Digital Marketing Agencies Blog and Resources

"You might need to hire a digital marketing agency if you're looking to save money wherever you can," says Lucy Rendler-Kaplan, from Arkay Marketing & PR. Whether you can't afford an in-house team, your budget doesn't allow for multi-skilled new hires, you want cheaper access to tools, or need a more scalable workforce, hiring an agency can help you save money in more ways than one. In this article, our experts will highlight the various ways that hiring a digital marketing agency can help your company save money. In-house teams are expensive "There is always the option to build your own digital marketing team (or even hire one single expert) …" explains Steve Kurniawan, Content Specialist and Growth Strategist at Marketing Unfolded. "However, talents aren't always affordable or they can be very expensive rather than outsourcing to an agency." Adam Gingery, Digital Strategy Manager at Majux Marketing says, "You might need to hire a digital marketing agency if it would be more expensive to bring talented digital marketers in-house." Costs make the difference How exactly would you be saving money with an agency, compared to having your own in-house employees? Your costs are more than just a salary. Devon McCrossin, Director of Marketing at Boomtown Internet Group lays out the costs: "When you hire an in-house digital marketing expert, you have to provide them benefits and other incremental costs on top of their salary. When you hire a digital marketing agency, you only pay for the services that they provide." When you hire an agency, you save money on "payroll taxes, benefits, and overhead," explains Rendler-Kaplan. For these reasons, McCrossin says, "Agencies are more cost-effective than hiring in-house." Finding a unicorn candidate can be tough "Many businesses try to handle their marketing efforts internally, fearful of the cost to hire an outside agency," says Angie Yarbrough, Principal and Co-founder of Stratistry. "However, the cost to hire an in-house marketing professional can be even more substantial." Why does an in-house hire cost so much? Finding the right person for the job requires mastery of a variety of skills. "They have to be able to research, develop, write, monitor, and even analyze your marketing plan," says Yarbrough. An outside agency should be able to provide all of these services for a fraction of the cost you would pay for a qualified candidate." Gingery helps us understand the situation. "Let's say that bringing someone who can actually do SEO, manage an inbound content strategy, and run PPC campaigns only costs you $60,000 per year. That would be an absolute bargain if they are even remotely good at that job. Hiring two $40,000 per year people to split those responsibilities is even more expensive." "When you put it into perspective, says Gingery, "paying a marketing agency $3,000, $4,000, or even $5,000 per month is a no-brainer! You'll get higher quality work, and that agency has experts in SEO, PPC, and content, respectively." All of your bases will be covered, but it doesn't have to be the task of just one overworked internal employee. Diversify your budget What if you need to hire multiple specialists for your in-house team, but your budget can only afford one? "Sometimes," says Paul Farmer, VP of Marketing at Woodtex, "as much as you might wish, the company's budget simply isn't enough to hire two to three full-time specialist employees, each of whom can tackle a different set of tasks. You might need PPC help, an SEO wizard, a compelling content creator, and a social media star. But, you can only afford the equivalent of one new full-time team member." When that happens, says Farmer, "That's where digital marketing agencies come into play; because they have everything under one roof, you can diversify what your budget is spent on, while still getting the services of experts." "If you are looking to save money, there's nothing better than hiring a digital marketing agency," says Veronica Batista, Social Media Manager at OnPoint Internet Marketing. That rings true, especially when you are looking to spend your marketing budget on specific services. Batista adds, "By hiring a digital marketing agency, you only choose what services are right for you…" So, you can get expert help, with a variety of marketing services, while paying for work, not individual employees' salaries. Enhance scalability and stability What happens when you have seasonal marketing needs? "You can also scale up or down your digital marketing seasonally with an agency," says McCrossin. "With an in-house employee, you cannot cut them to part-time after the holiday season is over." He says that this scalability can help you save money in the long-run. It will also help with employee morale and turnover. Even agencies outsource to save money Christina Brodzky, Founder of mediasesh says, "You might need to hire a digital marketing agency if there isn't enough budget to hire a full-time specialist." She explains, "For the majority of our client base, they are other marketing agencies that want to provide SEO support to their clients, but they don't have enough budget to hire a full-time specialist or enough knowledge/experience on the subject. So they outsource their SEO work to us and white label our services. That way they're able to have an expert subject matter on their team and continue to say yes to their clients." In a world where even digital marketing agencies are taking advantage of outsourced SEO work to save money and benefit their clients, it's no wonder that this strategy can be leveraged by everyday companies. Bonus benefit — saving time In this article we mostly talked about how hiring a digital marketing firm can help your company to save money. In another sense, outsourcing to an agency can be a time-saver. Gingery explains, "The added bonus is that you'll save tons of time by not hiring, training, and managing the in-house talent."

Do your marketing and leadership teams need a fresh perspective? Lisa Barone, Chief Marketing Officer at Overit puts it this way: "You might need a digital marketing agency if you're bored by your own creative." "We've all been there," says Barone, setting the scene, "When referrals are down, once-proven tactics are getting no response, and when your marketing bores the heck out of even you." "If you're here," she says, "it's time to get some help." Digital Marketer David Kranker agrees. It's time to think about hiring an agency when "You're looking to escape an echo chamber and bring new ideas to the table." He explains, working with "the same internal team, over and over again, it's easy to get stuck looping through the same ideas and strategies." Garret Seevers, VP of Marketing at Azuga suggests that the new perspective can be valuable. While your internal team is working to solve the same marketing problem over and over, agencies often have experience in "various industries, marketing professionals and business types." Clients benefit from a professional agency that has a wider perspective, is used to problem solving in various realms, and has a broader skill set. "Hiring an agency can help put the spark back in your marketing …" says Barone. Agencies offer "fresh ideas, new tactics, and another set of eyes to help you navigate smarter." Barone understands that all business can get in a rut. He also knows that, "Good businesses know how to seek the help they need to get out of it."Kranker points out that you are not tied to an agency if you don't hit it off. "Because you have no commitment to a particular agency, you can also swap agencies from time to time if an agency isn't working out to ensure ideas and strategies stay fresh." Don't be afraid to reach out and contact a few agencies at a time. Most digital marketing agencies offer free consultations, so you can get a sense of what additional strategies and ideas they could bring to your company. Veronica Batista, Social Media Manager for OnPoint Internet Marketing says that an agency's "External influence can offer different ideas and strategies to your company that maybe those inside the company would not be able to identify. Integrating a digital marketing agency experience with your company's goals and objectives can help generate innovative ideas for your brand which will make it grow faster." And who doesn't want their brand to grow faster?   Special thanks to our panel of experts: Lisa Barone, Chief Marketing Officer, OveritDavid Kranker, Principal, David Kranker CreativeGarret Seevers, VP of Marketing, AzugaVeronica Batista, Social Media Manager, OnPoint Internet Marketing

