Spring It On: Springboard Marketing

Don't Cut the Marketing Budget

David Allen Ibsen has written a blog called Telling Tales: “Hey marketing guy, how much did you make me today?” It’s a short and sweet tale of his experiences as a consumer marketing manager in an advertising, sales-driven organization (cable channel). In this position, David is visited often by the CEO. The CEO asks almost daily, “How much money did you make me today?” and our hero, David, is always forced to reply “Not a penny, Larry.” While laced with humor, David could read the implied threat in the CEO’s question.

Are Your Competitors Integrating Social Media with Other Marketing Tactics?

Marketing Sherpa has released a chart illustrating how B2B companies are integrating social media efforts with their offline and online marketing efforts.

Spy vs SpyFu: Track Your Competitors' Search Performance

Feeling nostalgic for Spy vs Spy? Instead of running to purchase the latest MAD magazine, don a black or white outfit and go on a sleuthing adventure of your own.  All you need is your competitor's domain name and a visit to an online offering known as SpyFu.

Web Marketing: Why Use Landing Pages?

Because if you're not, you're probably losing customers. A recent post on Hubspot’s Internet Marketing Blog, “4 Simple Ways to Integrate Analytics into Your Daily Internet Marketing Efforts,” offers tips to help you determine the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts. One of them, “Check out your landing page analytics and work on your conversion paths” is worth exploring.

Cutting-Edge Marketing: Adapt or Die

Earlier this week the founder of IT managed services firm Data Balance, forwarded the following quote to us. It came from Doug Van Dyke, an executive coach (and more) who writes about business leadership.

Guidelines for Creating a Social Media Policy

 
If you need help creating a social media policy for your organization, download a free copy of our Guidelines for Creating a Social Media Policy. It includes an overview of best practices and a checklist of topics that your policy should include. Also, SocialMediaGovernance.com has over 80 examples of social media policies ranging from basic to detailed, including nonprofit examples.

Fear Factor: Are Your Competitors Better at Marketing?

Did that headline capture your attention? It was meant to. Tapping anxiety in marketing is a popular tactic these days for one simple reason: human nature.

Studies show that we’ll go farther to alleviate a pain than we will to pursue a pleasure. So companies have realized that if they identify prospects’ worries, they may be more successful in swaying a purchasing decision. Will this strategy work for you, and if so, how should you use it? Let’s look at an example.

5 Ways to Avoid Social Media Fatigue

 

Does this picture look like your brain on social media? You may have social media fatigue. Here are a few steps you can take to get on the road to recovery.

2010 B2B Marketing Trends

A few weeks ago I got a call from a client who is ready to create this year’s annual report. We’ve been handling this work for the last few years and the organization has typically opted for a pretty traditional print format.

How Important is a Call to Action to Effective Marketing?

The Call-to-Action (CTA) is one of the most important elements of a successful marketing campaign. It’s your opportunity to ask for the order. Without it, your message may reach your target audiences, but do little to motivate them to connect with you. This may sound like Marketing 101, but we’re amazed by how many communications lack strong CTAs.