"Marketing plans are essential documents for virtually any business," says Tim Calkins in an article at MarketingProfs. "[I]t is hard to do great marketing without a clear plan. Unfortunately, many marketing plans simply don't work very well; they add little value and end up on a shelf, collecting dust." How ... more

Paul Barsch, Marketing Director at Teradata, the business intelligence and data warehousing firm, is responsible for coordinating services engineering teams to define, build, and bring new offers to market. A self-described "information junkie" with over 15 years in marketing for information technology and consulting firms, Paul challenges all marketers to bring ... more

"It's hard to keep those marketing juices flowing if you are feeling bogged down," says Drew McLellan at his Marketing Minute blog. "Sometimes I have to give myself a reprieve. So I cone myself." Say what? It turns out that everyone in McLellan's office has a bright orange traffic cone. If ... more

OK. This one is for the sales managers. Grab a cup of coffee, and take a minute for a quick quiz. Daniel Sitter at the Idea Sellers blog has come up with some key questions to help determine if you're getting the most out of your B2B sales team. "Do ... more

You're in line at a store when the cashier answers the phone, speaks in a snarky tone, rolls his eyes, hangs up and then comments on the caller's stupidity while ringing up your purchase. Anyone would consider this an egregious example of poor customer service—black marks all around. But the Service Untitled ... more

If you're like us, you probably have one of those piles on your desk that keeps being moved from one corner to another. You know, that pile you need to get to but avoid because it will take some real effort to tackle? For many marketing professionals, marketing accountability, analytics ... more

In an ideal world, your entire team would demonstrate the skill and enthusiasm needed to make every marketing campaign a success. Unfortunately, though, you're going to encounter subordinates who don't measure up. In a post at Harvard Business Online, John Baldoni offers some quotes purportedly sourced from actual performance evaluations. Comments ... more

Running a small business can be a risky endeavor, but you don't have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to marketing. Taken from The Reach Group's Free Agent Formula—created by Cheri Hanson, Lisa Johnson and Cassie Pruett—here are the top five mistakes made by entrepreneurs: Creating a business that follows ... more

The top 10 challenges facing the interactive marketing community are very much the same as those facing the entire marketing community... in that almost every marketing professional must address the interactive/online marketing medium. When they are asked about top challenges, many marketers say things like "social media" or "search engine optimization" ... more

Many people think the power to restore our environment—to curb greenhouse gases, to clean up our air and water, to cut down on precious resources' ending up in landfills—lies in the hands of scientists and engineers, or lawyers and legislators. But the real power of green lies in the hands ... more

In a post at Harvard Business Online, John Baldoni says true leadership has little to do with your position on an org chart. Just because you have an executive title, that doesn't mean the people you manage consider you a leader. Earning that respect entails a number of different factors, ... more

Performance management has been applied to various parts of a business for quite a long time, particularly when it comes to manufacturing, logistics, and product development. Applying the concept to marketing is finally coming of age. more

Businesses today are hunkering down. With consumers clutching their wallets more tightly, companies are scrutinizing every budget item in an effort to maintain profitability even as revenues are flat and costs rise. And with marketing commonly viewed as a discretionary spend, it is one of the likeliest victims of the ax. more

In a perfect world, you would have the freedom to identify a problem, brainstorm a solution and implement changes without needing the support and buy-in of your colleagues. Few of us, though, have that luxury. And in a post at the Thingnamer blog, Tate Linden gives his best advice for ... more

Marketers have become masters of segmentation inside our own organizations. We've segmented ourselves into Lead Generators. Message Makers. Brand Stewards. Useful, of course—in fact, indispensable. But indispensable the way facilities management is indispensable. Or travel management. Or any other organization that an enterprise relies on, but cannot be easily shown ... more

Matt Strain is director of worldwide relationship marketing at Adobe, where after just three years he is recognized as a Marketing Champion who adds financial value to the company. He has had a distinguished career in technology marketing. He recently took time to share his thoughts about what makes him ... more

Want to take your performance to that ideal level of highly effective and efficient marketing? It takes better access to detailed data and ROI discipline, but it also comes along with greater growth and better levels of budgets, according to the recently released study. more

Does an economic slowdown necessarily mean that business-to-business marketers have to find even more ways to do more with less? Or can a downturn create opportunity for smart marketers to grow and thrive? more

Bringing a new product to market is one of the most costly and risky activities that any GM faces. Voice-of-the-customer research and stage gate reviews have improved the odds of achieving success. But do they go far enough? Three important tasks are frequently overlooked even though they offer the ability to identify ... more

You have a snazzy new product and need marketing collateral to show it off. You want to rally your sales force around it, and at the same time excite the retailers who'll carry it. Print won't do. But digital will. more

What does "best practices" in Marketing Operations look like, and how do industry-leading companies operate and integrate this highly valuable function? Marketing Operations Partners recently polled more than 80 marketing leaders to find out. more

Last spring, telecom player Tellabs launched its "Get Schooled" video-podcast series as both a way to communicate with customers as well as showcase the depth and breadth of its offerings. Get Schooled did that and more... generating tens of thousands of views, landing a coveted interview, and garnering an industry ... more

Launching new products, services, or segments is the lifeblood of growth for most organizations. Yet, despite its importance, the launch process is often mishandled or assigned inadequate resources. Many of the mistakes that companies make are basic—yet frighteningly frequent and consistent across various types of businesses and industries. Here are six common ... more

JER Envirotech, a manufacturer of environmentally friendly thermoplastic biocomposite materials, needed to stand out in the green manufacturing industry. Its solution: create a white paper to both explain and build credibility for its offerings. Here's how that led to 500 new leads over 60 days. more

Five years ago, Sydney's Closet sold only plus-size prom dresses. Since then, however, the company has significantly expanded its lines, and it sought to segment its customers to help deliver content and offers that would be specific to their interests and needs. Here's its approach. more