Marketing Thought: Tools, Tactics and Strategies that Drive Results

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Marketing Thought Tools, Tactics, and Strategies that Drive Results

Edited By Alex Littlewood

20660 Stevens Creek Blvd. Suite 210 Cupertino, CA 95014

Copyright © 2008 by Quick2Publish™ All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author(s) assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. First Printing: January, 2008 Paperback ISBN: 1-60005-089-1 (978-1-60005-089-3) Place of Publication: Silicon Valley, California, USA Paperback Library of Congress Number: 2007910439 eBook ISBN: 1-60005-090-5 (978-1-60005-090-9)

Trademarks All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Happy About® cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Quick2Publish™ is an imprint of Happy About®

Warning and Disclaimer Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied. The information provided is on an "as is" basis. The authors and the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to an loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book.

Marketing Thought Publishing Contest Inside you’ll read the groundbreaking ideas and concepts submitted by your fellow marketers, including the top three winning entries: • SVAMA’s Marketing Thought Leader of the Year, Karen O’Brien of Crimson Consulting and her winning entry: “Web2.0 Makes You Rethink the Basics” • Runner-up entry presented by Mark Cavender and Michael Eckhardt of the Chasm Institute, “Marketing Disruptive Innovations to Consumers: Myths vs. Realities“ • Third Place winner, Mar Junge of c3PR, with her entry: “Everybody LOVES a Juicy Story” Also Inside, Quotes From Other Marketing Thought Leaders

“If you really want to brand something, you really have to start with something that has meaning - something that changes the world.” Guy Kawasaki, Garage Ventures

PR does not equal Press Release and brand does not equal logo.Behavior is the true indicator of communication's impact. Tim Marklein, Executive VP, Weber Shandwick “Commit to your customers' success. If you want to get positive word of mouth, you need to put your arms around your customers and hug them and be their advocate.” Steven Nicks, The Phelon Group

It's all about finding the answers and helping users find the answers they need. None of this is easy. The best thing to do is just jump in. Scott Wilder, GM – Online Communities, Intuit

Life is a relationship business. The fundamental core competency of sales people and leaders is influence. Chris Widener, President, MadeForSuccess.com

Dedication Dedicated to the members of the Silicon Valley chapter of the American Marketing Association. We are committed to helping you Stay Connected and Stay Informed! Thank you for your membership, support, and participation.

Acknowledgements We want to acknowledge all those that have played a role in this book. The list was so big that we created Appendix B to recognize and thank them.

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Happy About books available include: • 42 Rules of Marketing: http://happyabout.info/42rules/marketing.php • The Home Run Hitter's Guide to Fundraising: http://happyabout.info/homerun-fundraising.php • Overcoming Inventoritis: http://happyabout.info/overcoming-inventoritis.php • They Made It!: http://happyabout.info/theymadeit.php • I’m on LinkedIn--Now What???: http://happyabout.info/linkedinhelp.php • Happy About Online Networking: http://happyabout.info/onlinenetworking.php • Expert Product Management: http://happyabout.info/expertproductmanagement.php • Rule#1: Stop Taling: http://happyabout.info/listenerspress/stoptalking.php • Scrappy Project Management: http://happyabout.info/scrappyabout/project-management.php • The Business Rule Revolution: http://happyabout.info/business-rule-revolution.php • Offshoring Secrets: http://happyabout.info/offshoring-secrets.php • Awakening Social Responsibility: http://happyabout.info/csr.php • Foolosophy: http://happyabout.info/foolosophy.php

C o n t e n t s Intro

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Part 1

Quotes from Practitioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 B2B Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Branding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Direct Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 eMail Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Integrated Marketing Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 International Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Internet Marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Market Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Marketing Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Marketing Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Multicultural Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Online Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Online Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Product Engineering and Product Marketing . . . . . .29 Public Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Strategic Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Technology Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Word of Mouth Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Part 2

Leadership Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Web 2.0 Makes You Rethink the Basics . . . . . . . . . 43 Marketing Disruptive Innovations to Consumers: Myths vs. Realities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Everybody Loves a Juicy Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Mobilizing Advocates Online to Drive Dramatic Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Making Lead Nurturing Part of Every Strategy . . . . .60 Where is the Marketing Leadership? . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Marketing Thought

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Marketing Leadership: Five Steps to Move Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 The 5Ts of Marketing Operations™: Beyond the 4Ps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Making “Solutions” into More than Marketing Spiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Going beyond Language: Using Word of Mouth and other High Context Strategies to Connect with Today’s Cross-Cultural Consumer . . . . . . . . . . 81 Integration? Strategy? Let's Face It: Marketing Needs a New MO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 A Manifesto for Microsponsorships . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 What is Marketing Anyway?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 The Power of Social Genes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 How Do You Show Up As A Marketer? . . . . . . . . . . 95 Engagement is Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Visual & Verbal Palettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Appendix A

Keynote Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Guy Kawasaki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Andy Sernovitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Appendix B

Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 About SVAMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

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Editor

About the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Your Book

Create Thought Leadership for your Company . . . 117 Why wait to write your book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Books

Sampling of Quick2Publish Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Contents

I n t r o

Introduction Marketing is all about meeting the needs and wants of the customer. While this statement remains a fundamental truth, the reality is that the focus and direction of marketing activities has always changed with the times, the socio-political climate, and the prevalent culture. The content of this book was developed on the premise that revolutionary innovations begin with an idea that addresses a challenge, or a set of challenges, that we face today. It focuses on high level concepts that can be filtered down to accelerate and enhance the use of tools, tactics, and strategies that drive results. These pages show you how some of marketing’s brightest stars seek to define the next big idea that will change the face of the industry. You will also gain insight into the role of dynamic marketing professionals who contribute to bringing these ideas to life. Much of the knowledge in this book was captured through SVAMA (Silicon Valley chapter of the American Marketing Association) initiatives, including the Marketing Thought Conference conducted in May 2007. We hope it will help you to focus your marketing efforts and strategies to add value to your brands and organization.

Marketing Thought

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2

Intro

P a r t

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Quotes from Practitioners

Distinguished thought leaders in marketing share with us their unique and innovative concepts, tips, and actionable ideas with lasting value.

B2B Marketing The singular challenges of B2B marketing are distilled in these quotes from experts and marketing thought leaders.

Andrew Pritchard, Senior Dir, Americas Marketing, Hyperion Solutions

Sales leaders must feel that Field Marketing Managers and Direct Response reps report directly to them, especially if they don't. Business development goal: Accelerate organic growth through alliance partners, deals, strategic initiatives. Don't expect OEM partners to simply hand over a list of customer names and contacts.

Marketing Thought

3

John Neesom, Managing Director and Founder, Serius Decisions

Sales cycles are getting longer with more people involved in every decision.

Steven Nicks, EVP and Founding Partner, The Phelan Group

People believe 1) their own experience, 2) the experience of their friends and colleagues, 3) the word of industry analysts, 4) vendor words. Where do you spend your marketing dollars?

Longer sales cycles demand bigger pipelines to achieve increased quotas. Understand your customer buying cycle, not your sales cycle.

Plan for negative WOM (word of mouth): What will you say? Who will be responsible to act? What is the process? What kind of legal constraints will there be? If you are going to do a customer reference program, you really need to be structured because the negative possibilities are great. Commit to your customers' success. If you want to get positive word of mouth, you need to put your arms around your customers and hug them and be their advocate.

Branding Brands are critical marketing assets, often as important to your success as your products themselves. Read what marketing leaders have to say about brands and branding, and learn how to develop for yourself the promise of a strong brand.

4

Chapter 1: Quotes from Practitioners

Guy Kawasaki, CEO, Garage Ventures

If you really want to brand something, you really have to start with something that has meaning--something that changes the world. Whatever is gold, Guy touches. Increase the quality of life. Right a wrong. Prevent the end of something good. Seize the moral high ground. A brand can only represent one message. Seize a niche. The most effective way to brand something is to focus on PR. Great brands that are understood and live for a long time achieve a level of humanness. They appeal to emotion, not the intellect.

Ryan J. Donovan, Director, Corporate Media Relations, Hewlett Packard

Marketing Thought

As companies start to appreciate how brands drive value, it will drive strategy.

5

David Perls, Director of Brand Strategy, Jack Morton Worldwide

Mary Shank Rockman, Founder, MSR Communications

Inform and motivate key employee segments so that they can fulfill the brand promise. Focus on brand drivers and have [employees] act as ambassadors, influencing and inspiring other key segments.

PR affects brands across all touch points. Brand attributes and key differentiators must be clearly defined and leveraged in unique ways.

Frank Cutitta, CEO, The Center for Global Branding

Top brands in the world--Microsoft, GE, Coca Cola & China Mobile.

Tim Marklein, EVP, Weber Shandwick

PR does not equal Press Release and brand does not equal logo. PR's advantage: In-depth, credible, lasting impact across a brand's total environment.

Customers Building a strong customer base is a requisite for the long term success of your brands and organization. Knowing your customer is only a first step. Here is thought leadership on focusing, engaging, and servicing your customer.

6


John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems

Customer success and satisfaction are at the heart of Cisco's business strategy and key drivers to our current and future success.

Tom Paolucci, Director, Client Services, Leverage Software

Get barriers out of the way. A community gives customers a voice--a place where they can meet like-minded people, share ideas, and stay engaged. Community control techniques: Limit access, restrict functions, filters, moderators.

Derek Gordon, Vice President, Marketing, Technorati

Social media on the web--blogs, vlogs, podcasts, video games--is exploding. The image of the earth from afar transformed our understanding of the planet. Our understanding of markets and conversation is similarly developing. Control is so 20th Century.

Alison Shaffer, Senior Mgr, Direct / Database Marketing, WebEx

Marketing Thought

The first rule of database marketing: Know your customer!

7

Lynn Hunsaker, Customer Retention Expert, ClearAction

Traditionally, customer engagement has meant having a contract with a customer. It has come to mean much more in more recent times. An emotional element is usually included in contemporary definitions.

Julie Busch, Vice President, Ipsos North America

Know your customer profitability--how much money you are making from each of your customers--and provide great service to those who provide you great profit. Differentiate. You must differentiate and you must help your customers understand how you are different.

Jeffery Shumacher, Associate Partner, McKinsey and Company

All consumers buy on two things--greed and fear.

Terry G. Vavra, Author of ‘Loyalty Myths’

Loyalty is the emotional glue that sticks a customer to a product or company.

Most of the things that we are seeing today is [sic] customers struggling with complexity. Look at what else [customers] are doing when they are using your product.

There will always be businesses and brands who tend to be price leaders. Loyalty strategies are really for companies who deliver high-touch and high-quality products and services. The old rule of Customer Loyalty: Whoever retains the largest proportion of their current customers, wins!

8


Terry G. Vavra, Author of ‘Loyalty Myths’

The road to profitability through customer loyalty is riddled with potholes, bad roads and with deceptive road maps. It is really not that easy. All businesses have three types of customers: Desired customers, break-even customers, costly customers. Don't manage for customer retention before you manage for customer selection. Customer loyalty takes more time to grow than most management teams have to give. Focus on customers' share of wallet--don't disregard those customers with low current shares. Loyalty requires mutually beneficial interaction; most loyalty programs are tilted in the company's favor. The chain from loyalty to profits is twisted and complex. Satisfied and loyal employees can make a difference, but customer satisfaction and loyalty can and often do occur in the absence of employee satisfaction and loyalty. Customer loyalty and brand imagery are far from independent; you must manage them hand-in-hand. The new rule of Customer Loyalty: Whoever grows and retains the large proportion of their best customers, wins!

Marketing Thought

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Direct Marketing Direct marketing can be an important marketing channel for your organization. How do you make yourself heard above the crowd? How do you project your uniqueness and harness the power of direct marketing into your marketing strategy? These tips from our thought leaders show the way…

Gary Wright, CEO, G. A. Wright Marketing, Inc.

Success in the direct mail space requires: customer data, personalization, high relevance, information offers, color, good timing, good offer, good copy, good sales people, and a lot of testing.

Barry Stamos, Senior Director of Strategy, Responsys

We are all here to do individual one-on-one marketing. More and more organizations are undergoing extreme makeovers with respect to email marketing. If you are sending emails from an in-house home-grown email system, stop. It is too difficult get through the noise, and spammers are experts at that. Look at your bounce rate and multiply that by three to get the total number of emails going into a junk mail folder, being held up by Postini or other things preventing your email from getting through.

10


eMail Marketing eMail marketing is finding mainstream acceptance as a legitimate and profitable marketing avenue. Can you ensure that your email marketing campaign meets its targets for visibility and responsiveness? Here are some pointers from an expert.

Barry Stamos, Senior Director of Strategy, Responsys

Email marketing industry [is] beginning to stabilize. Spam is not affecting the industry. Email marketing has never been better. People spend 5 to 8 seconds reviewing each email to decide if they want to read more. Look at your bounce rate and multiply that by three to get the total number of emails going into a junk mail folder, being held up by Postini or other things preventing your email from getting through. Your open rate is dependent on [the] from line, [the] subject line and what is visible in your preview pane. From lines: your organization and not an individual. Subject lines: Include your company name in the subject line. Most people don't scan both address and the subject line. If they see only the subject line, they need to know it is from you. Preview panes: A summary of your message in the first three lines or less. Many people are reading your email on a Blackberry or other handheld and they can only see three lines.

