The Wealthy Business - by EnergizeGrowth

The Missing Piece in the Four P’s of Marketing

Marketing planning is ostensibly simple, and everyone seems to have an opinion about how it should work. If that’s true, then why do so many growth initiatives fail?

I have worked with B2B companies and helped deploy dozens of growth initiatives over the past three decades. I’ve worked with very bright people. And yet, they wasted thousands, often millions, on projects that never achieve the returns they expected.

E.J. McCarthy, a marketing professor at Michigan State University, introduced the concept of the "Four Ps" of marketing in 1960. He promoted it as a way to guide the marketing mix. These Four Ps—Product, Place, Price, and Promotion--remain the blueprint for many marketing organizations.

This model is simply not adequate for today's growth-oriented companies and marketing organizations. Here’s why.

How to Escape the Commodity Trap

How often do you review your product and services portfolio to invest more in what's working, and get rid of what's not working? Some of your choices – especially if you lead a successful organization -- will not be popular. Yet they could be the difference between success and survival.

Let's look at Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of Newsweek Daily Beast, and her recent decision. In late 2012, she announced that they would stop distributing the Newsweek print edition. Their continued market decline forced Brown to make a tough decision. Brown announced that they would transfer print subscribers to Newsweek digital, and invest more in The Daily Beast news site.

Is Your Marketing Organization a Cost Center, or a Profit Center?

As a marketing leader, are you feeling pressure to drive higher top line revenues, yet lack the authority and influence to make it happen?

When I turned seven, I certainly felt that way-- like I had lost my footing. My parents moved from a small town in Connecticut to Morris Plains, New Jersey, a sprawling suburban jungle. It was a major social transition for me at the playground. I went from "local kickball hero" to "zero.” I was suddenly second string.

I have met many CMOs who feel the same way in the C-suite—and it’s worse when you are new to your position.

Four Steps to Becoming a Modern Marketer (Video)

Four Steps to Becoming a Modern Marketer

“I used to be magnetic; now I'm downright electrifying."

That aphorism came from best-selling author Jeffrey Hayzlett during one of his recent keynote sessions. 

Can you say that your marketing organization is electrifying? Do you feel that you are part of something big—I mean, industry-changing big?

Sadly, the recession has created some collateral damage in the business landscape. It has caused many companies to lose the courage and self-esteem to think like modern marketers. As a result, their organization views them as cost centers, not profit centers--and, hence, the first area that gets cut during a downturn.

The First Step to Becoming a Modern Marketing Leader

I just returned from an action-packed week at Eloqua Experience 2012 in Orlando, Florida.

Eloqua's much-anticipated keynote speaker was Jeffrey Hayzlett, author of the new bestseller, Running the Gauntlet. Eloqua's theme of becoming a modern marketer permeated the high-energy sessions, and Jeff's was no exception.

• Why it's important to cause tension in your organization
• The value of keeping good company
• Where to find inspiration

How Chief Content Officers Will Resurrect PR

The Holy Grail has inspired ancient Celtic folklore as well as many Hollywood adventure films. During last week's annual VOCUS User's Conference, I discovered that the modern-day Holy Grail for marketing communications -- relevant, powerful content -- also inspires marketing professionals during times of turmoil.

First, let me provide some Grail folklore for context. Some claim that St. Joseph of Arimathea used the Grail to collect Christ's blood and sweat while Joseph tended him on the Cross. According to Brittania, "After Christ's death, Joseph was apparently imprisoned in a rock tomb...Left to starve, he was sustained for several years by the power of the Grail which provided him with fresh food and drink every morning."

CMOs Need to Ask the Right Questions

I recently attended the Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit at the Gannett headquarters office in Vienna, Virginia.This information-packed day of keynotes,panels, and nonstop networking was worth the price of admission.

If you are seeking answers and major breakthrough ideas, then my takeaways may surprise and disappoint you.I did not discover any new technology breakthroughs.I didn't meet a plethora of hot ustomer-centric growth companies, although CustomInk has great potential and will be featured in a future post.

