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: Digital marketing makes testing and optimization efforts easier than ever, with a constant flow of data and relatively low cost compared to testing traditional marketing channels.

Learn how Cabela's has maintained a testing culture over its entire history, alongside details about its digital split testing and optimization program. Plus, get an inside look at how the team combines offline channel data to get a full view of its marketing and optimization efforts.

Tony Uhlir, Internet Customer Experience Manager, Cabela's, will present at the upcoming Optimization Summit 2012 in Denver, June 11-14. 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: The all-new MarketingSherpa 2012 Executive Guide to Marketing Personnel conducted research with 1,646 marketers to help CMOs and marketing managers understand the challenges around building an effective marketing team.

Download your 7-page excerpt of that research. The free excerpt covers these key discoveries from the research:
o People issues dominate marketing department challenges
o Most organizations lack people strategies
o Marketers wear multiple hats but have few guidelines
o Marketers depend on assessment accuracy … to a point 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