- Marketers: Don't Just Buy Media—Earn It! by Ben Straley
Want to get started with an effective earned-media marketing program? Here are three tips for launching, measuring, and monetizing a low-cost earned-media program that will drive a surge in online word-of-mouth traffic about your brand.
- Green Marketing Claims: Whom Do You Trust? by Jacquelyn A. Ottman
Deservedly or not, industry these days is accused incessantly of greenwashing.
It's not surprising, for several reasons, that industry isn't trusted to make truthful green marketing claims and provide information that is credible, straightforward, and useful.
So how do we restore trust ...
- How to Bridge the Marketing-Staffing Gap by Eva Wu
If the company you work for is like many companies in today's economic climate, it isn't hiring too many people and its marketing budget has been cut. Employees are being asked to do more with less.
Now more than ever, however, ...
- Why You Are Unpopular Online: Six Ways to Doom Your Community-Building Efforts
by Mack CollierCompanies 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 ...
- Affiliate Marketing: How to Boost Sales and Minimize Risk
by Kimberly SmithAffiliate 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.
- 13 Essential Social-Media 'Listening Tools' by Clay McDaniel
You're a marketer who's hip to the idea of social media: You have a blog, you know Facebook inside and out, and you can Tweet with the best of them. But the big question is, Are you listening as well ...
- Online Reputation Management: A View From the Top by 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 ...
- Secrets of Viral Video: Three Keys to Launching a Campaign That Resonates
by Kimberly SmithVideo 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 ...
- 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 ...
- Whether and How to Build a Branded Customer Community
by Kimberly SmithFirst, 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."
- Five Ways to Supercharge Your Mobile Marketing by Iain McCready
At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the Consumer Electronics Association announced it expects mobile phone unit sales in 2009 to grow some 31 percent in North America, with global unit sales reaching approximately 1.2 billion.
The announcement validates the mobile ...
- How to Measure Engagement on Twitter—and Savor the Tweet Smell of Success by Jim Sterne
If you are on Twitter to represent your company, your boss will probably soon ask you to prove the value that your tweets have to your business, if he or she hasn't already asked.
So how do you know whether your ...
- Win Through a Social Contract: Use Teamwork to Create Value, Develop New Strategy, Iterate Quickly, and Implement by Nilofer Merchant
People succeed together because they share a unified sense of purpose and a common vision for what they need to do. This unified sense of purpose comes from core beliefs.
Core beliefs help a team to create together because they share ...
- The Top 4 Ways Smart Marketers Use Digital Branding Applications to Operate More Efficiently by Allen Adamson
As part of the research I did in preparation for my recent book, BrandDigital, I interviewed some of the best and brightest people in the fields of marketing and digital technology, and they provided incredible insight on how digital tools ...
- The Dark Side of Twitter: What Businesses Need to Know by Michael Stelzner
As companies tighten their ad spending, inexpensive social media is clearly the next marketing frontier. As with any new craze, there are enormous opportunities. And with them come giant pitfalls that must be avoided.
- Leverage the Voice of the Consumer by Evan Gerber
There are a number of ways to measure the success of a Word-of-Mouth marketing campaign on the Web. Start by looking in the right place: where the target audience congregates online.
- Microconnecting With Your Customers via Microblogging: Q&A With Connie Reece by Mack Collier
There's a new kid on the social media block that's starting to garner a lot of attention from companies.
Microblogging sites, such as Twitter, are increasingly becoming a companion to an existing blog—or a standalone strategy for businesses that are using ...
- Clearing the Air About Word-of-Mouth by Deborah Eastman
Michael Antman's recent article, "Six Reasons Word-of-Mouth Doesn't Work," struck a chord. He raises reasonable points about the limitations of WOM; after all, it can't completely replace other forms of marketing communications.
However, we can't ignore the impact of WOM. What's ...
- Six Reasons Word-of-Mouth Doesn't Work by Michael Antman
Is there any form of marketing communications more compelling than word-of-mouth, the enthusiastic and genuine recommendation of a person you like and trust? It's no wonder that virtually every business-to-business marketer prizes this organic, spontaneous, and—perhaps best of all—practically cost-free ...
- How Boar's Head Is Defending Its Brand Against the Old Flimflam: Six Steps to Empowering Your Customers by Glenn Gabe
This is a tale of flimflam and a unique way that Boar's Head is battling it. Given the power of word-of-mouth, it's hard to overlook the potential of how Boar's Head is empowering its customer base. (And see how you ...