Welcome to My Blog

Your content marketing strategy should be approached a little differently if your business offers professional services, like practicing law, medicine, or performing some form of consulting work.

This is because you’re largely capitalizing on expertise to serve your clients, not just pushing product benefits. Demonstrating that expertise is going to be crucial to building trust with your audience, which in turn leads to inbound inquiries.

That being said, let’s nail down who your audiences are, since there are actually TWO primary groups you’ll want to target. From there, we’ll look at some tactical strategies you can employ to start using content marketing for professional services on different media channels.

First Up: Who Are You Attracting?

“Clients” is the obvious answer here. You’re definitely going to need messages going straight to the people who are going to be writing checks for you. It’s the other, not-so-obvious target that may actually bring the most value to your business development, however: referral partners. This group is going to be made up of professionals just like you. They won’t be in the same industry (those are competitors), but tangential ones. Here are a couple of examples of these symbiotic, “you help me, I help you” relationships:

1. Estate Attorney + Financial Planner
2. Cardiac Surgeon + Family Practice Physician
3. Business Consultant + Enterprise Software Salesperson

You can see a trend in these relationships, where one professional is usually a specialist and the other provides more general services. In the case of the first example, a single financial planner may have a variety of go-to attorneys in different practice areas so they can best serve their client when the need for legal assistance arises. Alternatively, the estate attorney probably has relationships with a number of financial planners in the same role, so that he or she is maximizing the probability of a referral coming through. Think about which role you can play for your network – the generalist or specialist.

Don’t think you’re fooling anyone, fish. We all know you swim better than you climb. Stick with what you’re good at!

In both cases of communication (client or referral partner), the main goal is to advocate that you have the audience’s best interests at heart. For clients, that means solving their problems thoroughly and quickly. Referral partners are going to need assurance that you know what you’re doing, and, when they hand off their client, that you’re going to reflect positively on them… by solving the client’s problems thoroughly and quickly.

Now, you and I know that you’re wholly capable of meeting those needs without a problem. The issue is that they don’t know. In content marketing for professional services, your main goal for messaging is to demonstrate that you’re the expert. Another name for this type of communication is authority positioning.

How to Show that You’re Top Dog

Fact: When you’re on top, you tend to smile more.

There are three primary messages that fall under the umbrella of authority positioning. The overarching intent of getting your messages out there is to draw attention to your business, but each message actually has its own sub-objective for showing that you’re the market expert. Let’s look at these types, then expand on the best ways to deliver each to your audience.

Authority Message #1: Tips & Advice

This first one is a no-brainer. How can you best show that you know the solution to a problem? By sharing that solution! You have the perfect sample to draw from when identifying these problems, too: real-life, existing clients.

Every now and then you’ll work with a completely unique and challenging case, but for the most part, a lot of people (read: more than you’re currently working with) are asking the same core questions. Offering answers to common client questions helps you capitalize on where they’re already looking. As for those unique curveballs, share the occasional example to show that you can overcome any problem. They’ll also help differentiate you and keep your content interesting.

Sub-Objective: Show that you’re ready and willing to be helpful.

Authority Message #2: Case Studies

When you share advice, some content will click for your audience and be useful just based on context. The majority of clients and referral partners are going to need some more convincing, however.

Case studies act as a vehicle for you to deliver concrete evidence that your services have helped others. In a more subtle way, they also serve as a testament to your process and show that you’re results-driven. If you’re keeping track of your clients’ success, it means you care about the actual outcomes – not just about signing agreements.

Sub-Objective: Show that you care about the end result – and that you can achieve it.

Authority Message #3: Analysis of Relevant Current Events

Considering the events of 2016, the world is crazy and literally anything can happen. That has an effect on your clients. Take a fixed event, like, I don’t know, the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Without even taking a political stance, it’s easy to see that a central event like that sends out ripples in every direction, holding implications for economics and lifestyle changes for pretty much everyone.

If you can think critically about what that event can mean for your clients, you can deliver some professional insights on the subject. That way, you’re capitalizing on a hot conversational topic and demonstrating your problem-solving skills.

Sub-Objective: Show that you’re in touch with what’s impacting clients’ lives, and that you’re prepared serve in any situation.

Now even if you build these types of messages, you have to make sure your audience is going to see them. Starting an advice column in your local paper may be an option, but unless you’re specifically aiming to serve just local folks, you’re going to want to try some different channels.

