284 Posts found for Source: MarketingProfs

It’s been long known that preview pane and the blocked-images feature in email clients are problematic for marketers. The majority of email readers are using both the preview pane and the default blocked-images functions to decide whether to open emails and block unwanted downloads.

Companies that do not take steps to address these findings with their email design and format will be doing a disservice to … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Daniel Jung | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Best Practices, Marketing / Sales

Is there a better way to support sales? Is there something you can leave with prospects that’s just a bit more memorable – and more effective – than the standard brochure with its forced march through company “visions,” product descriptions, and corporate bios?

Yes, indeed. Here are eight suggestions, not as comprehensive answers to every sales-communications situation, but as inspiration and provocation for creating material less … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jonathan Kranz | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Acquiring new customers is the “show biz” side of direct marketing: The budgets are much larger, and you get to be more creative and perhaps use a broader variety of media. There’s this problem, though: It costs five times as much to find a new customer as it does to keep an existing one.

That’s why smart organizations are focusing more of their resources on keeping … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jay Bower | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

Management wants more leads, but you can’t get an increase in your budget. To meet their demands, you have to lower your cost per lead. You have to either increase response rates or cut your cost per contact.

There are literally dozens of ways to accomplish those goals. Here are 10.

Content: Article | Author: Jay Bower | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

The secret to successful copy is in all the thought, work and research you do before you write a single word.

The following 10 tips lift the curtain to reveal the backstage mechanics you can leverage for more effective copywriting.

Content: Article | Author: Jonathan Kranz | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

After conducting thousands of marketing research studies and asking hundreds of thousands of questions, the author has come to understand one thing: There are no bad questions, only irrelevant ones.

In other words, the majority of questions asked are irrelevant. That is, they don’t result in answers that lead to actions.

Content: Article | Author: Robert J. Kaden | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Market Research

Companies everywhere are struggling to differentiate their offerings. They dream of establishing an unassailable market position for their solutions, a position that will enable them to capture a lion’s share of the customer’s mind and wallet.

But to their frustration, no matter how enticingly and expertly their portraits of the solutions are painted-to customers, their solutions and their competitor’s solutions usually end up looking amazingly alike.

There … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jeff Thull | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

In his new book, According to Kotler, Phil Kotler gives a summary of the key principles of marketing and how they relate to current events such as corporate accounting scandals, outsourcing, globalization, warehouse shopping and online marketing.

Here is an excerpt of it, based on the thousands of questions Kotler has been asked over the years by clients, students, business audiences, and journalists.

Content: Article | Author: Philip Kotler | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, People

In the literary world, “good writing” may be notoriously difficult to define. But on the Web, good copy has two clear, easily understood objectives: It elevates your search engine rankings, and it attracts qualified traffic and holds the attention of your prospects and customers.

On the Web, your words carry a lot of weight. Fortunately, you can build verbal muscle, fast.

Following are five tips … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jonathan Kranz | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

It will come as no surprise that customers want it their way. Yet many companies don’t have processes for figuring out what that means.

Take this quiz to assess your customer “IQ” (or “Insight Quotient”) and determine the necessary next steps for shortening your sales cycle.

Content: Article | Author: Barbara Bix | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Existing brand health measures rely almost exclusively on survey data to gather their findings. While surveys are insightful, they are also prone to collection errors through inaccurate recall and distorted response by surveyed consumers.

Marketers can do better by creating more-direct and less-biased approaches. Rather than relying solely on survey data, we should find additional methods that seek to analyze consumers’ relationship to brands in … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Matthew Syrett | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

We are aware of many brands in our over-advertised existence, but they only become relevant when our current focus matches their offerings. Like how we notice other vehicles of the same make right after we buy a new car, brand relevance is often about our focus relative to time and place.

Content: Quotation | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Brand, Marketing / Sales

To be a master communicator, all you have to do is follow a simple three-step process. First, have something good to say. Second, say it well. And third, say it often.

Content: Quotation | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Communication

From time to time, the marketing world is taken aback by huge, quick, unpredictable and seemingly inexplicable successes. These marketing “hits” are products or services, entertainment locales or vacation spots, shopping malls or specialty stores that enjoy puzzlingly immediate popularity.

Believe it or not, there’s actually a formula for these seemingly unpredictable marketing wonders.

Content: Article | Author: Dan Herman, Ph.D. | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

When the performance of two or more competing products has improved beyond what the market demands, customers can no longer base their choice on which is the higher performing product. The basis of product choice often evolves from functionality to reliability, then to convenience, and, ultimately, to price.

Content: Quotation | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Competition

Developing a great logo is a strange mix of art, science, psychology and (in most cases) a good amount of luck.

In this, the first of this two-part series, we’ll
* Explain what a logo really is
* Offer a word of caution and ask a few questions you’ll need to answer before you start
* Suggest how to start the process
* Advise on shape, … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jared McCarthy | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Marketing management is often relegated to communication, advertising and promotion efforts.

It’s hard to convince senior management that Marketing can produce moneymaking results. But that’s what marketing managers need to do if they want to be recognized. Here are five steps to do it.

Content: Article | Author: Len Gingerella | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

A big question for Web site designers continues to be this: what is the optimal number and placement of marketing call-outs on a Web page?

The self-service quality of the Web has led to page designs that all too often serve myriad marketing goals. A single page can have any number of callouts in its layout, trying to catch the attention of a variety of consumers … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Matthew Syrett | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales

More and more companies around the world understand the importance of really knowing how their customers and prospects view their organizations. They also realize that viewpoints can change quickly.

So how do you keep informed of your customers’ opinions? How do you know they’re continually satisfied? How do you know that they value your company? Or that they feel appreciated?

Gathering this data objectively, accurately … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Angi Fisher | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

Most businesspeople intuitively know that the key to successful marketing is having a marketing plan-a blueprint for action. But many companies operate without one, focusing instead on the issues of the moment without committing to a long-term strategy.

A marketing plan does not need to be complex, but it does require several elements to be effective.

Content: Article | Author: Laura Patterson | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Strategy