By Alexandra Reid
As usual, we covered a lot of ground this month on our blog. We argued that RIM won’t commit suttee, why Harper’s free trade efforts need more thought, how Don Drummond’s arguments on Canadian business are flawed, and we also offered loads of advice for PR and marketing professionals.
Here are our posts from August, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
August 27: Harper’s free trade efforts need more thought by Denzil Doyle
August 29: Thinking outside the bunker by Leo Valiquette
August 30: Marketing’s hidden treasure map by Francis Moran
August 13: Secrets of bulletproof marketing implementation by Rob Woyzbun
August 8: 5 tips content marketers should take from journalists by Alexandra Reid
August 14: Five common content marketing mistakes by Alexandra Reid
August 1: Any press is not always good press, but it may pay dividends down the road by Leo Valiquette
August 28: 2012 B2B content marketing trends by Alexandra Reid
August 22: Inbound marketing: An alternative to traditional PR? by Alexandra Reid
August 23: Truth … and sincerity … in advertising by Leo Valiquette
August 2: Waterloo will not commit suttee on any RIM funeral pyre by Francis Moran
August 9: How to get the media’s attention with your dignity and reputation intact by Leo Valiquette
August 21: The case for inbound marketing: What’s in it for you? by Alexandra Reid
August 15: The buck has to stop with whoever owns the byline by Leo Valiquette
August 16: Unleash your inner consultant by Caroline Kealey
August 7: Don Drummond on productivity by Denzil Doyle
August 10: The worst marketing sin by Francis Moran
Image: Curt Fleenor Photography
By Francis Moran
Whenever I present to groups or prospects on my Four Steps on the Road to Revenue™ marketing methodology, the first sentence out of my mouth is always, “It all begins with the customer.” My point is that marketing must start with identifying a customer requirement that your product or service can fulfill. Too many companies, and especially technology companies, start with building a product and then go looking for someone willing to buy it. It is far more effective to first find that burning pain or unmet need that you — and, preferably, you alone — can address in a unique manner that creates high value on both sides of the transaction.
I will admit that it is getting easier all the time to persuade folks of the sense of this approach. Every time we have rigorously applied this methodology, the client ends up with a clearly defined market need, a well-described customer, a sharply articulated value proposition, a product-development strategy that compells alignment with that market need, and an effective and measurable tactical plan to bring the product to market. In every case, the process is anchored by a detailed understanding of the customer, whether that comes from the client’s own reliable knowledge of customer requirements or from independent executive-interview-based or third-party research.
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By Leo Valiquette
Effective marketing is often an exercise in thinking outside the box to make the most creative use of assets already at hand.
In a content marketing context, this may mean tapping into the brain trust residing within your organization to use the industry experience, perspective and forward-thinking vision of key individuals to establish thought leadership through blogs, whitepapers and contributions to trade and industry publications.
There are also those instances where a certain caché can be built around providing a unique experience to your marketplace. British startup Screach, which we regularly check in with on this blog, is an excellent example of a technology vendor that is all about audience engagement and interaction by creating unique and fun experiences that take advantage of mobile ubiquity. But with any kind of product or service, there are unique aspects that can be used to create an original and memorable experience.
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By Alexandra Reid
Holger Schulze recently conducted a valuable LinkedIn survey on 2012 B2B content marketing trends that managed to attract an immodest 740 responses, the majority of which came from senior marketing professionals in high technology companies.
The survey provides answers to content marketing questions about: what’s working and what’s not; who is creating content and what they are creating; and how marketers measure content marketing results.
Overall, the report demonstrates that content marketing is expanding dramatically in terms of tactics, forms and volume of content, with 84 percent of marketers reporting an increase in content marketing production over the next 12 months, and more than 30 percent of those respondents saying they are increasing their production significantly.
However, many B2B marketers are struggling in these activities because of tight budgets and are outsourcing much of their content production to agencies to keep up with competition.
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By Denzil Doyle
Prime Minister Harper is to be congratulated for his efforts to diversify Canada’s international trade so that we are less dependent on the U.S.
The cornerstone of his initiative is the signing of free trade agreements with as many countries as possible around the world. His advisors have obviously alerted him about what would happen to Canada if the U.S. ever becomes energy self-sufficient and does not need our oil, whether it be clean or dirty. They have also likely reminded him that Obama is a protectionist who has goofy ideas of how economies really work. (He obviously studied at the McGuinty School of Economics and majored in windmills and solar panels.)
Harper’s efforts, and the environment in which he is operating, can be looked upon as those of a mother bird who leaves the nest every morning in search of food for the baby birds. However, when he returns he finds that the baby birds have been defecating in the nest all day and that he really doesn’t have anything nice to show to the other big birds with whom he has been cavorting. The baby birds are fighting over things like how many extra worms they should get because they have pipelines running through their corner of the nest, or some of them want to throw their worms overboard and replace them with windmills and solar panels.
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Great articles roundup: innovation, media coverage, overly optimistic entrepreneurs, press releases, Facebook and automation
August 24, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Read Write Web, The Globe and Mail, All Things D, Small Business Trends, Social Media Examiner, and ClickZ […]
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Truth … and sincerity … in advertising
August 23, 2012 by Leo Valiquette
Have you seen that commercial for a teeth-whitening toothpaste that features two “sisters,” one of whom says, “as a professional photographer …” but as she speaks, a disclaimer pops up on the screen that states this is not a photographer, but an actress. Read zero on the credibility meter […]
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Inbound marketing: An alternative to traditional PR?
August 22, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
When we last caught up with Screach, then called Screenreach Interactive, the startup was in the process of hiring a PR firm to promote its existing platform and to give the world an idea of the diverse projects that it was helping to create […]
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The case for inbound marketing: What’s in it for you?
August 21, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
Hubspot’s Brian Halligan coined the term “inbound marketing” to distinguish marketing activities that focus on the consumer experience from traditional outbound marketing tactics […]
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Great articles roundup: Strategy, big data, content marketing, buyer personas and customer experience
August 17, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are the Financial Post, Harvard Business Review, MarketingProfs, Business2Community, and Fast Company […]
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Unleash your inner consultant
August 16, 2012 by Caroline Kealey
One of the things that often drives communicators crazy about their jobs is the Superhero Consultant syndrome. You’ve been advocating for months — maybe even years — in favour of a course of action your organization should take to step up its communications. […]
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The buck has to stop with whoever owns the byline
August 15, 2012 by Leo Valiquette
Quality writing, whether it is for journalistic, marketing or public relations purposes, is too often viewed as a commodity service. For those of us who have experience with the community newspaper business, where editorial content (to quote a colleague of mine) has often been viewed by publishers as […]
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Five common content marketing mistakes
August 14, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
Getting noticed online today requires more effort than ever before, as many businesses are getting more skillful at producing content and sharing it in interesting ways to engage their audiences […]
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By Alexandra Reid 
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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...) [...]