Sometimes I think the most simple thing that we can do as businesspeople and marketers is “put ourselves in the shoes” of our prospects and customers. Are we making it easy to buy? Or are we setting up unintentional barriers, however slight, that may interfere with—or obliterate—the purchasing process?
by Linda Pophal
My first job out of college was working in traditional direct mail marketing and I spent ten years with that company. I loved the work because it was so measurable so you could tell what worked, what didn’t and continually make improvements to boost response. Digital marketing, of course, offers even greater opportunities to measure the effectiveness of content in a variety of ways so it’s a field I really enjoy.
Literally any content that is accessible online–e.g. via the internet–is considered to be digital marketing. (more…)
One of the challenges for — and criticisms of — the marketing function is that it’s often difficult to calculate an ROI on a company’s marketing efforts. For example, how does a soft drink or beer company determine whether or not their multi-million-dollar Super Bowl ad was worth the investment? How can they tell whether a customer made a purchase based on that ad as opposed to a purchase they were going to make anyway? Not an easy task.
And yet both employers and clients want (and deserve) to know if their marketing investments are paying off for them. Fortunately the measurement game these days is often much more straightforward than in the past. (more…)
Recently we discussed the challenges of determining the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. We cited a McKinsey & Company report showing that many companies don’t make any effort whatsoever to measure the success of their marketing efforts, and we discussed that there is a variety of variables that can make objective comparisons difficult.
However, rest assured that you can, in fact, measure the results of your marketing investment. As Content Marketing Institute discusses, there are a variety of key performance indicators that you can use in your analysis. The article gives some KPIs and some specific examples of each: (more…)
In an industry like marketing that’s driven by having its finger on the pulse of cultural trends and attitudes, a major fear is becoming stale, outdated or thought of as “yesterday’s news.” At the same time, there’s a very real danger in being too quick to move away from the tried and true, especially in established businesses and industries. So, with the obvious need to strike some sort of balance, the clear question becomes, “How often should I update my marketing plan?” (more…)
As 2014 rapidly approaches (I can’t believe how rapidly it’s approaching…) businesses are looking ahead to the New Year and thinking of the challenges and opportunities they will face. We recently responded to a reporter’s inquiry about marketing challenges lying ahead in 2014. Here’s our perspective:
There are two key challenges that businesses are likely to face in 2014 from a marketing standpoint: one is evergreen, the other is continuing to emerge: (more…)
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