For the past nearly 3 years, I’ve been in charge of Audience Development for one of the largest media companies in the US. I learned a LOT during that time. Even more important, I learned a lot about what NOT to…

It’s hard to imagine going anywhere without your mobile device these days. From kids tethered to their phones, to grandmas Facetiming with their grandkids, our smartphones have become as much a part of our lives as our opposing thumbs. But just how…

Email marketing is one of those pivotal, game-changing facets of online marketing that nearly every serious marketer needs to not only know how to do — but do successfully. As you’ve learned to grow your business, you no doubt have come…

Growing a wildly successful software as a service (SaaS) business is a game of numbers. More new customers than canceling customers? You’ll grow. If not, you’ll stagnate, and the competition will gobble up market share right in front of you. At the same…

Are you annoying your customers? Probably so. Inundating your audience with multiple messages at inconvenient times isn’t helpful. Therefore, it’s important to know when and how to engage with consumers. “Marketing is your way of connecting with your customers…

Spearmint LOVE started off as a baby clothes blog less than five years ago. Founder Shari Lott had already built up a strong online presence with her popular mommy blog of a similar name, SpearmintBaby. The premise was simple. She’d…

In the past, marketing to consumers based on things like how many pages they visited on a site were rudimentary at best. They could tell you, in broad strokes, what a customer might be interested in — but they weren’t very…

A successful attorney’s entire job rests on one question: can he persuade the jury to view the case as he does? If he can, he wins. Steal these 10 conversion lessons from attorneys to make your SaaS onboarding emails more persuasive and, in…

Out with the old, and in with the new. That’s the expression. The old? Email marketing. It’s just so 2010. The new? Social…media, proof, marketing. Just look at the proliferation and popularity of social media platforms – Facebook alone has

When it comes to creating behaviorally-targeted marketing emails, we could all use a little inspiration. After all, there are so many potential actions a customer can take that would trigger an email – how do you decide…

A/B testing works… some of the time. Barely. A tiny bit. If you’re lucky. And when it does, a 1% increase to show to bosses and clients is what you’ll get. That’s a problem. Because how much time…

It sounds like the premise for a new sci-fi flick: an advanced species, the Quants, arrive with incredibly deep knowledge on data from a variety of sources, and can test, manipulate and model it to confirm or disprove theories, allowing a…

Remember the good old days? The 2005-era SEO? White keywords on a white background. #1 on Google. Collect your paycheck. Call it a day. Things were so… refreshingly easy. Since then, it’s becoming anything but. A few zoo animals made SEO…

When sending out automated emails to your list, how personalized are they? I’m not talking about things like $firstname, or order by $date for free shipping – but actual personalization based on their behavior. According to MarketingSherpa, 39% of…

Fear works. Except for when it doesn’t. There’s no better way to force prospects to pay attention than by striking the fear of God into them. It interrupts patterns and interests the unaware. But. That doesn’t mean it always works. In…

Have you ever tried to take apart a high-end file cabinet? We’re talking about the kind built with such thoughtful design that it makes a room look like the “after” shot on an HG-TV home makeover show…instead of the dingy unfinished basement…

If you’re familiar with the world of digital marketing – you’ve probably come across the term “marketing funnels.” And no, they have nothing to do with plastic instruments you would use in the kitchen or the smoking chimneys found on…

There’s been a lot of buzz about buyer personas in marketing over the past few years. But few marketers talk about the power of the negative persona, which is arguably equally important in marketing. So, what is it exactly? It’s pretty…

Creativity (cre·a·tiv·i·ty) krēāˈtivədē noun the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. Creativity may not immediately seem incredibly relevant to CRO. After all, CRO is often thought of as a study in best practices and procedural experimentation….

Ask any successful entrepreneur why their startup succeeded and they’ll almost always point you to a growth strategy they followed. They’ll tell you how much they believed the strategy will work because it was solid and had a really high likelihood…

Last year, mobile internet usage overtook desktop for the first time. If you’re not tailoring your marketing strategy specifically for mobile users in 2017, you’re losing out. Mobile internet access has soared in recent years and it’s…

Online search has changed everything. Years ago, acquiring a customer online was easy: reassure the potential buyer your product is the best on the market and push for the sale. Not anymore. Today, consumers can research a product online, compare brands on cost, reputation…

For some reason, people tend to be equating SaaS companies with free trials. I find this pretty bad indeed. Here’s why: It’s true that many software companies see outstanding results with the free trial business model, but it doesn’t imply that everyone…

So much has been written over the years about the “sales and marketing divide” – frankly it’s an exhausted discussion and one that’s never made much sense to me. Don’t get me wrong; sales and marketing conflict exists in many organizations…

Ever bought a survival kit? It contains supplies to help you during a disaster. Every tool within the kit serves its purpose to sustain your life. But what about your business? Does it have a survival kit? Customer engagement is one of…

