Mark your calendar for March 25, 2010. TedX is coming to Naperville.
TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxNaperville, where x=independently organized TED event. At our TEDxNaperville event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection [...]
Good data is the foundation for effective CRM. In B2B it is impossible to build strong marketing unless you know the names of the people most likely to buy from you. Maintaining a clean CRM punchbowl requires more than a summer intern.
NOTE: Robert Hamilton and I collaborated on this article.
It seems every week we talk to just another IT services shop trying to kick-start their marketing and sales process. We sit down with the founder and ask the same question: “so how are you different from all the other firms out there?”
When we ask that question, [...]
Ouch.
It hurts. Now what?
1) Ask why? What didn’t we do? It is important to ask the client for candid feedback. The candid feedback is an important opportunity to improve things going forward.
2) Ask “how were we being measured?” Did we both understand the measurement criteria? Was it the right measurement criteria? Where did we overpromise [...]
You reap what you sow.
We just signed a new statement of work with a client (now in a new job) that we once fired.
She appreciated the fact that we stuck to our guns.
Doing a bad deal with a customer is not worth it. Doing the right thing sometimes hurts. No sales person wants to say [...]
In my 20 year career, I’ve used nearly every form of B2B lead generation available.
To properly evaluate the performance of your marketing campaigns, it is important to know your real cost of a lead.
Forrester Research recently revealed that about 50% of b-to-b marketers don’t use e-mail metrics to measure their campaign results(1). Do you know [...]
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2009/05/10/i-am-sick-of-splogs-copying-our-content/
This is a good article from Mark Ghosh about splogs and Content Theft.
What Mark doesn’t talk about is the impact of plagiarism on corporate blog content. How is this content being policed and protected? Do sploggers deface the brand? How can corporations curb content theft?
One of my clients, BrandProtect, is sponsoring a “Trademark Dangers [...]
The pressure is on.
How do you optimize your minimized dollars, eliminate stale marketing efforts, and expand your outreach to prospects?
Focusing on what can be achieved quickly and by leveraging your existing marketing assets. You might be surprised at the results if you focus your efforts on just a few key components.
Refine your messaging
Messaging is key [...]
As mentioned in our April newsletter, one of our clients recently asked us for a proposal for an email newsletter program. Instead of paying an hourly fee for our effort, the client wants to pay us for the for the “performance” of the newsletter. That means, they wan to pay for clicks, inquiries, leads.
Compensation for [...]
Linking marketing and sales to buying activity requires reinvention of the sales process as well as process improvement. The traditional model of marketing handing leads off to sales is being replaced by the idea that both organizations jointly own prospect relationships and coordinate activities to nurture and migrate the prospect forward in the decision cycle. [...]
