By “game plan,” I don’t mean your strategy to catch all the best football games, even when they’re on at the same time. I don’t mean your kitchen maneuvers to successfully cook a turkey and 10 side dishes with just one oven, and I don’t mean your proven system to avoid talking to your creepy uncle who pops up at Thanksgiving dinner every year (although all of these strategies are necessary – and impressive, I’m sure). Family All Together At Christmas Dinner
The “game plan” I’m talking about is your strategy for marketing during the holidays, since Thanksgiving is the official kickoff. No matter what you’re selling, you’re missing a great chance at your own demographic of merry shoppers if you don’t have a campaign structured around the holiday season.
Cheat Sheet: 2014 Marketing Budget
We’re halfway through November, but you haven’t planned your marketing budget for 2014. Your boss expected a draft of recommendations yesterday (thank goodness you’re familiar with the “I forgot to attach the file” excuse), but you haven’t even started to research what your competitors are doing, much less what you should do.
Luckily, your frantic Googling landed you in the right place this time. We’ve put together a cheat sheet of ideas, trends, and predictions for 2014, each with a handy sentence or two of explanation.
Feel free to use the tips below to impress your boss with your preparation and insight. No need to quote us – this one’s a freebie.
Multi-Channel Digital Marketing: What matters most?
Multi-channel (or multi-touch) marketing is all about getting a message to your target audience using a combination of communication channels that, hopefully, work together in an effective integrated plan. In the digital realm, the most commonly used methods are email, social, paid search, mobile and content marketing via blogs and webinars. Since no single communication channel is 100% effective in reaching new and existing customers, it is important for businesses, big and small, to incorporate multi-channel digital marketing tactics into their overall marketing strategy.
Make It Easy For Customers To Find Your Business With 3 Simple Steps
As we approach the holiday season, it’s important for small businesses and first time entrepreneurs to take extra steps to ensure the accuracy of their online business listings. 1727098-green-radar-screen-with-world-map (1)
A recent Infogroup survey revealed that businesses have just one chance to get a new customer to try their product or service. Over 60 percent of consumers said if they arrived to find a restaurant closed, they’ll simply find a different one on their mobile device or navigation system. It’s simple. If customers can’t find you, they’ll go somewhere else.And small businesses can’t afford to have that happen during what is arguably the busiest shopping season of the year.
Property & Casualty Insurance Companies Ramping Up Marketing Efforts
The marketing of insurance has becoming a lot more interesting in recent years. A product category that had previously been perceived as uninteresting has gotten a lot of attention and marketing dollars. Many players in the space are using various tactics to promote greater brand awareness and more positive brand beliefs in order to induce purchase.
Can Banks ‘Bank’ on Social Media?
Banks as a whole are challenged to optimize social media use. Content generation and management are key concerns. Social media is a two way conversation, not a one way push mechanism for brand content. Banks need to sell product like many companies, and social media serves a way to aid the sales process if used optimally. Social media can be a good driver of brand awareness, research, and the development of brand beliefs that can serve to induce purchase.
Marketing Automation & Customer Relationships
A blog reader commented that marketing automation is a “great way to foster relationships without the need for one-on-one contact for every encounter.” Marketing automation is meant to enhance the overall brand experience. It is essentially geared towards creating one on one relationship building on a massive level, and can create meaningful accomplishments.
Why Print is Still An Integral Component of Multi-Channel Marketing
Print is still an important marketing channel for many organizations. Managing, optimizing, and distributing print materials has been a pain point. An On Demand Print Studio serves as a key component in creating the greatest marketing efficiencies. Improvements in cost expenditures and process flows serve as key benefits in enabling marketing automation in the print function.
How Should a Sales Person Spend Their Time?
Time is a valuable asset. It can’t be re-created. When the moment passes, it passes forever. Every second that a salesperson isn’t spending on productive sales activity represents an opportunity that is lost forever. Distribion’s proven platform offers a way for organization’s to make stronger use of a salesperson’s time.
The One Key Skill Great Marketers Have
Marketers come from a wide variety of backgrounds. But there’s one common unifying skill that separates the best marketers from the rest of the pack. Ultimately, geat marketers see the trends and adjust their efforts accordingly while maintaining an approach rooted in fundamental marketing theory.
Do Marketers & Salespeople Ruin Everything?
During last week’s LIMRA-LOMA Social Media Conference, one of the key points that keynote speaker Gary Vaynerchuk made was that marketers & salespeople ruin everything. By everything, Vaynerchuk is referring to the dynamics of a marketing channel, and that channels lose their cool factor once they are discovered by marketers & salespeople. Does history support his viewpoint?
Gary Vaynerchuk’s LIMRA/LOMA Social Media Conference Speech Broken Down
Gary Vaynerchuk’s speech at this week Social Media Conference packed in a lot of value about the current state of marketing. He believes that all companies are media companies and that plumbing is a central idea to present day marketing. Find out more about these ideas.