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Winning the Fraud and Cybersecurity Race: A Go-to-Market Blueprint for Competitive Edge
Fraud and cybercrime have become a systemic, trillion-dollar drag on the global economy—but the fight to turn the curve is more than a market opportunity.
Over the past few years, I have worked alongside cybersecurity and fraud-management teams in government, banking, and payments, and nothing is more satisfying than seeing a new solution stop a romance scam or prevent a pensioner from losing their life savings.
What B2B E-commerce can Learn from Consumer Retail
Tue, Apr 25, 2017 — The world of consumer retail is in the midst of rapid transformation. Traffic in brick-and-mortar stores is decreasing. Consumers are moving away from shopping malls. Traditional advertising—whether via direct mail, TV ads or newspaper and magazine ads—is losing its relevance.
Is Instant Messaging the New B2B?
Wed, Mar 15, 2017 — Do you talk to your customers every day? As frequently as you instant-message your friends? I was talking with a CEO recently, and I asked him how good his company’s communication is with his customers. He said it was great, and always had been great. The customer places an order, they ship the order, and then they send an invoice. Job completed. Everything works. Reliable, and on time.
Optimizing the Marketing Organization
Tue, Mar 14, 2017 — Hiring, outsourcing and leadership considerations In my previous post, we explored the question, “What should my marketing organizational roadmap look like?” In this installment, I’d like to discuss three additional questions that often surface as CEOs build their marketing organizations.
How to Build Your Marketing Team for Growth
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 — A marketing organizational roadmap for B2B venture CEOs After slogging through the early startup phase and acquiring the first handful of customers through relationships, sheer selling tenacity and perseverance, many founding CEOs at B2B ventures ask me: “To scale my company, I know I need a marketing team. But I don’t know where to start and what path to follow. Can you help?”
Insights, Integration, and Impact: A CEO’s Guide to Hitting Targets Every Time
Mon, Oct 24, 2016 — Is it possible to hit our growth targets every time? American sharpshooter Annie Oakley, also known as “Little Sure Shot,” would say it is. In fact, legend has it that the famous markswoman was known to consistently slice a playing card perfectly in half with a single bullet – and as a child, she was so reliably successful at game hunting, that she used her skills to pay her parents’ mortgage in full.
How to Eat an Elephant One Bite at a Time: Working Successfully with Your True Marketing Capacity
Wed, Jun 22, 2016 — It’s not the prettiest analogy ever written in marketing – but the American vulture is truly a great example of a creature that has perfected the art of “biting off one piece at a time.” Whether it’s a roadside meal here in my hometown of Richmond, or a massive, expired elephant in the African Serengeti, there’s only one surefire way for the big bird to eat its dinner – one patient, calculated bite at a time. Do you take the same approach to marketing your B2B business – or do you dive into an expansive, expensive marketing strategy like a man-eating piranha? Sure, you’re enthused about your brand and its new product – but have you truly invested the time to ensure that your customers will enjoy it, too?
Sync Your B2B Sales and Marketing Strategies
Fri, May 13, 2016 — Once upon a time, many businesses thought of sales and marketing in a very black-and-white world–where salespeople were salespeople – and marketers were marketers. In this world, the customer’s journey (and, therefore, how you acquire customers) was well-defined and linear. The marketer built marketing plans to entice and interest the prospect, supported by ads, events, collateral pieces, and customer experiences. Once a prospect read the pamphlet, walked up to a snazzy-looking booth, or happened across an ad, the charismatic, bright-eyed salesperson would swoop in, perform deal-making magic, and put a lid on the transaction.
Customer Councils: Leveraging Your Marketing Through the Power of the Customer
Thu, Mar 31, 2016 — Are you leading your business through a crowded, hyper-competitive space? For one of my clients, iTexico, this is quite true – meaning that, even with a successful track record and measurable, solid, growth, companies like iTexico must constantly find ways to reinforce their relevancy to their market on a daily basis. In order for you to cut through the noise, I’d like for you to consider building a little more “social” into your B2B marketing – and for this, we’re not talking Facebook or Twitter. Or even LinkedIn.
Product > Market Alignment: The True Sign of a Startup Unicorn?
Tue, Mar 29, 2016 — For those of us knee-deep in the startup world, we’re inundated by Unicorn noise – first their rise and more recently their fall (or, at least their right-sizing). Any number of factors have played into this trajectory: from FOMO venture capital activity that drove unsustainable valuations, to startup growth hacking techniques that indicate initial hyper-scaling, but often run out of steam - exposing the startup’s gap between product and promise.