The Marketing Advantage

IBM and Social Media: 7 Tips for Midmarket Businesses

Posted by advantagemarketing on September 27, 2011

By Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

7 tips midsize businesses can apply to their social marketing

This is the third in a series of posts based on my conversations about social marketing with Leslie Reiser, Program Director of Worldwide Digital Marketing for IBM General Business. Leslie and her team built IBM’s infoboom online community to collaborate with mid-market B2B companies. The community has since merged with other IBM midsized business social media channels, including a Facebook page, LinkedIn group, etc.

Read the first post, Big Blue Blogs?, to get the scoop on how IBM incorporates social media in its midsize business marketing. Don’t miss the second post, which reveals some of IBM’s lessons learned in building successful social collaboration with leaders of midsize businesses.

In this post, Leslie shares 7 principles you can apply to your own social media/digital marketing efforts. Using even one or two of Leslie’s insights can make developing your company’s social marketing a whole lot easier.

Understand where people are already getting their information, where conversations are already happening. Get involved in these discussions first. Understand where the client base is going before you try to direct the discussion.

Realize that social marketing requires an investment. You’ll need to have some level of investment to grow your social presence. For example, you may want to have a community manager added to your staff who will drive online discussions.

Be creative! After you’ve been listening to discussions for awhile, you’ll have an idea of what’s needed, what’s missing in the marketplace. Make that your niche. Create a new concept for that niche and make it your own.

Have something insightful to say. You have a short window to engage your audience because there’s so much competition for their time. What value are you giving in exchange for their time?

Keep it simple. When you keep it simple, you’ll make the best use of your investment. You’ll want to focus on sharing your content on the social platforms where you find the discussions most relevant to your company. IBM, for example, simplified and consolidated its midmarket interactions into five relevant social spaces, and made content easier to find with tags and indexing.

Empower your employees to be social marketers, and do it in the context of your market. The Watson success on Jeopardy is a good example – IBM people were all over the place – on both social and traditional media. For example, on Reddit.com [the social bookmarking and sharing site], there is a small, enthusiastic Watson audience, and IBM employees contributed to that discussion.

Leverage free tools – there are many. You don’t need to spend millions of dollars, but be thoughtful and be prepared. [For a good list of free social media tools, check out 10 Free Social Media Tools Every PR Pro Should Master].

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Posted in Business, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Social media marketing | Tagged: digital and social marketing, IBM and midsize businesses, IBM and social business, social networking, thought leadership | 2 Comments »

IBM’s Lessons Learned in Social Business

Posted by advantagemarketing on September 20, 2011

You can do social the hard way, or read these lessons learned by the IBM mid-market team

By Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

“I didn’t fail; I just found a thousand ways that didn’t work.” – Thomas Edison

In my previous post, I highlighted how IBM uses digital and social marketing to build its online eminence (think: Watson on Jeopardy), leverage the intellectual capital of its 400,000 employees, and provide deep-level content for its target audiences. This post resulted from my conversations with Leslie Reiser, Program Director of Worldwide Digital Marketing for IBM General Business.

Leslie and her team built IBM’s infoboom online community to collaborate with mid-market B2B companies. In October 2011, infoboom merged with new and expanded IBM midsized business social media channels – making it easier for business leaders to engage with the information that interests them.

The team has many lessons learned that small and mid-market businesses can apply to their own social marketing strategy. These are some of the insights Leslie shared:

Get the support of your leadership team. This helps galvanize the broader organization behind you. Present the business case and talk about social in terms leadership understands. Leslie’s team set up a consolidated dashboard with social sharing and engagement metrics that demonstrate value to the business.

Online communities take care and feeding. Community building isn’t easy. You need to understand the market view. What does the market want – an objective approach or one that’s vendor-driven? Then differentiate yourself – find a market niche and present a better solution for the niche’s needs.

Do your research and talk to clients. IBM’s research was extensive, including one-on-one “voice of the customer” interviews, focus groups, and over 1,000 online surveys. Even if you don’t have an IBM-sized budget, you should still invest time in reaching out to clients to discuss their needs and challenges.

IBM also set up a client advisory network, with 140 middle market CIOs [Chief Information Officers] from diverse industries and multiple countries who bounce ideas back and forth. This group, which has been in place for 3-5 years, is very candid and outspoken. The group also has the characteristics of the customers IBM is targeting. They’re not necessarily IBM’s best customers, but are indicative of the broader market.

