Growth Insights for CEOs

Will experiential marketing work for your company?

I recently enjoyed a long golf weekend with three friends from Toronto. One friend is a CFO, another is a CEO and the third is a Director of Experiential Marketing for a golf equipment manufacturing company. He also happens to be a former golf pro. We had a great time watching Barry Wallis hit long straight drives, shaping his iron shots to the middle of the green, getting up and down from the fringe or the sand, and not missing any putts shorter than 6 feet. What an experience this was. I had not personally used the title or created a job description for a “Director of Experiential Marketing “ so I decided to look closer and understand what Barry’s title represents. 

This is an update on a recent blog post from Upright.com by Barbara Fowler

Become a Magnet: Attract those you want as clients

Inbound marketing can be an effective and inexpensive approach to expanding your audience and customer base. While traditional marketing focuses on getting your message out through advertising in newspapers, magazines, or television, inbound marketing entices people to come to you.

The original post by Barbara Fowler was in iMEDIA Connection

It's a new world

The marketing world has changed exponentially in the past five years. Creating and converting leads in digital space requires business owners to make a mindset shift and begin to understand that consumers habits and motivations for searching, purchasing, or even filling out a form are different. It’s a fast-moving industry with new digital products and platforms being invented every week, and it can be overwhelming to many business owners. However, with a clear vision centered on customer engagement and an active analysis of which marketing techniques succeed and which fail, generating and producing sales, leads, or prospects can be maximized in the digital world.

Today's blog is by Chief Outsiders' guest blogger Paul Rafferty, CEO, Sales Engine International.

A pattern is emerging in B2B marketing -- CEOs are frustrated that they can't find a VP of marketing who can do it all, and marketing executives are leaving their positions or being let go because either they don't have the capabilities or aren't being given the resources to do their job in today's Sales 2.0 world.

Due to the maturation of the Internet, the world of B2B selling has changed forever. Prospects now control the discovery process and learn on their own about a company's products and services. They are avoiding the “live” sales interaction for as long as possible.

Consider the following:

Three Technologies Are Creating the Perfect Storm

Are you a business executive struggling with the issue that what worked a few years ago is not working today? Trust me, you are not alone. As part of my consulting practice I am constantly doing research on the future of marketing. I have spent the last several months focused on why everything has changed so much. To start with, there has been a dramatic change in how people communicate, learn and act. How did this happen and how did it happen so fast? Well the mass adoption of three technologies (broadband internet, mobile internet and social media) all happening simultaneously have created a perfect storm. A rare combination of circumstances that has forever changed the way we buy, sell and live.

Today's blog is by guest blogger, Kevin P. Dincher, Crazy Moon Consulting, LLC

People say that “talk is cheap,” but it’s not. Businesses spend a great deal on talk: on communication systems so that employees can talk with one another, on meetings and strategy planning sessions, on getting customers to talk with them, on telling their stories at trade shows, and much more.

Could Be Your Strategy or Value Proposition Needs Refinement

If your organization’s revenue isn’t up to par, a good place to start is to review your company Strategy and Value Proposition.

I have no room to be persnickety when it comes to grammar. But I never can understand what is so difficult about distinguishing among (among, not between) there, their and they’re. Most of the time, however, I will probably understand what you are writing with no real harm done to my sensibilities. And I have the utmost admiration for those who have English as a second or third language. I’ve not mastered a second one yet.  But, this is not about being “grammar fascists.” It is about the impression you create: as a CEO, if you are careless with something as important as a written communication, the first impression you create is that you will not care enough about the work you send out representing your company — and your personal brand suffers.

This is “social hygiene” month at Chief Outsiders. Yep. We’re cleaning out closets and getting into better shape – starting with LinkedIn. If you follow our blogs and our firm, you know that we’re not a social marketing company, even though we rank reasonably high in our use of the media. Yet we certainly know the advantages of staying fit online. More importantly, a healthy social footprint is strategic for our immediate and long term business goals, as it is for many of our clients.

8 important questions you should be asking.

Successful CEOs are always looking for new opportunities to invest, either in their own company or new start-ups. Are you planning on investing in a new venture? Or perhaps you are looking for someone to invest in a new venture you are starting.