We keep saying that everything is changing. You can make your own list, but here’s some of the things we think all companies should think about:
1. We are all used to an enormous amount of noise and competition for attention. We are entertained and distracted by hundreds of TV channels, picture and video sharing, millions […]

Ours sure did. It’s still a little lightweight, and we’ll never have enough time to do everything we do for our clients. But there’s fresh content and new thinking on a fairly consistent basis.
More important, it’s where people can find it — right up front. We’re not trying to tell people about who we […]

There’s a sea of conversations swirling about your company and perhaps even you. If your products and services are popular and your company is successful then the volume is deafening.
I’m going to show you how to locate, stimulate, monitor and join those conversations. Doing it well can be hugely beneficial to your company. I’m also […]

This is the first of a three-part series on the Marketer’s view of Web 2.0. In this installment we’ll look at what the heck Web 2.0 is and isn’t. Next installment is some hands-on grubbing into the guts of Web 2.0, and the third is a roadmap for where one might wander from here.
So what […]

Before you start configuring your site for RSS, the first question you must ask as a marketer is: Do you have anything worth delivering to people every day, or perhaps every week?
I know it’s strange, but people don’t subscribe to newspapers to read “news releases” declaiming that “Bob Fergus, CEO of Fulbright Enterprises is incredibly […]

We assume you’re asking what the heck is this stuff, how does it work and why should I care? If you already know the answers to these three questions then you want the next installment of this article: Implementing RSS.
RSS stands for “Completely Meaningless Name.” Oh, wait, that’s PCMCIA (People Can’t MakeSenseOf Computer Industry Acronyms). […]

Businesses don’t buy anything. People buy things. The biggest difference between BtoB and BtoC is the complexity of the database work. Other than that it’s simply selling to people who aren’t buying with their own money (though that is certainly an important tactical distinction).
The creative approach for BtoB lead generation needs to elicit an emotional […]

No one wants to hear that the approach they’ve been trusting for years is wrong. No one wants to make changes just because there’s a new way that might be better. But, if the world has changed around you (and who thinks it hasn’t), there’s a good reason to at least examine the things you […]

If you are acquiring leads for a sales force, the most critical element you can pay attention to is lead cultivation. It’s more important than qualification. It’s more important than scoring. It’s where all the money is, and if you ignore it, it’s the reason why the sales force won’t respect you.
First, let’s talk a […]

We know these mistakes because we’ve made them—that qualifies us as experts as long as we help clients NOT make these mistakes again. The assumption is that you ARE scoring leads. Mistake #1 would be that you are not, so let’s start with a simple scoring plan. You need to be collecting qualifying criteria to […]

Your sales force doesn’t do a good job of cross-selling products that are not in their core product line. And only the named accounts salespeople (assuming you still have these rare and expensive folks) up-sell. Almost 86% of the people reading this are nodding in agreement according to our surveys.
Your sales force is hardwired to […]

Most marketers believe they have a pretty good understanding of the value of loyalty systems, but through some informal surveying we’ve found they often focus on less important aspects. Certainly a loyalty system is important for optimizing the value of your customers, but there is real potential that your loyalty approach might apply a discount […]

If you are acquiring leads for a sales force to close, then the most critical element you can pay attention to is lead maturation. It’s more important than qualification. It’s more important than scoring. It’s where all the money is, and if you ignore it, then it’s the reason why the sales force hates your […]