Content Strategy and Words for Business on the Web • • Feature Post Sales vs. Marketing

Archive for April, 2008

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Why Blogging Is Like the Persian War

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008


The other day I wrote a kind of alternate history post in which the Spartans didn’t make it to Thermopylae to hold off the advancing Persian horde. As a result, Greece was conquered and Western civilization never got off the ground. What does this have to do with business blogging?

Taking action is risky, but not taking action can be even riskier. When Leonidas proposed leading a mere 300 men into battle against an army of 250,000, most folks would consider that risky. But the cost of inaction? Riskier still! Yes, marching forward with new marketing initiatives (such as blogs) may seem adventurous, but what are the consequences of turning a blind eye? Shunning new marketing approaches could mean losing your entire customer base. (more…)

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SobCon Almost Here!

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Liz Strauss posted this list of SobCon bloggers … time to spread some linkage! Can’t wait to meet you on Friday.

  • Cliff Atkinson
  • Shashi Bellamkonda
  • Chris Brogan
  • Harry Brooks
  • Anita Bruzzese
  • Dave Bullock
  • Mark Carter
  • Brian Clark
  • Tom Clifford
  • Valerie Combs
  • Chris Cree
  • Lisa Cree

    • (more…)

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    Understanding the Difference between Sales and Marketing

    Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

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    For small and medium-size business (SMB), sales and marketing tend to get lumped together in an indistinct mass of activities. Company leaders will say it’s inevitable, because everybody wears multiplel hats. Often, sales and marketing responsibilities fall on the owner, who also wears the finance hat and the purchasing hat and the IT hat.

    All well and good, unless the owner in question doesn’t know what the marketing hat looks like, or thinks of marketing as perhaps the brim of the sales hat. This is no good. Marketing has to be understood as a business discipline separate and distinct from sales. Complimentary, yes. Subordinate to sales, most of the time. But separate and distinct nonetheless. So what is the difference? There are many ways to think about it. (more…)

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    Awesome Links for Small and Medium Size Companies

    Monday, April 28th, 2008

    Salvador Dali, street painting, Rome
    Darlene McDaniel explains what it means to be a problem solver. Excellent advice for sales and customer service people as well as interviewees.

    David Meerman Scott makes some important distinctions among the terms “Web 2.0 marketing”, “social media marketing”, and “social network marketing”. Like me, you may sometimes use these terms interchangeably and/or without knowing exactly what I mean. David clears it up nicely. (more…)

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    A Short History of Western Civilization and Blogs

    Friday, April 25th, 2008

    gladiator

    Note to reader: You may wonder what this post has to do with business blogs. I haven’t got a clue. Next week I’ll try to explain, but in the meantime, what are your thoughts? Do you see a connection?

    In 480 B.C., King Xerxes of Persia crossed the Hellespont and invaded Greece with an overwhelming land force of 250,000 men. A panicked delegation of Greeks rushed south to Sparta, home of the finest warriors in all of Greece, to beg King Leonidas for help. Sensitive to their plight, Leonidas suggested he lead 300 of his best troops into the narrow pass of Thermopylae, where they might be able to hold off the Persians long enough for Athens to mount a decisive naval offensive. (more…)

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    Marketing Strategy Made Simple

    Thursday, April 24th, 2008

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    It is not unusual among small and midsize companies for marketing programs to be out of sync with the sales effort. Three misalignments cause this to happen.

    1. Leadership doesn’t clearly distinguish between sales and marketing
      2. Sales and marketing departments have different agendas
    2. Sales and/or marketing departments have no agenda

    Typically, sales objectives are more clearly understood and articulated in small companies than are marketing objectives. This is good news, because the best marketing plan starts with a sales plan. Marketing supports sales and can never be divorced from it. If sales can explain what it wants to accomplish, it becomes fairly simple for marketing to figure out how to support it. (more…)

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    Words for Nerds - Abattoir

    Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

    word-sell-soybean-lobby.JPG
    Abattoir is a word you may have run across, especially if you fancy fiction or crave comics. What do you think abattoir means?

    A. Fashionable, having refined taste
    B. A chicken coop
    C. A slaughterhouse
    D. In a confused or delirious state
    E. Excessively humid

    Hint: the word comes from the French abattre, to beat down. The correct definition of abattoir, of course, is … C, a slaughterhouse. (more…)

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    Cartoons and Word of Mouth Marketing

    Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

    Happy Earth Day!

    Salazar Packaging, a client heavily focused on sustainable packaging, is always looking for ways to get their Earth-friendly message out and stimulate conversation about packaging and the environment. Easier said than done! Although packaging is a mature industry, sustainable packaging is a hot topic generating buzz in a hundred directions on any given day. (more…)

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    Examples of Powerful Writing

    Monday, April 21st, 2008

    Joanna Young asks, What does powerful writing mean to you? Turns out to be a rather challenging question. I tried to define powerful writing as “memorably evocative.” Writing that sticks in my head and evokes an emotion or an impulse or an attitude has power. But when I think of examples, I don’t see the common denominators. So, rather than bore you with a half-baked analysis of a topic I don’t really understand, I’ll refer you to Joanna’s blog where you can find some actual insight.

    In the meantime, I’d like to share few examples of writing I find powerful, in the hope you will enjoy them. Do you find any of them powerful? Why do these passages strike you as powerful — or not?

    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure-dome decree : (more…)

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    David Maister Diagnoses What’s Wrong with Washington

    Thursday, April 17th, 2008

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    David Maister’s new book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, explains how to manage and lead a professional services organization. Its lessons apply equally well to any other type of business.

    Although Maister’s insights should prove valuable to any business leader, his finest insights come in the one chapter of his book he suggests we don’t read! The chapter is called, “The Trouble with Lawyers”. And although Maister is writing about law firms, he actually does a spectacular job of articulating what is wrong with our Federal government. I suppose this isn’t totally surprising, considering that Congress is comprised of more than a few lawyers. (more…)

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