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Strategy

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Strategy articles by the best and brightest in the field

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  • Five Tips for Small B2B Companies That Depend on Big Channel Partnersby Robbie Kellman Baxter
    It's a challenge faced by hundreds of small companies: how to get the CXO of a Fortune 1000 company to consider its product. One effective strategy that helped get companies such as Citrix and VMware off the ground is to align closely with a major partner. Building a strong channel, even with just one or two partners, can be much more effective and easier to leverage than trying to develop your own sales team and customer relationships. The following five tips can help B2B companies maintain strong channel partnerships. more
  • Ten Essentials of Software-as-a-Service Solution Marketingby Peter A. Cohen
    Here are 10 essentials of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution marketing. more
  • The Parasite Economy: Why Leaders Must Reinvest in Their Brands (Not Just Drain Off Profits)Premium Contentby Eric Garland
    It's time to start investing in the future, for real. Brand equity from the old economy is about dead. The financial collapse is a sign of a larger movement that would have us stop draining off reserves, and get us back to the business of making promises to tomorrow's customers. more
  • Avoid the Five Routes to Strategic Failureby Nilofer Merchant
    Disconnects are a big cause of strategy failure. You think you've communicated well, then find out you have—just not to your target audience. Or maybe at the end of a long research session, you realize that input from colleagues in the company's Ohio office was critical to your strategy, yet was overlooked in favor of input from more-assertive colleagues in the New York office. There are five major disconnects that consistently trip up strategy implementation. more
  • Deliver a One-Two Punch: Tap the Synergy Between Email and Social Mediaby Ross Kramer
    There are many similarities between social-media marketing and email; but they are two distinct marketing channels, and they should be used separately to enhance or magnify, not just promote, each other. Think of it this way: Social media is for awareness; email is for retention. more
  • Leapfrogging for Success: Change the Game via Innovationby Evan Gerber
    Marketers these days find themselves increasingly squeezed between a big rock and a very hard place: Their mandate is to demonstrably improve ROI, with reduced budgets, while communicating with skittish audiences that are less inclined to make purchases. Not surprisingly, people are looking for ways to change the game altogether. more
  • E-Marketing: Greening the Digital Processby Chet Dalzell
    For those of us who were brought up e-marketing, e-shopping, e-dating, e-gossiping—and all things e—we may feel smug that we are truly paperless (are we really?), and thus we are so green in our behavior that who would dare cast a stone at us? Well, it's time to wake up. Direct mailers can actually be very responsible environmentally—and perhaps e-marketers need to pay closer attention to the environmental life cycle of digital commerce. more
  • Online Reputation Management: A View From the Topby Leslie Gaines-Ross
    The first few months of 2009 have already been tumultuous for reputations. So what can be done? Below, some of the findings of that online-reputation study as they relate to seven realities of managing online reputation in today's world—and some solutions to strengthen your reputation in the months ahead. more
  • Win/Loss Analysis (Part 2)—A Process for Taking Revenue up a Notchby Laura Patterson
    Part 1 of this article series examined the purpose, definition, and metric associated with win/loss analysis. This final part discusses getting started, questions to include in the discussion, when and how to conduct the analysis, and using the findings more
  • Marketing in a Recession: What Do the Studies Really Tell Us?by Christian Shea
    Have you heard this one? "All the research shows that companies that spend on marketing during a recession come out ahead of the competition as the economy rebounds." It's a catchy buzz phrase—and if people believe it, even better. But here's the thing: What research, exactly? more
  • Nine Email Tactics That Can Put You Out of BusinessPremium Contentby Gwen Moran
    As the technology and the legal issues around email evolve, so should your email marketing programs. Otherwise, you could misstep, and that could cost you opportunities to communicate with your customers or constituents as well as damage credibility. Here are nine pitfalls to avoid, that can put you out of business. more
  • My So-Called Marketing Life: How Do I Extend the Reach of My Brand?by Susyn Duris
