Marketing Articles

When I saw this ad, I thought it was a joke. A parody, a satire, a lampoon... anything but what it really is--totally legit and serious. If ever there was a marketing message completely unaware of the modern zeitgeist (and offensive), this ad is it! Here's what not to do ... more

Website redesigns have become an addiction. Every year or two, Marketing decides it's time to "freshen up the ol' site." But before you go out and rebuild the most important weapon in your marketing arsenal, make sure you have a well-defined plan for success. more

People are always looking for the next great thing in email marketing, and these days much of the talk involves social-networking integration. But now that email and online media have gotten much more sophisticated, there is one other technology--video, long considered taboo in email marketing--that can be integrated into your ... more

If you've ever manned a tradeshow booth, you're familiar with that sense of urgency to bring back home a stack of qualified leads. And, with so many other exhibitors vying for the same prize, you may find yourself behaving a bit like a carnival barker in your efforts to lure ... more

When people think of branding, they often think of just a logo or business card. Or they think of the opposite extreme, such as Apple, and so assume they will never have the resources to "brand effectively." But branding on a budget is more than possible, and dispelling these five ... more

The Grateful Dead teaches us to show our brand's playfulness and to trust that our customers will recognize our brand even if it looks a little "different." By loosening up your brand, you allow your company to show its personality--and, by extension, its ability to roll with the punches. more

This article originally addressed the seven worst marketing mistakes. But seven wasn't nearly enough. The list grew until it reached unlucky 13. Here is the next batch of marketing mistakes you should avoid at all cost. more

Facebook has more than 400 million active users who collectively spend more time on the platform than on any other website in the world, sharing detailed information about their likes, dislikes, and preferences. No wonder advertisers are salivating at the chance to reach Facebook users with precisely targeted ads. more

Conversation marketing. Engagement marketing. Social media. Earned media. Consumer-generated media. User-generated Content. Crowdsourcing. Outsourcing. Co-creation. No matter what you call it, the evolution of the way brands reach and interact with consumers has led to mass experimentation with the alluring, yet often hard-to-execute marketing tactic: the video contest. more

Foothill Dental gets it. It's not "doing social media" in the way we think of it. Foothill Dental does not have a Twitter account or Facebook fan page. It doesn't blog or answer questions on LinkedIn. It doesn't use Gowalla or Foursquare. Foothill Dental leverages the awesome power of email ... more

Creating your visual brand mosaic requires a toolkit different from the one used by earlier corporate ID practitioners––one based more on shared thinking and approaches and less around rules, one that allows you to tune communications for different initiatives and constituencies, and one that can be taught and shared. more

A best-practice is the generally preferred practice, one that will make your company more money, thus making your boss happy, which in turn will make you happy. If it were only that easy. more

How can you ensure that your translated campaign carries the impact of the original? More important, how do you avoid the enormous cost (new creative, photography, design) of having to launch a new marketing campaign for each local market? more

Is your website a lead-generation machine? Your website can be your most powerful marketing tool, delivering a steady stream of new business leads and filling your sales pipeline. Find out your website's lead-generation potential by giving it a lead-generation checkup. more

Looking for ways to create a proposal that sets you and your company favorably apart? Ways that capture the great things you have to offer? Here are six suggested best-practices intended to not only maximize your chances to stand out and land the job but also manage the risks. more

In the current economic climate, more business owners need to evaluate their website and revamp it to turn it into a presales tool, lead-generation machine, or even a revenue-producing cash cow. Can it be done? It just takes a few tweaks to turn on the profits. more

In the B2C space there's a lot of buzz around mobile marketing, but in the B2B sector it's more likened to a whisper. B2Bs are missing out on super-sized opportunities for integrating a valuable new brand touch point for their customers and establishing a dynamic new communications channel with professional ... more

New vision and approaches can add significantly more value to brands over their competitors. Some brands can easily become commodities. Unless they choose otherwise. more

One of the traps that many organizations fall into when launching a new Web initiative is putting the focus of the project on new technology or new functionality. Instead, you need to start your project with the end result in mind. This article outlines project phases that you need to ... more

With Q4 looming, along iwth company revenue targets for the year ahead, this company faced the perennial dilemma common to B2B marketers: how to fill the sales funnel with quality leads now to get a jump on sales-cycle activity in January. A classic direct-mail package and a brilliantly simple strategy ... more

Are your website visitors like tourists strolling through Times Square on their way to a matinee with little time to spare, or are they a captive audience willing to watch and absorb all you hope to communicate? Websites increasingly appear to assume the latter, but Web-analytics data prove the former. more

Most of the branding articles that you read are happy, glowing tales of how an agency rebranded a client and turned that client into a superstar brand with double-digit growth. Well, this is not one of those stories. We often learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. more

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the value of usability testing and talked about some testing tools. Here are more reviews of low-cost or no-cost usability tools. more

The holiday season is the most important time of year for retailers, when aggressive goals are set for increased traffic and sales, both in-store and online. Email marketing is a powerful tool that retailers can use to build their brands and increase sales during that crucial period. more

Usability testing can increase your website's conversion rates and improve sales. Here are some cool tools to help you do just that. more