Marketing Roadmaps

Business Management

one hand, other hand: why companies need CRM

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July 7, 3:10pm EDT: Inbound telephone call from what must have been a monster.com call center or telemarketing vendor since the area code shown on caller ID was Broward County, Florida, not global HQ in NY nor the local (Maynard Mass.) office. Caller wondered about my business recruiting needs, was getting ready to do the pitch for monster.  Fair enough. Everybody has to make a living.

Except:

I currently have an ad running on monster.com for a marketing/pr assistant. Which my caller did not know. Hmmm…..

Now to be fair, we do have two businesses operating from our lovely Hudson headquarters, GetGood Strategic Marketing and my husband’s computer consulting business, Active Oak LLC. We share the phone number, which was of course in the ad listing 🙂

The monster.com telemarketer had to dial my number somehow, but even if it was a call list generated using a random number generator versus a directory, there is really no excuse, in my mind, for failing to check the numbers against the monster client list. Especially current advertisers 🙂

All that said, I am extremely happy with the responses to my ad, and am willing to forgive monster this slight lapse in business acumen. But…. were it a service that I was less happy with, and I got an equally clueless telemarketing call, I would be far less likely to let it go.

Lesson: if you are doing outbound prospecting or even customer service calling, you should be using an enterprisewide CRM. There is no excuse for a telemarketer not knowing someone they are calling is already a customer.

My .02

YMMV

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Help Wanted: Part-time PR/Marketing Assistant

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I’m looking for a part-time marketing/PR assistant. About 20 hours per week.

Some of the things you will be doing:

  • helping me with admin
  • writing for the bi-monthly Marketing Roadmaps newsletter
  • researching media lists, including entering info into our database
  • researching editorial calendars
  • working on client projects, TBD (this is the fun and mysterious part)

This position would be ideal for a PR/marketing student looking for a summer job or a junior-level freelancer looking for a long-term project. No health insurance benefits, but a great working environment (if you like dogs). Definite possibility that you could do some of your work from home but at least in the beginning, you’d have to come to world headquarters in Hudson, MA. 

Students, fair warning:  you’ll get involved in all aspects of the business so you’ll learn a lot. But if you are looking for a trophy internship for your resume, this isn’t it.

If you are interested, drop me an email to my gmail account, sgetgood@gmail.com, with your resume. Tell me why you think it would be fun to work with me and with our clients (hint: check the about page on the blog and the website www.getgood.com). Please, no trolls.

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Class Acts: Laurence Haughton

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Some time ago I mentioned a book by author Laurence Haughton on a blog I was then writing for. To my surprise, I got an email from him thanking me for the mention and asking if I’d like to read his (then) new book It’s Not What You Say, It’s What You Do. Of course, I said.

I read it. Really liked it. Have been intending to review it for about a year now. Yup. Good intentions, but on this, Susan gets F for follow through.

Until today that is. And this still isn’t a real review. But it is an unqualified endorsement for the book and the author. Here’s why.

I’m using the book in an executive outreach program for one of my clients.  The theory is a top notch business book like this one might make it past the CEO’s gatekeeper. Certainly better than a pen or a gimmick.

Here’s an excerpt from our cover letter:

Houghton explains how research at 160 big companies proves that it isn’t the strategy that makes the difference, although it certainly helps to have a good one. It’s the execution that drives success:

 “What makes or breaks a company’s performance is its grasp over management’s most basic mission – to make sure everyone at every level follows through.”

Is everyone on your team executing the strategy for maximum impact? Probably not. This book can help you and them get it done. Haughton takes you step by step, example by example, through the four crucial building blocks for following through.

The overall theme of the book was a good fit for the market, and our product  ties in very naturally. We do this later in the letter; if you’d like to see it, email me.

But here’s the kicker: Haughton just didn’t write a great book — he lives it. He offered to autograph the books for us, with personalized signatures no less, and when UPS screwed up the pick-up to ship the books back to us, he drove it to the local UPS office. Above and beyond the call of duty. True follow through. A real class act.

Thanks, Laurence. And, readers, if you haven’t already, get this book!

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It’s Springtime, Must be Showtime

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It’s a rite of passage — that moment when you realize that the bulk of industry conferences and trade shows are scheduled in the Spring and early Autumn. Not all, mind you. There are trade shows going on all year long in the USA. But the concentration in May June September and October, at least in the US, is amazing. You could literally go from conference to conference, just returning home to get clean shirts and underwear. I suppose some people do…. At least I hope they are getting clean undies….

Anyway, here are a few conferences and events coming up over the next few months that marketing and PR folk should check out.

