Category: Leadership

A few weeks ago, I returned from a week-long technology-free vacation with my family. No computer, no phone, no email. When I got to the office and checked my computer, I had hundreds of email messages waiting for me. I took a deep breath and started in on them. Three hours later, my inbox — a week's worth of messages — was empty. Contrast that with my experience the next day, and each day after that, when I've spent well more than three hours each day on email. Some of that time involved back-and-forth emailing, but still, the difference is ...

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Big Data is the latest buzz word in the world of business. The concept of Big Data a is broad one and I consider it an amalgamation of different areas that help us try to get a handle on, insight from and and use out of data. Pat Gelsinger, President and COO of EMC, in an article by the The Wall Street Journal said that Big Data refers to the idea that companies can extract value from collecting, processing and analyzing vast quantities of data. Businesses who can get ...

Everything we do in a company is about selling. We all know that, right? ABC. "Always Be Closing," is the infamous sales motivation line from Alec Baldwin's character in the movie "Glengarry Glenross." I’ve been spending a lot of time with Go-To-Market strategies, campaigns and launches with my Stephdokin clients and other companies I pal around with -- I’ve been thinking about the journey of building awareness for your product and brand all the way to a happy customer giving you money on a frequent basis. I present to you … The “Stephdokin SaaS Sales Funnel-On-A-Page.” 

Is this the age of “the transformative CMO”? According to The Korn/Ferry Institute, it is, and it has the goods to back it up. The organization, which “generates forward-thinking research and viewpoints that illuminate how talent advances business strategy,” has published a white paper on the topic, which can be downloaded here. The Institute’s premise is that “as organizations strive to set themselves apart from competitors, marketing has taken on new prominence throughout the business process.”

Have you noticed that everyone around you now seems to be an expert at something? How your boss gives you unsolicited career advice, based on his own (self-proclaimed) stellar career? Or how your annoying colleague emails you stock tips after reading the morning news headlines? Welcome to the age of the Everyday Expert. In the past, if you were a career adviser, relationship counselor, strategic business consultant, or financial planner, you had to spend years acquiring specialist skills or knowledge in a particular field to be recognized as an expert.

The folks at CMO.com have put together a good analysis of various social media platforms from the perspective of i) Customer Communication, ii) Brand Exposure, iii) Traffic to your site and iv) Impact on SEO. Here's a link to a .PDF of the report:http://www.drewsmarketingminute.com/images/2012/03/SocialMediaCheatSheet2012.pdfAnd, the CMO.com site has the original data, which is updated from time to time ... you should Pinterest it, fer shure: http://www.cmo.com/social-media-guide/2012/

What it means to be a truly social organization and tips on how social collaboration can lead to innovation and a competitive advantage. One of my favorite sessions from SXSW Interactive last week was Gartner analyst Mark McDonald’s session discussing his book The Social Organization. McDonald discussed building a cross-functional collaborative environment within an organization using social media as the catalyst. In order to do so successfully, a company needs to understand the energy, potential, and innovation that’s possible through social collaboration. This understanding lowers the barrier for doing things in new and different ways and can fuel ...

"Leadership" has changed when a decentralized group of people can take down a government. "The Value Chain" has changed when the customer is no longer just the "buyer" butalso a co-creator. "Human Resources" have changed when most of the people who create value for your organization are neither hired nor paid by you.

In our continuing research on the emerging role of the Chief Customer Officer (CCO), we recently looked at the kinds of authority their firms vest in them to drive change across the organization as customer loyalty and customer experience management programs are put in place. This authority can affect the activities they do, the composition of the teams that report into them, and the budgets they control. For firms considering putting this kind of senior customer experience leader in place, Forrester has identified three archetypal models that characterize the most typical modes in which CCOs operate.

CEOs of today’s B2B organizations are becoming laser-focused on profit, execution of strategy, and top-line revenue growth, and they expect every department in the organization to be aligned with these key goals. For many, the area that gives them the most heartburn–based on budget and non-goal alignment–is marketing. For CMOs, this could mean...

Ten recent infographics on B2B marketing and related issues, including B2B leading nurturing, LinkedIn for B2b marketrs, B2B Social Media marketing, QR Mobile Codes, funnel optimisation, marketing automation, and B2B social media landscape.

Two years ago, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shaw identified key criteria (DARC) for hiring inbound marketers (Candidates should be Digital, andAnalytical, and they should have extensive social media Reach along with the ability to create Content). Times have changed. We now look at CARE as the 4 criteria for hiring (Content, Analytical Skills, Relationship Building, Enthusiasm).

A few weeks ago, I wrote up some of the trends that I'm going to be watching in 2012. One was the interesting phenomena of access to assets replacing ownership of assets in more and more realms. Car-sharing services such as ZipCar, room-sharing services such as AirBnB, and project-based programming services from companies like odesk are upending a lot of our assumptions about what it takes to run a business. Indeed, owning anything may soon be seen as an industrial-age relic in a lot of cases.

When people ask me what Reachforce does, I often tell them that we provide technology and services to help marketing deliver the “Glengarry Leads” to sales teams. Those who have seen the movie get it – interested decision makers, recommenders, or influencers who need and can afford their products and/or services ...