How to Spread the Word

While the messaging may be unique when you’re looking at content marketing for professional services vs. something like e-commerce, you’re going to use similar platforms.

Remember, you want to put your message in a spot where the right people are already looking. That means capitalizing on SEO via website content, weighing in on social media, and promoting your business at events that are concentrated hubs for building your referral network.

Blogging

Writing blog articles with specific content in response to a highly-trafficked keyword is still going to be your best bet for getting seen organically. We haven’t incorporated Google into our lexicon as a verb for no reason, people.

The best way that you can explain what your business does and how you can serve clients is by directing them to your website. Write up blogs that fit into the messaging types described above, and then include links in them that lead to the next useful piece of information.

Just like the Arc de Triomphe, all roads should lead to one place: the sale.

Depending on the topic you’ve written about, you can send visitors to another useful blog topic and continue to build trust, or get them to a conversion point, if they’re ready. Putting your case studies into a downloadable PDF format and gating them behind a form is a good way to do that if they’re still not ready to schedule a consultation.

If you don’t currently have a blog set up on your website, the LinkedIn Publishing tool is a good workaround, though you’re going to be limiting your audience to only people active on LinkedIn. Even if you do have a blog, it’s a good idea to use LinkedIn for any topics that are focused on attracting referral partners.

Social Media Posting

Speaking of LinkedIn’s usefulness for network building, LinkedIn Groups are also a powerful medium for reaching specific professional groups. You can find a Group in your own market and use it as a collaboration platform to overcome tricky client problems, but consider moving to ones outside your industry.

Remember from the first section, professionals in tangential fields are going to be good candidates for referral sources. Head into one of those threads and share your own (relevant!!!) posts to generate traffic, or comment on others’ posts to build familiarity until you can start a conversation with them one-on-one.

To speak directly to your clients, sharing your advice articles will be great on Facebook or Twitter, but that’s the same old stuff you already know. If you want to go the extra mile, consider shooting some videos where you talk through specific client problems and post them to YouTube.

Video continues to rise in popularity as a content medium, and it helps clients get a better feel for who you really are than any article can. The best part is that, while you want to be wary of things like good lighting and sound quality, you don’t need studio access to make a decent clip – just grab a colleague and use your smartphone’s camera. Make sure they shoot horizontally, though!

Events & Webinars

We’ve all been attending grand events like HubSpot’s INBOUND conference for years, hoping to come away with some nuggets of knowledge that can enhance our businesses. Attendees all view the speakers at those events as thought leaders and pioneers in their space. So if that’s your own goal, how about you host one of those talks?

Pay no attention to the haters, people. You can do it. Source: SomeEECards (someeecards.com)

Granted, there’s always an application process, and speaking in front of a ballroom of people is intimidating. It’s not for everyone. Webinars, however, are a lot easier to manage and execute, and they make gathering registrants’ information very simple.

The important part that’s often forgotten, however, is that you want to stick to your authority message. Do not pitch your services, except maybe right near the end. Webinars and speaking events are the perfect platforms to actually do some educating and establish yourself as a leader.

Finally, if speaking isn’t really your gig, simply attend some webinars or events where you already have some knowledge on the subject. From there, you can use a webinar chat tool or just do some live Tweeting to add commentary to the subjects presented. Show that you understand the presenter, and share takeaways with the group.

This way, you’re participating in the conversation, assisting members of your network who aren’t attending, and catching the attention of people seeking answers who you have yet to connect with. This works best if the event has an associated hashtag for attendees to join the conversation, since you know you’ll catch someone’s eye in that shared space.

Jimmy knows how to live tweet. Source: Giphy (giphy.com)

Follow the Expert’s Lead

I searched pretty heartily for examples of businesses who are executing these techniques really well, and found a great model in Practice Alchemy. Practice Alchemy is a niche marketing firm run by legal experts, and they apply their industry knowledge to help law firms to build a marketing strategy. It’s apparent that they practice what they preach. At the head of Practice Alchemy is Raj Jha, a former Silicon Valley attorney and clear thought leader in his space.

