Disqus - Latest Comments for martinhudon

Re: Harvard President Gay, Already Under Fire, Faces Allegations of Plagiarism

martinhudon — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 20:57:09 -0000

The whole thing is hair splitting like only universities can do.

And naturally far right political operators like Rufo who created the "CRT" operation out of thin air and this one.

Re: One Customer Feedback Email Changed Our Startup’s Trajectory

martinhudon — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 13:11:36 -0000

Yes Mike, nurturing is a necessity. But I'd go further. Why? In many verticals a purchase is done only every few quarters/years and there's only so much product/service nurturing we can do. They may end up on your list at different purchase stages, or not even in the funnel.

You got a prospect lead, then help solve their tangential problems with content if they're not ready to buy right away or short term. That's true for email and also for online content mktg. Provide value, then when they'll be ready to buy you'll be top of mind (plus it's also possible to place triggers in the emails' content to know when they're ready).

Re: One Customer Feedback Email Changed Our Startup’s Trajectory

martinhudon — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 22:01:49 -0000

Emails... Yes, provide your list (ideally segments) with value in emails, even if it's tangential to your product/service, and you'll stay in their mind when it's the time for them to buy.

I know of an obscure company in personal finance vertical flying under the radar for years. They grew their users base by email/referrals to over 1 million consumers mostly with targeted email content and emails drips, helping solve "tangential problems" until the consumers were ready to get a loan, mortgage, insurances. Open % were very high. They built an habit with their base.

They didn't need to go head to head in content with Nerdwallet and the likes spending millions. Customers acquisition by email referrals was pennies. Every new user was sending 2-3 new ones within a year.

Yes, emails. If you have something useful to say/provide, DO IT. Every company with a prospect list should do it.

Re: Something is Rotten in Online Advertising

martinhudon — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 15:19:31 -0000

Good post Rand.

I ran a small ad agency for a few years (last 2000's). Even back then, the only reliable network were Google's (Paid Search + Adsense) because we could track click and conversions/sales rather easily. But even with Google we had to check metric monthly to cut sites (for Adsense) and add negative keywords (for Ad(word)s) because your cpc/cpa was increasing if you had lower ctr, so google regularly move the goal posts to keep cpc, and your spend, higher). This didn't change to this day.

Other ad networks are a different ball game (a "black box") where you can throw money in without having a clear idea of your results.

There was naturally a greater propensity for smaller clients to keep track of their ROI but bigger ones (banks and financial services firms, at least at the time) didn't really mind throwing money into a black hole, even if we were advising them no too. It turned out their CMO were more afraid to not spend their mktg budget than having an optimal ROI. Sounds like it changed little.

Re: Polk State College Defends Professors Against Student Discrimination Complaint

martinhudon — Fri, 08 May 2015 12:25:52 -0000

Will science students refuse to do experiments and research because it's against their faith?

Re: 11 cities in 3 months: The highs and lows of digital nomad lifestyle

martinhudon — Thu, 07 May 2015 10:28:30 -0000

Nice post Joel.

There's sure a big difference between traveling + working remotely vs working remotely abroad.

Being able able to be abroad in 1 country/region for a few months is a totally different experience. The benefits are often the negative sides of traveling a lot:

- Deeper local experience.
- Build friendships.
- Less guilt feeling because you'll stay more in one area.

One isn't better over the other. It's just a different experience!

Which country/city was your favorite or top 3?

Thanks for sharing.

Martin

Re: Can We Do Right By The Customer And Still Make Money?

martinhudon — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:22:46 -0000

Great post!

What else is there to say than what you covered so well. It's just hard for most lead generation companies to take the time/money to turn their business on their head and focus on transparency and quality.

It's a decision very hard to make when you're making lots of money. The key thing to do is changing focus from the short term to looking further forward.

Hard decisions to make indeed but this is much easier for new comers to jump ahead and focus on transparency and quality.