Uncategorized

Marketing Like a Castaway

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Here’s a hint as to the identity of today’s master in marketing: When I asked what his pie-in-the-sky marketing dream was, he sighed like Ahab hunting the white whale. “I would love to get cast members from The Bear” — Hulu’s Chicago-set show ” — “to record announcements or do videos for us, highlighting what a Chicago icon we are.” “We’ve had quite a few cameos in it, and it’s made us look really good.” Any guesses? Meet the Master Eric Munn, Director of marketing, Chicago Transit Authority Job: Juggling the marketing of the second-largest public transit system in the U.S. with a government agency-sized budget. (That’s a lot smaller than it sounds.) Claim to fame: Introducing these sweet limited-edition throwback CTA passes Fun fact: Juggling isn’t just a day in the life of a scrappy marketer. Eric can also juggle apples … and take a bite of them at the same time Lesson 1: Digital is important — but it’s not everything. Munn is by no means a Luddite, but he cautions against focusing so much “on the current and latest trend [that you] forget about the reliability and success of some old-school marketing that’s as simple as mailers or billboards.” Yep, even if your audience is mostly Gen Zers and young millennials. I was surprised that the CTA’s target audience skews that young, but “those are the people still learning their transportation habits.” It makes sense — he’s marketing to older teens who are using public transit on their own for the first time and 20-somethings who moved to Wrigleyville after college graduation. So I was doubly surprised at how keen Munn is on old-school advertising. Mailers? Billboards? In this economy? Photo courtesy Chicago Transit Authority. But one of the CTA’s most successful campaigns is a new resident mailer, reminding them that the CTA is just $2.50 to ride. “I think it’s a great way for a Chicago icon like the CTA to welcome you to the city.” It may seem like an old-fashioned marketing tactic, but Munn says he hears from people who kept that postcard because it was the first mail they received as a newly minted Chicagoan. Old doesn’t have to mean passé. Mailers, billboards, sponsorships, partnerships — these are all “really great ways to still get your brand and message into places, and might be a lot more affordable.” Photo courtesy Chicago Transit Authority. Lesson 2: Go local (or at least regional). Last year, the CTA implemented its first influencer campaign, beginning with three Chicagoland influencers. Munn outlines two big advantages to this strategy: Affordability and a higher probability of success. Munn was pretty specific about what he wanted. “Our campaign was focused on using the CTA because it saves you money, which means more money in your pocket to go do all of the things that Chicago has to offer.” So he sought out influencers who make content like “five things to do in Chicago this weekend” or “Chicago’s hidden gems.” Because there aren’t as many creators doing this type of content as, say, a top travel influencer, these niche accounts often have extremely engaged, valuable followers. And compared to top travel influencer prices, local influencers are more affordable, even on a smaller marketing budget. (And FWIW, all evidence indicates that Munn’s onto something: HubSpot’s latest State of Marketing report identified niche-influencer marketing as a rising trend in 2025.) Lesson 3: Relationship-building stretches in every direction. Munn says that some days he feels like Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway, who “had to get really innovative with very few resources.” When you’re working for a government agency, “resources are very tight. You’re doing a lot of hard work.” And sometimes you want to knock out your own teeth with an ice skate. So when he talks about building relationships, he’s casting (pun intended) a wide net. Riders, social media users, even marketers at other public transport agencies (“a really cool group, because they’re not my competitors, right? We’re all rooting for each other.”). “I have introduced myself to many — I call them transit advocate accounts — people who are just regularly posting about the CTA or just about public transportation in general,” Munn says. He takes the time now to get to know them “so that when I have a campaign, I can reach out to them and say, ‘Hey, we’re thinking about doing this, and I wanted to get your thoughts.’” (I used to work in the same office as Munn, and can vouch that this isn’t a cynical marketing play; he’s as genuine as they get. I’m unsurprised to hear that he’s found success with this tactic.) If you’re facing leaner budgets, lower head count, or other belt-tightening measures, think about the meaningful relationships you can build outside of the usual stakeholders. Like Hanks’ Castaway character, use what you have around you to build your own success. Lingering Questions This Week’s Question What is a blind spot in the marketing world that, if addressed, would make people’s lives better? —Jeff Wirth, Co-founder of the Interactive PlayLab This Week’s Answer A major blind spot in the marketing world is forgetting that most people aren’t as aware of your brand as you are. Many brands use messaging that already assumes people know who you are or what you offer. Make sure you’re clear about what your product or service is going to do to help people. Witty and eye-catching is fun, but the conversion is in solving people’s problems. Next Week’s Lingering Question Munn asks: What‘s a career you’ve always wanted to get into but never have?  

