How to Use Customer Testimonials to Improve Your B2B Marketing

Nobody has to tell you that the B2B sales cycle differs greatly from that of a B2C. For one, a B2B sale typically involves a much larger expense. It’s also a highly vetted decision, and not often an impulsive one. Specifiers, designers, engineers and choosy purchasing agents rarely rush to buy your product or service immediately after seeing an ad, direct mail or email.

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8 Tips for Writing Catchy Headlines

In a world full of noise, how do you get people to actually read what you write? It takes more than good content and design. The most important part of writing is the headline.

My advice? Be bold. Be brief. Be relevant. Because without a great headline hook to pull people into your article or ad, they’ll browse right on by.

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Hey, it’s just advertising. Nobody dies, right?

This reassuring advice was offered early in my career, as I sweated over every word of a telephone-banking ad. Fast-forward to Aloysius Butler & Clark. Since joining the agency, I’ve transitioned from a purely b2b writer to also being involved in healthcare and life science accounts.

SYSMEX hematology analyzer ad

SYSMEX hematology analyzer ad

I’ve gone from promoting electronics, trucks, doors, chemicals and building products to writing my first six-page insert for transcatheter aortic valve replacement — a procedure that surgeons performed, mind you, on an 87-year-old woman while her heart was still beating! Along the way, I’ve also worked on endoprostheses (devices that seal off abdominal aneurysms before they burst), hematology analyzers that spot blood conditions before they become life-threatening, and more.Read full post...

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Is Google Glass half-full or half-empty?

They’re only available (at $1,500-plus a pop) to select Explorers — Google’s own handpicked beta testers.

They’re only available (at $1,500-plus a pop) to select Explorers — Google’s own handpicked beta testers.

Depends on whom you ask. Google Glass will either be the biggest game changer in wearable technology, or a creepy Big Brother bust that sends people running for the exits. For those who’ve been living under a rock, Google Glass is essentially a smartphone worn as glasses.

It’s got 13 functions including hands-free camera/video/phone, Internet links, voice-activated text and commands (“OK, Glass, take picture.”), all in a heads-up display that keeps your eyes on the road or whatever/whoever is in front of you. You can even have prescription lenses. But you can’t have a pair yet. They’re only available (at $1,500-plus a pop) to select Explorers — Google’s own handpicked beta testers — who will gladly let you bid for theirs on Amazon or eBay.Read full post...

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Music to our clients’ ears

Over my nearly (ahem) four decades in the ad business, I’ve written tons of jingles. Presided over original music sessions from Nashville to New York. And spent hundreds of hours listening to and selecting stock music and sound effects — all to create that elusive emotional connection between our clients’ brands and their consumers.

Boy, have times and budgets changed. Weeks of lead time and wads of cash to create one-of-a-kind audio tracks that stuck in your brain are now virtually unheard of (unless you’re selling cars, beer, airlines or cosmetics). Today, Garage Band, Pro Tools and a plethora of music libraries fill the void cheaply, quickly and — I must admit — conveniently.Read full post...

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