Marketing Craftmanship

JANUARY 16, 2013

Webinars and public forums entail lead qualification and follow-up with prospects. For example, a 25-person CPA firm with an emerging practice among medium-size, privately held businesses sought to add a pharmaceutical company to its client list. When this situation exists, a B2B firm is not marketing; it’s simply making Tactical Soup.

Tactics 100

Tactics B2B Marketing CPA Cost per Acquisition 100

Marketing Craftmanship

NOVEMBER 12, 2015

In new business development efforts, B2B firms of all types are often challenged by prospective clients with this question: “Do you have any experience working for companies in my industry?”. Because most companies believe their situation and the challenges they face are unique, suggesting otherwise usually will end the sales process.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Thought Leadership B2B 100

Marketing Craftmanship

DECEMBER 22, 2015

When pressed to explain why their company has a blog, many CEOs will admit they were either pushed by marketing counsel to create one, or believed they needed a blog because their competitors have them. Unfortunately, a blog is much like a marriage, but without dating in advance of a commitment. Just take it down. No one will miss it.

Allocation 100

Allocation Terms and Conditions Paid Search Agency Enterprise Management 100

Marketing Craftmanship

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

It’s often the result of poor planning, lack of creativity, outright laziness or unrealistic expectations by the companies that participate in them. Sometimes lightning actually does strike: you’ll make a connection at a conference that eventually leads to new business.

Conference 100

Conference Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Guerilla Marketing 100

Marketing Craftmanship

OCTOBER 14, 2014

Intrinsic selling provides buyers with a significantly higher level of confidence in the seller’s capabilities, and leads to an engagement or sale far more frequently and rapidly than extrinsic selling. Would a company ever publish examples of its past work that were not portrayed as highly successful?).

Case Study 100

Case Study Case Studies Studies B2B Thought Leadership 100

Marketing Craftmanship

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

For most companies, there is no way to predict when a prospect will purchase their product or engage their services. However, the discipline also serves as an effective butterfly net, allowing you to nurture leads and ultimately seek out a relationship on a proactive basis. The Key to Making the Short List.

Sales Cycle 100

Sales Cycle Marketing Management Lead Nurturing Sales Qualified Leads 100

Marketing Craftmanship

APRIL 2, 2015

It’s often the result of poor planning, lack of creativity, laziness or unrealistic expectations by the companies that participate in them. Sometimes lightning actually does strike: you’ll make a connection at a conference that eventually leads to new business.

Conference 100

Conference Tactics B2B Marketing Planning 100

Marketing Craftmanship

JULY 5, 2016

For better or worse, there are many companies that hire employees based largely or exclusively on those external credentials, in order to create a consistent (albeit often elitist) institutional persona. Thanks to internet transparency, these “abused client” opportunities can be easy to identify if you look for them.

Marketing Management 100

Marketing Management Service Paid Search Agency Advertising Agencies 100

Marketing Craftmanship

AUGUST 14, 2015

But there are some unscientific ways to accomplish that goal within your company: Clarify Marketing’s Role – The most pragmatic answer to “What is marketing?” Be Fearless – You must serve as the marketing function’s ambassador within your company. may be: “Whatever your employer (or client) needs it to be.”

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Enterprise Management Lead Ranking Work Management 100

Marketing Craftmanship

JUNE 11, 2015

Many companies view marketing simply as a checklist of items they believe to be essential: Website…check. Marketers often throw far too many shoes into their suitcase, either because they see competitors wearing them, or they wish to avoid explaining why their company lacks the trendiest footwear. White Paper…check. Blog…check.

Planning 100

Planning Trade Show Paper Marketing & Strategy 100

Marketing Craftmanship

NOVEMBER 30, 2014

While waiting for the PR profession-at-large to earn a place at the senior management table, current practitioners should develop their own company-specific strategies that will enable them to rub shoulders on an equal basis with their counterparts in finance, legal, marketing, operations or technology.

PR 100

PR Enterprise Management Work Management Marketing Management 100

Marketing Craftmanship

APRIL 8, 2011

Distracted by all the social media buzz, it’s easy for a company to lose sight of the fact that their website remains the mother ship of brand expression and commerce. If a company can’t produce and maintain a fresh inventory of content, then it’s better off from a brand perspective without having any content at all.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Content Case Study Case Studies 100

Marketing Craftmanship

NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Database companies, notably Cision and Vocus, empower PR people to create enormous lists of journalists in a matter of minutes. In his column, New York Times’ David Segal reports that he has removed his contact information from the 5 leading media database companies.

Public Relations 100

Public Relations PR Blast Campaigns Press 100

Marketing Craftmanship

MAY 23, 2011

Although the grass-roots group gets props for tackling the childhood obesity issue, CAI was ill-advised to point the finger at McDonald’s as a leading obesity culprit; to attempt to dictate corporate policy; and to mess with Ronald.

