No business can be all things to all people. The more narrowly you can define your target market, the better. This process is known as creating a niche and is a key to success for businesses of all sizes. Niche marketing concentrates marketing efforts on a specific and well-defined segment of the population—the ones whose profiles most closely match your existing customers’ needs.
Not long ago, prospects and customers were a more homogenous group, often located in the communities and surrounding areas in which they lived and worked. Today, with the advances in technology and the growth of a multicultural population, companies are expanding their marketing outreach dramatically, both in terms of geography and customer profiles (including age, gender, race and socioeconomic background).
Happy New Year! Now that the winter holidays are over, most of us are ready to forge ahead and make 2019 even more successful than 2018. During this transition, we tend to reflect on how we did last year, what we learned, what changes and improvements we need to make and what new knowledge we need to acquire.
It’s natural for companies to expect immediate return on any investment. The truth is, building a business takes time and patience. Marketing is an essential element to generating business, but unrealistic marketing expectations are common. Setting the bar too high and establishing unrealistic deadlines can result in disappointment and failure. To avoid unrealistic marketing expectations, follow these guidelines to set achievable goals.
Despite the constant parade of new communication apps and technologies, email is still a messaging mainstay. In fact, 86% of professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes. While there are a variety of factors that impact the success of email campaigns, here are some best practices to help you generate the higher response and engagement rates you seek.
Like with most industries, marketing is filled with jargon. To stay relevant, it’s important to understand today’s industry lingo and buzzwords. The following is a collection of marketing terms to help you brush up on your language and perhaps introduce you to a few new marketing terms.
The “call to action” (CTA) is an essential component of any marketing initiative. It’s the answer to “what now?” after any article, video, advertisement, blog or other promotional offer. The call to action represents a compelling message that is intended to get your prospects to do what you want them to do. It’s a vital step to lead generation (which 63% of marketers state is their biggest challenge) and also guides prospects through the buying journey.
The average person will spend five years of their life on social media. The simple truth is: social networking technology has changed the way we communicate. With expansive networks across multiple platforms, many of us do most of our communicating online. So shouldn’t sales and marketing initiatives follow suit?
You’ve been working your 2018 marketing plan since the beginning of the year, but is it delivering the results you expected? No matter how rock-solid your plan was in January, circumstances change, sometimes dramatically. Therefore, it’s important to evaluate your marketing strategy and adjust your approach based on current market conditions and the results of tactics implemented to date.
Data-driven marketing analytics is pivotal to the success of any marketing effort. Without the insights and direction analytics provide, companies are behind the curve ball when it comes to establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage. Based on the information collected and analysis of data, marketers can learn how customers interact with a company’s marketing content. For example, analytics show specifics such as how many pages a visitor clicked through before leaving a website or which ads are most effective.
Marketing obstacles are a reality. While they vary from industry to industry, some pain points exist across the board. Here are the most common ones we’ve identified through the years along with some tips on how to overcome them.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a strategy companies use to build relationships with specific prospects or customers. Unlike traditional B2B marketing that casts a wide net to capture as many leads as possible, ABM focuses sales and marketing resources on a clearly defined group of target accounts. Often, these accounts are assumed to be high-yield and represent the best fit for the organization and its products and services.
Content creation, syndication and consumption platforms are like every other aspect of business. They are constantly changing. Ensure your content represents the quality and achieves the results you want by using this checklist of B2B content platforms.
et’s be clear. There is a distinct difference between customer service and the customer experience, also known as CX. Customer service entails everything a company does to “respond” to its customers. “Respond” is the key word. While fixing mistakes with a smile, saying “yes” even when it goes against company policy and diffusing disgruntled or unhappy customers efficiently and effectively are all important and can contribute to the customer experience after the fact.
You may have heard of it, but how much do you know about influencer marketing? The phrase has been popping up more and more in the past year with headlines gracing Forbes, Entrepreneur and other national business publications. As more companies make influencer marketing a strategic priority, it’s becoming more important to investigate whether this is a passing trend or a vital initiative. Let’s start by asking the right questions.
January typically is filled with “best of” lists, resolutions and predictions. Industry news sites feature countdowns and rewinds that take us back or forecasts that keep us looking ahead. It’s a natural time to reflect so we can learn where we’ve been and plan for the future. B2B content marketing is no different. Now that 2018 is fully underway, what predictions can we make about this year’s trends? What similarities will we see from 2017, and what changes will be made?
Content is still king when it comes to attracting and engaging customers and prospects. But the real key to success is to identify and produce the right mix of projects with compelling messaging that demonstrates your thought leadership and core competencies. To help you accomplish those goals, here is a brief list of content-driven marketing communications projects and their purposes.
As companies finalize their marketing plans for 2018, it’s important to ask (and answer) some key questions. A marketing strategy combines all of an organization’s marketing goals into one comprehensive plan. While each company has a unique set of goals, the overreaching objectives are to increase business and expand corporate awareness. Here are 10 questions marketers and other executives can ask themselves as part of the marketing strategy development process.
It’s no secret that content marketing is a strategy worth investing in, but the success of your content is dependent not only on the message but on its distribution through appropriate marketing channels. A powerful blog, white paper or case study can go unnoticed if it isn’t properly circulated to target audiences. The complicated part is knowing where you will get the biggest bang for your buck. While sharing on social media is a great start, it doesn’t always expose your company and its thought leadership to new and relevant demographics. One effective and often underutilized method of outreach is contributed content or guest posting. As editorial staffs shrink and the demand for content increases, the practice is on the rise, with 61 percent of editors increasing published contributions this year.
Most marketers understand that social media marketing is a crucial component of their digital marketing strategy. This cross-platform plan involves building company awareness, sharing content and increasing engagement. There are multiple social media sites, and some have been in existence longer than most people realize. While many believe Facebook, introduced in 2004, was the first social media platform, LinkedIn is the true frontrunner as it started a year earlier. Twitter soon followed in 2006, with hashtags introduced in 2007. Pinterest started in 2008, but did not allow business accounts until 2012. Some of the newcomers include Instagram (2010) and Snapchat (2011). These platforms, and others not mentioned here, serve distinctive functions in the marketing realm.
Online survey tools offer a wide range of capabilities for businesses of every size. These economical and easy-to-use services are customizable, objective and provide detailed reporting. Whether you choose platforms like SurveyGizmo, Survey Monkey, Zoho, QuestionPro or others, there are several areas of information you can gather through online customer surveys. Increase Brand Awareness In
Google Alerts is one of Google’s hidden treasures. A free tool, it helps you track trends, interesting topics or anything new that appears on the web. The service detects content on the web and automatically sends users email notifications when it finds new results that match preferences. Yet many marketers have missed the memo about how to best leverage this powerful tool.
Yes, marketing has changed, but so has virtually every other aspect of conducting business. So what’s new? Putting marketing into a different perspective. There are no absolutes, but what is essential is a commitment to agility, innovation and serving the vastly different needs of every customer. That’s a tall order, but it can be accomplished by avoiding these seven sins.
Did you know that U.S. companies send approximately 1.47 million emails per month, and almost 60 percent of them are marketing oriented? To stand out in increasingly crowded inboxes, marketers need to capture readers’ attention in creative ways. Here are two methods to accomplish that goal through email marketing. Email Marketing: Win Them With Words
