Porsche Boxster Video and Other Subject Lines That Work

October 27, 2010

Yesterday’s inbox presented me with a message with the title “SmartStream: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder Video.” Never mind that it was from an unknown source. The subject line got my attention and I’m not even a sports car enthusiast. It is probably because I’m not an enthusiast that made this work so well. Wondering would someone would send me email about a Porsche was all it took to trigger an open. Now, the real trick would have been to populate…  (Read on)

Listening Should Be Your First Social Media Strategy

October 25, 2010

Yesterday while participating in a panel discussion at the SBDC FastTrack session at GSU, one of the attendees asked whether her firm needed a social media strategy. I shared with her the same explanation we’ve been using for several months: you don’t need a social media strategy; you need a marketing strategy. If a social media application is the right tool to help you achieve your marketing objectives, then use it. But remember, the tool you select today may not…  (Read on)

Invest in a Change of Scenery

July 27, 2010

Albert Einstein is credited with describing insanity as doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result and while you don’t often see him mentioned in marketing arenas, the application is equally valid here. How often have you poured good money after bad on a marketing program or message that wasn’t working just because you didn’t have the time to come up with a better idea? Make today the day you find the time to stop wasting money…  (Read on)

Why Frequency Marketing Works

Marketing Sherpa’s chart this week — entitled The Long Road from Lead Generation to Sales Conversion — further reinforces everything we’ve been saying lately about the importance of frequency marketing. Once a lead is in the pipeline, you need to nurture, nurture, nurture them until they convert to customers. Because your field sales personnel can’t possibly call these folks every week (and that kind of pestering would be downright creepy), let your frequency marketing campaigns do the work for you.…  (Read on)

Once is Not a Marketing Campaign

July 26, 2010

If I had a dollar for the number of times that a business owner told me they tried marketing once and it didn’t work for them, I would be driving a much nicer car. Marketing is not like lima beans, you can’t try them once and make a decision on the spot that it doesn’t work for you. Yet I continue to run into businesses who use that excuse when I suggest that better or more targeting marketing efforts might…  (Read on)