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To get customers to consider a change to the status quo, you have to give them a good reason. A really good reason. They need to know about the tangible business results they'll get from using your product or service. One of the best ways to awaken prospective customers is to jolt them with a statement about the significant difference that your offering can make. And the bigger the jolt, the better.

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Your direct mail package clears a major hurdle when your prospect opens the envelope. The moment of truth has arrived. The next 3-5 seconds will largely determine whether your marketing effort is a success or failure, because it's during those critical first few seconds that your prospect decides whether to continue reading.

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With the start of autumn and a new school year comes a renewed emphasis on learning. That's true for those of us who haven't ridden a big yellow bus for many years. So, among the dozens of marketing books published every year, here are three (plus on bonus title) published in 2005 that are worth reading (and buying).

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One way to increase your conversion ratio is to make sure your Web site is easy to navigate and information is easy to find. In other words, ensure its "usability." Often, search engine optimization and marketing principles benefit a site's usability with people as well as search engines. Here are some tips on how to improve usability and improve your conversion rates.

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This week: How does a business determine how much to devote to its marketing budget? Unfortunately, there's no magic number or formula. The most common answer is, "It depends."

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If you're the CEO of a small or medium-sized business, your challenges not only include prioritizing the numerous demands on your time, balancing short-term opportunities with long term goals, managing cash flow and long sales cycles, solving resource shortages ranging from funds to people, but also wearing a the variety of hats. You are often responsible for closing key deals and serving as the company's primary marketer. Sound familiar? Then build this simple CEO marketing toolkit, designed to save you valuable time and money.

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To maximize value on your Web site, focus on your killer content. Delete the filler content. Yes, it's that simple.

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Compliance, corporate governance and recent legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley are nothing new to corporate executives who run the risk of exorbitant fines and even jail time for failing to conform to recent mandates. But what's new is this: Accountability for corporate compliance and risk—areas that were once reserved for the upper echelons of an organization—is now making its way to the marketing department. That's because marketing's sizeable budget and activities have an enormous impact on customers and shareholders alike.

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After conducting thousands of marketing research studies and asking hundreds of thousands of questions, the author has come to understand one thing: There are no bad questions, only irrelevant ones. In other words, the majority of questions asked are irrelevant. That is, they don't result in answers that lead to actions.

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Pets are the new people. We've all seen celebrities prancing around with tiny dogs in tutus, or we've read a magazine spread featuring actors and their four-legged companions. Pets are an increasingly important part of the family, and giving them treats, services or special gifts is a fun way to celebrate one of our least-complicated relationships. What more, pets are big business. And even if your brand has nothing to do with pets, you can still to tap into your customer's deep love for their animals.

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Generating leads is easy. There, we've said it. Pick a decent list, say something meaningful, toss in an offer, and plenty of folks will respond. Plenty. If you want more, do it again. But if you want qualified leads—people that can can progress from being prospects to becoming customers and on to advocates—take the time to fine-tune your data and make sure that your messaging is personal and relevant. Like we said, easy.

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Deliverability is overwhelmingly the greatest email marketing challenge. What can you do to make sure your marketing campaigns avoid the obstacles and get delivered for the highest possible ROI?

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Far too often, agencies and companies alike unwittingly focus on tactics—rather than strategy—in their marketing and communications activities. It's not always easy for companies to pause, step back, and review where they are going. However, if you don't have a clear marketing roadmap, you'll likely be going in circles, wasting time and money, and falling short of business and sales goals.

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Customer acquisition directly contributes to your bottom line. Use the following five strategies to help you improve subscriptions to your content—print or online.

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The truth is that most company interactions with customers take place via phone or email, so a single event may be your one critical shot. It may determine 99% of the perception that a customer or prospect holds about a company. Despite the importance of events, many companies waste the opportunity to elevate the audience's perception of them. Here are five tips that can help turn an ordinary event into business theater, to help you create the perception you want.

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Direct mail remains a successful way to reach customers. The trick, of course, is getting customers to act on the mail. How can a marketer increase response rates?

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German Chancellor Willy Brandt once said, "If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying from you, dann müssen Sie in meiner Sprache sprechen." (Translation: then you must speak my language.) Local-language content can help deliver a more culturally relevant experience to your site visitors. It not only optimizes the selling of products and services but also contributes to an organization's bottom line in many important ways.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

A case study provides the opportunity to communicate the benefits that your product or service delivers, in the form of practical experiences of a user organization. This is so much more powerful and persuasive than any theoretical arguments you can muster. So why isn't every organization churning out case studies? A few do; but, for many, generating case studies is a real battle.

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As marketers, we are always seeking ways to make our products and services more attractive to consumers. When we do it right, we know we've created marketing juju. Consumers are more than just attracted to these businesses. They are downright captivated by them. Each of these brands creates marketing juju by (1) facilitating, not dictating the usage of its products, (2) fostering community and (3) assisting consumers in actualizing their aspirations. With the 2005 National Football League season upon us, we should add the brand called "Fantasy Football" to the list of brands with marketing juju.

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In today's increasingly post-literate culture, the idea of a 10-plus page linear narrative may seem out of date. But not so. The role of the marketing/technical whitepaper is on an upswing as companies recognize their effectiveness in communicating with audiences that demand authenticity and detail when making business decisions. The big problem with whitepapers, however, is that their length and complexity make them vulnerable to delays and budget overruns, usually in the late phases of the document review process. Here's how to avoid Death by Review.