A debate has been raging in certain quarters: Should humor be included in sales copy? Is humor disarming and refreshing, or can it actually hurt sales? more

The Saturday after Thanksgiving has been dubbed Small Business Saturday, a day for customers to shop small—at their favorite local stores—and help fuel the economy. How can you use this shopping day to your advantage? more

Is your organization experiencing a critical gap between Marketing and Sales performance expectations and actual results? If so, answer these 10 questions and apply these 10 steps to close the gap and ensure results. more

Need help boosting your landing page conversions? Learn six landing page optimization principles that helped one website nearly double its conversion rate... more

To deliver the critical wow factor that draws people into loyalty programs and keeps them there, marketers must get inside customers' heads to identify what motivates them. Learn five key points about driving customer behavior. more

Today's B2B marketers can't focus only on generating leads and turning them over to Sales. To get results, they need to create effective, targeted programs that hit the right people via the appropriate channel. Here how. more

A third generation of landing pages has emerged over the past year that incorporates ideas from content marketing, social media marketing, and mobile marketing. Learn what features define Landing Pages 3.0. more

Professional services companies that generate a large proportion of business leads via online sources grow faster and more profitably than firms without such lead capabilities, according to a new study by Hinge Marketing, which also found that SEO, blogging, and Web analytics are among the most effective online marketing tools ... more

Facebook recently hosted its annual f8 conference to make announcements about the social network. But the event provided four invaluable tradeshow and event marketing lessons for forward-thinking marketers. more

Today, B2B buyers are busy, busy, busy... doing the work of multiple people. The last thing they have time for is a salesperson who takes a spray-and-pray approach: a generic presentation that's all about the product/service being sold. more

Engaging local target audiences is a strategic focus for many brands: 49% of national marketers surveyed say localized marketing is essential to business growth and profitability, particularly as it relates to demand generation and sell-through of products and services, according to a study by the CMO Council. Moreover, 86% of ... more

You've managed to get people to your site, but how do you get them to convert? Learn three strategies—based on various case studies—for boosting your site's conversion rate. more

One natural tactic (let's admit it) that B2B marketers often turn to when seeking to increase sales is to stuff the pipeline with more leads. But time and again we hear, in response, the following argument: The quality of your leads will beat out quantity every time. As Geoffrey James puts it ... more

Are you letting leads seep out of your sales funnel? Learn how to plug the holes in your funnel, nurture leads into qualified sales opportunities, and boost your company's bottom line. more

Today's product-savvy customers expect more from in-store shopping experiences. Learn why new technologies, knowledgeable salespeople, and stellar service are critical in today's shopping climate. more

As social networking channels gain more and more momentum, there's a good chance you've seen a serious uptick in new inbound leads. "[W]hat happens once you get them?" asks Sammy James at MarketingProfs. "Do your lead-response efforts take advantage of your lead flow? Could your lead-conversion rates use a boost?" ... more

No matter who your customers are or what they desire, 13 human motivators, or "hot buttons," are ultimately responsible for driving sales. To boost sales, learn which motivators and human desires to tap into—and when. more

Customers today are actively engaged buyers, so your approach to the sales and marketing pipeline must evolve. Learn six revised stages for implementing and measuring Marketing's contribution to the pipeline. more

Effectively managing sales leads today is tricky, but not if you understand the problems between Marketing and Sales. Learn which four lead-management strategies could be hindering your success. more

There's more to social networking than just chatting online. Sometimes, you'll want to actively promote your great work live—all while courting new clients and making useful new contacts! Andy Lopata provides tips for launching a successful social business event without breaking the bank or encountering unpleasant surprises along the way. Get ... more

Informative and persuasive sales letters might be difficult to write—but they can pay off big time. Learn five tips for writing engaging, informative, and concise sales letters that'll produce results. more

Though 88% of B2B companies say they understand their target audiences at least moderately well, they still struggle to translate that understanding into new business leads via their corporate websites, according to a new study by Demandbase and Focus. more

To significantly boost sales, you've got to understand base sales drivers and marketing's impact on them. Learn from examples that illustrate how factor analysis can help you yield consistently high ROI. more

Though overall global marketing budgets in the tech sector are increasing 3.5% in 2011, they are not keeping pace with annual revenues in the sector, which are expected to grow 6.5% over 2010 levels, according to a report by IDC. more

"Many have pronounced tradeshow marketing dead," writes Bob Hebeisen at MarketingProfs. "But with the right strategy, hard work, and flawless execution, tradeshows can still be a productive part of your marketing plan." To make the most of your lead-generating budget, he suggests a twelve-step process that takes you from pre-show ... more