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Outsider Insights | You Can't Measure AI ROI If You Can't Measure Marketing ROI
Outsider Insights
Across Chief Outsiders, we talk to hundreds of CEOs every month. In this series, we explore the trends and challenges we’re hearing from these discussions – and what you can do if you’re facing the same issues in your business.
What Tech CEOs Get Wrong About Positioning
Thu, Jul 28, 2022 — If you are a CEO that is lamenting slowing sales and lagging growth at your company, it’s tempting to place the blame directly at the feet of the sales team – those well-intentioned front-line soldiers who are responsible to turn your solutions into the bucks that feed the company growth. Indeed, most CEO’s I talk to feel this way – when product and market fit is not happening with enough velocity, or visions of declaring leadership in their market are unrealized, the obstacle standing in the way is always sales.
Applying “Growth Gears” to Your Personal Brand
Tue, Sep 7, 2021 — “Hi – I’m Don Lee. I help companies build growth engines.” After reading those first two sentences, are you intrigued? Do you want to know more about me? Do you wonder what a “growth engine” is, and how I help to build them? If so – and I hope you do – you are getting a sense of how powerful a personal brand can be in marketing yourself – not necessarily as a tangible commodity, but an intangible resource that can be of value to you, the customer.
CEO Preparedness Guide for the Post-Pandemic Recovery: Planning for the Rebound
Wed, Jun 10, 2020 — Like the eye of a hurricane, businesses raked by the leading edge of the COVID-19 pandemic are now taking a cautious look outside. Though the winds have subsided, and it’s tempting to think that the worst is over, the eye simply gives us a chance to prepare for what’s left to come. If you have withstood the worst of the impacts of the pandemic so far, you likely have accepted that the storm was coming, and had battened down your hatches (or at least applied for PPP funding to keep vestiges of your business afloat). Now, though, as we can start to imagine a future in which a return to a “new normal” is evident, it’s critical to have your plan in place when the rebound hits.
Buying Local: How Multi-Unit CEOs Can Win at Marketing in Anytown, U.S.A.
Wed, Jun 10, 2020 — There was a time, generations ago, when buyers didn’t venture too far from their home to satisfy their basic needs. Today, most consumers don’t think twice about using a few keystrokes to get the necessities shipped from some distant warehouse to their front door. Despite this phase shift, “buying local” remains a relevant concept, and even source of pride for communities that rally around the bricks-and-mortar businesses that still dot the landscape.
CEO Preparedness Guide for the Post-Pandemic Recovery: Avoiding the Ad-Budget Ax
Fri, Apr 24, 2020 — Blog 1: Avoiding the Ad-Budget Ax In these uncertain times amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, there are likely two distinct pathways for businesses to follow—adapt or perish. Because none of you reading this would ever consider just laying down your arms and not fighting for survival, I thought I’d share a couple of quotes from noteworthy types who chose the latter mindset, choosing to both adapt, and thrive, rather than just survive.
Achieving Revenue Growth and Excellent ROI with a Radio Restaurant Promotion
Thu, Mar 26, 2020 — Those of you in the restaurant chain or franchise business may enjoy the details of this successful restaurant promotion executed by Doug Reifschneider. Doug was Vice President of Marketing at Pita Pit at the time, but recently joined Chief Outsiders as a fractional CMO. The promotion involved six Pita Pit restaurants located in Northern Idaho and the Spokane area who agreed to pool funds to test a cooperative advertising program. The test included a guerrilla radio advertising tactic, print, social and email support with offers to encourage trade-up and increase party size.
Sales vs. Marketing: Chicken or Egg First?
Thu, Nov 15, 2018 — What comes first, adding a sales person or having ready prospects and opportunities to pursue? I once worked for a company where Sales held all the power – more than product development or finance and certainly more than marketing. I recall a discussion with a long-time senior executive about the amount of marketing investment required for the company to profitably grow. She commented that the company had a tried and true method of driving growth. “We don’t need to invest in marketing. For every sales person we add, then revenue will grow!”, she proudly exclaimed. This had indeed been true at one time in the company’s history, but along with that revenue growth came increased expenses and decreasing sales productivity. The company eventually went through an inevitable and painful exercise of downsizing a much too large sales force.
Shift Your Brand Perception - Start with Getting Your Positioning Right
Thu, Sep 20, 2018 — In my previous post, we reviewed how brand perception specifically impacts company growth and profitability. Now we’ll cover the keys to building the foundation for communicating about your company. When companies start out, they usually have a very clear understanding of who their customer is, the problem they are solving, and possibly, how they are different. This is typically because they have a single product for a single market segment where they’ve achieved some level of success. But over time, as companies and markets evolve: The competition becomes more intense, either through matching capabilities, building new capabilities or new competitors appearing. Customer needs and priorities change. What was important to a customer 3 years ago may not be as important today. The company enters new market segments or geographies. There may be subtleties between industries, regions and countries in terms of priorities and pain points. The company broadens its portfolio of offerings. As more products are developed and more problems addressed, there might be new buyers and other selling dynamics.
Delivering on Your Brand’s Promise through Lifestyle and Culture
Thu, Jun 2, 2016 — Today’s brands offer a rich means of consumer self-expression. Like digital bumper stickers, the blogs and pages we follow and interact with on the Internet and social media are beginning to serve as a reflection of what culturally defines us as people. Whether or not we, as consumers, build a personal connection with the barrage of brands around us, can ultimately impact the fate of the brand itself. As former IBM chairman and CEO Lou Gerstner said in his interview with Spencer Stuart, “Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game.” Since a brand’s authenticity and lifestyle fit is so important to today’s customers, we know that we have to fortify our brand’s promise, so it means much more than a set of two-dimensional, written benefits on our website, social media pages, and product packaging. There are two distinct ways we can achieve this: