Should You Hire that Marketing Agency? 7 Questions to Ask
Choosing a marketing agency to help you develop and execute a smart marketing strategy is a critical decision for your business. But how do you know if a new agency is right for you? And how can you avoid making a mistake? Here’s some advice for advertisers about evaluating agencies, from my experience on the agency side and as a former client.
More than Swag: Why Branded Premiums are Smart Marketing
Branded premiums and promotional products can be an extremely effective tactic in a smart marketing strategy, especially for business-to-business (B2B) marketers. Here’s why you should be using branded premiums and seven tips for selecting a premium for your business.
Marketers, Please Stop! 6 Creative Themes to Banish Forever
It was the Honda Presidents' Day Sale TV spot that finally put me over the edge: Yet another marketing campaign with an overused creative concept that makes consumers roll their eyes and wonder what marketers and their agencies are smoking.Why do so many marketers continue to develop ad campaigns that have no originality or insult the audience? Can’t we agree as agencies and marketers to stop the madness?As a marketing consultant, I’m sure I speak for millions when I say I’ve had enough. Here are six marketing approaches I’ve seen far too many times and hope never to see again.
Is That Super Bowl Ad Effective Marketing? 7 Ways to Judge
An estimated 111 million people will be watching this year’s Super Bowl and a recent survey showed that many American adults prefer watching commercials to watching the game. That’s why marketers are willing to spend an average of $3.8 million for a 30-second spot.When you have an audience that big and that eager to hear your message, your ad had better be great.But how do you know if an ad campaign or creative concept will be a winner -- or be worthy of such a huge marketing investment? What makes an ad effective?As a marketing consultant, I believe the principles of great advertising are the same whether an ad appears in a mega-event like the Super Bowl or in a small industry trade publication.Here are seven criteria I use to assess the effectiveness of advertising in a smart marketing strategy. Keep these factors in mind when you’re evaluating Sunday’s Super Bowl ads.
Why Listening is the Most Powerful Skill in Marketing
A successful career in marketing requires many skills, such as copywriting, graphic design, and project management.But there’s one skill everyone in marketing needs to master, no matter what their role: Listening.Here’s why listening is essential for marketing success and 10 tips for doing it better.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of “Old School” Direct Mail
Social media and web marketing have pushed direct mail to the back burner for some marketers, but a classic direct mail package, using all the tactics and techniques that have been tested for generations, can still be a powerful marketing tool.Here’s why “old school” direct marketing still packs a punch – and some tips for using it in your smart marketing strategy.
10 New Year’s Resolutions for Smart Marketers
At the beginning of a new year, most of us will resolve to live healthier lives and clean out our closets.New Year’s resolutions also can extend to marketing – and many smart marketers use the turning of the calendar page to make some long-overdue changes to their marketing strategies.Here are 10 resolutions to make your marketing more effective in the New Year.
How to Develop a Marketing Plan: 10 Essential Steps
One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is focusing on the tactics of marketing – the new website, direct mail campaign, or Facebook promotion – without first developing a marketing plan.Though a comprehensive marketing strategy for a large company can be a big undertaking, nearly every marketing plan involves these 10 essential steps.
5 Reasons Your New Marketing Campaign May be Doomed to Fail
A brilliant creative concept is often at the heart of a great marketing campaign.But sometimes the creative goes too far -- and what seems like a breakthrough idea at the concept stage results in marketing that misses the target and confuses the audience.Here are five signs a new marketing campaign is a little too creative to succeed and some tips for avoiding these mistakes in your smart marketing strategy.
Getting Started with B2B Marketing: The First 5 Steps
Companies that sell to businesses often rely on referrals to find new customers.But the day may come when referrals aren’t enough. New competitors, new technologies, new types of customers, or new sales territories can create new challenges for your business. To achieve your goals – and capitalize on your opportunities – you need marketing.If you’ve relied primarily on word of mouth to promote your business and you haven’t done much marketing, where do you begin?Here’s advice on the first five things to do to create a smart business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategy.
11 Ideas for Using White Papers in a B2B Marketing Strategy
If you’re a business-to-business (B2B) marketer, white papers can be a powerful way to demonstrate your expertise and differentiate your company from competitors. In part three of a three-part series, here are 11 ideas for using white papers as marketing tactics in a smart B2B marketing strategy.