It’s also important to pilot. Leslie’s team needed to see what worked and what didn’t in the market. You have to pilot before you invest in content. “You don’t want a meatball – especially an expensive meatball – hanging out there,” says Leslie.

At launch, validate and ensure you’re meeting audience expectations. Ask for feedback and correct your path.

Be sure you very carefully articulate your value exchange. What are you going to provide that the market or client needs?

If you’re an international company, be very sensitive to country nuances and individual requirements. It’s not enough to translate – you need local experts. For example, IBM’s US healthcare solutions are vastly different from solutions for the UK. Certain countries can leverage US solutions and content – Singapore and Australia are two – but not the UK. Understand the market you’re getting into and know what’s acceptable and what isn’t.

Let your rock stars go social. People are looking for expertise, credibility and authenticity from you. Leverage your subject matter experts in your social marketing and it will help your company become an industry thought leader and drive the online discussion.

Next post: Leslie offers tips for middle market businesses for building social presence.

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Posted in B2B marketing, Business, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Social media marketing | Tagged: building online communities, content development, digital and social marketing, IBM, thought leadership | 2 Comments »

Big Blue Blogs? IBM Goes Social

Posted by advantagemarketing on September 15, 2011

By Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

Watson. Big Blue. Lotus. What comes to mind when you read these words? Most of us associate them with IBM, the Fortune 50 technology and consulting company. What you might not associate with IBM is social media, but the company is going social in a big way. By 2012, 90-95% of IBM’s marketing budget will be spent on social and digital tactics, including social and online media, blogging, online communities, and content delivery.

I had the opportunity to talk to Leslie Reiser, Program Director for Worldwide Digital Marketing, IBM General Business, about how IBM is using social media and digital marketing today. Leslie’s team markets IBM’s solutions to mid-market B2B companies.

Here’s the first part of our conversation:

How is IBM using digital and social marketing?

The Watson supercomputer – besides winning Jeopardy’s Man vs. Machine Challenge – is a very good example of how we approach social using a Paid-Owned-Earned Media model. There’s a Watson Facebook page and Twitter presence, a website, plus YouTube videos and online community. There’s press and blogger coverage along with paid advertising.

For mid-market solutions specifically, we started with infoboom, a community where we could listen to and provide content for leaders of midsize businesses. This is evolving to a new stage of social collaboration* with a simplified social media presence where we have fewer Twitter handles and just one Facebook page and a LinkedIn group.

Our websites are now optimized for search. So now clients can find us more easily, and partners can interact more easily. Clients can come directly to one of our sites, find us via search, or come in through paid ads and landing pages.

We also rebuilt our middle market portal so that it can provide deep-level solution content. We are making it as seamless as possible for a client to go among the deeper content, wherever it originates. Based on the behavior and intent of the user, the portal gets them to the right content so that they get what they need. For example, if someone is looking for a cloud solution, they can find the discussion threads all in one place at the portal.

With over 400,000 employees worldwide, IBM has considerable intellectual capital. How are you leveraging this in your social marketing?

People are looking for expertise, credibility and authenticity from us. We identified our “rock stars” – the true experts in the company – and assessed their social media readiness and what they could share. We began evangelizing these people and their knowledge – promoting our expertise and credibility.

We also developed an expertise locator tool – it’s internal now, but we’re beginning to surface it outside the company. It includes profiles of employees – that they add themselves – by skill and willingness to be available by expertise and proficiency.

Getting so many employees on board with social must be a big task. How are you doing it?

It’s no doubt we’re a large company, with disparate goals across brands, teams, and regions. We knew starting out that we’d have to integrate social behavior into the corporate culture, if we hoped to be successful. We needed to address a traditional management culture so we got our senior execs involved and sold it to them first. This way they’d get their people involved.

We put social in terms leadership understands by establishing a consolidated dashboard with social sharing and engagement metrics to demonstrate the value back to the business. Not every social media aspect has a direct ROI, but we can show impact to the business through KPIs.

Our employees have different social proficiency levels and limited time and resources to participate in social behaviors. We needed to bring everyone along the learning curve and encourage participation, so we came up with a flexible model that all employees could leverage.

We also set up social marketing guidelines. Employees company-wide must sign and adhere to these guidelines. These aren’t “do’s and don’ts;” they’re meant to encourage IBMers to blog and participate in internal and external social networks.

