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- Social marketing techniques such as blogging, wikis, podcasts, twitter, and virtual worlds have given marketers an extraordinary range of opportunities to reach out to audiences. But do these techniques really pay off—or are they just trendy alternatives that offer no measurable return on marketing investment? more
- Nothing irks Steve Roesler more than when a speaker diminishes himself in five words or less. What may seem like courtesy when you're making that B2B sales pitch could actually be blowing your chances to seal a deal. Roesler offers the following examples of words that can kill. (Now, be ... more
- Wiggly Wigglers is a natural-gardening retail company set in the countryside between England and Wales. Its products are not high-tech, but its marketing certainly is. Here's how the company abandoned traditional marketing and instead took up a podcast, a blog, a wiki, and more... and then reaped the results. more
- According to Justin Hitt, B2B sales teams routinely get it wrong when seeking new customers. "The problem is, not every sales person knows who makes a good client," he explains. Among the common errors he sees: Chasing too many prospects. "Successful sales people focus on highly qualified prospects most likely to ... more
- Marketers responsible for lead generation are all too familiar with some common challenges—getting closed-loop feedback from the sales organization, measuring marketing effectiveness beyond just lead quantity and cost per lead, and building strong alignment with the sales organization. As presented in the MarketingProfs' research report, "B-to-B Lead Generation: Marketing ROI and ... more
- Rohit Bhargava is a well-respected marketer and blogger and frequent speaker at conferences, including the upcoming MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer. Here, he shares advice on how to get the most from the conference experience and discusses where social media is headed, as well as how businesses can make the most ... more
- Although more than 80% of high-tech marketers say they have a lead-nurturing strategy, 64% say their strategy needs improvement, according to a February 2008 survey by TeleNet Marketing Solutions. As for which areas of overall lead-generation strategy tech marketers would like to improve in the next year, nurturing of long-term leads ... more
- The vast red and blue oceans of the marketing world tsunamied into our awareness and vocabulary a few years ago, when two professors, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, claimed that competition can be rendered irrelevant. Their book, Blue Ocean Strategy, heralded the news to marketing managers and CEOs all over ... more
- Is your company guilty of throwing dollars at campaigns to increase Web traffic, only to turn around and squander sales opportunities due to poor telephone and email handling? Make sure that your telephone system isn't preventing prospects from reaching out and touching someone at your company. As soon as you finish ... more
- Businesses today are hunkering down. With consumers clutching their wallets more tightly, companies are scrutinizing every budget item in an effort to maintain profitability even as revenues are flat and costs rise. And with marketing commonly viewed as a discretionary spend, it is one of the likeliest victims of the ax. more
- According to a recent white paper from Pontiflex, online lead generation grew 71% in the 2006-2007 timeframe, more than twice as fast as the online ad market. But conducting a good campaign can present "publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies with serious difficulties," says Zephrin Lasker. He offers four tips to "make ... more
- In post at the Neuromarketing blog, Roger Dooley says, "U.S. consumers have been conditioned to believe that proper wine comes in a 750ml glass bottle with a natural cork. Artificial corks and screw cap closures are suspect, to say the least. And box wines are traditionally suited only for penniless ... more
- When the economy gets tight, customers can take forever to reach a buying decision. So, managers think up incentives that will encourage the customer to buy. Whatever lure you use should inspire the prospective customer to edge a little closer to a purchase, which is sometimes easier said than done. more
- Bringing a new product to market is one of the most costly and risky activities that any GM faces. Voice-of-the-customer research and stage gate reviews have improved the odds of achieving success. But do they go far enough? Three important tasks are frequently overlooked even though they offer the ability to identify ... more
- You can improve lead-capture and sales-conversion rates by directing your prospective customers to special Web site landing pages. But you can enjoy even greater success by expanding your landing pages—turning them into microsites—and customizing the home pages and navigation menus of those microsites. more