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How to Capture Your Company's Essence in 15 Words by Kathryn Roy
As a B2B company, you may never air a 15-second message on NPR. But distilling your company description to its essence is a powerful goal. It will force you to jettison the jargon and superlatives. And your message will resonate ...
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Top 5 Elements of an Annual Business Plan by Donna Bletzinger
It's that time again: the end of another fiscal year. Time to assess this year's successes and start planning for next year. What does that mean? It means it's time to write your business plan.
A business plan can be hundreds ...
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Five Tips for Small B2B Companies That Depend on Big Channel Partners by Robbie 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 ...
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Webinar Essentials: Five Must-Have Ingredients of Success
by Kimberly SmithFor 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 ...
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Win/Loss Analysis (Part 1)—A Process for Taking Revenue Up a Notch by Laura Patterson
When done properly, win/loss analysis provides clarity and insights into customers' perceptions of your product, experiences throughout the sales cycle, and expectations created by your company messaging.
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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.
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The Myth of Differentiation by Mike Schultz
The "need" for differentiation is so well accepted, it's considered simplistic to even make the case for differentiation. Why make a case for something everyone already knows?
I disagree. Put some further thought in it. Most everything I've read and heard ...
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Four Insights on How to Build Your Brand With Today's Luxury Customer by Suzanne Hader
To inspire long-term relationships with this new breed of luxury consumer, you must understand how they want to relate to your brand.
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MarketingProfs Podcast: Eduardo Conrado, Using Thought Leadership to Position Motorola by Paul Dunay
Eduardo Conrado is the Vice President of Global Business and Technology Marketing & Communications for Motorola. His role encompasses three of Motorola's four primary businesses with revenues of over $17 billion: Home & Networks Mobility, Government & Public Safety, and ...
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18 Web Marketing Concepts That Make a Difference by Jerry Bader
These 18 concepts will give you an edge on your competition—or an edge, period.
So if the same old left-brain thinking that everybody else is using just doesn't get you where you want to be, try these creative concepts on for ...
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PR Persuasion: It's All About the Story—and Positioning by Ford Kanzler
Whether you're attempting to position a company or product as a category leader, gain permission from a community to make changes, or push a law through the legislature, PR needs to tell interesting yet believable stories that make the target ...
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iPhone Debut Rivals Harry Potter Mania... But Will It Last? (Or, Why the iPhone Is Not a Phone) by Paul Paetz
Does the hype of the iPhone equal runaway success? Is the game already won?
Or will there be an equal and opposite reaction when possibility and excitement about the future gives way to reality, and inevitable issues arise with service, ...
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How to Avoid Green Marketing Myopia by Jacquelyn A. Ottman
In 1994, Philips launched "EarthLight," an energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb with a clumsy shape that was incompatible with most conventional lamps; it had a confusing package—and a $15 price tag compared with 75 cents for the incandescent bulbs. Sales ...
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The Bigness of Smallness: How Businesses Can Get Bigger by Acting Smaller by John Moore
When you think about it, nearly every big business began as a small business. Nike's first sale came from the trunk of a car, and Starbucks began its life as a mom-and-pop coffee shop. But a bigger business doesn't always ...
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Premium Store Brands: The Hottest Trend in Retailing by Nirmalya Kumar, Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp
Private labels started as cheap, inferior products and more recently became copycats. Today, best-practice retailers are using "premium store brands" to help position the retailer as a "brand."
In fact, the emergence of the new premium private labels is the ...
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The Devil May Wear Prada, but Everyone Else Wears Isaac Mizrahi by Marti Barletta
Women love fashion. But fashion doesn't love them. Not real women, at least. Most women aren't supermodels—in fact, the average American woman is 5'4", weighs 140 lbs., and wears a size 14. So most American women find the fashion industry ...
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Just Do It: How to Create a Memorable Tagline
by Carrie ShearerTaglines—those few descriptive words that position your brand—set your business apart from the competition and arouse interest in your product or service. The most exceptional taglines can remind potential customers about your brand without mentioning your product, service, or company ...
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Case Study: Smart Marcomm Strategy Enables Precision Manufacturer to Nearly Double Sales in One Year
by Stephanie G. HlavinIn the world of engineers, where numbers and measurable impacts reign supreme, marketing communications may seem like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, a pointless exercise in corporate frivolity. But not to electronics components manufacturer Minco.
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Seven Sure-Fire Ways to Lose an Audience's Attention by Alison Davis
Want to make sure your message doesn't get through? That your campaign disappears without a trace? That your communication program suffers a quick, painful death?
Then be sure to try one of these attention-stoppers.
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Quality, Service, Price: Meaningless Claims That Can Drive Customers Away by Christine Pilch
If people pay attention to what interests them and ignore everything else, how can you break through the clutter with a message that people care about?
All you have to do is press your customers' hot buttons.