Some of this may be due to the fact that it’s much easier to buy search advertising (think Google AdWords ) than other types of online ads. In the mass media world, the relationship barely exists: customers use the product and, hopefully, like it enough to buy it again. Summary: marketing has shifted steadily over time from passive to active consumer engagement. Social media is the latest stage in this evolution. Marketers need to master new skills at each stage; as they do, advertising budgets will shift to take advantage of the new medium's increased effectiveness. authority. MORE >>

There are four main areas we need to focus on in order to connect with our buying audience: Relevance to their Business: This is one of the more often focused on aspects of relevance, and in many discussions around segmentation, this is all that is considered. Knowing what role a buyer plays in the buying process allows you to target your message much more accurately. Matching stage in a buyer’s buying process is crucial to relevance, and to do this, we need to map the buying process and what aspects of Digital Body Language indicate a buyer is at each stage. MORE >>

The goal of lead nurturing is to maintain a relevant and consistent dialog with viable future customers - regardless of their timing to buy. To be successful at lead nurturing marketers can't rely on one specific channel but rather they need to leverage a multi-modal portfolio of channels. In short, it’s about relationships. To help illustrate, I created a mind map of what multi-modal lead nurturing looks like (click image to enlarge). Are there any channels/modalities that I'm missing? Download Multi-Modal_Lead_Nurturing PDF. When you do that, you don’t have to sell to people. MORE >>

Behind every business tweet is a person using social media to craft a personal brand image of friendliness, helpfulness, authenticity and intelligence so you will trust them and eventually buy from them. Look, this is not like buying a Mercedes Benz that you can drive around for years. Sometimes I read the “rules” being written about social media marketing and think, “God bless this person for trying, but he must have never had a real job in his life.” And then these opinions get repeated and re-tweeted until these mindless jingles become part of the social media mantra. Wrong. MORE >>

The fact is, there are specific stages in the buying cycle of a complex sale and the call to action or offer made should match the prospect’s place in the cycle. As covered in Russell Kern’s guide “ Direct Marketing’s Five Biggest Hurdles (And How to Get Over Them),&# there are four stages in the buying cycle: Interest, Consideration, Evaluation, and Purchase.  . As you can see, Mr. Kern’s examples — taken straight from his guide — involve matching the correct content offer to the prospect’s stage in the buying cycle. MORE >>