    Although she has been successful in promoting and extending corporate brands, the author entered into another chapter of her life a few years ago: re-energizing an acting career. Eventually, she came to see marketing herself as an actor as the same as marketing any other product or service. She revisited common-sense ideas on how to extend a brand. These common-sense ideas, usually known but put on the marketer's back burner, should always be top of mind to help you get noticed and extend your brand. more
  • Why You Are Unpopular Online: Six Ways to Doom Your Community-Building EffortsPremium Contentby Mack Collier
    Companies are increasingly looking to create vibrant and healthy online communities for their businesses. But many companies are seeing their efforts fail or produce flat results. Here are six reasons why many online communities never materialize, and what you can do to improve your own efforts to build online communities. more
  • Affiliate Marketing: How to Boost Sales and Minimize RiskPremium Contentby Kimberly Smith
    Affiliate marketing is in a growth stage, strengthened of late by an explosion in the number of bloggers and other site publishers who are recognizing its rewards. But an affiliate program can be catastrophic if they are not well-managed. more
  • 'White Swan' Marketing, or How to Focus on What Worksby Jonathan Salem Baskin
    When the latest marketing answers fail to produce the results you expect, maybe it's time to start asking different questions. You don't need me to tell you that we're in a crisis of confidence: Consumers don't believe or act on the information we give them in the ways we'd hope, so we're losing faith in the strategies and tools we use to communicate with them. We're asked questions about sales, and we reply with answers about "engagement" and conversational "buzz." Budgets are down, expectations are up, and the proliferation of new solutions for "engaging" with consumers in conversations seems inversely proportional to results that our employers and clients can value. We believe that somehow, sometime, all those efforts will coalesce—the dots will connect—and yield stunning successes, just like those celebrated in case histories and magazine articles. I have news for you: We're chasing black swans. And if we keep doing it, we're doomed. more
  • The Pursuit of ROI: Will It Lead You to Rags or to Riches?by Sharan Jagpal, PhD
    It's no secret that the business world is slow to change. Sure, it has made the evolution from typewriters to computers for word processing, and from snail mail to email for written communication. But in regard to the core of doing business—from the methods and measurements that are used to the way departments are siloed—many 21st-century companies might as well be stuck in the Stone Age. And now that the recession has set in, this unwillingness to replace old business models, strategies, and metrics with new ones is causing some companies hardship and leading many others to their deaths. Given the gloomy circumstances many businesses find themselves in today, I ask CEOs and marketing executives to reconsider one popular metric: Return on Investment (ROI) as a resource-allocation tool and measure of performance (including marketing productivity). more
  • 25 Ways to Build Trust (and Sales!) with Customer Success Storiesby Casey Hibbard
    Capturing the experiences of your most successful customers not only boosts your credibility but also educates buyers and shows them the payoff of your solutions. Here are 25 ways to use customer success stories in your sales and marketing to increase buyers' trust. more
  • Knowing What Matters—Your Success Criteria—Is a Guiding Light in the Darkby Nilofer Merchant
    Here's a scenario many of us have experienced: The CEO sets the revenue goals in the annual business plan; the plan is handed down; and the business units scramble to make the numbers. Only one thing is wrong: We don't know how the decision was made about what matters. Deciding what matters leads to solid criteria development. Deciding what success looks like will drive what matters. There is a link between what matters in a general sense and what matters to your business unit or organization. Follow these four steps to figure it out. more
  • What to Do When Growth Stallsby Steve McKee
    As much as we would all like to believe that we're masters of our own destiny, the unfortunate truth in business is that growth stalls. Over the course of a decade, more than half of companies stall... and that's in normal economic times. Given what we're facing now, how should companies respond? more
  • Webinar Essentials: Five Must-Have Ingredients of SuccessPremium Contentby Kimberly Smith
    For cooking up new leads or positioning a company as a thought leader and trusted industry resource, webinars serve as an effective tactic. They create dialog and tempt prospects to get to know you better. In fact, webinars can become a company's best lead-generation tool; now get the scoop on what goes into planning a great online event from our own online event team. more