We also have our Social Business portal, which is an internal site where employees can access tools – blogs, video, and podcasts – that they can leverage in their social networks. For example, employees could access the IBM Centennial materials via Social Business and then Tweet or blog about our milestone.

Another thing we did was get IBM alumni involved – there’s a very strong group who’re involved on Facebook and LinkedIn. This has been a great way to extend IBM’s capabilities. There are some very notable IBM alumni – such as Irving Wladawsky-Berger – who have an independent, well known presence in industry.

Next week’s post: IBM’s “lessons learned” in going social

* According to the infoboom site, beginning on October 1, 2011, infoboom will merge with several new and expanded IBM midsized business social media channels. The site won’t be available after Sept. 30, 2011.

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Posted in Business, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social media marketing, Twitter | Tagged: build company credibility, content development, IBM and social business, marketing ROI, Social media | 2 Comments »

Tips from an Internet Entrepreneur for Running a Successful Online Business

Posted by advantagemarketing on September 2, 2011

Deb Palacio started WebUndies in her basement, and grew it into a $1.5mm business. She shares insights for being successful online.

Entrepreneur and Advantage Marketing client Deborah Palacio was a guest recently on The Secrets of Success Women Entrepreneurs Radio program. Deb runs WebUndies.com,a business that she started in her basement in 1999, when few retailers were selling online. Today WebUndies is a $1.5 million business – and growing. The company sells licensed character underwear and loungewear at affordable prices with exceptional customer service.

Deb talked to Secrets of Success host Deborah Bailey about starting and growing a successful, sustainable Internet-based business. Here are some of the insights Deb shared in her half hour interview:

Don’t expect overnight success. WebUndies had only $16,000 in sales in the first year, “and we probably spent $16,000 to get the business started,” Deb says. “We grew the business slowly over time, and didn’t depend on it to pay the mortgage.” She and her partners grew the business as it made sense, taking time to work out the kinks and see where they needed help from outside the company.

Know what sets you apart. Today most Internet markets are saturated, says Deb, and it can be hard to break in. There are, for example, thousands of t-shirt sellers that come up in Google search. Ask yourself: Is what I plan to sell something people want? If I’m going to be that next t-shirt seller, what would make people come to me instead of all the others?

Lean on someone more experienced. When you’re starting out, it saves you a lot of legwork to have someone more experienced whom you can trust, so you can lean on their expertise. If they’ve researched shopping carts already, for example, you can learn from them and narrow your choices that much faster.

If it’s not profitable, get rid of it. WebUndies found itself in a price war with other online sellers over Hanes t-shirts. Although these were popular items and sold well, the company ended up taking a hit to its bottom line. Deb learned that it didn’t pay to carry low margin products just because they sold well. Now she knows which of her products are winners and sticks with them.

Expect markets to be fickle. “Don’t just chase trends, you’ll get stuck with deadwood inventory,” says Deb. “A couple of years ago, we sold a ton of Hannah Montana, now nobody cares about it anymore. This year everything is Angry Birds, but once we sell out our inventory, I won’t be stocking much more of it.”

Keep the customer experience positive. Deb was a department manager at Nordstrom before starting WebUndies, and she knows how important customer service is. “I am the WebUndies’ customer service manager. I answer customer emails daily – even on vacation,” Deb says. “Our customer service keeps us top-rated as an Amazon seller.” WebUndies also has clearly worded shipping and return policies posted on its website, so customers know what to expect.

Understand your customer. Listen to what your customer is asking for – the products, styles and sizes. “I take my customers’ suggestions and bring them back to my suppliers and tell them this is what customers want,” says Deb. “I push my suppliers to look for the licenses that I know my customers will buy.”

It’s your business – own it. “New business owners may think, ‘it’s my business I can do whatever I want’. That’s not true,” says Deb. “You can’t take a lot of time away from the business and expect it to be successful – you just don’t have that flexibility. You must be dedicated and committed to what you do, 365 days a year.”

To listen to Deb’s entire half hour interview, go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/coachdeb/2011/08/24/deb-palacio-of-webundiescom.

And there you have it: advice from a successful, seasoned Internet entrepreneur. What other advice do you think is useful for starting and running an Internet-based business?