Marketing Thought

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Integrated Marketing Communications When your marketing communications span numerous channels, you must ensure that they all communicate a consistent, unified, memorable message. These ideas may assist you in creating and maintaining integrated marketing communications.

David Perls, Director of Brand Strategy, Jack Morton Worldwide

Trust relationships are at the heart of any good marketing communications program.

Gordon McMillan, President, McMillan

The website is all about the customer telling you what they want--not you telling them what you want. Technology impact on agencies: Rise of the generalist or a specialist who can think like a generalist; the painful realization that the client will judge success by results; the opportunity to become more tightly integrated with the client. Power has shifted entirely into the client's realm because they have the data. Integrated marketing means: greater consistency of communications, greater importance of defining the target. IMC does *not* mean boring.

12


Cynthia Holladay, CEO, UpRight Marketing

Can we have integrated marketing communications if we don't have integrated marketing?

International Marketing While the world looks more homogenous than ever before, international marketing continues to require knowledge of the nuances and intricacies of language, culture, and context. Here, thought leaders share with us their insights on international marketing and predictions for the future of marketing across regions that, while seemingly-uniform, are complex in their diversity.

Andrew Pritchard, Sr. Director– Americas Marketing, Hyperion Solutions

Business development goal: Accelerate organic growth through alliance partners, deals, strategic initiatives.

Ann Sung Ruckstuhl, VP of Marketing, Sybase

Don't do more than four international go-to-market campaigns at the same time.

Marketing Thought

Don't expect OEM partners to simply hand over a list of customer names and contacts.

13


It's very dangerous to look at the United States as the center of the universe. The US actually falls into fourth place in terms of being globalized--behind Singapore, Ireland, and Switzerland. The US falls behind Denmark and Sweden in IDC's Information Society Index. These days you can't have marketing without the technology that goes with it. The developed countries are all spent out on possessions and are going for experiences now. Where some of the other countries are still trying to get the things that they need. Objects in your rear view mirror are closer than you think. Brazil, Russia, India, and China are important because they are going to be the world's biggest markets within the next 50 years. Chinese people sent some 15.6 billion short messages through their mobile phones in January, a rise of 91% over the same period last year . . . Cost 1 cent per message. Top brands in the world--Microsoft, GE, Coca Cola & China Mobile Wal*mart is China's sixth largest export market at $18 billion--just behind Germany! The next market--the next billion--will be in the smaller villages in places like India.

14


Internet Marketing The shorter attention spans, security concerns and signal-to-noise ratio of the Internet demand that you think clearly about how to market your product or service on the Internet. Our thought leaders have these tips to share:

Christian Haas, Goodby, Silverstein and Partners

Content is the most valuable social currency that we have in the online space. It's ironic that when consumers are skipping commercials on television, we are trying to convince them to watch commercials online. The media is not driving the message. The message is creating the media.

Scott Wilder, GM – Online Communities, Intuit

We don't just think about online communities. We also have a lot of offline activities and really use online communities to facilitate those. It's all about finding the answers and helping users find the answers they need. Legal is not evil. Privacy and security issues are real. None of this is easy. The best thing to do is just jump in.


Marketing Thought

The website is all about the customer telling you what they want--not you telling them what you want.

15

David Copp, Senior Director – Communities, Yahoo

You need to cater to influencers. Objectives: engage your best customers, learn from customers, accelerate word-of-mouth. Moderators must be honest about who they are and willing to invest the time needed to build credibility. It takes patience.

Penn Jillette, in a Compuserve chat room

My favorite thing about the Internet is that you get to go into the private world of real creeps without having to smell them.

Leadership What makes a good leader and what steps do you take to bring strong leadership to your marketing efforts? From bringing focus to your efforts to improving communication, here is some leadership wisdom that you can apply today within your marketing organization.

Dr. Dwight Lillie, Associate Director, Exilixis

16

Successful companies recognize the value in both marketing and engineering. It takes special skills to put those two together.



Focus. Focus. Focus. That applies to any business of any size. Know your customer profitability--how much money you are making from each of your customers--and provide great service to those who provide you great profit. People like smart people. Companies that evolve with customers will be the ones who win all the business.

Chris Widener, President, MadeForSuccess.com

We are all selling. We are all marketing all the time. When people are trying to decide whether to follow you or not, they are making their decisions on two factors--your character and your skills. Is this a good option or is this the best option?

Ann Sung Ruckstuhl, Vice President of Marketing, Sybase

Marketing Thought

Communicate like crazy.

17

Promise Phelan, President, The Phelan Group

Build better relationships with customers starting at the brain stem where you can really make an impact. After talking to 37,000 customers last year we learned that most of the decisions are driven by the things that we, as marketers, control: the messages that your sales reps go out with, the proof points that they discuss, but also the insight and information that they have when they go in the door. Make sure that people are marching in the same direction.

Thomas Jefferson, President, The United States of America

There is natural aristocracy among men, the grounds of which is virtue and talent.

Market Research Know your market thoroughly; not just the big picture but the nitty-gritty analytics. Thought leaders share with you some tips on researching your markets and getting your time and money’s worth.

Kirby Drysen, Director of Customer Listening, Cisco Systems

18

Look at cultural norms and pay attention to being in a role of trusted advisor.


Kent Yunk, Go To Market Manager – Worldwide, IBM

Dax Callner, Strategy Practice Leader, Jack Morton Worldwide

We don't want to minimize the research that happens at the sales level. The reality is that when you are face-to-face with the customer, you understand their issues.

Net Promoter Score is predictive of ROI.


Monetize your data.


After talking to 37,000 customers last year we learned that most of the decisions are driven by the things that we, as marketers, actually control: the messages that your sales reps go out with, the proof points that they discuss, but also the insight and information that they have when they go in the door.

Paula Stout, Vice President, The Phelan Group

Past is Prologue: Your existing relationships hold the key for your future relationships and growth.

Marketing Thought

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Monitor blogs.

Mike Ghodoosian, CEO, Universal Responses Corporation

If they are bad-mouthing you on the blog, you have an even bigger problem.

Maya Angelou, Writer

When we know better, we do better.

Marketing Communications Fine tune your marketing communications and your external messaging with these tips and pointers from experts.


20

Cascade the message. The CEO may understand the branding and positioning. Once you stop at the VP level, no one else understands it. The test for good marketing and branding: [employees] could tell you why they are in business.



It's ironic that when consumers are skipping commercials on television, we are trying to convince them to watch commercials online.


In a B2C world the question is, how do I reach my customers and communicate with them?


The website is all about the customer telling you what they want--not you telling them what you want.

Ann Sung Ruckstuhl, Vice President of Marketing, Sybase

Don't do more than four international go-to-market campaigns at the same time.

Tim Marklein, Executive VP, Weber Shandwick

Behavior is the true indicator of communications impact.

Marketing Thought

The media is not driving the message. The message is creating the media.

Integrated marketing means: greater consistency of communications, greater importance of defining the target. IMC does *not* mean boring.

Communicate like crazy.

21

Marketing Operations Operations are the nuts and bolts of your marketing initiatives. The finest, most carefully-honed marketing strategy and initiative requires attention to operations if it is to succeed. Read what thought leaders have to say on the subject:

Ryan J. Donovan, Director Corporate Media Relations, Hewlett Packard


John Hoffman, Sun Microsystems

22

Marketers are facing pressure to think and act like colleagues in finance.

Net Promoter Score is predictive of ROI.

One of the challenges we have is that there are so many good ideas--continuing to do what works and coming up with new ideas



Make sure that people are marching in the same direction.


People believe 1) their own experience and 2) the experience of their friends and colleagues, 3) the word of industry analysts, 4) vendor words. Where do you spend your marketing dollars?

Motivation As a leader in your marketing organization, what can you do to raise motivation levels and maintain them at a sustainable high? These ideas from experts with proven track records can lead to actionable initiatives for your organization.


Increase the quality of life. Right a wrong. Prevent the end of something good. Seize the moral high ground. Don't let the bozos grind you down. People will say that you cannot do what you want to do, it isn't necessary, lots of negativity.

Marketing Thought

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We are all selling. We are all marketing all the time. Life is a relationship business. The primary reason that most people succeed in life is because they learn how to influence other people. When people are trying to decide whether to follow you or not, they are making their decisions on two factors--your character and your skills. The fundamental core competency of sales people and leaders is influence.

Multicultural Marketing With demographics changing faster than ever, multicultural marketing is a key factor in your marketing strategy. How do you market to a multicultural society while conveying a unified message? Innovative thoughts from experts show you the way.

Vickie Wong, President, DAE Advertising

There has been a change in attitude among immigrants to the United States in the last 50 years or so. In the first half of the 20th century, immigrants were hesitant to celebrate their native cultures in fear of not assimilating. Now it is "okay to celebrate your heritage, to celebrate the differences, to exult in the little piece of Asia we can recreate in California." By 2060, the US will look much like California does now.

24


Vickie Wong, President, DAE Advertising

The first dollars spent in multicultural marketing give a greater return than the last dollars spent in general marketing. Chinese is the 2nd most spoken language in US households. 50% of the nation's Asian population lives in three geographic areas:Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. The Asian population is 4.2% of the total US population with the highest growth rates, the highest median income, highest purchasing power, highest education levels, highest percentage in management and professional ranks.

Valerie Romley, Founder, Moving Target Research

Under the umbrella of Asian alone, there are almost 12 million people in the US today who represent 25 countries in [the United States]. Today's immigrants are multicultural and bi-cultural. [Multicultural Marketing] It's an evolving science.

Elizabeth Williams, Multicultural Marketing Expert

Marketing Thought

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to look around and see that there is an opportunity in the Asian marketplace.

25

Online Communities How do you get your message--and the right message--out to the online communities that matter? And what factors shape that most fickle of entities--online opinion? Thoughts from the experts…

Sue Connelly, CEO, Connelly Communications

One of the points that is really important is that everything that we think is ostensibly bad--a flame, an unhappy customer, poor communications--are really opportunities. You don't necessarily need a master plan at the beginning. KIT List was started to stay in touch with people at Silicon Graphics and then it began to grow and we changed as it changed organically. Look at the group like a living organism with living people on each end.

Scott Wilder, General Manager – Online Communities, Intuit

We don't just think about online communities. We also have a lot of offline activities and really use online to facilitate those. It's all about finding the answers and helping users find the answers they need. Legal is not evil. Privacy and security issues are real. None of this is easy. The best thing to do is just jump in.

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Tom Paolucci, Director – Client Services, Leverage Software

A community gives customers a voice--a place where they can meet like-minded people, share ideas, and stay engaged.

David Cole, Director – Security Response, Symantec

The threat landscape has moved from curiosity and vandalism just a couple of years ago toward more criminal activities today.

Community control techniques: Limit access, restrict functions, filters, moderators.

Online cons play on trust. They have to go after something that you trust and believe in. A splog is a misleading or fake blog created to promote an online offering or to manipulate search results.

Derek Gordon, Vice President – Marketing, Technorati

The image of the earth from afar transformed our understanding of the planet. Our understanding of markets and conversation is similarly developing. Control is so 20th Century.

David Copp, Senior Director – Communities, Yahoo

You need to cater to influencers. Objectives: engage your best customers, learn from customers, accelerate word-of-mouth. Moderators must be honest about who they are and willing to invest the time needed to build credibility. It takes patience.

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Penn Jillette, in a Compuserve chat room

My favorite thing about the Internet is that you get to go into the private world of real creeps without having to smell them.

Online Security Online security is a concern that must be addressed as you develop and implement your marketing vision. Experts in online security share their wisdom.

Tom Paolucci, Director – Client Services, Leverage Software

Community control techniques: Limit access, restrict functions, filters, moderators.

David Cole, Director – Security Response, Symantec

The threat landscape has moved from curiosity and vandalism just a couple of years ago toward more criminal activities today. Online cons play on trust. They have to go after something that you trust and believe in. A splog is a misleading or fake blog created to promote an online offering or to manipulate search results.

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Product Engineering and Product Marketing Engineering and marketing, oftentimes perceived as polar opposites, must work hand-in-hand for the success of brand, product and organization. Thought leaders and experts share with you their views on product engineering and marketing.

Seth Redmore, Manager Marketing Operations, Cisco Systems

There is a world outside engineering.

Dr. Dwight Lillie, Associate Director, Exilixis

Successful companies recognize the value in both marketing and engineering and meld the two. It takes special skills to put those two together.


Don't let the bozos grind you down. People will say that you cannot do what you want to do, it isn't necessary, lots of negativity.

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Simon Gillmore, Director of Client Services, Limina Application Office

Try very hard to not use words like "Synergy"--The push and pull between marketing and engineering is most interesting and positive.

