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CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: None

It's been long known that preview pane and the blocked-images feature in email clients are problematic for business-to-business marketers. The majority of B2B readers are using both the preview pane and the default blocked-images functions to decide whether to open emails and block unwanted downloads. Companies that do not take steps to address these findings with their email design and format will be doing a disservice to their subscribers.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Social Media Marketing

Blogging is ubiquitous. Marketing experts, the media and the influx of books on business blogging give the impression that we should all do it, or be thinking about doing it. But should all businesses blog? Is it always a wise use of resources and an asset to an organization?

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Keeping a campaign fresh and vibrant—and maintaining its breakaway status—is a major challenge. The competitive landscape is turbulent and consumer perceptions are constantly shifting. It takes courage and perseverance to sustain a breakaway campaign over decades.

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Word of mouth marketing is an umbrella term for dozens of techniques that can be used to engage customers. Word of mouth includes viral marketing, blogs, communities, loyalty programs, and other techniques that get customers talking about your products. In many cases, WOM isn't actually "marketing" at all. It's great customer service that earns customer respect. There are five basic steps that all word of mouth marketing campaigns share.

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From the time you book an airline flight until that plane lands, your pecking order in the airline's customer hierarchy determines your travel experience. To the airlines, all customers are not equal—they are segmented and managed according to profitability, loyalty, and frequency of travel. Like the airlines, professional service and solution providers have embraced the concept of account relationship management, yet many struggle with execution. Account management is based on the premise that a subset of your clients will purchase most of your offerings, and so you should manage and market to them differently—and directly. All clients are important to your business, but some are more so than others.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: None

There are two big problems with today's purchasing departments. Most obviously, purchasing is incented to save dollars of cost, a mandate that too often means dollars of value are lost. And the other problem—which is interconnected with the first one—is that purchasing often operates by obsolete and counter-productive rules. So what can companies do to ensure that purchasing is not undermining other departments by diluting value and ultimately bringing down profits? Here are some tips.

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A growing number of books and articles are actively promoting the concept of Customer Experience Management, or CEM. There are also a growing number of agencies and consultancies claiming expertise in the field—all with varying degrees of involvement and expertise. While there's a clear reason to become a staunch supporter of CEM, there's a great deal of confusion over what it really is. As more individuals get on board the CEM bandwagon and build services in the arena, confusion seems to be increasing. It's time to demystify the hype.

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The way research is practiced today taps into the consumer spontaneous attitudes. While this may be all that is needed for many of our studies, it's rare that tapping into consumer's top-of-mind provides breakthrough brands. It's time to try some new approaches that dig below the surface.

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Here's a pop quiz: Name a form of marketing communications that can take as little as five seconds to complete, can be accomplished by a nine-year-old child or an adult, and is of absolutely no importance whatsoever. Oh, and it also happens to be the most difficult and frustrating form of marketing communications, by far. The answer is naming consulting, the often-arcane art of creating and applying names to products, services and companies.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

You've carefully selected your list. You've labored long and hard over your letter—every word, sentence and paragraph. It's a powerhouse of persuasion with every key element firmly in place, including compelling benefits, powerful testimonials, a superb P.S. and an impossible-to-resist offer. But all your hard work, your hours of craftsmanship and painstaking attention to every little detail will go for naught, unless your prospect opens the envelope. Here are two distinctly different ways to go about that.

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Business events are at their most powerful when they are part of an integrated go-to-market strategy. Integration sounds logical, but how do you actually pull it off? First, you have to have control—or at least influence—over all the elements of the marketing mix. Then, you must develop a sound strategic approach to business event planning. Follow one of these three strategies.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: None

At a networking event, you exchange business cards with another person. The business card includes an email address. No doubt, it's okay to contact the person by email. But what about including that name in bulk emails? Is that okay... or not? This week's reader collected emails but doesn't have permission to send emails to the prospects. What can he do?

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Get ready—'tis the season for resolutions. But instead of a boring list of all-purpose to-dos, here's a single goal that can make a big impact: We will identify our most profitable customers (the top 20%) and create a strategy to increase business with them by 20% before year's end. Let's call it "the 20/20 strategy." It can capture the attention of your entire organization to drive profitability in 2006. Read on to find out why it's so powerful, and how you can implement it successfully.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: None

So you've created a Web log to communicate more intimately and more frequently with your audience. It's supposed to be easy. After all, the technology is simple, the style casual and the content brief. But after the initial wave of enthusiasm, you may find it increasingly difficult to generate ideas for the blog that began with so many thoughts—and so many posts—just a few months ago. Worse, you might be guiding a boss or colleague who may not be a fluent writer, but is the appropriate representative whose voice must be present in the blogosphere. How do you help that person refresh the well of inspiration when she's run out of ideas to draw upon? Tape the following list of ideas, prompts and suggestions over her monitor.

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Did you get a letter from someone who was offended by your latest TV spot? Did someone send you an email saying you suck? Do you have a group of angry folks boycotting your brand? You should be smiling. Having someone hate you lets you know you're doing a good job of branding. We all know our goal should be to evoke an emotional reaction in the consumer. But many marketers get so hung up on trying to evoke positive reactions that they pander to every possible audience that has a checkbook. When you put a stake in the ground and say "this is who I am," you are also saying "this is who I'm not."

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Webster defines "community" as a group of people living together as a smaller social unit within a larger one. Communities provide a convenient way to look at slices of your market. However, they are not the same as market segments; rather, they are groups of people linked by a common thread, a common experience or a common vision that may have nothing to do with your product or service at all, but can have everything to do with building your business.

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Marketing used to be merely one of many disciplines—on an equal footing with sales, finance, HR, manufacturing, operations, engineering or product development. Some might even say some considered it a lesser discipline. Well, that's no longer true. Marketing is increasingly taking over our world—we as as organizations and as individuals.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

Before you release any communications to prospects or customers, gauge how your copy scores on the B/S Index. What is the B/S Index? It's not what you think it is—it's the Believability/Simpatico Index. There are five components to the Index.

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The power of partnership brand marketing brings two companies and brands together—each with its own brand equity and its own distribution channel strength. Whether teaming a car manufacturer with a theme park to capture the family segment, pairing ketchup with home video or aligning toys with food, corporations are looking to create strategic alliances that tap areas in which they may not normally compete—providing incremental marketing exposure and ultimately gaining new customers. Many organizations often place partnership marketing under the promotions banner within the marketing mix; as a result, it can become more promotions-based and limited. partnership marketing programs, however, are much more strategic and expansive, and therefore, more than just promotions.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: None

Business marketers spend more than $20 billion annually on tradeshow marketing, and another $15 billion on proprietary corporate events, such as client conferences and road shows. But most business marketers are unclear about what value they are getting from their investment. The best value results from a combination of careful planning, dedication to measurement and—above all—a strategic focus. First and foremost, you must consider the fundamental principles that drive successful business event marketing—boiled down here to 10 essentials.