media - Artful Thinkers

February 28, 2017June 1, 2017

Marketing is Growth Hacking

Marketing is defined as the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. Is that not really a definition for growing a business?

There are many applications and tactics used in marketing today to build audiences, engage customers and drive revenues.

Separation of growth and marketing does not serve any business well, small or large. Metric-driven association to the business goals must be the primary function and purpose of marketing. In the present, this often has a digital orientation whether you are defining these outcomes to market share, product sales, customer loyalty, new customers, retention, clicks or pipeline velocity. Marketing results should be measured by growth, no matter the tactic or application.

When we entered into the digital age, marketers began to alter course in search of new ways to best attract eyeballs, motivate actions and engage with consumers. In this shift, there were many in the start-up world that felt that marketing was not fluid or quick enough to make this transition. The inertia of the start-up needed immediate and innovative solutions to meet the high volume growth requirements, most of which were heavily reliant on online methods of marketing.

A scramble for “new” resources and technologies ensued and marketers were soon heavily influenced by a community of “outside” thinkers and doers that had unique skills and talents not housed within their formal marketing departments. It was the beginning of what we know have come to know today as “growth hacking,” which is sometimes referenced as the antithesis of traditional marketing.

The term “growth hacker” was first introduced by Sean Ellis in 2010. Sean Ellis is CEO and co-founder of GrowthHackers.com, the number one online community built for growth hackers, with 1.8 million global users and over 350,000 new monthly visitors. Sean is an author, lecturer and the producer of the Growth Hackers Conference.

Yet, great marketers principled in traditions also see growth hacking as core to how they have always viewed their progressive role within an organization. Marketing is helping a business grow. To meet the demands of the business, top marketers are always in pursuit of new tools, processes, people and technologies to apply to the discipline in order to help the organization achieve its goals.

Marketing is core to any growth-oriented business that seeks to improve results on the investments that are designed to expand markets, promote products and drive sales.

Marketing should never be stagnant in thought or application, or it is useless (and probably needs a new leader). Marketing can not be motionless and standard. It must be dynamic, agile and fast-paced to keep up with the ever changing environments that impact financial results and performance every day.

Traditional marketing is good for textbooks; however, rarely is meaningful in the real-world. Marketing changes daily because of the innovations in platforms, mediums, design, research, intelligence and so much more. This constant change impacts how marketers drive awareness, engagement, influence and the customer experience. Growth hacking may be a a term that makes marketing feel youthful, hip and in tune with the digital world; however, marketing can never be successful if it stays traditional in its approach and utilization.

Growth hacking is marketing in the digital age.

Calling marketing “growth hacking” or renaming a Chief Marketing Officer to a Chief Growth Officer only puts words on activities and titles that should be at the forefront of every good marketer’s strategic playbook. The words may be necessary to focus an organization on strategic objectives and rally the troops to identify with the direction of the organization; however, relevance of growth should always be leading marketing’s responsibilities and role within an organization.

Growth should be marketing-led by which the business is representing and enacting strategies for brand, loyalty, satisfaction and the customer journey. This means that marketing strategy must deploy a variety of tactics that fall into a “growth hackers” profile and required expertise, including:

Web
Analytics
Affiliate Marketing
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Social Media
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Digital Media (Graphics and Video)
Content Marketing
Customer Feedback
MarTech and Automation
Lead Generation and Sales Operations Software
Mobile and App Store Optimization

Experts in each of these areas of responsibility often require unique skills and diverse capabilities. While some of the tactics may be combined into roles, marketing leadership must often rely on internal and external resources to deliver in all of these areas.

Leading a marketing organization today also requires access to experts beyond the walls of the marketing function. One suggestion is to assemble growth hacker work groups from functional areas within finance, technology, sales, product development and innovation. Some of the roles that can contribute to growth initiatives include: software developers, engineers, analysts and qualitative researchers, business intelligence analysts, AI and robotics, data specialists, as well as QA testers and reviewers.

In the 1950’s, Neil Borden defined the “Four P’s of Marketing” as product, price, place and promotion. Traditional and still applicable today; however, how we market is always changing because of innovation in products, services, delivery and experience.