Israeli researchers studied 200 of the best ads in 1999. These were the top finalists and award winners, like the infamous “This is Your Brain on Drugs” campaign from years ago. The most surprising thing? They weren’t ‘creative’. 89% of them could be classified…

Awful feeling, isn’t it? You’re struggling to find new opportunities to increase growth this quarter. But no worries. The solution to your problem is staring you in the face. Customer support data holds the answer to earning more revenue. It’s an effective…

When it comes to customer service trends, most marketers and customer support teams groan and shake their head. Here’s another glimpse into supposedly “what customers want” that’s supposed to make them beat a path to our doors. Except it rarely works out…

I bet you’ve seen this sort of advice before… When using a testimonial, you should always: List the customer’s first and last name Include their photo Avoid unbelievable, over-the-top praise Those are all fine tips to follow, but they’re really just starting points. Optimizing your social proof…

One of the more loaded questions we hear from execs at our SaaS company is, “How is Marketing doing this month?” Fair question. For B2B marketers who work with lead generation and conversion tracking, the answer beyond “great” may be tricky…

One third of marketers believe personalization will be the most important trend in the future. That’s ‘cause 86% of consumers say it informs their purchases. But there’s a problem. Because less than 10% of marketers believe they’re “highly…

It’s no secret that in 2017, like every year, marketers want to get the biggest ROI from their advertising spend. So which channels are worth your attention? A new survey from Ascend2 took a look at the most lucrative…

For digital marketers, it ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. There are serious challenges inherent to the digital landscape that nobody is talking about. Not long ago, advertisements were the end result of days, weeks, or even months of painstaking research and creative…

Maintaining a customer base isn’t easy. With a slew of industry competitors, consumers can quickly buy products from other brands. It’s vital that your team continue to add value and offer quality service to your customers. “Customer retention is a…

2016 has been an exciting year full of unexpected booms and busts in the marketing and technology world, making us look toward 2017 with eager anticipation. So what predictions came true and which ones started with a bang, but ultimately fizzled…

For brands to stay relevant in our fast-paced, mobile and multi-channel world, they must show more value, more novelty, and more values than ever before. The traditional marketing of old — TV commercials, catalogs and most importantly word of mouth, are…

Market2Lead reports that “nurtured leads experience a 23% shorter sales cycle.” By building an active relationship with buyers, your team is equipped to guide people through the sales journey. An engaged seller can anticipate consumer needs and customize the overall…

Optimizing the customer experience is a great way to get new customers. It’s also one of the best ways of fostering customer loyalty. According to Teradata, only 41% of marketing executives are using customer engagement data to inform…

When it comes to customer dissatisfaction, Spirit Airlines has consistently been the forerunner in the airline industry. Even in the recent travel report published by the American Customer Satisfaction Index it had the lowest score, much below the average…

Much more than just a buzzword, disruptive marketing is changing the way we react to, understand and accept companies and their advertising. From a business standpoint, disruptive marketing represents a key shift in an era where promotional strategies update as fast…

Today’s economy is all about social proof. User-generated content (UGC) is one way to showcase why your brand matters. Moreover, email combined with UGC is a chance for ecommerce businesses to connect with consumers and generate revenue. Olapic found that “user-generated…

Back in college, I visited to this run-down pizzeria shop called Sammi’s. Their logo had a picture of a pyramid on it. No one understood what that had to do with pizza. I pitched Sammi repeatedly on my startup’s text message coupon product…

The food industry is a $5.32 trillion dollar business. The alluring profitability of the food business along with increasing competition has inspired a new discipline: menu engineering. As the name suggests, it is a deliberate construction of…

More than 40% of brands forget one of the best performing marketing campaigns there is: the welcome email. This marketing campaign must-have generates, on average, 33% more engagement with your brand than your average email marketing campaign. Are you forgetting about…

Marketing automation = emails. Right? Well yes. But there’s so much more. Which is fortunate, considering it’s never been more difficult to reach customers through email. The competition’s higher. But email providers themselves are introducing new ways and methods to do everything in their…

Whether you’ve been running an online store for 6 months or 6+ years, it’s a never-ending battle to win conversions. With average cart abandonment rates hovering around 68% – a mix of new and returning customers – you want…

Have you heard about the Fake It Hack? How about the Exclusivity Hack? The Aha Moment Hack? These are a few of the tactics you’ll read if you Google “growth hacking.” Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of them before. You don’t…

Automated email workflows can net you 20% more sales opportunities. They’re more personalized, timely, and targeted. The problem, is that the vast majority of marketers – as high as 85% – are unhappy with their performance. Not the results of…

I’ve always been a little skeptical of Cyber Monday. It always felt a little forced. Black Friday is a media bonanza as well, but Black Friday always seemed more discovered than created. Cyber Monday on the other hand came off a bit…

Ready for your next sales promotion? For some ecommerce teams, it’s a time-consuming task deciding which items to markdown and how to publicize a sales event. However, sales promotions play an integral role in attracting customers. A survey found that up…