Supply-chain software provider Kinaxis needed to reel in more customers, so it created a comedy video series, which soon became its most popular online content. The videos drew record site traffic and conversions, as well as doubling RSS subscriptions to the company blog within the first month. more

While the blogs we highlight are a great resource for email marketers, you might also benefit from the more in-depth guidance of downloadable whitepapers. Companies have discovered the marketing advantage of offering free whitepapers to prospects, and some of those papers are worth a look. ExactTarget's One-to-One Marketing Field Guide ... more

So you say you're still a bit iffy about investing in Facebook's panoply of paid brand offerings (virtual gifts, banner ads, homepage takeovers)? Not to worry: we've done some legwork for you, and turned up some freebies at the site that could actually serve your marketing plan to a "T." ... more

Congrats! You've created a terrific whitepaper, and now you're adding a download link to a free copy of it on your landing page. All your prospects have to do is enter their email addresses, and voila! Instant whitepaper! Perfect B2B lead generation, right? Well, not quite so perfect, says ... more

Mainstream is not a target market. In fact, by trying to blandly appeal to everyone, you wind up not really appealing to anyone in particular. Yet, in many companies, "niche" is a dirty word, right up there with "polarizing." more

With the widespread use of technical lingo—words like segment, list, database—sometimes it's easy for email marketers to forget about the actual human being on the other side of the Send button. "[W]e're not just delivering to inboxes," Karen Talavera reminds us in a MarketingProfs article, "we're communicating [with] individuals." Here ... more

It was just a month ago that Apple reached the prestigious mark of 1 billion downloads from its iPhone App Store—a huge milestone. The enormous number of downloaded apps elicits the question: How much money has Apple really made from paid apps? more

When the latest marketing answers fail to produce the results you expect, maybe it's time to start asking different questions. You don't need me to tell you that we're in a crisis of confidence: Consumers don't believe or act on the information we give them in the ways we'd hope, so ... more

You've probably made a practice of asking customers to review your products, but are you using their praise to its full advantage? "Recently," says Kelly Lorenz at the Bronto blog, "I have seen an uptick in retailers utilizing customer reviews to sell products in their emails." Why? Because user-generated reviews ... more

Last month, talk of Volvo invaded the blogosphere when the company embedded live Tweets into a YouTube banner ad for its XC60 model. The feed kept viewers abreast of live coverage of the NY Auto Show, then gave them the option to follow Volvo on Twitter. It's a simple enough ... more

While most retailers have experienced various degrees of tumult during this recession, the picture isn't entirely gloomy. A recent survey by Internet Retailer, for instance, shows many online-only businesses have maintained—or are improving—their email marketing conversion rates. Of the 275 retailers surveyed: 56.4 percent report their ... more

For decades, the prevailing wisdom was that nonprofits should learn from for-profit enterprises how to become "more businesslike." Many nonprofits thus embraced best practices in branding, marketing, service delivery, money management, and leadership. They have also learned how to keep different business models running simultaneously. To be successful in all these ... more

Capturing the experiences of your most successful customers not only boosts your credibility but also educates buyers and shows them the payoff of your solutions. Here are 25 ways to use customer success stories in your sales and marketing to increase buyers' trust. more

Today's buyer is in control. This transition means that our sales teams are no longer required as a conduit of information. Industry websites, vendor sites, blogs, social media, and search all make the required information readily available and, by doing so, leave the sales representative out of the room. As a ... more

Occasionally people may buy on impulse. Often, however, they go through a recognizable purchase cycle. "By targeting specific cycle stages, advertisers can increase relevancy by delivering appropriate messages at the right time," says Page Zero Media's Mona Elesseily in an article at Search Engine Land. Here are her definitions of the five ... more

We hear lots of advice about maintaining a clean list, and much of it centers on how to handle subscribers who seem uninterested in your messages. At a certain point, you might decide it's time to take them off your list. Before you do, though, consider these four "hidden" segments ... more

When subscribers open email messages, you have about seven seconds to answer their most important question: "What's in it for me?" According to Steve Adams, the best way to prove value is to deliver great content again and again. Here are three time-tested rules to keep in mind when writing ... more

Part 1 of this article series examined the purpose, definition, and metric associated with win/loss analysis. This final part discusses getting started, questions to include in the discussion, when and how to conduct the analysis, and using the findings more

Companies are realizing that in today's competitive business environment, marketers must go beyond the status quo of a Web site that acts like a brochure if they are to induce user behavior and enter the world of opportunity outside of counting visitors and click-throughs. The trick is to combine both art ... more

If you've noticed an unusual drop in open rates for messages sent to Gmail accounts—and for B2C companies, this could represent a large percentage of subscribers—it's probably not your fault. "There's growing evidence that Gmail is disabling images for senders that users had previously whitelisted and enabled images for. Near-term, ... more

Jon Miller wrote an interesting article for MarketingProfs last summer that deserves a second look. Its title: "The Definitive Guide to B2B Marketing in a Recession." ('Nuff said?) One point that stands out in the article is this: a downturn is no time to be faint of heart. Instead, Miller ... more

In Part I, we suggested a few cuts to make in your current marketing budget to help keep your bottom line healthy during these tough times. Now let's take a look at a few line items you should probably keep intact—or even fund a bit more. According to Pat LaPointe ... more

The need to better align the sales and marketing organizations is generally well known. They are connected through their shared roles in motivating customer-purchase activities and divided by different cultures that concentrate on distinct portions of the customer-purchase funnel. There's no doubt that alignment is good, but what must you ultimately ... more

At a fraction of the cost of traditional media, 3M Canada not only generated immediate sales and new excitement around its Scotch Tape brand but also gathered invaluable intelligence about its target market and forged long-term relationships with consumers. more

You closely monitor the results of your paid-search efforts. Shouldn't you do the same for your natural-search program? In a recent MarketingProfs article, Netconcepts' John Thielmann says measuring your natural search performance is not only a good idea, it's imperative if you're reporting progress to higher-ups. So, where to begin? By establishing ... more