Posted in Business, Internet business, Marketing | Tagged: exceptional customer service, Internet business, internet markets, secrets of success, starting a business, WebUndies | 2 Comments »

Expand Your Sales Opportunities with Co-Marketing

Posted by advantagemarketing on August 4, 2011

You too can be a winner when you co-market your products and services with other businesses

Wouldn’t it be nice to expand your selling opportunities at low cost, and without hiring extra sales people? You can, when you co-market your products or services with other businesses.

When you cooperate with other businesses to promote your products and services jointly, you can reach more customers while sharing the cost. Co-marketing can also differentiate you from your competition because you can offer customers a richer buying experience.

What got me thinking about this creative tactic was a recent visit to Savory Spice Shop in downtown Westfield, NJ. Franchise owners Becky Solheim and Jackie Mittelhammer not only offer an amazing selection of fresh herbs and spices, they also display near their register coupons to the Elements Wellness Boutique, a natural products store located across town. I have no doubt that Elements also features Savory Spice coupons on their counter. Something as simple as this boosts sales for both retailers at a low incremental cost.

Here are some pointers for effective co-marketing:

Seek compatibility. Think about what products and services go well with what you sell. Approach those companies and work with them to develop an enticing offer. Professional photographer Miki Malhotra of Mikifoto, for example, teams with Erica Gendel, a Mary Kay sales director, to provide clients with a professional makeup and headshot package.

A note of caution: be mindful of your reputation when you seek co-marketing partners. You don’t want to have another company’s quality or customer problems become identified with you in the customer’s mind because of your association.

Keep it visible. Just like Savory Spice put the Wellness Boutique coupons at their register, you’ll want to have a display, advertisement or handout that promotes you and your partners’ offerings.

Court referral sources. Even if it’s not practical for you and your co-marketing partner to display each other’s merchandise or services, you can still work together. Customers will often seek referrals to related services, so asking other businesses to keep your cards, coupons or brochures on-hand can also work to boost your business. If you are a landscaper, for example, make sure that the local garden supply shops have an ample supply of your marketing materials to give out.

Offer a sample. Your co-marketing partners will much more enthusiastically promote your product or service if they’ve had the opportunity to experience it for themselves.

Use more than one tactic. There are many ways that you can team with other businesses. You can work together to publish a newsletter, plan and run and event together, or share a booth at a trade show. Continued cooperation can give you ongoing access to new prospects and enhance your company’s image as it boosts your sales.

How do you co-market your business? Let us know in the Comments section.

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Posted in Business, Marketing, Traditional marketing | Tagged: business, co-marketing, court referrals, marketing, traditional marketing, Westfield. NJ | 1 Comment »

I’ll Have the Special with a Side of Facebook Please

Posted by advantagemarketing on July 25, 2011

by Christian DeGobbi, PCM

Simple tips for integrating Facebook in your company's marketing

For businesses both large and small, integrating Facebook effectively into your marketing activities not only makes a lot of sense but can change the way your clients and prospects view your company.

Having a Facebook page for your business today is great, but not enough. A savvy company knows how to promote their social media presence and weave it into their existing marketing efforts. When done in a smart and successful way, your target market will view your company as one that is “with-it”, interactive, and encourages, values and desires feedback. Unfortunately, not too many companies are doing this well… if at all.

Here are just a few simple ways your company can start integrating Facebook with the rest of your marketing:

Most Web sites have a top menu bar on their homepage calling out “Services”, “About Us”, “Resource Center”, “Contact Us”, etc. Include “Facebook Page” in this menu bar. You’re sure to drive more of your Web site visitors to your page, compared to just having the obligatory Facebook logo buried somewhere on your home page.

Make it a company standard for all key executives and sales team members to have a link to the Facebook page in their e-mail e-signature line. A brief comment right on top or below the link can inform the viewer of a new Facebook posting, video or feature.

If you run print ads, drive readers to your Facebook page through a “teaser” ad. You can do this in many creative ways. For example, ask a really compelling question in the main header of the ad – a question your target would really want to know the answer to – and direct them to your Facebook page for the answer. Or, if you are running a special, provide the reader with just a hint of information. Let them know they can read the rest of details at your Facebook page.

Include your Facebook URL on all marketing materials from business cards and brochures to event booths and promo items.

People, in general, enjoy participating in polls that interest them and seeing the results when they click “Submit.” I know I do! Start posting a weekly poll on your Facebook page that interests your base (on the same day/time so your visitors know a new poll will be posted every Tuesday at 9:00am). Not only are you providing interaction and information to your fans, as well as gathering super insights, but it’s a great way to start a dialogue directly with your fans.

