You Only Get 9 Seconds to Make an Impression (Sally Hogshead video)
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It used to be that you had 1 minute to grab your prospect's attention. Then it dropped to 30 seconds. Now, because of… Continue reading
Does the New 80/20 Content Rule Apply to Educational Publishers?
Yesterday I read that companies should plan to give up to 80% of their content away for free and generate sales and profits from the remaining 20%. As publishers, that seems an unrealistic metric.
Content is our stock and trade. We've invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in developing the best-of-category, and now we should give it away for free?
How is that a viable business model?
Yet more and more companies are allocating larger amounts of their resources each year to this effort as reported by the Content Marketing Institute. Continue reading
New Realities of Email Marketing
For smart marketers, the days of indiscriminate batch and blast emails are long gone.
Today's email list builders are not just interested in building the largest list but are gathering names and segmenting them based on individual preferences, behavior or where the name belongs in the sales cycle. Quality outranks quantity.
Savvy consumers are selective about who they give their email address to, and most often are giving it in return for something they value: a free report, white paper, eBook, discount coupons, etc. Continue reading
Are you Confident in Your Delivery System? The New York Times Shouldn’t Be
After many Sunday morning phone calls, the NY Times has lost a customer. We used to be happy customers, and we still want to have the Times delivered. But that apparently is the problem.
Over the last five years we have been a daily delivery customer; a 4 -day a week customer (Thurs-Sunday); and we've tried unsuccessfully to be a Sunday only customer.
We're finally giving up. Continue reading
SEO Series: Part 2 – What is Search Engine Optimization Exactly?
First published February 26, 2008
SEO can take many forms but one time-tested strategy is evaluating the primary keywords that people enter into search engines to find relevant content. Make sure that those keywords appear multiple times in your page text. Strive to use those key words as frequently as you can while ensuring that your text still reads easily and naturally to your audience. You want to avoid "stuffing" keywords into your text artificially, however. Current recommendations are that keywords should comprise no more than four percent of your total text.
When automated programs from the search engines called "spiders" find your website, they create an index of words used on your web pages. The more frequently keywords appear on your pages, the more relevant the search engine considers your page for those keywords and the higher it places the link to your website on the list. This is called "organic" search and is more valuable to a searcher than "paid" search links. Continue reading
SEO Series: Part 3 – SEO Helps You Deliver Effective Learning Solutions
First published February 26, 2008
SEO is critically important to any business, but especially so to educational publishers. When teachers and educators search for quality content that impacts their students' academic success, they need to find programs and solutions as quickly as possible with as much supporting efficacy evidence as is available.
When SEO is used correctly, you can help ensure that web searchers looking for keywords that are core to their needs and interests will find your web pages at the top of the search engine results. Appearing at the top of the lists of results assures the searcher that those links will take them to content that is relevant to their informational needs. Continue reading
5 Guiding Principles for Great Sales Presentations
First published April 7, 2008
I ran across an article today at Speechworks and it reminded me of the same essential points I use in training sales people. Since this article echoes my own experience, I share it with you here. If you adhere to these five guiding principles, you will walk away with the order more often than not. Even if you’re “just” pitching your ideas to company colleagues, these principles apply. Continue reading
The 3 Big Questions in Sales and Marketing
First published July 28, 2008
In most small companies sales and marketing is the responsibility of the same person. Often the person in charge has been with the company for some time and what they know about sales and marketing has been learned on the job. Sales and marketing are joined at the hip. In fact your strategic sales plan should be an outgrowth of your strategic marketing plan. Although there are multiple marketing objectives such as investing in customer relationships, building community, establishing your company as content expert in your field, etc., the fundamental purpose of marketing is (drum roll, please) to create sales opportunities.
It is amazing to me how many companies operate without full understanding of the answers to the following questions. So what are the key questions that should be answered for successful sales and marketing to occur? Continue reading
4 Surprising Email Marketing Situations and How to Avoid Them
First published August 6, 2008
Yesterday I participated in a webinar sponsored by Target Marketing Magazine that focused on getting the most out of your emails to customers. The presenters were sharing the results of a study across four vertical markets. I learned some amazing facts such as:
- 30% of marketers do not send an email to interested prospects within 30 days of the prospect making herself known to the company through a subscribe/send me more information process.
- Another 25% do not send the first email within 9 days.
- 60% do not send welcome messages.
- 70% collect enough information in the sign-up process to customize messages and then don't use the information. Continue reading
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