B2B marketing

B2B Marketing Analytics That Every Team Needs to Track — My Take as a Marketer

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I primarily work with B2B clients, so I’m getting very well-versed in B2B marketing analytics. Every month, I report on the marketing for the prior month, and I turn those marketing analytics into stories and actions. Believe it or not, B2B marketing analytics doesn’t have to be boring. I use various tools for my analytics, including but not limited to Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Looker Studio for automated dashboards (which makes light work of reporting on marketing analytics), Semrush, and so many more. In this article, I’m digging into B2B marketing analytics, including what it is, the essential data to collect, and how to set up B2B marketing analytics — and I’ve shared tools, too. As I said, there’s no one way to report on B2B analytics, so I spoke to B2B marketers who manage analytics for B2B companies daily. I got their insights on their favorite tools and what they love about them. Table of Contents What is B2B marketing analytics? B2B Marketing Data to Collect How to Set Up B2B Marketing Analytics B2B Marketing Analytics Tools What is B2B marketing analytics? B2B marketing analytics is data that helps you understand your product, service, and/or audience. Marketers use marketing analytics to understand if marketing promotes a product or service successfully and increases sales. Through data, marketers can create stories that lead to actions on how marketing can refine campaigns to get closer to company and marketing goals. B2B marketing analytics includes: Collecting data. Measuring and analyzing data. Using data to make data-driven business decisions. Collecting data and knowing what to measure is no easy feat. Marketers talk about analysis paralysis, which describes the feeling of overwhelm when you have so much data at your disposal that you struggle to make decisions. The clue is in the name, but marketing analytics is not the same as business analytics. However, business goals and performance should be considered when measuring marketing. B2B Marketing Data to Collect The best and worst thing about digital marketing analytics is that you can track everything, which can be overwhelming. The key is to track what you need. The metrics you need should be things that help you understand your customers and your business so you can make data-driven decisions that improve your business. To find out what metrics B2B marketers are tracking, I reached out to marketing managers who shared the B2B marketing analytics they track and why. Revenue and MRR Revenue and monthly recurring revenue (MRR) are obvious metrics to follow. Revenue, in particular, is the one metric that is crucial to all businesses. For Ivan Burban, head of marketing at Coupler, revenue data is the most important. Burban describes MRR growth as the “north star metric.” When I asked him why tracking revenue and MRR is important, Burban said, “Understanding data from all marketing channels [gives] insights into how your activities impact MRR traction.” Burban notes that teams can see how marketing channels performed during the period and how successful acquisition/retention efforts were. “This also allows you to push well-performing activities, experiment, and cease non-performing efforts,” he says. For example, he told me they invested in PPC for a few months and analyzed its performance. When it became clear that it didn’t boost their MRR growth even though they were spending substantial resources, they paused advertising and focused on developing a partner program. I love what Burban is saying here, particularly the importance of understanding data from different marketing channels. Most B2B marketing analytics tools allow you to view and compare revenue from channels. With this functionality, you can see what’s working and what needs improving. Pro tip: For larger marketing teams with online and offline marketing efforts, I’d like to note the importance of media mix modeling here. While revenue data in the screenshot above is incredibly useful, it doesn’t always tell the whole picture. I wrote an entire article on media mix modeling, which details the relationship between marketing and sales, even if it’s not directly obvious in reports. It’s definitely worth a read. Considering the above (that the revenue graphs don’t always show the full picture), I wanted to know how Ivan Burban makes sense of data. He says, “To decide on action points, you also need to evaluate customer data (CLV and retention rates) and data per marketing channel (for instance, the conversion rate for your landing pages and blog).” In any case, Burban notes that revenue-related data is the most useful since it helps to prioritize marketing activities and understand the overall marketing state. Burban agrees that revenue in isolation is not enough; you need to measure more to understand the full picture. Engagement Metrics Although revenue is the one metric that spans all businesses, engagement metrics were the most spoken about metric. Of all the B2B marketers I spoke to, over half of them mentioned engagement metrics. For this reason, engagement metrics are listed here as the second metric. Dominick Tomanelli is a marketing expert, co-founder, and CEO of Promobile Marketing. He knows a thing or two about B2B marketing analytics. Tomanelli leaned into engagement metrics as data B2B marketers must track. For Tomanelli, engagement metrics are “the most valuable data.” He particularly likes to analyze how target audiences interact with campaigns. He explains, “For example, it’s not just about how many people see a campaign but how many take the next step — signing up for a service, requesting more information, or even spending extra time engaging with the content.” In B2B, these micro-actions are key indicators of intent. “If a decision-maker clicks on a demo request or spends significant time exploring a product page, that tells us we’ve hit the mark. It’s about quality over quantity. I’d rather have ten engaged leads than a hundred passive impressions,” Tomanelli says. As a B2B marketer myself, I agree with Tomanelli. Engagement metrics are particularly important in B2B because sales cycles can be long. Marketing might get a conversion, but by the time the prospect has vetted