Instead, I left with a series of questions about the future of Marketing in this increasingly complex,technology-addicted business world. Here are some contemporary questions that every CMO and VP of Marketing needs to raise:

1. Does our messaging and content strategy improve our customers' lives in some way, or are we simply tooting our horn? Even CMO Mike Volpe admits that they have reduced their content development by 0%-40% per month. (see my exclusive interview with Mike below). Customers and prospects are simply inundated with information and ignoring the messenger.
2. Where can we get the highest return on our social media efforts? A recent UMass Dartmouth study found that the percentage of companies who blog dropped from 50% to 37% in 2011.They are now shifting their social media resources to Facebook and LinkedIn.Building "Likes" and followers does not always translate into educating your customers and improving their lives.
3. How will CMOs demonstrate a strong ROI on integrated marketing? Even the most seasoned CMOs are grappling with how to make integrated marketing pay off. Jason Jue, CMO of Vocus, stressed that it's a delicate balance between message marketing and metrics marketing.I love salesforce.com because they found a way to do this.They use news releases very effectively to drive people to read their content and drive more web traffic." Jason is right. When Salesforce.com was founded, it was viewed as an ASP. Today, they live in the upper right quadrant of the social enterprise industry ategory.
4. What can CMOs do to balance the important, creative, playful aspects of marketing with left-brain analytics and planning? Sadly,the Summit succumbed to the sexy technology topics:blogging, inbound marketing, mobile marketing, and marketing automation.A soupcon of the importance of deepening customer connections emerged during the "Newest Trends in B2B Marketing" panel. According to Debra Lavoy, Director of Product Marketing from OpenText, says it well. "The role of Marketing is to become Chief Storyteller.The art of storytelling pulls teams together and has a huge impact on the customer." Her point of view was simply refreshing.
5. How will CMOs drive revenue streams, not just demand streams? Brian Reed, CMO of BoxTone, shared how his company operates among dozens of competitors and often struggles to stand out above the noise.They needed to get creative. "We shifted position from technology providers to strategic advisors by approaching health care companies, and showing them how to enter the nonprofit arena."
6. Whom will we trust with our marketing planning strategies? No CMO can go it alone. The marketing landscape is rife with technology posers, boring branding agencies, and bright shiny objects. Consider firms who create new categories, such as Hubspot, as potential growth partners. Here are some words of wisdom from Mike Volpe, Hubspot CMO.

Storytellers. Innovators. CIOs in training. Community activists. Statisticians. The final question to ponder is "what will CMOs be when they grow up?"

Related posts:

Why CMOs are Becoming Extinct

The Four P's of Marketing Need a Facelift

Nine Common Obstacles that Derail Growth

Scrapping Billable Hours For A More Client-Friendly B2B Service

Don't walk into Clearspire's D.C. headquarters and expect to be impressed. Spartan furnishings and a simple glass sign adorn the waiting room. You may not believe you are in the right place--the offices lack the posh trappings of an emerging law practice competing against the top 200 firms.

Yet they represent the new face of the legal profession. And they are winning global Fortune 500 clients by focusing not on the quality of their office trappings, but on the way in which they deliver and manage client engagements. Other B2B companies would be wise to learn how Clearspire is changing the client rules of engagement in a traditionally secretive, high touch, low-tech field.

EnergizeGrowth Goes Dutch: Podcast on Growing Mindshare and Market Share

I recently discovered a like-minded company from the Netherlands--Energize NL. Founder Klaas Weima recently interviewed me on key growth issues, including:

• The biggest obstacles to growth
• How leaders address a slowdown in growth
• What is BS, and how it impedes market growth 

This 22 minute discussion provides some Cliff Notes on my latest book.

Click here to download:
http://www.energize.nl/wat-we-delen/sparkcast/?sce=46

Click here to listen on iTunes:
http://tinyurl.com/6z64e6q

Copyright 2011, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Are Your Presentations Powerful or Pathetic? 4 Profitable, Persuasive Presentation Preparation Tips

Over the past month, I attended three conferences. Each one brought together some of the greatest minds in B2B sales and marketing. Sadly, some of their presentations distracted us from their important messages. A chronic case of PPD (Pathetic Presentation Disorder) surreptitiously sabotaged their agenda.