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6 Dec 2011
Issue # 54
| Paul Writer Marketing Booster Shot
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Yo! Do you make New Years resolutions? More important, do you stick to them? (Don't laugh - I've taken the zero-utilization annual gym subscription too.) Many companies seem to view the dawn of the new year as a time to make new resolutions. Oh, they call them strategies, but really, in many cases, they are just resolutions to do better. The reason is that in many cases the strategy sessions seem to have no lock-in to the budgeting, and the budgeting has no connection to usable planning information. And that's the big difference between successful firms and others. At this time of the year, there is also usually a big debate about whether long-term strategy even makes sense, given the speed of change. I think it does - we need to have a good idea of where to go and how to get there, but the micro-details should have the flexibility of changing on a quarterly basis. This is also the time of year for everyone to come up with "Their Next Big Thing". I set up a poll to find out what people intend to invest in next year and the lead answer is analytics. Check it out and cast your vote! The link I published last week had some glitches so am keeping the poll open for one more day. We at Paul Writer are also planning for next year. We want to host newer versions of our two big conference properties - The Futurist CMO, and Great Indian Marketing Summits. Dates will be announced shortly and will be in February and March - want to speak or sponsor? Let me know! Happy Reading! |
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| Is "social media campaign" an oxymoron?
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By Christopher Koch
|  | Marketing automation vendor Eloqua shared inputs on 10 ways to "solve" Facebook for B2B. One of the outstanding insights was that a sweepstakes drove 43% of the traffic to Eloqua's Facebook page, far more than other sources.
If "engaging" is one of the four components of social media management, how can one expect to hold onto prospects over the long term with just contests and campaigns on Facebook. Chris Koch analyzes award winning campaigns - HP Technology Services (HPTS)' "Where's the Humanity in Your Technology" campaign and Hitachi Data Services (HDS)' Social Media Buzz campaign to find what plays well to Facebook users.
But can campaigns coexist comfortably with a thought leadership lead nurturing strategy? Read on.
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5 Easy Steps to Better Buyer Profiling
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By Jayme Thomason
| | Some brands spend embarrassing amounts of money doing mass-scale surveys, hiring telemarketing companies to do phone surveys, and buying lists upon lists of data about potential targets.
But here's the problem: When you execute a content marketing strategy correctly, you must genuinely care about, serve, or enlighten your audiences to build relationships. It's those relationships that will ultimately drive business.
The new media environment isn't about blasting your marketing message to the masses and hoping your target audience is seeing it. It's about connecting with your audience - in some cases on a one-on-one basis - matching their needs with your relevant solutions and multiplying it all by the massive reach of the Internet. That's where the sweet spot is.
In this post, Jayme shares a simple way to develop your buyer personas with the data you already have. Read on.
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Solutions Marketing: Back to the Basics - How Do You Define Solution?
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by Steve Hurley
| | A lack of a common definition can lead to different opinions of how solutions should be developed and marketed. Depending upon how a company defines a solution, a mandate to create and take a new solution to market could be anything from straightforward product development to fully integrated products and services.
If marketing trumpets its solutions through all of its channels - the website, collateral, talk tracks for the sales force, etc. - it is critical that everyone has the same perspective of what a solution is. If not, the brand will take a hit and customers will become frustrated about what you really do and how you can help them.
In this post, Steve Hurley explores multiple definitions of 'Solution' and emphasizes that a long term solutions strategy must have a definition that everyone in the organization understands and supports. Click here to read more. |
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Tips and Tricks: Effective Branding in 2012
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by Jessie Paul
| | Silicon India's Strategic Marketing Summit made an attempt to approach challenges brands are facing as a result of market globalization, rapid technological development and competition in the digital space. Jessie Paul spoke at the Summit and shared tips for effective branding in 2012.
Click here for the presentation.
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4 Things B2B Marketers Should Focus on in 2012
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by Merlin Francis
| | While the holiday seasons is just days away, Merlin Francis shares her list of marketing must-haves for 2012. Superlative content plan, redefining social media strategy, focusing on customer relationships and optimizing use of marketing automation platform.
Merlin suggests that brands invest time, money and resources in producing high quality research reports, whitepapers, presentations, video-logs, webinars and infograhics that serves a larger purpose than just getting your brand visibility and improved search engine ranking. It makes sense to spend sometime keeping in touch with your customers as it ensures, upsell opportunities and increased mindshare.
While most brands have made an effort to invest in a marketing automation platform, optimizing their investment, by ensuring their marketing and sales teams use the platform effectively is something they should work on in the coming year. Read on.
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Enjoy!
Jessie Paul
CEO, Paul Writer
www.paulwriter.com - India's only community for B2B marketers
2500+ members | 50+ contributors | 250+ articles
Visuals sourced with thanks from Flick'r. Acknowledgement provided in the main article.
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