Free Marketing Management Course from MIT
15.810 Marketing Management is designed to serve as an introduction to the theory and practice of marketing. Students will improve their ability to develop effective marketing strategies and assess market opportunities, as well as design strategy implementation programs. In addition, students will have the opportunity to communicate and defend their recommendations and build upon the recommendations of their peers. We will explore the theory and applications of marketing concepts through a mix o
Sales Renewal’s insight:
This and 2, 200 other classes are available from MIT OpenCourseWare which “makes the materials used in the teaching of almost all of MIT’s subjects available on the Web, free of charge.”
Read Original Article
What Skills to Look for When Hiring or Assembling a Marketing Team
Since our beginning in the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, Sales Renewal has been extolling the importance of hiring a broad and deep team to grow a business' revenue (aka, Marketing). While we understood that there would always be need for brand-focused and creative people, we also understood that the Team would have to expand beyond the boundaries of traditional and digital Marketing to include business analysts, marketing strategists and a fair number of technologists too.
It’s 2015 – You’d Think We’d Have Figured Out How To Measure Web Traffic By Now
In May, a Vanity Fair article about Bill Simmons’s departure from ESPN said that Grantland had 6 million unique visitors in March but that “ESPN’s internal numbers … had the site reaching 10 millio…
Sales Renewal’s insight:
One of the clearest explanations of “cookies” that we’ve read, from where they got their roots, to how marketers figured out how to use them, to their role in providing accurate website visitor counts a difficult task.
Read Original Article
Ready-Fire-Aim Marketing And Why It Will Likely Blow Back On You
Too many businesses today practice Ready-Fire-Aim Marketing:
The truth is that changing human behavior (also known as Marketing) is damn hard and very complex, so to be done well, it requires thoughtful strategies, plans and goals carried out by experienced practitioners who are correctly motivated.
Another problem with this scattershot approach is that marketing’s many different tactics are dependent on each other so to act on one point specific tactic alone is often a recipe for failure. For example, even if you got the best advertising advice in the world from Mr. Adwords himself, if your website is poorly designed or you have no content to offer ad clickers in return for their email address, you are likely going to waste your ad money (i.e., because advertising’s effectiveness depends not just on advertising but on how well it “integrates” with all the other marketing tactics you’re using). So to be effective, your tactics can’t be handled in isolation, you need an integrated, comprehensive approach.
This is made much harder by the recent explosion of sales and marketing tactics, and the vendors that sell them. ChiefMartec.com has reported a doubling of the number of sales & marketing providers in one year, growing to 1, 876 vendors across 43 categories:
So what’s a business owner to do? It’s not like you can call any one of these 1, 876 vendors and ask what they think you should do (because, not surprisingly, the SEO firms will tell you SEO is the solution to all your problems, the ad agencies will say advertising, PR firms, PR and so on).
Instead, you need a firm that’s thinking about it from your perspective (what are your business’ lowest hanging needs) not what tactic they sell (SEO, advertising, PR). And while it’s great to be open to new advice as you encounter it (even from your brother-in-law), and there is a role for “gut instinct”, there is no substitute for having a comprehensive, integrated sales & marketing plan implemented, and continuously improved upon, by a skilled team motivated to grow your sales.
Two Solutions that Prevent Marketing Fails
Sales Renewal’s two growth solutions-the JointSourcing Solution and the Marketing Essential Solution-overcome the challenges that too often cause small business marketing to fail. Both begin by developing a growth plan specific to your business and both provide all the people, expertise and tools needed to implement the plan and grow your sales without you having to pay their full-time cost in salaries, benefits or management time.
And unlike Inbound Marketing firms or single-tactic vendors who have a vested interest in their specific approach, Sales Renewal is a Marketing General Contractor that can deliver all possible marketing strategies & tactics. Sales Renewal’s only bias then is towards the quickest and most cost effective ways to grow your sales.
JointSourcing Solution™ (“joint venture” + “insourcing”) is a comprehensive strategy, marketing and technology solution that insources all the expertise (drawn from across the entire sales & marketing spectrum) in just the right proportions your business needs. This team handles all the day-to-day marketing and technology work that grow leads and sales (and demands so much of your time now), while Sales Renewal shares with you its management, and a portion of the rewards and risks (similar to a joint venture).
Marketing Essentials Solution™ is a easy-to-adopt, guided marketing and technology solution that grows small businesses. It is tailored to your specific business to deliver the essential mix of the marketing tactics & programs and sales-enabling technology that all businesses need to increase leads and sales (and includes online advertising and search engine optimization).
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Too many businesses today practice Ready-Fire-Aim Marketing.
Learn why:
- Going with your gut can be very expensive
- “Do it yourself” is not the way to grow your sales
- There are almost no vendors who you can ask for help and trust their answers
The New Search, Content & Social Marketing Sweet Spot
Columnist Jim Yu asserts that brands seeking to create successful digital campaigns need to focus on fostering collaboration between search, social and content teams.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Whether you have separate teams for search, social and content, individual employees who handle the different areas, or you’re doing all the tasks yourself, the sooner you can coordinate the activities the sooner you can maximize your efforts, those of your staff, or your teams.
Read Original Article
Establishing a Marketing Budget for Your Business
How much should I spend on marketing? I get this question a lot as both President of ChapterTwo Marketing & Public Relations and as a SCORE volunteer. Unfortunately, most of the guidance floa…
Sales Renewal’s insight:
While every business needs a customized marketing budget, there are some benchmarks to pay attention to – anywhere from 5% to 30% of anticipated revenues. Why not take Sales Renewal’s Marketing Investment Analysis for a high level view of the Sales & Marketing programs and budgets we recommend.