Timothy J. Woods, Campus College Chair, Phoenix University

Communication between engineers, marketers,and leadership is critical

Marketing (versus engineering) becomes much more important as markets mature.

Public Relations Good PR requires two-way communication to foster the mutually-beneficial relationship between your organization and its public and stakeholders. Read what visionaries in the field have to say on the subject of PR.


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The most effective way to brand something is to focus on PR.



Marketers are facing pressure to think and act like colleagues in finance. As companies start to appreciate how brands drive value, it will drive strategy


PR affects brands across all touch points.

Tim Marklein, Executive VP, Weber Shandwick

PR does not equal Press Release and brand does not equal logo.

Brand attributes and key differentiators must be clearly defined and leveraged in unique ways.

Behavior is the true indicator of communication's impact. PR's advantage: In-depth, credible, lasting impact across a brand's total environment.

Sales What are the limitations and opportunities of your sales cycle and how can your marketing efforts be streamlined to leverage your sales enterprise? Experts offer guidance on how you can optimize your sales efforts for the benefit of your organization.

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Andrew Pritchard, Senior Director, Americas Marketing, Hyperion Solutions

The Americas geography lesson: There's this big chunk below the Texas/San Diego line typically called Latin America.

Kent Yunk, Go To Market Manager – Worldwide, IBM

We don't want to minimize the research that happens at the sales level. The reality is that when you are face-to-face with the customer, you understand their issues.


John Neesom, Managing Director and Founder, Serius Decisions

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Sales leaders must feel that Field Marketing Managers and Direct Response reps report directly to them, especially if they don't.

Life is a relationship business. The fundamental core competency of sales people and leaders is influence.

Sales cycles are getting longer with more people involved in every decision. Longer sales cycles demand bigger pipelines to achieve increased quotas. Understand your customers’ buying cycle, not your sales cycle.



After talking to 37,000 customers last year we learned that most of the decisions are driven by the things that we, as marketers, control: the messages that your sales reps go out with, the proof points that they discuss, but also the insight and information that they have when the go in the door.

Strategic Planning Thought leadership to help you determine where your organization is heading and how to successfully merge your marketing efforts into your overall strategic plan.


Cascade the message. The CEO may understand the branding and positioning. Once you stop at the VP level, no one else understands it. The test for good marketing and branding, they could tell you why they are in business.


As companies start to appreciate how brands drive value, it will drive strategy.

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Focus. Focus. Focus. That applies to any business of any size. Differentiate. You must differentiate and you must help your customers understand how you are different.

You have to understand where you are.

If the customer isn't at the center of your plan, then you've lost before you've even started. Technology impact on marketing companies: The rise of the CMO, the slow destruction of the silo mentality, the rise of the generalist (or a specialist who can think like a generalist). If the customer isn't at the center of your plan, then you've lost before you've even started. Technology impact on agencies: Rise of the generalist or a specialist who can think like a generalist. The painful realization that the client will judge success by results, the opportunity to become more tightly integrated with the client. Power has shifted entirely into the client's realm because they have the data.

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Brand attributes and key differentiators must be clearly defined and leveraged in unique ways

Ann Sung Ruckstuhl, VP, Marketing, Sybase

Position yourself using the customers' voice.

Derek Gordon, VP, Marketing, Technorati

The image of the earth from afar transformed our understanding of the planet. Our understanding of markets and conversation is similarly developing.

What are the growth areas that you really need to invest in?

Control is so 20th Century.

Mahatma Gandhi

You must be the change that you want to see in the world.

Technology Marketing Technology services and products demand distinct marketing strategies and unique channel development. The relatively shorter lifecycles of high-tech products also impose constraints on marketing strategy. Experts share their wisdom on technology marketing:

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Charline Li, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research



Apple's customized feeds give users greater control.

Web 2.0 allows us to tell better stories.

The website is all about the customer telling you what they want--not you telling them what you want. If the customer isn't at the center of your plan, then you've lost before you've even started. Technology impact on marketing companies: The rise of the CMO, the slow destruction of the silo mentality, the rise of the generalist (or a specialist who can think like a generalist).


It's very dangerous to look at the United States as the center of the universe. The US actually falls into fourth place in terms of being globalized behind Singapore, Ireland, and Switzerland. The US falls behind Denmark and Sweden in IDC's Information Society Index. Chinese people sent some 15.6 billion short messages through their mobile phone in January, a rise of 91% over the same period last year . . . Cost 1 cent per message.

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Scott Gatz, Strategy and Product Management, Yahoo

Syndication is shifting the balance of power from companies to consumers.

Joshua Grossnickle, Senior Director of Market Research, Yahoo

RSS will become a significant part of the marketing mix.

Consumers will get whenever they want.

feeds

wherever

and

The XML button--Yuck! Try words like "subscribe, get updates, stay informed" World news and national news are currently the RSS content of choice. Make it simple to add your content into the mix.

Word of Mouth Marketing Never underestimate the power of WOMM to positively (and negatively!) shape perceptions of your brand and company.

Stephen Bjorgan, Vice President of Engineering, France Telecom

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For big-ticket items we want to talk with references. But we want more candid feedback . . . So we usually try to get around the formal reference process and go directly to the lowest point possible in the organization.

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[Not] everyone is a good storyteller. The web first made us editors. Then publishers, curators, directors and comedians.


Give people a reason to talk about your products and services and make it easy to take place.


When considering IT purchases, senior executives trust opinions from peers and colleagues above all other sources.

Content is the most valuable social currency that we have in the online space.

It takes five positive recommendations to counteract one negative [recommendation]. 80% of people who are actively engaged in an experience will tell other people about it.

People believe 1) their own experience 2) the experience of their friends and colleagues, 3) the word of industry analysts, 4) vendor words. Where do you spend your marketing dollars? In B2B marketing there is less opportunity for word of mouth. Opportunities for B2B WOM--casual conversations, events like [SVAMA], conversations with consulting firms, blogs, and finally, planes, trains, and automobiles. B2B marketers need to create the opportunity [for WOM].

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Organic word of mouth happens behind your back and you never know about it. Monitor blogs. Plan for negative WOM: What will you say? Who will be responsible to act? What is the process? What kind of legal constraints will there be? In you are going to do a customer reference program, you really need to be structured because the negative possibilities are great. Commit to your customers' success. If you want to get positive word of mouth, you need to put your arms around your customers and hug them and be their advocate.

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P a r t

2

Leadership Articles

The articles in this section were submitted by marketing thought leaders from all around the United States. These great ideas were submitted in conjunction with the First Annual SVAMA Marketing Thought Conference, held on May 31, 2007, in Santa Clara, California. All articles were submitted to a panel of judges who reviewed the articles in search for the next Marketing Thought leader. Our expert panel of judges was comprised of:

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Andy Sernovitz, Author of Word of Mouth Marketing

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Andy Getsey, Co-Founder and CEO, Atomic Public Relations

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Cynthia Holladay, Founder, UpRight Marketing

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Garrett Lawrence, Managing Director, Doremus San Francisco

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Mitchell Levy, CEO, Quick2Publish

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Tony Seba, Educator, Author, and Mentor Capitalist, Stanford University

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All of the articles submitted are fantastic, and filled with excellent and groundbreaking ideas. You will particularly enjoy the top three winning articles:

First Place:

Web 2.0 Makes You Rethink the Basics, by Karen O’Brien

Second Place

Marketing Disruptive Innovations to Consumers: Myths vs. Realities, by Mark Cavendar and Michael Eckhart

Third Place:

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Everybody Loves A Juicy Story, By Mar Junge

Chapter 2: Leadership Articles

First Place

Web 2.0 Makes You Rethink the Basics - by Karen O’Brien As marketers, we are taught to use the standard model of "Acquisition, Retention, and Growth" as a framework. When working with Web 2.0 initiatives, I have found it necessary to re-think the basics to fully take advantage of the possibilities of both the technology and new marketing approaches. The new model I have been evolving and using—Attract, Engage, and Extend—has proved to be very useful in the strategy and planning of multiple Web-based programs and initiatives.

Attract customers with compelling and relevant content, resources, and tools. Loyalty is fleeting and we can no longer count on "acquiring" customers.

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Engage customers in an ongoing dialog with your company and, when appropriate, with each other. Social media and community tools empower us to have that conversation with our customers and, as marketers, we need to be prepared to fully engage. Extend content beyond the site through syndication/ RSS, viral, or pass-along tactics; access or download content to multiple devices, integrate with offline marketing and activities. For example, I have used this framework to plan the requirements of a Web site-- grouping the desired features, functionality, and content depending on whether they contribute to Attracting or Engaging customers or helping to Extend beyond the website. I have also used the same framework to plan Web-based campaigns and to prioritize marketing activities. A very simple idea - but useful.

NOTE Karen's article won first place at the SVAMA Marketing Thought conference held in Silicon Valley in May 2007.

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About the Author

Karen O'Brien is a Principal, Services, with Crimson Consulting.

Interactive

As a Partner heading up Crimson’s Interactive Strategy efforts, Karen brings together business objectives, technology, and user experience to deliver effective and high-value global web programs. Karen has more than 15 years of sales and marketing experience at the corporate and agency level--a decade of that experience in interactive strategy and execution. She's worked with a diverse set of clients, from rock bands and consumer products and media companies to Fortune 500 technology companies. Her flexible, creative approach to meeting clients’ needs has benefited leading companies including Cisco, HP, Microsoft, Nortel, Seagate, Sun, Symantec, Verizon, Verio/NTT, Yamaha, Disney, and ABC. Before joining Crimson, Karen was Director of e-Business Strategy Consulting for Grant Thornton/Hitachi Consulting, where she helped establish the San Francisco practice. She also co-founded Roundpeg, an interactive agency where she served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and has been a Guest Professor of e-Business and High-Tech Entrepreneurship at the University of Ottawa’s executive MBA program in Hong Kong. In 2007, Karen won the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association's Thought Leadership Award for cutting edge marketing thinking. A dual Canadian/American citizen, Karen lives in Marin County, California. When Karen isn't surfing the web or blogging about Web 2.0, she enjoys traveling internationally.

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Second Place

Marketing Disruptive Innovations to Consumers: Myths vs. Realities A Chasm Institute Perspective - by Mark Cavender and Michael Eckhardt The boundaries between high-tech and the consumer have shifted. The next two to five years will increasingly blur this boundary further, making it essential for today’s marketers to more deeply understand the rules of the game. It is no longer “business to business = high-tech” and “business to consumer = low-tech.” Competitive worldwide markets clearly require smarter approaches for savvy companies seeking to introduce a consumer high-tech product. And the good news is that key success patterns are emerging and becoming more predictable, based on our Chasm Institute client strategy sessions and workshops during the past 10+ years. In this overview, we describe four myths and realities that must be considered for the successful marketing of disruptive technology into consumer markets. (1) Consumers and disruptive innovations: It can be done. Myth: Consumers will not buy disruptive innovations. Reality: Certain consumers will buy disruptive innovations, but the motivation and economic model must be right.

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Lesson: Target wealthy consumers, or less affluent but highly-motivated early adopters (think MP3 players). In either case, you need to win over technology enthusiasts who will give your product a strong early endorsement. Examples: early stage PC’s, home theatres, digital cameras, wireless home networking.

(2) Cross the chasm with consumer products by taking focus off the consumer. Myth: There’s no such thing as crossing the chasm with consumer products. Reality: Best to first cross the chasm with a business use for your consumer product, then do the same with consumers. Lesson: Find a business application for your consumer product first, if at all possible. Examples: the true commercialization of mobile phones started with sales professionals; the true commercialization of HDTV’s started with sports bars, trade show booths, and corporate lobbies.

(3) Completing the whole roduct is a big deal. Myth: First one to market always wins. Reality: First one to market with the whole product wins.

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Lesson: Just because you have a cool technology, is no guarantee of market success – until you’ve nailed the entire “minimum viable” whole solution. And yes, this includes that pesky ecosystem. Example: iPods (whole product included hardware, “look & feel”, industrial design, packaging, channel strategy, “out-of-box-experience”, pricing, iTunes music downloading system, branding, messaging – yes, even the billboards!)

(4) Market leadership can be fleeting: ... don’t think you ever “own” the market – you’re only renting! Myth: I can always leverage leadership from a previous paradigm to win in the future. Reality: Few companies can break the stronghold of their past, without a clear and disciplined renewal strategy. Lesson: Just because you’re a leader in one paradigm is no guarantee for success in the next paradigm. You have to fight just as hard, if not harder, to win the next wave of adoption. Examples: Sony Walkman losing to Apple’s iPOD (2000’s); Motorola losing to Nokia in mobile phones (1990’s); Kodak losing to Canon/Sony in digital cameras (2000’s); Nokia at risk of losing to Samsung / LG / Motorola (2000’s).