Most customer journeys are influenced by digital involvement. Often, products and services are completely or have some components of digital today. Price is influenced by the research available to consumers online and most decisions are made before even engaging with the brand. The places people acquire products and services are online and expanding faster than traditional brick and mortar. Promotion is often part of or solely on channels and platforms that are online. All of this requires growth hacking resources, skills, processes, technologies and expertise.

Growth hacking is fundamental to marketing. Marketing is essential for growth, whether hacking or traditional. How we combine efforts, expand our expertise and work together will define how fast we get to our goals.

Jamie Glass, President + CMO, Artful Thinkers, a sales and marketing consulting company.

February 17, 2013February 17, 2013

Every Business Should Do a Harlem Shake Video

The latest Internet phenomenon takes place in 30 second flashes. In a short two week span, tens of thousands of videos have been uploaded to YouTube and some garnering millions of views. Each video has it’s own unique interpretation of the same electronic dance mix song by Baauer.

There are versions underwater, on ski slopes, in locker rooms and on office desktops. The concept is the same for all. One person dances while others go about their normal business. The person usually wears a mask or some sort of limited disguise.The beat picks up, the video cuts and then entire group erupts into a spontaneous, non-choreographed breakout of “dance” in a variety of costumes. Move over Psy, Gangnam Style is out. Now, we are crazed by the Harlem Shake.

College baseball teams, celebrities and high school clubs have Harlem Shake videos. Start-ups and tech companies have created their version of the Harlem Shake. Gyms, mega brands and skateboard makers have a video. College campuses are doing the shake. Media companies, the military and even the newsroom have created their own version. From all around the world, the Harlem Shake is shaking it up!

There are no skills required, just one song, a video camera, and a costume. It is self-evident dance skills are NOT a prerequisite. In fact, the less skills the better. Even Beanie Babies are making a comeback with their Harlem Shake.

Who knows how long the Harlem Shake madness will continue. It may be short lived and over before the real March Madness begins or it may go on for a long time. Regardless, it is time to jump on the bandwagon. Avoid the critics, naysayer and those that don’t get it. They won’t and it doesn’t matter. The benefits of making the video outweigh those that will forever be refusing to play along. We need to lighten up, have some fun and laugh! It’s time. It’s time to Harlem Shake.

Here are a few of the reasons why you should convince your friends, colleagues or teammates to make a 30 second video:

1. Creativity – We all have an inner desire to use our creative skills and what better way to express yourself then dressing up and dancing with your friends at work. Let the creative juices flow. We need a way to express ourselves and sometimes casual Friday’s aren’t enough. Let the creative side of your business take center stage and watch in amusement at all the pent up imagination in your office.

2. Team Building – A company that dances together, stays together. There is a reason to get everyone out of their chair for 30 seconds of craziness. It’s uplifting and rewarding to know you can work hard and play hard together. Show your spontaneity. We are all under a lot of stress to deliver, on time or ahead of schedule. What better way to be all in “it” together!

3. Cooperation – Everyone has a role in the video.There are no superstars. Whether you put a banana peel on your head or give heart-to-heart resuscitation to a stuffed dinosaur, there is a place for you in the breakout version. All you have to do is show up and shake. When is the last time you could get an entire group to center on a single initiative? Cooperation is underrated. It might spill over into other projects or initiatives.

4. Culture – Who knew your workmates were so much fun? Who knew that all your workmates had a costume waiting to be worn? One is not to question the attire, simply let the values you post on your website standout in a 30 second commercial of your diversity in action. Show why you are a best place to work.

5. Fun – All business, all the time is so 80s. Let it go. We want to laugh with each other, we want to shed tears of joy, we want to get up and dance! If we enjoy what we do, we will do better. Give everyone the gift of having fun together. Recruiting might be a little easier when employees are talking about how much they love their job.

6. Promotion – Maybe, just maybe you create a video and it gets millions of views. Out of curiosity, a few of the million viewers then go to your website to find out more about the cool, fun people in the video. A little PR never hurts any business. Give us a positive reason to talk about you.

It is time to shake it up! Happiness is contagious. Get the crew together, make a video and add to our entertainment. We are searching out the videos. Do it before the craze is over and we are on to the next. We are laughing and we love watching you have make fun together. It says a lot about your business.

