Entrepreneurs know that there is no quitting: learning and growth are a daily rite to remain competitive and lead in the marketplace. With that said, here are 5 must-read marketing articles for today’s driven entrepreneur, CEO, CMO, or VP of Marketing. No matter who you are – marketing matters to you – and getting a handle on what is proven, and what’s just buzz, can get you to growth and ROI much quicker.

Here are The Social Campfire’s five picks for this week: 

Fix Your Social Media Strategy by Taking it Back to Basics

Harvard Business Review forecasts that marketers plan to double their spending on social media in the next five years. However, a report by IBM indicates that  nearly half of CMOs believe they are not prepared to manage the challenges of social media. This disparity highlights an important, and potentially costly, problem: Marketers continue to increase social media spending, yet many are still uncertain about management, strategies, and integration.

Explore how to go back to basics – with social media and marketing in general – to define your social strategy now and in the future in a way that creates impact – and ROI – to go along with that budget.

Are you Experienced? The Final Frontier of Content Marketing is all about You. 

First it was television, then came the constant bombardment of social media but now, marketing has found a new place right back where it started: the human experience. Experiential marketing is the best way to get your content exactly where you want it – with the people.

It’s important to note that at time when most people mistrust advertising, we are beginning to use real people to tell brand stories for us. The ability to be authentic and credible through real-world experiences is integral for brand trust. Great brands should be eager to create unfiltered engagements with their audiences, and experiential approaches to their marketing strategies do just that. Read more above.

Google’s Smart Bidding will soon include ability to set Target CPA by device in AdWords

Smart Bidding reporting is getting more robust, and the bid automation tool will continue to take more conversion signals into account, says Google. Powered by machine learning, Smart Bidding can factor in millions of signals to determine the optimal bid, and it continually refines models of your conversion performance at different bid levels.

Just a couple of days ago, Google introduced Smart Bidding, a new umbrella name for automated bidding strategies including Target CPA, Target ROAS and Enhanced CPC in AdWords and DoubleClick Search. Coming soon is the ability to set different Target CPA goals by device in search and display campaigns. This will roll out to all advertisers in the next few weeks. Learn more about Smart Bidding in the article above.

Giving Your B2B Buyer Personas a Makeover 

You’ve spent the time, effort and sweat equity to build B2B buyer personas. But, when you look at them, you’re not quite sure what to use them for or how to do it. Perhaps it’s time to assess your personas and give them a makeover to strengthen their contribution to content marketing performance. This article explains how to go about it.

Storytelling 301: Site Content as a Story 

Feel like you’re already over the term “storytelling” without ever really having understood how you can successfully apply it to your writing? You aren’t alone. Like so much jargon, this amazingly powerful and useful word is in serious danger of being consigned to LinkedIn profiles and marketing parody.

Read this article to get real – applying the logic of storytelling to site content in a way that really makes sense for your brand and business – which is more than just buzzwords or trendy tactics.

Curious about any of the marketing fundamentals and thought leadership in these articles? Give us a call at (321) 574-3854 or email us at content@thesocialcampfire.com to learn more today.