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About the Authors

Mark Cavender is Founder and Managing Director of Chasm Institute. An accomplished teacher and workshop leader, he also serves as a senior instructor. With over 15 years of experience in enterprise software, Mark has a unique blend of strategic and tactical marketing skills coupled with a strong background in software sales. Mark has worked with numerous leading enterprise software and telecommunications companies such as Acterna, Business Objects, Hyperion, Lawson Software, Microsoft, Nextel, Nokia, and SunGard, as well as growing firms such as Docent, iManage, and Logility. He has also done joint strategy work with IBM and their key enterprise software business partners. Prior to founding Chasm Institute, Mark spent nine years as a Managing Director with The Chasm Group and four years with Oracle Corporation, most recently as Director of Marketing, Financial Applications. Before joining Oracle, he was Marketing Manager with J.D. Edwards & Co. He has also held various sales and marketing management positions with GEAC (formerly Dun & Bradstreet Software / McCormack & Dodge), and Ceridian (formerly The Service Bureau Company). Mark holds an MBA in marketing from the University of North Texas and a BS in general business from John Brown University.

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Michael T. Eckhardt, Managing Director of Chasm Institute LLC, is a veteran of Hewlett-Packard, PepsiCo Inc., and Price Waterhouse. A graduate of Harvard Business School and a Wall Street Journal Award Winner, Michael is a recognized expert in delivering market strategy workshops for high-tech executives and product teams. Michael has 20 years of deep expertise in strategic marketing and high-tech market development. He provides clients in the US, Europe, and Pacific Rim with strategy workshops & tools for gaining and sustaining market leadership positions in highly-competitive marketplaces. He was first named a Senior Affiliate of the Chasm Group in 1994. Michael's client base includes Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard’s printer business, Intel Corporation, AT&T Wireless, Agilent Technologies, Philips Medical Systems, Autodesk, LMC Data Systems, and Mentor Graphics. Prior to Chasm Group, Michael directed Hewlett-Packard's market-focus consulting group. His work with HP contributed to its business units generating profitable growth from key product lines and increasing the market acceptance of new products. He provided HP product divisions, including the market-leading LaserJet® and DeskJet® printer businesses, with three priorities: market strategy workshops, customer needs analysis, and competitive intelligence training.

NOTE This article won second place at the SVAMA Marketing Thought conference held in Silicon Valley in May 2007.

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Third Place

Everybody Loves a Juicy Story - by Mar Junge E-newsletter readership is declining rapidly There was a time when email newsletters were a novelty. Even the quirky, semi-professional email newsletters were read. In fact, small- to mid-size businesses had an advantage. When the company had something useful to say, provided information that could not be found anywhere else, and spoke honestly to customers without all the self-promoting hype, their email newsletters developed a loyal audience. Email newsletters were inexpensive and a great way to reach customers and build relationships. Then, large corporations with big budgets flooded cyberspace with e-newsletters that were little more than thinly-disguised self-promotional vehicles. People stopped reading and believing the hype. Today, even the most honest, promotion-free e-newsletter can get deleted or tagged as spam before it has a chance to build up readership. So how can we get prospects and customers to read e-newsletters? How do we grab their interest and let them know we truly feel their pain and have a solution that addresses their problems? Simple. Write fiction stories about the drama that goes on in their day-to-day professional world.

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Not a case study or an application story--been there. Tried that. Those real-life stories are good marketing tools, but not unique enough to make our customers' customers drop everything to read the next issue of an e-newsletter. No, we want to write juicy fiction stories that are real "page turners.” Evocative dramas that leave you hungry for more. Think daytime soaps with a twist. We have the perfect client test case This client provides litigation support services to Bay Area law firms. The target audience for its e-newsletter is primarily paralegals and documentation managers working in high-pressure law firms. Both male and female, aged 25-55, they are very organized and professional. But sometimes, it seems that no matter how good they are, they aren’t as good as the lawyers they serve. Many complain that they feel like they’re always at the bottom of the hill when the crap rolls down. Plus everyone’s always in a hurry. The stress is almost too much too take. And while many of them say they have no time to read our client's e-newsletters no matter valuable the information, they continue to sign up. The e-newsletter, sent quarterly to 2,000 people, scores an amazing 35% open rate, of which 15% click through. So we know somehow these paralegals make time for good information. And we're betting a good, juicy story will be exactly what we need to cut through the marketing clutter and increase the number of subscribers so that we can justify increasing frequency.

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Think popular legal drama with a twist See, there’s this paralegal whose work is never good enough for her boss. And there’s office romance. And intrigue. And backstabbing. And offers to join a new firm. Just like the popular law shows that come and go, the strength of the characters will pull them in and makes them want to read more. And woven in the drama will be mentions of our client’s solutions that help solve the paralegal's problems. But nothing obvious, of course. The research is already done Over the last year we've written dozens of case studies from interviews with paralegals and the client's account managers. We know what goes on in the law firms. When my senior writer and I pooled our notes, I realized we had a great story platform. Now all we have to do is convince our client this is a good idea. That might not be easy. "You've spent so much time helping us transition from our folksy logo to a more sophisticated image. How will running a fictional serial in our newsletter support our new marketing direction?" asks the client. Good point. This isn't something one of the big national firms would do. But we have a hunch that paralegals will be grateful for a little entertainment and levity in their high-pressure, buttoned-up jobs. As they read the stories, they'll know that our client feels their pain and understands the pressure they're under. Plus it will get their newsletter opened and read, building a loyal audience.

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"But what about ROI?" Well, we know the audience is so limited in what they can say and do in their profession; they crave a little entertainment and notice anything out of the ordinary. For example, a colorful "Going Green" flyer adorned with cute little tree frogs cost $800 to produce and brought in $2,000 worth of new business for the client. And an exhibit graphic we produced starring a stressed-out paralegal was a showstopper. Plus, the cost of producing content for the e-newsletter won't go up since both of c3PR's senior writers are closet novelists who will jump at the chance to get paid to practice their passion. They'll make sure every story's just outrageous enough to be a little beyond believable so no one's offended. And we'll provide open, read, click-through, forward-to-a-friend and new subscriber statistics to track the results of every issue. Curious about how Polly Paralegal fends off the advances of Larry Lawyer and convinces Amy Account Manager from the Legal Services Firm to do the job in half the time? Or how Nancy New Employee is sleeping her way to the top? It’s all in the next exciting edition, so subscribe today. You won’t want to miss an issue!

About the Author

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Mar Junge is the principal of c3PR and a closet novelist. Her first novel for the Young Adult market, Gypsy Blood, has been accepted as one of five to be reviewed by Author Barbara Shoup at the Pacific Coast Children's Writers Workshop in August (But she's not quitting her day job just yet). We'll know by mid-June whether the client will let us test this idea in their e-newsletter. If you'd like to read the first exciting installment, email [email protected] and she'll send you the link. If this client doesn't go for it, maybe we'll


launch our own e-newsletter telling stories about what really goes on in a P.R. firm. Think it would be juicier than what goes on in a law firm? If you're a fiction writer too, maybe this can be a group effort!

NOTE This article won third place at the SVAMA Marketing Thought conference held in Silicon Valley in May 2007.

Mobilizing Advocates Online to Drive Dramatic Growth - by Rob Fuggetta Copyright, Zuberance, Inc., 2007 Nearly every company has a cadre of "advocates"--highly influential customers and other VIPs who are very willing to freely and proactively evangelize your company, product, service, brand, or even an idea or cause to family members, friends, colleagues, and millions online. Advocates are your most valuable constituency and a "volunteer salesforce" that, when properly orchestrated, will:

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Generate thousands of highly qualified sales leads (customer evangelists generate more than 85% of qualified sales leads, Bain & Co. says)

•

Grow your revenues up to 4X faster than competitors', according to the London School of Economics

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•

Defend you from your detractors, who are proven to detract from growth

Goal of All Marketing: Advocacy Authentic advocacy is the goal for all marketing. Not awareness. Not customer satisfaction. Not even loyalty, if that term even exists any longer in a world of disposable brands and relationships. If you can create a thriving community of people who are willing to freely and proactively advocate you, your product, or your company to receptive audiences, you will be very successful. Of course, advocacy is easier to create when you have a cool product like an iPod that people naturally want to tell others about. But you don't need to have a sexy new MP3 player to benefit from advocacy. In fact, nearly every company including B2B firms and yes, even small unknown software companies, can benefit from advocacy. Put simply, there are two keys to advocacy: 1. Create an experience that your customers, partners, and others want to evangelize (We call this "organic advocacy"). This is the foundation for advocacy. 2. Enable your advocates to share their enthusiasm for your company or product by making it easy for them to tell others. This requires a systematic approach to advocacy. And, please, do not even think about paying your advocates. Real advocacy cannot be manufactured or faked. It can only be earned.

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Needed: A Systematic Approach For years, marketers have been aware of the value of activating their word of mouth (WOM) advocates. What's been missing is a systematic approach to mobilizing advocates that enables marketers to find advocates, mobilize them, and reliably track the business results of advocacy. This is exactly the breakthrough marketing and idea that Zuberance provides. We've created a methodology and set of on-demand software services that enable marketers to: 1. Identify and qualify your advocates 2. Mobilize your advocates 3. Track the business results of advocacy

1. Identify and Qualify Your Advocates

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Net Promoter (R) surveys are a way to start identifying and qualifying your advocates. Co-created by our business partner Satmetrix Systems, Inc. and loyalty guru Fred Reichheld, Net Promoter asks the "ultimate customer loyalty question": On a scale of 0-10, how likely would you be to be recommend our (company, product, service, brand) to others? "Promoters" rate themselves 9 or 10 (extremely likely to recommend) while "Detractors" rate themselves 0-6. The percentage difference between Promoters and Detractors is your Net Promoter Score (P-D=NPS). Visit www.netpromoter.com for more information. While Net Promoter is a simple and powerful metric, not all Promoters are equal. Some Promoters have greater influence than others over purchase decisions and perceptions and are more willing to proactively influence others. So you need to go beyond a Net Promoter survey to identify and qualify your advocates. The Zuberance software product identifies and

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qualifies your advocates for you, integrating survey techniques, web analytics, and data analysis.

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2. Mobilize Your Advocates

By now, everyone is familiar with "Tell A Friend" forms and referral programs that pay or provide perks for referring prospects. As my teenage daughter would say (now say this with a teenage smirk on your face) "Dad, that is soooo lame." If you are a high tech or B2B marketer, you also know how difficult it is to get customers to approve case studies. (I was reminded of this when I watched a marketing manager break down in tears of frustration on a recent Friday afternoon. After we talked her back in from the ledge, we assured her it wasn't her fault that she couldn't get a case study approved. ) Many B2B customers are simply unwilling or unable to participate in these testimonials. It's time for a more creative approach: link your pre-qualified advocates with prospects and others online in opt-in, permission-based dialogues that occur where, when, and how advocates and prospects want to have these conversations. The Zuberance system does this automatically and matches relevant advocates with audiences. (We call this Match.Com meets WOM Marketing.)

3. Track Business Results

2-4-6-8, what do we advocate? Metrics! Metrics! Metrics! (We just love to crunch that data.) Word of Mouth metrics. That's the "Holy Grail of Marketing," isn't it? Or is the Holy Grail finding a hotel room in Manhattan with hot water and no carpet stains for under $600 a night? Anyway, here's how we track the business results of advocacy. When someone registers as an advocate on the


Zuberance system, we track their advocacy activities (number of posts, number of interactions, number of leads generated, number of leads closed.) We also give you loads of community metrics (size, number, activities, influence, advocacy scores, etc.) all in a customizable dashboard with widgets. It's kind of like strapping an EKG to your advocates. Spooky, eh? No, it's metrics. And we love metrics. If you're not mobilizing your advocates, you're not taking advantage of the world's most effective and inexpensive form of marketing. Creating and implemented a systematic approach to advocacy will fuel your growth and enhance your competitive advantage. So what are you waiting for?

About the Author

Rob Fugetta is Founder/CEO of Zuberance, a software and services firm that mobilizes advocates. Rob is a former principal and partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary technology marketing and PR firm that helped put Apple, Intel, Genentech, and many other leading companies on the map. He has also served as CMO at three fast-growth companies including Genuity, where he launched the award-winning "Black Rocket" managed hosting service. Rob founded Zuberance because he believes passionately that companies must radically change their marketing approaches, not just their media. They must learn how to engage consumers and their other stakeholders in ways that are truly authentic and valuable for audiences.

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Making Lead Nurturing Part of Every Strategy - by Freda Byrne When I first got into the demand generation business 10 years ago, we were happy if a person accurately completed our form. A completed form equaled a lead. If the name was associated with a targeted company or carried an impressive title, we thought we had struck gold. We were all thrilled. When the boss passed us in the hall, we would be the first to say… "Guess who responded to our offer? Mr. Nifty from Big Target USA!" Our happiness was often short lived, however, because once this precious lead was passed over to Sales, it was anybody's guess if it would actually amount to anything. The expectation of Sales was that a lead was "someone ready to buy." The expectation of Marketing was a lead was "someone who, with nurturing, could possibly buy." Hence a rift was created. Sales wanted sales leads. Marketing was delivering marketing leads. How do we bridge the gulf? By doing proper lead nurturing. By following these guiding concepts we can build relationships with prospects that stand a better chance of them buying--and ultimately making for more satisfied and engaged customers in 2007 and beyond.

