SparkToro Blog

Getting Executive Buy-In: How to Tie Audience Research to Business Strategy

It’s a tale as old as time, or uh… for as long as you’ve been doing digital marketing: You’ve uncovered powerful audience insights that you fully believe will transform your company’s approach, but when you try to share them beyond the marketing team, eyes glaze over. Executives nod politely before steering the conversation back to quarterly targets and sales forecasts.…

How to Turn Audience Research Into Content Ideas

If you’ve ever stared at a blank content calendar wondering what to create next, you’re not alone. Even the most prolific writers* sometimes feel like they’re running nonstop on the content creation hamster wheel… even after ideas dry up and writer’s block sets in. But while continuing your creation habit can build momentum, sometimes the best content ideas aren’t hiding…
Marketing Startups

ROI vs. VOI: Smart Marketers Look Beyond the Numbers

Most of us default to Return on Investment (ROI) for measuring marketing success. It’s the tried-and-true metric that quantifies financial returns. Money in, money out. But we all know the messy reality of attribution. The prospects who subscribe and unsubscribe from our newsletters, who toss us a LinkedIn like now and then, who eventually Google us one day because they…

The Overlooked Reason Your Content Isn’t Gaining Traction

“Your content isn’t getting amplified? Well, maybe it’s not good enough.” If I haven’t said that out loud before, I’ve definitely thought it. But it’s the least helpful piece of feedback. It’s not specific and it doesn’t offer solutions for next time. Instead, consider this: Maybe your content doesn’t match the user’s intent. As in, there’s a disconnect between the…

3 Common Social Media Mistakes That We Don’t Talk About Enough

You know it’s not scalable, but you do it anyway. You email your friends, “Hey, I just posted this thing on LinkedIn. Would you mind resharing it with your network?” Friend, some tough love: This has got to stop. It’s not that you shouldn’t ask for support. It’s not about reciprocation either. It’s that begging for reshares or retweets isn’t…
Events Personal

The Best Damn Food & Drink Gift Guide 2024

Everyone’s favorite food and drink gift guide is back with all-new picks! Same same, but different. It’s the 5th anniversary of this gift guide. Same rules apply: A distribution of gift options between $20-$300, with very few at the top end of that range, and plenty of affordable selections A diverse range of products that can accommodate various palates and…