quantity!
5. Brand ambassadors
We wrote about brand ambassadors as we headed into 2018, but they are worth mentioning again as we look forward to 2019. Brand ambassadors are employees that influence the B2B buying decisions of others, and they are an often-overlooked resource with more traditional marketing tactics.
Peers and colleagues are the third most influential source of information for business to business (B2B) purchasing, right behind online searches and your website! And there’s nothing more credible than a friend who speaks highly of their company’s product or service.
Definitely consider how you can help make brand ambassadors out of your employees in 2019.
6. Market Influencers
The final trend to watch in 2019 is influencer marketing, a form of marketing which focuses on influential people rather than the market as a whole.
Basically, marketers identify individuals who might have influence over potential buyers and create marketing campaigns and activities around these influencers. In many ways, this works similarly to a brand ambassador, where a single person influences their network of friends; in this case, however, the market influencer has a large network and a lot of “friends” who listen.
Influencer marketing will be a huge trend in marketing for 2019, and it would be worth considering who might be an influencer in your industry in the coming year and what your company might do reach them.
So, there you have it. As we head into 2019, these are the trends to watch and plan for in content marketing space.
The B2B buying climate is growing longer and more complex, and content marketing is so effective throughout the entire sales cycle if it’s done well. The end of the year is a great time to revisit your marketing strategy and make any necessary changes for the coming year.
Best wishes in the year ahead!
This post originally appeared on EBN Online.
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