While many B to B marketers have moved their budgets from direct mail to email campaigns, I’m a huge fan of direct mail. I use it for lead generation, lead nurturing, and customer promotions, and my campaigns run from simple sales letters to creative pieces with sizzle. A key challenge in making direct mail work…Read More
Let me start by saying I’d love to be able to sell ice to an Eskimo. But you know what? Eskimos don’t need ice. They’re surrounded by it. Unless I have the most incredible, cheap or convenient ice on Earth, I’d be a lot better off selling to prospects who aren’t already in the arctic….Read More
Many small to midsize B2B companies don’t consciously think about branding – they think it’s a concept for consumer marketers, not business-to-business marketers. Branding IS important in B2B. A brand is an expectation that you create and fulfill for your market. For your prospects and customers, it’s the entire experience that they have with your…Read More
You probably know that publicity in the media can be extremely valuable in building credibility and awareness for your company. A legitimate news story is an endorsement that can reach a wide audience for very little cost beyond your own creativity and time. It can help you Build awareness about your products/services, expertise and people…Read More
I’ve always been an article clipper: newspapers, magazines, blog posts, websites (favorite online tools: Netvibes & Del-icio.us) … I even have 20 colored clipboards hanging in my office with hot articles & ideas. Russ Wiles at the Arizona Republic wrote one of those articles on January 22 (but AZCentral has since taken it down). Here’s…Read More
Wondering how to increase your email response rates? Here’s the #1 tip: Shorten your subject line! There’s been a lot of buzz about Return Path’s recent analysis on email click-through rates. Using data from two years’ worth of client campaigns, here’s their discovery: Subject lines with fewer than 50 characters generated a 75% higher click-through…Read More
Have you (or someone you know) spent a bundle on a pay-per-click campaign with negligible results? Or are you shying away from paid search because you’ve heard that it’s expensive and difficult to manage? (If you’re new to paid search, here’s a quick intro.) In any PPC campaign, it’s important to watch your bids and…Read More
I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the Word & Excel documents we display in specific areas of our website. They look like they’re embedded in the page, and we’re able to share documents and spice up a page that has a lot of text. It’s actually very easy and inexpensive to create these files. The…Read More
Reading about “WOM units” in marketing articles makes me chuckle. Oh, the acronyms! But word of mouth is a tremendous tool. The big question – how can you get it? Roy H. Williams, author of the New York Times bestseller Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads, explains How to Buy Word of Mouth in…Read More
Warning — this site can be addictive: Web Sites That Suck. But it can also teach you a LOT about what NOT to do on your website. And you’ll learn from corporate giants like Microsoft, FedEx & Intel. Hot topics include Mystery meat navigation, What would Amazon.com do?, and The Worst Web Pages in the World. Writer…Read More
Recently I had great fun writing about how to get past a gatekeeper when cold-calling a prospect or potential business partner. But getting past the gatekeeper is only part of your battle to get your prospect’s attention. Nobody wants to be dragged into a phone call. If you’ve strongarmed your way in, you have to…Read More
If you’re a Wall Street Journal reader, there was a great article by Peggy Anne Salz on page A10 yesterday (it’s not available online). Peggy talks about the value of using metrics as a corporate tool and how companies like Anheuser-Busch, Procter & Gamble and Google use metrics to improve decision-making and performance. I’m a…Read More
In lieu of a single “How to” today, I’ve got 96 pages of them – in our Marketing Guidebook, which we’re now offering as a free downloadable PDF. The free marketing book includes a quick intro to 29 B2B sales & marketing subjects – everything from competitive positioning & branding to customer retention and ROI. …Read More
Do you know how much profit your customers produce over their lifetime? “Customer lifetime value”, or “CLV”, is a valuable metric that helps you target your most profitable customer segments and understand how much you can spend to acquire them. How does the theory work in action? Let’s say you sell two products: widgets and gidgets,…Read More
I’m catching up on my reading and came across this great post by Guy Kawasaki. He’s a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Forbes.com. He’s also written eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the…Read More
It’s amazing what great paper and envelopes can do for a direct mail campaign. They aren’t necessarily cheap, but they can lift your response rates and give you more creative firepower. If you’re purchasing large quantities, the internet may not be the most cost-effective place to buy paper. But if you’re doing a small mailing…Read More
Are you generating enough leads to meet your revenue goals? If you’re winging it, you’re less likely to hit your numbers. If you have to feed a village, you can’t toss your line and hope for the best. Instead, tie your marketing campaigns into your company’s customer and revenue goals. A few simple calculations can…Read More
I’m not a fan of corporate jargon, but SWOT is an important one that’s useful for businesses of all sizes. What is it? If you know how to do a SWOT analysis, you’re brainstorming about Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats in a particular business scenario. You can use SWOT to analyze Your competition Your distribution strategy Your marketing strategy An…Read More
You know this prospect is a hot one. You’ve established the need, presented your value proposition, and she wants your product or service. And then BOOM, she’s gone like a cat up a tree. What happened? Sticker shock. Like coaxing a cat, overcoming sticker shock requires finesse. You’re going to have to be convincing so…Read More
Whether you’re cold-calling a prospect or trying to pitch a high-level marketing partnership, you’ll likely run into a roadblock early on. A gatekeeper. Now I have no trouble dealing with gatekeepers, but I’ve been doing this for 20 years. It takes practice and confidence. But if you or your team can’t get to the decision…Read More