Videos are a huge draw for any online site, especially Facebook. If you have a interesting and informative video posted, the next time you send an e-mail campaign, include a link with a brief description of the video in the body of the e-mail.

These are just a few ways you can start promoting your Facebook presence, while enhancing the way clients and prospects view your company.

I would love to hear what you’re doing to integrate Facebook in with the rest of your marketing activities! Who’s first?

Christian DeGobbi, PCM is currently the Marketing Manager, Americas for Dow Jones Indexes. He recently earned his Professional Certified Marketer designation from the American Marketing Association, of which he’s an active member. Christian has 15 years experience at top NYC advertising agencies and B2B client side marketing.

Photo credit: http://flic.kr/p/247omf photo by eston

Posted in Business, Marketing, Social media marketing | Tagged: Facebook, Facebook for business, marketing, Social media, social media tips | Leave a Comment »

Boost Your Marketing by Being a Guest on Internet Radio

Posted by advantagemarketing on July 15, 2011

by Deborah A. Bailey

Being a guest on Internet radio can help you promote your products and services to a wider audience

Still somewhat under the radar compared to other social media tools, Internet radio is an inexpensive way to market to large numbers of potential clients. In fact, I’ve had such good results that I wrote an ebook, “Boost Your Marketing & Your Visibility with Internet Radio” so that I could help others achieve the same results for their marketing.

Begin by doing a search for the shows that are a good fit for your topic. You can find them by doing an Internet search or by searching Internet radio platforms such as Blog Talk Radio and TalkShoe. In addition, search the various podcast syndication sites and iTunes to see what shows exist that focus on your target market.

Once you’ve identified the shows that you’re interested in, listen to individual episodes and get an idea of what the show format is. Who are the guests? What are the topics? Make sure the show is a fit for you and your business.

After you’ve found suitable shows, send a query which should include a brief bio and a link to your website. Provide enough information so that the show host can determine if you will be a good guest.

If you get a favorable response and you’re asked to be a guest, pay attention to the guidelines and promptly return any requested information. Usually you’ll be asked for a bio, an introduction (to be read on the air or posted on a website) and a picture of you or your product. If you are regularly sending queries to the media, you should have those materials ready to go.

Request the questions beforehand or confirm what the talking points will be – that way you’ll be prepared and can determine how to present yourself during the show. Often the guest will be asked to send in their own questions.

When it comes to the show date and time, be on time and be enthusiastic. Once you’re on the air follow the host’s lead. Some hosts may let you do most of the talking; others may only expect you to respond at certain intervals.

The bottom line is that if you’re prepared, you will already know what points to make about your product or service. You may be on a one-time interview, but that interview may have thousands if not millions of listeners. What feelings do you want the listeners to come away with when they hear you?

What will make you a great show guest?

You’re prepared with a professional bio and pictures
You promote your appearance on the show
You communicate well and don’t just reply in one- or two-word answers
You take your appearance on the podcast seriously – just because it’s an internet
show doesn’t make it less important than any other media appearance

What are the things you shouldn’t do if you want to be a great guest?

Assume that you can send a query in today and be scheduled on the show right away
Have no familiarity with the show’s format
Leave it up to the host to do the marketing for YOUR appearance
Send in requested information (such as bios) late or not at all

After your show is over ask about getting a copy of the recording post it on your site or blog. You can take that one interview and use it to market it over and over. Many people seek out guest appearances on Internet radio, but most of them don’t promote their appearance other than a few mentions on here and there.

Don’t waste your time getting interviewed if you aren’t going to leverage it after the show is over. Link to your interview, post it on your site, promote it to your friends and followers.

One mistake I see some of my guests make is underestimating the effect of being on Internet radio. They believe that since it’s not a traditional media outlet with millions of potential listeners, it’s not as important. However, consider the fact that even on a traditional media show, those millions of people won’t hear you if they aren’t tuned in when you’re on the air. There usually aren’t repeat broadcasts or reruns of interviews. Once you’re spot is completed, it’s over. You may get a clip to share, or you may not. But with Internet radio your broadcast will be available forever – as long as that show is available online, your recorded interview will be available.

Connect with the Author. Writer and communications expert Deborah A. Bailey is the author of “Think Like an Entrepreneur: Transforming Your Career and Taking Charge of Your Life.” She specializes in helping entrepreneurs create relationships with their ideal clients. She’s the host of “Women Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Success,” an Internet radio talk show.Visit her website http://www.dbaileycoach.com and her blog http://womenentrepreneursecrets.blogspot.com.

