Those who have accumulated some early knowledge about Social Media Marketing (SMM) bemoan the number of self-proclaimed experts that crowd this new field. Indeed, thousands of Internet professionals are trying to capitalize on the spectacularly successful platform for marketing purposes. It is also true that much of the “expertise” out there is pretty generic and that the myriad blogs and comments often add little original insight. (more…)
The litany of stories illustrating the often sour relationship between Sales and Marketing never seems to end. It really should not be so, although some of it is probably inevitable. After all, both groups have a lot of passion all of which is directed towards achieving an identical objective: more revenue.
“Tunnel vision is a medical condition that results in a loss of peripheral vision. As a result, the patient can only see objects from within a circular field.”
Today, “focus” is an almost universally accepted imperative when elaborating a business strategy. But tunnel vision is a risk inherent to concentrating on the pressing objectives of the day. So what happens when focus turns to tunnel vision? What are the signs? How does one resist it?
Clearly, there is a right way to focus, as well as some pitfalls. (more…)
Verticalization is the ugly neologism that describes a long term trend in which BtoB companies see industries as the operative way of grouping customers . Conversely, verticalization also refers to a strategy of focusing on a specific industry in order to compete more effectively.
So what are the dynamics, and what can be done to maximize the chances of success with a vertical strategy? (more…)
This may come as somewhat of a surprise to those who have stayed with the conventional wisdom that “the customer is always right“. But satisfying the request of every customer with the hope that the firm’s reputation for excellence will spread and be the key to riches is a noble but ultimately losing proposition.
Although customers as a group have requests, ideas, suggestions, and legitimate problems that need solutions, only the company’s management and the CEO can have a Vision. Only the company’s leadership (more…)
The purpose of the Call to Action (CTA) is to push the prospect further down on the road to becoming a customer. It is the operative component of any piece of external marketing because if the prospect does not perform an action at some point, no sale ever takes place.
As such, the CTA generates as much passion from people in the revenue generation functions as almost any other single component of a customer-facing deliverable. Actually, everyone in the company has an opinion for a CTA, not unlike the flurry of suggestions elicited by the choice of the website’s color scheme.
There are simple rules to follow to maximize the effectiveness of CTAs in email, direct mail, web pages, etc: (more…)
The slippery slope of product proliferation starts with a discussion in the management staff meeting that goes along this line:
“We have found out that one of our suppliers has just made an important component available on the basis of which we can quickly make a new product. [OK]
Adding this product will take almost no effort at all. [Really?] (more…)
So many trillions of dollars of paper equity have been destroyed since last Fall that virtually all investors suffer from a reverse “wealth effect”. Venture money will still be there but only for those who can make an air-tight case for their business.
A recent presentation by Sequoia Capital to the CEOs of its portfolio companies is symptomatic of the current mood in the venture capital community. Here’s the summary of this rather terse slide show: “many macroeconomic fundamentals are plain bad, therefore, you have to become cash-flow positive NOW because you cannot take additional capital infusions for granted.” The most sobering part is (more…)
