How Value Chains have become 'Value Constellations'

Value is the real service traded in any transaction. Companies provide their customers with the value they require for a price, so everyone profits in the long run . But the process by which this passes from organization to customer is undergoing a massive transformation today.

Transactions are most commonly described as a linear process, a chain leading roughly from suppliers to a service provider then to the customer. Where does the role of the customer come in? Most commonly, right at the end of the chain. This is called a Value Chain.

Let us explore this with an example. On a typical weekday, I order in a sandwich from a global health food chain for lunch. This simple sandwich is the end product of a long value chain. Bread, butter and fresh vegetables: each of these products comes to the vendor as part of a separate value chain. The creation of the sandwich as a whole is the health food chain's addition to this value chain, and the final product, i.e. the sandwich, gets delivered to me, the consumer.

At every stage of the chain, value is added to the product by making it, processing it, adding to it, or polishing it.

But how customer-centric exactly is a value chain?

Read on for more...

Why Content Marketers Need to be Involved in Website Redesigns ?

For some years now, SEOs have been making their case for early involvement in the web design process. Fed up with getting asked to "SEO" sites after all the big decisions have been made, the search crowd has produced a stream of blog posts, white papers, and wireframe templates to secure their place at the table from the outset. 

In an age where more and more businesses are looking at content to fuel their online marketing activities, it's time for content marketers to make a similar push. Whether it's a funky new website or an overhaul of an existing site, the content strategy should be getting discussed from day one.

If you're responsible for a major build or redesign job, here are three valuable contributions content marketers can make - if you get them involved from the beginning of the process. 

No content, no SEO 

Get your answers here...

Time to Bring the Pride Back into Sales

In the B2B world, given the extended sales cycles, the first two quarters are usually spent on market conditioning, launching major campaigns to generate awareness and lots of leads, the second half is all about keeping your eye on the finish line. Which means a strong partnership and alignment with sales to make sure "no lead is left behind". So marketeers need to take on a different avatar, adjust their thinking, language and how they spend their time. Agency pitches are replaced with lead reports. Campaign briefs are replaced with sales enablement materials. All eyes are focused on what it will take to progress and close that lead. 

For many marketeers, this is a difficult transition. You have to pull out your operational and sales skills, which isn't always natural. But its more than just skills that come into play here. Its about pride. Pride in sales. Pride in winning. Pride in beating the competition. If marketeers see their role as making a of noise and passing a bunch of leads and moving onto the next big thing because "We are marketing, we aren't operations or sales"

Read more...

Strategy Killers : Playing it Safe

Marketing Events

Paul Writer has speaking engagements and association with a few upcoming marketing events and afcourse we are organising our flagship event The Futurist CMO 2012 in August this year. Get all the information about these events in our event section on paulwriter.com

102nd Social Media Workshop by Digital Vidya, August, Bangalore - 

Are you interested in leveraging Social Media for Brand Building, B2B Lead Generation and Customer Acquisition? You may want to consider participating in 2-day, hands-on case study driven Social Media Marketing Workshop by Digital Vidya

Futurist CMO 2012, August, New Delhi 

Are you a forward-thinker? Youʼre intrigued by how digitization is changing marketing. Youʼre not a geek, but have a technology roadmap for your team. Youʼre thrilled by the changing role of the CMO. Then you should join us, and a hundred other senior, forward-thinking global marketers for the second edition of

Think Glocal Conference 2012, September, Mumbai 

Think Glocal Conferences is a banner started by Attitude Events Pvt Ltd in the year 2011, to conduct knowledge based business conferences in India. 

The second edition of Think Glocal is on a larger and grander scale with the theme of "Building Brands", a Journey towards building a strong Brand.

Get all the details here...

Job Listings on Paulwriter.com 

Watch this space for new job listings on Paulwriter.com every week for mid to senior level marketers. Or post a job here...  

CMO - IFB  - Panaji / Bangalore, Goa/ Karnataka, India

IFB seeks to appoint a senior marketer to head their marketing efforts. You will define and execute the company's marketing activities to achieve the financial and strategic objectives of the organization. You will manage marketing budgets, set up required business processes and track return on investment. We are in an aggressive growth mode and need a go-getter who combines thought leadership with execution skills.

A visual and graphics designer who can create compelling design for Print (Posters, Cards etc,) Web (Intranet and external website, webpage and rich media) and the Presentations (in PPT and Flash) for various communication programs.

PR Manager - All Cargo Logistics, Mumbai, India

The PR manager will be responsible for establishing and raising awareness for Allcargo Logistics as a leading Indian MNC in the Integrated logistics space among the Media community which will ultimately help raise the visibility and drive new business for the company. 

This role will also be responsible for building strong relationships with key industry bodies and leveraging them for building awareness.

This role will be responsible for strategic planning and supervision of all public relations programs across business and trade media for Allcargo Logistics

Apply Now...