Online Marketing

SUMMARY: Marketing budgets are often the first to get cut when a recession hits. But if you’re marketing high-end products with long sales cycles, pulling back during the downturn can put you behind the pack when the economy turns around and buyers are ready to spend again.

See how a health care IT marketer bucked the urge to hold back and instead launched a coordinated PR, branding and lead-generation campaign. Using well-placed thought-leadership articles, direct mail, and targeted emails customized for each prospects' very specific pain point, they’re filling their pipeline with warm leads at a time when others are holding back. read the complete case study

SUMMARY: Getting more than one organic link on a search results page can be difficult -- but powerful when accomplished. With the addition of image and video results, marketers are finding ways to boost their number of links on page one.

Read how a marketer’s video strategy is earning more links from results pages, and how referrals to his site from YouTube convert at a 12% rate. read the complete article

SUMMARY: "Advertising on blogs or social networks" was rated the most accurately measured (32%), and was also rated the least effective (16%). More than 90% of companies believe that social media is the most effective in accomplishing brand building goal, followed closely by goals for attracting website visitors. view the complete research record

SUMMARY: Marketers have a wealth of data in their email and CRM systems that can take the guesswork out of creating email campaigns and newsletters that resonate with subscribers. The key is identifying segments of your database and customizing email messages according to their preferences.

We interviewed a marketer to learn how his teams have mined data to produce customized email messages that improve subscriber engagement. Includes tips on:
o Personalization tactics
o Writing for prospects vs. customers
o Using dynamic content
o Testing segmentation by industry vs. job description read the complete interview

SUMMARY: We’ve been studying email trends for a long time, and this chart goes back to the beginning, tracing the relationship between email practice and email success. In one form or another, we’ve asked the basic question about how well email was performing since our first survey in 2001. This chart highlights some trends and key takeaways. read the complete article

By Natalie Myers, Reporter

I wasn’t looking for advice about online advertising when I scheduled time to talk to Jerry Shereshewsky, CEO, Grandparents.com, for a MarketingSherpa article I’m writing about marketing to grandparents.

But I should have expected getting some wisdom from someone with 39 years of experience in the industry who last year took the helm of an ad-supported resource site for grandparents.

Jerry’s previous title, ambassador plenipotentiary to Madison Avenue at Yahoo!, was another reason I... read the complete blog post