Video is the in thing now.  YouTube has exploded in both the number of videos available to view and the number of viewers watching them.  FaceBook is peppered with them.  Video has higher conversion rates than many other marketing channels because users want to view content in this format.  So it has become one of the hottest trends in marketing today.  Video as a marketing tool can be quite effective for most organizations.  But video can be an especially effective tool for associations and non-profits.  An article by Paul Gannon, posted at Brightfind, explains why this is.  He lists three reasons why video may be especially well-suited for the needs of associations and their marketing efforts.

Digital advertising is expected to surpass television advertising this year to become the leader in media ad spend.  In addition, the expectation is that digital ad spending will only continue to rise through out the foreseeable future.  The infographic below highlights four advertising trends to be aware of in 2016.

Welcome emails can be used for more than just a friendly greeting.  Organizations can use this type of email as an opportunity to guide subscribers into their world.  They can be used to set expectations, provide education, highlight services and product features, or point out discounts and offers.  Welcome emails set the stage for what a customer can expect from an organization.  They also outperform promotional mailings. Welcome emails have 4 times higher open rates and 5 times higher click-through rates than promotional emails.  Yet close to 70% of marketers are still not incorporating them into their customer aquistition program.  Our partner Bluehornet, has created a guide of best practices for building a welcome email campaign.  Download "A Digital Marketers Guide-Welcome Email Campaign" and learn about the benefits of using welcome emails to help increase your digital marketing success and grow your organization.

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant content in order to attract and retain an audience.  Implementing content marketing into your existing marketing strategy can help to increase your number of leads and ultimately your revenue.  The infographic below shows five good reasons why content marketing should be an important piece of your overall marketing strategy and some best practices to get you started.

We have released our 2016 State Of Digital Marketing In Associations report.  In this benchmark report non-profit organizations can see how they compare to other non-profits in their digital marketing efforts.  This is our third annual digital marketing report in a row, so in addition we also have trend data to share.  Learn how your organization compares to other non-profits as Demand Metric Chief Analyst Jerry Rackley and our own CMO Suzanne Carawan discuss the results of this groundbreaking report.  If you missed this Analyst Brief Webinar it's not too late.  It is always available On-Demand at HighRoad U.

If you haven't yet viewed the Report, please take a look!

You want to keep track of the content you have on your website. It is important that you have a summary of each of the details regarding your online content strategy.  We created the Web Content Audit Tool to help you audit your content strategy and determine what needs to be created, modified, or updated. This tool enables you to enter the type of content, number of views, location, target audience, and more. This data will then be presented to you in an easy-to-read and share format. This is a great organizational tool that will help you understand and keep inventory of your current web content moving forward.