You might need to hire a digital marketing agency if your in-house team could use some help, but you aren't ready, willing, or able to take on more in-house marketing employees. Whether the team needs additional skill sets, a productivity boost, or just more resources, this is a viable option. Bring more skills to the table Nikki Bisel, owner and founder of Seafoam Media advises, "If you don't have a web or technical team in-house, that may also be an indicator that it's time to bring in an agency. A solid digital marketing plan will require technical SEO and server management, web design, web development, and graphic design skills. If you're lacking in any of those, bringing on an agency will end up saving you a lot of time and headaches." Likewise, Igor Mitic, co-founder of Fortunly.com explains, "It would be great if you could hire an entire marketing team and fill in every specific position with a senior, experienced marketer. However, this is usually not possible, especially for small businesses. Oftentimes, marketers get overloaded and they may lack specific skills." Increase productivity and prioritize Hiring an agency can help to increase the productivity of your marketing team. Garret Seevers, VP of Marketing at Azuga explains, "By hiring a digital marketing agency, your efforts in-house can be put into projects and campaigns that need the most attention. This increases productivity since there are now two groups working together to meet the same goals." Cale Loken, CEO of 301 Madison Consulting, LLC agrees. He says, "Another reason you may need to hire a digital marketing agency is if you have a large project that is beyond the scope of resources that you have in-house. This happens often, when expertise or additional resources are needed, hiring an agency to supplement your current company resources can be a good option." Just to be clear, in-house marketing teams serve a much-needed purpose. They aren't obsolete. "A marketing agency doesn't replace an in-house marketer," says Maria Mora, Content Director at Florida SEO and web design firm, BigSea. "An agency makes that person look great by delivering results and giving them more time to focus on initiatives like thought leadership, content creation, and networking opportunities. Marketers should hire an agency with the expectation of rebooting their strategies, getting insight into their customers' problems, and getting clarity when it comes to what's working and why it's working." Adding an outside boost to your in-house team is a great way to enhance the skillsets of the personnel that you already know and trust for a more well-rounded marketing effort. Special thanks to our panel of experts: Nikki Bisel — Owner and Founder, Seafoam Media Igor Mitic — Co-Founder, Fortunly.comGarret Seevers — VP of Marketing, AzugaCale Loken, CEO — 301 Madison Consulting, LLC Maria Mora — Content Director, BigSea

You might need to hire a digital marketing agency if you can’t remember your Google password. "Seriously, though," says Alex Wright, from Alex Wright Web Design and SEO, "this happens a lot..." He suggests that this is a sign — one that businesses should listen to. It's a sign that you are busy running your business and don't have the bandwidth to do your own digital marketing. When it comes to digital marketing, there are tons of tools and platforms that DIYers and pros alike use. If you haven't invested in a password manager, or have internal passwords stored and shared among your workers, the waters can get murky. Wright explains, “My agency often gets started with clients and just getting the necessary login credentials can take some serious digging! Google Maps, Yelp, YouTube, Google Search Console, Twitter, Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Instagram — the list is endless.” This confusion can cause a myriad of problems and confusion when it comes time to get back into your accounts, especially if they are paid accounts, or profiles that need constant updating. “We've seen it all,” says Wright, “from a YouTube channel managed by a single email address that no one can access to three different Google My Business listings for the same business, all with passwords that no one is sure about.” Not only can this disorganization make you look unprofessional, but consumers can get confused about whether or not you are still in business if your profiles aren’t up-to-date. They may also distrust the location and information when there are multiple listings for your business. Not only does this cause a decrease in consumer trust, but it can hurt your local SEO. “The reality,” says Wright, “is that digital marketing takes a lot of time and organization, and you already have a full-time job running your business. If you struggle to even know which key goes into which lock online, it's likely to call in the experts.” Sometimes it’s hard to know when to bring on outside help, especially if you are a smaller business or a quickly growing business, where you are used to wearing many hats and feeling a little frazzled. When you have reached this type of password confusion, consider outsourcing some of your duties to a professional agency, if you can make room in the budget. Resolving the password frustration alone will be a plus, not to mention the bigger benefits that having an experienced marketer in your corner can bring. It might be time to check out some digital marketing agency reviews. Special thanks again to marketing expert Alex Wright, owner of Alex Wright Web Design and SEO for his expertise.  

In a blog titled "How to Become a Better Blog Writer in 30 Days," SEO godfather Neil Patel says, "If you want to write better blog posts, then you MUST read other great writers inside and outside your industry. It's one of the most vital blog writing tips you need to memorize and put into action. The books, journals, and blogs that you'll read may not be closely-connected to your topic (e.g., lead generation), but you're training your brain to think outside of its comfort zone and give you more great ideas. In turn? You'll be better equipped to write a great blog post. The truth is that if you don't read great writing, you don't really know how to do it — and that successful blog that you dream of will evade you." For new bloggers or people new to content marketing, weeding out the good writers from the bad can often be difficult. We asked marketers, bloggers, and writers for suggestions of "great writers" that budding content marketers can read and emulate. Here are their recommendations: Blogs Ahrefs"Ahrefs blog — it's all geared around SEO and content as a foundation to a good strategy. I like this for content because it's not just about the content. It's about great writing and proper structure to ensure your content is getting read. They dive into lots of SEO stuff on the blog, but reading their posts and writing style gives you a great idea of what industry leading content should look like. I personally get lots of tips from them because they have access to data on large scales that the average person doesn't, so you can always learn something interesting from their posts." — Brad Ormsby, Founder and CEO of Colorstone Marketing BiggerPockets "BiggerPockets is one of the leading blogs for real estate investing which covers all possible topics related to this matter. The blog publishes a couple of new articles every day, thus being always up to date. One of the best features of this blog is that it features a large number of writers with different expertise and style to fit the needs of every content writer looking for inspiration. When I first started writing about real estate, BiggerPockets was one of the sources where I was always going for reliable information presented in a way accessible to just about anyone." — Daniela Andreevska, Marketing Director at Mashvisor Content Marketing Institute"Content Marketing Institute — the name says it all. This is an excellent blog to follow for content marketing. They discuss everything from telling stories within your content to getting more shares from your content. If you just read their daily posts, you'll