Consumer frustration with website performance during peak traffic times negatively affects business results: 78% of consumers have switched to a competitor's site due to poor Web performance during peak times, according to a new survey from Gomez. more

During uncertain economic times, acquiring new business is the biggest challenge facing B2B companies: 38% of a small group of multichannel executives surveyed cite cost-effective customer acquisition as their highest concern this year, according to a recent survey from MeritDirect. more

Looking for ways to create a proposal that sets you and your company favorably apart? Ways that capture the great things you have to offer? Here are six suggested best-practices intended to not only maximize your chances to stand out and land the job but also manage the risks. more

"They say an Internet year is … equivalent to seven normal years," says Kevin Gibbon in a post at SEOptimise—meaning that we can witness seven real-world-years' worth of change in one year online. To help search marketers keep up, Gibbon offers seven ways to stay on top of the competition in the ... more

Sweet news, hardcore Twitter users! Hootsuite—the Twitter management tool developed with marketers in mind—just released an app for the iPhone. That means you can now access the handy features of Hootsuite in any old roost! We first covered Hootsuite shortly after Canadian company Invoke Media launched the adorable owl-themed service. It made ... more

"Several months ago I was meeting with a Director of Marketing Operations and we were reviewing their corporate lead qualification process," says Carlos Hidalgo in a post at the Annuitas Group blog. "As he explained how they qualify leads, I asked him if sales and marketing agreed on the definition ... more

Remember when we told you about Twitcam, the service that lets you stream live video via Twitter? This is kind of like that, but with more oomph and less lag. Say hello to tinychat, which lets you host live Web meetings, TV shows, music jam sessions—or whatever else you wanna do ... more

Some companies seem addicted to email campaigns that shout breathless, time-sensitive offers. Each week, it seems, they tell subscribers about special deals that simply can't be missed—only to make a similar offer the following week. In a post at the Email Marketing Reports blog, Mark Brownlow provides a screenshot with 19 emails ... more

In the world of B2B marketing, what would you say your customers want most from you? Some of the obvious things are quality products, great service, reasonable prices, and solutions that increase profits. But what would they really want if they could have anything from you? How about more customers? more

Organizational challenges can be the silent killer to achieving relevance in direct digital marketing, placing constraints on innovation and on the adoption of technology and best-practices, or limiting the manpower to create compelling campaigns and programs. You can do everything else right, but failure to address organizational challenges can torpedo an ... more

During challenging economic times, buyers look for value. The more value you provide, the more likely you are to become the provider of choice. Presentations offer you excellent opportunities to provide that value at different stages of the sales cycle. Here are five ways to create more value in your ... more

Although companies know they need a marketing message that stands out in the marketplace, 62% of executives rate their company's message as average to poor and only 38% say their company has a differentiated story, according to a survey from Corporate Visions. more

We recently encouraged businesses to expand their local search horizons and add more local flavor to their national search campaigns. Now, in a post at the Content Rich blog, Jon Wuebben offers more arguments for growing local roots in your search campaigns.  Wuebben quotes Neg Norton, president of the Yellow Pages Association, who ... more

Nearly two-thirds of marketers (64%) say they define success differently in the economic downturn while over one-half (55%) say emphasis on short-term responses to the economic slowdown has led them to neglect long-term strategy, according to a survey from Spencer Stuart. more

You're probably familiar with the story of The Little Mermaid. In this classic tale of unrequited love, a girl exchanges her voice for the chance to be close to a prince. It's a parable about finding the right voice amid the melee. Faced with a plentitude of uncertainties about social media, ... more

"B2B marketing is harder than B2C marketing," says Kyle Flaherty at the Dance With Strangers blog. Why? Because "B2B marketing is really B2C2C2C2C2C marketing," he explains. On the surface, B2B marketing appears "fairly mundane," Flaherty says. "One business communicates with another." The only problem is, "I have never in all of ... more

Billy Mays, who, sadly, passed away at age 50, was a potbellied, black-bearded Atlantic City carnival barker who wore a blue long-sleeve shirt and a white undershirt. And direct marketers loved him. According to Mays, to be great and an easy sell, a product must have these five essential character ... more

What do bartenders and websites have in common? Both need to be optimized to succeed. So says Jill Whalen in an amusing article at Search Engine Land. She demonstrates how the rules of optimization may dually apply to 'tenders and 'sites alike: Rule #1: Optimization shouldn't turn people off.  ... more

Belgian beer label Stella Artois has added a splash of engagement to its marketing strategy with Le Bar Guide. Developed by Acrossair, Le Bar Guide is a free app that points users to the nearest bar serving Stella. Run searches by ZIP Code, or switch the augmented reality feature on—and have ... more

More than ever, a successful lead-generation program relies on a steady stream of new content. And since the pressure to produce high-quality whitepapers and blog posts can be intense, Ardath Albee recommends the "Rule of 5" to ease your load and maximize results. "The Rule of 5," she explains at the ... more

Last summer, a happy couple sent ripples through the Net when their video, JK Wedding Entrance Dance, hit YouTube. The video depicted a wedding entourage dancing down the aisle to Chris Brown's "Forever," concluding with the bride cutting the rubber in the general direction of her nervous, but giddy, groom. Great ... more

"Retailers have complained incessantly about unfair competition from e-commerce stores," writes Mark Riffey at the Business is Personal blog, "but not enough have done something about it." Online shopping is undeniably convenient and efficient. After all, customers can browse, comparison-shop and make purchases from the comfort of their favorite chair. But—despite ... more

With Q4 looming, along iwth company revenue targets for the year ahead, this company faced the perennial dilemma common to B2B marketers: how to fill the sales funnel with quality leads now to get a jump on sales-cycle activity in January. A classic direct-mail package and a brilliantly simple strategy ... more

Salespeople rely on strategies such as "sell the value" or to "value-add"—neither of which produces sustainable advantage. They do so because it's hard to achieve genuine differentiation based on something the customer values. But suppose salespeople were able to create highly differentiated offerings that provide real value that competitors can't ... more

Your own keyword analytics data is the most valuable marketing asset of your company, says WordStream’s Larry Kim in an article at MarketingProfs. The data contained in the keyword report from your Web-analytics application—which tells you how people are finding your site through paid and organic search—comprise a far more effective ... more