When I talk to people about pricing models, tiered and volume pricing are often confused as one and the same thing. This short post should help to clarify the differences. I’m also including a Microsoft Excel template that you can use to build, and calculate your own tiered pricing plans – something that can be…
In a world of automation, do marketers fear experimentation?
In recent interview with MarTech I mentioned that I felt creativity was being marginalized in a world so utterly besotted with data and automation. The result, I feared, was that the skills of marketing graduates coming into the sector were becoming unbalanced, with too little emphasis placed on the creative elements that make marketing such…
How many sales leads do you actually need this quarter? This lead generation forecasting tool might surprise you.
The lead generation waterfall / funnel is a powerful way to understand how leads are flowing through your sales cycle, (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, read Marketo’s excellent guides). However, talking to other marketers it seems that while many use the waterfall model to retrospectively evaluate last quarter’s performance, very few actually use…
Customer press releases are a powerful tool; but convincing customers to participate can be challenging. Here’s why.
It’s a safe bet that you’re familiar with Gartner’s hype cycle. Originally used to depict the relative maturity of emerging technologies, its beauty is its ability to be applied to almost anything – even beyond technology. One excellent example I learned from Will Gardiner at UK tech-PR firm CCgroup is how the hype cycle…
How to nail your next conference speaker slot
Navigating the many sponsorship options available to you at your next industry conference takes some thought. Do you stick with the basic stand, brand the lanyards, or perhaps sponsor a drinks reception? Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, all are viable considerations – ok, maybe not the drinks reception (never get suckered into that…
How to negotiate with conference organizers
Industry conferences and exhibitions can often be one of the most expensive marketing activities in your calendar. Remember, it’s not just the conference fees you have to budget for; swag, stand design and build, travel, staff accommodation, the list of expenses goes on. That’s not to say that these types of events aren’t valuable; they…
Market sizing using LinkedIn
Unless you have an expensive subscription to a service such Dunn and Bradstreet, or an even more expensive subscription to an analyst house, collating market sizing data can be a daunting task. You might have some historical internal data, but that’s of little use if you’re looking to size a new geography or industry vertical…
#Howto: Map your website CTAs to the buyer cycle
When was the last time you audited your website’s CTAs? Are you confident that each and every one is working as effectively as possible? It’s something that many people overlook, either randomly applying CTAs to pages or, worse still, reusing the same CTA page after page. However, with a little planning you can ensure your website traffic has…
Magical unicorns, bizarre job titles and late nights: How to nail your next customer demo
You’ve worked tirelessly for weeks and your demand generation and nurturing efforts have paid off. You’ve finally built a relationship with a target customer, you’ve engaged a key sponsor and now he’s coordinating a wider meeting for you to demo your product to his peers and internal decision makers. You can almost see the sales…
Five things that B2B marketers need to be thinking about in 2015
What should B2B marketers be thinking about in 2015? here’s my Top Five. 1. Hire marketing technologists now! Marketing automation gathered serious pace in 2014. Indeed technology continues to play an increasingly important part in our day-to-day lives; so much so that Gartner predicts CMOs will soon be the single largest budget holders for IT…
Crisis Comms: Why Sony can’t play the victim over “The Interview”
It’s crisis management time for Sony. Forget the celebrity-endorsed concerns over censorship, or the politically-charged debate over bowing to terrorist threats, there are a growing number of observers that are questioning Sony’s judgement in green lighting the film at all. When Sony Pictures pulled the release of The Interview – a comedy depicting the assassination…
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…