not only learn about the topic but also get a feel for what high level conversational writing is supposed to look like. I've personally learned quite a bit about writing conversationally and keeping points concise in my posts." — Ormsby Problogger"Their posts are all highly professional and focused on getting ROI from your content. If you're interested in learning how to not only write like the pros but also make money from your posts, then you should check them out. Their posts are heavily text oriented, usually with only one photo which shows that you don't need all the glitz and glam to get excellent results from your blog." — Ormsby Searchengine Journal"SearchEngineJournal.com is a great source to learn more about the latest digital marketing trends that are data-centric. Their articles are informative and concise, and their writers and contributors share expertise and tips I have used and will continue to use on behalf of my agency and our clients." — Holly Rollins, President of 10xdigital Writers Andy Crestodina: Orbit Media"Orbit Media's blog gets my vote as an indispensable resource for content marketers, particularly posts by its co-founder Andy Crestodina. Andy's posts are well-researched and equally well-written. Andy's writing style is concise and to the point with little fluff. He addresses common topics from a unique angle which makes it always interesting to read." — Stephen Jeske, Content Strategist, MarketMuse Ann Smarty "For how-to posts, nobody writes better than Ann Smarty. She mixes detailed explanations with screenshots to illustrate her points…and it is clear that she put tons of research into every post before she even begins to write. Ann also makes good use of text sculpting. That is, she uses bullet lists. She also uses one-sentence paragraphs. Readers are never assaulted by huge blocks of text, one following the other. This is an important skill for any kind of writing. How-to posts are not really my thing, although sometimes I have to write them – especially ghostwriting for others – so Ann's work is a great inspiration and her posts serve as great examples to emulate." — David Leonhardt, President, THGM Writers Brene Brown"Brene Brown writes about shame and vulnerability, which are difficult enough to think about, much less WRITE about. Yet she addresses it simply, clearly, and in a way that allows the reader to feel safe. It might look easy, but you know it's not if you've ever had to write anything about a sensitive topic. Networking (my topic) can be a sensitive topic for many people who feel like they don't have the "right" personality for it, so I'm learning a lot from Brene on how to make people feel normal and how to address their fears." — Beth Bridges, The Networking Motivator Brian Dean: Backlinko"Brian Dean understands how to write for the web. He uses short concise sentences, asks questions throughout, and like other great writers, writes at a middle school reading level which Contently has shown increases shareability and improves the user experience. Writers should pay attention to Brian's use of line breaks. Rather than writing in typical paragraph blocks, Brian breaks his articles up into short sentences followed by line breaks which makes his content feel much more conversational. Brian also typically builds context and intrigue for his articles by sharing a story in the intros of his articles. Brian's content feels like you're having a casual conversation with him. Combined with his use of stories, I've been able to learn from his writing style to create content on otherwise "boring" topics, and create something interesting, easy to read, and shareable." — Kevin Ho, VP of Marketing, Wishpond Brian Solis"Brian Solis is an award-winning author, blogger, marketing analyst and keynote speaker who's written seven books, including Engage! — a guide for creating online content that builds loyalty and trust for your brand. Solis writes his blog posts in first person, so if you like his books you're able to get more content straight from him on the blog." — Tyler Horvath, CEO, TytonMedia.com Heidi Cohen"Heidi Cohen is a blogger and speaker who built her marketing career at well-known brands and has developed actionable guides for newbies and experts. Grounded in established marketing fundamentals, she provides insights on social media, content marketing, and mobile marketing." —  Horvath John Jantsch"John Jantsch is the author of several bestsellers, including Duct Tape Marketing, Duct Tape Selling, The Referral Engine, and more. He coined the term "duct tape marketing" to define useful, simple, and affordable marketing that is effective at solving a wide array of problems. The blog covers all things marketing, from SEO and mobile SEO to social media and lead generation." — Horvath Jon Dykstra: Fat Stacks"I recommend the Fat Stacks blog written by Jon Dykstra. I recommend reading and following his content because he writes in a conversational tone that is easy to follow, and he starts his posts with interesting stories and facts that draw you in. Not only are his posts easy to read, they are chock full of SEO and website growth tips that actually work and are based on his own experiments." — Stacy Caprio, Founder, Her.CEO Joshua Hardwick: Ahrefs"I'd suggest that for anyone who utilizes content marketing as a means of promoting their product or service should check out the Ahrefs Blog where the main writer is Joshua Hardwick. What's great about the content they put out is how informative their articles are. They also dive deep into the topic and share their expertise in the most digestible way. Also, they're great at promoting their own product between the lines of regular content. That also shows how good of a job they do when it comes to topic selection, and that's really important when you are just starting out — not to write on a certain topic because its shareable if you don't have a deep understanding of it. I always enjoy their blog posts, guides, how-tos, and I believe any new writer, especially in a tech industry will benefit from checking out their blog!" — Jakub Kliszczak, Marketing Specialist, CrazyCall Frank Sonnenberg"Frank Sonnenberg's bio mentions being named one of "America's Top 100 Thought Leaders." His posts read like a thought leader's. They are informal, written to the reader, yet professional in every way. He uses plain language, targeting a small business audience. Frank sculpts his text very well. He uses bullet points, numbered lists, and short sentences, and also uses colored headings (a bit more than I'm willing to do). Frank's work is just a little less personal than I feel like writing, but a great example for me when I am ghostwriting for others. A lot of my clients like an easy, informal writing style, but as a ghostwriter, I am rarely in a position to get too personal on their behalf." — Leonhardt Rohit Bhargava"Marketing expert Rohit Bhargava is the founder of the Non-Obvious Company, which provides workshops for business teams. He's a Wall Street Journal best selling author of five business books and a professor of marketing at Georgetown University. His blog is laden with expert knowledge on brand humanity, marketing psychology, consumer behavior, marketing strategies, social media, content marketing, and how culture and trends affect the way businesses should do marketing." — Horvath Ross Hudgens at Siege Media"Ross Hudgens at siegemedia.com is a really great writer and a fantastic example of how to write compelling copy. As an industry expert, he goes into real depth with each article, sharing his own opinions and methods as well as analysing others'. The most compelling thing about his style is that it's a relaxed, easygoing tone, but the text is still full of relevant data and examples. It's a fantastic balance of being easy to read, but full of detail and depth. It's made us realise that great content has to be comprehensive, as you only create real value for your audience when you get into the details of your subject. Without the depth, you're really just writing for you, not for them. " — Sam Orchard, Creative Director, edgeoftheweb.co.uk Ross Tavendale: SEMrush"I am a BIG fan of Ross Tavendale's column on SEMrush. It's clear that he knows his stuff, and he knows how to communicate it to others well. It might be a stretch, but based on his background and current mastery of SEO concepts Ross strikes me as the David Ogilvy of search engine optimization.Ross cuts through the noise by sharing truly novel insights about digital marketing analysis (usually on a tactical level).Ross has mostly helped me discover ways to tactically improve my content, but he also regularly covers techniques to come up with new and exciting ideas for content." — Tony Mastri, Marketing Specialist, MARION Marketing Agency Roy Ackerman: Cerebrations"Roy Ackerman is an unlikely thought leader, with few followers on any social platform. But he writes thought leadership just the same. He talks about business and finance, as well as about politics and social issues. He often writes from the perspective of his personal life, including his Jewish heritage, as well as from his experiences with clients. It is on this last point that he serves as a great example to other bloggers. He reminds his readers that he has clients. He reminds us of what he does, and that he does it well. And he does so in a way that is completely without boasting or selling. I really need to remember to blog about client experiences more frequently." — Leonhardt Seth Godin"Seth Godin is a professional writer who has authored over 18 bestselling books and made a huge splash in the online marketing arena. He teaches The Marketing Seminar, an online course on marketing strategies and tactics. His blog is equipped with free ebooks and videos, as well as how-to posts on writing better content, authentic storytelling, branding, thought leadership, and the psychology of marketing." — Horvath "After reading Seth Godin's book, Linchpin, early in my career, I have enjoyed the daily insights on his blog. Seth focuses on concise insights that provoke thought about the real workings of the world (and how they pertain to marketing). Seth's approach goes against the recent wisdom of content marketing and SEO experts by not writing 1000+ word blogs to gain visibility. Godin's insights help me improve my introspection as a person and marketer, and guides me to search for new opportunities daily." — Mastri "Pay special attention to how Seth Godin (especially his books) writes BRIEFLY. He addresses just one idea, one topic at a time. Too often, we try to do too many things with one article or story. Check out how short his posts are at his blog." — Beth Bridges, The Networking Motivator Seth Williams: REtipster"The REtipster blog is written by Seth Williams, who is an experienced real estate investor. The best thing about this blog is that all the information, advice, and tips come from the personal experience of the writer, which makes it very reliable and relatable. The articles cover a wide range of topics from real estate investing as well as reviews of major products and services in the industry, which are always detailed and completely honest." — Andreevska Sonia Simone: Copyblogger"Sonia is the heart and soul of Copyblogger, which is a fantastic resource I have been turned onto for a while now. What I find especially helpful is her ability to break down practical insights for content marketing as a whole. With 'content marketing' being used as a catch-all phrase that can lack substance, Sonia keeps the strategies simple and actionable. This simplicity does not sacrifice depth of thought, so not only do you receive strategies you can use, but also the insight as to why they're effective. Also, she has a great wit that comes through, which helps lighten up potentially dry, boring topics. Her Sonia at Copyblogger email blasts are a welcome addition to my inbox. Any writer will benefit from her wealth of knowledge, easy to digest style, and direct messaging." — Shaan Patel, Founder and CEO, Prep Expert Stephen King: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft"Obviously Stephen King is a very prominent fiction writer that most of us know, and in this (relatively thin) book, he discussed various techniques and principles that we can apply on our content — even if we are essentially writing non-fiction This is, as mentioned, a book about fiction writing, so we will need to differentiate between principles and techniques that are specifically for fiction, and those we can apply on our content marketing work. (Thankfully, this is not very difficult). The book is written in a light, rather playful manner where King used anecdotes and illustrations to explain various techniques. Essentially content marketing is about telling a (good) story, and this book especially helped in that aspect. As a non-English native writer, this book taught me various techniques and industry secrets in English writing, for example, to avoid using adjectives unless it's absolutely necessary. Many techniques we can apply, and a very fun read overall. Also, I guess most of us writers always have that dream to write a successful novel, and this book will help in that regard." — Steve Kurniawan, Nine Peaks Media Steve PavlinaSteve Pavlina covers various subjects in his blog from relationship to health advice, but he's especially famous with his productivity lessons. In his blog, you get two things (or more, if you are willing to read his other sections): productivity tips (a thing a lot of content creators are struggling with), and an example of good blog writing. It's important to note that blog writing requires different approaches than for example, writing a book. Steve Pavlina's blog is an example of a well-structured blog that is designed to engage online readers, so we can use various techniques like how he used bullet points, when he uses bold text to emphasize things, and so on. Also, his productivity lessons are useful to help us structure our work ethic and avoid procrastination. I often struggle with productivity in general, especially when I have a lot of projects and deadlines at hand. This blog has helped me overcome this subject. Besides that, there are many practical examples we can learn from this blog on how to write an engaging blog post, how we should use images and videos, and so on." — Kurniawan Theodore Schleifer at Recode"One of the best blogs focusing on tech news, and especially Silicon Valley news, is Vox's Recode. It has plenty of quality writers, but I'd recommend reading articles written by Theodore Schleifer, a Senior Reporter on that site. Tech market today is one of the fastest changing and evolving fields. It's a challenge to find writers that are able to comprehensively write about those topics. What's really impressive with Mr. Schleifer is the attention to detail and the way he concisely and clearly presents the financial aspect of tech companies. Mr. Schleifer writes relatively long and well-researched articles that aren't hard for laymen to understand. They're backed by facts, and you can see by the author's eloquence that he was involved in covering politics. His articles are based on facts but also centered around stories that will hold the interest and attention of readers. Reading the articles published on Recode and by Mr. Schleifer has helped me orient myself in this large industry. The news and topics that the author delivers are useful because they're educational, unique and very perceptive." — Jeremy Rose, Director, Certa Hosting Vicki Batman "For a highly personal style, Vicki Batman has it down to a tee, blending personal stories and self-promotion. She talks a lot about things she likes. This is what readers want from authors: to get to know them, as well as their books. Many of her posts feel like she's just sat down across the table at the diner, and has something to share. Vicki writes short, crisp blog posts that get to the point. She doesn't need to sculpt her text, although she's not afraid to use one-line sentences and ample illustrations. I rarely write quite that informally, although I find her a great inspiration for setting the stage for some of my longer posts in a more personal way. And I do find her to be a great example when writing less business-oriented posts." — Leonhardt   A note from the author: We want this to be a living document to help new content marketers, copywriters, and more to find ‘great writers' in their industry and out. If you have a blogger, reporter, or writer that has been influential to you within your content niche, drop me a line at ahays@bestcompany.com, explaining your suggested blog/writer and what takeaways we should look for. All suggestions are welcome.

