Feast or Famine: A Solution. By connecting marketing budgets (time/$) to pipeline dips, you can add consistency to income. Here are a few tricks to make it work. Continue reading →

I was researching this for some of our own marketing, and found it interesting. First, an old fact: 75% “of web users admit making judgments about the credibility of an organization based on the design of its web site”. [Source: Study by B.J. Fogg at Stanford http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/index.html ] This is interesting, but dated; my hypothesis is that these days, it’s even higher but also a more complex set of factors that determine trustworthiness. Many of us, by now, have seen thousands of websites and webpages, a barrage of ads, increasingly complex web-based systems like facebook, digg.com and so what instantly creates a feeling of legitimacy is a blend of proven design factors based on our society (i.e. dark or middle blue as a color of trust, for example, as compared to yellow (color for “value” or “cheap” or “bargain”)[note this is sociological; various cultures interpret colors differently]), and an ever-evolving set of more complex ideas like balance, lifestyle imagery (i.e. smiling family pictures, for … Continue reading →

I saw an Ad in “Direct Response”, a magazine I get, that had some great tips – so I’m passing them along, though it’s mixed with my own comments. 9 Rules for Marketing Success: Empirical, not emotional decisions. This is one of the reasons using a CRM is an absolute must, because if you don’t have a CRM, you won’t have the data (most likely) on which to make accurate decisions about which marketing is profitable, and which is not. You should be able to easily see your cost-per-incoming-call, cost-per-lead, and cost-per-closed deal for any given marketing source. Numbers are Truth. Humans delude themselves, want to be right about certain assumptions, so they’ll frequently conclude things which the numbers won’t support. Awareness creates action, action creates results – but step one is accurately measuring anything you want to improve. Frequency is the benefit of success, never the key to success. Ad sales reps love to pound this – “oh, you … Continue reading →

The top 50 ad networks online, and how to ensure, or at least maximize the odds of getting a profitable campaign. Continue reading →