When it comes to marketing in the current climate, all businesses should be focusing on what we call “the three S’s”: Safety, Sensitivity and (new) Sales channels. We are also seeing a big shift in marketing dollars toward all manner of digital marketing, including increased spends for content marketing and social media, website improvement projects, e-commerce integrations and … [More]
While Businesses Shut Down in Arizona, Google Searches Ramped Up
This past December, my children and I were at home in my living room having a conversation about specific, influential events that changed the world. We had just finished watching the celebrated one-shot war film 1917 together about two young British soldiers during World War I whose actions would end up impacting world history as we know it. The movie had a profound effect on … [More]
How to Get a Meeting with the C-Suite
Hollywood has always known how to take a meeting. Tinseltown tête à têtes are how movies get made, box-office records are broken and stars are born. In the business world, fate-altering meetings don’t happen in directors’ or producers’ offices, they happen in the C-suite. For those, that is, who can break through. Thirty-three minutes and 13 seconds into the 2005 movie … [More]
Differentiating the Gen Y/Z Market
With each new generation, a different set of rules presents itself for marketers. And, with five generations of consumers currently represented in the United States, it can be somewhat complex to differentiate between newer generations that, at first glance, appear to be very similar. But to say that generations Y and Z are the same, or could be marketed to using the same … [More]
Social Media – Where It’s Going and How to Keep Up with It (Part I)
The year is young — now is a fine time for businesses to start doing the right things, to take charge of their social media strategy by evaluating trends and revisiting and refining their plans. Positive changes made now will position the business for better outcomes all year long. Gone are the days when companies can treat social media as an afterthought or a supplemental … [More]
Social Media – Where It’s Going and How to Keep Up with It (Part II)
Achieving goals of any sort involves doing more of the right — and less of the wrong — things. Marketing and social media goals are no exception. How can you better ensure your social media efforts will help you accomplish your brand’s objectives in this new year? Dos DO: Think first. Then post. Remember that what you post on your personal social media accounts can affect how … [More]
Do Good
For many businesses, success comes in unexpected ways. Toms grew into a $600-million company by giving away 35 million pairs of shoes. Patagonia’s profits have climbed year after year even as it funnels heavy investments into sustainability. And it’s not just millennials rewarding companies with causes. In every age group, people commit to brands that show good citizenship. … [More]
Boomers 3.0
Capitalizing on what is arguably the most important social phenomenon of our time and place — the aging of America — this book shows organizations how to market specifically to baby boomers in their third act of life. Samuel identifies the 10 core values of the older middle class (cognitively healthy baby boomers age 52–80) that guide their attitudes and behavior and serve as … [More]
Faces Matter
When a person is deciding whether or not to do business with your company, you might expect them to check all the key selling points. Price, benefits and features, brand reputation — these are all things that marketers anticipate customers will care about and, therefore, are the brand identifiers that receive the most attention when it comes to sales and marketing. However, … [More]
Explode Sales with Targeted Online Marketing
The Internet has accelerated strategic target marketing to a new level. We have access to virtually any type of information at our fingertips. Combining this with expert analytics, marketers today can create, evaluate and redeploy targeted campaigns at light speed. In the “old” days, the best advertisers could hope for was to promote their company via media that created content … [More]
Visitors Wanted — Get Your Website Found on the Internet
Last month, we discussed how to design a website to support your sales process. Now that you’ve created a sales-oriented site, it’s time to make sure you get found by your prospects. More than 85 percent of “clicks” go to the highest-ranking websites. The key search engine ranking components are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and traffic building. In this article, we’ll take … [More]
Base Website Design on Your Sales Process
If you want your website to generate new business opportunities, you need to make sure it is designed to attract leads while it is guiding your prospect through the sales cycle. If you’re an e-commerce company, like Amazon or e-Bay, specifically focused on selling your product or service on the Internet, your site was probably designed to move a prospect through the buying … [More]
Social Strategizing with LinkedIn
LinkedIn was founded by Reid Hoffman in 2002 as a business-oriented social network. It differs from Twitter and Facebook because its primary use is professional networking, job searching and recruiting. Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members, and more than 2 million companies have developed LinkedIn Company Pages. With more than 150 million users in more … [More]
For Brand Power, It’s Moments that Matter
Here’s a humbling fact for all us marketing professionals: Personal involvement with your brand is far more powerful than simply watching a TV commercial, even an attention-getting, racy or annoying one. It’s time we all recognize that the mere presence of the brand isn’t enough anymore. It’s our interaction with it that makes a lasting impression, so it had better be … [More]