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Step One: Understand where they are in the process Every customer or prospect with whom you engage is at some point of the customer-purchase funnel. Recognition of the phases within the funnel is a good place to start. The phases include: •

Awareness

•

Consideration

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Preference

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Purchase

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Loyalty

The challenge is to create a climate of true lead nurturing that aligns with this funnel and encourages a buying cycle. For each of our organizations this is slightly different. Working with sales--and directly with customers--is the shortest route to finding out exactly what that funnel looks like from the buyer's perspective. It can be a very eye-opening experience. Once we have identified the steps and roadblocks within each of the phases a customer has to go through to buy our products or services, we can begin to build the right communications scenario for delivery at the most optimal time. Typically this means a series of letters, emails, articles, buying tools, and even webcasts timed across a sales cycle. It is often the case that your target will need to "sell" the idea internally to others in his or her organization or even, in the case of a consumer, to someone else in their family. Arm them with the

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right tools. Entice and excite them with meaningful information that addresses their issues over time. During the Consideration phase, the issue of cost savings often enters the decision-making process. That's a good time for sending an ROI calculator along with a case study. As they move towards the Preference phase, a competitive analysis would be ideal. By taking the time to better understand customers' motivations and internal obstacles-- and their place in the funnel--it can be much easier to move people forward toward a positive purchase decision. Step Two: Develop and stick to a nurturing plan Clients too often go to market without having a nurturing plan in place. Their expectation is that a mere ad will result in people knocking on their door immediately. We all know it takes eight to nine touches for people to actually "get" you. Your ability to have a continuing, integrated marketing approach -- whether you're a little guy or a big guy -- is where you'll make a real difference. The key is thinking long term and making efforts to avoid the traditional trap: taking a so-called warm lead and entering them into the black hole of a Sales or Callback database, only to lose the personal connection by burying them in collateral. A good nurturing plan should call for repeat, targeted outreach, making sure the customer sees a different side of you every time. Rather than just blanketing them with your latest white

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paper and walking away, think about what comes next. What knowledge do you want them to have or which change do you expect them to think about after having read the paper? Follow up with a handwritten letter or card. Do a small amount of tailored, digital printing to address a finite set of concerns or motivations. After they get their second card, keep in mind what you'd like them to be thinking at that next point in the process. And it may take some time. Even if you have to compress a sales cycle due to time or budget constraints remember there's no shortcut to reaching the bottom of the funnel. Making it all work for you Like any successful endeavor, the bottom line to a good nurturing effort is having a mindset that these campaigns are longer-term commitments. And remember you're not the only marketing voice out there. Many of us in the end are going after pretty finite markets filled with exhausted buyers being hit by the same competition over and over again. The key to succeeding is to have a better plan than anyone else's-- you'll stand a much better chance at landing Mr. Nifty, as well as connecting your sales and marketing teams in more meaningful ways than ever before.

About the Author

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Freda Byrne is an Account Executive at Groove 11. Groove 11 is an experiential creative agency that helps clients develop the full emotional potential of their brands. The company provides strategy on branding, product launches, integrated marketing, and corporate identity, and draws on the award-winning talents of its teams to execute programs via event and trade show production, interactive media design, executive pre-

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sentations, online advertising, and affinity Web sites to build truly comprehensive, novel, and immersive brand experiences. Clients include Cisco Systems, Diageo, Sun Microsystems, Flax Art & Design, Clinique, and the Napa Valley Vintners' Association. Based in San Rafael, Calif., Groove 11 can be found online at www.groove11.com.

Where is the Marketing Leadership? - A Blog post by Linda Popky, L2M Associates We sit here in Silicon Valley in the hotbed of innovation and technology. The same fertile environment that in previous years spawned Fairchild semiconductors, Sun workstations and the Netscape browser has in its most recent incarnation given us iPods, Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Second Life, among others. New markets and technologies create new marketing possibilities: viral and word of mouth marketing, banner ads and adwords, online communities, and mass collaboration. In terms of new marketing vehicles and innovative ways to apply marketing, compared to many parts of the US and the world, we in Silicon Valley are in no small measure leaders. But when it comes to looking at marketing as a science, a discipline, and a profession, where are we? When it comes time to train and develop marketing professionals at all stages of their

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careers, where are we? When the questions of corporate and social responsibility or ethics arise, where are we? Many of us as individuals or in specific organizations are addressing some of these points on a day-to-day basis. What is not yet happening is the consolidation of our individual efforts into a collective, unified force that can drive positive change in the marketing and business community on a macro level. We are still driven by technology and are reactive rather than proactive. New technologies appear first, marketing comes along as an afterthought and adapts to the new world. We are not yet driving the process of setting goals and standards for marketing as a profession. We are not yet demonstrating to the world what it takes to be marketing leaders in the 21st century--the skills, the acumen, the responsibility. I believe we have not only a vested interest in this effort, but a natural responsibility to be the drivers and the leaders. In Silicon Valley, we understand the power of the network, the promise of social networking, the potential of mass collaboration. We reinvent the world almost on a daily basis. We are at the bleeding edge of new marketing innovation. Now we need to take our rightful place as leaders of the marketing profession as well.

About the Author

Marketing Thought

Linda Popky is the President of L2M Associates, a Redwood City, California-based strategic marketing company that helps organizations dramatically improve their investment return on marketing programs, processes, and people.

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Learn more about how to leverage your marketing investment by visiting her website at www.L2Massociates.com, or by contacting her at [email protected]

Marketing Leadership: Five Steps to Move Forward - by Linda Popky, L2M Associates I firmly believe that global marketing leadership can be driven by us here in Silicon Valley. Here are five steps to move the process forward:

1. Elevate the right exemplars

From the earliest recorded time through the Greek and Roman empires to the present, societies have looked to their exemplars--their leaders--to set the stage for how entities and individuals should act. It is the exemplars that provide the example for what is rewarded, what is tolerated, and what is punished. As human beings, we focus on behavior rather than pronouncements, knowing that actions really do speak louder than words. As marketers, we run the risk of letting the leadership process happen haphazardly, or worse yet, of elevating the wrong exemplars. Instead, we must specifically decide who deserves to be elevated as our models. We need to be clear about which behaviors we want to emulate and what type of leadership we intend to endorse. Nature abhors a vacuum. If we don’t choose the right leaders, they will be chosen for us and we will then live with the consequences.

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2. Stand up and be counted

As marketing leaders, we need to take leadership positions on key issues that affect our area, our industries, our profession. We need to drive the responsible use of marketing techniques and technologies through our organizations and beyond. We need to ensure our organizations understand the strategic importance of marketing as a discipline to their success, and that they are aware of the critical impact a strong team of marketing talent (or lack thereof) may have on their future. To quote the Talmud, “If not me, then whom?” If not now, then when?

3. Be ahead of the curve

It’s easy to jump on a bandwagon, but harder to stand up for an issue that may not yet be mainstream, or may even actually be unpopular. We have the power to raise awareness and to create attention—that’s what we do so well. We need to do that early, rather than follow others’ leads. Today the buzz is around clean tech, climate change, sustainability. These are all noble and good causes, but they are not the only areas that need our attention. How can the discipline of marketing, with all its techniques and technology, programs and processes, drive the next big thing--rather than be driven by it?

4. Mentor others

A good mentor can not only open doors for a marketing employee, but can teach them how to navigate a complex organization, give them insights that would take years to develop on their own, or help them develop critical influence and negotiation skills. We have all been guided through the years by a series of mentors and leaders, some more than others. We need to ensure that we are providing that same level of guidance--and more--for young professionals as

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they enter our sphere of influence. They may live in the world of Web 2.0, but we’ve survived the school of hard knocks. The experiences and expertise we can share are invaluable.

5. Consider the greater good

New marketing techniques and technologies are introduced almost on a daily basis--some have even been highlighted in other entries in this blog. We need to be sure we understand the consequences of each of these tools that we are so ready to unleash to the world. How will they be used and how might they be misused? How can they be engaged to effect positive change, on a global as well as a local basis? When there are negative impacts, how do we mitigate them? What is our role and how do we embrace it? Where is the Marketing Leadership? It is here, within each and every one of us, if we choose to take on the challenge. We are what, how, and where we do marketing. We have met the future and it is us. How will we handle this responsibility?

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Linda Popky is the President of L2M Associates, a Redwood City, California-based strategic marketing company that helps organizations dramatically improve their return on investment on marketing programs, processes and people. Learn more about how to leverage your marketing investment by visiting her website at www.L2Massociates.com, or contacting her at [email protected]


The 5Ts of Marketing Operations™: Beyond the 4Ps - by Adrian Carol Ott © 2007 Exponential Edge Inc., All Rights Reserved CMOs of large Silicon Valley companies are confronted with unparalleled challenges and opportunities.

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Marketing Accountability: Faced with a maturing technology industry, it is no secret that CEOs are demanding greater ROI on their marketing investments. Consequently many CMOs are driving initiatives to make the marketing function more accountable and measurable.

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Globalization: Serving global markets necessitates that marketing coordinate campaigns across continents to leverage cost and synchronize messaging; however, campaigns must also meet local needs and norms.

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Complex Consumer Expectations: Consumers have become increasingly vigilant about SPAM, junk mail, and privacy concerns. Regulatory compliance with each country and state is a mandate. Consumers also are more tech-savvy and hold high expectations for products.

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Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) Integration: Frequent M&A places constant demands to rapidly integrate messaging, web, and collateral of newly-acquired companies into the corporate brand. Inadequate marketing budgets frequently associated with acquisitions place additional stress on existing budget priorities.

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New Marketing Technology: The advent of new Internet technology, digital convergence, and software has enabled unprecedented interactive dialogs with customers. This presents a huge op-

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portunity for forward-thinking companies to target and reach customers in personalized ways. However, new technologies must be implemented and integrated across the world with regional marketing teams that execute campaigns locally. •

Stakeholder Agreement: Coordination with regional marketing groups and stakeholders in product business units and sales constitutes a major task. Processes are needed to prioritize and support new product introductions and demand generation within marketing budget constraints. Terms such as “What constitutes a qualified lead?” need to be standardized worldwide. If not addressed, roll-up, visibility, and accountability into an actionable CMO and campaign dashboard becomes nearly impossible.

Marketing Operations Emerges As a result of these demands and others, many Silicon Valley CMOs have commissioned a marketing operations organization to tackle these challenges. Originally designated to create metrics and dashboards for accountability, leading companies are increasingly treating marketing operations as a key foundation to the marketing function. Marketing operations is the only function (other than the busy CMO) that manages marketing from an end-to-end perspective. Other marketing functions such as PR, product marketing, and regional marketing only see a portion of the big picture. "Marketing operations ensures marketing is run as a business," states a VP of Marketing Operations at a major Silicon Valley firm. We strive to enable the marketing organization to be stream-

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lined in day-to-day processes so they have time to think, focus on the customer and to innovate."(1) Introducing the 5Ts of Marketing Operations™ What constitutes marketing operations? Based on our work with clients, and in our research, we have found that marketing operations is an emerging dimension to the marketing mix. Enabled by new processes and technology, it goes beyond the 4Ps (i.e. Product, Price, Place, Promotion), and 3Cs (i.e. Customers, Competitors, Corporation (2)), to fully round out the marketing mix. The 5Ts of Marketing Operations™ are:

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Total Strategy

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Techniques & Processes

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Tracking & Predictive Modeling

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Technology

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Talent

By approaching marketing operations across these dimensions, CMOs have an integrated approach to enable marketing worldwide. Let’s describe the 5Ts in more detail: Total Strategy: This area involves strategy development in the product portfolio. It is not uncommon for large high-tech companies to have seventy-five or more products in their portfolios; some have hundreds. Managing investments and priorities across the portfolio is paramount.

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•

What constitutes effective strategy development for each product?

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What are the key elements needed in each plan to win in the marketplace and to roll this out worldwide?

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Where do we “double-down” our investment? How do we gain market share with our resources? Where do we reduce investment?

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Does the organization reflect how our business should optimally interact with customers? Are there new ways we can improve our dialog and reach?

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Chief of staff for the CMO: Based on our work with clients and research, we found that the head of marketing operations in several Silicon Valley companies takes on this role--driving the organi-


zational agenda, identifying “white spaces”, and ensuring measurement results are discussed at review meetings.

Techniques & Processes: How should information flow most effectively across the marketing organization worldwide? How do we make decisions? What are our governance processes? What is our roadmap for marketing processes next year? In three years? •

Fiscal planning processes and reviews.

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How should budgets be allocated?

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How should we optimally interact with our customers? What are the touch points?

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How should information flow within marketing and with other stakeholders such as sales and business units?

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Standards and criteria for evaluating new initiatives and campaigns.

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What are product launch categories (e.g. Criteria for "A", "B", or "C" launches)?

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Can we apply six-sigma to our processes?

Tracking and Predictive Modeling: How do we make marketing more accountable? How do we measure campaigns and ensure better predictability of outcomes?

