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Marketing Articles: Strategy

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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 ... 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)by 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 ... 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 ... 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
Secrets of Viral Video: Three Keys to Launching a Campaign That Resonatesby Kimberly Smith
Video viewing is way up, but so are video postings. These days, it takes more than a dancing baby to attract eyeballs and gather viral momentum. Here's a straightforward guide for netting your audience's attention, with advice from organizations that are working video to their advantage. more
Endurance Training: Five Brand-Building Exercisesby Kimberly Smith
When the slow season strikes, devote some energy to pumping up your brand. These five exercises will show you where to start to best position yourself for the inevitable upturn. more
10 High-Impact, Low-Budget Ideas for Marketing in a Down Economy (Part 2)by Jonathan Kranz
Earlier this month, the author offered five ideas for getting ahead in an economy that's got us down. As promised, here are five more inexpensive (yet powerful!) ideas that can help you and your business come out on top. more
Three Ways Healthcare Brands Can Leverage Social Mediaby Maryann Kuzel
Marketing professional in the healthcare industry may be missing a golden opportunity to meet the sometimes-desperate needs of patients, to become more relevant and supportive in the long arc of their journey to better health. If they do, they will win their respect and loyalty, their adherence and behaviors will ... more
Social Media 101: Use Twitter to Attract Prospects and Engage Customersby Debra Ellis
Before you enter the relatively new frontier of social media, you need an action plan. Although the costs are low, social media tools require extensive maintenance to be effective. Your strategy needs to fit your corporate culture, resources, and customer expectations. Twitter is probably the best place to test the social-media ... more
You Had Me at 'Recession-Proof': The Hispanic Marketby Blaire Borthayre
The Hispanic market seems to be the only one still flourishing these days in the face of economic doom and gloom. Foreign-born Hispanics in the US have been historically unaffected by economic downturns. Why? And how can you tap the market effectively? 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 Businessby 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 ... 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 ... more
Why You Are Unpopular Online: Six Ways to Doom Your Community-Building Effortsby 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 Riskby 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... more
Webinar Essentials: Five Must-Have Ingredients of Successby 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 ... more
Pushing One-to-One Marketing Beyond Emailby R. J. Talyor
You get it. Email needs to be relevant, timely, and personalized, and it has to arrive in the inbox—not the spam folder. When an email renders, it should load images perfectly, guide the eye through stunning, effective design that drives subscribers to convert—download, purchase, whatever. But effective one-to-one marketing is more ... more
Should You Launch a Brand Community?by Nancy Strauss
On company Web sites everywhere, community sections are popping up—both a cause and an effect of a climate in which more and more marketing directors and brand managers are being asked by their companies, "Why don't we do something 2.0?" Although an online community can bring innumerable benefits to a brand, ... more
Whether and How to Build a Branded Customer Communityby Kimberly Smith
First, there were blogs. Next came mass-market social-networking sites. Now some companies are bringing it all under one roof and hosting their own interactive online customer communities. Should yours be doing the same? Well, to quote an oft-quoted answer, "it depends." more
Seven Tips for Marketing Events With Paid Searchby Brian Combs
Marketing events with paid search campaigns can be a great source for additional traffic and, with these tips, can also be an efficient promotion channel. more