For marketers who walk the walk
You know the theory. Now here's the practice. If you want opinions you can trust, advice you can use and real-world experience to learn from, then there's no better collection of marketing experts than here.
Humans – we’re a fickle lot!
“Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together.” According to William Turner (1545) – humans find some comfort in behaving like sheep. Nothing wrong with sheep of course! This behaviour was probably observed many hundreds of years prior to being put into print as a proverb. Even Plato makes reference to this flock-like tendency in his words of wisdom. I’m sure that the basis of its origination was more to do with survival rather than opinion but there is no excuse today for always adopting the same flock-like behaviour as everyone else.
0 comments | Full storyBuyersphere 2011: would the real Customer 2.0 please stand up?
There’s a lot of talk going on about the new breed of customer. Not only on this blog, but throughout the B2B marketing world and, of course, at next week’s IDM B2B Marketing Conference, where it is understandably the main theme of the event. But with all this talk, there is a big question to ask: is this Customer 2.0 real or imagined?
2 comments | Full storyIn denial. My world is fine without any changes, thank you!
We live in a world of denial. It’s a human mechanism – a weakness. We spend money and don’t worry about paying it back. We damage our environment and see it as the responsibility of others. We pursue activities that may not be kind to our bodies but refuse to accept the potential consequences. Some might say that denial is born from naive optimism. Sadly, reality is often too hard to face so we park the unpleasant bits or those tasks we just don’t want to face in the back of our minds – sometimes to our detriment.
0 comments | Full storyB2B marketer as B2B customer – blurred boundary or insightful opportunity?
Back in the late 90s I worked for 3Com, they had 13 divisions, and we even sold external US Robotics modems, yes they did exist. I was lucky I worked for the Palm Division and our directive was to grow market share. The appetite was right in the market and we had a far superior product to the Psion, our only competition at the time. My team travelled from technology event to event and just had to remember four Palm functions; email, notes, contacts and diary plus the USP – you could ‘sync’ your emails, that was it sold, we increased market share to over 60% in the first year, the Palm 3 and then 5 sold themselves, the market was just evolving.
1 comment | Full storyAre you maximising the Customer 2.0 opportunity?
Social media is at the heart of Customer 2.0, enabling a new dynamic conversation with potential customers. However whilst companies are starting to formulate their strategies and successful case studies start to appear, without a clear view on how to capitalise on the interest generated, some cannot justify the investment.
5 comments | Full storyChange is good – it will give you a new lease of life
You may have read ‘Who Moved My Cheese’ by Spencer Johnson. It tackles the concept of change using an allegory to convey the need to embrace this unsettling occurrence – it’s brilliant but has been used in some dubious ways I believe! For many businesses, change is not a welcome guest – in fact, in some instances, it can threaten the very being of existence. ‘Where’ and ‘next’ are not found in the same sentence for fear of upsetting the status quo.
0 comments | Full storyNo such thing as business decisions
In the lead up to the 8th IDM B2B Marketing Conference the premise for my blog series is this: the staunch divide between B2C and B2B no longer exists.
1 comment | Full storyMarketers – You’re banned!
Imagine a world where marketing and selling were declared unacceptable or even unlawful. Imagine if your marketing database had to be decommissioned and overt marketing messages from vendors were outlawed. How would our behaviour change as marketers? What would the role of the marketer even be?
10 comments | Full storyGreat Expectations
The Internet has changed the nation’s psyche. You can shop in a virtual environment; use virtual money to pay for goods and for many services, such as gas, electricity insurance and you don’t even see the product you have paid for – that too is virtual. It’s all a bit bizarre in some respects. It allows you to find the best deals and chop and change according to your needs. It has given people a good deal more power than they had pre-internet. With the growth of buying power we have also seen a change in service level expectations. No matter what we are spending, the belief is that all things in the business world are equal and should you experience a substandard service – however you perceive this – the understanding is that you have a right to protest. Well, perhaps you do, but how justified are your expectations? I would like to explore this idea with regards to how businesses consider their position in delivering ‘great expectations’ – but for many legitimate reasons may fall short in their endeavours.