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How are we doing today? Metrics and Dashboards

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Forecasting: What are leading indicators of the future? How can we better target and predict? e.g. data mining customer databases.

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Technology: How do we implement technology across the globe to enable effective customer dialog, demand generation, and measurement? What are the business requirements for IT? How does technology support the marketing process roadmap for the next 3 years? •

Internet/Web/E-commerce

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Consolidating/Rationalizing Customer Databases

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Online Customer Forums

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Marketing Resource Management Software

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Analytics/Decision-making software

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Marketing Research Databases etc.

Talent: How do we ensure our marketing personnel are trained and able to work with new marketing technologies and processes? How can we enable them to make the right decisions based on analytics and campaign scorecards? •

What are the roles and responsibilities of each talent community?

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How do these communities interact? Where are the hand-offs?

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Training strategy with a marketing skills curriculum across the marketing function

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Ensuring balancing between the art and science of marketing

The 5Ts Transform the Future of Marketing These areas are foundational and not customer-facing, yet they have a deep and significant impact on customer relationships. For example,

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by implementing integrated technology for demand generation and customer database access, regional marketing personnel can now build innovative campaigns on top of a marketing operations infrastructure. By tracking the success of a campaign, companies will realize better customer targeting and ROI; they learn from prior successes and failures. Although it can be a multi-year process for large organizations to implement all of the 5Ts, a holistic, integrated approach to marketing operations gains CMOs greater accountability and ROI for their organizations worldwide. It enables them to "run marketing as a business." The 5Ts add a critical foundation to the marketing function enabling marketing operations to support CMOs in tackling contemporary challenges and opportunities. It is dramatically transforming the marketing function and is changing how marketing will be conducted in the future. References (1) HBS N. CA Marketing & Sales Roundtable, "Marketing Operations: How It Will Transform Marketing Forever", Panel Discussion with VP's of Marketing Operations from Symantec, Cisco, BEA, and a consumer packaged goods expert, June 20, 2006. (2) It is recognized that the 3Cs have been used in other forms and described in different ways. For example, we have heard "Communication" used as a "C". Our description is what appears to be most consistent in literature based on the author's research. Other forms could be substituted for the 3C's and have the same effect. The

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goal is to avoid debate on this element in this article as it would take it away from the central topic.

About the Author

Adrian Carol Ott is CEO of Exponential Edge Inc, www.exponentialedge.com. She also serves as Chair of the Harvard Business School Northern California Alumni Association Marketing and Sales Roundtable. The Roundtable is a forum that explores issues and trends faced by senior executives in the Silicon Valley business community.

Making “Solutions” into More than Marketing Spiel - by Lilia Shirman, Managing Principal of The Shirman Group Technology vendors are promoting solutions, rather than products, to their enterprise customers. Most do so as a reaction to commoditization and falling margins. A few, as a proactive step to differentiate and increase the value they deliver. Of course, other industries and consumer-oriented companies are turning to solutions too. (Just look at Wells Fargo’s new Home Improvement Program, designed to combat the commoditization of equity financing.) Many principles of successful solutions are common across industries, but we’ll address the problem children first: Most technology-based “solutions” are no more than

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re-positioned products with a services pitch tacked on. Many others start with lofty ideas, and then fall down in execution. What’s a Solution? Sales and marketing people frequently use the words “solution” and “product” interchangeably, obscuring (intentionally?) a very real distinction. Products supply a specific set of functionality. Solutions address customers’ broader objectives--ones that often have a direct impact on business success. That means solutions are more complex, and require a larger investment and broader skill-set to take to market, deploy, and operate. Product

Solution

Composition

One or more products or services

Integrated blend of products, services, and expertise

Type of Need Addressed

Specific requirement--the need to perform a particular task

Strategic imperative--the driver that causes the customer to allocate budget

Success Factors - Rich feature set to Achieving - Reliable performance Benefits - Rapid deployment - Simple, low cost maintenance

- Integration (not joint marketing) among components - Clearly defined roles among solution participants - Adaptability of solution to evolving needs - Broad changes in buyer organizations’ behavior

Differentiating between products and solutions

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Roles in the Solution Stack To assess realistically the required investment and likely returns of offering a solution, companies must first determine what role they would play within a solution ecosystem. A company's role within the solution stack determines key decisions about product development, sales capabilities, and alliance strategy. The participants in a complete solution are: •

Orchestrators have expertise in the customers’ most critical needs, and they determine what comprises the solution. Often, orchestrators own the core intellectual property or expertise to meet the customers’ needs. Orchestrators also typically lead the customer relationship.

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Completers offer niche products that are critical to the success of the overall solution.

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Complementors enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, or attractiveness of the solution, but are not critical to delivering on its core promise.

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Delivery experts make the solution easier to adopt and more usable for end-customers.

The orchestration role is the most alluring. To execute it successfully, however, requires significant investment and a broad set of competencies, so it's also the riskiest. While it's common for a single company to play more than one role, solutions invariably involve inter-company collaboration. Achieving Success with Solutions When an organization decides to orchestrate a solution, it must be ready to commit resources from multiple disciplines. Ignoring any one area

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almost certainly means the solution will fail to reach its full potential for revenue and account penetration. 1. Select the right use-case and decision-makers. Existing customers are an indispensable source of input at this stage. 2. 2.Determine which capabilities are critical, and how to make the solution most readily adoptable by customers. 3. 3.Form the required alliances, starting with Completers, then Delivery Experts, and finally Complementors. 4. 4.Determine and articulate the concrete value of the complete solution. Quantify it! 5. 5.Assess and, if necessary, enhance sales channel skills to execute a solution selling approach. 6. 6.Go to market in phases to balance investment and return. 7. 7.Expect a learning curve and actively manage the solution’s evolution. Solutions are not a panacea for invigorating revenue growth or raising margins. Nonetheless, organizations that are able to identify the right role within a solution and effectively execute on each stage of solution development can create significant benefits and opportunities for their business:

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Attention of new, often more powerful, buyers and decision-makers within customer accounts.

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Entree into new accounts, including expansion into larger enterprises with higher budgets.

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Ability to command higher average sale price and deal size.

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About the Author

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Higher services revenues associated with the product, and increased interest from delivery partners who expand market reach.

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Position as a "trusted partner" to customers.

Lilia Shirman is the Managing Principal of The Shirman Group, which helps technology companies identify and pursue new sources of revenue and growth. Shirman Group clients are multi-billion dollar companies including BEA Systems and Computer Associates, mid-size vendors like Borland and Intervoice, and some early-stage ventures. Lilia's mission is to help clients broaden their reach to new industries, buyers, alliances, and geographies, and to foster collaborative execution within each client’s organization. "The Shirman Group provided us with expertise and craftsmanship of work that's hard to match," said Vadim Rosenberg, Director of Telecommunications Marketing at Wily. "I would readily recommend Lilia's services to anyone looking to strengthen strategic alliances or improve marketing effectiveness," said Mercedes Ellison, VP of global partner sales at Hyperion. You can find us on-line at www.shirman.com.


Going beyond Language: Using Word of Mouth and other High Context Strategies to Connect with Today’s Cross-Cultural Consumer - by Valerie Romley Marketing to the multicultural market today is no longer just a matter of language. Cross-cultural marketing today requires an understanding of the different values and behaviors indoctrinated by cultural influence and how these variables affect cultures. In order to connect with these “new consumers”, marketers must understand the drivers and motivators that are fueling this mindset and develop campaigns that transcend culture. Multicultural strategy must go beyond adaptation and translation, beyond in-language marketing to marketing in-culture and in-context to deliver meaning and connect with the diverse multicultural audience. Word-of-mouth, influencer marketing and experiential marketing, these are the strategies generating buzz in the marketplace today, so how can we use these effectively in the multicultural marketplace? The dimensions of culture in the marketplace easily lend themselves to many of these principles: “Beyond Guanxi”: Influencer Marketing In collective societies, community outreach is the cornerstone of any marketing program, allowing us to connect with influential community leaders as catalysts to target brand-loyal audiences.

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Once enrolled, these “ambassadors” can then exert their own influence within their own social circles. “Try it you’ll like it”: Experiential and Event Marketing In high context cultures, providing an experience model that will get people talking is not the only goal. Sampling and entertainment events are some of the best ways to reach out to a community that may not relate to the brand in the same cultural context: "If you're an immigrant who doesn't speak English or doesn't own a washing machine, you must show them how Tide meshes into their lives. Allow consumers to see, touch, smell and use the product with in-store demos or at community events. They love to test products. Offer them coupons . . . Don't describe to them how to use it in an instruction book or print ad." Bill Imada, president of the AAAF and chairman/CEO of IW Group. “Correr la Voz” or “And she told two friends”: Using Word-of-Mouth High context cultures such as Latinos, rely on word-of-mouth and familial or peer endorsement to gain knowledge on products and services. Collective communities place a strong focus on interpersonal relationships, therefore using Community and Amistad (Friendship) Networks and connecting with the extended family model which often includes close friends and colleagues can all be effective strategies for creating word-of-mouth, developing brand awareness and promoting endorsement.

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These and other high context strategies allow us to use the language of cultural identity in order to connect directly with today’s multidimensional consumer regardless of language or acculturation level.

About the Author

Valerie Romley is the Chief Research Officer of Moving Target Research Group, a brand research consultancy, which helps brands cross the cultural divide by translating consumer behavior into actionable intelligence relevant in today's Global marketplace.

Integration? Strategy? Let's Face It: Marketing Needs a New MO - by Gary Katz We salivate over the promise and vision of integrated marketing, yet few of us truly understand it, and even establishing a common definition is a struggle. We long for a seat at the decision-making table yet, in many organizations, marketing has evolved into a low-stature mouthpiece and "cost center" that contributes little to the enterprise strategy and is treated as a necessary evil.

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Our power is further usurped as increasingly more organizations turn over responsibility for vital functions that were once the domain of marketing to other departments: product management, the sales pipeline, customer experience management. Many of us are working in marketing departments that spend most of the time fighting fires and kissing up to CEOs, for fear that our corporate survival depends on such compliant behavior. We've often settled for reactive, chaotic, dysfunctional work environments where we operate more like order takers at McDonalds and company mouthpieces (spin doctors) than real change facilitators and difference-makers in our organizations. How many of us are really happy in our positions today, spending precious little time on strategy and customer-facing activates, operating with few resources and facing expectations that are growing geometrically? Let's face it: If we want to realize the vision of integrated marketing and strategic marketing, of a more collaborative and enjoyable work environment, of more stature and influence in our organizations, we need to let go of the old. Marketing needs a new MO. And we have that new MO right in front of us, if we're not afraid to embrace it. It's called marketing operations. Admired technology companies (like Adobe, Symantec, and Seagate) are leveraging marketing operations to improve performance

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and demonstrate return on marketing as they refine their organizations using an operational focus. Marketing operations is an emerging discipline that increases efficiency and drives consistent results in complex marketing organizations. It builds a foundation for excellence by reinforcing strategy with processes, technology, guidance, and metrics. It creates both the infrastructure and ecosystem for individuals and teams to make informed decisions about marketing mix investment, gain committed buy-in from stakeholders both inside and outside the industry, collaborate synergistically across functions, optimize resources, and operate with discipline and accountability. Organizations that embrace marketing operations are being viewed throughout the enterprise as profit (not cost) centers and fully accountable businesses. Marketing executives with the foresight to build a marketing operations function in their organizations are blessed with an operational partner, similar to the COO/CEO relationship. Directors and managers gain an invaluable resource to help them get the most out of their programs, make course corrections, and learn from their experience. Even the most inexperienced professionals gain by being part of a learning-oriented environment where they develop fundamental skills to operate effectively, stay accountable, and benefit from marketing operations-driven improvement programs, such as new competency development. Marketing operations is all about a new MO for marketing. In fact, it’s fair to say that “MO” is an apt descriptor of its potential impact in organizations. Marketing operations is poised to literally change the modus operandi (MO) of marketing.

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And a new MO for marketing in organizations is great news for all of us. We won’t be such an easy target come budget-cut time. The average CMO tenure won’t continue to drop to embarrassing levels (less than 23 months at last count). Employees won’t be so motivated to jump ship, taking their valuable, but siloed, institutional knowledge with them. So whether you’re a marketing executive, middle manager, or early-career specialist, it’s definitely in your best interest to become a passionate advocate of marketing operations. Embracing marketing operations is a win-win for everyone, but bringing its benefits into your Marketing function is an evolutionary process. MO is both a serious commitment and a great opportunity. Like all change initiatives, it requires careful and comprehensive thought and exacting implementation. Key players in marketing and other cross-functional organizations, such as sales and product development, need to be invited into the process early on and need to stay involved to achieve stakeholder ownership and buy-in. The effort, however, yields impressive rewards. Marketing operations has the power to re-position and re-energize a company’s marketing function, moving it past stubborn barriers to unprecedented levels of performance and success. MO creates the type of organization where individuals and teams are empowered to do their best work--and a culture of accountability leads to better results. This in turn raises the stature of marketing in enterprise. Leveraging the discipline and rewards of an MO approach places marketing in the perfect position to influence strategic decisions and help

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increase corporate revenue, decrease costs, and sustain high levels of customer and employee satisfaction. Bottom line, embracing MO should be a no-brainer for every marketing professional, from the most senior executive to the new junior staffer. If your organization has not yet embraced MO, you have the opportunity to seize leadership, increasing your value to your organization. If your organization is already leveraging MO, you can work to ensure its continued success. Either way, marketing operations enables you to help yourself.

