Brand & Capture

We recently released the results from one of our customer campaigns, in which our client saw a dramatic increase in new qualified sales leads (more than 600%) in one month. The overall impact of the campaign has produced an increase in sales revenues exceeding the combined digital marketing efforts from all of 2012. What was the magic formula that drove these outstanding results and what lessons can we learn that we should apply to all marketing campaigns going forward?

As a young, naïve editor in NYC, I had a mentor who taught me a lot of about the magazine business. And every month, when we were deciding which cover lines to grace the front of our issue, she would undoubtedly say, “But is it sexy?” when one of us timidly offered our suggestions. It seemed odd, especially because the magazine was geared toward teenage and young adult women, so she clearly wasn’t referring to a Maxim-style approach. And while it took a few tries to wrap my head around what she did mean, I finally got it.

Mother's Day has always been a special holiday in my family, not only because I have a wonderfully hardworking and supportive mother (see her to the right!) who deserves a special day of recognition, but because, every few years, her birthday falls on Mother's Day, calling for a double celebration.

Having recently entered fatherhood, my wife received a very timely email from SMA that got her attention. So much so that she mentioned it to me. She by no means only gets a couple of emails so for this to stand out must have really got her attention. I then passed eyes over it and thought it was a wonderful example of modern marketing; simple, effective and adding value. I would also like to point out that I am in no way associated to SMA: not as an employee, supplier or partner.

Take a good look at your customers. No, really. Not their "personas," them. Who are they? Why did they choose you, and how happy are they with what you've done for them? Which ones do you consider to be ideal customers and why? Now match those observations to your assumptions about your buyer personas and be honest with yourself. How accurate are they now? Most of us could use a little tune-up.

Most digital marketers recognize that online reviews are important—and they are becoming more so all the time. User-generated reviews on sites like Urban Spoon, TripAdvisor and Yelp have already started shaping consumer purchasing habits, for the simple reason that consumers are increasingly coming to seek—and to trust—these persuasive Web-based notices. But what if what's being said about you or your products online isn't exactly good? Effective marketers should know how to defend their clients against online defamation and bad review profiles by harnessing the power of user-generated content. To learn how, read on!

In traditional marketing, much-coveted sales leads were immediately “thrown over the wall” to the sales team, which would then be tasked with following up, qualifying and—hopefully—securing the sale. Today’s marketing mix is vastly different and includes non-traditional forms of marketing, such as content marketing, that have changed the way sales leads are generated.

Let’s take a quick moment to discuss the Disney movie "Aladdin," shall we? (It relates to content discovery, I swear!) Early in the film, we’re introduced to Jafar, the Sultan’s evil advisor, who is on a quest to uncover a magic lamp. Jafar’s ploy to retrieve the lamp from the Cave of Wonders is quickly thwarted because, as the Cave of Wonders says, “Only one may enter here. One whose worth lies far within: the diamond in the rough.”

Last month, Heidi Cohen pointed out the Inc. 500 “get” content marketing in ways the Fortune 500 fail to grasp. For example, in 2012, 44 percent of the Inc. 500 had a blog vs. 28 percent of the Fortune 500.

Spreading blog responsibilities throughout the company has many benefits, including covering more diverse topics, showcasing several perspectives and expertise and, of course, developing more content. In my last blog, I discussed steps for successful team blogging and tips for encouraging employees. But along with the good comes several challenges to team blogging.