"Every business is susceptible to public opinion," says Jeremy Lessaris, the founder of irevu, an online reputation management SaaS provider and full-service agency. He adds, "there are over a hundred specialized review sites and dozens of social channels that can literally make or break a business. Consumers have more power today than ever before and studies have shown that consumers are more apt to write a negative review than a positive one. But it's not just what people are saying about you, it's also the frequency of public interaction that is now a large part of search rank. And the overall rank, the total number of reviews and average rating can make a business an obvious choice, driving measurable impacts on traffic online and in-store." In a nutshell, online reputation management (ORM) is vital. How can you know who to entrust with your company's online reputation? What are the red flags that can tip you off to a less-than-stellar ORM provider? And how can you weed through the bad apples to find the right company for you? We asked experts in the online reputation management community for the do's and don'ts of shopping around for an ORM provider. Here's what they said: DO look for realistic expectations Realistic expectations for a service provider are always important. It can take quite a while to impact your Google rankings. It's not magic. For any company looking to improve or manage an online reputation, a provider shouldn't make it feel easier than it is. Realistic expectations are key. Expectations are often tied to guarantees. While money-back guarantees are okay in some circumstances, you should avoid other sorts of guarantees. Lessaris advises, "There really shouldn't be any guarantees of changes in reputation, rank, average rating or volume of reviews/mentions."Kevin Tash, CEO of Tack Media, a full-service digital marketing agency, says, "Guarantees are premature." Instead, he recommends people should keep an eye on both short-term and long-term goals. DO shop around Pierre Zarokian, CEO of ReputationStars.com suggests that companies reach out to multiple ORM companies to find the best fit. He suggests that you research companies online and "call around to a few companies to get different options and prices. Find out if the company can get specific content removed rather than suppressed. As far ORM work is concerned, there is no difference the type of company it is for. However, cost may depend on what it is you want suppressed. For example, an article in a top tier publication such as the LA Times or WSJ, may be much harder to suppress than a negative content on a personal Wordpress Blog. Hence, you need more effort to get successful results. Some ORM companies may offer guarantees or performance-based plans, which may be better, so always ask what types of guarantees they provide." DO read provider reviews Whilst shopping around and comparing services and providers, James Robinson from Iconic Genius says, "The best thing to do is to look at their reviews." It is a little bit meta, but, as Nolen Walker puts it, "Any ORM provider should have a good reputation of their own. An absence of reviews is an immediate red flag considering the service they are claiming to provide." DO ask for case studies and references It may be hard to locate branded case studies or client testimonials to know what type of results to expect. Many providers may not publicly post these types of references due to confidentiality. Jim Angleton from AEGIS FinServ Corp explains, some clients may demand privacy or be embarrassed, while "Others do not want the public to know they have been accused, sued, claims filed against them..." Think about it. You don't want to advertise that you used to have a bad reputation and you worked on it. In lieu of publicly posted proof, you should still ask for some type of proof. "Letters of recommendation are the best ways to ensure you are dealing with a good operator," says Angleton. Ask to see if they have any case studies available to show timelines and outcomes for your particular situation or industry. These are often available, with company or brand names disassociated."Ask to speak to current clients. Try to find previous clients and speak to them as well," says Robinson. While a provider won't put you through to a company that they have a bad relationship with, you can still get a lot out of a phone call with a satisfied client. DO ask questions To see if an ORM is a good fit, you need to ask questions. "You should ask what the day to day looks like, the short- and long-term goals. Ask how often you would have access to a person." says Tash.Walker warns, "Businesses should also be wary of long-term contracts or suspect guarantees." So, be sure to ask about contract lengths, terms, and conditions. Carefully read your contract before signing anything. Get all the important information in writing, read it all through, including compensation and cancellation policies. Ask tough questions: Will you own all of the content they make for you after your contract? Will you have a dedicated account manager? What kind of contract or payment plan is used? What is the cancellation policy? DON'T accept low-quality content Quality is important when it comes to content marketing, link building, and your online rep. "There may be agencies who would post the same content or a lower quality of content to sites that are not very reputable," warns Jitesh Keswani, CEO, E-Intelligence. "The content becomes spam due to such activities. While you might be paying big money for quality content, it might not be the case at all." DON'T believe outlandish ranking claims "Claiming they can get you the first page rankings in the search results is also a major red flag," says Keswani. While we all want to think that first-page SERPs are in our future, he adds, "It is crucial that you understand that it takes a significant amount of time and the use of keywords that are highly competitive to get close to first page ranks." DON'T pay for everything up front How you pay and what you pay for are important. Zarokian warns companies to be careful. "Do not pay all money up front, especially to offshore companies that request a wire transfer. I have heard of horror stories where a client did this and got no work done and was not able to get money back. If the company accepts credit cards, this is the best protection you can have. If service is not provided per the agreement and you do not get a refund, you can do a chargeback with your credit card provider."Along the same lines, Walker cautions, "Any business should be wary of guarantees because they indicate the possibility of a scam. With that being said, there are ways to hold the agency accountable based on payment structure." DON'T pay for guaranteed reviews While reviews are a vital part of ORM, "Anyone that promises you hundreds of reviews overnight is not who you want," says Ryan Vet, Marketing Executive and Consultant, " Slow and steady wins the race here." What's so bad about guaranteed reviews?Keswani explains, "...guaranteed reviews might mean that they are not authentic, which could do more harm than good. Agencies that guarantee more reviews might be following such techniques." DON'T endorse unethical practices "Make sure they are compliant with Google," advises Vet. When it comes to hats, you want to stay in Google's good graces. If you resort to black hat ORM strategies like fake reviews, spam or duplicate content to boost your rep, there are risks."A lot of shady ORM agencies indulge in various black hat ORM strategies to trick Google and end up inviting different penalties that do more harm to your brand's reputation than good," says Ketan Kapoor, CEO and co-founder of Mettl in Business News Daily. "Hire an agency which leverages only ethical and white hat ORM strategies which search engines like Google approves of and which wouldn't in any way attract any penalties." DON'T expect content guarantees A common misconception about ORM is the offer of a "100 percent guarantee," says Angleton. "We all strive for 100 percent excellence; however, we have noticed that is not the case and there is always one small bit posted that is or can be true about the adverse party." Why can't we trust an ORM to get rid of any and all negative mentions? "With respect to negative posts," says attorney Charles Lee Mudd, Jr., "there exist some sites that may not remove content. Others employ arbitration processes." Keswani explains, "It is impossible for anyone to get access and remove information without the permission of the owner of websites." Consequently, when a provider offers a 100 percent content guarantee to potential customers, this should be taken with a grain of salt. Do you really need ORM? Yaniv Masjedi, CMO at Nextiva says, "You don't need ORM, if you don't care about your company's reputation." He adds, "... in today's omnichannel market, you should understand that your prospects and customers are constantly exposed to information about your company. You can take action, and ensure that what they are exposed to is positive, or leave your company's reputation to the mercy of others." If you want to take control of the way the world sees your company, these do's and don'ts should help to find and vet an ORM provider that will help you put your best foot forward. Additional Resources: Decoding Digital Marketing: What Is Online Reputation Management? Best Digital Marketing Agencies

