• Benchmarking: A Best-Practice for Improving Marketing Performance (Part 2) by Laura Patterson
  Knowing what to improve and by how much is vital to establishing realistic performance targets and metrics. This two-part article discusses how to use benchmarking to assess your organization's performance and to understand what changes to make. Part 1 defined benchmarking ...
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• Benchmarking: A Best-Practice for Improving Marketing Performance (Part 1) by Laura Patterson
  CEOs and CMOs are interested in seeing marketing organizations improve their performance in two key areas: effectiveness (the ability to produce the desired result) and efficiency (reducing waste). The economic environment makes these efforts even more top-of-mind. Often the question ...
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• How to Make Your Email Program More Productive in 2008 by Reggie Brady
  If you haven't done it yet, now is the perfect time to map out plans for your email program. Any changes you might make in the first few months of the year will stand you in good stead; any plans or ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Email Marketing, Segmentation, Targeting
• How Marketing Can Lead the Charge for Business Innovation by Laura Patterson
  Long-term corporate success is linked to the ability to innovate, and Marketing should play a more central role. Who is better positioned to give insight into who will buy, how many they will buy, why they buy, and when specific ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Customer Relationships, Customer Satisfaction, Marketing Strategy, Voice of the Customer
• MP 'Classic Truths': If You Don't Measure, You Can't Manage: The Best Metrics for Managing Marketing Performance by Laura Patterson
  Without metrics to track performance, marketing and business plans are ineffective. For marketers, three primary metrics stand out as a starting point for tracking their performance. Once companies are aware of their competitive position, their desired outcomes, and what it will ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Customer Retention, Measurement, Metrics
• Marketing-Led Organization—or Bust by Jeffrey Mucci
  What does it mean to truly be marketing-led organization? And what does it take to understand the consequences in implementing this dramatic shift in strategy and culture?
  More articles on Benchmarking, Branding, Customer Engagement, Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer
• Is There Value in Your Value Proposition? by Denise Shiffman
  With all the emphasis these days on getting your message out using online media, we simply forget to focus on how to develop the right message. Many a company goes to market without having fully defined its customer value proposition. ...
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• Don't Worry About Your Competition (Let Them Worry About You) by Mike Schultz
  Here are four common mistakes that service firm leaders make, and five tips on how to save time, money, and heartache when thinking about the dreaded competition.
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• The Four Colors of Market Planning by Michael Fischler
  To create a complete marketing plan, one that drives near- and longer-term marketing action, I need only four "colors." Here's how structuring the "color set" will help you focus your research, derive relevant conclusions, and then use all that information ...
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• New Resolutions for Brand Managers by Mitch McCasland
  Even with January behind us, a brand manager is still full of the promise of the New Year. Sure, things didn't go perfectly during 2005. But it's worth taking note of those things you'll solemnly swear you'll never do again.
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• Adding SEO to the Marketing Mix: Bringing Your Boss to the Table by Scott Buresh
  Very often, the people who first recognize the potential benefits of professional SEO are not the key decision makers. They are the people on the front lines of the organization—the ones who deal with prospects and customers every day. But ...
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• Before You Write: Your 10-Point Checklist by Jonathan Kranz
  The secret to successful copy is in all the thought, work and research you do before you write a single word. In the following 10 tips, Kranz lifts the curtain to reveal the backstage mechanics you can leverage for more ...
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• How to Create Stronger Value Propositions by Jill Konrath
  To get customers to consider a change to the status quo, you have to give them a good reason. A really good reason. They need to know about the tangible business results they'll get from using your product or service. One of ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Customer Engagement, Market Research, Metrics, Value Propositions, Writing
• Thought Leaders Commune on Email Marketing: Spam Is Not the Only Issue by Stephan Spencer
  Email marketing has an innate and powerful ability to communicate one-to-one with your customers. But its cost-effectiveness has been its Achilles heel; so many marketers are now using email that consumers are overwhelmed. Is email marketing, as we know it, ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, CAN-SPAM, Email Marketing, Measurement, Metrics, Permission Email Marketing, Preview Pane, RSS
• The Worst Thing About Best Practices by Mike McLaughlin
  Few "tools" are more widely abused these days than so-called best practices. It's no wonder that most banks, supermarkets, airlines, retailers and professional services firms look astonishingly similar--they've been busy copying each other's best practices for decades. What's most alarming ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Creativity, Marketing Tips, Sales
• The Nonprofit Business and Marketing Plan--Part 1: Your Road Map by Elaine Fogel
  In the nonprofit sector, many organizations operate without a strategy or written annual plan. Even some small-to-midsize businesses have avoided the task of developing written plans, focusing instead on generating revenue and simply staying alive in their markets. But going ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Marketing Plans, Marketing Strategy, Non Profits, ROI, Targeting, Writing
• If You Don't Measure, You Can't Manage: The Best Marketing Metrics by Laura Patterson
  Without metrics to track performance, marketing and business plans are ineffective. Businesses need to know which success factors require measuring, and they must understand the differences between measurements, metrics, and benchmarks. For marketers, three primary metrics constitute a starting point ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Measurement, Metrics
• Today's Top 10 Web Analytics Problems by Jim Sterne
  What's most frustrating about measuring and quantifying usage on your site? Not counting common management problems, the issues here are the most troubling, according to one group of Web developers and managers. If your job includes analyzing Web data at ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Collaboration, Web Analytics, Websites
• Six Ways to Increase Marketing ROI by Marcia Jedd
  Taking cues from tested marketing strategies, consider these six ways to increasing your marketing return on investment.
  More articles on Benchmarking, Marketing Tips, Measurement, Online Marketing, ROI
• Building Profitable Customer-Centric Strategies: Identify Strategic Opportunities and Challenges (Part 1 of 4) by Michael Lowenstein
  Increasingly, corporate leaders in all industries are seeing the value of making their organizations customer-centric. What can customer-centricity mean to your company? How do you determine your company’s potential? And what must you do to create, lead and maintain a ...
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See all 37 marketing articles related to Benchmarking

