What you should (and shouldn't) outsource with your marketing, how to embrace fear to achieve your biggest goals, and what the heck is intent data ...this is THE LATEST!

🔥 Hot off the presses

• If you read nothing else, read this: Here's the no-BS answer to what you should (and shouldn't) be outsourcing with your content — you might be surprised
• I love this piece SO much: Read this emotionally honest piece from Brian Casey about how critical it is to not let fear stand in the way of reaching your business goals
• Essential SEO know-how: What the heck is intent data, and what does it look like in practice for digital marketers who want to improve their results? 

👋 Face-to-face sales conversations are a thing of the past — at least for the foreseeable future. Empower your sales team to start crushing their revenue goals right now in this new virtual world with IMPACT's video for sales training service. Your sales reps (and your bottom line) will thank you.

About a month ago, I went to IMPACT Content Trainer Brian Casey with a challenge. I wanted him to pick a time when he failed at something and write about it.

The result is this article, a poignant and resounding call-to-action that we can't let fear hold us back from seeing what is possible — in our personal lives, as professionals, in our digital sales and marketing strategies, and in our businesses. 

The moment Brian (virtually) slid his final draft to me reminded me why I do what I do — I love seeing someone flourish in their own true voice, with their ideas and their stories, in a way that is meaningful, purposeful, and (quite frankly) a little on the "bold" side of what you might otherwise see an agency publish. 

Read the full article.

More importantly, however, I realized I also needed a reminder that — as a human being — my biggest successes in life have come out of making a decision that made me feel absolutely petrified to my core. 

• Moving out on my own from northern Virginia to Boston, with no job or prospects (or a college degree), at only 19 years old. 
• Making very risky career choices based on instinct. Looking back, I wouldn't change a thing.
• Putting myself out there for a beer writing gig, even though I had no experience... and getting it. (I had a great six-year run.)
• Saying over cocktails to my boss in 2016, "I won't go to INBOUND next year unless I'm speaking." And then I somehow made it happen.
• Taking a job offer from Bob Ruffolo with no job title because, even though the future was uncertain, I just knew in my gut it was the right thing to do and IMPACT was where I was supposed to be. (I was right.)
• And, most recently, making the excruciating decision to ask for a divorce, which ultimately brought me back to New England this year. 

And on, and on, and on. 

As Brian so aptly pointed out in his article:

"As a now 32-year-old professional who finally feels like they’re in the right place in the right seat, I wish I could tell my 22-year-old self to enjoy the painful moments that lead to growth.

I’d tell myself to love the moments that bring you fear. And that there is no such thing as 'good enough.'"

I wish I could say the same thing to my 19-year-old self.

Fear is the #1 killer of innovation, the ability to create something truly remarkable from nothing but a thought in your brain, and our collective capacity to achieve our goals. 

Don't let fear own you. And, as Marcus Sheridan loves to say, never let it stand in the way of making good business decisions.

Here's THE LATEST...

👉 "Wait, what should (and shouldn't) we be outsourcing with our digital marketing?" (7-minute read)

When a company typically hires an inbound marketing agency, they’re hiring a partner to do it all for them — develop campaign strategies, write copy (for website pages, blog posts, email campaigns, and more), create website and landing pages, capture video, and the list goes on. Sure, outsourcing it all is “easier” for the company, and frankly, sometimes it’s totally acceptable — but it's not always the right answer. In this article from IMPACT Director of Client Services Kate Fodera, learn exactly what you should and shouldn't outsource to an agency partner and why. 

💬 You asked, we answered

• What's the difference between inbound marketing and They Ask, You Answer?
• Why do we need a content manager for our company?

💰 "Everyone says you can't break sales records in 2020, thanks to COVID-19? Is that true?" (Nope, they're wrong)

Watch this special message from Marcus Sheridan☝️

The last few months have been tough on businesses. As the economy came to screeching halt, you may have missed your March targets. Then April's. (Say, how's May looking?) Now, you're likely worried about what the rest of 2020 holds. It doesn't have to be this way. You can still have a record-breaking 2020.

Learn how at the Virtual Selling Summit on June 23. Ticket prices go up on June 1, so act now.

👉 "Why do we need to embrace moments of fear in order to achieve our sales and marketing goals?" (5-minute read)

You want different results but don’t know how to get there. Maybe you’ve worked with a marketing agency and not seen the sales growth you expected. Maybe you actually "built the better mousetrap," but your ideal buyers still aren't seeing the value of what you're selling. You are not alone. Please take five minutes out of your day to read this article from IMPACT Content Marketing Trainer Brian Casey about how to confront what's not working in your business, and embrace the fear that comes with it, so you can achieve your true potential.

💬 You asked, we answered

• How do we create a digital marketing strategy that actually works?
• What are the top content topics that drive traffic, leads, and sales?

👉 "What the heck is intent data, and why do we need to know about it for our digital marketing?" (7-minute read)

Also called predictive data, intent data is a collection of information that covers an individual’s online behavior. Marketers use this data to predict the likelihood of a specific person or organization’s intent to purchase a product. But what does all that jargon mean? And is "intent data" just another flash-in-the-pain digital trend you can ignore? In this examples-packed article from IMPACT Content Marketing Trainer Jen Barrell, you'll discover exactly what intent data is, what it looks like in practice, and why it's so valuable for your strategies.

💬 You asked, we answered 

• What is "dwell time" and why is it such a critical SEO metric?
• How has COVID-19 impacted SEO and search rankings?

🎧 Latest shows and podcasts

• NEW: The future of 1:1 video technology (Film School for Marketers)
• NEW: LinkedIn advertising strategies (Inbound Success)
• The brand affinity playbook with Wistia's CEO (Film School for Marketers)
• How I wrote a blog in under 24 hours (Content Lab) 
• The Flywheel with Tammy Duggan-Herd (Hubcast)

🌶️ Hot topics in Elite

IMPACT Elite is our exclusive Facebook group for the brightest minds in digital sales and marketing. Here's the discussion that's caught my eye:

• Paul is putting together a major topic cluster project but is worried he might mess up the SEO side of things if he doesn't structure his URLs correctly!

📆 Marketing events you need to know

• June 3: Join the VIRTUAL Chicago HUG event featuring anexclusive fireside chat with HubSpot co-founder and CEO Brian Halligan. You don't need to be from Chicago to attend!
• June 11: I will be joining friend of IMPACT Franco Valentino as a cohost of a FREE live "website surgery" webinar hosted by SEMrush, and I hold nothing back when it comes to content critiques of websites! (Psst! If you missed the first one I did with SEMrush, you can watch the replay!) 
• June 23: Mark your calendars! Our next virtual event will be on June 23 and it'll be all about virtual selling. Registration will open soon but for now, mark your calendars!

👀 Weeklong nonsense

With everything going on in the world, you now get nonsense in every single issue of THE LATEST... 

LinkedIn published this list of relatable memes for marketers. This is me.

Toodles, nerds!