Digital marketing insights.

Most marketers would say they know a bad website when they see one. The crazy fonts, cluttered layouts, and outdated animations are dead giveaways. And yet, we continually see surveys – like this one from Nielson – that show us how lots of organizations keep frustrating online visitors.

If you don’t know a lot about the servers where your website is stored – or even which company you’ve purchased web hosting through – you certainly aren’t alone.

Back in 2013, I co-wrote a book with my friend and fellow Canadian marketer, Sam Fiorella, titled “Influence Marketing: How to Create, Manage and Measure Brand Influencers in Social Media Marketing”.

When we look at human behaviour from the outside in, we come up against a recurring problem: we don’t know what we don’t know.

At some point in the last decade, a critical number of people started thinking about the kinds of side effects that might come with using too many pesticides, antibiotics, and other foreign substances to grow food.

Stop me when this sounds familiar: one of your colleagues or clients comes up with an idea that sounds mildly intriguing. But, the plan they put together is based on assumptions, the offer they’re making isn’t compelling to customers, or the whole thing just seems destined to go nowhere.

As the principle of a web-based marketing company, I’m no stranger to the concept of change. My industry is driven and defined by new ideas, to the point that my colleagues and I are reinventing ourselves on a continual basis.

How many blog subscribers do you have? What kind of conversion ratios are you achieving? How much money did you make from that offer?

Stop and think for a moment about how often you’ve seen something advertised on TV, or the Internet, and thought to yourself: “who would be stupid enough to buy that?”

Think back to the last great thing that happened in your business. Remember all the good work you put into making it happen, and smart decisions you made that led to the triumph.

Your website isn’t just a marketing item – it’s a potential hub of information, relationship-building, and sales activity. It’s also the most visible component of your marketing plan. Do you get the sense it's under performing? Let's check on a few of the most common and telltale signs...

One of the interesting things I've learned studying behaviour and unconscious bias in marketing is that most people tend to think of themselves as being average when it suits them, but extraordinary when it helps their self-esteem. And, because all of this happens on a subconscious level, we do it without even realizing it.

At some point or another, someone in your life – like a parent or spouse – probably reminded you that you aren’t indeed the centre of the universe. That’s something we all come to learn eventually, even if we don’t necessarily like it.

No doubt you've heard of Simon Sinek's Start With Why TedX talks or his books, but did you know that the origins of The 9 Whys are the work of Dr. Gary Sanchez of the Why Institute? In the slim chance you haven't heard of either speaker, it's a construct of 9 motivations that most people identify with as their primary 'purpose' in life.

Financial icon Warren Buffett (WIKI) likes to remind investors that the price of something is what you pay for it, while the value is what you get in return. That’s why it’s easy for something cheap to be more expensive in the long run. In fact, prioritizing short-term budgets almost always comes back to haunt you.