Magical unicorns, bizarre job titles and late nights: How to nail your next customer demo
Avoid these common demo mistakes. Continue reading Magical unicorns, bizarre job titles and late nights: How to nail your next customer demo
Category: Comms
Free underwear and the art of marketing through LinkedIn
Linkedin has made real progress over the last 24 months. By putting greater focus on content it’s been moving solidly towards improved user engagement; and in return saw its advertising revenue grow 45% in Q3 over the same period last year. However, it’s still not seen as a hotbed for marketing creativity. Brands have typically favoured FaceBook and Twitter as a vehicle for audience engagement and I could probably count the number of great marketing campaigns that use Linkedin on one hand. What that means is that when a clever campaign is launched it does get attention. Free underwear & the … Continue reading Free underwear and the art of marketing through LinkedIn
A “content marketing” definition for B2B marketers
Something of a debate has opened up at the office around the exact definition of content marketing. It’s a valid debate; marketers play loose and fast with the term and, technically, almost every marketing effort uses “content” of some description. However, it’s not that simple. The value of Content Marketing lies in its ability to affect a change in a highly non-interruptive way. There is no hard and fast definition. In fact I have read several definitions and I disagree with elements of all of them. So here’s a personal attempt at defining content marketing for B2B marketers. Let’s start … Continue reading A “content marketing” definition for B2B marketers
Atomize your approach to content marketing
Have you heard of “content atomization”? Like so many other terms, it’s a slightly convoluted way of describing something that’s actually just good common [marketing] sense. Many of you will even be doing it already, but here’s a refresher and introduction to those looking to build a great content marketing practice in your organizations. Atomizing content describes the processes of breaking down a core content asset or value proposition and tailoring it to suit a variety of audiences. That means not just recycling content, but reimagining it and building a new asset that meets the need of i) a certain … Continue reading Atomize your approach to content marketing
Brands don’t always own their name on Twitter, and this is what happens…
Once upon a time, connecting your brand across online properties was relatively easy. So long as you had the URL, there was little else to think about. Today, the landscape is very different with organisations having to connect their brand across multiple social sites; each with very different trademark policies and control points. I was reminded of this today following the launch of the John Lewis Christmas advertisement. For those outside of the UK, John Lewis is a highly respected retailer (think Nordstrom in the US). The launch of its Christmas adverts have become something of an event, creating lots … Continue reading Brands don’t always own their name on Twitter, and this is what happens…
We’ve forgotten the value of long form content in B2B marketing
Those who have been in the marketing industry for more than ten years will remember that once upon a time, the majority of content produced was long form. Lengthy whitepapers, detailed case studies and 2500 word by lined articles. These were the norm. However, over the last few years, as the idea of “content marketing” began to explode (we’ll ignore the fact that we were doing this 15 years ago, we just didn’t have a name for it), the art of long form content started to be lost. Gone were the in-depth pieces that conveyed deep domain expertise, making way … Continue reading We’ve forgotten the value of long form content in B2B marketing
This guy was mediocre, what he did to increase his popularity will blow your mind!
You clicked. I knew you would. But is it fair? Have you clicked because you value my commentary or because the headline delivered an emotional promise? Do you consider this click-bait or will this post actually deliver something? If you are a B2B marketer I hope this will be of interest, because I want to understand whether the “Upworthy-Style” of headline writing has any place in B2B marketing. The Upworthy headline has infiltrated almost every corner of the internet and anyone who’s spent time on Facebook will recognise the style. There is no room for debate in the proposition they present. … Continue reading This guy was mediocre, what he did to increase his popularity will blow your mind!
What Storm St. Jude tells us about the state of news coverage
According to the office, we don’t name storms in the UK. So the minute news broadcasters started calling this week’s storm St. Jude, you knew the hyperbole machine was in top gear. Of course there were some tragedies as a result of high winds, and I’m not belittling the storm (which hit Denmark and Germany the hardest), but in retrospect I think we can safely can agree that the most damaging force this week was the relentless coverage from rolling UK news stations. The advent of 24-hour news has redefined the meaning of hyperbole. With broadcast hours to fill, viewers … Continue reading What Storm St. Jude tells us about the state of news coverage
“Disruptive”. Investor-pleasing rhetoric with little substance?
In an interview with the Financial Times this week, HTC CEO Peter Chou talked of the company launching a tablet in the near future. He stated that the product would be disruptive. Disruptive. What a nebulous statement that has become. I’m sure it resonates well among the investment community keen to see HTC’s fortunes reenergized, but for folks within the technology space it’s difficult to see the form in which HTC’s tablet disruption will manifest. Industrial Design: HTC has some pedigree here. The HTC One smartphone is a beautiful piece of industrial design, milled from a single block of aluminium, … Continue reading “Disruptive”. Investor-pleasing rhetoric with little substance?
Hiding behind NPS because “It sounds about right”…
After two days at [another] customer experience conference I’m getting increasingly disillusioned and disappointed in the telcoms industry that I love. At least 50% of presentations from mobile operators and vendors focused almost exclusively on Net Promoter Score (NPS). This 10 year old measurement technique has become a crutch for the industry; if your NPS is better than your competitors then your customer experience must be great and you’ll have loyal customers. Right? Wrong, wrong, wrong. Now, I agree that NPS is a useful satisfaction and advocacy metric. But it’s just one tool that needs wider context and needs to be complimented by wider … Continue reading Hiding behind NPS because “It sounds about right”…
SaaS Toolkit 