I was flipping through my notes on the book, “Managing Business-to-Business Marketing Communications” by J. Nicholas DeBonis and Roger S. Peterson.  Excellent book, and here are the highlights as it pertains to customer retention. The Fundamental Principal of Marketing It is exponentially more profitable to keep existing customers than it is to acquire new ones. The rule of thumb is that it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. Many marketers focus the majority of their efforts on lead generation activities. Although new business is always an important driver to any business, more companies than not seem to neglect the MOST PROFITABLE marketing strategy, which is keeping and growing your current customer base. What Customers Need “Customers need and seek out relevant, accurate information for appropriate buying decisions, information that provides a better knowledge of the marketplace and its products, is clear and easy to understand,...

The August 13th BusinessWeek article from Jack & Suzy Welch is truly eye-opening from a marketing perspective (link to article provided here, but requires BusinessWeek subscription). Welch discusses how customer loyalty has changed from a one-way (competitive price, excellent product quality, easy access, great service, etc). to a two-way partnership. Welch states: “With the two-way-street approach to loyalty, you and your customers don’t have a deal as much as you have mutual dedication. Because you, the seller, are not delivering on just price, quality, and service. You are demonstrating intense loyalty by giving him a comprehensive, inimitable way to win. Better productivity. Faster throughput. Lower inventory. More innovative products. You are delivering something—anything—that makes you indispensable to your customer’s success. Then, and only then, will you get complete loyalty in return.” This is important because it displays how much buyer behavior has...

This topic has been on my mind lately. It can really be summed up in the “old school” vs “new school” debate. I know it’s not that simple, but bear with me. The No. 1 question my team has received as we prepare to launch Junta42 is about marketing. How are you going to market? What kind of space are you going to buy? Investing in a sales force? What’s the marketing plan? And so on and so forth.Continue reading

Scott Carp suggests that the only true business model on the web is distribution. Custom publishing can no longer afford to be (or be perceived as) second-rate content. The time for marketers (and responsibility) is now!

Callaway Golf TV, launched about a month ago, is a content marketing site that works. Using video straight from the pros, it's like customer testimonials on steroids. Take a look.

An interview with Marcus Grimm, a marketing executive with NXTbook Media, offers some interesting applications for marketers and publishers to consider. Take a look at Grimm's view of the evolving digital publishing landscape.

An article on living in "Bigdealville," points out that banner ads won't cut it if the advertiser really wants to engage the user. Custom integration is key to any online program. Here are a couple takeaways.

Some thoughts on Cisco's recently launched microsite on the human network concept. Site is professional and easy to navigate. Here are other pros and cons.

An informal survey of colleagues in the media/marketing industries shows the term "content marketing" growing in use. We'll keep checking back to see if the trend continues.

Consumers are smarter than ever, and are only going to consume valuable content. It's an evolution for custom publishing, but we need to get beyond the negativity.

Knowing your customers’ wants and needs gives you the opportunity to create not only a sexy marketing campaign, but one that actually changes behavior. Use these 8 proactive steps to make value-based content marketing a reality for your organization.

Many publishers are dismissing the importance and impact of content marketing. Today's publishers need to offer custom publishing marketing services for their customers -- or face watching this large revenue stream go elsewhere.