Strategy: See all 845 marketing articles

Strategy case studies, deconstructing real life examples and illustrating lessons learned

Strategy: See all 87 case studies

Strategy online seminar broadcasts from the best minds in marketing

Strategy: See all 30 seminars

Strategy mini articles distilling bite-sized advice (from our Get to the Point newsletters)

  • Where SEO Yin Meets SM YangSearch Engine Marketing
    "Is your website search- and social-media-friendly?" inquires a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog. According to Lee Odden, search is the most efficient and effective way for consumers to ...
  • Time After Time After TimeEmail Marketing
    "We fuss over subject lines, offers, calls-to-action, and targeting, but sometimes a lack of response is simply a matter of timing," says Mark Brownlow in a post at the Email ...
  • The Times They Are A-Changin'—Better PrepareHigh-Tech Mktg & Sales
    There's something in the air. There are small and (dare we say) consistent signs that that the economic crisis has begun to level off. Many companies, while still implementing cost-cutting ...
  • How Dare You Assume That?Email Marketing
    When you hand someone a business card at a conference, do you assume your email address will be added to their list for marketing campaigns? Probably not. And that's why ...
  • Is This My Fairest URL of All?Interactive Marketing
    As of June 13, Facebook has made it possible for users to secure a URL for both their profiles and any Facebook Pages they administer. Why this matters: Facebook is ...
  • Optimize B2B Email for Search, Pt. IB2B Marketing
    "I get a fairly large number of content marketing emails each week," writes Galen de Young in a post at the B2B Marketing Blog. "I'm surprised how many of them ...
  • You Have Much to Learn, GrasshopperMarketing in a Downturn
    In a post at the Marketing Minute, blogger Drew McLellan admits he gets some rather strange mail. "But I have to say," he notes, "chocolate-covered grasshoppers might just top the ...
  • Keep Your WOM Roots HealthyCustomer Insight
    The dreaded phrase "word-of-mouth" keeps a lot of company execs awake at night. It's that feeling of helplessness: How can any company apply quality assurance to something that is so ...
  • It All Comes Down to ProcessEmail Marketing
    We spend a lot of time discussing topics like deliverability and relevance, but rarely touch on another factor that plays a critical role in successful email marketing campaigns. "Process is ...
  • Mom Probably Knows BestEmail Marketing
    In a post at the Deliverability.com blog, Dennis Dayman presents a short series of off-the-cuff emails that his wife wrote in response to his question about video in email marketing ...
  • Tips for That Pivotal Sales PresentationHigh-Tech Mktg & Sales
    Closing an IT sale is a complex process. But in most cases there is usually one pivotal sales presentation that can firmly seal the deal. Darrin Mourer, in a post ...
  • When in Doubt, Double DownMarketing Inspiration
    In a piece at The New Yorker, James Surowiecki recounts how two companies—Post and Kellogg—reacted to the Depression. "Post did the predictable thing: it reined in expenses and cut back ...
  • Getting Testy Again and AgainEmail Marketing
    "Testing can be a powerful tool to move your email marketing program forward," says Kelly Lorenz in a post at the Bronto blog. "Testing can also help you move from ...
  • Seed That Video and Reap Its HarvestInteractive Marketing
    Good news for all you budding Spielbergs out there: YouTube this month made it possible to automatically seed freshly uploaded videos across popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and even ...
  • Stay Away from Plug-and-PlayB2B Marketing
    Diana Huff offers an interesting warning to small businesses in a recent post at her B2B Marcom Writer blog: When creating a website, keep away from companies that offer "plug-and-play" ...
  • When Problems Arise, Go to the SpotMarketing in a Downturn
    In an article at the New York Times website, Michelle Maynard tells the story of Akio Toyoda's secret visit to an Ann Arbor, Michigan, car dealership. The grandson of Toyota's ...
  • Nobody Likes a Wild-Goose ChaseEmail Marketing
    Chad White of the Retail Email blog was impressed when he recently received an email from Lands' End with this subject line: Free Shipping + 20-50% off summer! Swim, shorts, ...
  • Serving Up a Perfect SEO SandwichSearch Engine Marketing
    To make an in-house SEO effort successful, you must first gain buy-in from the three main "layers" in most large organizations: executives, management, and everyone else. So says Duane Forrester ...
  • Mixology 101Email Marketing
    In a post at the Daily Fix blog, Stephanie Miller says you don't have to choose between the social and email channels. "No need to take sides, my friends," she ...
  • Yes You Can: Bridge That Sales & Marketing DivideHigh-Tech Mktg & Sales
    Squabbling or lack of coordination between sales and marketing teams can lead to longer sales cycles and increased costs—or it can scuttle deals. With so much at risk, why can't ...

