There is often tension between marketing and sales in many organizations. But why? Shouldn’t these two functions be closely aligned to most effectively achieve the revenue and ROI goals of the organization? What causes this tension, why is alignment important, and what steps can you take to bring these two important organizational functions closer together? (more…)
Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
The Importance of Aligning Marketing and Sales
Thursday, November 11th, 2021Tackling the Special Challenges of Building and Sustaining Strong Service Brands
Thursday, August 12th, 2021
Much of my work over the years has been with “service brands”—brands that are not tied to a particular product, but to the delivery of some type of service—educational services, healthcare services, energy services, engineering services, consulting services, etc.
Developing and maintaining a strong brand for a service is, in my opinion, significantly more challenging than developing and maintaining a strong brand for a product. Why? (more…)
Using Google Search Can Help You Save on Market Research Costs: Here’s How
Thursday, April 22nd, 2021by Linda Pophal
All marketers know how important it is to understand their target audience so they can effectively craft messages and select communication channels that will most appeal to them and move them to some desired action. (more…)
“Must Do” Marketing Lessons Learned During COVID-19
Wednesday, February 10th, 2021
I’ve been doing a series of webinars during the pandemic for a Women’s Business Center in my area on topics related to marketing and maintaining a business presence. As part of the process, I’ve been spending time reviewing, analyzing, and reporting on various best practices that I’ve either seen or that I’ve practiced with clients or my own business. It’s been interesting to watch how many businesses have successfully, and quickly, changed their processes or entire business models to adapt to “the new normal.”
Yet some haven’t. (more…)
The Blurred Lines Between PR, Marketing and Advertising
Friday, November 13th, 2020
There’s a raging — and quite interesting — debate that I continue to see taking place in various online forums about the relationship between PR and marketing. I’ve found it especially interesting because I recently was engaged in the same debate while teaching PR courses at a local university. Surprisingly to me, there is a group that believes quite strongly that PR is not part of marketing: that it is a separate and distinctly different function within an organization.
Frankly, that’s just “crazy talk” to me. (more…)
The 3 C’s of Marketing and STP: How they Align
Thursday, October 29th, 2020
The 3 C’s of Marketing (company, customers and competitors) is a popular model used to help businesses and marketers develop marketing strategies by encouraging them to think about their customers and what they value, what they have to offer that address what customers value/need, and what others (competitors) are offering. It’s a model that also aligns very well with another three-pronged marketing approach: segmenting, targeting, and positioning.Time-Tested Tenets of Effective Marketing Haven’t Changed in 100 Years
Wednesday, February 19th, 2020
In the digital age of rapidly increasing technology and here-today-gone-tomorrow fads in fashion, popular culture and consumer tastes, it can seem like the rules of marketing are constantly changing, rendering obsolete what may have been sound advice just 10 or 20 years ago. But despite the near-constantly changing winds at the edges and frontiers of the marketing industry, the vast majority of the core principals remain unchanged and have stood the test of time. (more…)
No-Cost, Low-Cost Ways to Boost Your Brand
Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
We’ve previously discussed the challenges many companies face when trying to calculate an ROI on their marketing efforts. For small and medium-sized businesses, this can make it difficult to justify increasing spend on marketing efforts.
But, just because you feel like you can’t spend more money on marketing doesn’t mean you can’t invest in your brand. (more…)
Goby the Trash Fish and Nudge Marketing
Thursday, July 11th, 2019
Behavioral economics is the study of how and why consumers do not always act rationally —rational behavior is one of the fundamental assumptions underlying classical economics. Behavioral economics helps explain things like why consumers make impulse purchases and incorrectly value goods and services. Two of my favorite behavioral economists are Dan Ariely and Steven D. Levitt, authors of Predictably Irrational and Freakonomics, respectively–two books I highly recommend.
Nudge marketing is a key form of behavioral economics. It involves providing subtle “nudges” to guide human behavior in ways that serve marketers’ needs. Here we take a look at some interesting examples of how elements of behavioral economics can be put to work in the field of marketing.
Tesla Charging Stations: Real-World Example of Barriers to Entry
Tuesday, February 26th, 2019
by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA
Tesla, the electronic vehicle (EV) company headed by high-profile billionaire Elon Musk, is a fascinating organization in many ways. The media has recently been excited about the company’s back-to-back quarterly profits. Despite the company operating in the red for so long, observers love to root for the revolutionary company. It’s also interesting to look at Tesla from a business strategy standpoint. For example, Tesla is widely recognized for the way it generates intense customer loyalty. (more…)
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