Media Planning

13 Media Planning Tools I Tried & What Worked Best [+ Free Template]

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Nowadays, people are consuming marketing and media in more ways than one, which means that media planning tools are no longer optional for those who want to reach their audiences across a variety of channels. I’ve found that while traditional outlets like TV, publications, and radio can still be valuable for certain businesses, more media planning is needed across online platforms like email, social media, influencer, and search than ever before. That means comprehensive media planning software is important for staying on top of what you’re doing and determining how it works. But where do you start? To help, I’ve rounded up a list of the essential media planning tools, software, and templates to use this year to help grow your audience. 1. HubSpot Media Planning Template [Featured Resource] Source Price: Free HubSpot’s paid media template can help you track your spending on paid media, when your messages are going out, and how much revenue you’re generating from each source. With this media tool, you’ll have access to charts that automatically adjust when you add your spending and ROI information. This resource is free — get your copy now. Key Features Available in Google Sheets — no logins or apps required Allows full customization based on your needs Designed for easy tracking and reporting month-to-month What I like: You can use this template to compile monthly data from your media efforts. With this media planning tool, you’ll see which paid media channel works best for your company and produces the best results for your bottom line. Best for: Small teams and solopreneurs who want an easy-to-use document to plan and report on efforts. 2. Bionic Media Planning Software Price: $995/month for up to 5 users Bionic has some of the best media planning tools. They offer companies flowcharts, IOs and RFPs, trafficking, reporting, and dashboards about clients. With regular updates, agencies using the software are provided with up-to-date planning tools to run and organize their campaigns. Key Features All-inclusive pricing means you don’t have to pay for each feature Cloud-based platform Intuitive interface What I like: Bionic is a cloud-based media planning tool. You can be up and running with this tool in minutes with unlimited training, support, and data backups at no additional cost. Best for: Agencies and mid-sized organizations with complex advertising needs. 3. SRDS Media Planning Platform Price: Contact for pricing The most important tool in media planning is data, and SRDS offers companies some of the best data-gathering tools. Thanks to their top-notch data-gathering software, you can feel confident promoting your media on all platforms. I wasn’t able to demo this specifically, but it consistently receives high rankings. Key Features Ability to compare and evaluate advertising options Ability to connect directly with media reps Makes it easy to find media used by your target markets What I like: You’ll have access to extensive datasets that showcase audience statistics and demographics. This will help you choose the right platforms and messages to target specific audiences. Best for: Agencies and larger organizations who use lots of different ad placements and channels. 