More than just a mere “nice to have” for your website, testimonials are far more important to your brand’s bottom line than you probably realize. According to new research, testimonials have proven to increase conversions, and play a significant role in customer research and buying habits.

Indeed, some 90 percent of respondents who read positive online reviews say those reviews influenced their buying decisions. With this in mind, you should consider how to harness the marketing value of social proof via testimonials. Lucky for you, we’ve prepared a handy guide.

Collaborative environment. Flexible schedules. Free coffee. Happy hours. “Unlimited” paid time off.

Sound familiar? This is a generic list of workplace perks and benefits often found in job descriptions spanning multiple industries. Today, there is an increased amount of attention placed on company culture. But this term is a bit open to interpretation, and not every culture is created equal.

Digital marketing professionals would do well to put themselves into the customer’s shoes every now and then. Putting on a “customer hat” and thinking like a consumer can do wonders for boosting the effectiveness of a brand’s digital marketing strategy.

After all, it’s easy to get caught up in marketing jargon and metrics, while forgetting to bear in mind what the customer wants and needs. But it’s quite valuable to be able to see a brand’s marketing efforts from the consumer’s point of view.

Paid advertising can be a tricky business, but with careful strategizing and tracking on the go, it can surely be a reliable source of leads and sales. When done wrong, however, it can be an expensive lesson.

The more you know about your audience, the better your ads will perform. Perhaps this is why many firms prefer to advertise on Facebook: the platform offers a host of options for audience targeting.

Already a favored resource in every good journalist’s toolbox, Twitter remains highly underrated in the world of PR. Indeed, the typical use of Twitter involves just a few core activities:

●     Publicizing news, blog posts, articles, and other content, typically the firm’s own content

These days, it seems like social media is standing in as an assignment editor for many different media outlets. Tune in to just about any cable show and, sooner than later, you will hear or see Twitter or Facebook or Instagram mentioned. But, does that mean the rules for contacting media sources on social media have shifted? Have we entered an era in which connecting with a journalist on social media is acceptable as a best practice?

The answer to that question is “yes and no.” While, yes, it can be acceptable to communicate with a journalist on social media, there are a few guidelines that you may want to consider if you want to be more effective in your efforts.

Most startups have a challenge to face when they’re dealing with public relations. Young companies know that they need to create buzz for their organizations – but it’s hard to do that when they don’t have the right connections and budgets in place.

Developing a successful PR strategy for a startup is a critical component of ensuring your business has the right foundations for success. However, most companies simply don’t know where to get started. Here are a few tips that can help startups to set up a more effective PR campaign.

For many companies, social media marketing initially seems to belong exclusively to the business-to-consumer marketplace. However, research into B2B advertising suggests that companies can actually benefit more from social media advertising than they think – particularly if they choose the right platform.

Around 84% of business decision makers say that they’re influenced by social media when making purchasing decisions. For executives, social media is a crucial resource because it helps them to make choices based on things like social proof and local endorsements. Although various social channels can contribute to a company’s B2B social media marketing strategy, there are few channels that appeal more to professionals online than LinkedIn.