If you’re a business-to-business marketer who uses trade shows to get leads for new business, you probably send direct mail and email marketing to prospects after the show to convert prospects to customers.

Lead generation via trade shows can be an important part of a smart marketing strategy, but if leads aren’t well qualified at the outset – and frequently re-qualified if they stay on your prospect database over time – your post-show direct mail and email campaigns could be a waste of your marketing resources. Here’s a case study in how NOT to do it.

My new Apple iPad is a technology dream, creating a web experience unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Like all Apple products, it’s driven by brilliant engineering and extraordinary user-friendliness. It’s also a case study in branding excellence. Here’s how Apple used its product packaging to deliver on its brand promise and support a smart marketing strategy, and four key branding lessons for marketers.

Direct marketing can be one of the most powerful elements of a smart marketing strategy, especially if you need to generate leads for a field sales force.
But strategic errors can doom your direct marketing campaign to failure. Here are seven common mistakes in direct marketing strategy and ways to avoid them.

Is direct marketing part of your smart marketing strategy? Here are 10 tried-and-true principles for developing a high-impact creative approach for your next direct marketing campaign.

Great copy is essential for an effective advertising campaign and a smart marketing strategy, but too many copywriters use the same tired phrases again and again in headlines and campaign themes. This is a giant waste of the marketer’s money. Here are seven advertising phrases we’ve seen used a hundred times and hope to never see again — and why you should expect better from your marketing agency.