MarketStar Blog

As myriad reports and surveys suggest, the future of marketing is going to be shaped by new digital tools like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). So it’s time we started discussing how and where marketers could use these tools to help better market their products. 

With the Google Hummingbird update, one thing that is evident is that good quality content which enriches and supplements a customer’s decision-making process is the key to ranking high in search engine rankings and resulting in high search traffic. Importance of link-building, keyword stuffing has diminished profusely but having said that keyword research is still crucial since customers find and engage with brands using search engines. 

The key is to have a search strategy which targets buyers at different stages of the purchase cycle. Having a uniform search strategy for all your customers regardless of their place in the purchase funnel is like designing the same shoe regardless of a customer’s shoe size. With personalization and targeting becoming a necessity for customer acquisition and retention, search marketers must ensure that their organic search strategy facilitates the advancement of the customer’s purchase journey. 

The first step is to conduct keyword research and target different keywords for different stages of the purchase funnel. The first step is to conduct appropriate keyword research and find keywords with a good monthly search volume but relatively low competition. This can be done using tools such as Google Keyword Planner Tool or the wordtracker keyword tool.

The rise of the subscription-based economy has fundamentally changed the way businesses operate. Customers today prefer access over ownership, opting for on-demand services rather than committing to long-term product ownership. This shift places the burden of ongoing value delivery on businesses—customers will only renew subscriptions if they consistently see value. In this landscape, customer retention is more critical than ever, and tracking customer health is essential for ensuring long-term success. 

At a time when 97% of global consumers1 say that customer service is somewhat important or very important in their choice of and loyalty to a brand, you can’t afford to overlook this aspect of your business. Many businesses recognize this and, upon evaluating their customer service practices, realize that their current approach falls short of meeting ever-rising consumer expectations.

After 28 years in the world of Sales as a Service™, MarketStar has forged many lasting relationships with leaders in our field. We’ve asked Claudio Ayub, a 20-year channel veteran and Chief Channel Strategist of Perks, to discuss his view on improving sales performance through his experience as a loyalty marketing expert with broad knowledge in strategy development, market management, and channel sales planning.

Drip marketing involves sending out of a set of messages periodically throughout an online marketing campaign with the key objective of increasing the effectiveness of a campaign and improving ROI. The term has been inspired by the “drip irrigation” technology used by farmers to water a huge plot of farmland growing crops in the most efficient manner…continued impact leading to prolonged effects with benefits that can be reaped over longer periods of time. 

by Hobart Swan , originally printed in CCI's Channel Management Insights Blog located here: http://outreach.channelmanagement.com/NL-2015-07-July-CMI_Main.html

The maxim leading many technology manufacturers’ channel strategy has long been the 80/20 rule: the top 20 percent of partners deliver 80 percent of sales so only focus on the top 20 percent. But what if the increasing sophistication of marketing technology can help alter that rule a little bit. Vaughn Aust, Executive Vice President for Digital and BI Solutions at MarketStar, says that advances in analytical and automation technology make it possible to get more business out of that often overlooked bottom 80 percent of partners. He’s been in the business a long time and just might be on to something.

One of the greatest challenges channel marketing groups face is how to generate measurable demand and sales results through and with their channel partners.

For channel marketing, enabling partners to gain access to vendor marketing tools and resources is generally a first step. However, today’s channel partners need more than access to standardized marketing resources to get results. So the question is if you build it, will they come?  

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, various tools and strategies emerge and evolve, yet content marketing remains a steadfast favorite among B2B marketers. Despite its popularity, the sheer volume of content being produced has led to concerns about its effectiveness. Marketers worry that with so much information flooding the digital space, their carefully crafted content might get lost, leading to diminishing returns on investment.  

It’s no longer a fight over product features or pricing. Great service is what defines competitive advantage. Sadly, all organizations forget that they are not selling products and product features alone. They are selling dreams, desires and must cater to basic human needs. Product specs don’t cater to emotional needs…good service does.