Insider #63: Holiday Strategy, Branding, and a Recipe for Success

 Timely and tactical marketing ideas delivered to your inbox every Monday morning Issue #63 | December 14, 2020 As you probably noticed, Insider has been looking a little different the past few weeks. That’s because we’ve been putting in some serious team effort to make Insider the most glamorous newsletter just for you Insiders. The holidays are not always so glitzy, though… we think that goes without saying (*cough* 2020). But with the right processes in place, any [marketing team can actually get a lot done in the holiday months](. Hear us out! The more you bring your team together, the easier the work will be. It’s nothing revolutionary, of course, but try asking team members to reach out to their "neighbor" for help instead of trying to do everything on their own. We think you’ll be surprised at the results. Now onto the Inside 5! INSIDE FIVE 7 Mistakes You're Probably Making When Building Links "The prospect doesn’t care about your link. What you should be concerned about is what’s in it for them, a.k.a., the value proposition." Link building is typically the bane of any SEO’s existence. Sometimes the grind of reaching out and not hearing back can be so much that you wonder if it’s even worth it. Fortunately, the folks at [Search Engine Journal know this better than any of us, so they broke down why your efforts aren’t working]( and how you start to see more value from your link-building efforts. From focusing on bad prospects to sloppy execution, you’ll finally understand the mistakes you’ve been making so you can see more value from your work. And it can all be done without needing to build new content. So breathe a sigh of relief, folks! Related:[Build an SEO Content Strategy]( How Moleskin Notebooks Became a Cult Brand "By extending the definition of their notebook, Moleskin allowed an analog product to stay relevant in a tech-driven world." The success of Moleskin hinges on a few key strategies that made this small notebook a household name. [Moleskin has refined their customer persona so perfectly, in fact, that the notebooks essentially sell themselves at this point](. And Medium breaks down exactly how it happened. Boiled down, the ideal customer is either focused on the arts and creativity or focused on productivity… and that’s it. While it might seem like this is a niche market, the success has shown that customers are willing to segment into either of those personas, so they can fit the brand! Related: [The One Word That Sets Your Brand Apart and Boosts Conversions]( Super Simple Headline Writing Exercises "When you want to start a new fitness routine, you don’t start from scratch. You follow the steps of those who’ve trained before you. In headline writing, you learn this through templates." Writing headlines can be just as much as a nightmare as say… link building. But [CoSchedule somehow figured out a way to make the dreaded task of thinking of quippy, attention-grabbing headlines fun]( With templates and examples along the way, such as discovering the true value of your content, you’ll start to feel so inspired by these easy tips, you might just bust out a whole novel! 😉 Related: [Write Headlines that Get Clicks]( Coca-Cola Works to Transform Its Marketing "As Coca-Cola seeks efficiencies throughout its massive marketing apparatus, many of these partners can expect to have their scope of work changed or eliminated." Coke’s review of its media and creative accounts has everyone a little curious. [Coca-Cola is hoping to improve effectiveness and efficiency (as we all are) across different marketing channels throughout the company](. It’s likely Coke is moving more toward internal agency work while trying to keep a tight budget throughout the pandemic. As demand increases for digital content, many companies, like Coke, are redirecting marketing efforts to streaming and live production in order to start seeing scale. Related: [5 Rapid Customer Acquisition Strategies]( A Recipe for Community Building "Most of the products in the initial Cooking collection consist of clothing or accessories featuring phrases pulled from popular posts and other content meant to make the readers of NYT Cooking feel more connected to the section."Sometimes it’s not just about the profits, but also about the community you’re creating. [The New York Times is building a pretty connected community through the cooking and crossword section through their physical product offerings](. With accessories like aprons and bibs, the NYT is leveraging popular snips from old recipes that have gone viral (such as "generously buttered noodles") and seeing tremendous success. This is truly an example for how to monetize outside your specific area of expertise. Related: [How to Launch and Sell Products Online]( LAST CHANCE This is it, folks— it's the final day before T&C. There’s [still time to register]( for our biggest event of the year. Learn what’s working now in this digital-first world through 60+ carefully curated sessions and a fully immersive experience. We’ve made sure this will be like no other event you’ve attended in 2020. Our very own Ryan Deiss will even lay out what to expect come 2021 along with themes and trends he’s already identified. We hope you [join us]( and start the new year off with a bang! 🎉 A FINAL THOUGHT From Justin Rondeau, General Manager at Scalable Labs & Featured T&C Speaker: Before I lead teams, I always got annoyed when I heard this question from my boss: "Did you ask anyone?" I thought it was my job to figure everything out, so stubbornly, I'd brute force my way to a solution... ...a solution that DEFINITELY took way too long to be mediocre. Today, this is the first question I ask anyone on my team when they come to me with a problem and no solution. The sooner they realize the fastest route to a solution is to ask for help from colleagues, mentors, vendors, or their personal community - the faster they'll grow. Share The Insider Newsletter And Earn Rewards! Step 1: Click the button below Step 2: Share Insider with friends Step 3: Earn Rewards Collect points and win cool swag and prizes... even the chance to visit DM headquarters in Austin, TX! Now that's winning, y'all! [Share Insider](  Digital Marketing Is Complicated. We Make It Easy. Whether you’re a founder, agency owner, or marketing professional, DigitalMarketer is here to help. Here’s how we make marketing easy: • [INSIDER]( is our free, weekly newsletter (and tool and template library). • [LAB]( is our premium community where you can access all our step-by-step marketing Playbooks as well as our on-demand Workshops. 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