7 Misconceptions about Marketing that Can Hurt Your Business
A smart marketing strategy is critical to the success of your business. But many companies have misconceptions about marketing that can hamper their ability to successfully promote their products and services in a competitive marketplace. Here are seven marketing misconceptions I often see in my work as a marketing consultant that can limit the effectiveness of your marketing plan and cause you to miss sales opportunities.
Advertising: Still the Most Fun You Can Have with Clothes On
Famed ad man Jerry Della Femina, the creative genius behind many brilliant ad campaigns (remember the singing cats of Meow Mix?) and the author of From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor, once said that “advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”I’ve spent my entire career in advertising and marketing and have owned a marketing consulting firm in Cleveland, Ohio for 20 years. Here’s why I believe Della Femina is right about advertising and marketing and my advice for anyone considering a marketing career.
7 Ways to Get Results from Your Business-to-Business Blog
Every marketing guru (including me) is telling their clients to blog, for lots of good reasons. But blogging is a big commitment. Do blogs produce real results for B2B marketers? Does blogging truly lead to fame and fortune? I’ve just completed my second year writing a blog about marketing strategy. Here are seven ways I’ve used the blog to increase visibility for my business (fame) and get new clients (fortune) and some blogging tips for your smart marketing strategy.
Who Owns Your Marketing Campaigns? You May Be Surprised
Many companies hire marketing agencies or freelancers to develop marketing campaigns and materials. But marketers often overlook a critical step in the process: Ensuring that they own the intellectual property they’ve paid a marketing team to develop. And marketing agencies often fail to protect their legal rights to materials they’ve produced. What are the most common intellectual property mistakes marketers and agencies make and how can you avoid them? Here are some tips for your smart marketing strategy from Sharon Toerek, an expert on legal issues in marketing.
5 Lessons from My UPS Guy: How to Create Loyal Customers
One of the most difficult marketing challenges is differentiating a service business from its competitors. One strategy is to market the knowledge and experience of the firm’s employees. Another is to focus on how the firm's employees make customers feel. Case in point: Tom, my UPS delivery guy. Here are 5 lessons in how to create loyal customers from a UPS driver in Cleveland.
How to Create Great Advertising with Storytelling
Top 10 lists are everywhere this time of year. One of the most interesting lists for marketers is the Top 10 Most Viewed Ads on YouTube, as reported on Mashable.com. These are TV spots people chose to watch online, by the millions. That’s an advertiser’s dream. But what makes these ads so popular? It’s not crazy gimmicks or over-the-top production techniques, though some of the ads have spectacular visual effects. I think it’s about storytelling. The most watched ads of 2011 engage viewers in a compelling story. Here’s why storytelling is such an effective advertising technique and how to tell stories in your smart marketing strategy.
10 Ways to Get Great Client Testimonials for B2B Marketing
There’s nothing more powerful in marketing than a testimonial from your customers about the value of your products or services.That’s why so many smart marketers, especially companies that sell business-to-business (B2B) professional services, use client testimonials in their advertising, sales presentations, brochures, and websites.So how do you get a client to give you a great testimonial for your marketing campaigns? Follow these 10 tips.
4 Things My Idea File Taught Me about Great Direct Mail
Most marketing agencies keep an idea file of creative, interesting promotions by other marketers that serve as inspiration for new marketing campaigns.Since we’re moving soon to new offices (a new suite in the same building in Cleveland, Ohio), I decided to take the opportunity to weed out our idea file, especially our massive collection of direct mail.I tossed a lot of old stuff, but I was surprised at how many direct marketing campaigns created five, ten, or even 20 years ago still pack a powerful marketing punch.I wondered: Why do some direct marketing campaigns stand the test of time? What do these campaigns have in common that makes them so effective?Here are four things our old idea file taught me about great direct mail that you can apply to your smart marketing strategy.
Branding at Birth: How Young is Too Young for Marketing?
Did you see the recent article in Adweek about efforts by major consumer marketers like Disney to establish brand preferences in children ages 0-3? The Next Great American Consumer by Brian Braiker provides a fascinating look at this development. Braiker says branding at birth is “a trend—fueled in part by the growth of digital devices—toward aggressively targeting a demographic that didn’t exist, in marketers’ eyes, until recently: infants to 3-year-olds. By getting their logos and iconic characters in front of babies—even those with still-blurry eyesight—they hope to establish brand-name preference before she or he has uttered a word.”Is this a smart marketing strategy? Or is this the scariest thing you’ve seen all week? The answer to both questions is yes. Here’s why.