Choose Not to Confuse

the-question-of-life

Every company has to make choices when it comes to how it markets and sells, and, in some cases, who it is and what it sells. In an email exchange, Tom Grimes, the owner of a Culligan dealership in Amarillo, TX and a brilliant friend, shared with me what he's thinking about in terms of business … [Read more...]

Jeff Bezos’ Secret to High Conversion Rates

jeff-bezos

If you do business, online or traditional business, I hope you took the time to read Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos' 2013 shareholder letter. In it he shares this tidbit: "Our heavy investments in Prime, AWS, Kindle, digital media, and customer experience in general strike some as too generous, … [Read more...]

Adopting a Culture of Experimentation

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“Almost any question can be answered cheaply, quickly and finally, by a test campaign.  And that’s the way to answer them – not by arguments around a table.  Go to the court of last resort – buyers of your products.” “Scientific Advertising” was published in 1923 by Claude … [Read more...]

The CMO’s Marketing Analytics Optimization Framework

Video thumbnail for youtube video The CMO's Marketing Analytics Optimization Framework -

In my last column, I shared recent research about how CEOs have lost trust in CMOs' ability to be focused on business performance. Hopefully, when asked how your company currently measures its digital initiatives you don't get an answer like this (LOL, well done Adobe): Seriously, the issue … [Read more...]

Your CEO Doesn’t Trust That You’re Doing Your Job!

Does your boss trust you?

Did you see the startling statistic shared last week that 70 percent of CEOs have lost trust in marketers? If you're a marketer, like I am, that should alarm you. According to the recent Fournaise 2012 Global Marketing Effectiveness Program, which has interviewed more than 1,200 CEOs across … [Read more...]

70% of CEOs have lost Trust in Marketers

In God we trust, all others must bring cash!

According to the recent Fournaise 2012 Global Marketing Effectiveness Program, which has interviewed more than 1,200 CEOs across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, CEO's have lost faith in their marketing departments with their inability to prove ROI on campaigns: Furthermore, they … [Read more...]

The CEO’s Accountability for Conversion Rates

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Increasing sales conversion rates offers a greater ROI than what you can get from optimizing your traffic; either from paid or earned media. The math is simple - even if many never do the calculations. Companies with higher conversion rates almost always have better marketing efficiency ratios (net … [Read more...]

Leadership For The Marketing Optimization Team

digital power

I rarely get new questions I haven’t written about before in this column - as I approach my 11th year as a ClickZ columnist. Yet, at SES Chicago this week, one of the attendees asked me how you go about building out a marketing optimization team. What kind of people do you need? What kind of … [Read more...]

What Makes People Buy? 20 Reasons Why.

buynowsad

Our mentor, Roy Williams, described shoppers as operating in either one of two modes: transactional or relational, a few years ago. At that time some of us loafed around virtually, exchanging emails with friends, trying to complete a list of reasons that motivate people to buy things. (Thank you, … [Read more...]

Think Differently – 10 lessons learned from Steve Jobs & Apple

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There was a surprise last minute addition to the agenda at my last presentation.  I keynoted in Oslo for the SEM Konferansen on September 22nd and then was offered an opportunity to present something brand new (lucky I was working on something brand new) to a small group on the last day of the … [Read more...]