Stories are what language is built around. They make people lean forward and listen. And if you want your marketing and advertising to be much more engaging, use storytelling. more

MarketingProfs blogger Helena Bouchez interviews another Daily Fix blogger Elaine Fogel about the importance of letting clients know that change is necessary for business growth. more

The key to achieving high rankings in search and creating buzz in social media is solid content. Fortunately, the Web provides free marketing data that can help you create relevant subject matter and learn about your customers. more

In a post at Junta42, Joe Pulizzi discusses communication techniques he developed during frequent public-speaking engagements—300 in five years—and how they influence his online content. "The best idea I can share regarding public speaking is to keep it simple," he says. "To execute that concept, I stole a page from ... more

MarketingProfs guest blogger Brian Whalley explains a 5-slide process for explaining to other folks in your company the results from Internet marketing. more

We all know it: Content rules in today's digital marketplace. Prospects expect to find information about any product or service that strikes their fancy—in a matter of seconds. As a result, the function of the salesperson in this "content-driven environment" has "changed dramatically," John Jatsch writes in an article at ... more

MarketingProfs blogger Ginger Zumaeta discusses how to best reach Latinos by going mobile ... and what that means exactly for companies. more

Quick! Recite the first five billboards you saw on your drive to work this morning. You don't remember, right? OK, how about the first three headlines you saw on your favorite news source? Nope? OK. One last chance: Name one commercial you saw on TV last night. more

MarketingProfs Carrie Shearer reviews Ruth Stevens's book, "Maximizing Lead Generation: The Complete Guide for B2B Marketers" and shares highlights from it. more

MarketingProfs blogger Beth Harte shares her summer reading, including books on reputation, measurement, branding, social media, customer-centric business, and tribes. more

If you're not an SEO expert, you might wonder what to ask when hiring SEO staff or consultants. How do you tell the difference between someone who knows exactly what he or she is doing and someone who just knows a lot of lingo? To help out, Rand Fishkin created an ... more

MrketingProfs guest blogger Kathy Rizzo discusses how to improve the alignment of your sales and marketing teams by jointly defining success, getting input during campaign development, and having regular feedback meetings. more

What makes Foursquare so addictive? Game mechanics—those charming sets of rules built into games to make them fun to play. Implemented strategically at a website, game mechanics can help you engage both passive visitors and enthusiastic users. How might you add game mechanics to your marketing site? Craig Ferrara, Gigya's gaming/UI expert, offers ... more

MarketingProfs blogger Paul Barsch discusses the importance of algorithms but warns about the dangers of too much personalization when presenting information to users. more

MarketingProfs blogger Shelley Ryan shares a fantastic experience at Chico's & how the video she used to express her gratitude created more buzz. If only Chico had participated in the online conversation, too! more

MarketingProfs blogger Mark Ivey talks about the importance of engaging with Google + & gives 7 easy, vital tips for making the most of the new social platform. more

There's the legal definition of spam—as outlined in CAN-SPAM—and then there's the real-world definition used by many of your subscribers: any piece of email I'd rather not receive. Even recipients who went to your website, signed up for your newsletter and confirmed their subscription might hit the spam button over ... more

MarketingProfs guest blogger Paul Prisco discusses how to best reach the baby boomers by offering senior-friendly packaging, type sizes, and icons. more

In April, Altimeter released its latest maturity road map for companies seeking to integrate more social media into their websites. In short, being new-media-savvy these days isn't just about having a Facebook and a Twitter page; it's about understanding how people are expecting to interact with you—and treating them well wherever they engage ... more

MrketingProfs blogger and email expert Stephanie Miller offers ideas adn suggestions for harnessing the power of social sharing to boost your email list. more

MarketingProfs blogger Steve Olenski rants about how businesses are now offering the most basic services while making them seem like extraordinary customer service. more

This article and video are the first in a series that lays out some best-practices not only for radio in a digital age but also for marketing and advertising generally. Many of the principles that the author discusses can just as appropriately be applied to email or social media marketing—or, ... more

MarketingProfs guest blogger Brandy Olson shares some marketing lessons taken from the storage-facility world. more

MarketingProfs chief content officer and blogger Ann Handley highlights the reasons why Google Plus matters and shares an insightful video about the new platform. more

"It's easy to bore your customers to death with email," writes Karen Talavera in an article at MarketingProfs. "Just send them the same type of message repeatedly, and you'll succeed." Many companies, for instance, fall into the easy rhythm of sending e-newsletter after e-newsletter, never adding anything else to the mix. ... more