Matthews on Marketing

Matthews on Marketing

Marketingspeak: Butter Bars and Hamburgers

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Marketingspeak is my occasional series on interesting words I encounter in my day job in marketing. I do my best to channel the late great William Saphire, whose 'On Language' column brought a smile to my face many a Sunday. – TM In an occupation chock full of fluff, it was nice to encounter these two hearty web marketing terms. No empty calories here. This combo is a protein-packed marketing value meal. Butter bars are rectangular notifications that appear at the top of a web browser, … [Read more...]

Marketingspeak – What’s a Burn Pixel?

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I’d heard of pixels being fired, but never burned. The term burn pixel was a new one on me. To understand burn pixels, you first need to know about tracking pixels, which are single, transparent pixels placed on web pages. We all encounter tracking pixels while browsing, we just don’t see them. When a web page is downloaded, so is the invisible tracking pixel. That allows the marketer to track how many people visited the page. In digital adman parlance, tracking pixels are “set” or “added” to … [Read more...]

Demand Generation Through the Fisherman’s Eye: Three Ways Haul in Leads

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I was preparing recently to clearly explain to an executive the different marketing channels we use in demand generation. It can all get technical very quickly, and I didn't want to cause his eyes glaze over. I was trying to come up with an analogy I could use. I'm not sure why fishing came to mind. I was in the pool when the analogy popped into my head, but I don't fish empathy triggered the idea. The image of hooking a lead may have shaken loose in my skull. Or perhaps it was the memory of … [Read more...]

Bite-sizing Budget Requests: Three Steps to Justify What You Need and Prevent CFO Freak-out

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If you're a CMO, you've probably experienced what I call the CFO freak-out. "You want how much money? For what? Are you insane?" The freak-out tripwire varies by company size, but it’s always safe to exercise caution north of twenty-five thousand dollars. That kind of money isn't pocket change for any organization. Many marketing leaders lack sensitivity to the concerns of their financial counterpart seated across the boardroom table. They stumble right onto the budget land mine. Sticker … [Read more...]

Three Classic Books for Email Marketers

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Anyone who practices email marketing knows that there are days when you just can't quite think of what to write. Or can’t bring yourself to write yet another variation on the same subject line. Days when you wonder why, after all the effort, your emails are just not converting. I'd like to recommend three great books that I am sure will help. Don't be dissuaded by the titles, two of which deal with advertising, and one of which doesn't seem to have anything to do with marketing. And don't … [Read more...]