About the Author

Gary Katz is founder and CEO of Marketing Operations Partners (www.mopartners.com), a ready-to-go COO and change management team helping marketing executives and their teams run marketing as a profit center and fully accountable business. He also is founder and CEO of CommPros Group (www.commprosgroup.com), an outsourced marketing program management agency.

A Manifesto for Microsponsorships - by Rohit Bhargava There is a gap in online marketing today. Despite the rising budgets being allocated to online advertising, the distribution of this money is not equal. Even as thousands of new blogs and social networks are created, the vast majority of online as spending is still going to only the

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largest portal sites or search engines. Of course, there is a vast traffic difference between Yahoo and a small blog; however, the theory of the Long Tail shows us that there are plenty of reasons to think outside the portal (or search engine) when buying advertising online. For example, it is generally accepted that word of mouth marketing can be successful even if a person tells just 3 people about a product or service because the interaction is personal, direct, and comes from a trusted source. That interaction is worth far more to an advertiser than millions of empty impressions. Yet, buying word of mouth rather than impressions on the Internet is an impossible task. Microsponsorship is about making this possible. Before I get to explaining how microsponsorship would work, consider the following trends and facts about the state of marketing and the Internet today: 1. Everyone is becoming a content publisher as technology makes publishing content online easier and easier. 2. The vast majority of the online advertising dollars today go to only the largest sites or networks. 3. Most online advertisers have little incentive or no process for advertising directly on small sites. 4. Brands struggle to find influential brand ambassadors and the right ways to "activate" them online. People have products and services they love and are usually eager to tell others about it. Social media amplifies individual voices and helps them be heard far beyond the close circles of friends and family. This is the truth that has led

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to the current popularity of consumer generated advertising. The problem is, you can't always identify brand affinity easily. For example, I write a marketing blog, but have never had cause to write about my Vornado desk fan (which I love). As a result, Vornado has no idea I am a brand enthusiast, yet how many of my readers are people who sit at desks and might take action on purchasing a desk fan of their own if given a strong, personal, authentic recommendation? More than a few, I imagine. This is the type of missed opportunity common in online marketing today. Instead, ads are placed based on industry category (i.e., consumer tech ads on a gadget blog) or inconsistent keyword algorithms (i.e., text ads for "Spicy Spam Kabobs" when you visit your spam mailbox folder on Gmail). What most marketers need is a way to get authentic word of mouth endorsements for products and services from influential sites and individuals. This brings me to microsponsorships. Imagine if any blog or any social network, no matter how small, could sell a sponsorship of their site to the right brand--one they believe in. Site sponsorships are like sponsorships of an event, they signify support and are based on relevance. They are usually limited in number. Most importantly, they are persistent. You could argue that any site can sell a sponsorship; however, as highlighted earlier, the challenge for most advertisers is finding the right sites to sponsor. Added to that is the mistaken idea that online sponsorship simply means putting your logo in the corner or sidebar of a site. Microsponsorships are based on endorsements and choice, and therefore would include an inherent recommendation and far more value for advertisers. You might have noticed that this idea is influenced by Muhammad Yunus' Nobel Prize winning theory of microcredit. His idea that there was a market

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need for small loans that was underserved by the existing financial institutions of the world led to the creation of microfinance. Similarly, online marketers need a way to more authentically engage influential brand ambassadors on a micro level. Microsponsorships can do that. The real question is: how can the industry meet this need and allow brands to buy these microsponsorships, as well as make it easy for individual content creators to sell microsponsorships to the brands they believe in? One potential answer lies in the creation of Micro Sponsorships (www.microsponsorships.com). Microsponsorships.com could be a directory where: 1. Every blog or social network can register their site to sell microsponsorships. 2. Sites select brands or products they believe in, and define the type of sponsorship. 3. Automated algorithms would be used to generate "influence ratings" (using a similar model to Todd And's Power 150 List). 4. Online advertisers and media planners register on the site to get access to see brand affinities and select sites to sponsor. 5. Site owners would get a proposal from brands and decide to accept or decline. 6. Microsponsorships would be brokered across hundreds or even thousands of smaller sites, effectively augmenting any online advertising buy. 7. Once accepted, sites would fulfill on the agreed components of the microsponsorship and provide reporting. 8. Online advertisers could use metrics reported, or real metrics from the landing page URL provided in order to measure performance.

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This is only one model for bringing microsponsorships to life, and there are bound to be others. This is an idea that represents a shift in how we think about online advertising. It underscores the importance of having smarter techniques to find and collaborate with brand evangelists—which is the key to getting value from online ad spending that is far beyond impressions or clicks.

About the Author

Rohit Bhargava is VP of Interactive Marketing at the 360 Digital Influence team in Ogilvy Public Relations and author of the popular marketing blog, “Influential Interactive Marketing”. He has also registered the Microsponsorships.com domain name mentioned in this manifesto, but the idea for the site is currently only a theory.

What is Marketing Anyway? - by Laura Lowell It isn’t rocket science. It’s marketing. What we do is pretty straightforward; we create and distribute messages to get people’s attention so we can convince them to buy more of our stuff. That's not to say the implementation of specific tactics, or the analytics behind a new campaign aren't complicated--they certainly are. But our general approach to marketing doesn't have to be.

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In the real world, you can have a great strategy, a message that customers care about, fantastic creative ideas and a website that brings tears to your eyes…but if no one hears you then none of it matters. In other words, you need to be heard, otherwise what’s the point? This is especially true for emerging businesses. You know the kind, start-ups that are ready to take off, small businesses on the brink of making it big or divisions of large corporations with a point to prove. In his book, The Practice of Management, Peter Drucker wrote that "Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two--and only two--basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business." The American Marketing Association defines marketing as "An organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders". In today's overly-messaged marketing landscape, a more pragmatic answer to the question seems like the right way to go. I define marketing as the way messages about your company, product or service are created and communicated with your customers in order to elicit a positive response. In other words, marketing is the way we create and distribute messages to get people’s attention so we can convince them to buy more of our stuff (Yes, I did just repeat myself because I think this is really important).

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The response can be a decision to purchase from your company, to refer a friend or colleague, or to learn more about your offerings. In any case, these positive responses engage the customer so that you can build a relationship that will ultimately lead to an increase in sales. After all, isn’t that the point?

The Power of Social Genes A UC Berkeley undergraduate perspective - By Amanda Coffee Your health answer is out there and now there is an easy way to find it. Despite a wealth of available health experience data, there is not a real-time way of integrating this for personal users so that they could use health experiences from a large population base to predict the outcomes of lifestyle and healthcare intervention changes. MyProfile.com social health site would allow users to post confidential health profiles about their health history that could be compared and contrasted with the total MyProfile.com database confidentially. Personalized reports would be generated that outline a range of relevant health indicators, interventions, and lifestyle changes and the experiences with them from the MyProfile.com aggregate database. Example: “Anyone have information on the benefit of changing to a vegetarian diet when suffering from seasonal allergies?”

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MyProfile.com will create and advertise a social website communicating the easy and free access to confidential aggregate users’ health data. It will provide a range of examples that prospective users could identify with. MyProfile.com will examine potential shared interest sites that could link to MyProfile.com. It will reach out to potential advertisers of healthcare products that could be tastefully placed on the MyProfile.com site. It will appropriately communicate confidential user testimonials that would resonate with site visitors and encourage adoption. MyProfile.com would be a “sticky” site where users would come back again and again to communicate with user groups who are collectively sharing their ongoing health experiences. My Profile.com would consider a second tier site that is a subscription model that provides more personal intervention with health care advisors--nutritionists, physical therapists, etc. MyProfile.com would have a secure identifier block such that only the blinded profile information is available for sharing. A unique logon name and password is needed and only a code number is used within the site for identification. MyProfile.com would not endorse or recommend any particular products, services, or interventions but would allow users to make their own decisions based on the strength and proof of the aggregate users' experiences.

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About the Author

Amanda Coffee is a senior at the University of California Berkeley, majoring in Mass Communications and will be graduating May 2008. Amanda has held public relations internships at Weber Shandwick Worldwide and Burson-Marsteller representing clients including Cisco, Clorox, and Hewlett-Packard. Amanda is currently an Associate for Hillary Clinton for President, assisting in media relations and event coordinating. Amanda is External Vice President of Public Relations @ Cal, a student-run organization. She hosts professional guest speakers, facilitates workshops and is the public relations liaison with undergraduate business organizations that included speaking on a marketing panel regarding her public relations internships. Affiliations include Pi Beta Phi Sorority, National Collegiate Scholars and the Undergraduate Marketing Association.

How Do You Show Up As A Marketer? - by Cynthia Holladay Relax and breathe. No need to feel defensive. It isn’t a trick question. But it can be a revealing one. If you’re not sure, ask someone: a colleague, a partner, or a co-worker. Meanwhile, I’ll share my answer with you. Then please post your thoughts and stories here.

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Our moments of Zen in marketing. I was actually asked this question recently in a Mastermind discussion. And honestly, I don’t know how I would have responded 15 years ago. But now with plenty of history and well, a few gray hairs, it took me only moments to explain. In fact, the answer hit me point blank at the end of an AMA Professional Chapters Council (PCC)1 meeting a couple of years ago. During my 3-year PCC term, I got to know very well a great group of nine volunteers, personally and professionally-- including Tracy Sullivan, past president of the Austin chapter. At the close of our last meeting the year Tracy served as PCC president, she ceremoniously gave each council member a distinctive gift with a special meaning. Some were serious, some were funny. But every token unquestionably captured the essence of each council member. When my time came, Tracy handed me a beautifully wrapped package that I almost didn’t want to tear open. Inside was one of those great beefy-cotton T-shirts, in navy blue, with writing on the front in big white letters: “Why Are We Doing This?” Around the table everyone nodded, some laughed, and several shouted in agreement. Then in all seriousness and much affection Tracy pronounced, “Cynthia, this is the one phrase I will always think of when I think of you. And I will always be grateful that you were here to keep us on track by continually reminding us to be conscious.”

1. http://cr.marketingpower.com/

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Moments like these don’t just fly by without a pause to reflect. Later I thought about not only the past three years, but the years before and since. It became clear that one way I show up is “Always Searching.” It really bugs me in any situation to not see the big picture or if something just doesn’t make sense. After all, the big picture provides the context to determine the true value of our marketing efforts, yes? I find that if we keep asking, “Why are we doing this?”--openly and honestly--the answers get better and better! Perhaps this could be a way to begin meeting the challenge that Linda Popky declared in her post, “Where is the Marketing Leadership?2” As the answer to each question enlarges the context, our shared purpose can become more meaningful and our actions more precise. The question continues to work for me. Now when I show up wearing my shirt, usually at the gym, it never fails to spark a conversation. And a conversation is a great way to start.

About the Author

Cynthia Holladay was Past President of SVAMA for 2 terms (2000-2001 and 2001-2002) and previously a member of its Board of Directors as Vice President, Programs, for 2 terms (1998-1999 and 1999-2000). Under her leadership, the SVAMA achieved the AMA’s highest award, “Chapter of the Year”, and a special merit award for chapter management over all other chapters worldwide. Cynthia has 20 years experience in high-tech marketing and software, and has held executive positions in software engineering, product management, 2. http://tinyurl.com/2s2544

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sales, and marketing. She was on the design team that delivered the first commercial ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) product sold in New England; worked with Turing-award winner Charlie Bachman at BACHMAN Information Systems, an early CASE tool company that went public in 1991; delivered the Customer Data Mart product line for Aspect Communications and later helped reposition the $600M communications equipment company as an eCRM software provider. Cynthia was vice president marketing for Vuent, Inc., a collaborative product development start-up acquired by Oracle; and is now CEO of UpRight Marketing, a business and marketing consultancy that helps technology companies build long-term value for customers and stakeholders. She is Board Advisor for two early stage software companies, Chair for the Computer History Museum Fellow Awards, and a member of the AMA Professional Chapters Council and Strategic Task Force. Cynthia is a frequent speaker on industry and marketing trends and earned a bachelor’s degree in music from USC and a master’s degree from the Boston Conservatory of Music.

Engagement is Dead - by Tom Martin Yes, consumer engagement is all the rage these days. But its 15 minutes of fame is about to end. The painful truth is, consumers don't want engagement. I love Apple. But I don't want to engage with Apple. I want Apple to continue to produce wonderful, useful, and cool tools/services for me to use. And I want them to keep the

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brand cool so I feel cool for using it. That's not engagement, that's good ‘ol fashion smart business. Consumers buy things today for the same reason they have always bought things--to solve problems or make them feel better. Companies today need to spend a heck of a lot more time trying to understand what problems they can solve for consumers and less time trying to figure out new ways to interrupt them with irrelevant messages. And that extends to their marketing. Yes, marketing approaches can solve consumer problems too. We in the business just don't spend enough time thinking along those lines. We're too busy dreaming up ways to entertain them or interrupt them. Success in the future will be based on deep, deep understanding of the consumer using traditional and non-traditional research techniques and then using that insight to create new products/services and yes, marketing approaches that all (product and marketing combined) contribute to the creation of a solution to a consumer problem.

