Almost everyone in high-tech marketing at some point in his or her career has grimaced trying to sell an under-powered, feature-starved, or buggy solution. For many, helping sell weak products defines a technology marketing career. But by getting a marketing liaison -- armed with customer data -- into the product development trenches early, marketing can work with developers to deliver a product that can both be built and that will appeal to prospects.
Recently in Strategic advice Category
Vendor blogging initiatives offer great reward, but a project can stumble when facing the inevitable challenges of creating and approving content and reacting to negative feedback. In this post, we will examine some of the issues of vendor blogging, look at ways to easily spot and try and mitigate these issues, and, finally, talk about the role of third parties in providing a blog management service.
Many organizations are tempted to outsource telesales, but without processes in place and without understanding the best model for the company, contracting with a third-party can do more harm than good. In this post, we discuss how to get your telesales processes in order and debate the various models for telesales.
Corporate blogs can provide tremendous return, such as expanding your market awareness, automatically filling your sales pipeline, and helping you uncover potential product opportunities. But should you resist the temptation or start posting today? Based on our real world experience, we outline the critical steps to follow in order to develop and maintain an effective blog.
It's January, and that means every marketing and public relations (PR) expert in almost any industry -- not just the technology and consumer electronics (CE) markets -- must deal with the awe, jealously, and bewilderment of the media frenzy generated by Apple. No other company can expect to duplicate the success of Apple. So outside of being green with envy, the key is to understand what aspects of the Apple PR machine -- and how the media responds -- can be used to your advantage. Learn where you can, imitate when you can, and explore how to improve your PR efforts.
We recently received an email from a PR company proclaiming, "Direct Sales Does Not Sell!" While it has a ring of authority, we don't back the call. Direct sales isn't dead -- it's just a different animal today. While it certainly doesn't sound as provocative, the message should really read: "Traditional direct sales tactics are not enough to win over more sophisticated, plugged-in customers."