That’s right, clear thought leader. You know it from the second you land on the website because of all the information sharing Practice Alchemy has done. They have an extensive resource library that lawyers can look to for actionable information, including a Complete Guide to Building a Marketing Strategy at Your Law Firm. They have a blog full of more than 150 articles, all of which are clearly made for their appropriate audience (lawyers at small law firms). Raj has even hosted a number of videos online to position Practice Alchemy as an authority – and even has one that explains exactly how to do that.

Seriously, though, if there are any lawyers reading this, you’re going to want to download that Complete Guide: 

The Bottom Line?

The biggest takeaway that you can draw from this article and from Practice Alchemy’s example is that content marketing for professional services is not about pitching and closing (still important, but that’s sales). Instead, it’s about sharing expertise and just showing that you give a damn about whether the client – or referral partner – is successful. If you centralize your marketing communications around that goal, you’re almost guaranteed to find success yourself. 

If you’re anything like I am, you have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions.

It seems like a natural time to make important changes. It’s like a universal pressing of the “reset” button. Maybe that’s why 45% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions in the first place. But here’s the thing — only 8% of us are successful in achieving them.

We suspect it has something to do with the nature of the resolutions themselves. According to a study by the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology, the top 10 resolutions of 2015 included things like losing weight and falling in love. And sure, those goals are great — we’re all about being happy and healthy — but will they make you better at what you do every day?

Next year, we challenge you to come up with and stick to professional New Year’s resolutions — things that will make you more creative, productive, and generally more content at work. Short on ideas? Here are 12 of ours to help you get started, along with resources to help you actually accomplish them.

12 New Year’s Resolutions for Professionals

1) Designate an electronics-free zone.

Why?

Our bodies are smarter than you might think. They’re trained to respond to light and dark, which according to the National Sleep Foundation send us important signals, like the time of day. Those signals also aid our bodies in adjusting our circadian rhythms — that’s the handy 24-hour physiological cycle that helps us fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning.

All of that is pretty cool … until screens are added to the equation. Our brains recognize the brightness from phones, computer monitors, and even TVs as external light, which sends the signal that we should be awake. That’s why it’s harder for so many of us to fall asleep when we’re exposed to too much screen time at night. The verdict? Put the devices down before bed.

How?

At INBOUND 2013, Arianna Huffington — who later went on to pen The Sleep Revolution — gave some great advice regarding the sleep/screen conundrum: Ban electronics from your bedroom for good.

“I never take devices to bed,” she said. “iPads, iPhones, Blackberries — I don’t charge them near my bed, because I feel it’s imperative to be able to have uninterrupted renewal time.”

This habit is a tough one to break, and it’s one that I’ve personally been working on for years. So if you like to watch movies or shows on your computer before bed, for example, I can relate — these are the mindless things that help us unwind at the end of the day. Luckily, there are solutions to help you resolve the problem for good, some of which might still allow you to indulge in your evening TV viewing.

Helpful Resources

We’d encourage you to ditch the electronics completely before bed. Instead, try reading, journaling, or maybe even a few minutes of yoga. And if you absolutely cannot part with your electronics:

• Try downloading a desktop app that reduces your screen’s blue light as the day progresses — that’s the kind emitted from most electronics and is often cited as the culprit for sleep loss. We recommend f.lux, which adjusts your screen’s blue light depending on the time of day, or the similar filter from PC Sun Screen.
• Plus, the latest iPhone OS now comes with a “night shift” mode, which accomplishes the same thing after sunset.

2) Write something every day.

Why?

Sadly, the decreasing quality of writing in the U.S. has been making headlines for a while now. And people want to become better writers — they just have trouble investing the necessary time.

But it’s an important skill. And if you’re going to be blogging regularly — which we recommend you do — the writing needs to be good.

If you want to become a better writer, then you need to write a lot. The way to improve that skill is the same way you’d approach any other — with practice.

It’s the same advice we give to people who want to blog more consistently (another worthy New Year’s resolution) which is to treat it like working out. You’ve got to do it consistently to see great results. After all, you can’t just publish a blog once every few months and expect to rack up views, leads, and customers. The same goes for your overall writing skills.

How?

To start, get into the habit of writing on a daily basis. Neil Patel suggests writing for at least 30 minutes every workday, skipping the weekends. Remember the advice we just gave to journal before bed, instead of looking at a screen? Here’s a great way to put that time to use.

And even if you don’t identify as a writer, pick a question — something from a customer, a friend, or a topic that’s always piqued your curiosity — and write something about it. Or, just write nonsense. It’s the habit of writing regularly that’s important, especially in the beginning.

Helpful Resources

When we encourage people to write more, one of the most common objections is, “I have nothing to say.” We profoundly disagree, and thought that these tools might help to generate some ideas:

• Daily Page: Emails you a writing prompt every morning, and you have the rest of the day to write your response. Once you’ve written your response to the prompt, you can either share it or keep it private.
• 750 Words: Encourages you to write 750 words per day about anything you want. It gamifies writing by giving you points for writing at all, for writing 750 words or more, and for writing on a consistent basis.
• Twords: Calls itself “the app that nudges you to write.” It notifies you when you haven’t written in a while so you can keep yourself accountable — and even gives you the option to connect with others who will help you stay on track.

Need more help? Check out these posts:

• The 31 Best Tools for Improving Your Writing Skills
• How to Fall in Love With Writing Again
• How to Train Your Brain to Write More Concisely: 6 Creative Exercises to Try

3) Keep up with Google.

Why?

Google likes to make changes to its algorithm as much as certain pop singers like to change boyfriends. But all of them are made to improve user experience, which is a good thing — it helps searchers discover the best content for what they’re seeking.

This year, we challenge you to really keep up with those changes. That doesn’t just mean staying on top of news about the latest changes. It also means keeping your content at the highest quality to make Google’s algorithm happy, which means more people will be able to find you. Win-win.

How?

Consider reorganizing your content library into content clusters since SEO is evolving to favor topics over keywords according to Matthew Barby, global head of growth and SEO at HubSpot. That will help you harness more search traffic, because you’ll have a larger pool of relevant keywords and phrases to be discovered.

In general, it’s a good idea to regularly revisit and refresh your content strategy, too. Not only does it prevent your content from getting stale, but it also helps you to keep up with what people are searching for, which in turn will help you keep pace with Google.

Helpful Resources

• Topics Over Keywords: A Simple Framework for More Effective Content Creation
• 8 Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Google’s Algorithm
• HubSpot Academy SEO

4) Improve your design skills.

Why?

In case you haven’t heard, visual content is a pretty big deal in marketing. For one thing, it’s 40x more likely to be shared on social media. Plus, when a relevant image is paired with information, people retain 55% more of that information after three days.

But quality visual content goes beyond a Google image search or stock photography. At the same time, however, not everyone has an ample design budget. For that reason, we believe that 2017 is the year for you to master some design skills. That will allow you to create the content yourself — or, if you do have a bigger budget, learn to better communicate with contractors and agencies that create it for you.

How?

These days, learning a new skill has become its own industry. Never before have there been so many online resources — many of which are either free or relatively inexpensive — to self-educate. And many of them are available outside of the classroom, like on YouTube how-to videos, Coursera, or Khan Academy.

If your company has something like a tuition reimbursement program, here’s a great opportunity to take advantage of that benefit. Many community colleges offer design courses, some of which are taught in the evenings. Do a local search for these classes in your area, and find out what’s available — it might not be too late to enroll for the next semester.

Helpful Resources

• The Science Behind Design: 8 Psychology Principles to Apply to Your Next Project
• 9 Principles of Mobile Web Design
• 3 Essential Ecommerce Design Elements for Successful Stores
• The Rebel’s Guide to Design: 16 Rules You Can (And Should) Break [SlideShare]
• The Non-Designer’s Essential Glossary of Web Design Terms

5) Invest in video.

Why?

First of all, by investing in and experimenting with video, you would be joining the 48% of marketers who plan to add YouTube to their content strategies in the next year. Other than that, we’ll let some more numbers do the talking:

• 4x as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it.
• 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week.
• Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.

How?

Getting started with a video strategy depends on your level of knowledge. If you haven’t yet, for example, it could he helpful to brush up on your video editing skills, and find out which platforms are the best for your current marketing needs.

It’s also a good idea to learn about the different ways video marketing works. In addition to learning how to produce higher-quality content of this kind for YouTube and certain social posts, you might want to look into experimenting with instant video options, like Facebook Live, and Instagram or Snapchat Stories. These more casual formats help people relate to your brand by giving them a behind-the-scenes look at what you do.

