By Bob Bailly
Over a year ago I wrote a blog entitled Election emotion, where I looked at an article from Margaret Wente in the Globe and Mail. In it, she examined how decisions are made during elections. I’ve always been intrigued by electioneering, and must admit in my career to have managed five different communications campaigns for winning mayoral, Liberal and Conservative candidates in Alberta. As a “hired gun,” I’ve always looked at the challenge the same as I did for all my clients; it’s all about how customers — in this case the voting public — make decisions.
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By Alexandra Reid
As usual, we covered a lot of ground on our blog last month.
We explored why startups should focus on problems, not platforms, and why they shouldn’t outsource their core competencies. Francis explained why marketing involves much more than just creating a message and delivering that message with the tools of advertising and public relations. Mitch Joel supported that argument by stating that marketing is everything. Leo shared lots of great media relations advice, teaching us how to pitch to busy journalists without becoming a nuisance. Of course, these just scratch the surface of the topics we covered.
In case you missed any, here is a handy roundup of our posts last month, ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
October 16: Meet ..duo by Alexandra Reid
October 11: Montreal’s Notman House enters final funding stage by Francis Moran
October 10: Mitch Joel on why marketing is everything by Alexandra Reid
October 15: Social media gaffes: They can happen to anyone by Megan Totka
October 22: The plight of product managing myself by Peter Hanschke
October 24: ‘Put away the cozy image of the little old lady knitting a sweater for the grandkids’ by Alexandra Reid
October 9: Apple versus Samsung – Every patent owner’s dream by David French
October 2: Why I started learning code: a marketer’s perspective by Alexandra Reid
October 4: Marketing is about more than the colour of your new website by Francis Moran
October 23: Pitching to busy media figures in various media environments by Leo Valiquette
October 17: The thin line between being persistent and being a nuisance by Leo Valiquette
October 30: Make sure you’re barking up the right tree by Leo Valiquette
October 18: Canadian angel investors to gather in Halifax next week by Francis Moran
October 31: Pitch perfect: Startups should focus on problems, not platforms by Alexandra Reid
October 25: Communications planning: The principles by Caroline Kealey
October 3: Startups: Do not outsource your core competency by Leo Valiquette
October 29: The allure of building enterprise products by Jesse Rodgers
Image: 10Wallpaper.com
By Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are StartupCFO, Harvard Business Review, Content Marketing Institute, MarketingSherpa, Forbes, and Fast Company.
How customers evaluate your product
If you sell to B2B customers then you know how hard it is to get that purchase order. It goes without saying that it helps to put yourself in the shoes of your prospective customer to try and see how they perceive your company and product. What would their concerns be? How would they go about evaluating this opportunity? Mark MacLeod shares a valuable framework for determining how customers think about a startup’s product.
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By Caroline Kealey
Here are my all-time top five principles for strategic communications planning:
1. Communications should be focused on results, rather than activity
Often, communicators are in the business of generating “stuff” — speeches, media releases, and promotional materials. The communications function is much more effective when it is driven to generate results, such as increased rates of awareness, product sales, improved stakeholder relationships or strengthened internal alignment. The tactics are important, but they are fundamentally secondary to the primary alignment of the communications function toward solid outcomes.
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By Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Forbes, Financial Post, iNova Capital, Inc., TechCrunch, MediaPost and Canadian Business.
Steve Blank’s most audacious guerilla marketing stunts
Author John Greathouse speaks with Steve Blank — professor, thought leader, author and leader within the Lean Startup Movement — to share his wily and creative feats as a creative marketing entrepreneur.
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By Bob Bailly
