direct marketing posts, articles, and infographics

See Your Trade Shows With Fresh Eyes Again

January 31, 2012 by Mike Thimmesch
with 51 views

Image courtesy of author's blog

Don't fall into the "same-old, same-old" with your trade show exhibiting routine. Ask yourself these 8 questions to see your booth with a set of fresh eyes... [read more]

Is This the Worst Direct Mail Letter Ever?

January 27, 2012 by Matt Heinz
with 301 views

Photo: Aranami/Flickr(creative commons)

I hate to pick on the United States Postal Service, but they made themselves an easy target earlier this week. In my mailbox was quite possibly the worst direct mail letter I’ve received in a long time. [read more]

Struck By a Drive-By Marketer

December 26, 2011 by Todd Schnick
with 27 views

Image: Courtesy of Grand Theft Auto

It is not often someone pitches me out of a car window. But then I found myself smiling about it, thinking it was rather clever. [read more]

Trust and the Big Lie of Lead Generation

November 9, 2011 by Jeffrey Ogden
with 53 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Last Friday, someone filled out this form to download content. It’s exactly the theme of this post. People lie. (By the way, we no longer deliver the content after the form is completed, we email a link to the content. This ensures they use a valid email address.) First Name : zxzx Last Name : zxzx Email (valid corporate email address is... [read more]

Sales Tip to Dear Mike: Unsolicited E-Mail Not Effective in Sales Anymore!

October 27, 2011 by Lori Richardson
with 69 views

Image: Sean MacEntee/Flickr(Creative Commons)

When will salespeople realize that old tactics to get attention do not work in a modern sales world? Below is part of a real, actual email that was found in our spam folder – so even Gmail knew we didn’t want it! My note to “Mike” is after his email to me: [read more]

What If Everything You Believe about Social Media is Wrong?

October 27, 2011 by Debra Ellis
with 58 views

What if going viral was the beginning of the end for your company instead of a dream come true? Or, spending hours on end tweeting, posting, and conversing was an epic waste of time? What if you could get past the hype and discover the real secret to social media success? [read more]

Deliver a Psychic Pizza with B2B Marketing

October 23, 2011 by Ardath Albee
with 44 views

Catching up on my reading this weekend, I came across an interview in the AMA's Marketing News magazine with John Goodman, vice chairman of Tarp Worldwide Inc. In case you're not familiar, his firm is the one that discovered the ratio of 5:1 for cost of acquiring a new customer vs. keeping an existing one. He also says that, for B2B,... [read more]

What a Painting Van Taught Me About Marketing Differentiation

October 21, 2011 by Nancy Nardin
with 55 views

Photo: Elvert Barnes/Flickr (Creative Commons)

If you had a vacant property in need of painting and were staring at a list of painting contractors, who would you call? I’d call ”Vacant Only Painting.” I’d figure they must be the best because that’s what they specialize in. [read more]

11 Reasons Why Your Direct Mail Program Failed

September 13, 2011 by austinwilliams
with 71 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Direct mail is a powerful communication tool with amazing targeting abilities and the potential to reach people that can't be reached online. When they work, they work well; but when they fail, it can hit your brand hard. [read more]

How to turn a good white paper into a great lead generation piece

August 8, 2011 by Jeffrey Ogden
with 234 views

B2B Lead Generation: Great content or a great lead generation tool. What’s the difference? Jonathan Kantor of White Paper Source also blogged about this. Do you want a trickle of leads or a flood? Since we’re just about to start a new white paper for a top marketing automation software firm, this is a timely post. We’ve penned three... [read more]

The Handwritten Prospecting Letter

August 4, 2011 by Dave Brock
with 153 views

Image source: www.partnersinexcellenceblog.com

I’ve been tracking some discussions about old school approaches to engaging customers. There are a number people talking about the power of handwritten thank you cards and notes (I’m a real fan of this myself). One of my clients has done a study and has found brief handwritten introductory prospecting notes, with hand... [read more]

What Mexican Street Vendors Taught Me About Selling

August 1, 2011 by Kelley Robertson
with 93 views

Photo: Wonderlane/Flickr (Creative Commons)

A few weeks ago I attended a good friend’s wedding in Mexico. During my vacation, I ventured into Playa del Carmen and strolled the streets to see what was available. There were dozens of people hawking their wares and trying to entice tourists and visitors to visit their shop or look at their offerings. Here are three of the sales... [read more]

B2B Sales: Are You Playing Buzzword Bingo With Your Prospects?

July 21, 2011 by Bob Apollo
with 95 views

If you’re in any business involving technology, there can be a terrible temptation for your sales people to fall back on technical language, acronyms and buzzwords. Whilst they may be comfortable with these terms, it’s likely that their prospects aren’t - but your sales people may be blissfully unaware... Put yourself... [read more]

Getting Started with Google Plus – Managing Your Privacy, Sharing Content and 10 Additional Resources [Video]

July 4, 2011 by Krishna De
with 374 views

10 tips for using Google+ on your iPhone or other mobile device, a Chrome plugin for Google+ on Twitter and Facebook, and more. [read more]

The 3 Habits of Successful Social Sellers

June 17, 2011 by Mike Volpe
with 178 views

Photo: insideview/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Jeff Molander, author of Off the Hook Marketing: How to Make Social Sell talks about how to solve customer problems first and talk about technology later. [read more]