We live in an age of euphemism. A used car isn't "used," it's "pre-owned"; we're sold "bathroom tissue," not "toilet paper"; and no marketer in her right mind would dream of calling wrinkle cream anything but "rejuvenating moisturizer." This is why the decidedly un-euphemistic name of a Beverly Hills clothier—Jimmy ... more

For nearly a year and a half, Mack Collier has produced a series he calls the Company Blog Checkup. "Originally," he says, "I looked at each blog's content, how they encouraged and replied to reader comments, and how frequently the blog published new posts. I would later start examining the ... more

How well does your subscription process handle improperly entered—or clearly malicious—email addresses? If the findings presented in a whitepaper by FreshAddress are any indication, the answer might be: not so well. For its study, the email marketing service created 13 dummy accounts that replicated typical errors. In addition to those ... more

Over 50 percent of music downloaders consider iTunes the best fee-based digital music service. And a growing legion of iTunes users are implementing Coverflow, which lets you scroll through a music collection by album art, for aesthetic purposes. Millennials may be a generation obsessed with instant gratification, but music remains ... more

In a post at her blog, Christina Kerley—known informally as CK—recounts a question she received during a conference Q&A session: "Can you tell me the buzzwords that marketers should avoid using with our audiences and in our communications?" You've likely asked yourself the same thing, and you might be surprised ... more

Any teacher can tell you that students have three basic learning channels: auditory (written and spoken words); visual (pictures and graphics); and kinesthetic (hands-on activities). If you had to choose your preferred channel for online communication, you'd probably pick verbal communication. But, says Rick Sloboda of Webcopyplus, only 20 percent ... more

More than 50 years of consumer research suggests that when dealing with product types that consumers really care about, there are at least 5 ways marketers can encourage customers to develop favorable attitudes toward their specific products. Whether you appeal to their imaginations, their values, their feelings, their analytical minds, ... more

Ardath Albee has a word for the marketing copy that loiters at your website without any clear goals or ambition: Unemployed. "[C]ontent, to be of value to anyone, must do something," she says in a post at her Marketing Interactions blog. In other words, it should have a job. According to ... more

It's an ugly truth, but a truth nonetheless: Marketers are sinners. We're not talking lying or cheating or stealing or coveting here. We're talking about the sin of assumption. And many of us commit that sin on a regular basis, from assumptions about what to say to assumptions about how ... more

Josh Nason knows why someone who clicks on your subscribe button—with every intention of joining your list—has a tendency to disappear a few seconds later. "It starts rather simply," he says. "You're setting up fields for your email signup form and instead of grabbing just the [basic]…information, your mind starts ... more

As video continues its great migration from the television set to the Web and smartphones, advertisers face a new challenge: how to reach customers in three places at once. The so-called "three screens" (TV, PC, and wireless devices) require different ad strategies to engage audiences. The 'lean back' TV viewer's focus ... more

Given how critically important effective content is right now and how important copywriters are to the creation of same - it might help the cause of world peace and mutual understanding to shine a little light on things. How do you choose a good freelance copywriter and how do you ... more

In Part 2 of this series, the author looked at defining your success goals and what to measure when running multivariate tests. Let's now look at your site factors and learn how to select the right ones to test. By now, your marketing goals are clearly defined and you're ready ... more

All email marketing managers search for ways to grow their subscription files, and many options and opportunities exist to grow subscription files organically. Unfortunately, some email marketers still rely on purchasing permission-based lists as a means to increase their email file. By doing so, however, they settle for a quick fix ... more

By looking at your company's readiness in conjunction with your market, your competitors, and your buyers, you'll be able to determine what the potential is (or isn't) for social media. What's more, you'll be able to assess where you should be diving in, or what's a realistic starting place. more

How do you start from scratch yet create a top-ranked marketing blog in less than a year? If the author had anything close to a foolproof formula, she'd be making an infomercial right now rather than writing this article. Nevertheless, here she shares some tips from her own experience to help ... more

Just as city planners utilize master plans to promote healthy municipal growth, a "Customer Community Master Plan" enables marketing executives to determine an overall customer interaction plan that will allow your company and its relationships to thrive and prosper. In other words, such a master plan avoids pitfalls. more

Synergy Dental Center of Portland, Oregon, wanted to increase its client base, which Dr. Anthony Newkirk had inherited from the previous practitioner in 2003. He hired a marketing firm to develop a client-acquisition strategy, with a goal of 25 new patients a month. Here's how the Internet-based campaign played out. more

Online surveys are an increasingly common way to solicit feedback, but response rates are often quite low due to poor survey design, lengthy surveys, requests for personal information, or a lack of incentives for survey completion. So how do you ensure that people respond to your survey? Follow these seven simple ... more

What is advertising's most important word? The simple, innocuous word "like": a nondescript word that carries with it all the conceptualization power you need to create a business identity, to form a brand personality, and to position your product or service in the mind of your audience. more

There's no silver bullet for search engine optimization. You need to do the right things over and over, over extended periods of time. Key among these are generating relevant content, gaining inbound links, and designing and coding for search friendliness. Perform these 10 exercises to start your program of search engine ... more

In this MarketingProfs Classic, originally published in April of 2003, Suzan St. Maur highlights 10 online writing concepts that also kick offline. "After all the agonies we suffered some years ago when some tried to make offline text work online, we've finally turned the tables," she writes. "Now we can borrow ... more

Out of 18 choices, why does one piece of content get 49% of the vote while another gets 0%? more

...television without sound, romance without kisses, the rumba without rhythm, a joke without a punch line. If your Web site disappointments, you need something that provides the eureka factor. more

In this MP Classic, originally published in 2002, Nick Usborne debunks the notion that the secret to good copy is using certain words or phrases. Saying as much suggests "that if I had access to the *exact* set of brushes and paints used by Picasso, I could become a great ... more