I started my marketing career managing cookie and cracker brands for Nabisco. These days, I spend a lot of time speaking to senior marketers who are trying to make sense of the changing landscape in marketing.

Conversion Optimization has a very clear connection to anyone who sells or generates leads online. But that's leaving out a lot of big brands or consumer goods companies who don't sell directly to consumers.

I will often get a question along the lines of:

We don't sell our products online....

I frequently encounter some level of confusion among marketers about search engine optimization. Given that we provide Conversion Optimization services, I find myself needing to describe the difference between SEO and Conversion Optimization.

Search Engine Optimization is to Advertising what Conversion Optimization is to Marketing

First, let's get some of the definitions out of the way. SEO refers to the efforts required to improve your search engine performance. In other words, when someone...

from flickr

I'm constantly surprised at how little effort companies apply to understanding their targeted buyer.

Big companies and small, and especially B2B companies, can be lulled into complacency by the notion that they actually can identify all of their potential buyers. By identify, I mean that they might easily be able to focus exclusively on a profession or members of an association.

Just because you're selling to a target that you can put your finger on, say you're selling something to...