When developing marketing plans, most companies go right for the “tactics” without considering an overall strategic approach to achieve their goals. As a reminder, tactics are the practical actions and activities marketers perform every day. They include writing blog posts, sending out tweets, reaching out to the media and refreshing online content. On the other
Most companies are working at a feverish pace to remain current and relevant in an ever-changing global business environment. Whether that has a trickle-down effect to marketing or whether marketing is the impetus for these initiatives isn’t the point. What’s critical is to know, understand and apply these five marketing game changers for optimal growth
In spite of a desire to stay positive, hopeful and optimistic, marketers are overwhelmed by many complex business challenges—the likes of which they haven’t seen in many years. Some of these are industry-specific, but most are not. As marketers long for the “good old days” when they left their work at the office at the
Savvy leaders know that marketing is a critical business initiative and provides the support companies need to accelerate business growth, sell more products and services, increase profitability, and gain market share. To accomplish these goals, consider these six marketing maxims—or business truths that are the foundation for marketing success. Marketing Maxims Fact 1: The more
Many companies use press releases for a variety of reasons. Some of these include: Announce personnel changes The opening and closing of offices/other types of facilities The development and introduction of new (or enhanced) products and services Participation at industry events Corporate milestones and awards Financial news. So the question is: does anyone read these?
Many start-up or emerging companies simply don’t have the resources for a full-time professional marketing staff. CEOs may be visionaries and know where they want to take the company. Sales executives are the experienced professionals who know how to sell. Neither one may have the marketing expertise necessary to accelerate growth and marketplace visibility. For
Too many people think sales and marketing are the same thing. They aren’t. Often, there’s no collaboration between the two. In some organizations, there might be a sales executive who heads up marketing. In other companies, you’ll find a marketing executive who is also responsible for business development. To complicate it further, there are companies that
Many experts think so. Certainly, the Internet has changed the landscape of traditional magazine publishing. While consumer or popular magazines are not feeling the pinch as much as B2B trade magazines, the writing is on the wall. Many well-known magazines have ceased to produce their print editions, and others have folded completely. There are three
Every industry has its hot topics…the ones that drive business initiatives and form the foundation for business strategy. B2B marketing is no different. Here are six core themes that marketing teams are busy tackling in their quest to create a competitive differential. These themes also help them better support their business development teams and garner
Marketing challenges vary from industry to industry. Here are three of the most common concerns we hear and how to address them. Marketing Challenges Competition is on the rise. There’s no question about it. In a global economy, there are more companies providing similar products and services, often at a lower price than U.S. companies
Most companies engage in the marketing planning process. They set goals, identify programs and activities in which to engage, establish a budget and assign responsibilities. In the process, however, there’s one key element that’s often overlooked: strategy. According to the Content Marketing Institute, marketing strategy focuses on engaging an audience and driving profitable behaviors. When
An integrated and effective marketing plan consists of a variety of marketing tactics for communicating with your target audiences. There are hundreds of types of marketing communications available. Here’s a guide to help you determine what to use and why. Types of Marketing Communications Bylined Articles Informational articles and opinion columns position you and your company
In 2014, digital marketing analyst Laura McLellan wrote about five predictions for 2016… yes, 2016 and not 2015. While the trends she identified applied to large companies (based on Gartner research), there are lessons for small and medium-sized business as well. Digital Marketing Predictions 1. Customer experience will be the battleground marketers are fighting over.
Pick up any magazine, and browse through the ads. What do you see? Catchy slogans, free-trial or limited-time offers and wild claims. In other words, companies make use of that medium to actively promote their products or services and try to persuade readers to buy them. But sometimes this backfires. At best, readers might overlook
Are you looking for a way to spice up your marketing? Try adding videos. Think about it. Which would you rather do? Spend 10-20 minutes reading a corporate brochure or 2-3 minutes watching an engaging video? The answer is clear. In fact, a Forbes Insights/Google survey discovered that if both text and video are available
As technology advances, the expectations of internet users advance with it. According to a Forbes article on top technology trends for 2014–2016, “A great digital experience is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a make-or-break point for your business as we more fully enter the digital age.” Does your site provide a “great digital experience” or
Annual reports can be useful documents for your stakeholders—if they’re prepared properly. All too often, an annual report is a bland, meaningless collection of buzz words, truisms that apply to any business and vague promises of growth or innovation. To make your annual report a valuable document, here are 10 do’s and don’ts for your
Today, there is no shortage of communication tools. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to stay on top of the new apps and platforms that developers introduce every day for our smartphones, tablets, and even our sneakers to help us monitor our heart rates and count calories while exercising. However, too much can be a bad
Ebook sales are a tsunami crashing onto the shores of the reading public. While some are saying that sales are slowing, that’s simply not true. As Eoin Purcell writes, One of the problems is that ebooks have become so large a market, more than $1 billion in the US alone in 2013, and have grown
In my last post, we heard the story of an employee who had rubbed the board president and a few board members the wrong way with her overconfidence and perceived dismissiveness. The board president had given the employee’s manager instructions to solve the problem—only to immediately say that perhaps she had misjudged the employee, and
I’ve noticed that in today’s business world, which can best be described by the adjective “now!” (exclamation mark and all), it’s easier than ever to make typographical errors—or worse: missing words, spelling errors, improper subject-verb tense agreement and more. The pressure to respond instantaneously causes our brains to move faster than our fingers can comply.
The hit television show “Mad Men” depicts the lives of New York City ad executives during a time in American history when women had little clout in the workplace, the economy, the home—you name it. Those times have changed, but it might be interesting, surprising and even shocking to know how much clout women wield
Lauren Indvik posted a piece on Mashable Business this week titled “Magazine Get Serious About Ecommerce” in which she examines the approaches a few different pubs have taken to combine editorial content with links to products in an effort to get consumers purchasing and offset declining print ad sales. In this piece, Indvik writes: It’s
Most of us don’t remember when Detective Joe Friday from television’s Dragnet series in the 1950s said, “All we want are the facts, ma’am.” This phrase, and its truncated version, “Just the facts, ma’am”, are pop culture buzz-phrases, surviving for more than a half-century. Ironically, the early days of television (and radio) were a time