4. Media Plan HQ Source Price: 30-day free trial; $45/user per month (minimum of 3 users) Media Plan HQ is a great media planning tool that doesn’t rely on spreadsheets. A real-time interface tracks dates, placements, and budgets without relying on Excel. The organized interface will make it easy for you to manage projects, track your marketing ROI, and share all the data with your team and stakeholders. What’s more, it helps you break down your media buys by media, category, campaign, and stores/locations, which means that you can get the reporting and tracking you need with seamless insertion order development. Key Features Creative project management Marketing invoice validation Marketing request forms Unlimited media plans, organizations, and media vendors Unlimited creative storage, free upgrades, and free email support What I like: There’s a lot to like here. Coming from an agency world, I love that it’s a collaborative, all-in-one platform that combines project management with media buying. Because you can work alongside team members without all the back-and-forth communication in emails, the reduced complexity means the platform can grow with your needs and your team. Best for: Small creative teams or departments and agencies. 5. Mediatool Price: Contact for pricing. Mediatool is a collaborative marketing platform that can help companies plan media to target whoever they want to. You can leverage actionable insights, collaborate with your team members, and develop impactful ad campaigns to make you stand out. Key Features 20 integrations and counting Oversee campaign data and tracking Provides a platform you can use for a single source of media data Helps enhance productivity with efficient workflows Easy to customize and scale to your needs AI-integration provides media data insights instantaneously through a GPT-style chat What I like: The platform is efficient, easy to understand, and easier to use than other media software — it’s intuitive and provides a centralized place to manage media data. Best for: Mid-size companies with a variety of complex advertising needs. 6. Quantcast Source Price: 30-day trial; Contact for pricing When you use Quantcast, you’ll have insights with data from over 100 million websites. The tool uses AI so users can better predict how their media will influence their target audience. Due to the continuous bombardment of ads for products and services, this feature is essential. Getting started is easy — a credit card is not required to set up an account. Their intuitive platform walks you through the process step by step. Key Features Audience source location filtering Supports cookieless and omnichannel advertising Uses 3rd party data and AI to create real-time audience insights Easy to pinpoint new and existing audiences Insights into customer journey Intuitive interface and exceptional documentation What I like: Quantcast is fantastic for understanding your audience‘s behavior. It provides real-time insights based on your ads and media to your audience, which can help you better understand them and create ads they’ll appreciate. Best for: Marketing

Marketing Campaigns

How to Create a Successful Marketing Campaign [Strategies, Data, + Examples]

