Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Ever wondered why there is so much educational stuff — white papers, videos, research, etc. — on the Internet? Well, perhaps because content marketing has surpasses more traditional strategies according to B2B Marketing Trends 2011 Survey by HiveFire, Inc.
Keep in mind the source of the survey: HiveFire is an online marketing tech company. But the findings point to good news for experts: content curation (finding relevant content and posting it) has grown 17% in just six months alone. More than half of respondents — 56% — report that content curation is part of the mix.
Translation: these folks don’t want to create all the content they distribute. They need our content and are looking for it. That means that there are more opportunities to get your perspective out there. Our challenge is to tap into this trend effectively. One idea: tap into the top two objectives: engage customers and drive sales.
So ask yourself: who can benefit from distributing your content? Whose customers can you engage? Those answers will point to your best starting point. Learn more with this summary. Registration required (no charge) to get the full report.
Tags: experts, Marketing, promotion, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Less talk and more interaction is in store for many conferences, according to a recent study on meeting trends presented at IMEX America event in October. Bottom line: shorter keynotes (15 to 20 minutes) followed by opportunities for personal interaction. My theory: the emphasis on access to the experts themselves rather than riveting information is a response to content marketing and all that other free stuff on the Internet. My prediction: your personal brand will become even more important. Your story will be just as relevant as your message.
Something else to consider: speaker previews are on the horizon, as more attendees want to choose which session to join. Watch for more requests for video clips to post on conference websites. Why do you care? This means that folks have to fall in love with you before the speech, not during it.
So ask yourself (honestly): why would attendees want personal access to you? Platitudes have become obsolete here. Creators or developers behind big cool projects are getting the inside track now.
See for yourself — here’s the article outlining the findings.
Tags: experts, Marketing, meetings, positioning, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Thursday, December 1st, 2011
Want a one-stop shop on performance improvement and engagement? Check out this collection of white papers and other resources at a new website by the Performance Improvement Council. Yes, there is an incentive bent — keep that in mind as you read the perspectives. But there are some good reports, my favorite being Employee Lifetime Value.
This is a great resource for speeches and other content on these topics. When you are in research mode, check this site out.
Tags: consultants, experts, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
IBM released their Global CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) study last month. I like the way they gathered the data: personal interviews with 1,734 CMO’s from 64 countries and 19 industries. This is how you find out where the bodies are buried.
Here are the top three imperatives according to the respondents:
- Delivering value to “empowered customers” — using all that data to figure out buying behavior and demand patterns.
- Creating relationships with those customers — over half say the answer lies in social media, with the focus of going beyond the transaction. Their key question: how to help the buyers enjoy their purchase.
- Measuring marketing impact on the business — so they can get their fair share of the budget and kudos.
The best news: a big majority (over 60%) believe they are unprepared for the above onslaught. What the most proactive are doing: focusing on relationships instead of transactions and creating a clear — alert! new buzzword coming up — “corporate character”.
If this isn’t an invitation to help, I don’t know what is. Don’t think that because you are not a marketing expert, you can’t take advantage of this. There are a lot of places to play in these initiatives. Click here for the summary and the full report.
Tags: consultants, experts, Marketing, opportunity, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Thursday, October 27th, 2011
The best thing I’ve learned in social media is how to have a conversation with people I disagree with. I’m happy to report that I can go to threads and respond without thinking someone is an idiot. (Well, most of the time.)
That said, I have come to believe that in the spirit of promotion, many of us have become too clever for our own good. For those of you doing the below, please know that the rest of us know you are just trying to promote yourself at our expense:
- Asking a provocative question and then pointing to your article: if you can’t give me insights in your post, I’m not clicking to learn more.
- Answer a question by saying, “hire me and find out.” Yes, I have seen several of these. Some even go the extra mile to say, “I’ve checked your website / video / material. It’s pretty bad, but I can still help.” I don’t even bother responding to these posts.
