MarketingProfs.com has a superb, thought-provoking article regarding value propositions. If you have read The Hire Sense of late, you know this is a topic we are exploring in many facets of sales. I have to confess, this author’s take is completely different (irony there) than the other points I have read on this topic. Here is the gist of his commentary: So be different: Stop listening to the continuous pleas from consultants, marketers, and textbooks to be different… one of a kind.. .a shining beacon of newness in a sea of same-old same-old. Focus instead on actually delivering the value to the market that you say you deliver (which, in… Read More
Continue ReadingDefining Value Today
BusinessWeek.com has an excerpt from a new book from C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan. They provide an interesting take on a topic we have been studying of late – value. Salespeople have to know their company’s value proposition in the market. That last part, in the market, is the key. We have seen plenty of companies who have an internal perception of their value, but some times it is not based in reality. Salespeople have to sort this problem out, which is an area in which we assist them. At any rate, these opening graphs caught my attention as they elucidate a value trend we are seeing in the marketplace… Read More
Continue ReadingOne Source Value Proposition
I have been noticing a common value proposition from distribution companies – “your one-stop shop for all things _________.” Some of the sales reps for these companies use this value proposition as their main lever. I tell them this is a mistake. Here’s why – the web changes everything about sourcing. I don’t need to limit myself to one vendor for all my _______ needs. In fact, I have a subtle doubt about that approach – am I getting the best deal, product or solution if I go with one company exclusively? The “catalogue mentality” is fading from our society and being replaced with a research mentality. The proverbial old… Read More
Continue ReadingMarketing In A Tough Economy
The Wall Street Journal pens an article about Coach purses and what they are doing to expand their brand. Clearly it is a strong brand today, but they play at the upper end of the price curve. Inside the article is a poignant comment from their CEO regarding marketing: We want to be transformative in the way we look. You can’t be iterative when the economy is tough. Simple, sound point he makes, isn’t it? If you continue down a repetitive path, you are going to run into revenue shortfalls in this slow economy. You have to change something up, refocus it, introduce something new, etc. Some of the most… Read More
Continue ReadingMarketing Buzzwords Exposed
LOVE this article from SalesHQ – Marketing Buzzword Bingo. The author shares my disdain for marketing buzzwords. The article is simply a list of buzzwords with his definition for each one. Some examples: Reputation management – controlling information flow to that which I want known Lifelong value – guess at how much money we would make out of a fictitious customer who stays with us for life, however long that is. Lifetime value – same guess Out-sourcing – stuff we have given up doing because we thought it was too hard In-sourcing – stuff we outsourced that we lost control over and had to do ourselves again to save costs… Read More
Continue ReadingMarketing To Millennials
Inc.com chronicles one Gen Y marketing campaign by BMW that I have not heard of. The opening sentence forewarned me: Generation Y’s indifference to traditional forms of marketing and advertising has some big companies and their ad agencies scrambling for creative ways to reach and engage this demographic. Engagement is the key these days, isn’t it? If you read the marketing campaign in the short article, you won’t read about magazine ads, TV commercials or radio spots. Instead there are short films on YouTube, Facebook pages and micro-websites. I think the author best sums up this new marketing approach (my bold): It seems to me that the campaign is less… Read More
Continue ReadingAwesome And Awful Email Subject Lines
What emails do you open? The “From” field and subject line are the first draw for most people and a determinant for gaining a higher open rate. MarketingProfs.com has an informative article that breaks down examples of awesome and awful email subject lines. The article is a good read and worth your time. I’ll skip to the end where the author, Josh Nason, provides a handful of tips for writing effective subject lines: Don’t discount the importance of the From name. Keep it your company name and not an individual’s name or drawn-out term. In addition, keep your company name out of the subject line: It’s redundant—a waste of valuable… Read More
Continue ReadingMental Focus
In case you ever wondered why your marketing campaigns were not working: (h/t Seth Godin)
Continue ReadingStarting A Company In A Recession
Interesting history lesson in a short Inc.com post: William Wrigley, Jr. arrived in Chicago in 1891 with just $32 to his name. The 29-year-old entrepreneur began manufacturing soap, first enticing customers by offering free baking soda with every purchase. He later tried offering customers free chewing gum. The gum soon became more popular – and profitable – than his soap venture. Like many of the famous companies which have sprung up during recessions, Wrigley sold inexpensive goods that could be easily mass produced. Now, I’m not saying that chewing gum actually served as a distraction from the strife of the times, but what kind of startup do you think fairs… Read More
Continue ReadingFastest Dying Industries
Clearly newspapers are the poster child for this topic. ABCnews.com approaches this topic with research that forecasts industry changes over the next 5 years. Some of their predictions and suggestions: Another way to avoid disaster? Diversify. In response to decades of declining circulation and shaky print advertising numbers, newspaper publishers are expanding their holdings in non-traditional ways. The two largest, Gannett and Tribune, own a stake Careerbuilder.com, the online job search Web site. In 2005, The New York Times Co. bought About.com, a general information site. Will it work? The jury is out. Worth noting, though–the industry’s most successful transition is also its most radical. The Washington Post Co. secured… Read More
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