Customer Development Articles

"Dinosaur" Media is Looking for You…

Via Duct Tape Marketing on No Responses

Image provided by: tinkernoonoo

Print isn’t (quite) dead—so use it. Traditional media is ramping up coverage of small businesses to engage communities. This is the perfect opportunity for your company to start an influence marketing strategy—and get noticed. John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing discovered a neat project while pitching: “One of my favorite projects on the site is a user generated video feature called ‘How I Saved My Company.’ Readers are asked to submit videos where they talk a little about their business, explain how they got into some form of trouble and how they…

“Dinosaur” Media is Looking for You…

Via Duct Tape Marketing on No Responses

Image provided by: tinkernoonoo

Print isn’t (quite) dead—so use it. Traditional media is ramping up coverage of small businesses to engage communities. This is the perfect opportunity for your company to start an influence marketing strategy—and get noticed. John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing discovered a neat project while pitching: “One of my favorite projects on the site is a user generated video feature called ‘How I Saved My Company.’ Readers are asked to submit videos where they talk a little about their business, explain how they got into some form of trouble and how they…

Emerge from Anonymity by Nurturing Leads

Via The Sales Blog on No Responses

Image provided by: It'sGreg

Your dream client has never heard of you. To get yourself known, you need to nurture your leads. Doing so will determine whether or not you are a value-creator, trustworthy, and if you’ll deliver on your promises during the account development phase. Easier said than done, S. Anthony Iannarino writes: “The nature of nurture is that it takes time, more time than you would want it to take. Your dream client doesn’t know who you are until you start making yourself known—and making yourself of value. Then you have to keep making…

How to Get Started with Content Marketing

By No Responses

Are You Marketing to Your Customers The Way They Want? Regardless of their size or product offering, companies are almost always trying to keep up with — or ahead of — their customers. So, as buyer behavior patterns shift, those companies must find new ways to market to them. One of the most buzzworthy marketing trends to accomplish that goal is content marketing, a tactic that opts to communicate with customers rather than speaking at them. As Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi suggests via his content vendor matching service Junta42, it’s non-interruption marketing.  (Disclaimer: OpenView sponsors CMI). If companies…

The Top 8 (Most Moronic) Marketing and Sales Strategies

Via New Sales Economy Blog on No Responses

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Sometimes the best way to learn about sales and marketing is to look at the most moronic and outdated examples possible. Of the 8 ridiculous go-to marketing strategies that Chad Levitt of the New Sales Economy Blog discovered, my favorites were #4 and #5. #4: Collect E-Mail Addresses. Get permission from your customers to use their E-mail address. Periodically send updates and notices to your client list. As long as you have their permission and avoid overuse, E-mail can be a powerful and inexpensive marketing tool. Really? E-mail? Is this 1997? I guess…

7 Tips on Getting Leads with LinkedIn

Via The Customer Collective on No Responses

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Social networks have proven highly effective for lead generation. According to a study that Andrew Hunt of The Customer Collective found, LinkedIn leads the pack for B2B sales: “[LinkedIn] was rated a 3.1 out of 5, compared with ratings of 2 for blogs, 1.9 for Facebook and 1.8 for Twitter.” On his blog, Hunt shows you how your sales teams should set up their LinkedIn accounts. Once they have been optimized, he gives 7 tips on generating killer leads, including: Conduct an Advanced People Search Pick an executive title and search for this…

To Achieve Great Sales, You're Gonna Need to Fight

Via The Sales Blog on No Responses

Image provided by: pangalactic gargleblaster

How tough are your sales teams? Are they ready to pull off their gloves? When it comes to battling the competition — and reaping great sales figures — you’re going to need to get rough. But being rough doesn’t mean being evil. S. Anthony Iannarino writes that in order to be competitive, you need to stay (somewhat) soft: “Combativeness means having heart. It means having more than a little fight it in you; it’s a fighting spirit that says you will try like the devil to win, come what may.” So…

To Achieve Great Sales, You’re Gonna Need to Fight

Via The Sales Blog on No Responses

Image provided by: pangalactic gargleblaster

How tough are your sales teams? Are they ready to pull off their gloves? When it comes to battling the competition — and reaping great sales figures — you’re going to need to get rough. But being rough doesn’t mean being evil. S. Anthony Iannarino writes that in order to be competitive, you need to stay (somewhat) soft: “Combativeness means having heart. It means having more than a little fight it in you; it’s a fighting spirit that says you will try like the devil to win, come what may.” So…

The Best Sales Blogs on the Web

Via The JF Blogit on No Responses

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The influential sales blogger Jonathan Farrington has, through a rigorous (and supposedly unbiased) assessment process, compiled the Top 25 Sales Blogs on the Web. Just the other day Farrington unveiled the Top 5. Here are the metrics the judges used to calculate the best of the best: Unique Monthly Visitors Compete Rank Alexa Rank Google PR Yahoo Links Take a look at the list … you may be a little surprised to see Farrington’s own blog clocking in at the #2 position. In his defense, Farrington was humble about the selection. These…