- Use the same answer for every question. One person was passionate about presentation skills. So guess how he answered every question? With generic platitudes about the importance of these skills. Poor man didn’t realize that if he had just given some specific ideas, folks would’ve seen him as a resource.
It’s tempting to justify all the time we spend on these discussions with slick tricks to promote our blogs and offers. My vote: don’t do it. Instead, if we focus on posting specifics with insights, both the participants and the lurkers will reach out.
Tags: consultants, conversations, experts, Marketing, positioning, social media, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Marketing experts tell us to determine the lifetime value of our clients. Easier said than done. So many of us (guilty as charged) wait until we have more “spare time”.
For those of us with good intentions, check out this cool infographic by KISSmetrics that plays out three options of basic calculations.
Knowing your most profitable customer can drive all sorts of decisions: where to hang out in social media, where to speak, etc. It’s a good first step to making sense of all of our marketing options.
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Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
One of my favorite authors is Martin Lindstrom. He is a master at answering customer behavior questions with the latest in brain research. So when I found his latest article in Fast Company, I dropped everything and hung on his every word.
Lindstrom drills down on what we already know: fear sells. But look closer…we can’t just sell fear. As experts, selling fear too often comes off as negative. And high-end buyers see right through the consultant who continually cries wolf.
But we can’t just sell the positive either. We have to use fear to motivate and move people into desire first. And that’s where many of us get off track. We sell the idealized future before we acknowledge the fear of not having it.
So…we have two options: to sell the positive as the antidote of what is feared or to sell our stuff as a momentary respite from fear (the article uses yoga classes as an example).
We have to be positive as an answer in the battle against the unseen. Because buyers — like the rest of us — are afraid of being caught unprepared for what can come next.
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Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
Do you post content on social media and then…hear crickets chirping in the background? Here’s an interesting study on Facebook pages from Facebook and journalists with findings about what gets commented on and what doesn’t. My favorite findings:
- Posts with questions generate 70% more comments than the average post. Other top producers: clever language (120% increase) and asking for input (also a 120% increase). My thinking: these ideas are simple and can be implemented now. Major bang for our social media buck.
- Passionate debates and touching emotional stories generate two to three times the increase in feedback. My vote: the former is easier to implement than the latter for B2B experts. B2C experts do need more emotional posts.
- Checking in happens around the workday: morning, noon, after work, and late at night. My observation: those in the entrepreneurial space will find traffic on the weekends, too.
Many thanks to Dale Collie, who graciously shared this study via SpeakerNet News.
Analytical study on Facebook page from journalists
Tags: experts, Marketing, positioning, social media, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Why are there so many leadership experts? Because leadership development is one of the biggest areas of growth in the corporate sector. Two reasons why: one, talent management has been tied to execution and is now seen as a strategic advantage; and, two, development is taking the place of raises and bonuses. (Thank you choppy recovery.) Next question: what do these buyers want?
Role playing is in and avatars are gaining fast, according to this recent study on leadership development trends by Chief Learning Officer magazine. Other findings we care about:
- The hemorrhaging has stopped. Only 11% of those surveyed say they will decrease spending in leadership development. Almost half (45%) will stay the course and a little less (44%) are increasing investments here.
- Trend that is gaining momentum fast: action learning. Solving real problems at work is the most popular delivery method, with 70% of respondents saying trainees use current challenges to learn leadership skills. The interesting news for us: this learning is facilitated not by experts (like us) but by certified learning facilitators. What would you like to bet that these folks work for at least half of our rates?
- Simulations are still a mixed bag, running 50/50 for and against. It is poised to grow, especially games and computer-based simulations. Translation: develop this option now but don’t put all your eggs in this online basket.
The bottom line: every silver lining has a dark cloud we need to deal with. Low-cost alternatives can be a real threat even when spending increases. Brand yourselves accordingly…
Tags: economy, education, experts, Marketing, positioning, strategy, technology, trends, Vickie Sullivan
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