Articles in the 'Business to Business Marketing' Category
Marketing Statements that Show Your Company is Out of Touch
As B2B marketing outsource providers, we get to hear some interesting statements about marketing. Some of these statements indicate a philosophy that can be detrimental to achieving your marketing and sales objectives. If you hear any of your internal personnel saying any of the following, consider it a red flag and address the issue right away.
Why should we spend any more time working on the website? That’s what our sales team is for. This is a very scary
A Dose of Reality in B2B Marketing – by Christopher Ryan
Napoleon once remarked, “A general should consider himself successful if half of what he plans comes to pass.” This is not to say that you shouldn’t carefully plan. But the fact is that things don’t always turn out the way you plan (just ask Napoleon about a place called Waterloo). For example, the list is staler than you thought. The webinar topic is not as interesting. The offer is not as compelling. Your vendor misses the mailing or email date.
Why do You Need a B2B Marketing and Sales Machine? – by Chris Ryan
Our tagline (or Brand Promise if you prefer) at Fusion Marketing Partners is “Creating Unstoppable Marketing and Sales Machines.” So what exactly do we mean by this term and why did we choose it as our company mantra? And why do you need such an animal as a marketing and sales machine?
There are a lot of terms used to describe marketing and sales activity. You can call what you are doing a program, campaign, initiative, plan, outreach, launch, test, rollout,
The Upside of Marketing in a Down Economy by Christopher Ryan
We are all getting tired of talking about the poor economy. We want to quickly get back to the good times where jobs, prospects and customers were plentiful. But reality being the inconvenient thing that it is, we are forced to deal with an ongoing anemic economy that affects how we sell and how customers buy. The good news is that there are some benefits to be gained if we look at the tough economic times as a period for
The Pros and Cons of B2B Marketing Outsourcing – by Christopher Ryan
As a CEO or business owner, you have some tough decisions to make about your marketing and sales operations. Traditionally, this has involved hiring one or more marketing personnel, and paying them a salary (sometimes with a bonus) as your in-house marketing department. I worked in this model for two decades, earlier as a marketing manager and later as the marketing (and sometimes sales) department head.
In many ways the in-house model works well, but it does have its challenges. Fortunately,
Manic Depressive or Social Media Maniac? – by John Leavy
Clinically speaking, a manic depressive disorder is defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood. Some manic episodes include increased energy, activity, with rapid talking & thinking, followed by sustained periods of unusual, even bazaar behavior. That would describe some social media personalities. They don’t post to their blog or text to their friends or colleagues for weeks at a time. They don’t reply to messages sent to them nor do they participate in the
I Used to Be a Pusher – by Christopher Ryan
Why You Need to Explore the Pull Marketing Model
Imagine the next meeting of the local B2B marketing group, and you stand up and say. “‘I’m Chris R and I used to be a pusher.” Not a pusher of drugs of course, but a pusher of marketing. Most of us who have been in the B2B marketing world for any length of time cut our teeth on the “push marketing model.” We made a living by tracking down sources of suspects,
Getting Noticed – in a Good Way – by John Leavy
Let’s talk about being noticed in the social media community; being noticed without being obnoxious or looking desperate that is. Getting noticed in a good way is beneficial for business. Organizations work hard to position themselves as the experts in a certain field, the authorities, the go-to-guys, the ones-in-the-know.
Here are some quick ways to begin to establish credibility in the social media stratosphere.
Identify the influencers in your business sector and comment on their blog posts. Posts such as “Great post!”
Do You have the Right B2B Marketing and Sales Model?
Let’s face it – there are many businesses (perhaps yours) that are struggling because they have the wrong marketing and sales model for their particular time and circumstances. For example, the business may utilize a direct sales model when a full or hybrid channel model would work better. Or there may be resources such as inside sales (sales development) and the Web that are not being used effectively.
Technorati Tags: Marketing Model, Marketing Strategy
Accepting Tradeoffs in B2B Marketing
B2B marketing and sales is similar to the rest of life. You’d like to have it all. You want to eat everything in sight but keep your trim figure. You want to race down the highway but maximize your gas mileage. You want to spend your business life on an airplane but remain extremely close to your family.
Technorati Tags: B2B Marketing Objectives, Marketing Metrics, Marketing Objectives
