Archive for Marketing
Couponing for B2B?
It works, done right. Here’s a very good article from B2B that shows one example. If you’re looking to drive leads and sales through incentive value, you can ‘coupon’ in a variety of other ways that won’t devalue your brand, if that’s your concern – but will create an urgency among prospects that drives results. Incorporate that [...]
Read morePlan first, tweet later!
Soooo…you’ve decided to make the big leap into using social media as a part of your marketing efforts. Which, as we’ve said before, doesn’t have to be such a big leap at all for any size business that’s accustomed to close contact with customers and everyday support/CRM practices.
But what any business needs, before it initiates [...]
Small businesses with a big edge
In many ways, small firms are more adept at using the edgiest marketing methods out there.
Read moreWhat’s your mission?
Here’s a compelling Fast Company article that deals with the subject of mission statements. The nut of it?
Employees, vendors, and clients don’t get stoked by fuzzy mission statements. They will line up behind concrete goals.
Branding needs to work hand-in-glove with your mission statement, too. Both offer an opportunity to create a rallying cry, a call to [...]
Rebranding basics: a checklist for success
For any B2B business that’s contemplating a rebranding effort, there are some basic guardrails to follow that’ll help drive success. Remember: any proper rebranding program is a big step, involving investments not just of time and dollars…but you’re investing the very character and culture of your business in this new identity. So here are some [...]
Read moreThe big agency death knell?
It’s not (just) the recession that’s contributing to the ills of mega-agencies like IPG. Back in the old days, competencies had to be grouped to pool people with certain skills. Ergo, big ad agencies with clustered skillsets. Or big car companies and steelmakers, etc. Big shops that try to keep it all under one roof [...]
Read moreSocial media: has your business already been using it?
Here’s a useful post from iMediaConnection.com about how how to get your feet wet in social media. But the fact is, many B2B marketers have already dipped their toe in that pool, in a small (or even large) way, by virtue of their previous customer support or other CRM efforts online.
Admittedly, there’s a considerable difference [...]
Make your business a hub
IDEO is perhaps the most eminent design firm in the world, branching over the years from product design into designing processes and business concepts and much more, for clients and causes worldwide. Offering up high-value, free resources like their Human Centered Design Toolkit, an asset to assist NGOs and social action groups in their work [...]
Read moreVW tosses TV for…the iPhone?
Branding Unbound and other sites are all over this one — Volkswagen is launching the revamped GTI using an iPhone app as its primary marketing tactic. In 2006, they spent $16 million against the GTI’s launch; this time? A fraction of that. And not a very big fraction.
The app will deliver a GTI racing game [...]
Branding: the first crucial handshake
When you’re considering a branding and messaging strategy initiative for your firm, one of the first things to do is take a long, hard, analytical look at the competition. See what succeeds for them from a branding and messaging standpoint; step back and ask, “what’s my key takeaway?” A business that embraces smart, concise branding should [...]
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