Category: Marketing Tactics
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During the Cold War, U.S. Army leaders in Europe faced a disconcerting situation. Their mission was to defend NATO member nations in the event of an attack by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The problem was, U.S./NATO ground forces were greatly outnumbered. During this period, Soviet army doctrine was to throw wave after wave of forces…
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Driving consistent, profitable revenue growth is one of the most persistent challenges that business and marketing leaders face. The key word in that sentence is “consistent.” Many companies can produce substantial revenue growth sporadically or over a short period of time. But it’s exceptionally difficult to consistently generate above-average growth over the long term. In…
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The findings of the August edition of The CMO Survey by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, the American Marketing Association, and Deloitte were published a few days ago. The latest results are based on responses from 341 marketing leaders at U.S. B2B and B2C companies. Sixty-four percent of the respondents were affiliated with B2B…
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More than two decades ago, Michael Porter warned about the dangers of relying on benchmarking and “best practices” to produce business success. In a landmark article in the Harvard Business Review, Porter drew a sharp distinction between operational effectiveness – which often involves identifying and implementing best practices – and real business strategy. Porter argued…
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In my previous two posts, I’ve discussed the expanding role of marketing in driving business growth. Recent research shows that many marketing leaders now believe they are primarily responsible for leading growth efforts in their organization, and that CEOs and other senior executives share this belief. The recent research also shows, however that leading growth…
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Most B2B marketing and sales professionals recognize that their more formidable competitor is usually the status quo. The grip of the status quo can result in longer sales cycles, stalled deals, and the dreaded “no decision.” Persuading prospects to move away from their status quo is a significant challenge, and there is no “silver bullet”…
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In 2015, Millennials became the largest generational cohort in the US population and the largest generation in the US labor force. Research studies by the IBM Institute for Business Value, Google/Millward Brown Digital, Sacunas (now Merit), and SnapApp/Heinz Marketing have shown that Millennials are now playing significant roles in B2B purchase decisions. So it seems clear…