The day just ended, and you can't stop thinking about the cool new feature that may improve your online venture. Basic questions keep popping up. Is it going to bring more visitors? Is it going to improve their experience? How much is it going to cost? And then, you recall ... more

Sandra Zoratti, vice-president of worldwide marketing of the soon-to-be-formed InfoPrint Solutions Company, a Ricoh/IBM joint venture, added interactive marketing to the InfoPrint Solutions Company marketing mix to multiply the reach of the sales force in pursuit of the coveted small and medium-sized business market. Here is an overview of Sandra's ... more

If you're like most marketers, you're probably struggling with the best ways to help your salespeople have more meaningful conversations with customers and prospects. Here are five quick tips for creating scripted conversations to help salespeople more effectively communicate your company's business value to customers and prospects. more

With spring comes not only a new season but a "sticky" new segment. Book Club is back for "Round Three" with the hottest book of the year, "Made To Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath. "Made To Stick" analyzes why some ideas survive while many others die. But that's not ... more

In an era of increasing federal regulation and greater competition in the mutual fund market, a financial firm found itself needing to modernize its marketing efforts. Rydex Investments, a private company that sells funds and other financial products primarily to institutional investors, decided to try some new techniques to get ... more

The customer development group at a large, publicly held high-tech company needed a central repository of data to help identify satisfied customers willing to be references when sales associates approached new prospects. By putting together a customer reference management database filled with relevant data on customers, the company was able to ... more

CEO "dashboards" can be a great way to shed light on customers and sales process performance and get feedback on how you as the CEO are performing your role. CEOs who want to know sooner what will be coming down the pike later will design a dashboard to track the following. more

Many CEOs say that the way marketing happens in their organizations is ineffective. What's more, many CEOs believe that within the management teams and employees at companies they have worked in, marketers are focused on the wrong things. So what really matters to CEOs? more

Issues like inbox deliverability or rendering are not the real problems that confound email marketers. Here's the real issue: Most companies are uninformed about email-marketing best practices and lack in-house expert resources. But because even poorly done email tends to perform fairly well, companies don't realize how much money they ... more

Yet another responsibility has been added to the CEO's already considerable load.... Because we live in an increasingly complex world, and the sales organization is the most critical link to the customer, it should be the driving force. That's why the CEO must understand every aspect of the sales process—to ... more

A civil engineering firm with a tremendous reputation faced a major challenge: It had grown its business by repeat business and referrals, and now some of its best clients were beginning to retire. The company was losing market share. By implementing a "voice of the customer" survey and then creating marketing ... more

There are an ever growing number of opportunities for PR people to take advantage of the next generation web. More efficient, more effective, more creative means of launching products and services have to be implemented beyond the tired old standby—the static press release. more

How can management -- from CEOs, CMOs and the rest of the alphabet soup of corporate executives -- run successful companies if they lack people skills? more

Marketing effectiveness—achieving it requires an organization with the resources and know-how to achieve the fine balance between the art and science of marketing. In other words, it take a little of both to create marketing programs that meet measurable business objectives. Here are seven hurdles to marketing effectiveness, along with proven ... more

Dunderson, a Swedish manufacturer of high-end urban clothes, wanted to expand its clientele to the key US market. Since the vast majority of its business came from third-party retailers selling to European consumers, it had limited exposure to Americans—mostly through one retail outlet in New York City. At the same ... more

Never before have business-to-business (B2B) marketers faced such enormous pressure in their jobs. With competition intensifying and prospective customers becoming increasingly elusive, companies are demanding that marketers deliver measurable results. Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are now expected to demonstrate the impact of their actions and the return on their investments. ... more

How companies deal with negative experiences is just as important as creating positive experiences. In light of the recent pet-food poisoning cases, several companies have taken the lead in reassuring pet owners that they are being proactive in responding to concerns. Which is good: Reacting immediately and proactively is not an ... more

This week, how do you create a sense of urgency when comes to contacting prospects and following up with clients? Join the conversation! more

Fast food consumers are rarely loyal—if they see a shorter line across the street, that's usually where they'll go. Accordingly, Miami Management—which owns 16 Wendy's franchises in Kentucky—implemented new technology that changes the drive-thru process by adding multiple lanes and a remote order center. The long-term payoff: quicker, more accurate ... more

Congratulations! The lead machine is up and running. Your marketing programs are bringing in new prospects and you're starting to have an impact on the revenue line. You have a bigger budget this quarter, and more target audiences to add to your list. The stakes just got higher. With untested ... more

This week, the Lenskold Group and MarketingProfs released results of our new survey on marketing accountability, measurements, and ROI. The 2007 Marketing ROI and Measurements Study focuses on the difference between companies using profitability metrics and those using traditional marketing metrics with no financial metrics. Among other findings, the research ... more

Creative accounting is certainly an ill-advised proposition, but in most other areas of business, from manufacturing to marketing to management, creative thinking often represents your most valuable, viable opportunity to differentiate your company from the competition. With indistinguishable offerings saturating many industries, creativity might even be your most important asset. ... more

Many business owners or CEOs have not taken the time to educate themselves about what marketing is, and what it should be doing for them. Sometimes, even those who have lack a good grasp on a good and accurate definition of marketing. Why does this happen? And what can we ... more

When Dutch Internet company Rhinofly needed new designers, project managers, and programmers, the company didn't want to use traditional job boards because in the past they hadn't been effective in attracting qualified candidates. To target the best tech-savvy job candidates, Rhinofly created a video capturing the essence of the company ... more

The Exodus story tells us about one of the world's first CEOs. With Passover beginning the night of April 2, it seems fitting to look at Moses' strengths and weaknesses. Was he a good leader? Did he market freedom and the Promised Land successfully? Whether your religious traditions embrace the Old ... more