By Jeff Campbell
A recent CSO Insights survey found that B2B sales people spend an average of 57 per cent of their time on things other than selling.
In my 33 years in the technology business doing sales, managing sales teams and building software businesses it has always felt like something was missing in the way we automated sales and this egregious productivity measurement supports this feeling. Now I can finally articulate what it is that’s missing. It’s the “last mile” of sales automation.
Let me explain.
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By Leo Valiquette
We were back at full steam last month after a welcome holiday break in December. In addition to our usual counsel about effective and strategic marketing practices, we featured guest posts on topics ranging from the ongoing patent battle between Apple and Samsung to regional economic development, how music affects the brain and the future of venture capital in Canada. There was even something about bootleggers, smugglers and a certain big football game.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
Jan. 8: Five new year’s resolutions all marketers must adopt, by Francis Moran
Jan. 15: The revitalization of the Canadian venture capital sector, by Chris Arsenault
Jan. 16: Let me wave my magical content wand, by Tara Hunt
Jan. 29: It takes more than bricks and mortar to build a regional economy, by Denzil Doyle
Jan. 22: A primer on strategic thinking, by Caroline Kealey
Jan. 09: When the cat’s already out of the bag …, by Leo Valiquette
Jan. 30: Bananatag discovers the marketing power of good press, by Fiona Campbell
Jan. 21: Music and the brain, by Bob Bailly
Jan. 14: Making the business case, face to face, by Leo Valiquette and John Hill
Jan. 04: First-time entrepreneurs: There are big ideas, and then there are doable ideas, by Alexandra Reid
Jan. 28: Do you know what your customer actually wants?, by Maurice Smith
Jan. 24: Customer service must be a deliberate strategy, by Francis Moran
Jan. 23: Brand marketing that is inspired, but not imitative, by Leo Valiquette
Jan. 10: It takes a village … to succeed in social media, by Megan Totka
Jan. 31: Super Bowl weekend: That time of year when a marketer’s fancy turns to thoughts of…advertising?, by Francis Moran
Jan. 17: A year in the life of bringing technology to market, by Francis Moran
Jan. 02: Apple vs. Samsung: U.S. Patent Office – Challenges to patent validity, by David French
Jan. 03: Holiday lessons for anyone trying to get their tech to market, by Leo Valiquette
Image: The Printable Calendar
By Daylin Mantyka
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 ventureburn, Marketo, 451 Marketing, Silicon Valley Business Journal, and Startup Professional Musings.
Series A crunch blah blah… Get over it. Learn from Africa’s example
Michelle Atagana talks about the Series A Crunch and whether or not it applies to the African Venture Capital scene. She goes on to say that the so-called crunch might even be good for Silicon Valley.
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By Francis Moran
It’s Super Bowl weekend, that time of year when a very large swath of North America — and even some of the rest of the world — tunes in to see a once-a-year clash of multimillion-dollar Goliaths fighting it out in a no-holds-barred battle. There will be drama. There will be pathos. There will be unexpectedly brilliant plays. There will be dismal and desperate failures. There will almost certainly be scantily clad young women cavorting about.
There will also be a football game, but that doesn’t really interest me. The spectacle that I and many marketers will tune in to see is the annual showdown of Super Bowl ads.
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By Fiona Campbell
Corey Wagner, co-founder of Kelowna based tech startup Bananatag, accredits the company’s early success to a marketing campaign in which it used a public relations launch to put its own product to the test.
Launched in August 2012, Bananatag allows individuals to track opened email and clicked links on their daily emails, taking the guesswork out of how recipients are interacting with their email. Until recently, only marketers and salespeople using mass email services were able to track and see statistics. Bananatag has changed this by bringing the same capabilities to every day email users.
Along with opens and clicks, Bananatag also shows users the location of the recipient and the device the email was opened on. These in-depth metrics allow users to better interact and respond to their contacts. With extensions available for Outlook and Gmail, Bananatag makes email tracking simple and accessible to all.
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It takes more than bricks and mortar to build a regional economy
January 29, 2013 by Denzil Doyle
A few years ago, a group of hockey enthusiasts from southwestern Ontario embarked on an ambitious campaign to establish an NHL hockey club in their area. A nasty comment that went around at the time was that it would never happen because if it did, Toronto would want one as well […]
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Do you know what your customer actually wants?
January 28, 2013 by Maurice Smith
I once spent a fortnight in Silicon Valley being trained in strategic planning. It was a fantastic experience. We spent the first week in groups trying to invent new products and industries, a motley crew of scientists, financiers and creatives. In the midst of the workshops, a very opinionated participant from Miami told us […]
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Great articles roundup: Startups, financing, crowdfunding, virality in videos
January 25, 2013 by Daylin Mantyka
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 Techvibes, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Huffington Post and copyblogger […]
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Customer service must be a deliberate strategy
January 24, 2013 by Francis Moran
I had a conversation the other day with a senior executive at a company for which I occasionally do some consulting. The executive wanted my opinion on how his company handles warranty returns. Under their current practice, they oblige their customers to remove the faulty equipment […]
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Brand marketing that is inspired, but not imitative
January 23, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
There was an interesting story in the Globe and Mail last week that got me thinking about the distinction between product marketing and brand marketing […]
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A primer on strategic thinking
January 22, 2013 by Caroline Kealey
The word “strategic” is used so often that we’ve lost track of what it means. You might think it’s nothing but another bit of corporate-speak tossed around to make things sound fancier. In fact, something real and utterly important is at stake in this word […]
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Music and the brain
January 21, 2013 by Bob Bailly
Over the holidays, I found myself looking for a present for my wife, and was following the promise of a pre-Christmas sale at a local department store. During my time at the mall I realized I was being bombarded with generic Christmas music everywhere I went […]
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Great articles roundup: Bold predictions, Jordan Satok, wolves in sheep’s clothing, becoming an entrepreneur, Google Analytics
January 18, 2013 by Leo Valiquette
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 MarketingProfs, TechVibes, Forbes, Inc. and Dan Barker […]
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By Jeff Campbell
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The Future of A&R – Walabe : [...] http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/top-10-questions-every-strategic-communicator-should-ask... [...]
Traditional Marketing is Dead – Long Live Bikini Waxer Marketing | Scalexl : [...] pointed out by Alexandra Reid on the Francis Moran website content marketing is becoming more and more like journalism. So, it is not just about the content, [...]
It’s Summertime…and the Networking is Easy? | THE MERRAINE BRAIN : [...] In fact, summer is perhaps one of the times least used to network, yet at the same time has shown to be the most productive time to network. People tend to be in a brighter mood compared to during the gloomy winters-especially where I am from in England! Networking needs to be fun and not approached as another chore, like mowing the lawn. (http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/social-media-strategy-why-meeting-in-the-real-world-matt...) [...]