A Love Story: I Broke Up with One Brand Because I Fell in Love with Another

Ilene Rosenthal, CEO

The pain of heartbreak. The guilt of the break-up. Here’s the story.

My First Love

I tried a new brand of household products about two years ago. They advertised on Facebook. The advertising was silly. It made the point. The product was environmentally friendly, and it came in the mail by subscription.

I tried it. I liked it. End of story. Let’s call them Brand #1.

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Topics: marketing strategy, Branding, consumer insights

The Untested Seems Plausible During a Crisis

Ilene Rosenthal, CEO

Even with the understanding that this pandemic crisis is temporary, and that we will get through this, uncertainty looms. There’s so much unknown, it’s dizzying.

And yet, while some of the world seemed to be unraveling in the recent weeks, other plates shifted under our feet.

Suddenly, risk serves as a catalyst.

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Topics: content marketing, marketing strategy, marketing ROI

Qualified Leads in the Time of COVID: Resist the Temptation to Lower the Bar!

Guest Contributor: Stan Odachowski

While we all work through learning how to sell during the new world environment, it’s still vital to keep your eye on developing quality leads for your sales executives. Change and pressure have a way of forcing companies to lower expectations on deliverables. 

Remember, even though you may refine lead definitions over time, sales will still reject leads if they aren’t “sales ready.” No matter the situation we’re in now, it’s important to keep demanding quality from your lead generation teams.

Why Volume Isn’t the Answer

We all know that the definition of a “qualified lead” varies from business to business and even changes as your business evolves. I think back to a situation I was in with a large software company, where I managed their lead management organization. 

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Topics: lead generation, content marketing, marketing strategy

History Lesson: Maintaining Marketing Spend During A Downturn

Ilene Rosenthal, CEO

If you happen to be married to a financial risk analyst, who moonlights as a historian, you have to turn an eye toward history in order to gain any perspective on what’s happening today.

Here are a few of those tidbits, culled from a Forbes article from last year. 

Yes, last year.

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Topics: email marketing, marketing strategy

Podcasts: Inside Your Head - Not Six Feet Apart

Guest Contributor: Richard Davies, Davies Content

How many boring corporate emails and newsletters have your received in recent days, telling you how much brand X or company Y cares about their customers and employees during this pandemic we’re all coping with?

Can’t they do better than this?

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Topics: marketing strategy, "podcasts"

Brain Building: Growth Strategies Live Outside Your Industry

Ilene Rosenthal, CEO

Over our eight years in business, many White Space advisers have suggested I focus on a single vertical in my work. While we do have a concentration in certain industries—healthcare, for example—I’ve resisted this approach for one reason: It’s not right for growth businesses.

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Topics: email marketing, marketing strategy

What to Know Before Attending An Industry Conference

Bari Cener, Senior Director, Marketing & Client Services

Why do we attend industry conferences? To see and be seen, to be part of the industry camaraderie, and if we’re being honest, to take advantage of a few days in sunny Florida.

If you’re lucky, you walk away with a few nuggets of information that you could apply to your everyday business and a fistful of potential clients. But, in order to get there, you have to do the work.

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Topics: email marketing, marketing strategy

Bowie, Brothels, Horse Breeding And Risk

Ilene Rosenthal, CEO

One of my favorite podcasts is How Do We Fix It?, hosted by Richard Davies and Jim Miegs. It reeks of nuance, alternate views, reason, and charm.

I recently listened to an episode with Alison Schrager, who has looked at how risk is managed across circumstances and environments. Some of her conclusions from her book, An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Learn About Risk, really moved me.

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Topics: email marketing, marketing strategy

The Fractional CMO Balancing Act

Ilene Rosenthal, CEO

In an article written by Kevin Chesters, owner and partner at Harbour, an independent communications collective in London, he notes that marketing strategy is often an in-house function because of budget, time constraints, or convenience.

Well, who doesn’t want to save money, time, or hassle?

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Topics: email marketing, marketing strategy

Optimizing Member Retention: 5 Email Marketing Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations

Bari Cener, Senior Director, Marketing & Client Services

One primary concern of nonprofit organizations is budget. There’s not always a lot of money to dedicate to comprehensive marketing campaigns. But, these organizations are uniquely positioned to benefit from email marketing thanks to its comparatively low cost.

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Topics: email marketing, marketing strategy

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