"Online Reputation Management (ORM) is the intentional influencing and protection of a brand through active listening and engagement across platforms," explains Marshall Nyman, Account Director at Rio SEO. "ORM encompasses elements of social media and reviews management, online engagement, content creation, PR, local listings management, and more." James Robinson, Marketing Advisor for Iconic Genius puts it simply, "ORM is basically the new ‘word of mouth.’" It’s "basically a public opinion of what is found online," says Jeremy Lessaris, the founder of irevu. But where online? He continues, "Either on structured review sites like Yelp or Google Reviews or in a mention of your company on a blog, social media site, or another online platform." In the ‘olden days,’ you asked your friends or family about a good company to work with or restaurant to go to. That type of word of mouth is now easily accessible online via ratings and rankings. Robinson emphasizes that ORM is monitoring as well as managing what people are saying about your brand online. He says, "It includes social and digital listening tools, protocol flowcharts, alerts, notifications, response templates, and customer service."With an online reputation comes the need to manage and monitor it."If you are not taking your online rep seriously," advises Kevin Tash, CEO of Tack Media, "then you leave all the hard work, blood, and sweat to the hands of disgruntled customers, you leave comments unaddressed, and ultimately hurt your brand. ORM is essential is staying ahead of misconceptions of your business." The benefits of handling your online reputation are helpful to businesses small and large. Tash says that they boil down to the ability to control your company or brand’s narrative, stay ahead of angry customers, and proactively build your presence. He says that staying active can help with your brand’s traction. How is ORM different from public relations? To better understand where one field starts and the other stops, we asked experts for guidance. Here is what they said: "PR has to do with larger messaging, milestones," says Tash from Tack Media, a Digital Marketing Agency. "ORM is an on-going day to day effort that requires someone to have their ear to the ground when it comes to your day to day activity, social feed, and even new mentions of your brand online. Public relation can have a greater long term impact, but ORM is its much younger, hipper cousin." "In PR," says Nyman, "the brand controls the conversation while in ORM, the customer tends to lead. PR is an integral part of any ORM strategy but on its own is not enough."Nyman adds, "A big misconception is that ORM is a task of marketing or PR, when in reality it is a company initiative that impacts customer service, sales, operations, R&D, and more. ORM should be looked at as a feedback loop. Every part of an organization should be involved so they have the opportunity to improve and hear what customers are saying." What are the components of ORM? We have already mentioned several components of reputation management. It is a many-armed monster with its sticky fingers in a million places. Let’s break the field down into easily digestible pieces. Jeremy Lessaris, the founder of irevu, describes the following three categories of reputation management: Growth and repair — for companies who have either no reviews or online reputation or a bad reputation from negative reviews or related content, ORM can help generate a more positive reputation to help grow or combat a negative reputation. Repairing a reputation can also mean flagging negative reviews that don't follow [terms of service] TOS, policies or procedures of review sites, and steps for companies who choose to take further legal action against misleading, inaccurate, fake, or slanderous reviews that impact their business. Monitor, listen, and respond — for companies who already have a positive and often frequent amount of reviews and mentions, the goal of ORM is to help a company get connected to all the sources so you know what is being said about you. They can connect to those voices and take action to be involved in the conversation and respond accordingly. Promotion — companies that have a great reputation ORM can help promote a company's reputation to influence more customers and drive measurable business results. Let’s take a closer look at those three categories. Growth and repair This initial stage includes growing or establishing your business’s presence online and taking care of any negative search results or comments that may have been neglected. Charles Lee Mudd, Jr from Mudd Law explains, "A business’s online reputation comes from its primary presence (let’s say the website), the image projected, social media, SEO, review sites, negative review sites, Glassdoor, content about the people associated with the company, quotes, and more."To first establish your presence, E-Intelligence CEO Jitesh Keswani emphasizes the importance of owning a website and related domains. "Once your website is set, you can go ahead and invest in owning multiple domains. This is going to reduce the number of negative data that surfaces on the first page of the search result." Here’s an example: contact.firstnamelastname.comradiofirstnamelastname.comcustomer.firstnamelastname.comfirstnamelastnameconnections.comAfter getting your primary presence set up, you need to look outside of your own site to social media sites, review platforms, and business directories. "Not only should a business show up in the top 43 online directories," says Robinson, "but sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp (if applicable) are a MUST! Depending on the company there are other websites such as Angie's list, Houzz, Glassdoor and more, that may need to be monitored. This is why having the proper ORM tool is very important.""Every business is susceptible to public opinion," cautions Lessaris, "there are over a hundred specialized review sites and dozens of social channels that can literally make or break a business. Consumers have more power today than ever before and studies have shown that consumers are more apt to write a negative review than a positive one. But it's not just what people are saying about you, it's also the frequency of public interaction that is now a large part of search rank. And the overall rank, the total number of reviews and average rating can make a business an obvious choice, driving measurable impacts to traffic online and in-store."Establishing your business’s listing on social media and other platforms like Google My Business is a must. "Being proactive about getting your reviews will help for that rainy day when someone has a bad experience at your business," says marketing executive and consultant Ryan Vet. "If you don't have many reviews and someone decides to take to the web to blast your business, your rating will be greatly impacted. If you have a nice cushion of reviews, you shouldn't have a problem.""Most companies only need it when they get negative reviews," explains Reputation Stars CEO Pierre Zarokian. "However, if you are the type of company that expects to get negative reviews or wants to protect yourself against future negative reviews, then proactive ORM is recommended." But what if you haven’t been proactive about your reputation? "Depending on how long you have neglected your reputation, and how serious the incident was that is dragging it down, it could take as little as a few minutes, to a few years [to repair]," explains Yaniv Masjedi, CMO at Nextiva. Where should businesses start? "It starts with identifying the problem," explains digital marketer Nolen Walker. "Bad reviews might be spam in which case they can be removed from the platform. If they are legitimate reviews, a professional and courteous response can go a long way towards restoring credibility. If the problem is systemic then the firm would have to reassess everything from who is handling social media posts to the content on the company's About Us page."Lessaris adds, "Driving new reviews and focusing on positive PR is the easiest way to impact a negative reputation. Removing existing reviews is something that has to be assessed based on the legality and impact of the reviews." Monitor, listen, and respond This next phase is all about being present. It is about monitoring customer feedback, actually listening to it, and responding in a positive, appropriate way. Nyman points out, "A brand’s reputation is everything. When customers leave feedback about their experiences, it can be a great asset or a massive liability — it’s entirely in how it is managed. While you cannot prevent negative reviews, other searchers are watching to see how they are handled by the brand. Prompt, appropriate action can improve the experience and ultimately lead to a more positive online reputation."Robinson suggests that businesses, "Listen to what the people are saying. Fix it and then turn it into an ad campaign." He expands, "As a business owner, you should want to know what customers are saying about your business. As an advertising guru, I find my best copy in the reviews. As a business owner, you will find what I call ‘million dollar criticism’. These are small gems that customers leave in the reviews that would 10x your business. I have seen it done." How do companies take advantage of customer feedback? Vet explains, "There are so many platforms out there from Podium to Birdeye to Reputations.com in generating online reviews. These are great for small and local businesses, healthcare practices, etc. The most important thing to make sure