3.19.2009

It has been a while since I have updated this - I am so ashamed. 

First things first, congratulations Boilers on winning the Big 10 Tourney and congrats on winning the first round game in the tourney - keep it up.

So far this tourney in general has not been too exciting, but something that is interesting to note is how slow twitter has been due to what I am guessing is a high tweet volume due to the tournament. The power of social media again shows that it is the future, marketers please keep paying attention. Traditional advertising is dead - there, I said it.

Sure, there were some OK ads at the Super Bowl like Shanapotomus - and the Jordan commercial with Rip Hamelton running right now is clever, but print ads are being pulled from budgets in B2B and B2C both and even when the economy comes back I don't see money going back - the smart money is going to Sales Enablement and Lead Generation and the smart strategy is social media, SEO and your corporate website. Working for the leading Sales Enablement software obviously biases me to what technology you should use for SE, but even if you don't use our software, make sure as marketers you are doing something to make sure your focus is on making sure your sales reps are having smarter, more efficient and effective communications in the field. Don't just make flashy glossies and white sheets, make sure you have tools that are easily customized for specific selling situations. Make sure sales can take what you have given them and customize it to the right audience at the right point in the selling situation (but make sure you do it in a way that they don't destroy your branding.) It is tough, but necessary.

The smart companies are the ones laying the groundwork now in both Sales Enablement and Social Media. Although all of these channels may not make sense for your business, some of them will - look at twitter, look at blogs, look at YouTube and Facebook, make sure you are represented on LinkedIn - but make sure you have a unified strategy in mind - also, above all remember to be authentic.

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