1 comment | Full storyBeen to the Bookies Lately? Does your marketing look more like spread betting?
Living a stone’s throw from Cheltenham racecourse you would expect the occasional indulgence betting on the horses. Indeed, I do succumb to the temptation and use this magnificent facility, dedicated to the sport of the Kings, to entertain many of our clients. It’s a great feeling when the horse you’ve backed comes in at 10 to 1. This is followed by a smug feeling of contentment because, having checked the form, read the Racing Post and triangulated my thoughts with my guests – I convince myself that I have made the right selection – or more accurately made an educated guess. Sadly, when someone wins, someone has to lose. The temptation to gamble has preyed on human vulnerability since time immemorial and has permeated the depths of our behaviours in personal and business life. Let’s face it, we all like to back a winner! From a commercial standpoint, when some businesses look to develop their marketing strategies you can’t help thinking that the gambling gremlin has landed. But it doesn’t have to be this way – you can back the right horse every time if you have the courage of your convictions. Let me explain what I mean.
1 comment | Full storyEconomy of scale marketing (what we have been practising for the past forty years)
Efficiency has become one of the most commonly used words in our business vernacular. It gets CEO’s excited, CFO’s focused (never excited). Conversely, it promotes resistance in social welfare circles and trepidation for many contact centre workers. Whichever way we look at it’s inclusion in our business operations, it’s about getting the most out of things (or people). And what’s wrong with that? Efficiencies also make our lives easier in some respects and safeguard businesses from going under in competitive markets. Part of this continual drive for increased effectiveness has resulted in taking advantage of economies of scale. This concept and its broader application, is not new. In fact, it’s been part of our business thinking for many decades yet arguably its most powerful purpose has not attracted much focus. And that is the economy of scale of customers. Let me explain my thinking on this.
5 comments | Full story£2m fines for silent calls – we have only ourselves to blame
Is the direct marketing industry the most hated business sector in the UK at the moment? I can’t think of any other activity – other than banking or drug smuggling perhaps – that gets such a pasting. The sad truth is it’s entirely our own fault. We (the DM industry) have set our stall over the years and are now reaping the negative consequences. Our perception is arguably at rock bottom and this is largely attributable to the abuse of data by less reputable marketers with inflated budgets who have decided, in their infinite wisdom (arrogance/ignorance), to operate inappropriately just because they can and with scant regard for the direct marketing environment. We are becoming the metaphorical turkeys voting for an early Christmas and it pains me to say this.
1 comment | Full storyThe Customer is King (not always!)
Customer service has become the pinnacle of business benchmarking. The ‘Customer is King’ is indelibly etched into the fabric of many carefully scripted mission statements. We all want our consumers to be happy – sure – but the universality of approach to this task has made a rod for our backs. Let me explain why. Many B2B UK companies consciously treat customers in the same way. To me this makes little sense as customers represent different values to your business – both real and inherent – so why should we do this? Instead, why don’t we adopt a more balanced approach to this reality because the potential benefits are huge?
4 comments | Full storyMarketing is Broken – so what next? (How can we re-invent our marketing programmes?)
Marketers are suffering from claustrophobia! I can hear the gasps for air as I write! So many options to reach people are being pulled from under our feet – it feels like the walls are closing in on the world of marketing and there is little room to manoeuvre.
8 comments | Full storyGoogle – The Next Big Marketing Failure?
Like Hoover, Sellotape and Coca Cola, Google has become part of our daily vernacular. We Google someone or something online and receive a myriad of responses in a fraction of a second. It is a fantastic business success story and its impact on how we market many goods and services is no less an accomplishment. But enough ego-stroking. My point is more to do with the sustainability of the Google marketing model and how the future might shape up. The clambering for space in cyberspace has reached epidemic proportions. We all want a slice of exposure to a global audience in the vain hope that it will boost business profits. And indeed, for many companies it continues to serve them well. As a result, Google’s profits soar into the billions – next stop world domination. Such is the frantic competition for search engine appeal many businesses may never experience the benefits of Google’s optimisation techniques – more likely the cold reality of who pays the Ferryman!
20 comments | Full story
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