There’s something magical that happens in our brains when we draw. And yet many of us, myself included, don’t see ourselves as talented enough to draw outside of the occasional doodle to see if the pen is working. Customer experience success relies heavily on understanding our customers. And the low-tech technique of drawing out the…

Ten years ago, I wrote an article on elections and marketing. Given the unusual set of circumstances accompanying this year’s presidential election, I thought I would revisit this idea. So, does marketing still have an impact on who wins, even with a global pandemic and the rise of out-of-control adversarial partisanship? Well, yes it does.…

In many companies today, both employees and leaders are fearful about the future. It may not be clear which direction to take, how to get there, or how to get the resources you need — and that’s before considering whether you’ll get cooperation from your team. It’s not practical to assume you’ll be able to…

Congratulations, you’ve made a new customer! But now the clock is ticking… You have just 100 days to make that customer a lifetime customer. In this Takeover episode, host Ethan Beute speaks with Joey Coleman, Author of Never Lose a Customer Again about what customer experience means in 2020. Customer experience is everyone’s responsibility People…

Do you want to drive more traffic to your online store? If so, you’re not alone. Business owners and marketing teams across all industries strive to get more people to visit their website. The more traffic you can generate, the better chance you have at getting more sales, leads, and engagement. But getting people to…

Developing a break-even strategy represents the best decision-making tool available to marketers regardless of industry or niche. As we begin our discussion of how a break-even strategy explodes your business, we need to agree on the definition of break-even then know how we calculate break-even. So, break-even is the point where you’re covering all your…

Today I have some eCommerce tools that can help increase your business leads and sales. Here’s four links with tips and tricks to kick start your work week. Attracting new customers is a vital component to increasing conversion rates on your website. Your business needs the best sales tools in order to accomplish this. Do…

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a YouTube video promoting your retail business worth? The answer comes in many forms, all backed up by statistics. Google bought YouTube back in 2006, and since then, the search engine giant has made it a priority, giving quality videos higher search…

In my first decade as a tech CEO, I consistently got advice about how building a great team was essential to building a great business. Agencies and consultants were never part of this conversation. It was always: hire full-time employees in areas where you need a competitive advantage; only hire agencies for functions you want…

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about the SEO component of your content marketing plan – how to pick keywords, right SEO articles, and create pillar pages that will rank for important searches. That content is really important because it builds your top-of-funnel metrics; when you rank for critical keywords, you’ll get more…

I have to confess, this article was provoked reading the newspaper about the upcoming elections. Many “leaders,” political and otherwise, are making statements. Some are choosing not to vote, one feels that a write in vote for “Ronald Reagan” demonstrates his leadership and thoughtfulness. While it’s been those incidents that got me thinking about the…

Zoom calls are becoming the most commonly accepted communication for work. As calendars become increasingly filled with Zoom calls, the term “Zoom fatigue” is being used to describe the exhaustion people feel from staring at their computer screen all day. Unfortunately, this makes a presenter’s job even more difficult as they confront a tired audience…

Marketing today is more complex than ever with multiple business objectives, a multitude of channels available, and consumer attitudes and preferences frequently changing. You really can’t do it all unless you have an endless budget, and few companies and marketers are that lucky. While you may be tempted to chase after each new shiny marketing…

Microsoft Azure recently announced an addition designed to help with Azure chargeback: cost allocation, now in preview in Azure Cost Management + Billing. We’re always glad to see cloud providers making an effort to improve their native cost management capabilities for customers, so here’s a quick look at this update. Chargeback for Cost Accountability Cost…

When you consider that it can cost five times as much to gain a new customer than it does to retain the ones you have, customer retention ends up looking like a really good investment. Plus, repeat customers on average spend 67% more per purchase than a first-time customer. Getting repeat customers is one of…

Imagine you’ve decided to launch a website. You’ve come up with a killer brand name, and you’re all ready to go. You visit a domain marketplace and search for your brand – but there’s bad news. The exact-match dotCOM domain for your brand is already registered by somebody else. At this moment, you might think…

So you’re ready to enter the new year with a strong social media marketing strategy? If so, then follow along. In this guide, I’ll offer a beginner’s class on social media marketing. I’ll also show you how to get the jump on your competitors as we exit the pandemic. To make things clear, I’ll go…

One of the most rewarding things for marketers is to see the results of our efforts. Once you start seeing the amount of form submissions and conversions from a specific piece of content you’ve spent weeks if not months on, you know you’re doing your job right. Reaching your conversion goals is just one part…

Each month, more than 6600 people from around the world search for “Slack alternatives”. Source: SEMRush All these searches come from business users with HIGH purchase intent – they are unhappy with Slack for whatever reason and want to find something that’s better. With tons of collaboration tools out there (including Hubbion, the tool I…

A product launch is an exciting milestone for any company, the beginning of new opportunities and possibilities. While exciting, product launches are also complex and multi-tiered, requiring a lot of preparation and research. According to the Market Research Association, only 40% of developed products make it to market, and of that 40%, only 60% will…

Schwab’s annual RIA benchmarking survey is always an eagerly awaited update on goings-on in the space, but perhaps no iteration of the report has been more anticipated than 2020’s as the wealth management industry has been grappling with all of the implications of the ongoing pandemic. Wealthmanagement.com had a great write up of the report…

A successful email campaign starts with a great subject line. The best subject lines are often descriptive or personal, giving the reader a reason to read the rest of your content. But capturing the attention of your subscribers is easier said than done. If you’re struggling with low email open rates, here are five surefire…

I love hanging around smart people, and my friend Todd Hartley is one of the very smartest. He runs WireBuzz, an agency that uses videos to help their clients sell and service their customers, clients, guests, etc. He was interviewing me for his podcast and used the phrase, “ritualize the experience.” He used it in…