“For companies in a good financial and cash position, they should take this opportunity to extend their market share and make long-term investments,” John Greer, senior vice president for HR and Development at Smart Financial Credit Union and incoming chair of IHRIM, said during a Web conference event Nov. 19. “Those without as much cash are waiting to see what happens. There is still a lot of uncertainty right now.”
The HR software market has been among the fastest-growing corners of the business software world as organizations seek to maximize the value of their people and prepare for any labor shortages. Talent management applications—which refer to tools for key HR tasks such as recruiting and employee performance management—have been particularly hot.
Steady is much better than reporting that the “bottom is falling out,” right? For everyone in the HR technology market, take this as good news and give yourself a break over the weekend.
From all of us at Training Marketer, have a Happy Thanksgiving!
The CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for one of Hubspot’s traditional targeted B-to-B advertising run between $25 and $50, while Facebook ads targeted at marketers end up costing about $.50. It works out to be as much as a 99% discount.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Below is a great video from Hubspot showing the step-by-step process for setting up your own Facebook ad campaign.
Every time ProBlogger extraordinaire Darren Rowse writes a post on the importance of having an email newsletter to accompany your blog, he’s bombarded with readers’ questions asking:
Isn’t email old fashioned?
What about social networking – isn’t that more effective than email newsletters?
Isn’t building a ‘list’ as a way of doing online marketing a thing of the past?
Rowse still believes in the importance of newsletters, saying “if I had to name one technology or medium that has had the greatest impact upon building my blogs readership – newsletters would be right up there.”
In a response to all of his readers’ questions and concerns, he wrote a blog post on the subject: 8 Reasons to Add a Newsletter to Your Blog. Here are a few reasons why one of the best in the industry thinks newsletters should accompany blogs:
Loyalty. Most people who find your blog will stay for a few minutes, read a little, move on to the next site and are likely never to return. Newsletters “hook” people by giving visitors the option to be reminded to come back to your blog.
Trust. Because of the frequency and intimate nature of emails, newsletters allow readers to get to know you on a deeper level. “Not only do emails build relationships and intimacy with your readership – they build trust.”
Improved traffic. Rowse has found that on the days he sends out newsletters are some of his best traffic days. He suggests to send out a newsletter for an additional “burst” of traffic to your blog for an upcoming event like a product launch.
Community. “Those who subscribe to a newsletter are often among the most loyal and committed members of your blog’s community.” This group has given you permission to contact them and enjoy knowing they’re the first to hear about the latest news from you.
That’s only half of why Rowse thinks everyone with a blog should develop a newsletter along side of it. Head on over to ProBlogger and read the full post on the 8 Reasons to Add a Newsletter to Your Blog.
Do you know what year the first Thanksgiving feast was held? Or, how fast a turkey can fly?
Then test your Thanksgiving knowledge in the Turkey Bowl 2008, the latest game from C3 Visuals. If you manage to pull in a top score, you’ll be entered to win BRAVO!, a new software package that helps you create engaging training games and presentations.
Online games like C3 Visuals’ Turkey Bowl, have the potential to go viral and create exciting online buzz about your company or new product release. A game like this is also a great way to harvest names and e-mails, especially when players want the notoriety of a top score.
Listen to Paul Dunay from Buzz Marketing for Technology and “Stop everything you are doing and listen to this podcast!”
At least the demand comes with a guarantee that everyone who listens will learn something from the podcast with Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics: An Hour A Day.
From Dunay:
I had the opportunity to do a podcast with Avinash to discuss some areas where marketers are doing things right and wrong but all of them are simple but extremely powerful uses of web analytics to make their websites and businesses better on the web. We also took some live Twitter questions as we were doing the podcast.
The entire podcast is 25 minutes long, but broken down into sections for anyone who doesn’t have that much time to spare. It’s “positively electric,” so get over there and start listening.
This latest set of labor law changes will require every employer covered under the FMLA to hang new posters and acquire updated forms. Existing labor law handbooks and manuals will have to be replaced with newer versions to reflect the most recent changes.
