Now that most brands and businesses have finally dipped their toes into the social media waters and are making themselves heard on Twitter, Facebook and throughout the blogosphere, many of them are wondering what to do next with these relatively new communications platforms.
In fact, besides an obvious – and understandable – fear of social media, [...]
I recently had the pleasure of watching my Co-Creative Director, Bob Cargill, honored with the prestigious 2009 NEDMA Direct Marketer of the Year Award. The festivities took place on Wednesday evening, May 6 with a dinner and ceremony at the LaCava Center at Bentley University in Waltham, MA.
With Bob as the honoree, I think it’s [...]
Continue reading about Bob Cargill is NEDMA’s 2009 Direct Marketer of the Year
We know that the majority of leads generated today are simply not ready to buy today. We also know, whether admitted or not, that if today’s lead doesn’t precisely meet all qualification criteria, there is a good chance that lead will go untouched. More often than not this is a result of many organizations focusing [...]
So now your total lead nurture strategy is laid out. But how can you be completely certain it will work? In reality, like any marketing program, some touches will drive better results than others. However, by utilizing personalization and testing you can surely position your program for better results and continuously improve as your program [...]
Laying out a lead nurture program in a way that your marketing team, sales team and external designers or developers can understand can surely be challenging. When tackling this challenge, be sure to build out the five Ts of lead nurture strategy - Tracks, Touches, Triggers, Timing and Tracking:
1. Tracks – How can you break down [...]
As a veteran copywriter and creative director, someone who’s made a living for over two decades putting together direct mail, email and direct response advertising campaigns that pitch practically every product and service imaginable, I may not fit the mold of the typical blogger.
But I’ve been helplessly hooked on blogging since my first post in 2004, never [...]
Continue reading about 10 Surprising Similarities Between Blogging and Direct Marketing
Now that you’ve identified buying cycle behaviors and actions, identify the pain points your audience members are feeling at each stage. With this thought in mind, develop the related key messages that will demonstrate to the audience that you understand the challenges they face and that you have the product, service or solution that will [...]
We’ve worked with countless B2B companies to understand the makeup of their buying cycles. With that insight, we’ve simplified the buying cycle into the following stages:
* Awareness – Your audience is trying to better understand a certain technology, product type or service and understand those that provide a related solution.
* Consideration – Your audience understands [...]
In the nature versus nurture discussion around human development, it’s greatly debated whether innate qualities have more of a long-term impact than personal experiences. When it comes to sales and marketing, there’s a fair chance that your target audience wasn’t born with a desire to purchase your solution, product or service. Fortunately for you, through [...]
Your landing pages should be exceptional. Why? Because they’re where your marketing dollars become real ROI as leads or transactions, or don’t. This may seem like an obvious truism, but I’m constantly finding landing pages that just don’t cut it. What’s going wrong is a fundamental misunderstanding of what landing pages can do well and what [...]
