How to Rethink Your Marketing Plan in a Crisis
If an event like the Covid-19 pandemic happens again – or another development upends your marketing plan with little notice – what should you do? Here’s how to quickly rethink your marketing plan for a smart marketing strategy.
7 Ways to Use Your Value Proposition in a Marketing Strategy
Understanding and articulating the unique value your organization delivers to your customers – your value proposition – is crucial for smart marketing. Here are seven ways to use the value proposition insights gleaned from customer interviews in a smart marketing strategy.
Why Your Reputation Trumps Your Marketing – Every Time
Why the things people say about your business matter far more than what you say about yourself in your advertising -- no matter how much you spend on marketing.
How to Survive Losing a Big Client: 12 Smart Strategies
The loss of a major client can be a huge blow to your business. But there are ways you can survive – and even thrive – following a customer defection. Here's how to do it strategically.
How to Turn a Product Shipment into a Branding Opportunity
A product shipment is a golden opportunity for branding. Here are two examples of very different marketers – Nuts.com and Chanel -- who are transforming product shipments from routine transactions into branding and marketing magic in a smart marketing strategy.
How Your Employees’ Public Behavior Can Damage Your Brand
Marketers spend a lot of time and money building their brands. But nothing can hurt a brand faster than bad behavior by a company’s employees in public. Here’s why your employees’ behavior outside the workplace is an important factor in a smart marketing strategy – and how easily employees can hurt your brand and your business.
7 Reasons Why You (Still) Need a Blog for B2B Marketing
Here are seven reasons why you still need a blog in a smart B2B marketing strategy, plus a compelling B2B blogging success story shared by Rick Short of Indium Corporation at Content Marketing World 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. #CMWorld
Why It’s a Mistake to Take a Break from Blogging
If content marketing is part of your smart marketing strategy, consistent blogging is essential. In fact, letting your blog lapse can be a big marketing mistake. How do I know? I just did it. Here’s why a break in blogging can be bad for your business – and five ways to get your blog back on track.
6 Marketing Lessons I Learned as the Mother of the Bride
Brides are spending big money on weddings. According to the Wedding Report, the cost of an average wedding in the U.S. is $25,200. Market research firm IBISWorld estimates that the U.S. wedding industry has grown to $55 billion in annual sales.That’s a lot of cake, tulle, and flowers – and as the mother of the bride, I can tell you from personal experience that it’s also a fascinating example of what works (or doesn’t work) in sales and marketing. Here are six lessons for your smart marketing strategy that I learned as the mother of the bride.
7 Reasons Banks Fail at B2B Direct Marketing
Banks are spending big money marketing products and services to small businesses via direct mail. Most of these direct marketing campaigns are terrible. Here are seven reasons why so many banks fail at B2B direct marketing and some lessons for your smart marketing strategy.
6 Reasons to Use Your Own Name in Your Company’s Branding
Building your company’s brand around your name can be a smart marketing strategy, especially for professional services companies. Here are six reasons why it’s smart to name your company after yourself, three ways it can be problematic, and some tips for branding success.
Anatomy of a Smart Direct Mail Letter: 7 Copywriting Tips
How a life insurance direct mail package uses 7 classic direct mail copywriting tactics to produce a smart, effective direct mail letter.
10 Bad Marketing Habits to Break in the New Year
Even the best marketers can find themselves stuck in bad habits – harmful behaviors that limit the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and waste valuable marketing resources.Like breaking any bad habit, the New Year is a good time to make a fresh start. Here are 10 ways you could be hurting your marketing and recommendations for a better approach from a Cleveland, Ohio marketing consultant.
7 Smart Reasons to Use Catalogs in B2B Product Marketing
Before the web, marketers of business products relied on direct mail catalogs as their primary selling tools. But now everyone shops online. In a web-based world, do B2B product marketers still need print catalogs? Yes: Here are seven reasons why print catalogs continue to play an essential role in a smart marketing strategy for marketers of business products.
Association Membership Marketing: 12 Steps for Success
Member acquisition is a constant challenge and a top priority for most trade associations. Who do you target? How do you reach prospective members? And how do you convince them to join your organization?Here’s how the American Advertising Federation-Cleveland (AAF-CLE) developed a successful membership marketing strategy and campaign that exceeded its goals and laid the foundation for future member acquisition.
Service Disruption + Poor Handling = Lost Customer
How the Wall Street Journal lost a 20+-year customer through poor service and impersonal customer relations plus seven tips about customer retention during service disruptions for your smart marketing strategy.
11 More Timeless Tips for Smart Marketing
How to be a smarter marketer:11 more timeless tips for creating smart marketing strategies from Cleveland, Ohio marketing consultant Jean Gianfagna -- part 2 of a 2-part post
21 Timeless Tips for Smart Marketing, Part 1
How to be a smarter marketer: 21 timeless tips from 21 years of experience in developing marketing strategies and campaigns, from a Cleveland, Ohio marketing consultant - part 1 of a 2-part post.