Blog

Are more businesses taking a social or political stand today than ever before? Or has the amplification power of social media simply drawn more attention to those that do?  It’s a question I’ve asked myself often over the past year; however, at no time more than recently when a client asked if the creation ofRead more

I’m growing a bit weary of all the new forms of marketing and advertising being invented in the wake of the Internet and, in particular, social media. Social media marketing, content marketing, relationship marketing, influence marketing, etc. Every year sees a slew of “new marketing” concepts that become the hot topic around the blogger waterRead more

I understand that the title of this post will instantly be considered a ploy to capture attention and links; however, there’s an honest sentiment behind the question:   “Does social media stunt business growth?” After reading Margie Clayman’s post Customer Acquisition: Community Versus Clique here on Sensei Blogs last week, I was left wondering about theRead more

How competitive is the market for online news viewership? It’s so competitive that respected news publications have elevated bacon to the realm of “newsworthy” story.  For over a year now I’ve noticed the inclusion of “Internet-popular” subjects introduced into  the content mix of my favorite business, marketing and news sites, subjects that would never hadRead more

A common mistake that many software and product marketers make is to orient marketing collateral, Web site navigation and even brand messaging around its features and functions. Take a look at most technical product or software web sites and you’ll quickly see a navigation button for “features.”  Drill down and you’ll see a litany ofRead more

Last week’s exchange on the place corporate blogs have within the modern marketing mix inevitably featured the oft-used buzzword: “humanize,” as in “a blog is an excellent opportunity to humanize your brand.”   The term represents the concept of making a business more relatable to its customers, moving beyond marketing-speak, product brochures and spec sheets toRead more

B2B customers have become more independent buyers in the procurement process as a result of their increasing access to information, research and peer-recommendations. In fact, this modern buyer is something of an enigma to B2B vendors.   Traditional lead generation efforts such as trade show and publication advertising, direct mail, email, etc. are decreasing in effectiveness.Read more

Advocacy, the third stage in the Customer Development sphere of the Sensei Customer Lifecycle model, is the culmination of the business’ effort to engage and support the customer. A customer who has reached this stage in the lifecycle has experienced the seamless conversion of your relationship from vendor-prospect to vendor-customer and now embraces you asRead more

What the average marketer tracks every day: Tweets. Shares. Views. Likes. Retweets. Searches. Comments. Pings. Pokes. +Ks. Reads. Phone calls. Leads. Qualified leads. Converted leads. Return on Investment. Conversations. Recommendations. Votes. Mentions. LinkedIn  connections.  Pins. Returned calls. Repeat visits. Twitter followers. Unique views. Keywords. Tags. Social rank. Klout score. Inbound links. Sale. Household income. LifetimeRead more

Customer loyalty programs first launched with great marketing hype surrounding their intention to thank and reward the business’ most loyal customers.  Truth be told, they were conceived as part of a customer acquisition strategy and designed to be a differentiator that pulled customers away from competitors or to encourage repeat purchases.   These programs have expandedRead more