I often hear consultants say they're in the business of selling hours. Quite literally, that's true. But prospects may not necessarily be in the market for buying hours. They may be looking for a report or benchmark study that represents a block of time needed to put that package together. >> Click to continue
It was inevitable that so many online companies would wind up letting so many people go. And in many cases, folding up themselves. Pseudo, APBonline, deepcanyon.com, Boo.com to name just a few, bit the dust recently. Others like Space.com, webMD.com, DrDrew, MTVi, and Garden.com have laid off substantial percentages of their staff recently. Or are about to. Instead of second rounds of funding, we're hearing about second rounds of firings. It gets pretty absurd when you read about "human redundancies" or "having to scale back in order to achieve our aggressive goals". >> Click to continue
Really good direct marketing copywriters know that their copy must be "in dialog" with the reader. The copy has to gain credibility in the reader's mind, and thereafter bring up salient points and concerns precisely when and in the order the reader is apt to raise them. >> Click to continue
eMarketer Chairman and Chief Knowledge Officer Sam Alfstad refers to his firm as the "Veg-o-Matic" of marketing research. In this exclusive interview, Sam goes beyond the stats and charts to tell us what is just around the corner. >> Click to continue
We're all watching the stuffings getting kicked out of ecommerce and online marketing stocks lately. Many are below $1 and fear being delisted from the NASDAQ. Some are doing the reverse wussy stock split so as to get above a dollar and prevent such a fate. Before it's all over, many big brand names we've seen marketing online and off will go the way of the proverbial buffalo. Remember, there used to be a few hundred car companies a hundred years ago too. >> Click to continue
Gord Hotchkiss cofounded the PPC agency Enquiro in 1999 and then sold it to Mediative where he is now SVP of performance
marketing. Attracting new clients to his then-agency was definitely a B2B sale. He realized that process wasn't as linear and predictable as
commonly believed. >> Click to continue
The subject header of an email can have the best come-on in the world and mean nothing if the 'From' field is from no one you've ever heard of. This bit of home-spun advice seems obvious to me, yet I frequently get offers from info@Company-I've-Never-Heard-of.com
>> Click to continue
What's next? Do you see things getting better in the Internet space or the economy as a whole? Try to write headlines for the economy and your vertical segment for six months to a year out. I do this exercise with attendees in my seminars. It forces one to imagine what lies just ahead and to possibly prepare for it. >> Click to continue
Imagine having a "Go-To Guy" for everything in your life. You could ask this one person about marketing, economics, politics, literature, manufacturing - you name it. Your "Go-To Guy" would draw on his vast experience, intellect and compassion and come up with the right answer. Not the answer you may be fishing for, but the right answer as proven in the fullness of time. This is who Mac Ross was to me. >> Click to continue