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From P&G’s “Thank You, Mom” to Dos Equis’s “Most Interesting Man in the World,” marketing campaigns have a way of sticking with us. I find that the best types of marketing campaigns have a long shelf life — sticking in my brain for years, decades even (Sarah McLaughlin’s tear-jerking “Arms of an Angel” ads for the SPCA, anyone?). Why is that? Campaigns make companies memorable. The entire goal of just about every type of marketing campaign is to build an emotional and memorable connection. I always tell people that campaigns should promote a focused effort that guides your audience toward the desired action. Marketing campaigns give your brand an identity, personality, and emotion. That’s why I’ve been working on this guide — to help you make decisions about how you’ll approach your next marketing campaign. I also have more than 20 years of marketing experience, so I’ll share my insights along the way. Keep reading to get started, or use the links below to jump ahead. Table of Contents What is a marketing campaign? Types of Marketing Campaigns Marketing Campaign Components Top Marketing Campaign Strategies [Data] How to Create a Successful Marketing Campaign Great Marketing Campaign Examples (and Why They’re So Great) Marketing Campaigns vs. Advertising Campaigns Marketing is how a company raises awareness of its brand and convinces customers to make a purchase. Alternatively, advertising is the process of creating persuasive messages around these broad goals. In terms of campaigns, an advertising campaign might be one facet of a larger marketing campaign strategy. Let’s say Nike launched a campaign surrounding the release of a new product. Its advertising efforts only reflect one aspect of its marketing strategy. I’d also expect to see the brand use email newsletters, social media, and paid search to meet its goal. Now that we understand the difference between advertising and marketing campaigns, here are a few more types of marketing campaigns you might run. Using AI for Marketing Campaigns No conversation about any type of marketing campaign today would be complete without talking about how to use AI effectively and ethically. Since AI came out, just about every tool I’ve demoed, tested, or reviewed has taken steps to integrate it … somehow. With that in mind, it’s important to see AI as your colleague (or assistant) to help you plan your efforts. However, like any other tool, AI needs some guardrails. I caution you to make sure you understand all the elements of whatever type of marketing campaign you’re launching. What I’ve found after testing and playing with different AI tools is that if you don’t know what a good output — in this case, a marketing campaign — looks like, you won’t know how to evaluate whatever you use AI to create or ideate. Candidly, that’s where this guide comes in. By taking the time to understand the different types of marketing campaigns, components, strategies, and examples I’ve shared, you’ll be able to work more effectively with whatever AI program you choose. Whether you’re using generative AI to help you identify any angles you might have missed, create content, or solve technical issues, AI cannot replace your brain, your unique lived experience, or your gut intuition. However, it can help you speed up the process to get your campaign up and running, get creative off the ground, and analyze the data so you can test your idea and adjust accordingly. Marketers have a wealth of choices when deciding what kind of marketing campaign to build. So, how do you make the right choice? Before I take this discussion any further, I want to give you a short definition of each so you understand what they are and how they work. Looking for a place to manage all your campaigns, no matter the type? Marketing Hub lets you work more efficiently with the help of AI. Personalize messaging, automate campaigns, and gain actionable insights. Start for free today. 1. Product Marketing Campaign Product marketing or product launch campaigns are centered around building as much buzz as possible — usually related to a new release. Product launch campaigns are one of my favorite types of marketing campaigns. They come at an exciting time in a company when there’s a ton of collective energy related to a new release. In addition to having some really fantastic angles, it’s the perfect time to create buzz and draw people in. Campaigns are usually omni-channel and rely on collaborative efforts, which means lots of moving parts. Depending on the size of your organization, you’ll need a central team or person to manage critical checklist items for the launch. Example of Product Marketing Campaigns Apple typically does a great job of this with its annual product launches. Source However, in my experience, unless you have devoted superfans, most people aren’t waiting with their wallets out, ready to buy your next new product. So you need this type of campaign to hype up your audience. Best For Creating awareness, excitement, and demand for new products so people are ready to purchase as soon as they become available. 2. Brand Development Campaign Brand campaigns are simply about building awareness about your company and what sets you apart from your competitors. These are often eye-catching ads that set out to create an emotional reaction of some kind — humor, frustration, and nostalgia are common — to stick in people’s minds. Example of Brand Development Campaigns Coca-Cola has incredible branding campaigns that are usually targeted at creating unity around a shared interest that bridges all kinds of differences. The common thread? Drinking a Coke. I’ve seen many great Coca-Cola campaigns over the years, but some of my favorites come during the holidays or during the Olympics, which are natural times of gathering. Best For Increasing brand awareness and creating memorable emotional connections with people. This isn’t usually a type of marketing campaign for driving sales. 3. Email Marketing Campaign Email marketing is one of the most effective types of marketing campaigns because you

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