Had coffee yesterday with a friend of mine from the Annuitas Group. They specialize in lead process management for increasing sales and marketing ROI. Great conversation on how the world of marketing is changing, and how rapidly it is happening. The biggest thing anyone can do is simply keep up. If you don't you're done. You can lead the charge, follow the charge or get out of the way (if you don't you're going to be run over).
The use of technology, lead nurturing, marketing automation, variable data printing is very important, but the human touch cannot be forgotten. It's the little things that matter to people. In this world of the iPhone and smart mailboxes, when's the last time you hand-wrote a note and really thought about your professional relationships? People buy and do business with people they like.
How likeable are you? What ways can you or do you bring the human touch into business?
A lot is talked about the marketing mix. But what about your business mix? What % of your time makes up the following:
- Client work
- New business
- Networking
- Social media writing/posting
- Social media surfing articles/information
- Proposal writing
There's definitely not a right or wrong answer to this. It's dependant on your business, it's objectives and your time. For me anyway, this is always shifting (somewhat). Client work must always come first, then proposal writing and new biz. Social media stuff and then networking. This a rough order in which I prioritize my "work day". What about you? What's your mix?
‘ Don’t let you prospects or customers forget about you. Out of sight = Out of Mind’
http://9inchmarketing.com/
Great article on B2B websites, from the Marketing Interactions blog. Check it out.
most-b2b-websites-still-suck.html