Thoughts RSS

January Client Spotlight: ViaWest™

Posted on January 27th, 2012 by Elise
Tags: Client Spotlight, cloud services, data center technologies, innovative technologies, ViaWest

We at MCG are an incredibly lucky bunch. Why? It’s because of our clients. There’s a reason we stick to working with B2B technology companies. The forefront of new technologies is a great place to be, which is why we’re starting a new, monthly series of “Client Spotlights” to highlight some of our amazing clients and the innovative work they do...

How do you make square technology more exciting to a social audience?

Posted on January 11th, 2012 by Elise
Tags: ArcMail, enterprise archiving, Social Media, twitter contest
Twitter contest

As social media continues to gain traction among B2B companies, we as a B2B focused marketing firm continue to challenge ourselves with how to make our clients sassier, sexier and savvier in social media-land. But it doesn’t happen overnight. A healthy, quality social media following that attracts and engages the right audience takes time to build. “Social” media is about connecting with people, organizations and companies on a more personal level and good relationships take time to foster. Once those foundations are set, how do you up the ante? The answer: with new and exciting ways to engage those followers -- like launching a creative contest! ..

Do your users trust your emails? Some thoughts from Marketo, plus yours truly, on how to gain that trust.

Posted on November 17th, 2011 by Virginia
Tags: Email Marketing, Email Marketing Benchmark Results, Marketo, segmentation, trust, webinar

Think about your inbox. Yes, your ginormous, bloated inbox. There’s a small number of emails in there you actually want to read, and a slightly larger number of emails in there that you have to read. And then there’s the rest. Maybe you’ve got an extra 10 minutes to kill before lunch, and you decide to take on that beast of an inbox with the mighty katana that is your “delete” button. You scroll through your giant glut of emails, deleting many before even reading, but opening a select few. And, amongst those few, you find a couple worth skimming...

10 tips to make your webinar a solid investment with great returns

Posted on November 6th, 2011 by Elise
Tags: american marketing association, Brett Schklar, marketing strategy, webinar tips
Blog header image

Couldn't tune-in last Wednesday to hear Brett Schklar's highly entertaining and useful AMA webinar on how to give great webinars? That's okay, you can still get can get a copy of the great ideas at http://demandmcg.com/get-your-copy-brett-schklars-presentation-remember-its-not-just-webinar. And to make life easier, we've recapped the juicy bits...

Are you being honest or deceptive when it comes to UI design and content?

Posted on November 2nd, 2011 by Virginia
Tags: dark patterns, form design, UI design

A List Apart put out an amazing article yesterday about deception and honesty in UI design, which I definitely recommend reading if you get a chance. When writing and laying out content and interactive elements on your site, it's important to take into account the ways that readers look at web pages. Just a little bit of knowledge of the psychology of your readers can take you a long way towards building successful content. This same knowledge of human psychology, however, is often used in deceptive ways...

Salesforce power! Add a web to lead form to your site

Posted on October 28th, 2011 by Virginia
Tags: salesforce, Web Forms, web to lead

Salesforce is a mighty beast, a veritable God of sales tracking automation. And like any good deity, it is both awe-inspiring and full of complexity, especially to anyone new to the system. You log in and are all like “Holy cow! There are so many things in there! Whatever do I do with all of these things?!” First step – take a deep breath. Second step? Hey, let’s build a form to capture leads!..

How baby steps turn your project guesstimates into project bestimates

Posted on October 12th, 2011 by Virginia
Tags: project estimates, Project Management, salesforce

When it comes to Getting Things Done, ignorance is power. A new project lands on your plate, and it reminds of past projects, ones that had their own struggles, but they were all struggles you’ve overcome. A giant web project? Been there, done that. Another email campaign? Piece of cake...

The demise of “click here” link text

Posted on September 27th, 2011 by Virginia
Tags: accessibiliy, Click Here, mobile, redundancy, SEO

The words “click” and “here”, when combined, make for one of the most superfluous phrases ever in the history of the Internet. Even Al Gore could not think of a more pointless combination of words to use on a web page. I have a vendetta against using “click here” online, and long for that phrase to die a quick and painful death. Let me tell you why...

Eloqua all about revenue success tour: MCG’s top five gighlights

Posted on August 12th, 2011 by Virginia
Tags: All About Revenue Success Tour, clickthrough rates, cloud connectors, content personalization, Eloqua, Eloqua 10, Eloqua Revenue Suite, email reminders, Marketing Automation, Readytalk

This past Wednesday (August 10th), Erin and myself had the chance to check out the Eloqua All About Revenue Success Tour up in Boulder, CO. The presenters gave a lot of great information, and it was useful to have Erin there absorbing information from an account perspective, as well as myself there to absorb information from a technical perspective. We gleaned some great tips, which we wanted to share with you here. ..

It's 9:00 pm. Do you know where your email campaign is?

Posted on August 9th, 2011 by Virginia
Tags: Eloqua, Email Campaigns, Email Marketing, Rebecca Black, Vertical Response

So first things first: When it comes to launching your email campaign, there is no Magic Hour. That "delete" button works just as well at 3 pm on a Wednesday as it does at 3 am on a Friday. However, are there days when people are more likely to read your email? Or even more likely to click though? ..

Work

  • ViaWest's "next" big thing

    We've done it again! MCG recently wrapped-up a big campaign for ViaWest, Inc. - one of the largest privately-held data center and managed services providers in North America. ...

  • 2012 Spatial calendar

    We just helped Spatial Energy find a way to stay front of their clients and prospects all year round. ...

  • ArcMail homepage makeover

    MCG just gave ArcMail a facelift. Check out the company's sassy new look and rotating homepage panels on their website....

View all

News & Events

View all