While the blogs we highlight are a great resource for email marketers, you might also benefit from the more in-depth guidance of downloadable whitepapers. Companies have discovered the marketing advantage of offering free whitepapers to prospects, and some of those papers are worth a look. ExactTarget's One-to-One Marketing Field Guide ... more

When you have customers scrambling to make ends meet, or cutting back on unnecessary expenditures, it might seem foolhardy to let them set prices for your product or service. But Sam Lippert of the Java Street Cafe in Kettering, Ohio, took a chance on that risky strategy. He told diners ... more

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

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

As B2B budgets tighten, CFOs are becoming more demanding. Show me the results! Justify the expense! What more can a CMO do? In a recent post at the Marketing Interactions blog, Ardath Albee offers some words of advice on producing the cold, hard facts that CFOs are desperate to see ... more

We can't escape bad news—story after story about layoffs, closures and falling profits. It's only natural that employees are worried about the safety of their jobs. "Am I next?" they undoubtedly wonder, and they deserve an accurate picture of your company's health. In a post at Harvard Business Online, John Baldoni ... more

While most retailers have experienced various degrees of tumult during this recession, the picture isn't entirely gloomy. A recent survey by Internet Retailer, for instance, shows many online-only businesses have maintained—or are improving—their email marketing conversion rates. Of the 275 retailers surveyed: 56.4 percent report their ... more

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

Last year, Southwest Airlines refused passage to two young women for obnoxious behavior. The ladies immediately went out and told the press they weren't permitted aboard because they were "too pretty to fly"—sparking a media-driven feeding frenzy on Southwest's precious brand equity. It didn't matter that it wasn't true. It ... more

"It's not news to anyone in our industry that we're having to take on changes of tectonic proportions," Gavin Hilton says in a recent post at the RAPP Blog. The RAPP direct marketing agency serves a range of clients worldwide. The debate still rages, Hilton notes, as to which creative "silo" ... more

A recent television spot for a major insurance company—set to the wistful tinkling of a piano—opens with evocative images from the Great Depression. "1931 was not exactly a great year to start a business," says spokesperson Dennis Haysbert. "But that's when Allstate opened its doors." "And in the twelve recessions ... more

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

"For several months," says Lori Feldman in an article at MarketingProfs, "I've been asked almost weekly to help someone who's just lost a paycheck to find their next one." Sound familiar? When it first happens to our friends and family, we're very sympathetic—after all, we may be next on the ... more

Did you know that the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004? Did you know that today's learner will have 10 to14 jobs by the age of 38? Did you know that we are now preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist and will use ... more

In Part I, we suggested a few cuts to make in your current marketing budget to help keep your bottom line healthy during these tough times. Now let's take a look at a few line items you should probably keep intact—or even fund a bit more. According to Pat LaPointe ... more

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

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

The need to better align the sales and marketing organizations is generally well known. They are connected through their shared roles in motivating customer-purchase activities and divided by different cultures that concentrate on distinct portions of the customer-purchase funnel. There's no doubt that alignment is good, but what must you ultimately ... more

At a fraction of the cost of traditional media, 3M Canada not only generated immediate sales and new excitement around its Scotch Tape brand but also gathered invaluable intelligence about its target market and forged long-term relationships with consumers. more

You closely monitor the results of your paid-search efforts. Shouldn't you do the same for your natural-search program? In a recent MarketingProfs article, Netconcepts' John Thielmann says measuring your natural search performance is not only a good idea, it's imperative if you're reporting progress to higher-ups. So, where to begin? By establishing ... more

"For too long, too many marketers have underestimated the value of email's impact on offline retail," say Lisa Harmon and Alex Madison in a post at the Email Experience Council blog. If you focus entirely on generating online sales, they argue, you might be missing out on bricks-and-mortar opportunities. They've ... more

"Now more than ever, the email channel in particular is being asked to contribute higher revenue," says Stephanie Miller in a post at the Daily Fix blog. "Yet, we all must make that happen with existing (or lower) resources." Reaching that goal requires innovation, and Miller reports on a number ... more

Welcome to MarketingProfs' inaugural issue of Marketing in a Downturn. We are glad you signed on to receive these once-a-week guides to navigating rough economic seas—and safely making it through to the upturn. We will chart this course together. But if you wish to opt out, just click on the link below. ... more

If our current economic situation can teach us anything, it's that we really can't carry on in personal finance or business (or politics, for that matter) without keeping our wits about us. Check out this great 11-minute video by Jonathan Jarvis that explains leveraging, credit default swaps, and how we ... more

Good PR doesn't come cheap, and if you're not seeing results from your agency, it's only natural to consider other options. But before firing your agency, Todd Defren at the PR Squared blog asks whether you've lost faith in its senior management, or in the team handling your account. Your ... more