The number of leads generated by an outbound-marketing campaign should closely resemble the number of real customer opportunities you have waiting for follow-up, and the type of leads should mirror your ideal customer. As Dom Lindars writes at the Marketbright Blog, "Knowing exactly what you're looking for in a prospect ... more

You wouldn't add random people to your email list without their permission—you know better than that—but perhaps you're willing to take liberties with the email addresses of prominent bloggers like Chris Brogan. After all, you might reason, if he likes what he sees, he might forgive the spam you sent—and share the ... more

If there's anything Second Life has taught us, it's that people like having a place to come back to—a virtual hideaway where you're always well-coiffed and surrounded by friends, and everybody knows your (avatar's) name. Well, here's some good news for mobile marketers: virtual living just got a whole lot ... more

According to DIRECT's Ken Magill, a recent announcement from AOL hints at where Internet service providers' spam-filtering techniques are headed, and "what marketers had better start doing if they want their email lists to continue to perform." Here's the scenario: Until now, senders with consistently low complaint rates earned a coveted ... more

It's become standard fare for software vendors to offer free trials to their prospects when they land on Web pages via search or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. This approach makes sense, since most software packages can't be appreciated fully unless they are experienced first-hand. It's also a super-efficient touch point—one that ... more

You might not have the big-time marketing budget of a major retailer—but as the holiday season peaks, don't forget there's a secret weapon in your arsenal. "Email marketing campaigns are affordable, and can help small retailers to compete with the big boys during this crucial sales period, " says Wendy Lowe ... more

Recently, we talked about what a frosty process B2B cold-calling can be. Well, the next step past the cold call can be just as icy: the cold onsite visit. Odds are, you'll hear the same old grumblings and objections to your sales pitch at your next cold visit that you've ... more

Few companies have been spared the ravages of the recession, but some strategies seem to be working to help small businesses stay afloat. In a recent article at Inc., Elizabeth Wasserman suggests tactics that small retailers might employ to add some ho-ho-ho to the late-holiday sales season—and boost results in the ... more

"Every once in a while," writes Ardath Albee at the Marketing Interactions blog, "I get a bit irked at the irresponsible email practices of companies that play fast and free with their databases." In this case, an email from a marketing solutions company raised her ire by lying to her. Repeatedly. ... more

Marketers need to establish and institutionalize the processes for drawing and communicating Marketing's impact, consistently and repeatedly. That means running with the "big dogs" in Finance, Sales, and the chief executive's seat... and speaking their language, and framing decisions in their terminology. more

The purpose of a pay-per-click (PPC) ad, says Nick Usborne, is "to match a thought in a reader's mind and then move that person forward to your landing page with a click." But here's the catch: You have to do it in 95 characters or less if you're writing a ... more

Get this: 8 in 10 smartphone users say they have trouble accessing content from their handhelds. What's more, they swear they'd spend at least $9 more per month on purchases if the products they wanted were easier to find. The stats come from a survey of both US and UK smartphone ... more

Peruse the blogosphere for email marketing guidance, and you'll discover a number of seemingly inviolate dictums—rules that must not be broken if you aspire to a successful email program. But in a post at the Email Marketing Reports blog, Mark Brownlow argues that many "best" practices are in fact simply ... more

"This call may be monitored for training purposes." We've all heard that message, or something similar, when calling for tech support or customer service. Generally, we accept it. But what if your company prefaced its outbound B2B sales calls with that kind of disclaimer? "This call may be recorded for ... more

"Before the current recession," writes Mark Dolliver in an article at Adweek, "popular wisdom said wealthy people tended to be relatively untouched by the ups and downs of the economy and would keep buying high-end products and services no matter what." Well, times have changed. If your business serves the luxury ... more

US consumers spent $595 million shopping online on Black Friday 2009, an increase of 11% compared with Black Friday 2008—and the second heaviest online spending day to date in 2009—according to comScore. more

Business owner Fran Murdy presented all the symptoms of full-blown Search Overload Syndrome (SOS), Microsoft's term coined in its recent commercials for Bing, when he fessed up in a forum discussion not too long ago at InboundMarketing.com: "I'm in desperate need of help to find keywords for my business." Soon afterward, fellow ... more

On both Black Friday and Thanksgiving this year, the top 500 retail websites recorded decreases in their share of US visits year over year, according to Experian Hitwise. more

Few things are as irresistible as a mobile game that lets players rack points up during waiting-room or bus-ride lulls. But if you're a brick-and-mortar shop, or a restaurant, there isn't much incentive for throwing another branded version of Tetris out into the ether. What to do, what to do? Solution: Hook up ... more

This holiday season, almost half of holiday shoppers (46%) plan to spend less on holiday gifts compared with last year, according to a recent Harris poll. Young consumers are an exception: Just 37% of Echo Boomers (age 18-32) plan to spend less. more

Those of us who check multiple email accounts throughout the day can hardly imagine a world in which people don't read messages as soon as they receive them. But in a post at the Retail Email blog, Chad White reports on a Pivotal Veracity study that found email recipients in August ... more

In a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog, Adam Singer summarizes Charlene Li's keynote at Search Engine Strategies San Jose last summer. Co-author of the business bestseller Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, and a MarketingProfs presenter, Li examines the intersection of search and social media. According ... more

You're in the business of communicating, and in the age of Internet-and-mobile, your platforms for doing so have expanded almost exponentially. But here's a down side: From fielding phone calls to checking email to ensuring your personal/company blog and Twitter accounts are well-populated, how do you manage it all? Lucky for you, slews of ... more

"Having an offer for your products or services that is truly risk-free might be just the ticket you need to really make a difference in your email marketing campaigns," says Janine Popick in a post at her Vertical Response blog. She points to retailers like these that generate customer loyalty and ... more

In March 2008, Amber Duick began receiving email messages from a criminal fugitive who identified himself as Sebastian Fowler. "Amber, mate!" read one missive. "Coming 2 Los Angeles. Gonna lay low at your place for a bit till it all blows over." Over the course of five days, he advised ... more