Jamie Glass, Founder, President and CMO of Artful Thinkers

February 12, 2013

2013 Marketing Forecast Report Summary by Software Advice

Guest Post by Software Advice, Ashley Verrill

Traditional forms of marketing, such as direct mail, print and television advertising, continue to fall out of favor with business-to-business marketers, according to our recently-released Software Advice report.

We received responses from 155 primarily executive-level marketers in a poll we called the B2B Demand Generation Benchmark Survey. They were asked about spending plans for the New Year; as well as which channels, content and offers they find most powerful for producing quality and quantity of leads.

The sample included primarily smaller businesses, with marketing budgets of $250,000 or less, although there was some representation in the tiers up to $100 million in marketing spend. The sample was also primarily from technology companies with less than 100 people.

One of the first things we discovered were the most popularly-used channels. Email marketing to a house list came in as the most-used channel, followed by search engine optimization, social media (not ads) and trade shows.

These results reflect an increased focus on what’s popularly called “inbound marketing,” or driving traffic to your site from customers already searching for your product. Many times these channels are also lower cost. You’ll notice a correlation between the cost per lead of each channel and their popularity in the chart below. Trade shows was one exception to this trend.

One thing marketers need to be careful about, however, is the quality of leads from these channels. Even if the cost is low, it’s important that your return on investment translates over into the kinds of leads your getting from each channel. Lead scoring is one good way to measure this quality. This usually includes gauging factors such as the decision-making power of the contact, their purchase timeline, budget, industry, or what kinds of content they’ve interacted with or downloaded.

“If you just look at a program on the surface from a solely cost perspective you might never realize it’s just not bringing back the right people. You could end up with a whole database full of contacts of people that will probably never buy from you,” said Elle Woulfe, marketing programs director for Eloqua.

In this regard, the sample agreed that in-house email marketing and SEO provide the most high-quality leads because they are prospects that have proactively sought out your company or product. They’ve clicked on a link, and want to consume something that you are offering. While social media is popular, it has yet to produce such quality leads, at least as consistently as other channels.

Also interesting, 3rd-party lead originators and search engine advertising received the largest percentage of votes for being high quantity channels, yet they didn’t score high on the popularity scale. This is likely due to cost, but again these are often really high quality leads. Marketers should look at the total cost-to-spend ratio.

Despite marketers admitting social media doesn’t produce quality or quantities of leads on a consistent basis, the channel received among the highest percentage of votes for elevated spending in 2013. This more likely to do with the buzz than anything else.

Even if you are a director of marketing and see how all of these programs perform, likely a CMO ahead of you is saying, “You need invest in these programs because that’s what everyone is doing.”

For questions about content, marketers didn’t mirror the trend as far as prioritizing high quality or quantity of leads. Videos, for example, was listed as the second most popular, yet didn’t score well on our scale for quality or quantity.

This is likely due large part to the marketers need to produce content in a way that customers want to consume it. Videos are popular because people don’t have as much time to read.

Content success has a lot to do with where you are targeting customers in the sales funnel. A video testimonial from a customer, for example, could convert really well for high-scoring leads that are near the end of the sales funnel.

Alternatively, a lot of content is used pre-funnel and not meant to be highly-converting. It’s more about getting the customer educated and developing preference over time. For this reason, a one-size fits all approach to content can backfire. You need to measure success against varying goals.

Guest Post by Ashley Verrill
Ashley Verrill is a market analyst with Software Advice. She has spent the last six years reporting and writing business news and strategy features. Her work has appeared in myriad publications including Inc., Upstart Business Journal, the Austin Business Journal and the North Bay Business Journal. Before joining Software Advice in 2012, she worked in sales management and advertising. She is a University of Texas graduate with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

June 17, 2012

What is Your Marketing Meme?

Viral Marketing — Will Your Meme Go Viral?

A meme (pronounced meem) is a packet of social information. Marketing memes are word associations, beyond a tag line or slogan, that take complex concepts or ideas and make them simple and easy to communicate.

A meme is defined in Wikipedia as “a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena.”

Effective memes are potent messaging serums, dripped out over time that enter into our brains and stick. Think of your marketing meme as your viral message. Who you represent, what you do and what you offer, tightly packaged into one memorable soundbite.

