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"Too often, we are looking for silver-bullet systems or recipes for success, while ignoring the basics," says Bill Rice in a post at the Better Closer blog. "In my experience, 90 percent of big sales improvement comes from getting back to the basics." What are the tried-and-true basics of B2B marketing—those ... more
"It's a battle of the plans, and the person with the stronger plan wins," says Steven Kraner at Hightechguru.com, and it's the main reason why high-tech salespeople fail. Technology buyers are often formally trained to manage salespeople, extract as much information as possible and maintain control over the sales process. ... more
"The holiday season is the most important time of year for retailers, when aggressive goals are set for increased traffic and sales, both in-store and online," says eROI's Alex Williams in a MarketingProfs article on key takeaways from his podcast with Chad White of Smith-Harmon. As you experience this holiday season's campaigns ... more
Even though things are starting to look up, companies are still a bit wary about spending limited dollars in a tough economy. Might there be a devilish tactic lurking somewhere out there that will break through their uncertainty? Susan Fantle says yes. In a recent post at the B2BMarketingSmarts ... more
When you have products or services that customers don't buy on a regular basis—for instance, big-screen televisions or luxury excursions on the Orient Express—targeted email offers based on previous purchases may not be the best way to determine what they want next. That's why Sean Duffy of the UK-based EmailCenter ... more
"If you're interested in building a flourishing online brand and website that generates links and traffic organically as part of your Internet marketing efforts, it's important to develop an active base of subscribers and fans," says Adam Singer in a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog. Here are a ... more
A question many small businesses face when money is tight is whether to invest in pay-per-click (PPC) search marketing or search engine optimization (SEO). The answer, says Claudia Bruemmer in a recent blog post, is both. "Start a PPC campaign to gain visibility in the search engines and define the ... more
According to Madison Riley and Brooks Kitchel of Kurt Salmon Associates, retailers often respond to sluggish sales by slashing prices and hoping to beat the competition on value. But there's a problem. "Contrary to the common practice of deep discounting in troubled times," they argue, "competing on compelling products is ... more
In a Pro article at MarketingProfs, Kathryn Roy discusses seven infectious diseases often found in B2B marketing efforts. And she not only explains how to diagnose each disorder but also provides cures that can lead a campaign back to health. Here are a few examples: Glitzitis: This "refers to companies that ... more
"Many senior sales executives are still looking for a predictable flow of leads at the end of a lead acquisition and nurturing 'funnel,'" says Francois Gossieaux in a post at the Emergence Marketing blog. But there's a problem with that expectation. "[T]he funnel metaphor," he argues, "is broken." Here's why: ... more
"Marketing analytics used to simply be about measuring the hits on your website and the number of opens and clicks on emails," says Lisa Cramer in an article at MarketingProfs. But leads no longer move through the traditional buy cycle, and your marketing efforts likely reflect these changes, which means basic ... more
Applying SEO best practices like keyword research and link-building is a surefire way to start increasing your search rankings. However, in a recent Search Engine Watch post, Chris Boggs warns us not to forget the non-SEO ways to get websites consistently ranked for relevant desired terms. "SEO involves getting lots ... more
"In light of the economy, more and more marketers are concerned with late-stage leads," says Karen Landis in a recent post at the My Educated Guess blog. "While many marketers won't discount [newer] leads entirely, they will stop messaging them on the theory that they are too early-on in the ... 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
YouTube recently launched a call-to-action overlay ad, which is exactly what it sounds like: a semi-transparent ad that appears over videos, and—get this—enables advertisers to send users to any website they wish. Now, that's a sweet ride! You might be, like, "Didn't that feature already exist?" But the crazy thing ... more
"Yes marketers," says Christina Kerley (aka CK), "you absolutely want people talking up (or, buzzing over) your brands. And you really want them saying great things. But you want the buzz you've worked so hard for to lead somewhere." Too often, she argues at her blog, we consider buzz-generation to ... more
In today's challenging economic environment, marketers are seeking better ways to maximize ROI. One way is to leverage insights from both SEM and email to drive greater success across channels. In a recent article at Inside CRM, Ram Krishnamurthy and Brad Neelan offer up five strategies for using such a twin ... more
You might wonder whether the stories you tell in email marketing campaigns should be long or short. In a pair of posts from Chad White at the Retail Email Blog, you'll discover that it, well, depends. He offers two examples. According to White, Neiman-Marcus has been incorporating brief quotes from designers in ... more
Closing an IT sale is a complex process. But in most cases there is usually one pivotal sales presentation that can firmly seal the deal. Darrin Mourer, in a post on the Sales Engineer blog, offers recommendations to help you strengthen and prioritize the key components of your presentation. The ... more
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