• How Do You Measure Your Social Efforts?
  How do you know whether your social media efforts are bearing fruit? The answer, according to Katie Paine, is to create benchmarks against which to measure your efforts.
  More articles on Benchmarking, Brand Loyalty, Customer Relationships, Measurement, Social Media, Testing, Web Analytics
• Don't Compare Apples and Oranges
  In a post at the Email Experience blog, Spencer Kollas argues that marketers shouldn't spend their time worrying about the rates other companies achieve with their email programs. The reason, ...
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• C'mon: If You Show Me Yours, I'll Totally Show You Mine
  While you know you shouldn't measure the success of your email marketing programs against results achieved by other businesses, learning about average open, click-through and conversion rates can be a ...
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• Time to Audit Your Ambition
  "During your annual planning ritual do you study and analyze the current situation in your market and then move on straight to setting your goals?" asks Dan Herman in an ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Small Business
• Cool Open-Rate Stats
  Even if your email campaigns meet goals and deliver great ROI, you probably wonder how you compare to industry standards. If so, you’re going to love the spreadsheet in a ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Email Marketing, Market Research
• Average, Schmaverage
  In a post at the Email Insider blog, Jordan Ayan writes that he inevitably receives a basic query when he speaks at conferences: "What is the average [fill in the ...
  More articles on Benchmarking, Email Marketing

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Benchmarking online seminar broadcasts from the best minds in marketing

• Seven Fast-Acting Methods to Drive B2B Revenue NowAttendee rating:  - 5/14/2009
  More seminars on B2B Marketing, Benchmarking, Customer Acquisition, Customer Relationships, Customer Satisfaction, Lead Quality, Marketing Tips, Sales
• How to Craft a Winning Business Case for Your Marketing InitiativeAttendee rating:  - 4/16/2009
  More seminars on Benchmarking, Collaboration, Management, Marketing Plans, Measurement, Metrics, Writing
• Green to Gold: Why Smart Companies Are Going Green (Even in a Recession)Attendee rating:  - 2/12/2009
  More seminars on Benchmarking, Branding, Green Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Metrics, Recession
• Mobile Marketing: How to Harness the Power of the Small ScreenAttendee rating:  - 11/20/2008
  More seminars on Benchmarking, Branding, Customer Engagement, Customer Relationships, Email Marketing, Measurement, Mobile Marketing, New Media, SMS, Word of Mouth
• Crash Course #8: Email - The Power Channel in Direct Marketing TodayAttendee rating:  - 2/15/2007
  More seminars on Benchmarking, Copywriting, Customer Acquisition, Direct Marketing, Email Lists, Email Marketing, Metrics, Sales

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Benchmarking marketing downloads for the busy professional

• Benchmark Report: Marketing ROI (Year 3)
  In this 2007 survey, the third annual on ROI, respondents who use ROI for their marketing efforts expect greater growth and enjoy greater confidence from their senior management than respondents who don't use ROI.
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• Marketing Metrics How-To Guide
  Metrics is the guiding light of your marketing efforts. Without measurements, you're operating in the dark. Make sure you are tracking the right metrics, and get tips on interpreting the data with this comprehensive guide.
  More tools on Benchmarking, Marketing Dashboards, Measurement, Metrics
• 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.
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