Helpful Resources

• 7 of the Best Pieces of Free Video Editing Software
• How to Live Stream Successfully: A Preparation Checklist for Marketers
• 7 Video Techniques For a Limited Budget
• How to Create an Engaging Snapchat Story: A Start-to-Finish Guide
• Instagram Launches Live Video & Ephemeral Messages: Here’s What You Need to Know

6) Take breaks.

Why?

Despite 90% of employers encouraging breaks, it seems that only 45% of us are okay with taking them.

So what’s with the other 55%? It turns out that we’re too guilty to leave our desks for prolonged breaks — we’re afraid that it’ll make us look less productive, or take away time that could be used to get work done.

But it turns out that the opposite is true. In fact, the top 10% most productive employees take 17-minute breaks for every 52 minutes of work they put in. There’s tremendous value in breaks, and we could all stand to benefit from them.

How?

When we’re “in the zone,” so to speak, it’s easy to forget to come up for air. That’s why I take the advice of that top 10%, and actually put reminders in my calendar to take a 17-minute break every 52 minutes.

During those 17 minutes, I completely step away from work — no email, no work-related calls, and whenever possible, no sneak peeks at my phone. And during those 52 minutes of work? That’s your time for hyper focus. Close those tabs that you have open to check social media — unless you’re using it for work, that is — and remind yourself that there’s a break coming.

Helpful Resources

• Break Room Hacks [Infographic]
• 14 Things You Could Be Doing During Your Lunch Break
• 12 World Records You Can Break During Lunch [Infographic]
• The Art of Turning Off: 7 Ways To Do Your Best Work (By Forgetting About Work)

7) Listen to one podcast per week.

Why?

Podcasting is a thriving mini-industry. It’s no wonder — listening to podcasts is a great way to learn something new without it being a direct skill you are mastering.

That’s true from an early age, which is why many teachers are also incorporating podcasts into their lesson plans. In fact, one English teacher found that assigning the Serial podcast to his students helped them pay more attention to the written word. While listening to any given episode, he reported that their eyes became affixed to its written transcript. In other words, it seemed the auditory version of a story aided their ability to process accompanying written content.

And maybe that’s why the popularity of podcast-based lesson plans increased by a whopping 650% in 2015 — the year after Serial first launched. It’s not just that podcasts themselves are tremendously informative (which they are). As it turns out, they might even enhance your skills in other areas, too.

How?

A simple app download can go a long way when you’re aiming to discover more valuable podcasts. We particularly like Stitcher, which catalogues over 65,000 podcasts and allows you to curate your own listening collection, depending on your subject interests. Whether you’re looking to become a better marketer or a better cook, chances are, there’s a podcast out there that can help.

Helpful Resources

• 7 of the Most Interesting Podcast Episodes About Productivity We’ve Ever Heard
• 10 of the Best Podcasts About Business and Management
• Want to be a Better Social Media Marketer? Listen to These 10 Podcasts
• The Growth Show: HubSpot Weekly Business Podcast

8) Ask for help.

Why?

In 2014, Care.com took a survey of working mothers that was quite eye-opening. Among the more surprising findings was one about the concept of asking for help — something that 29% of respondents felt guilty about doing, especially when it came to things at home.

At the same time, however, 79% also felt like they were falling behind at work, and 75% saw an overall reduction in stress when they did enlist help.

These numbers go beyond working mothers, however. It seems that there’s an epidemic of fear when it comes to asking for help at work. Many of us sense that asking questions about an assignment, for example, will make us look like we weren’t paying attention, or aren’t as smart as our peers thought. But when we don’t ask questions, we’re actually setting ourselves up for failure, by forcing completion of a task without all of the necessary information.

How?

This resolution is one that actually begins with management. On my very first day at HubSpot, my boss said something to me that I will never forget: “I’ll help you with whatever you ask me for help with. The most successful people ask for help when they need it!”

If you’re a manager, think about how often your team is asking for your help. If you’re not receiving a lot of questions, you might want to send a similar message. By setting that tone, your team is aware that it’s okay if they don’t know everything.

And on the flip side, don’t be afraid to ask for help. It’s more likely than not that the person you need it from is happy to answer your questions.

Helpful Resources

• 7 Questions Marketing Leaders Should Be Asking Their Employees
• How to Be an Amazing Mentor: 12 Ways to Make a Positive Impact on Others
• Are Your Employees Happy? Here Are 10 Feedback Tools to Help You Find Out
• How to Find a Great Mentor at Any Stage of Your Career

9) Develop a mobile strategy.

