Marketing Fundamentals, Tools, Tactics

  • Your Marketing Budget: Asking for an increase
    Getting a marketing budget increased? If you’ve spent wisely in the current fiscal year and can show beneficial results, you’re in a much better position. If you can demonstrate strong competitive pressures that can be addressed through additional marketing spend, all the better. Here are five steps to kick-start that all-important request for additional funding.

  • 8 Marketing Truisms for a Tough Economy
    There's no question about it. Times are tough. The economy is taking its toll on businesses large and small, which means it's time to redouble your marketing efforts to stay competitive in your industry. In an effort to help, we're presenting eight marketing truisms to help you navigate these difficult economic times — or spur some ideas of your own.

  • Your Tradeshow Booth: Give it real stopping power
    Trade shows remain a great investment — whether you're a product or service-oriented organization. An effective trade show booth or a larger trade show exhibit can help you draw people in and give them a greater understanding of your product or service. A trade show is a bit like a parade, only the "floats" are stationary and the crowd moves. Don't let the parade pass you by.

  • Marketing is a Marathon: Strength and strategy make the difference
    Successful marketing campaigns require the effort and endurance of an athlete. No wonder so many marketers collapse after the mad dash that carries them across the finish line. Sprinting from one short-term finish line to the next is one way to outpace your competitors. But another is to view the challenges ahead of you, then develop a marketing campaign with, forgive us, "legs" effective enough to set your business apart in the long run.

  • Communicating Optimism: 5 smart steps
    It's natural to be cautious in times like these. But it's just not good for your business — or your brand — to scale back marketing or communication drastically during this transitional period. Show your stakeholders that you're looking forward to what the future holds.

  • Focus on Marketing Fundamentals: 3 easy steps
    It's always a smart decision to periodically review the fundamentals of your marketing strategy. Focusing on the fundamentals makes especially good sense in today's challenging economic climate when every organization is striving to do more with less. By answering three basic questions you can ensure that your organization is poised for growth.

  • Holiday Greetings: Should you?
    When it's time to think about your company's annual holiday card, do you start channeling your inner Grinch? Or do you go to last year's card, change the date, and hit send? It's easy to take your holiday card for granted or simply not send one at all, but is that a wise decision for your business?

  • 5 Marketing Tools You Can’t Live Without
    Your company's vision, mission, positioning, promise, and value proposition. They're like the crisply tailored suit that you can't live without. These essential tools should be durable, well-fitting, and reflect your style. (You may have to try on a few before you find the one that is just right.)

  • Personas: Using fiction to inspire fact
    Your communications must speak to audiences in terms as familiar as an instant message, addressing their unique priorities and needs. Otherwise, you'll never motivate your desired response. Don't know your audiences that well? That's where personas come in. Personas can help you discover what will enthuse target audiences and inspire them to act.

  • Email Marketing: 7 make-or-break decisions about the subject line
    Attention e-marketers: Ignore the small things at your peril. It's the eve of your latest email campaign. You've been preparing for weeks. You feel good about your prospects as you draw closer to hitting the send button and letting the world know who you are and what you have to offer. Then someone asks what the subject line should say. Believe it or not, your response to this question is the pivotal moment in your campaign.

  • What’s in it for me?
    WIIFM (What's in it for me?). If you're a marketer, WIIFM should be your mantra. You should be asking it about everything you create. Knowing, of course, that the "me" in "What's in it for me?" is not "you" — it's your customer. Your audience. Your user. Your recipient. Your prospect. Your reader. Your donor. Your investor.

  • Your RFP: It's brand communication
    Many organizations overlook the opportunity the RFP presents, hurriedly creating a "good enough" piece that's neither clear, nor particularly compelling. Others approach the RFP with dread, repurposing an existing document rather than rethinking the process, the requirements, and the schedule. Here are seven guidelines to help you create a great RFP, in other words, a "Really Fine Publication."