Sales and marketing teams, left to their own devices, do not speak the same language. They think they do, but they don’t. Sales teams speak the language of prospects, appointments, commitments, and closed deals. Marketing teams speak the language of exposure, brand awareness, impressions, and reach. Language conditions the way people think, act, and make decisions. It shapes the way people view the world, sometimes in ways that are subtle. It’s for this reason that two people can have a …
read moreSegmentation based solely on demographics is harder than it used to be, and it’s not about to get any easier. There are a number of reasons for this, including the cultural shift away from “we” thinking toward “me” thinking that has driven the trend toward hyper-personalized products. However, there is a far simpler reason . . . the proverbial John Doe is dead.
read moreEvery marketer knows the drill. People born in different eras have different values. You may think that you already took generational demographics into account when creating your marketing plan. You used Facebook and Twitter. You created YouTube ads and made sure they were less than 30 seconds long. You used 50% post-consumer recycled packaging materials. You made sure to use Millennial language; you even threw in an emoticon and the phrase “LOL.” Shouldn’t that have covered all of the bases? …
read moreQuick Response (QR) codes make a lot of sense for the right marketing campaign, as they make it possible to bridge the end user’s offline experience to the offline experience. However, there’s a hitch. According to a recent survey, an estimated 64% of consumers do not understand the purpose of QR codes. Is that a problem?
read moreTo some, the line between sales and marketing is a bit blurry. Oftentimes business owners miss the mark when it comes to drawing the distinction between marketing and sales simply because they are using textbook tactics instead of real world strategies. While the definition of “sales” is more succinct, the definition of marketing is a mouthful according to the American Marketing Association’s website: “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that …
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