Next week in NYC, Syndicate (May 16-17). Everything you always wanted to know about syndication. I will be live-blogging the conference for Corante. Posts will appear here and on the Corante Marketing Hub for sure, maybe some other places too. PubSub is aggregating the blogs from speakers, sponsors and attendees.

Next month:

NYC, June 8-9, the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference, sponsored by Corante and the Center on Global Brand Leadership of Columbia Business School. It is a two-day event. The first day is a "CMO Summit" for CMOs and VPs of Marketing. The second day is a "Marketer’s Forum"  open to the public. I’m not attending this one, as I have a conflict, but the speaker list is fantastic, so I urge you to check it out. Somewhere in my pile of email is a note that my readers can get a discount, so if anyone is interested, drop me a note and I’ll dig it out.

Interested in bank marketing? I certainly am, thanks to my client who sells CRM systems for banks! The Boston Chapter of the AMA is getting an exclusive first look at TD Banknorth’s new marketing campaign from Tom Dyck, TD Banknorth EVP and Director of Marketing. The presentation will be held Friday June 9 from 11 am – 1:30 pm at Banners Restaurant at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. Plus we get a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Garden, including areas not usually accessible to the public.

July:

San Jose, CA July 28-29. BlogHer. Day One is sold out, but last I heard, there was still space at the cocktail party and  for Day Two. Come be part of the Business Blogging unpanel on Day Two that I am doing with Yvonne DiVita and Toby Bloomberg. We want you to come share your stories!! The whole concept of the unpanel is that everyone participates and together we build a collective deliverable. In this case, we’ll call it best practices for business blogging. More background on the unpanel in this post. And more to come late May, early June.

Disclosures: I am a member of the Corante Marketing Hub and the Boston Chapter of the AMA, and a speaker at (and longtime fan of) BlogHer.

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Defying Gravity: Women Bloggers

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"I’m through accepting limits

‘cuz someone says they’re so

Some things I cannot change

But till I try I’ll never know"

– Defying Gravity, from Wicked

Last night, my husband and I saw Wicked at Boston’s Opera House. The play (and the book it is based on) are wonderful, but the theme that really resonated for me was the friendship between the Wicked Witch and Glinda.

This is a busy week, so the blog will be pretty quiet. But tonight, I want to tell you about some "wicked" women bloggers who I truly value. In no particular order:

Toby Bloomberg, Diva Marketing. Toby was one of the first bloggers to welcome me into the blogosphere, and I continue to value her business and marketing blog perspective.

Yvonne DiVita, Lip-sticking. Yvonne is a pioneer in the field of marketing to women online. She is also one of the most delightful and genuine people I have ever met.

Toby,Yvonne and I will be facilitating a business blogging "unpanel" at BlogHer this July. Come and share your blog marketing experiences.

Elisa Camahort. I met Elisa when I submitted a speaking proposal for the first BlogHer conference last year. I was, and still am, totally impressed what she and her BlogHer partners Lisa Stone and Jory Des Jardins have achieved with the BlogHer conference.

Kami Huyse. I virtually met Kami (and Andrea Weckerle) as a result of a notorious PR character blog. Kami is passionate about the practice of public relations, and her blog is full of information that helps us all be better communicators and professionals.

Andrea Weckerle. Andrea is one of the "quiet ones." You know, the folks who you think/know are totally serious and then they surprise you with another side of their personality. I’m still laughing at some of the content she and Bill Green came up with when they subbed for Scott Baradell at the Media Orchard. Andrea cares, and she uses her blog to make a difference.

Elizabeth Albrycht. Elizabeth is a fellow Corante blogger. Her background is strong and rich in PR practice, but currently she is working toward her Masters. As a result, her blog tends to have a more intellectual/theoretical bent. And we all benefit from her perspective. Down in the dog eat dog trenches, it is nice to spend a few moments every now and then on why.

Mary Schmidt. There are no words sufficient to describe Mary. Seriously. Mary is also a Corante blogger, and her perspective on marketing (and particularly customer service) is spot on. Even if you are already reading tons of marketing blogs. Frank. Honest. On your side. Friday Martinis. That is Mary. I’m glad she’s on my side.

In fact, I am glad that all of these wicked, wonderful women bloggers are on my side, and am glad to call them friends. As my regular readers know, the label "friend" means a lot to me.

"Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?

I do believe I have been changed for the better

And because I knew you…

Because I knew you…

Because I knew you… I have been changed for good."

– For Good, from Wicked

PS: There are a lot of great male bloggers on my reading list too. But tonight it is all about the wicked women bloggers. Take no offense!

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