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This focus on "The What" is exacerbated by some search engine optimization techniques intended to drive traffic rather than to brand product, sell services, or convert traffic into customers. Traffic is important, but converting that traffic into paying customers is more important. Even the best and brightest search engine optimizers ... more
In a post at GrokDotCom, Jeff Sexton puts the winter-holiday quandary in blunt terms: "[Y]ou won't keep profit margins healthy unless you actively take business away from someone—either from direct competitors, or from businesses outside your market/category. If the pumpkin pie gets smaller, you'll have to cut a fatter slice ... more
"Online behavior is not limited to purchasing activity alone," says Sheldon Gilbert in an article at MarketingProfs. "To truly understand someone's buying potential, you need to see more than that. You need to know what they are looking at, what they are searching for and what they have recommended to ... more
As the economy sags, consumers are tightening their purse strings. And that's not good for business. This holiday season, the average customer is looking more and more like Scrooge. What's a marketer to do? Recent research says, it's time to get folks to look to the future. In a recent ... more
Once upon a time, when customers didn't have enough money to make an immediate purchase, they would put it on layaway. Laya-what? you ask facetiously. "Doesn't that involve some kind of a system where you pay for the merchandise BEFORE you take it home?" notes the Direct Dispatch blog. "We ... more
In the two weeks leading up to the November 4 election, email messages came fast and furious from the presidential campaigns of both John McCain and Barack Obama. In the last week, both supporters received at least two emails a day from both campaigns. In evaluating those email messages, I saw ... more
Can asking a question in an ad increase sales? Some will argue vehemently that the use of a question is a non-starter, a pre-ordained copywriting disaster. Craig Huey, founder and president of the award-winning Creative Direct Marketing Group, froths at the idea of a question in sales copy. Nevertheless, a question ... more
Everybody loves referrals. They're easier to close than non-referrals, make quicker buying decisions and tend to be more loyal—in short, they can often become your most profitable customers. Trouble is, referrals are also elusive. Even a likable person with plenty of integrity and knowledge won't see an influx of referrals ... more
Whenever I can, I include telemarketing as part of a comprehensive lead-generation program. When it comes to setting sales appointments, populating a database with decision-maker names, or filling seats at an event, there's no contact method that's more direct or more effective. The results of telemarketing are usually measurable, too, ... more
With the latest seismic shifts in the U.S. economy, it seemed a good time to check back to Jon Miller's "definitive guide to B2B marketing during a downturn," first presented last June in his Modern B2B Marketing blog. Here are seven of Miller's smart tips. 1. Use lead management to maximize ... more
If the popularity of the 3G iPhone is any indication—Apple sold over one million units during its first weekend on the market—the smartphone is here to stay. According to Loren McDonald, this presents something of a quandary for email marketers. While everyone likes the idea of customers having access to ... more
While mobile marketing can be invasive on its own, integration with the larger marketing campaign mix and proper tracking of customer response can ensure that customers are drawn in, rather than turned off, by mobile messages. The mobile medium has achieved staying power as a gateway for marketers to reach customers ... more
When we say "viral marketing" you know exactly what we mean. The question isn't whether to integrate viral elements into your marketing mix, but rather how—and to what degree. But when a profession-specific concept becomes so commonplace so quickly, it's easy to forget that your colleagues and clients might not ... more
In late August, 2.9 million subscribers learned the identity of Barack Obama's running mate with a 26-word text message delivered via SMS (Short Message Service). The announcement joined a trend of strategies employed by the likes of NBC (Olympic coverage), Fox (American Idol) and others. According to R.J. Talyor, the ... more
Even if your email campaigns meet goals and deliver great ROI, you probably wonder how you compare to industry standards. If so, you’re going to love the spreadsheet in a recent blog post from Mailchimp. The company analyzed 271 million emails delivered by its system on behalf of small business ... more
Hewlett-Packard simply handed over a $5,000+ computer prize package to each of 31 bloggers, asking them to give away the prizes to their readers in any way they saw fit. HP trusted the bloggers' influence over the market it wanted to reach—and had faith in their creativity. Turned out, that ... more
Social marketing techniques such as blogging, wikis, podcasts, twitter, and virtual worlds have given marketers an extraordinary range of opportunities to reach out to audiences. But do these techniques really pay off—or are they just trendy alternatives that offer no measurable return on marketing investment? more
Nothing irks Steve Roesler more than when a speaker diminishes himself in five words or less. What may seem like courtesy when you're making that B2B sales pitch could actually be blowing your chances to seal a deal. Roesler offers the following examples of words that can kill. (Now, be ... more
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