Why?

If you don’t have a mobile strategy yet, it’s time.

2016 was a pivotal year for mobile, and it’s only going to get more important in 2017. In August, Google announced that it would be cracking down on invasive mobile pop-ups. On top of that, the use of voice search via mobile and personal assistant devices is on the rise, with Google Voice Search queries seeing a 3400% increase since 2008. Plus, we’ve witnessed the launch of Google’s AMP, or Accelerated Mobile Pages, in which certain pages are optimized for mobile in a way that allows them to load instantly.

If you haven’t truly invested the resources to learn about mobile and adapted your marketing strategy accordingly, it’s time to sit down and develop a strong mobile strategy, which means overhauling your website, emails, social accounts, blog, and any other online content to be mobile-friendly.

How?

You might have to go back to the very basics on this one. When it comes to mobile optimization, a lot of it has to do with SEO these days. That is, if your content isn’t optimized for mobile platforms and searches, your ranking could take a massive hit.

Start by brushing up on the history of SEO, or learning more about Google’s algorithm. From there, you can start getting into the nitty-gritty of mobile strategy.

Helpful Resources

• Google is Cracking Down on Intrusive Mobile Pop-Ups: Here’s What Marketers Need to Know
• 7 Types of Push Notifications Users Actually Enjoy
• Voice Search Strategy: What Marketers Need to Know Now
• Google’s AMP: A Marketer’s Guide to Accelerated Mobile Pages
• Is Your Website’s Viewport Configured for Mobile Users? Here’s How to Do It
• How to Display Site Content Only Your Mobile Viewers Can See

10) Use your vacation time.

Why?

Believe it or not, there’s a phenomenon out there known as “vacation shaming” — the act of being made to feel guilty about going on vacation by managers, colleagues, or ourselves. No wonder 47% of us feel shame or guilt at work for taking time off — it’s mostly because we’re afraid it’ll make us look less dedicated.

That’s actually not how it works at all. It turns out that taking time off actually makes us more productive. In fact, in regions where people tend to take more vacation — like Brazil and Sweden, where paid time off is mandatory — employees tend to bring greater urgency to their work. That’s probably because, according to the Harvard Business Review, “spending less time at your desk forces you to waste less time.” Makes sense, doesn’t it?

How?

Vacation aiding productivity echoes the research done about how breaks help us as work. The biggest requirement is planning. Have a look at your calendar, and figure out when you’ll be the busiest. Are there certain weeks when you’ll have a little more time to get ahead? Those are good pre-vacation weeks, since they’ll allow you to increase your output before you head out.

Here’s where that resolution to ask for help can be put to use, too. In addition to planning your own workload, ask the same of your colleagues. If there are certain weeks when they’re able to fill in on your behalf, that might be a good time for you to plan a vacation. But that goes both ways — make sure they’re aware of when you’re available to pitch in, too.

Helpful Resources

• How to Get Caught Up on Email After Vacation: 9 Helpful Tips
• A Workaholic’s Guide to Relaxing on Vacation [Infographic]
• Why Your Brain Craves Vacation Time [Infographic]
• The Best Out-of-Office Messages We Could Find

11) Read more.

Why?

The most successful people never stop learning. There’s a reason why 70% of adults in professional or managerial roles continue their education — it’s one of the best ways to keep up with industry trends, learn from experts, and get the creative juices flowing.

One of the best ways to do that outside of a classroom is to read what others are writing about. Reading more might even help you become a better writer, and exploring external content helps you to gain different perspectives of vital issues, whether they’re of personal or professional interest.

How?

The tough thing is, since there’s so much content out there, you have to be discerning to find the really good stuff. To start, three places where content quality stays high are Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, and Slate. (Don’t be afraid to pay for top-tier content, by the way. There’s a reason it costs money, and it’s often well worth it.)

You’ll want to spend time reading more niche or industry-specific content, too. To make it easier to read them all, look for applications that let you read all your favorites all in one place, like Feedly.

Helpful Resources

• ThinkGrowth.org: Stories, insights, & ideas to help you and your business grow
• 4 Science-Backed Reasons to Read More (Even If You’re Busy)
• The Science of Speed Reading: How Well Does It Actually Work?

12) Move to the next level of your career.

Why?

