January 1st, 2009 by Brian Cors
Do you look forward to receiving and reading any e-newsletters or other “mass” emails? I have a few e-newsletters that I enjoy, particularly those that provide me with tips on how to get more out of the products and services that I’ve already purchased. As a result, I’ve become more loyal to these companies, and usually end up buying more products and services from them.
When it’s done right, email marketing can be a boon to both sender and recipient. For recipients, email marketing enables them to receive information that is:
- Timely, since they don’t have to wait for hard-copy materials to be developed and distributed to them.
- Customized for them. Email content can easily and inexpensively be customized to recipients, as compared to “hard copy” communication vehicles where it’s much more cost-effective to produce large quantities of the same thing.
- Linkable to other online resources and information.
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December 6th, 2008 by Brian Cors
MarketingSherpa has released a report entitled “Top 10 B-to-B Lead Generation Marketing Mistakes.” This top-10 list is very different from the first one that MarketingSherpa published a couple of years ago. In this day and age of electronic marketing where technology is changing rapidly, that’s not surprising. The game is always changing, and it’s a constant struggle to keep up.
Here is their list:
- Mistake #1: Calling a monthly email newsletter a “nurturing program”
- Mistake #2: Telephoning leads to qualify them…days later
- Mistake #3: Big booths at the big national shows (year after year)
- Mistake #4: Using a free trial or free demo as your mainstay offer
- Mistake #5: Focus on “we, us, our”
- Mistake #6: Stock photos and hard-to-read type
- Mistake #7: Referrals not working
- Mistake #8: Lack of investment in PR
- Mistake #9: Blocking search engine spiders from your best content
- Mistake #10: Time-consuming registration forms
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November 23rd, 2008 by Brian Cors
As they say, variety is the spice of life. When interacting with your target market, variety in the methods and means of communicating with customers and prospects is the spice of successful marketing and, in the end, a catalyst for improving top-line revenues.
This mind map depicts a simplified multi-dimensional approach to communicating and interacting with customers and prospects. This approach uses a variety of methods and media to communicate with a targeted audience, while also providing that audience with a variety of valuable information designed to educate that audience with regard to how you can address their current and future needs.
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October 15th, 2008 by Brian Cors
Do your sales and marketing teams get along with each other, or are they often at odds?
In a recent Harvard Business Review article entitled “Ending the War between Sales & Marketing,” authors Philip Kotler, Neil Rackham and Suj Krishnaswamy argue that in many companies, the sales and marketing organizations don’t get along because of economic (since they’re competing for limited financial resources) and cultural (because sales and marketing people have different skill-sets and areas of focus) differences. They suggest solutions to improve the relationship between sales and marketing and, more importantly, to improve a company’s bottom line. Read the rest of this entry »
June 20th, 2008 by Brian Cors
I’m losing confidence in email marketing as a primary means of communicating with customers and prospects. Email inboxes are way too full and – despite the best efforts of spam blockers1 – replete with unwanted spam that dilutes the impact of legitimate emails.
All that being said, email marketing is still the least-expensive marketing vehicle available. It’s great for customers and prospects who are already interested in what you have to say (or offer) so that they can stay abreast of your offerings and opinions. To keep them interested in receiving your emails, you must first provide your readers with helpful ideas and information; selling what you have to offer should be a secondary focus.
destinationCRM.com recently published a nice article with 8 tips for sucessful email marketing. They recommend that companies…
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