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Mick Jagger sang, "I can't get no satisfaction," and that's apparently how many SEM professionals feel about their efforts these days. A recent report from [x+1] found that even though organizations are still investing as much if not more in SEM during this down economy, they have been somewhat unhappy ... more
Mark Brownlow of Email Marketing Reports says he learned a thing or two while working in a cardboard-box factory as a teenager. "The first was the importance of proofreading," he says. "There are not a lot of alternative uses for 200,000 boxes advertising ‘Premium banannas.’ " Another lesson was the ... more
News flash: mascara is recession-proof! At present, the most popular and recession-resilient videos on YouTube come from the "makeup tutorial" subgenre. Now, don't let those $5 words fool you: this cottage industry is composed of girls barely out of their teens, producing tutorials on everything from applying mascara with a ... more
"How much do you know about your customers right now, at this moment?" asks John Kembel in an article at MarketingProfs. You can't depend solely on the static nature of composite profiles, he argues, when the current downturn has put needs and attitudes in a state of flux. "[Y]ou need ... more
"Lately," says Ken Magill in a post at DIRECT, "I regularly get messages from frustrated email managers whose bosses are trying to prod them into doing something self-destructive." It seems they're dealing with upper management who believe that doubling frequency will double profits, and that anything is fine as long ... more
"I predicted back in January that 2009 would be the year of the email marketer," says Stephanie Miller in a post at the Daily Fix blog. "Times got rough mid-last year, and executives were scrambling to maintain revenue and keep customers happy." As a result, she thought, the low investment ... more
One reason social media sites have caught on like wildfire among users is that, by and large, they operate on basic principles of social decency. Now, be honest: Do your social-media skills match the subtle standards set at sites like Twitter and YouTube? Not sure? Well, here are a few site-inspired rules ... more
Surefire lead nurturing may well be the Holy Grail of B2B marketing. Marketers remain in constant pursuit of the golden tactics that will consistently convert prospects into paying customers. Well, sound the trumpets! A recent whitepaper from DemandGen Report and Marketo, "Calculating the Real ROI from Lead Nurturing," may help ... more
In an article at MarketingProfs, Josh Nason suggests you might be letting valuable customer data go to waste. "In every campaign that you send out," he says, "you should have direct links to specific pages on your website, helping you gauge and track what's moving the meter in your emails ... more
It's tough out there. Budgets are being cut. Markets are shrinking. Prospects aren't buying the way they used to. But you can still sell effectively. You just have to think differently. The message is important, but it's effective only if the right people read it. The process that you use to ... more
B2B buying has changed: Customers have more control than ever over what information they see—and choose to dismiss. They're also using social media to learn about technology and solution providers. In an interview posted on the Modern B2B Marketing blog, Kristin Zhivago offers insights to help marketing and sales organizations ... more
"Email programs tend to start with slow and cautious frequency, produce easy ROI, and become stars," says Karen Talavera in an article at MarketingProfs. The problems start, though, when management decides that more email would be even better. "[A]s with all good things," she notes, "increased consumption eventually leads to ... more
Marketing analytics used to simply be about measuring the hits on your website and the number of opens and clicks on emails. But as marketers we know that the times are changing. Today, marketers must find a way to manage leads through the lead life cycle, which requires visibility into how ... more
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed leveraging site-search data about the terms your customers use on your site and the items they click on most in your search engine optimization and paid-search efforts, email marketing, and other promotional campaigns. Here, in Part 2, we'll talk about how to put ... more
Does your website feel like a wallflower these days—left out of the online marketing party? Are you seeking in vain those "rich anchor text" links from other websites or blogs that might boost your site into the ranks of the Internet in-crowd? Gaining those much-prized inbound links is an important way to ... more
You've probably heard the term emotionally unsubscribed to describe those who never seem to open your email messages, but continue to receive your campaigns because they never ask to be taken off your list. In a post at the UK DMA Email Marketing blog, however, Dela Quist argues for an alternative ... more
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