“Next” can mean different things for different people — changing your title, getting more responsibilities, gaining more authority in your industry, or starting your own business. Whatever it is, start now — it could take longer than the next year to fully accomplish it.

Don’t let that scare you out of it, though. If you don’t start moving forward now, it’s easy to keep putting it off. Even if you’re happy in your current professional situation, we’ve outlined many reasons in this post to continue learning, or at least add to your success with new goals and accomplishments.

How?

When it comes to big, life-changing moves, planning is fundamental. If your goal is really monstrous, try breaking it into a year-over-year plan, and using the first year’s plan as the basis for your resolutions.

But if you’re simply looking to grow and accomplish more, there are smaller steps that you can take this year. Jumping on opportunities to share your skills with others, for example, can enhance your career, especially if you do so through public speaking engagements. These aren’t just beneficial for your audience — they provide a great way to present yourself as an expert, increase your visibility both online and offline, and build your personal brand. Plus, getting your name out there in the context of your job is beneficial for your company, too.

Talk with your manager about opportunities your company can introduce, like local meet-ups or conferences. You could also get in touch with a university and offer a guest lecture — after all, there’s something very rewarding about inspiring future talent.

Helpful Resources

• How to Figure Out the Next Step in Your Career [Quiz]
• How to Talk to Your Boss About Your Career Path
• 12 Uncomfortable Things That Will Make You More Successful
• How to Figure Out If You’re Ready for a Career Change
• How to Become a Better Public Speaker: The Unlikely Exercise That Helped Unlock My Potential

Show Your Resolve

There you have it. New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be quite so flighty, or involve gyms and special diets. They can help you become a better employee, and to continue learning and improving, no matter where you are in your career.

That said, do what works for you. We wouldn’t expect anyone to try to tackle all 12 of these resolutions. Depending on where you are in life, some might be more feasible and practical than others. Think about your priorities, and choose from there.

From our team to yours, Happy New Year. We can’t wait to hear about how you put these resolutions to work.

Which of these resolutions will you make — and actually stick to? What else would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2014 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

SEO is an evolving science. While some of the core principles will presumably stick around forever, some of the more nuanced parts of it are subject to continuous change. As a result, many of the “proven” tactics people have used in the past — keyword stuffing, link schemes, and so on — are now the stuff of legends.

Unless your organization benefits from having a dedicated SEO person who can work on this stuff day-in and day-out, keeping up with the latest changes in the world of SEO can be a struggle. But in the end, adjusting your strategy based on search ranking algorithm updates or changes in the way search results are displayed visually can be incredibly impactful on business results.

In our new guide, 18 SEO Myths to Leave Behind in 2017, we reiterate some of the best practices that should continue to guide your strategy through 2017, while also highlighting how SEO has changed over the course of 2016.

Here’s an example of one those changes: Did you know that Google had a major Penguin algorithm update in September 2016 that made the rewarding of high-quality websites in search results part of its core algorithm? What used to be a loose guideline turned into a legitimate ranking rule in 2016. You can learn all about what that means inside the ebook.

Check out the SEO Myths guide to learn more about what changes you’ll need to make with your SEO strategy moving forward.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2015 and the offer has since been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Most ads on YouTube are something to be endured, muted, and skipped immediately after the mandatory five seconds has passed. It’s nothing personal — people just want to get to the good stuff. 

So how can advertisers create branded videos that users actually want to watch?

For an ad to be sought out and consumed willingly on YouTube, it needs to stand out as an enjoyable, compulsively shareable piece of content. It can’t just be a typical advertisement — it needs to compete for attention with viral, non-branded content.

To better understand what YouTube users want in a watchable online ad, let’s take a look back at what worked in 2016.  

Google released a list of the top 10 most watched ads on YouTube from 2016, and we’ve compiled them here to inspire your next digital ad campaign. All advertisers and marketers should be taking notes: These are the online ads people actually wanted to watch in 2016.

The 10 Most Watched YouTube Ads of 2016

1) Mobile Strike

Things escalate quickly in this extended Super Bowl spot for Mobile Strike, an online multiplayer game. Starring former California governor and beloved action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, the plot follows Schwarzenegger as he’s attacked by a slew of characters after opening up the Mobile Strike app on his phone.

A deadly fight for the phone ensues, and pretty soon there’s a military tank crashing through the walls and marines rappelling from the ceilings.

