What’s Working in Marketing

E-mail marketing to rented lists is still tough going in the technology markets. Usually, it’s list quality that’s the problem. Sometimes it’s the creative. Well, here is one example where the creative certainly wasn’t the problem. In fact, it was brilliantly hilarious. From GoToMeeting:
How to Deliver Stunningly Awful Remote Demos
Dear Shari:
Ever scan your email or [...]

New from MarketingSherpa:

Imagine your SEM-based lead-generation efforts converting at 17%. Most marketers see their conversions in the single digits – the lower single digits – when they could be much higher.
Check out how an online education site boosted their course-takers five times. Includes five lead-gen steps and keyword optimization know-how.
Here are creative samples from Ashworth [...]

Just got a note from the Aberdeen Group – they are looking for senior Manufacturing personnel who have an interesting story to tell for their November Manufacturing Summit.  Here’s the message:
The Aberdeen Group is looking for Manufacturing Executives and Senior V.P.’s of Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, Quality and Plan Managers to speak at our summit [...]

In a recent study by the CMO Council, the statistics still show that sales and marketing gaps exist and need to be addressed.  Here’s some of the facts from the article on BtoB Online:
The study, called “Scenarios and Solutions: Mapping the Sales Effectiveness Traps and Gaps,” was based on in-person interviews with more than 100 [...]

We get questions all the time about why B2B companies should bother with social media. The answer is because your customers are increasingly using these networks for interaction, both personal and professional. Take Control.com, a social network for control engineers who have problems that need to be solved.
While most of the current social networking [...]

For those of us running e-mail marketing campaigns, here’s an interesting bit of information on when people check their e-mail. We have learned about a few magic times to send that help increase opens and click-throughs.
This from eMarketer:
Nearly one-quarter of Internet users surveyed in June 2008 for an AOL-sponsored survey by Beta Research Corporation [...]

In a new report from eMarketer, we find search engine use continuing to become a more integral part of Americans’ daily life. The latest numbers show about half of all Internet users use online search daily. A bit surprised to see that e-mail is a daily activity for only 60% of Internet users. Then again, [...]