is that it complies with the terms of Google, Yelp and other review sites. The second thing you want to make sure is that it is easy for your customers to use."Using these platforms and their notifications can be super helpful. Nyman explains, "Given the massive volume of data consumers are generating in interactions across platforms, networks, and devices, it’s no longer possible for brands to keep up with manual ORM processes alone. Customers expect a response to their feedback within 24 hours. Brands must be empowered to monitor in real-time for all locations and to respond from within the same platform." Speed is key when it comes to managing your reputation. Aegis FinServ Corp president Jim Angleton explains that measuring ORM success is "the swift ability to recognize wrongful data posted and alert the customer for details and direction. If a provider takes more than one day to alert you to adverse postings, something is wrong and they may not be right for you. Speedy, focused attention to harm is important." Is replying to reviews that important? "Yes, people look at reviews," says Robinson. "People Yelp, and will Google company in a heartbeat. It’s a new way to complain. An insane amount of companies miss out on a ton of business because they don’t respond to negative comments. " How should you respond? "Mitigating a negative review is a simple process," explains Masjedi. "You reply with an apology, and extend an olive branch. Offer to connect privately to discuss the matter. The best case scenario is that the person follows up with you, and you win back your customer. At the same time, you demonstrate to other readers that you genuinely care about your customers' experience. Even the worst case scenario under effective ORM is not all that poor, as you halt the troll in their tracks, and demonstrate your sincerity to others." Promotion This final component to the ORM mix is promoting the good things about your company to influence your customers’ purchase decisions and ROI. This includes "strategizing optimization and producing creative content," says Keswani. Zarokian adds, "Mostly, [ORM] is done by creating more positive content online, such as social profiles, mini websites and writing many articles. There is a lot of SEO involved to push the positive content up." The bottom line Online reputation management is a million things, but basically, it means establishing an online presence, then monitoring, mediating, and promoting the positive of your business. "A business simply can't compete online in 2019 without ORM," says Walker. "It should be a baseline service offered by all agencies since SEO is largely inconsequential without it. The benefits are very straightforward because they impact the bottom line. They include lead generation, boosted sales, and business growth."Robinson puts it another way, "The bottom line is this: If you don’t put serious time and effort into ORM, then that just shows you only care about money. You won’t be in business long that way." Read more: The Do's and Don'ts of Choosing an Online Reputation Manager View Best Digital Marketing Agencies

Guest Post by Ashley Phillips The nuances of Google rankings are complex enough that a straightforward answer to this question is simply not possible. However, the talented team at Ahrefs has conducted a study whose results may be able to give you a more concrete answer than “It depends.” For this comprehensive study, Ahrefs first looked at the average age of the top-ranking pages on Google. After analyzing 2 million random keywords pulling data on the Top 10 pages for each one, the team calculated that the average Top 10 ranking page was over two years old, while the pages at the number one position were almost three years old. The Ahrefs team then picked 2 million random pages that had been previously seen by their crawler and tracked the position history of each page for any keyword it was ranked for. The results were clear: no more than 5.7 percent lucky pages ranked in the Top 10 within one year for at least one keyword. In fact, just 22 percent of pages that currently rank in the Top 10 were created within one year. Based on these results, the study concluded that the average time it took for these “lucky” pages to get to number one position was approximately 61 to 182 days. As far as keyword volume is concerned, the Ahrefs study showed that ranking for low-volume keywords can be achieved in a relatively short amount of time, while it can take up to a year to rank for high-volume keywords. It also became clear to the Ahrefs study team that websites with a high Domain Rating (DR) tend to perform better than those with a low DR. To learn more about the results of the Ahrefs study, take a look at the detailed infographic below by The Website Group:   Courtesy of: The Website Group   Ashley Phillips is Managing Director of The Website Group, a U.K. based Digital Agency specialising in pay monthly business web design, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Social Media Marketing.

If you are new to digital marketing, a wealth of information is available to you. If you don't know where to start, you may feel overwhelmed. We asked marketing experts for their suggestions of favorite and influential books and courses for new digital marketers. Here's what they said: Books to read This Is Marketing by Seth Godin “Anything by Seth Godin but one of his latest is This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See. He is a master who really understands what drives people to purchase from a practitioner’s perspective using his first-hand experience and simple language not jargon” — Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder and CEO, Mavens & Moguls   “Seth Godin is a legend in marketing. For anyone new to the game, I get them Seth's recent This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See. At 288 pages, it is a bit lengthy, so if I know they aren't the reader  type, I'll happily pitch in for an audio version. I highly recommend this to both new and established marketers, so regardless of where my newest team member is at in their career, I'm getting them this!” — Yaniv Masjedi, CMO, Nextiva   "This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin is an incredible book that will help a marketer shift their thinking about connecting with the right audience rather than a mass audience." — Brian Williams, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, Prolific Interactive   Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin “I recently read Lost and Founder: A painfully honest field guide to the startup world by Rand Fishkin, the founder and former CEO of Moz. It circles around his experience running arguably the most famous company in the world of SEO. The book is not only a startup story, but also a guide to marketing management and is a must-read for anyone getting into marketing.”  — Katherine Rowland, Digital Marketing Executive, YourParkingSpace.co.uk   Purple Cow by Seth Godin “For me as a digital marketer, the best gift would be Seth Godin's book Purple Cow. It takes on the topic of being exceptional and producing remarkable products, content, and businesses. In today's world when people simply copy-paste past ideas, it's crucial to find out how to stand out and how to do it right, especially when it comes to the world of marketing, promotion, and ads. That's why I believe Purple Cow is a great read and therefore a great gift for any digital marketer!” — Jakub Kliszczak, Marketing Specialist, CrazyCall   The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell “Malcolm Gladwell is one of today's most influential thought leaders whose insights could easily help transform any business. In Tipping Point, he describes that small intrinsically supernatural moment when an idea catches fire. Gladwell goes on to explain what goes into making a trend spread and how anyone can take advantage of this tipping point.” — Nate Masterson, CMO, Maple Holistics   Everybody Writes by Ann Handley “Get your favorite digital marketer a copy of EverybodyWrites: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. Whether it’s SEO optimization, ad content, blogs, or social media posts, digital marketers are constantly thinking about the best ways to communicate their message. This Wall Street Journal bestseller delivers what it promises for developing good content that attracts and retains customers.” — Alex Membrillo, CEO, Cardinal Digital Marketing   “For a book, I’d recommend Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley.” — Raquelle Dickerson, Director of Marketing, Seo.com   The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott “[I recommend] The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. As the sub head says, he teaches you “How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, Newsjacking, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly” and again he has been there and done it, so he tells it like it is not theoretically but from the trenches.” — Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder and CEO, Mavens & Moguls   Blinkist subscription “My number one gift idea for all digital marketers is a subscription to Blinkist.After having it spruiked to me by podcasts left and right, I finally decided to give it a try for myself and have been raving about it since.As marketers we are constantly inundated with content in the form of blogs, ebooks, whitepapers, webinars, podcasts, and books and any marketer can tell you there's not enough time