Insurance agents have a lot of options for getting new leads, from cold-calling to trade events, and paying for traditional advertising. The disadvantage of those methods (aside from time and cost) is that you are reaching a broad group, not necessarily people who are looking for what you offer. This is why the information you can obtain from your website is so valuable - these are visitors who are searching for information about the exact products and services that you offer.

The past two decades have brought a definite transition in the way businesses and individuals share their story and position themselves as industry experts. The emergence of content production as an inbound marketing tactic has kept marketers incredibly busy over the last few years – so much that a lot of the content produced was done just for the sake of sticking to a consistent distribution schedule. Readers are now becoming more adept at cutting through the clutter and identifying a post that is just regurgitated information about the latest trending topic. What readers are looking for now are the pieces of content that set a brand apart – something that shakes up the industry or marries the brand with consumers needs through inspiring and in-depth storytelling.

As technology changes, so does the buyer journey for the customers of many businesses and organizations. Marketers who are not relying on data to make important modifications to strategy, design and other elements focused on connecting with prospects and existing customers, may soon be left in the dust. In this Q&A interview with Kyle Lacy, Vice President of Marketing for OpenView Venture Partners and Experience Inbound 2016 keynote speaker, you’ll learn why creating moments is more important than marketing and why it’s becoming critical to rely on data to drive revenue. As a new dad, Kyle also shares some pretty great productivity tips for juggling the demands of both work and life.

Have you done the necessary research to create an in-depth buyer journey map? If not, you could be missing out on critical data that would improve the success of your marketing strategy and campaigns. This week’s flashback posts include some great examples of buyer journey models, rules to help you crush the competition, the LinkedIn mistake almost all of us are making and much more. Take a look at my favorite posts from this past week: 

This post was written by Jamie Cartwright and originally appeared on Weidert Group's blog on 5/4/16.

Experience Inbound 2016 is jam-packed with nationally-renowned brands and presenters. Jonah Silberg represents Wistia, the leader in helping companies deploy video for inbound marketing. Wistia is a software platform that enables you to create video that turns visitors into leads. In preparation for Experience Inbound, we asked Jonah to answer a few questions about Wistia, his work, and why he's looking forward to Experience Inbound 2016.

Marketing in what we like to call “unsexy” industries can be a challenge. This week’s flashback posts include ways to think outside the box and achieve marketing success in challenging industries, as well as LinkedIn settings updates, setting Google calendar goals, new sharing options on Facebook and more. Here are my favorite posts from this past week:

Here in the Stream office, we’re tipping our cheeseheads proudly at being named Wisconsin’s most “superlative, optimal, unrivaled and preeminent” inbound marketing agency by Revenue River Marketing. Who’s Revenue River? What looks to be an awesome digital marketing agency located in Castle Rock, Colorado, who took on a challenging project called “50 States of Inbound” to find premier inbound marketing agencies throughout the United States. What wasn’t challenging about this task? The fact that they could find a prominent inbound marketing agency in EVERY state.

Do you struggle with finding professional freelancers? This week’s flashback posts include LinkedIn’s new service to help identify reliable freelance help as well as tips for managing your fear of public speaking. You’ll also learn about a great tool to help manage Facebook groups, guidelines for creating websites focused on user experience and the best apps for work. Here are my favorite posts from this past week:

If you are a marketer that has ever worked for a business with multiple locations or divisions of a company, you know how difficult it can be to effectively implement a strong social media strategy that focuses on customer behavior and needs. Many marketing professionals have the expertise to implement a strong social media plan in regard to practices, trends, and tactics, yet most do not have the same level of day-to-day customer interaction as other employees within the organization.