Benchmark data, marketing metrics, marketing tests

SUMMARY: If it's difficult for your prospects to find you -- and if they do, but experience an arduous buying process -- your marketing efforts will be for naught.

One of the best ways to solve both issues is to test and optimize every part of a marketing campaign, from top-of-the-funnel lead acquisition to the signed contract. See how one nonprofit ran a series of tests and impressively improved results at every stage of its buying cycle. read the complete case study

SUMMARY: Inbound marketing gives companies the power to attract customers without advertising. The strategy is based on modern trends -- easy access to publishing, the prominence of search engines, the popularity of social media, the power of A/B testing, and others.

The inaugural edition of our new Inbound Marketing newsletter dives into the trends, tactics and strategies that make inbound marketing effective. It includes case study data, expert analysis, stats on tactics, and more… read the complete article

SUMMARY: "Advertising on blogs or social networks" was rated the most accurately measured (32%), and was also rated the least effective (16%). More than 90% of companies believe that social media is the most effective in accomplishing brand building goal, followed closely by goals for attracting website visitors. view the complete research record

SUMMARY: There is often reluctance to fix a machine that’s not broken. But when the machine is wasteful, minor tweaks can bring greater efficiency without sacrificing performance.

See how a menswear retailer brought their catalog circulation issues under control, realized huge savings, and invested in customer acquisition. Includes six lessons from their experiences. read the complete interview

SUMMARY: To help marketers envision how their peers’ LPO practice looks from the human capital perspective, we examined the job functions performed in broadly defined levels of authority. Find out the results from a survey of 2,673 marketers in this week’s chart. read the complete article

By Anne Holland, Content Director

Search pay per click (PPC) URLs are fairly short because of the nature of the beast. You are not given much room to type in a long URL.

So, the hot search PPC testing tactic is specific wording and capitalizations. Example: Should your text ad say www.ClickHere.com, or will you get better response with www.ClickHERE.com, or perhaps www.ClickHereFREE.com?

As all experienced search marketers know, organic search results get the lion's share of... read the complete blog post