Strategy: See all 412 quick reads

Strategy marketing downloads for the busy professional

  • Email Success Stories: How 11 companies are pushing the (electronic) envelope
    Propel your email marketing efforts beyond the subject line. Read Email Success Stories: How 11 companies are pushing the (electronic) envelope to learn how to convert your emails into money-making machines.
  • The Obama Playbook: How Digital Marketing and Social Media Won the Election
    Want to create a veritable army of customer-advocates to champion your brand? The Obama Playbook: How Digital Marketing and Social Media Won the Election shows you how the Obama campaign masterfully used new media to build awareness, engage prospects, and start a movement. It takes you step-by-step through the new media strategies of the campaign and provides actionable guidance on how you can modify each to benefit your business. Both entertaining and useful, it's an invaluable resource for the savvy marketer who wants to take full advantage of the amazing powers of new media.
  • Web 2.0 Marketing Guide
    Here's a straight shooting guide on how Web 2.0 can help you grow your business
  • Marketing Strategy Guide
    This Guide explores the three stages of effective marketing, and how you can determine which approaches will give you the greatest bang for your buck.
  • Small Biz How-To Guide: Positioning, Naming & Taglines
    Spot-on positioning leads to names that attract customers and taglines that sing. Get your small business on the track to marketing success.
  • Small Biz How-To Guide: Market Research
    Need to learn about your customers without the big price tag of market research firms? This guide on do-it-yourself market research will help you get the information you need to position your business without emptying the corporate coffers.
  • Small Biz How-To Guide: Avoiding Key Pitfalls
    Let's face it, more small businesses fail than succeed. Make sure yours is one of the winners with this guide to getting your small business off the ground and solidly on the road to success.
  • SWOT Analysis How-To Guide
    This comprehensive, step-by-step how-to guide will help you assess the position in the market of your product or firm, by identifying the product's Strengths and Weaknesses, by considering the potential Opportunities the product has in the marketingplace, and by assessing the potential Threats posed by either the competition or the marketplace.
  • Online Research How-To Guide
    Set clear objectives and a realistic scope to online research projects. These are just two of the steps that this comprehensive, step-by-step planning guide will help you to accomplish to insure your online research results in the most relevant and useful information possible.
  • Market Forecasting Template
    This guide will give you a mini-seminar on the art and the science of forecasting. Learn the four different ways to create forecasting models and choose the ones that best suit your needs. Then follow these easy-to-follow steps to creating a model where you too can predict the future.
  • Trade Show Marketing Template
    Trade show marketing is a high-risk, high-reward endeavor. This Template provides a sytematic look at trade show marketing. It walks you through selection and promotion, to follow-up and measurement. This step-by-step guide will insure your trade show marketing is effective, efficient, measurable, and successful.
  • Competitive Analysis Template
    A thorough competitive analysis is a critical component of a solid marketing plan. It is an exercise that will provide you with valuable insights to guide the development of your business strategy. This 20-page template will make the project quick and easy, and you can end up with a leg up on your compeition.

Strategy: See all 12 downloads

Strategy Daily Chirp for the busy professional

  • McCafé? McProfits!
    Looks like the recent $100 million ad blitz for the McCafé seems to be working. The McDonald's experiment in the specialty coffee arena may now have bumped Dunkin' Donuts from the No. 2 spot. But how? more
  • 'Mainstream' Is Not a Target Market
    Mainstream is not a target market. In fact, by trying to blandly appeal to everyone, you wind up not really appealing to anyone in particular. Yet, in many companies, "niche" is a dirty word, right up there with "polarizing." more
  • Google: New Media Meets Old Media
    Google has always been considered a giant in the online world—it's even been said it rules the Internet. But one medium it hasn't ventured into is television. Until now, that is. more
  • Selling Pork in the Age of Swine Flu
    The MarketingProfs customer-service team received an interesting message recently from a pork producer in Mexico. "At this moment we are suffering the worst crisis ever in the national pork industry... [and] we have no further blood to bleed out," wrote Carlos, a pork processor and retailer. He asks: Could marketing help him combat misinformation and unfounded claims about his pork? more
  • Did You Know?
    Did you know that the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004? Did you know that today's learner will have 10 to14 jobs by the age of 38? Did you know that we are now preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist and will use technologies that yet haven't been invented, in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet? Check out this video. more

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