Created by San Francisco-based 215mccann, the one-minute spot was the number one watched spot on YouTube in 2016, amassing over 102 million views since its release in February.

2) Knorr

MullenLowe created this clever digital campaign for global food and beverage brand Knorr. In the three-minute ad, a group of singles are paired off based on their favorite flavor profiles (e.g., spicy, hearty, salty etc.) and then asked to feed each other a meal matching the flavor preferences they share. The results are delightfully awkward. 

It’s a weird but undeniably touching social experiment, and Ukonwa Ojo, senior global director at Knorr, insists the emotions they captured on film were completely candid. “It’s as real as I can humanly make it with cameras and equipment and people standing around,” Ojo said to Adweek.

The ad has been watched over 60 million times on YouTube since its release in April.

3) Nike Football

Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo experiences a Freaky Friday moment with a young fan in this short film from Nike and Wieden + Kennedy. After taking a tumble into the crowd during a match, Ronaldo and a young British soccer fan switch bodies

Naturally, the kid is in awe to find himself inhabiting the body of the famous footballer, but he quickly learns he’ll have to improve his soccer skills if he’s going to pass as Ronaldo. Meanwhile, the real Ronaldo — trapped in the body of a teenager — steadily rises through the ranks of youth football. Over the course of a year or so, he’s made it to the pros.

Clocking in at nearly six minutes, it’s Nike’s longest brand film ever — but it’s definitely worth sticking around for the climactic ending. It’s no surprise that it’s picked up over 58 million views on YouTube. 

4) Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

Developed in-house at Samsung, this extended ad introduced consumers to the much-anticipated Galaxy S7 and S7 edge back in February.

The introduction video excels at condensing a lot of information into an easily digestible format, with sleek graphics and a dramatic soundtrack.  The video was watched over 46 million times.

5) Clash Royale

Leave it to creative agency Barton F. Graf to produce something zany, offbeat, and yet somehow still universally appealing enough to get almost 38 million views on YouTube.

This ad for Clash Royale, a multiplayer mobile game, stars an turtleneck-clad keyboard player exuberantly explaining “the rules of the duel” — in song, naturally. And not just any song. The whole ad is set to an altered version of “Flash” by Queen.

6) Mtn Dew Kickstart

This ad raises more questions than it answers. What the heck is that thing? How did it get into that apartment? What made those guys think following it outside would be a good idea?

The Superbowl ad for Mtn Dew’s energy beverage, produced by BBDO, rapidly gained viral attention for it’s visually unsettling main character: a Frankenstein creation with the head of an adorable pug, the torso of a monkey, and the legs of a human baby. It’s not pretty to look at, but no one can deny that puppymonkeybaby accomplished what it set out to do: Get people talking. The ad received 27 million hits on YouTube.

7) Always

Always worked with agency Leo Burnett to produce this ad focusing on female empowerment through sports. The ad, which ran during the summer Olympics, features a group of young women and girls explaining discouraging comments they’ve received about their athleticism, and encouraging all young girls to stick with sports no matter what.

The positive message propelled the ad to 27 million views. 

8) Hyundai

Hyundai’s Superbowl ad from agency INNOCEAN USA opens on a couple racing through the woods — with two vicious grizzly bears in close pursuit. Thanks to the voice activated technology on their Hyundai, they’re able to make a speedy getaway.

The grizzly bears, discouraged by their prey’s escape, plop down for an unexpectedly cartoonish conversation. “I was just gonna hug him!” one of them says. It’s an amusing example of thwarted expectations that drew in 26 million YouTube viewers.

9) Pokémon

This Superbowl ad from Los Angeles-based agency Omelet celebrates 20 years of Pokémon with cinematic flair.

Taking cues from sports advertising, the commercial follows a series of kids and young adults as they train in their respective fields, drawing inspiration from each others’ successes. In the final scene, a young boy witnesses an epic Pokémon battle on TV, and his dad declares, “You could do that.” The ad received 25 million views on YouTube.

10) Skittles

Skittles is no stranger to delightfully weird advertising, and their Superbowl commercial this year was no exception. In the DDB Chicago-produced spot, Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler is presented with a portrait of his likeness made entirely from Skittles. And it sings, of course.

24 million people tuned in to see the ad.

What ads did you watch on YouTube in 2016? Let us know in the comments.