Archive for January, 2014

Are you practicing effective B2E marketing?

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

I  heard a term recently that I had never heard before, but that I wish had come up with: B2E marketing: for “Business to Employee.” Most are familiar with both B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) marketing and, of course, the concept is the same. This new acronym, though, really hits on a very, very important audience that many businesses overlook.  But, while I’ve spoken, written and consulted widely on the important role that employees can play as brand ambassadors, I didn’t coin the term. Darn! That said,  (more…)

Is Entrepreneurship For You?

Thursday, January 23rd, 2014

I’ve wanted to be an entrepreneur ever since I was in grade school. I grew up in a family-owned business so the notion of “working for myself” was both familiar and appealing. For years I dabbled in various entrepreneurial ventures, primarily freelance writing which provided a very nice “second income” while I worked in traditional corporate environments. And, for the past 5.5 years I’ve been “on my own” and I can’t imagine ever going back to a “real job.”

Entrepreneurship is freeing primarily due to (more…)

The Myths of Email Marketing

Tuesday, January 21st, 2014

A few years ago, driven by my curiosity about the state of traditional direct mail marketing vs. online, or email, marketing I proposed an update to a book I had written on direct marketing a number of years ago. My publisher agreed and I had the opportunity to do some research on Direct Mail in the Digital AgeAs I suspected when I proposed the project (more…)

Keeping Up With Customer Needs

Thursday, January 16th, 2014

Businesses of all sizes and types are concerned with staying abreast of constantly changing customer and consumer expectations. The information age we are in represents both challenges and opportunities for doing this. The challenges are related to the sheer volume of information we now have available to use. The opportunities are related to the same thing! As both a small business person and a marketing consultant, I approach keeping us with customer needs from a couple of different perspectives: (more…)

Using Social Media to Grow Your Business

Tuesday, January 14th, 2014

We use social media for our own business and also work with clients to help them use various social media channels effectively to meet their business objectives. Many of our clients are in service (e.g. healthcare) organizations or are independent consultants hoping to establish themselves as thought leaders. All are hoping that social media can help to raise awareness of their services and, ultimately, drive business. We’ve successfully used (more…)

Mission Statements: Who Needs Them?

Thursday, January 9th, 2014

I will admit, that in years past I was a mission statement basher. I considered mission statements to be exercises in futility and a waste of time. I’ve come to believe differently, with one big caveat: (more…)

New LinkedIn Product Pages – Go or No Go?

Tuesday, January 7th, 2014

LinkedIn recently announced the introduction of product pages—the ability for brands to create pages to highlight specific products. The big question for brands is: “worth it,or a waste of time”? Call me crazy, but I’m going with the latter. In fact, as I work with and monitor my own accounts as well as client accounts I’m very cognizant of the potential to dilute brand messages by using too many channels.  (more…)

What Are the “Right” Metrics to Measure Marketing Effectiveness?

Thursday, January 2nd, 2014

Over time, I’ve come to realize two things about my love for marketing:

  • I’m addicted to response. There’s nothing I like better than developing strategies and tactics, implementing them and seeing how well they worked. The higher the numbers, the greater the rush. The lower the numbers, the greater my need to boost them.
  • I’m comfortable with—even driven by—the ambiguity of marketing. There are no truly “right” answers to a lot of the questions that marketers ask, and I’m okay with that.

One of the questions that there isn’t a “right” answer to is a question that is posed frequently these days. “What are the ‘right’ metrics to measure marketing effectiveness?” (more…)