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

Earlier this year, when online travel publisher Tripmela was in startup mode, CEO Jared Blank determined that he needed to achieve a $1.50 cost per acquisition if he was going to lead this fledgling to profitability. Here's how he did it. more

Do you want to record a video message for on-demand access? Do you want to do live video from a conference? Or do you have completely different objectives? For marketers who want to put video communication to good use, the key is finding the right tools. Here's a great place to ... more

Does an economic slowdown necessarily mean that business-to-business marketers have to find even more ways to do more with less? Or can a downturn create opportunity for smart marketers to grow and thrive? 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

You have a snazzy new product and need marketing collateral to show it off. You want to rally your sales force around it, and at the same time excite the retailers who'll carry it. Print won't do. But digital will. more

While most people think of public relations as media relations, there are times when either you can't reach your audience through print, broadcast or the Internet, or you need to supplement your media program. That's when you need to think about face-to-face marketing—placing clients directly in front of targeted audiences ... more

B2B sales happen over a period of several months as trust builds between the prospect and the seller. Webinars may be used not just to bring new leads in the door but also to move existing leads through the pipeline to a final contract. Rather than a one-hit approach, you need ... more

Long-term, lifecycle emails train a customer into becoming a better one, and they enhance the relationship between customer and company. It's sometimes hard to sell to the finance group that lifecycle emails work. And now, with trends going toward social networks and word-of-mouth networking, how do lifecycle emails compete? Here are three ... more

This past spring, Mad Mimi's marketing challenge was to create a big splash in the crowded pool of email marketing providers. With no ad budget, the company reached out virally to certain segments of the tech community, including bloggers. The result: a grassroots-driven awareness, positive buzz, and some 300 new ... more

What's this new buzzword "TransPromo" all about? The term is heard more and more frequently in industry circles today, at conferences, trade shows, and even in boardrooms. So just what is TransPromo? more

Last spring, telecom player Tellabs launched its "Get Schooled" video-podcast series as both a way to communicate with customers as well as showcase the depth and breadth of its offerings. Get Schooled did that and more... generating tens of thousands of views, landing a coveted interview, and garnering an industry ... more

Today, leads flow to Marketing from ever-increasing online sources—email campaigns, the company Web site, Google AdWords and Google searches, webinars, online advertising, blogs, and virtual trade shows—as well as from traditional marketing activities. The sheer volume of leads, or "suspects," can be overwhelming. How does Marketing prioritize all these suspects? more

Isn't direct mail pricey? It can be. But don't think that you have to create big, flashy mailers. In fact, when your goal is to generate sales leads, simpler, cheaper formats often work better. Here are five basic direct mail tools that you can use to generate sales leads quickly ... more

You've probably heard phrases such as site optimization, search engine optimization, event optimization, and campaign optimization. A more recent concept with broader application to marketing is the idea of marketing optimization. more

Five years ago, Sydney's Closet sold only plus-size prom dresses. Since then, however, the company has significantly expanded its lines, and it sought to segment its customers to help deliver content and offers that would be specific to their interests and needs. Here's its approach. more

Building a list of responsive subscribers via a Web site that has a bit of traffic and quality content is surprisingly easy. But sometimes, when working with users, we're surprised to see low conversion rates. So, we take a look into just why that might be. Here are five factors ... more

If you're a marketer, every undelivered message translates into lost revenue. Luckily, there are ways to improve the odds of delivery and decrease the chance of running into problems in the first place. The key to email deliverability lies in earning the trust of internet service providers, or ISPs. Because these ... more

When it chose to enter the saturated inkjet market 20 years late, Eastman Kodak had a few surprises up its sleeve. Still, the company found it also needed a little marketing ingenuity if it was to gain market share. more

Nonprofits are confronted with many of the questions that any other enterprise often ponders: How do I connect with my customers? Which communication vehicle will provide my organization with the highest return on investment? How can I determine what my target market wants? While many of our corporate friends have turned ... more

How does a university up its visibility with an increasingly wired target market of both students of alumni? By orchestrating a Web 2.0-focused Web site redesign that set the foundation for an ongoing social media campaign. more

As a result of its online customer community, a company can get much more than basic product feedback. It gains deep insight into the needs of customers, and creates ever-greater customer loyalty by embracing customers as co-designers. Most importantly, the company goes directly to the source for product enhancements, pulling new ... more

Continental Warranty used pay-per-click ads to generate leads by providing free quotes for extended-warranty coverage. But lead volume had plateaued. So it began to profile its web visitors, then direct them to microsites matching their profiles—and nearly doubled leads. more

An engagement between a buyer and a seller begins with a single point of contact. It could be as a sale or an inquiry that, with the appropriate follow-up, can be converted into an ongoing experience for both the seller and the buyer. It is such an experience or set of ... more