The TNT Report Podcast: Marketing Tips, News, and Tools for Small Business (Episode 09)

Hello, I'm Jim Person and welcome to the TNT Report Podcast: Marketing Tips, News, and Tools for Small Business. This is Episode (09) for the week ending Friday, March 4.

TODAY’S CELEBRATIONS

Today is Friday, March 4 and it’s National Snack Day, National Pound Cake Day, National Fish Fry Day – and something not related to food – it’s Employee Appreciation Day. Did you show your appreciation for your employees? Or, if you’re still working a 9-5 J.O.B., did your boss show you any love today? If you’re listening on Saturday, March 5 it’s National Cheese Doodle Day, Reel Film Day – and that’s reel – as well as National Potty Dance Day. And if you’re listening on Sunday, March 6 is another food celebration day. Sunday is National Oreo Cookie Day, National Frozen Food Day and National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day. And after all those sweets, you might need to see the dentist. Good thing Sunday is also National Dentist’s Day!

FEATURED CONTENT

Americans Believe Disinformation is One of the Most Significant Problems in Society and Will Prolong the COVID-19 Pandemic

According to the Institute for Public Relations, nearly three-quarters of Americans on both sides of the political aisle believe disinformation, or deliberately false or misleading information, will prolong the COVID-19 pandemic, that's according to their “Third Annual Institute for Public Relations Disinformation in Society Report.” The survey of 2,200 Americans explored the prevalence and effects of disinformation, source trustworthiness, and the sources responsible for spreading and combatting disinformation. Some key findings include:

Disinformation will prolong the COVID-19 pandemic: Seventy-two percent of respondents agreed that disinformation will prolong COVID-19, and nearly that same percentage (73%) said that much disinformation exists about the COVID-19 vaccination.
Both Republicans and Democrats believe disinformation is a major problem in society: More than two-thirds of Americans on both sides of the political aisle believe disinformation is a major problem in society, a significant jump from 63% in 2020 to 69% this year. Disinformation was perceived to be a bigger problem than infectious disease outbreaks, terrorism, and climate change.
Disinformation has a negative impact on society and well-being: Seventy-one percent said disinformation increases the polarization of political parties, while 63% said it infringes on human rights. More than half of the respondents (52%) said encountering disinformation makes them feel anxious or stressed.
Family and friends were the most trusted sources, while politicians and Facebook were blamed most often for spreading disinformation. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said family (79%) and friends (74%) were the most trusted sources of information. Politicians (77%) and Facebook (72%) were most responsible for spreading disinformation.
While Republicans and Democrats differed on their trust in media sources, local news brought them together. Mainstream media outlets saw starkly different perceptions of trustworthiness based on political affiliation by as much as 40 percentage points. The media sources both Republicans and Democrats agree on are local sources, specifically local broadcast news (64%) and local newspapers (63%). Significant gaps exist between who should be most responsible for combatting disinformation and their actual performance: Sixty-seven percent said President Biden should be “very responsible” for combatting disinformation, but only 21% said he was doing “very well” actually doing so.

For more on the key findings and a detailed analysis, download the full report at instituteforpr.org/2022-disinformation-report.

THIS WEEK’S FEATURED TIP

What Is a Marketing Deck? Tips, Examples, and Templates

One of the frustrating things about marketing a brand or business is capturing your target audience’s attention. Potential partners and customers are busy folks, and it can be a challenge to share your brand story and business model in a short amount of time. This is where a marketing deck enters the picture. Whether your business is new to the scene or around for decades, a solid marketing deck plays a crucial role in getting your company off the ground. It can mean the difference between booming sales figures and a lagging product launch.

What is a marketing deck exactly? What does a great marketing deck look like? A marketing deck, also known as a pitch deck, is a visual marketing presentation of your product or service. It aims to educate potential investors, co-founders, partners, and customers about your product or service. Marketing decks can have different purposes both internal and external. For example, marketers and advertising teams use certain decks for internal presentations. These are often referred to as snapshot decks and can include metrics and data for a specific period. Website traffic and foot traffic to a retail store are good examples of snapshot decks.

Meanwhile, the terms marketing deck and sales deck can be used interchangeably because, in some cases, the purpose of a marketing deck is to close a sale when you’re making a sales pitch. Most of all, why should brands care about creating a well-designed deck for marketing? Get answers to these questions and discover marketing deck examples and templates from the G2 Learning Hub that you can use every time you’re about to design a pitch deck for your marketing efforts.

Learn more about marketing decks from the G2 Learning Hub at https://learn.g2.com/marketing-deck or check the newsletter at https://jimperson.com/tnt. This tip by the way is just one of the tips provided each week in my TNT Report newsletter.

IN NEWS

Amazon Will Close Bookstores, 4-Star and Pop up Retail Outlets to Focus on Grocery and Fashion

Amazon will permanently close 68 physical retail locations, including all of its Amazon 4-star, Books, and Pop Up stores, in a surprising twist for the tech giant’s bricks-and-mortar ambitions. The Seattle-based company said Wednesday morning that it plans to focus more on its Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and Amazon Go grocery and convenience stores, in addition to the underlying Just Walk Out technology that enables a checkout-free experience at Amazon stores and other locations. Another ongoing focus will be Amazon Style, a new line of fashion stores, which was announced last month.

