Articles in " General "
7 Tips for a Better White Paper – Don’t Bury It YetAugust 3 2010 | General, Marketing Automation, Marketing Basics
As a marketing automation provider, we continue to receive a steady stream of requests from partners, customers and prospects for white papers and best practices. Our white papers are popular downloads – and many of those website visitors return to the site numerous times. So my answer is, “No. No way. Not by a long shot.” I do think, however, the era of the sales pitch, listen-to-how-great-we-are paper ended a long time ago. Educational content, an interesting and empirical point of view and actionable information contribute to papers that are so much more compelling than reading endless prose that is nothing more than an over-stuffed meatball sandwich (though I do love a good meatball sub – Dedham House of Pizza rules). Back to the subject at hand of white papers. In order to ensure you’re spending time writing papers that are valuable and have the potential to develop a loyal readership, we’ve put together a list of our favorite white paper tips: 1. Snap out of Clichés. Your product isn’t the same as everyone else’s so don’t fall into the B2B “parrot” syndrome. Words and phrases such as: innovative, market leader, scalable and cutting edge almost always make the list of Most Overused. We’re not saying you have to abandon these words altogether – but use them sparingly and in a meaningful context. We hope these tips give you actionable ways to think about your white papers so you don’t need to bury them before their time. Think the white paper is yesterday’s news? Please drop us a line or tweet. Squirrels Gone Wild and 4 Lessons about Online MarketingJuly 6 2010 | General, Marketing Basics, Social Media
These squirrels were chattering, squeaking and flying through the air in what seemed to be a territory dispute. Amused, we watched them for several minutes. As I returned to my desk, I began to think about the improbability of watching a full-blown squirrel fight. Cat fight? Yes. A bar fight. Yep. Squirrels though? Not until today. The whole hilarious (and dramatic) incident made me think about other things I have observed recently that seemed counterintuitive but valuable. In no particular order, I wanted to share a few marketing truths that fit this category of ‘strange but true’: 1. Long emails are Ok if the content is compelling. As a marketer, I like using bullet points and keeping it short and sweet. Earlier this summer, I dug my heels in as a colleague proposed an email marketing campaign that I secretly (or not so secretly) dubbed the Sominex Special. The email was at least 400 words, lacked bullets and seemed endless. But we sent it because the content was direct and purposeful. Guess what? The click thru rate was an impressive 37%! Lesson: if the content is great, people will read it and respond. 2. Share the love. No, I don’t mean it in a dirty way. The more I participate in forums, comment on Q&A, post answers, etc, I realize that almost all of our marketing automation competitors are using the same places to share expertise and promote themselves. At times, LinkedIn Q&A can closely resemble a vendor comparison matrix. But, marketing automation is relevant for companies of all sizes, and that translates to a pretty big pool, so there’s plenty of room for us all. Lesson: A good attitude and good manners go a long way so play nice. 3. You don’t need 140 characters to express yourself. About 18 months ago when I started Tweeting, I found the character limitations oppressive. I would struggle to optimize every Tweet, ensure hash tags were perfectly placed, etc. These days, if I need to share something socially, I try to keep it to the point and interesting…and 140 characters is plenty of room to accomplish that task. Lesson: don’t use 12 words if you can say it in 5. 4. Old school marketing still has a place. Yep, I said it. Traditional marketing still has a place, and regardless of how much I love online marketing — event sponsorships, chamber of commerce events, speaking engagements, etc. still prove themselves as valuable ways to educate audiences, develop relationships and generate leads. Lesson: don’t keep all of your marketing eggs in one online basket. With these thoughts in mind, I think I’ll head outside and see if Squirrels Gone Wild Part II is playing. Trust me, it’s a great show! What truths have you seen in your own marketing efforts this summer? Please comment or Tweet. 8 Free Online Tools for Your Marketing ArsenalJune 25 2010 | Email Marketing, General, Social Media
While people aren’t necessarily spending more time online, the internet remains an absolutely essential part of everyday business and personal life, so what could explain this static usage? Online users are becoming smarter, more knowledgeable and putting up with less…well…bologna to get to what they want. Their need for immediate results has created the demand for quick, easy and (oftentimes) free services and tools that help execute and measure social engagement, marketing campaigns, business processes, news distribution, etc. That said, we’ve come up with a list of free tools we love that make your life easier, whether you’re creating your company’s next email marketing initiative, researching the competition, or just trying to find out who’s going to your high school reunion (so you can make your “non-biased” decision based on anticipated attendance). 1. Tiny URL.com (or bit.ly.com) 2. Google Alerts 3. Picnik 4. Hootsuite 5. Lightscreen 6. dBusinessNews 7. Klout 8. StumbleUpon With the speed of communications moving more rapidly every day, and prices increasing faster than you can say, “inflation,” having free and easy tools at your fingertips is just one way we’d like to make your online marketing life easier (and enhance your multimedia search for Britney Spears). Have a favorite free tool or app that you can’t live without? Leave a comment or tweet it @NetResults.com. What Are The Legal Restrictions Around Email Marketing?October 26 2009 | General, Marketing Automation Email marketing is an extremely cost effective and efficient way to promote your business. Unfortunately, many small businesses are reluctant to engage in email marketing for fear of legal implications surrounding the practice. This post is intended to clearly spell out what elements should be included in your email marketing campaigns (and what should not). Read more We’re Eating our own Dog Food… Are you Offended?June 25 2009 | General, In the News In our latest press release entitled “Net-Results Utilizes Own System to Enhance Website, Trial Conversions” we discuss how we’ve recently revamped our website and trial offer based on actual data we obtained using our own system to track website visitors and send follow-up emails. I’m sure hundreds of SMBs also revamped their website last week, so the emphasis on the story was that we did it using our own tool. I struggled to write the release because I continually kept thinking… “who’s going to care?” and “how can we make this newsworthy?” dz5bgj9ce3 Read more |
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