February Digital Marketing Advice Roundup – Outsourced Marketing, the Role of SEO and More
Looking for more information like this? The Sales Renewal Advice from Across the Web page features a selection of the best, actionable marketing and technology advice and, importantly, adds our perspective. Think of it as a Marketing Clipping Service for the modern world.
Here, then, are our favorite tips for the month:
Marketing Plans: From Hubspot, some advice about What to Cut From Your Marketing in 2015. As is so often the case, the rule of thumb is, “everything in moderation.” Sure, it’s fun to jump on every bandwagon that comes along, but by keeping the big picture perspective, you can be sure your marketing efforts are targeted and – more importantly – something you’re able to do without being overwhelmed.
Outsourced Marketing: If you’re running a business, you may feel that digital marketing is something you can do yourself. But a recent survey shows that even small businesses- 35% of them – hire outsourced marketing firms to help them create content and maintain a strong digital presence. Learn about the many advantages of such a firm here.
Local SEO: How do you make sure your local digital presence is as strong as your physical presence? According to Search Engine Land, it’s important to look at the big picture. In Local SEO In 2015 – Look At The Big Picture, author Greg Gifford summarizes: “You’ve got to work on everything” and “You have to be a jack-of-all-trades.” Sounds overwhelming, but it can be done with the right tools and support.
LinkedIn Advertising: Many businesses have been successful reaching prospective customers on LinkedIn with Sponsored Updates. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. This article has some useful takeaways when considering a sponsored post on LinkedIn:
- Don’t talk about yourself.
- Keep it simple.
- Images matter.
Read the full article here.
Content Marketing: Got a blog? Get sharing. Get more from your blogging efforts by sharing and re-sharing (that’s the key). When you’re scheduling your blog posts, be sure to take the time to “re-schedule” them. This social sharing schedule timetable is a good guide for getting started.
ROI and Measuring What Matters: The customer journey is complicated! So is measuring the different types of marketing programs, because there’s really no way to do an apples-to-apples comparison. How do you attribute a “value” and ROI to each? This article from Click Z has suggestions for a good place to start.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Each month we offer a roundup of useful, hands-on digital marketing advice from experts in their fields. We’ve extracted the most useful information into tips you can use, and we’ve also provided a link to the full articles in case you’d like to learn more. This month, our roundup of useful, hands-on digital marketing advice from experts in their fields covers SEO, ROI, online advertising, local marketing, and more.
February Digital Marketing Advice Roundup – Outsourced Marketing, the Role of SEO and More
Looking for more information like this? The Sales Renewal Advice from Across the Web page features a selection of the best, actionable marketing and technology advice and, importantly, adds our perspective. Think of it as a Marketing Clipping Service for the modern world.
Here, then, are our favorite tips for the month:
Marketing Plans: From Hubspot, some advice about What to Cut From Your Marketing in 2015. As is so often the case, the rule of thumb is, “everything in moderation.” Sure, it’s fun to jump on every bandwagon that comes along, but by keeping the big picture perspective, you can be sure your marketing efforts are targeted and – more importantly – something you’re able to do without being overwhelmed.
Outsourced Marketing: If you’re running a business, you may feel that digital marketing is something you can do yourself. But a recent survey shows that even small businesses- 35% of them – hire outsourced marketing firms to help them create content and maintain a strong digital presence. Learn about the many advantages of such a firm here.
Local SEO: How do you make sure your local digital presence is as strong as your physical presence? According to Search Engine Land, it’s important to look at the big picture. In Local SEO In 2015 – Look At The Big Picture, author Greg Gifford summarizes: “You’ve got to work on everything” and “You have to be a jack-of-all-trades.” Sounds overwhelming, but it can be done with the right tools and support.
LinkedIn Advertising: Many businesses have been successful reaching prospective customers on LinkedIn with Sponsored Updates. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. This article has some useful takeaways when considering a sponsored post on LinkedIn:
- Don’t talk about yourself.
- Keep it simple.
- Images matter.
Read the full article here.
Content Marketing: Got a blog? Get sharing. Get more from your blogging efforts by sharing and re-sharing (that’s the key). When you’re scheduling your blog posts, be sure to take the time to “re-schedule” them. This social sharing schedule timetable is a good guide for getting started.
ROI and Measuring What Matters: The customer journey is complicated! So is measuring the different types of marketing programs, because there’s really no way to do an apples-to-apples comparison. How do you attribute a “value” and ROI to each? This article from Click Z has suggestions for a good place to start.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Each month we offer a roundup of useful, hands-on digital marketing advice from experts in their fields. We’ve extracted the most useful information into tips you can use, and we’ve also provided a link to the full articles in case you’d like to learn more. This month, our roundup of useful, hands-on digital marketing advice from experts in their fields covers SEO, ROI, online advertising, local marketing, and more.
Most Salespeople Feel Unprepared for the Most Critical Parts of the Sales Process
According Corporate Vision, here are the percentages of Salespeople who felt they were prepared for:
- Creating opportunities from status quo – 38%,
- Demonstrating financial justification – 26%,
- Mastering purchasing negotiations – 25%,
- Having effective executive conversations – 24%,
- Having effective executive conversations – 16%,
- Achieving successful competitive differentiation – 14%,
- Showcasing compelling product presentations – 13%,
- Demonstrating financial justification – 10%,
- Mastering purchasing negotiations – 9%
If you feel like you could benefit from sales training, get in touch.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Read about the alarming small percentages of salespeople who felt they were prepared for the most critical part of the sales process: mastering purchasing negotiations, achieving successful competitive differentiation, etc.