Visual & Verbal Palettes - by Tom Martin The only thing that matters in marketing today is what the consumer hears. And with today's dizzying array of technological tools that give the consumer the power to skip, delete, or simply ignore your message,

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marketers have fewer and fewer opportunities to send the message in the first place. So every message has to count. Successful marketers understand that the meaning of their words and images lies not with the speaker but with the receiver of the message. Therefore, if we want to stimulate that Pavlovian, emotional response that triggers purchase, we must talk to consumers using their language. Otherwise our messages will be edited out and ignored as irrelevant, boring, or worse, irritating. Enter the Visual & Verbal Palette. Based on a process of verbal & visual mind-mapping combined with story-telling, VVPs proactively decode and decipher your consumers' verbal and visual ideas, concepts and constructs at the category and brand level. The VVP and other similar processes provide marketing teams with a new level of understanding that stimulates the creation of powerful and effective programs, events, and messages that break through the noise to generate action--and ensure that what you say is what the consumer hears.

M01 100

Digitally signed by M01 DN: cn=M01, c=US Date: 2008.07.18 19:58:17 -04'00'


Appendix

A

Keynote Speakers

Marketing Thought ConferenceMay 31 2007, Santa Clara, CA

Guy Kawasaki, Marketing Thought Leader, Author and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures Guy's presentation “The Art of Innovation” will enable companies to set new standards of innovation that change the world. Guy will lay out the strategic steps required to create innovation by

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calling upon his experiences with Apple, as well as his studies of dozens of world-class companies. He will inspire and inform you on how to innovate and produce fundamental change. See beyond the current standards to develop a revolutionary way of marketing today. According to Guy, “Evangelism is an important part of innovation.” Come learn the foundation and fundamental principles of evangelism from a master evangelist. “Out of curiosity, I went to SimplyHired, a vertical search engine for jobs, and looked for openings containing the keyword ‘evangelist.’ Amazingly, there were 611 matches--and none were for churches. It seems that ‘evangelist’ is now a secular, mainstream job title. Indeed, the first eight matches were for evangelist jobs at Microsoft--go figure.” Guy Kawasaki is Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, and a columnist for Forbes.com. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple, Inc.), where he was one of the individuals responsible for the success of the Macintosh computer. Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA, as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

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Appendix A: Keynote Speakers

Andy Sernovitz, Marketing Thought Leader, Author and Founding CEO of Word of Mouth Marketing, Chicago You've heard the talk, you've heard the hype-word of mouth marketing is the next big thing. But what exactly should you do to create a word of mouth marketing campaign for your company? Learn specific strategies to engage with consumers and generate positive word of mouth about your brand. Andy will discuss “Word of Mouth Marketing: Five Simple Steps: How to master buzz, blogs, viral, and word of mouth marketing.” Andy will explain the five steps to starting an effective, sales-driven campaign that impacts your customers and prospects. “We're going to get specific here: Who to hire, where to start, and how to make it successful. We'll talk about:

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•

Finding the right people to talk about you (influencers and evangelists)

•

Giving them something to talk about (viral email, samples, buzz, and more)

•

Creating tools to make it easier for them to talk to each other (blogs, discussions, tell-a-friend forms)

•

Participating in the conversation

•

Tracking and measuring results”

Andy Sernovitz is a 16-year veteran of the interactive marketing business and author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking. Andy has spent years helping companies learn how to market more effectively. Andy is founder and CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, where he works side by side with the masterminds who pioneer the newest innovations in blogs, buzz, and word of mouth marketing. Andy's experience includes teaching at the Wharton School of Business, running a business incubator, and starting half a dozen companies. GasPedal, his consulting company, advises great brands like TiVo, Ralph Lauren, Sprint, and Kimberly-Clark. In the early dot com days, he ran the Association for Interactive Marketing, the largest marketing organization for Internet companies. Andy holds degrees from the Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania in Marketing and Political Science respectively.

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Appendix A: Keynote Speakers

Appendix

B

Contributors

About SVAMA SVAMA is the premier chapter of the American Marketing Association and the American Marketing Association is the premier marketing organization of its type in the world. SVAMA's mission is to help marketers Stay Connected! and Stay Informed! by being: •

Connected to marketing thought leaders in Silicon Valley or beyond

•

Informed about the latest marketing techniques, issues and technologies

SVAMA delivers on those two promises through monthly events, in-depth workshops, mixers, the Internet, webinars, email, blogs, rss feeds, wikis, and also through affiliations with marketing niche organizations aimed at individual marketing specialties. Local members also get the same benefits at a national and international level through SVAMA's parent organization, AMA International. Information about SVAMA is available at: www.svama.org

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Event Archives Online Many of SVAMA’s events are recorded and available for viewing at www.svama.net/pastevents.html Access to the 2007 archives is included in the cost of this book. Enter discount code MT2007 for a 100% discount. SVAMA Membership Information If you are ready to Stay Connected! to marketing thought leaders and Stay Informed! about the latest marketing techniques, issues, and technologies, join us. Membership in SVAMA gets you both local and national connections and information. Check the benefits of membership at . . . www.svama.net/joinus.html The Marketing Thought Conference, indeed all SVAMA programs would not be possible without the support of volunteers and sponsors. Our activities are led by a dedicated group of officers and directors who donate their time and talents and by volunteers who execute our plans. Our entire profession benefits from their efforts.

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Appendix B: Contributors

SVAMA Board of Directors Executive Management • • • • • • •

Gene Hall, President Robert Jacobs, EVP Programming Brenda Kring, EVP Operations Karen Zhang, EVP, Customer Advocacy Group BJ Patel, EVP Technology Group Martine Velkiener, EVP Business Development Group Dipti Pratt, EVP Marketing Group

Operations Group • • •

Gary Katz, VP Treasury/Secretary Sue Hay, VP Volunteers Angi Roberts, Association Management

Customer Advocacy Group • • • • •

Judy Feuerbach, Co-VP Membership Recruiting Lexi Noble, Co-VP Membership Recruiting Scott Bowker, VP Membership Retention Mario Sundar, VP Collegiate Relations Rick Napolitan, VP Market Research

Technology Group • •

Arthur Wait, VP Technology Development Salim Lakhani, VP Technology Management

Business Development Group •

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Malgosia Mazany, VP Sponsorship

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Marketing Group • • • • • •

Janine Salmon, VP Public Relations Jennifer Clay, Co-VP Direct Marketing Nancy Marx, Co-VP Direct Marketing AnnMarie Baba, VP Promotions Andreas Mueller, VP Promotions Alex Littlewood, VP of Marketing Communications

Programming Group • • • • •

Shilpa Lele, Co-VP Workshops Tony Green, Co-CP Workshops Michelle Hoover, VP Networking Don Humbert, VP Regular Programs Dave Wagner, VP Customer Involvement

Emeritus Board Members • • • • •

Sue Hay, Past President Michelle Graham, Past President Sarah Autrand, Past President Cynthia Holladay, Past President Lynn Hunsaker, Past President

Volunteers • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Glen Balzer Clara Kuo Abhijeet Prabhune Marcia Healy Jesse Lee Masako Sasaki Kalyani Subramanyan Tara Pratt Mark Evans Stacey Carpenter Prashant Prahlad Erick Gibson


• • • • • • •

Helene Eichler Bud Koch Silvia Malaccorto Rashmi Murthy Nilay Shastri Stacey Liu Tony Tsai

Marketing Thought Publishing Contest Judges Moderator and Judge •

Lisa Keefe, Editor, Marketing News, Chicago

Judges • •

• • • •

Marketing Thought

Andy Getsey, Co-Founder and CEO, Atomic Public Relations Cynthia Holladay, Founder, UpRight Marketing and Past President of SVAMA, AMA Chapter of the Year 2002 Garrett Lawrence, Managing Director, Doremus San Francisco Mitchell Levy, CEO, Quick2Publish Tony Seba, Educator, Author, and Mentor Capitalist, Stanford University Andy Sernovitz, Author of Word of Mouth Marketing

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Sponsors

Quick2Publish™ (www.quick2publish.com) a California corporation, writes and publishes books, white papers, and speeches for those who don't have the time or resources to do it themselves. With our 137 ghost writers, we can create your next speech, white paper, book or book series. The opportunity to dominate thought leadership in your market is right around the corner. Create your book or imprint today.

Atomic Public Relations (www.atomicpr.com) works with technology, business to business, and select consumer and entertainment clients to clarify positioning, dramatically raise marketplace awareness, and advance business agendas. From Earthlink to Yahoo!, Fujitsu to Oracle, Mattel to The North Face, NBC Entertainment to RealMusic--Atomic executives have successful experience representing well known brands, launching high-profile start-ups and executing high visibility projects.

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CRE – Computer & AV Solutions (www.computerrentals.com) is a premier supplier of computer and audiovisual rental equipment, and technology service and support throughout the US. We work with marketing professionals, meeting planners, and event planning companies to create memorable events. Some of the reasons why professionals choose to partner with CRE: • •

• •

Marketing Thought

Over 25 years of experience in the technology rental industry Dedicated service team: a knowledgeable sales team, certified technicians and experienced project managers to coordinate your equipment needs prior to the event and on-site Extensive inventory of the latest, name-brand computer and audiovisual equipment Flexibility to create customized equipment packages to meet your budgetary requirements

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Partners

WOMMA (www.womma.org/about) is the official trade association for the word of mouth marketing industry. WOMMA's mission is to promote and improve word of mouth marketing by: • • •

Protecting consumers and the industry with strong ethical guidelines Promoting word of mouth as an effective marketing tool Setting standards to encourage its use

The CMO Council (www.cmocouncil.org) is dedicated to advancing the effectiveness, stature, and influence of chief marketing executives faced with a unique set of complex and daunting organizational, operational, cultural, and strategic business challenges across multiple industry sectors and markets worldwide.

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The Business Marketing Association (BMA) (www.norcalbma.org) is an international organization with more than 3,000 members in The US. and Canada. The Northern California Chapter is the largest chapter within the organization with more than 500 members area-wide. All of the disciplines of marketing and communications are represented in the chapter's diversified membership, as is status within the industry which ranges from entry level to top executives. NorCal BMA offers its members monthly luncheon meetings featuring many nationally known speakers talking about today's hottest marketing topics. Membership also brings a monthly newsletter, the Professional Assistance Network job bank, and membership in the national organization.

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For more than thirty years, the Public Relations Society of America, Silicon Valley Chapter (PRSA-SV) (www.siliconprsa.org) has provided PR professionals with education and professional development, career advancement, and networking opportunities. The organization invites business communicators at every level to join, from young professionals to seasoned PR veterans. The Chapter also provides numerous opportunities to stay informed about industry developments and to interact with other professionals, members of the media, industry analysts, and more. For more information, to become a member, and to opt-in to receive newsletters and events bulletins.

Women in Consulting (WIC) (www.womeninconsulting.org) is a dynamic organization of over 500 members and affiliates who are seasoned professional consultants in more than 30 specialties, ranging from engineering to financial advising and marketing. Our mission is to create a community of consultants that works together to build strong businesses through networking and skills development. A nonprofit corporation, WIC was established in 1998 as a collaborative community to foster successful consulting practices for its members.

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E d i t o r

About the Editor

Alex Littlewood is the ’07-’08 VP of Marketing communications for SVAMA, and works as a Project Manager at Liquid Agency, a brand strategy consulting and design agency in the Silicon Valley. In his professional career, Alex has worked with a wide range of world class brands including Intel, Adobe, Cisco, Intuit, Visa, Nestle, P&G, Clorox, and many more. Alex has a B.S. in Marketing and Finance from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA.

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Editor

Your Book

Create Thought Leadership for your Company Books deliver instant credibility to the author. Having an MBA or PhD is great, however, putting the word "author" in front of your name is similar to using the letters PHD or MBA. You are no long Michael Green, you are "Author Michael Green." Books give you a platform to stand on. They help you to: • Demonstrate your thought leadership • Generate leads Books deliver increased revenue, particularly indirect revenue • A typical consultant will make 3x in indirect revenue for every dollar they make on book sales Books are better than a business card. They are: • More powerful than white papers • An item that makes it to the book shelf vs. the circular file • The best tschocke you can give at a conference

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Why wait to write your book? Check out other companies that have built credibility by writing and publishing a book through Happy About

Contact Quick2Publish at 408-257-3000 or go to http://Quick2Publish.com

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Compilation of ideas, theories, and practical approaches to marketing challenges that marketers know they should do, but don’t always have the time or patience to do. Paperback $19.95 eBook $11.95

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