Photo: Flickr.com http://flic.kr/p/4DBtY5 by CarbonNYC

Posted in B2B marketing, Business, Marketing | Tagged: business, marketing, thought leadership | Leave a Comment »

10 Ways to Derail Your Marketing

Posted by advantagemarketing on June 30, 2011

by Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

Any one of these 10 marketing mistakes can derail your marketing -- and your company's growth.

$50,000 balloons and techies who can’t write are just two of the ways small business owners mess up their marketing, waste their money and then don’t achieve their business growth targets.

Here’s my top ten list of marketing mistakes business owners make:

10. Trying to do everything yourself

As a business owner you wear many hats, especially when you’re starting a new company. But if you’re the one setting up the email campaign or fixing your website’s shopping cart, you are not out in front of prospective customers or partners, or developing your business strategy.

Know your own strengths and weaknesses, and hire the experts you need to support your business.

9. Wasting money on ineffective tactics

A former client of mine was spending $50,000 – 50% of his marketing budget – on launching a custom-designed balloon at the state’s balloon festival each year. How many leads did it generate? Zero. How many customers took balloon rides? Maybe a couple of the company’s smaller clients. Worth it? I think not.

Think through how your company’s marketing budget is being spent, and re-allocate funds to what will get your company known, liked and trusted by your target customers.

8. Relying on one tactic

Sure, your website is an important part of your marketing strategy, but don’t focus on it exclusively. You need a mix of tactics to offer multiple touch points for prospects and customers. Tradeshows, blogs, whitepapers, e-newsletters, webinars, search engine optimization, and networking events – these should be in your marketing arsenal.

7. Not tracking what your competitors are doing

Has something like this happened to you? You’ve invested in a booth at a major tradeshow. Then you learn that not only is your biggest competitor exhibiting in space twice the size of yours, they’re launching a brand new widget that’s getting tons of buzz. Guess which booth winds up getting all the foot traffic?

Pay attention to what your competitors are doing. Talk to your sales people about what they’re seeing. Sign up for Google Alerts to monitor your competition automatically.

6. Offering inconsistent messaging

Are you articulating a clear value proposition? Are you doing so across all your customer touch points? Presenting unclear or conflicting messaging can dilute your brand and confuse prospects and customers.

5. Not measuring results and modifying your approach

Too often I hear from business owners, “We tried that before and it didn’t work!” What specifically didn’t work? Why? What did work? How can you change what you did to make it more effective? These are the questions you must ask after every marketing campaign. Then adapt your marketing based on the lessons you’ve learned.

4. Publishing poorly written content

As I noted in this post, content rules. It’s content that drives conversations and connects your company with its prospects and customers. When your content is poorly written, people will notice. One business owner invested in a white paper marketing campaign and then got a blistering email from an executive. The paper, wrote the exec, was not worth the time it took to download. It was little better than an overview and didn’t delve deep enough into the issues. Ouch.

Write good content. And if you can’t, hire someone who can.

3. Not executing consistently

Are you publishing your blog routinely? What about your email newsletter? Are you getting to your networking meetings each month? Do your sales reps follow up on leads? Frequent, regular contact builds relationships and sets you apart from the rest of the herd.

2. Letting the wrong people execute

Do you let your barber or hair dresser do your taxes? Probably not, unless you love IRS audits. Similarly, you shouldn’t let your finance or IT guys run your marketing.

You need to have the “right people on the bus” – to quote Jim Collins – to run your company’s marketing. Bring on board people with the right marketing skills, experience and expertise who can strategize and execute effectively.

1. Not setting and communicating goals

As life coach Tony Robbins said, “Setting goals is the first step to turning the invisible into the visible.” So first things first: work with your team to set specific, manageable goals for your company’s marketing. These goals should be linked to your company’s business strategy. With clear goals established, everything else will begin to fall into place. You will be in a position to make better decisions and can more easily choose the right mix of tactics for effective marketing campaigns.

How else can marketing get derailed? Tell us what you think by posting a Comment below.

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Photo credit: Leo Reynolds, Flickr.com, http://flic.kr/p/epWKb

Posted in Business, Marketing | Tagged: business, content development, marketing, traditional marketing | 4 Comments »

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