in the day to get through it all.Blinkist is fantastic because it condenses books down to just the key takeaways and as marketers, all we want from the content we read is fresh insights.There's a wealth of business and marketing books and books about other subjects as well, like psychology and decision-making.” — Greg Moskovitch, Digital Marketing Consultant and Growth Marketing Manager, Rome2rio Online courses Marketing is always changing and those in the industry need to constantly be learning and beefing up their skills. Here are a few suggestions for online educational resources suggested by our experts: Codeacademy or Hubspot “Marketing is a fast-paced, demanding, and stressful job that many underestimate. For a new marketer, there is a lot of learning to be had. Because they are just starting their marketing career, reimbursement to relevant online courses such as those at Codecademy and Hubspot Academy would be a great gift.” — Raquelle Dickerson, Director of Marketing, Seo.com   AI course from MIT “The recommendation from me is MIT’s online executive certificate Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy.It was a gift given to me by my employer to brush up on emerging trends in Artificial Intelligence. The course materials are developed by the brightest minds at MIT, both the Sloane School of Business and CSAIL. The course takes six weeks and is a combination of videos, online group discussion, and coursework. The coursework is structured in such a way that at the end of the program the student ends up with a practical plan for implementing an AI program around a challenge of their choice.I’ve read a number of books on the subject, and am hands-on with voice interfaces, but the comprehensive nature of the course, combined with very active group discussions (including some that became real-life meetings in some cities), made the course far more valuable than any single book on the subject.” — Sean MacPhedran, Director, Future Platforms, SMITH.co   Udemy “Since I've learned almost everything I know about digital marketing from Udemy, I have to recommend Udemy courses as a useful (and addictive) gift for digital marketers. The e-learning platform has over 6,000 video-based courses on digital marketing alone, plus a whole bunch of other subjects. You can get a broad overview of topics like social media marketing, SEO, PPC, content marketing, and analytics, or you can learn a more specific skill, like how to use ClickFunnels or build Facebook chatbots.Courses are rated and reviewed by other users, so you can quickly filter out the best and most comprehensive courses. You can easily gift any course straight from the course's landing page.” — Chloe Brittain, Owner, Opal Transcription   Coursera “I recently took ‘Viral Marketing’ and ‘How to Craft Contagious Content’ and I am currently taking ‘The Strategy of Content Marketing’ — both insightful useful courses.” — Sean Allan, Digital Marketing Manager, Aware Corporation Ltd.   Do you have a product that would be a good fit for this new digital marketers gift guide? If so, feel free to reach out to ahays@bestcompany.com

Finding the right gift for your friend who just graduated with a marketing degree or got their first digital marketing job can be daunting. What will they find helpful and practical for their new life?To help you find the right gift for your friend, brother, cousin, or co-worker, we put together this list of highly recommended products that digital marketers, new, old, and in-between will be sure to appreciate. Coffee club “Marketers are known for burning the midnight oil, or in my case, rising at the crack of dawn. For many, coffee is a must-have to get them through the day. A great gift for marketers is a monthly coffee subscription service. My top pick is Atlas Coffee Club. Every month they'll send you globally curated coffee from around the world, including Columbia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.”  Suggested by Alex Membrillo, CEO, Cardinal Digital Marketing Motivational mug What about something to put that fancy coffee in? What about a mug with a motivational or marketing-specific saying like this one from Proud Gifts, that says, “I’m silently judging your font choice,” or one of these from Red Bubble with quippy sayings like, “Internet marketing because it's cheaper than therapy.” Desk calendar “Being a marketer means you need focus and attention to detail; these have to be ingrained in you. If they're not, you're in for some serious issues. I keep a whiteboard calendar on my desk with cork and space for notes. I keep a digital calendar in addition to this but I find it helps to write dates out and visualize my week/month. I use this one!Buy some extra marker colors for color-coordinating notes.” Suggested by Brett Middleton, Owner, Brett Middleton Digital Image used with permission from Hamelin Notebook with superpowers This new notebook line from French paper company Hamelin comes in seven colors and comes with superpowers. That’s right — super powers. It comes with a free app called SCRIBZEE, which allows users to scan, save, share, and file images of notes for easy access. Stylish laptop stand Consider getting a sleek laptop stand. A new tech gadget that really has a purpose is always helpful. This model is one of Rachael Lovette’s favorite marketing-marketing related gifts she has received. Suggested by Rachael Lovette, Digital Marketer, Microsoft FidgetCube “Most people have seen fidget spinners, but another fun (and helpful) fidget gadget for digital marketers is the FidgetCube. It’s the perfect desk toy designed to help you focus. It’s addicting and fun and an awesome gift for any digital marketer who logs a lot of desk or computer time.” Suggested by Alex Membrillo, CEO, Cardinal Digital Marketing“It's perfect for the people who drank lots of coffee to stay awake but are forced to sit (or stand) behind a computer. It lets you put your energy into something, and it's great for de-stressing during stressful calls or hard web updates.” Suggested by Dylan Myatt, Digital Marketing Associate, Advice Media Stationery “Another gift that I am sure will be appreciated by someone starting out in marketing (or any new career) would have to be new stationery. I myself use a 10 subject project book, that allows me to separate all of my different projects neatly, and find the information I need easily. The receiver will be sure to thank you for a set of new pens, notebook, and perhaps a few highlighters for good measure.” Suggested by Katherine Rowland, Digital Marketing Executive, YourParkingSpace.co.uk Ember smart mug “Give the gift of control. Instead of burning your tongue on a hot cup of coffee, keep the temperature just right. An Ember Mug is embedded with technology that allows you to change the temperature of your drink to a preferred setting. Don’t let your coffee get lukewarm on a cold winter day, take control with a perfect hot drink on a cold afternoon. Staying in control of the heat setting on your drink gives you the comfort of knowing that you can enjoy your drink without being rushed.” Suggested by Leo Friedman, iPromo Light filtering glasses What about a pair of blue light filtering glasses. A lot of people are prone to headaches and these help alleviate those, as well as some eye strain, that you get for constantly looking at a computer screen. Suggested by Dylan Myatt, Digital Marketing Associate, Advice Media Fashion statement Image used with permission from Fat Joe SwagThis “Mo Links Mo Problems” t-shirt comes in men’s and women's styles, and will be sure to catch the eye of link-builders everywhere. Check out fatjoe.co for more SEO swag. On top of that, FatJoe sends 100 percent of the profits to the Children’s Cancer Research Fund.Another suggestion is this Redbubble double-whammy for fans of SEO and Heisenberg. Spark Hustle Grow “One website I recently came across was Spark Hustle Grow. It’s a monthly subscription box website and an online community for female entrepreneurs. The box includes four to six items like planners, books, and chic office supplies.” Suggested by Clare Bittourna, Marketing Designer, Codal Kangaroo water bottle “...as a young business owner with a number of friends who are in the digital marketing game, there is one gift which I have given one of them previously, that I think every marketer should have.The Kangaroo water bottle is versatile and 100 percent leak and spill proof. The dishwasher safe container features a built-in compartment which can store ID, gym card, money, and much more — perfect for a busy marketer who may not have time to go home before hitting the gym.”  Suggested by Ollie Smith, Chief Executive Officer, ExpertSure Fancy chocolates Image used with permission from The Chocolate Therapist“Does every digital specialist want digital gifts? Maybe they just need a glass of wine and a box of chocolates every now and then. There's a dark chocolate pairing collection (for red wine and port), a milk chocolate collection (white wines), a beer collection, tea collection, and whisky collection. When given with a bottle of someone's favorite wine, this gift is a fun and completely unique experience.” Suggested by Julie Nygard, Founder, The Chocolate Therapist Honorable mentions "You Reap What You SEO" stickersThis cheeky notebook that says, “Knock, Knock, Who’s There? No one because your average position is 6.8”Do you have a product that would be a good fit for this new digital marketers gift guide? If so, feel free to reach out to ahays@bestcompany.com