Memes are easy to replicate. Good memes always communicate value and benefit. It is the message you want propagated all over the world about you and your business.

I first learned about crafting memes from a Fortune 500 marketing expert who spent his time coaching several solopreneurs on how to market their own businesses. To some, it may seem odd that an experienced marketing executive would spend weeks learning how to market themselves. Admittedly, I was resistant at first. After all, I have been responsible for marketing multiple million dollar business for years.

Attitude and all, I threw myself into doing something I was avoiding — marketing me! It is hard to market yourself, let alone dedicate the time required to build your own marketing communications plan. Truthfully, I needed the discipline and focus to develop my own meme. In the end, besides a business card, it was the best marketing investment I made in starting my own business.

An effective marketing meme is a single powerful statement that communicates the benefits of your products and services. Here are some simple steps to help you craft an effective marketing meme:

1. In one sentence, write down what you do for your customers.

2. Next sentence describe the value you provide to your customers.

3. Outline the problems you solve in the last sentence.

4. Now start cutting! Combine the three sentences into one very simple, benefit-oriented sentence. Answer who, what and why it matters in a single sentence.

5. Test your meme with the following questions: Can you repeat that sentence over and over again? It is easy to remember? Will your meme invite people to want to know more?

Memes are clear value propositions that roll off the tip of your tongue at every introduction. An effective meme is not a slogan or headline. It is not an elevator pitch. You rarely get 30 to 60 seconds to cite a rehearsed sales pitch. It needs to be tight, concise and memorable.

Memes create lasting impressions. They are the words people will carry with them and tell others about you and your business. Marketers often suggest that it takes seven times before a message really sticks. It’s called the Rule of Seven. Will your meme be repeated by every person you tell seven times or more? If so, then you have truly created an effective, viral marketing meme!

Invest time in creating your meme and start sharing it with world. Repeat it often, in presentations, in meetings, on the web. Make sure your meme is a simple message that leaves us wanting more.

Special Note: This post is dedicated to my friend and marketing mentor John Coyne. He patiently worked with me to create my Artful Thinkers meme. His influence and teachings are still making an impact. He will always have a lasting impression. RIP my friend.

December 1, 2011

The Gift of Content

For the past two decades, I have been marketing and selling in industries that continually define their value proposition based on their most precious asset. We all proclaim, “Content is King!” In fact, you might even be able to claim some superiority if you have more content in one form or another. Supremacy is measured by words, pages, titles, key words, programs – all centered by amassed volume!

The fact remains, size does matter when you are establishing a monarchy. Content leads an empire over technology and services, as neither could exist without some type of content. Content rules over technology because it is simply the enabler. Content reigns over services because it simply applies rules for access and engagement.

Content matters. There are still classes of content. There is no argument that you can try to “win” over the masses in simple content population contest. Most words, stories, white papers, research, collateral. In the end, mass does not increase worth. Content is really only valuable when it is relevant and engaging. Originality creates the highest value. Purity of content gives power. Losing all the spin and focusing on relevance will give content strength. Content with personality that uses real stories, experience and expertise is what is most valuable. In the end, content with integrity matters more.

Where your content kingdom resides is also imperative to the value. Original content with personality is irrelevant if it is invisible. It needs a home with a lot of good company. The company must have the same interests as the content provider. The home should be warm, inviting and engaging. Finding it in the back alleys of the Internet, also known as page 13 in search, simply means you might have good content but picked a bad location. The neighborhood of your content will have an impact on the value. Your content rules when you consider location, location, location and optimize.

To be the “King of Content” requires careful planning. Amassing a library of superior content that is relative gives power; however, having a targeted audience to engage and influence will keep you on top. Great content is a gift to your audience. It will keep on giving and giving if you leverage quality and quantity matched equally location. Work with a publisher that reaches your audience, an audience who will appreciate your influence and expertise. Then, you can rise to the top and really declare that your content is king!

First Published on EmpowHER Media
http://www.empowhermedia.com/content/the-gift-of-content/

Jamie Glass
Senior Vice President of Sales, EmpowHER Media
Twitter: @EmpowHERJamie