Tag Archives: Marketing

Social Network Users Are Also Power eMail Users…

New Study from CRM Agency Merkel research shows that people who use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are also much more likely to check email often.  Traditional thinking on this topic is that social media users are done with “traditional” messaging like email.  Not so, says this study:  http://bit.ly/brrXzr.

Social Media Is for Sales People Too!

So often, Social Media is described as the domain of Marketing.  But “…While marketing owns the message, sales owns the relationship, so using social media to build deeper relationships on a customer by customer basis just seems like a pretty natural thing for the sales team…” 

That quote is from an article called “5 Ways That Sales People Can Benefit From Using Social Media,” by John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing.  The points it makes are very valuable to sales people.   If you are in sales, you need to read this.

I got this link from at tweet by Mike Stelzner.  Mike is the founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com, and a great source of information on social media (20,000+ followers on Twitter).  Thanks, Mike!

Sales Procrastination

Interesting thoughts from Seth Godin on how busy does NOT equal important in life: http://bit.ly/a1BuOY .  Applied to sales and marketing, this even more poignant.  Doing lots of (the wrong) activities will not build your funnel.  What are you “busy” with today?

Measuring Marketing

Great blog post from the folks at Fast Company:  http://bit.ly/97qnIl.   This magazine is very good.  One of my top resources for business insight.  This post deals with that age-old question, “What are we getting for our marketing spend?”  My firm is doing a better job tacking lead source per deal – in a direct answer to one of the questions posed in the post “From ‘closed business’ where did the initial leads come from?”  It’s making a difference in how we invest dollars in marketing.  Have you connected the dots at your company?

Your Personal Brand – Thoughts from HBR

Excellent thoughts on personal brand from Ron Ashkenas writing for HBR.  This is something I’ve thought a lot about lately, especially when launching this blog.  Still a work in process.  When’s the last time you put some thought to this?  http://bit.ly/8Ia5xP

Social Media Policy – Is it Possible? Ask Coca-Cola

Many companies with whom I have worked struggle to get into the game on social media.  Due to engrained habits, they can not see a clear way to add this new dimension to their marketing mix.  Today, it is really not an option.  Conversations about your company are happening out there – period.  The only decision you really have is, “Do I want to participate?”  I would suggest that your answer should be YES!   But that begs the question - what do you do on Monday morning?  How do you really operationalize these media that can be (and should be) much more colloquial than our traditional corporate communications?  Establishing a policy in this area seems a non-starter for many firms.  However, it is happening.  See Coca-Cola’s new social media policy:  http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/coca-cola-launches-new-social-media-policy/ .  If a global company with 92,000 employees can do this (in 3 pages no less!)  don’t you think your company can swing it?

Hello world – Sales and Marketing Mashup is Here!

I have wanted to do this for some time now – so here goes!  My name is Tim Kocher.  I have been in sales and marketing for my entire 19-year career, most of it for professional services companies.  I hope this blog will become a place where people who are connected to sales and marketing can come to see valuable information on the tricks of the trade (and the trade itself) in one stop.  We’ll touch on all aspects of business development so be sure to come visit often!  Feel free to Look me up on LinkedIn as well: http://www.linkedin.com/in/timkocher