As these FMLA changes go into effect, businesses across the country will be throwing away millions of sheets of paper and stacks upon stacks of labor law posters. Most of the labor law posters out there are laminated, therefore un-recyclable, and only a small fraction of the discarded materials will be recycled.
With dozens of labor law changes each year, this process repeats over and over, wasting more paper and adding to the size of our growing landfills. Because these changes are mandatory, it’s difficult for business owners to think there’s anything they can do to change it.
Explore recycled and recyclable options. We’re seeing more and more recycled labor law posters and resources available on the market every day. Providers like mystateposters.com have developed state and federal posters made entirely with recycled materials.
Go paperless, if possible. Choose downloadable or printable versions when replacing your mandatory forms. Go a step further and print your forms on recycled paper using soy or vegetable ink.
Buy or print the minimum. Reduce the amount of waste in your workplace by only purchasing or printing the forms and papers you really need.
It may take just a little more work on your part, but your impact on the earth will be big. Find greener ways for your company to do business and we’ll all succeed.
Senior business executives in the U.S. are mainly concerned about the volatile economy, are heavy users of all types of media and turning more to new media including blogs, podcasts and streaming video as information sources, according to a recent study.
The “Business Elite 2008” study conducted by media research firm Ipsos Mendelsohn, examined the top concerns, media habits and technology usage of top U.S. business executives.
Some key findings of the study:
63% said advertising plays a part in influencing what they buy.
62% said keeping up with technology is important to them.
34% said the Internet is their main source of information for business news, followed by cable TV (24%), national newspapers (21%) and business magazines (18%).
Regarding industry news, the top media vehicle was also the Internet (38%), followed by business magazines (30%) and national newspapers (10%).
The survey also explored senior business executives’ technology usage, finding:
63% of the business elite use e-mail, conduct instant messaging or obtain news from a mobile device.
54% receive daily e-mail newsletters or alerts.
51% stream broadband videos on their computers, up from 49% last year.
32% read blogs, up from 31% last year.
54% had purchased a product after seeing an ad on the Internet, followed by TV (42%) and magazines (34%).
50% of top executives had visited a company’s Web site after seeing an ad on the Internet, followed by TV (43%) and magazines (38%).
Timing is everything in marketing, especially when it comes to business-to-business world. Sending your B2B emails at the right time of the day can be critical to the overall success of the campaign.
Boyle recently tested various email send times and discovered some interesting results, including:
Emails sent before 9 a.m. dramatically lift clickthrough rates.
Early-bird East Coast execs respond to email before their workday officially begins.
International marketers should test time-zone segments for international lists.
Visit Marketing Sherpa to listen to the short podcast (less than 10 minutes) with accompanying slides for insight into what Boyle and his researchers learned.
Twitter may seem like a pointless tool at first, but after making a few (hundred) friends you may find yourself to be a full-fledged addict. There’s even a term for it – Tweetaholism.
If you think you’re on the verge of becoming a Tweetaholic or know someone who may be in need of Twitter rehab, here are just a few signs that you Twitter too much:
You’ve lost friends because they have chosen not to join Twitter.
You decide not to argue a point with someone because it will take more than 140 characters to respond.
You add “tw” to the beginning of every word. “I Twittered my friends from twurch about the tweetup at the twoffee house twonight.”
You’re more concerned about improving your Twitter Grade than your performance review.
You tell your fiance you will save money on wedding invites because you plan to DM (direct message) most of them.
Something goes wrong in your day and you respond “Fail Whale!”
Today, John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing released a new ebook dedicated to help small businesses tap into the power of social media. When executed correctly, social media has the ability to enhance your overall marketing mix and improve your business.
Jantsch warns readers that some of the tools mentioned in the book won’t be right for your business and how others use tools may not fit either, but he adds:
“The power contained in the new way people expect to communicate – and therefor you must learn to communicate – is something that every small business must come to understand.
Standing out and marketing a business takes work, but many of the social media tools make that work much easier and, for the small business that gets that, creates a tremendous competitive advantage.”
And that’s exactly why Jantsch created his latest ebook called Lets Talk: Social Media for Small Businesses. Download it for free at Duct Tape Marketing.
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