Howard Sewell
Howard Sewell
Howard has worked in marketing for 25+ years, and is president of Spear Marketing Group, a full-service B2B marketing agency. Howard is a frequent speaker and contributor to marketing publications on topics that include demand generation, digital marketing, ABM, and marketing technology.
Broad Match is Not Your Friend: Using Match Types to Get More from Your PPC Campaign
Selective and proactive use of match types (broad, phrase, exact) is a key technique in optimizing the performance of Google AdWords™ campaigns. Unfortunately, many...
4 Key Takeaways from the 2015 SiriusDecisions Summit
More than 2,300 marketers, including this writer, gathered in Nashville this past week for SiriusDecisions’ annual confab on all things marketing. Amongst the usual...
Does Creative Still Matter in B2B Marketing?
At Marketo’s Marketing Nation Summit last month in San Francisco, there was much talk about the shifting function of marketing towards a more strategic,...
How to Write a Better Content Syndication Abstract
When planning a content syndication campaign, most B2B marketers tend to focus their energy primarily on 1) selecting the right media partner(s) and 2)...
Above the Fold Still Critical for B2B Email Design
“Above the fold” is a term that originated in the heyday of print advertising and direct mail. Generally speaking, it’s a principle of advertising...
Survey: Marketing Automation Users Score a “C” in Maturity
Spear Marketing Group has published an informative report detailing results of a survey designed to gauge the maturity of marketing automation deployments within the...
Programmatic Ad Buying: What Does It Mean for B2B Marketers?
You could make the case, as I will, that of all the new technologies to enter the marketing technology landscape of late, the two...
Failing at Paid Search? Maybe You’re Just Measuring It Wrong.
The lack of an appropriate and complete tracking system is one of the most common errors, or omissions, that B2B marketers make in setting...
5 Sales Tips My Kids Learned from Watching Shark Tank
Confession: at our house, we watch a LOT of reality TV. One of our favorite series – and one of the few reality shows...
Key B2B Demand Generation Strategies for 2015
Recently I sat down with Amanda Nelson, Director of Marketing at RingLead, a leading provider of cloud-based data solutions that make it easy to...
How to Measure Email Success in 2015: A Call to ROI
No matter what your marketing resolutions this year – more content, better creative, etc. – no improvement matters if you can’t measure it. Since...
Steal This Technique for Your Next Sales Email
One of the basic rules of good, direct marketing copywriting is that a call to action should always be specific. In other words, it’s...
Infographic: 17 Tips for Generating Leads from Social PPC Advertising
Looking to include social media advertising as part of your demand generation mix in the new year? Before you get started, check out this...
5 Simple PPC Landing Page Changes that May Improve Your Quality Score
As most PPC advertisers already know, Google’s Quality Score measures what Google perceives to be the quality of your keyword ads. Every keyword in...
Report: Trade Shows Generate Highest Quantity & Quality of Leads
Research firm Software Advice have released their 2014 B2B Demand Generation Benchmark Report, a handy reference for anyone planning 2015 marketing spend. Based on...
Email Campaign or Essay Question? You Decide.
The email campaign below from Integra, a regional provider of business voice and data solutions based in Vancouver, Washington, gets high marks for promoting...
What’s the Big Deal About Predictive Analytics? A Conversation with Brian Kardon
Brian Kardon is a respected marketing thought leader, a “Top 10 Global CMO,” and a seasoned executive with a 20-year track record of success....
Research Report: Lead Gen Not as Easy as Marketers Think
I just returned from a few days at Dreamforce in San Francisco, the annual circus-slash-conference hosted by CRM leader Salesforce.com, and was struck by...
Social PPC: 17 Tips for Successful Ads on Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook
It seems only yesterday that “PPC advertising” was synonymous with Google AdWords. Google still dominates search advertising – at last count, it handles roughly...
Sorry, But “How Many Touches Does it Take to Make a Sale?” is No Longer a Valid Question
On a recent conference call with a prospective client, the Vice President of Sales chimed in with a question: “How many touches do you think...