During the recession, you've actively adjusted your message to address the needs and concerns of customers and prospects. But have you assuaged the fears of worried employees with similar gusto? If not, consider this: While you won't be able to put everyone's mind at ease, you may be able to improve ... more

Marketers spent record highs on branded content in 2009––allocating on average 32% of their overall marketing, advertising, and communications budgets to the category––up five percentage points from the previous high of 27% recorded in 2007, according to a study from the Custom Publishing Council (CPC). more

"I know I have said it a million times in speeches, articles and in person," writes Dylan Boyd at The Email Wars blog, "but telling someone 'thanks' is one of the best things that you can ever do for your email campaigns." He was particularly impressed by the follow-up he received ... more

When rapper Biggie Smalls released "Ten Crack Commandments," he intended his lyrical advice for entrepreneurs who operate in a niche—and entirely illegal—industry. "The track is meant to be a crash-course for would-be crack dealers," notes Robert Moore at The Metric System blog, "but Biggie's ten commandments actually add up to ... more

You need to fill an open position on your marketing team, and you've lined up interviews for the most promising candidates. But in this economy—with so many people competing for so few jobs—you wonder how truthful each will be about his or her working style. Candidate A might say he loves ... more

What can marketers learn from the smallest of small businesses, a hair salon? You might be surprised: Here is a story of an integrated-marketing and client-service approach that any business would do well to emulate. more

If there's one thing marketers know how to do, it's to make things sound better than they actually are. Consider a drink often requested by Paul Williams at Starbucks—that purveyor of infinitely customizable beverages: Iced, tall, no-shot Americano. Even if you know how to decode Starbucks lingo, you might still ... more

Few companies have been spared the ravages of the recession, but some strategies seem to be working to help small businesses stay afloat. In a recent article at Inc., Elizabeth Wasserman suggests tactics that small retailers might employ to add some ho-ho-ho to the late-holiday sales season—and boost results in the ... more

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has built a reality-television empire with his abrasive style, ready arsenal of barbed insults and propensity for four-letter words. It all adds up to great television. But in the case of Kitchen Nightmares, which focuses on Ramsay's attempts to save failing restaurants, the entertainment is also ... more

If you've ever pitched the idea of creating an email preference center to your team, you know what a tough sell it can be. "I had a meeting this morning where we started to list out all the different country and local laws governing choices across various brand-service agreements," writes ... more

"Some of the most popular features in business magazines, in general, and entrepreneurship magazines, in particular, are the success stories—the articles that describe how an entrepreneur or a company achieved success," says Daniel Faintuch in a post at A Marketer's View. The adulatory tales, he notes, often follow a familiar trajectory: ... more

"The Open Brand" is a power-packed framework and guide for how brands can thrive and participate in a world where the consumer is the creator. Here's a Q&A with one of the authors. more

The typical pre-post measurement is not accurate enough to support major marketing decisions; moreover, if it is not managed correctly and improved, Marketing can take a significant hit on credibility. more

In a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog, Adam Singer summarizes Charlene Li's keynote at Search Engine Strategies San Jose last summer. Co-author of the business bestseller Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, and a MarketingProfs presenter, Li examines the intersection of search and social media. According ... more

You're in the business of communicating, and in the age of Internet-and-mobile, your platforms for doing so have expanded almost exponentially. But here's a down side: From fielding phone calls to checking email to ensuring your personal/company blog and Twitter accounts are well-populated, how do you manage it all? Lucky for you, slews of ... more

Though the recession may be drawing to a close, we are still dealing with the stark reality of very high unemployment rates. Many people have been without work for far longer than they ever thought possible; many others, meanwhile, still have their jobs but live in a state of anxiety ... more

Companies that have fully embraced marketing-performance have marketing organizations that make a more positive impact on business—and are more likely to be market leaders—according to a study conducted by CMG Partners and Chadwick Martin Bailey. more

Warren Katz uses a post at the Elephant Bites blog to discuss the recession-driven microtrend of "glamping"—a freshly coined portmanteau for glamorous camping. In essence, its proponents want the low-budget benefit of a holiday in the great outdoors, but don't care to leave all the luxuries of home behind. "So, who ... more

Last summer, Morgan Stewart of ExactTarget quizzed 2,400 people on their attitudes toward marketing and made an interesting discovery. "70% of consumers who visit Facebook at least once a month and are a 'fan' of at least one company or brand, don't believe they have given those companies permission to ... more

While some believe that the rise of Twitter and Facebook has sounded email's death knell, Jordan Cohen, writing at the Pivotal Veracity blog, disagrees. He takes issue with statements like this one from the Wall Street Journal: "Email has had a good run as [the] king of communications. But its ... more

While acknowledging the damage this recession has done to the personal and professional lives of so many people, Freddie Laker also argues that our dark economic cloud has brought with it a significant silver lining for marketers. "I think this might be the best thing that has happened to our industry ... more

Although football metaphors abound in business, this article explores the idea of "outkicking your coverage," which is when an overly strong player can actually be harmful to a team's performance. "Outkicking" refers to when an exceptional punter kicks the ball so far down the field that the runner for the receiving ... 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," says eROI's Alex Williams in a MarketingProfs article on key takeaways from his podcast with Chad White of Smith-Harmon. As you experience this holiday season's campaigns ... more

Good news: You don't have to lose sight of your brand's tried-and-true persona to participate in the quest for deeper engagement at the new social sites. Just think of the social-media generation as a silver-dish serving of people who already want to talk to you; you just need to make ... more

You might think the best time to launch a new product or service is during an economic golden age, when customers are plenty and eager to spend their not-so-hard-earned cash. But in a post at his blog, Seth Godin says it's much easier to challenge your industry's major players in ... more