Sean Parnell
Pretty (Ineffective) Marketing: The High Cost of Using a Creative-Only Agency
Many businesses fall into the trap of hiring marketing agencies that deliver beautiful branding, slick websites, and pretty ads — but fail to generate leads or drive sales. Here are five good reasons to avoid that type of marketing.
Style Without Substance Is a Pretty Big Mistake
When you partner with an agency focused on style rather than results, you may end up with a website that looks good but doesn’t communicate your value or convert visitors. You get a design award while your prospects find your competitors instead.
Takeaway: Style-focused marketing gets applause. Strategic marketing gets results.
Creative-Led Firms Don’t Understand Your Business
Vanity marketing agencies rarely take the time or have a process for truly understanding your business,
... Continue Reading >>Paid Discovery: How to Monetize the Discovery Process
In non-commoditized business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets for products and solutions that cost thousands of dollars or more, building trust is a crucial component of the pre-sale phase.
Prospects don’t make big-ticket investments without a lot of confidence in both the solution and the company. You can’t close a $50,000 to $100,000+ deal on the strength of an initial consultation or even a demo.
For software vendors and manufacturers, prospects may not even want to see a demo because they don’t want a sales rep conducting a dog-and-pony show for something they’re not even sure they need.
The Value of Solid Due Diligence
A paid assessment,
... Continue Reading >>Learn Why Your Marketing Isn’t Producing Results with an Audit
Lackluster marketing results are rarely the result of lackluster efforts. Many businesses devote a lot of time and attention to marketing and still see little return.
While it can be easy to mistake a lot of activity or a big budget for a healthy marketing plan, a closer look can reveal a very different picture. No matter how well-inspired, random acts of marketing rarely produce much more than noise. And when it comes to your marketing efforts, there is no good reason to experiment to see what works.
A comprehensive marketing audit will show you exactly what’s working and what isn’t and provide a plan for transforming your marketing into a lead generation machine.
... Continue Reading >>Fuel Sustainable Growth with Brand Storytelling
We are excited to announce the launch of the Brand Story Workshop for business owners and marketing leaders who want their messaging to increase leads and sales.
The Brand Story workshop is available for nonprofits, government agencies, manufacturers, software vendors, and other businesses that want their messaging to resonate powerfully with target markets. In particular, startups can utilize the Brand Story Workshop to avoid ineffective messaging that often leads to catastrophic failure.
As a Vistage member since 2021, the Brand Story Workshop is available to Vistage chairs as well as other organizations and industry associations.
... Continue Reading >>4 Marketing Partner Best Practices: How Does Yours Stack Up?
As a former head of market research consultant, head of product management, and having worked with hundreds of clients that have been under-served by their so-called marketing “partner” over the past 18 years, I know what ineffective marketing looks like and how much it can hold you back.
How well does your marketing partner stack up with the following?
1. Being a True Marketing Partner vs. a Vendor
Does your marketing company actively bring new lead generation and thought leadership ideas to you on a regular basis? Do they meet with you on a regular basis and provide monthly reporting? Can they provide useful guidance on even beyond marketing?
2.
... Continue Reading >>Brand Story & SEO: Increasing Website Conversions
To increase your website’s capacity to generate leads, many often turn to a commissioning new web design. Facelifts can help but only addresses the style of your brand and not its substance.
Savvy marketers know that you can increase traffic to your website with content marketing leveraged by search engine optimization (SEO) and PR to increase leads but that’s only half the battle.
While a creative, professional web design, content marketing, SEO, and PR are all important pieces of the puzzle, converting more website traffic into leads depends more upon how strongly your messaging resonates with prospects.
... Continue Reading >>Innovaxis Earns Women-Owned Business Certification from WBENC
We’ve always believed that great marketing starts with great people. Our team brings together a talented and diverse group of professionals dedicated to helping businesses grow. We’re excited to announce that Innovaxis is now a nationally certified Women-Owned Business through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation’s leading certifier of businesses owned and operated by women.
This milestone reinforces our values of excellence, diversity, innovation, and collaboration. Beyond the certification itself, WBENC opens doors for us and our clients, enabling us to partner with corporations and government entities that prioritize supplier diversity.
Innovaxis: Built on Expertise, Talent, Leadership & Diversity
Innovaxis was founded in 2007 with a vision of delivering marketing strategies that drive business growth and value.
... Continue Reading >>Your 2025 B2B Marketing Plan: What You Should Be Doing Differently
Well into the tech boom of AI, automation and machine learning, we are navigating a marketing landscape that is evolving faster than ever – and it’s time to rethink your marketing approach.
The old playbook is no longer enough. Markets are evolving, buyer behavior has shifted, and the tools available are more powerful than ever. To succeed, businesses must adapt, innovate, and make strategic decisions to seek meaningful engagement, blue oceans, and revenue growth.
Here’s what you should be rethinking for the year ahead.
1. Align Marketing with Revenue Goals
Too many marketing plans focus on vanity metrics – clicks and traffic that may or may not be human – without directly linking efforts to revenue.
... Continue Reading >>Shopify vs. WooCommerce: Choosing the Best Platform for Your Online Store
If you’re ready to explore the world of e-commerce, you’ll probably find yourself comparing two of the most popular online store platforms: Shopify and WooCommerce.
Understanding the key differences between Shopify and WooCommerce will help you select the best solution for your business, depending on various aspects of your business, such as your level of technical expertise, customization needs, and budget.
The Basics: Shopify vs. WooCommerce
Shopify is a fully hosted, cloud-based e-commerce platform that offers a comprehensive solution for building, managing and growing an online store. For many businesses, Shopify is their entire website, not just e-commerce, including a home page,
... Continue Reading >>3 Critical Website Measures
Every company knows they need a compelling website to stay competitive. Still, far too many spend little or no time tracking and evaluating the effectiveness of their website and online marketing campaigns. Over the last decade, our experience has taught us that having the answers to 3 basic questions—and knowing what to do with that information—can lay the foundation for higher conversion rates, increased sales, and greater ROI on marketing budgets. These answers can be the difference between success and failure.
- How many unique visitors does your site get per month?
- What are the top 5 pages on your site?
- What are the top 5 sources of traffic to your site?