Public Relations 100

Public Relations PR Intent Organic Leads 100

Marketing Craftmanship

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

eReleases competes with dozens of electronic news distribution services, all seeking to charge companies and PR agencies hefty fees to put their press releases in front of journalists, in hopes of capturing the media’s attention and coverage. a leading provider of crime forecasting data and risk analytics.

Cost 100

Cost Guerilla Marketing B2B Marketing Paid Search Agency 100

Marketing Craftmanship

MARCH 16, 2012

Companies of all sizes believe that more publicity is always better, as a means to raise brand awareness and drive business results. This effort requires that a company either engage an outside PR agency or employ dedicated staff members who are skilled at pitching stories and nurturing press coverage.

Merchandising 100

Merchandising PR Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 100

Marketing Craftmanship

MARCH 24, 2011

Intrinsic selling provides buyers with a significantly higher level of confidence in the seller’s capabilities, and leads to an engagement or sale far more frequently and far more rapidly than extrinsic selling. Would a company ever publish examples of its past work that were not portrayed as highly successful?).

Work Management 100

Work Management Validation B2B Sales Marketing Management 100

Marketing Craftmanship

AUGUST 31, 2011

If journalists find no practical need for flacks, organizations will likely follow their lead. For public companies, dissemination of financial results and material events will be handled by their legal department. Public Relations, as a profession and a function, will simply cease to exist.

Public Relations 100

Public Relations Press PR Content 100

Marketing Craftmanship

JULY 4, 2011

Based on those offline conversations, consumers most often rely on internet search for additional product / brand information, which is considered to be more credible (+25%) and more likely to lead to purchase (+ 17%), when compared to information found through social media sources. Social media will not drive customer experience.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing Word of Mouth Media 100

Marketing Craftmanship

DECEMBER 30, 2013

Its source notwithstanding, the axiom applies perfectly to the great number of companies that retain PR firms, year after year, to generate publicity that will have little or no impact on tangible business outcomes. If we gain that exposure, what will we DO with it?”

PR 100

PR Advertorials Merchandising Paid Search Agency 100

Marketing Craftmanship

FEBRUARY 6, 2016

When a client complained to me recently about the difficulty of competing against larger companies, I had a flashback to when my kids were in grade school. Sales reps don’t know how to convert their leads. As my kids started to whine, I would sing: “The babies on the bus go wah, wah, wah. There’s never enough money in the budget.

Marketing Management 100

Marketing Management Paid Search Agency Marketing & Strategy Paper 100

Marketing Craftmanship

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Notwithstanding the New York Times’ effort to protect the integrity of the Fourth Estate, there are at least 3 reasons why it makes good sense for companies and organizations to stand firm on stipulating that reporters obtain quote approval as a pre-condition for granting an interview: Reporters Are Human.

PR 100

PR Media Press Blogger 100

Marketing Craftmanship

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

B2B companies – professional service firms in particular – can benefit by creating a culture similar to the Marine Corps; training all employees with basic marketing & sales skills that can help the firm to grow and succeed. Semper Fi.

B2B Sales 100

B2B Sales Cross-Selling Work Management B2B Marketing 100

Marketing Craftmanship

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

These brief, tailored messages – sent either by email or snail mail – have not only enabled us to maintain a consistent pipeline of clients; but more importantly, we’ve built a practice consisting of high-value companies and people that we wanted to work for. View Selling as a Numbers Game.

Effectiveness 124

Effectiveness Business RFP Lead Scoring 124

Marketing Craftmanship

MARCH 27, 2013

The original purpose of white papers as a B2B marketing tactic was to produce objective information, packaged as quasi-academic research, that might validate a company’s or product’s value proposition. And there are still many companies that produce legitimate white papers containing helpful, objective information.

Paper 100

Paper Paid Search Agency Advertorials Allocation 100

Marketing Craftmanship

JANUARY 13, 2017

These brief, tailored messages – sent either by email or snail mail – have not only enabled us to maintain a consistent pipeline of clients; but more importantly, we’ve built a practice consisting of high-value companies and people that we wanted to work for. View Selling as a Numbers Game.

RFP 100

RFP Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Tactics 100

Marketing Craftmanship

JUNE 6, 2018

CMOs continue their struggle to make the connection between marketing activity and company performance, and they continue to shift the blame for their failure. An oversimplified description of the CMO’s role is to promote the brand, and to generate viable leads for the sales team. The reason CMOs give for the disconnect?

Work Management 133

Work Management Marketing Management Account Based Marketing Marketing Automation Services 133

Marketing Craftmanship

JULY 5, 2013

Herb Schmertz countered public criticism against Mobil with hardball PR tactics, under the pretense that if companies don’t pro-actively participate in pertinent discussions, they deserve what they get, in terms of reputation.

Public Relations 100

Public Relations Advertorials Mobile Advertising PR 100

Marketing Craftmanship

FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Not to be confused with “The Wall Street Transcript” Many companies will invest considerable effort seeking positive publicity in influential media sources, and then fail to benefit from the masthead value of that exposure. Long blocks of copy on websites that require scrolling are rarely read.)

Merchandising 100

Merchandising Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Public Relations 100