Source: Geek Wire

The Winners of 2021's Holiday Shopping Season

Apparel and accessories was the top-gaining category due to pent-up demand, that according to eMarketer. With demand reinvigorated for new wardrobes for returning to the office and social events, apparel and accessories ecommerce sales surged 22.5% to $45.35 billion to make it the No. 1 category in terms of both growth and dollar figure. The category’s propensity to rise and fall with the availability of discretionary income was also a factor. Consumer electronics also posted above-average gains. Consumer electronics clocked $44.66 billion, ceding the No. 1 position in ecommerce sales to apparel and accessories. But category demand remained strong. Apple’s blowout Q4 highlighted strength in iPhone, Mac, and AirPod sales, while gaming consoles, smart TVs, home audio, and smart home electronics all continued to perform.

2022 State Of Remote Work Report

This year, in Buffer's fifth report, the world of remote work is entirely different. With the COVID-19 pandemic having pushed many individuals and businesses into working primarily from home or shifting their work model entirely, the conversations around remote work have changed. In this year’s report, just over half (52 percent) are employees while 42 percent are independent consultants or freelancers. Of the employees, 74 percent work in companies with 500 or fewer people. A majority (57 percent) have been working remotely for two years or fewer, 27 percent for three to 10 years, and 6 percent have worked remotely for more than 10 years. This report offers insights into:

How people truly feel about remote work
The work structures (and locations) people have adopted
The benefits and struggles people see coming from remote work
How COVID-19 continues to affect remote workers
How remote work impacts career growth, pay, and performance

In other news headlines:

For links to these stories and more, visit jimperson.com/tnt.

SPONSOR AD

This week’s podcast is brought to you in part by the Postcard Program. What’s the postcard program you ask? Create influence and connection by celebrating people in your life by sending unlimited photo postcards, stamps included, anywhere in the world for one low monthly price. Send these physical postcards from your computer or easily right from your smartphone! As a business tool, this is more powerful than most online marketing systems that cost $1000/month or more – and you don’t have to become an expert. And with photo postcards, you’ll enjoy a 100% open rate. Think about it, when you go to your mailbox and receive a stack of mail, the postcard will stick out because it is already open. Get more details on the postcard program at https://jimperson.com/postcard. Again, that’s https://jimperson.com/postcard.

THIS WEEK’S FEATURED TOOLS

Today’s tools both have food names, and I’m not talking fruits and vegetables and protein. No, I’m talking the unhealthy stuff like candy and ice cream. Any connection I wonder to these being on today’s list after I started my Keto diet this week? Anyway, first on the list is…

Video Candy

Free online video editor. Every tool you need to edit videos online. 100% FREE and easy to use!

https://videocandy.com

Icecream PDF Converter

Convert your PDF files free-of-charge. Icecream PDF Converter is a business and productivity program developed by Icecream Apps. It is a comprehensive PDF conversion tool that allows you to convert PDF files to and from various file formats. Supported file formats range from the commonly used image and text formats such as JPEG, PNG, TXT, DOC, and RTF.

https://icecreamapps.com/PDF-Converter

You may also want to check out all the Icecream Apps at https://icecreamapps.com/. These were just two of the tools I covered in this week’s email newsletter. See all of the tools at https://jimperson.com/tnt.

FRIDAY FREEBIE

If you’re a subscriber to the TNT Report, you know it’s more than just tips, news, and tools. Since the newsletter is published on Friday afternoons, I also include a “Friday Freebie.” And today’s “Friday Freebie” is the Simplilearn YouTube Channel, the world’s number one online bootcamp focused on helping people acquire the skills they need to thrive in the digital economy. Their award-winning online bootcamps are designed and updated by more than 2,000 renowned industry and academic experts. I found the “Digital Marketing Tutorial for Beginners” interesting and helpful. Find the Simplilearn YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/SimplilearnOfficial.

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please subscribe at jimperson.com/tnt-podcast. You can also find this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart and numerous other podcast apps.

BONUS CONTENT

Now for some “bonus content” for you as a podcast listener. This is something not included in the weekly TNT Report newsletter.

10 Ways to Beat the Google Title Rewrites

In August 2021, Google announced that it would begin rewriting some title tags on the SERP. Some marketers are perfectly fine with Google taking the wheel, but some are not happy with them (plus, it’s happening very frequently). But what can you do to prevent Google’s rewrites of your precious titles? Search Engine Journal suggests these 10 things you can do to keep Google from rewriting your titles:

Keep Your Title Length In Check: Google’s desktop results have a display limit of 650 pixels, so aim for between 51-60 characters.
Match the Title Tag to the H1: When the title is different than the H1, Google may choose to use the H1 instead.
Don’t Break the Title Into Sections: It’s common and tempting, but it leaves room for Google to choose one part of your title to remove. You should write your titles in more sentence-like language.
Use the Right Title Separator: If you must separate your titles, Google’s favorite separator appears to be the simple, short “-” en dash.
Use Parenthesis Instead of Brackets: Google also seems to prefer (parenthetical) text to [bracketed] text.
Use Keywords That Match User Search Queries: The more generic your title is, the more likely it will be rewritten. Check the top keywords users search and include them in your title.
Avoid Repeating Keywords: Keywords are great, but Google can sniff out when you’re “stuffing” them into titles. Use synonyms!
Avoid Irrelevant Boilerplate: “Boilerplate” is the non-unique text used across multiple pages like brand names. Only include it when relevant to a page.
Don’t Publish Half-Empty Titles: Duh, right? But marketers are still leaving empty titles or aren’t making them descriptive enough.
Keep Your Titles Up-To-Date: Check your titles after every content update.

If you want to read further on these tips, check the link in the show note.

Alright. I think that's going to do it for this week's TNT Report Podcast. You can find links to all the resources and news stories mentioned in this podcast on my website, jimperson.com/tnt-podcast. Thanks for listening – and have a great weekend, and a profitable week.

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