Marketing Musings: How to Get Started

Marketing 101

Today I’m going to touch on a topic that I’m frequently asked about and feel needs focus, specifically: What is Marketing?  This comes to mind as I was recently queried  by a colleague in the IT industry with the ask of ‘if you have one bit of advice for a company just beginning its marketing strategy, what would you tell them?’

Now this question is very open-ended, as companies typically have some sort of marketing strategy and focus, but it is most likely not a concentrated effort or even assigned as responsibility to an individual, let alone a team of resources.  Even so, the successful application of a successful marketing strategy is most likely top-of-mind to most executives looking to generate additional sales and revenue.  Marketing is vitality important to the continued growth and success of any organization.

When I’m asked this question, my first suggestion is a simple checklist review:

  1. What are your goals with a marketing strategy? Brand recognition, customer engagement, prospect identification, channel development, etc.
  2. Does your organization engage in digital marketing strategies?  This question is focused more on the development and execution of online campaigns, including email, form submission, and trackable call-to-action options.
  3. Has the organization implemented correctly accounts on the standard social tool set (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc)? Many organizations have these tools but are not using them to their full efficiency and therefore discounting the application of the solutions as a “fun” option and not vitally necessary to sales growth.

After performing this review within an organization, a clear roadmap of initial actions can be established, with a plan of efficient and cost-effective execution.  Going in with an understanding that marketing means more than just executing in-person events but is rather a combined coordinated effort of tactics is how your organization can quickly begin a marketing journey.

Reach out with questions to elizabethalbert@gmail.com or to further pick my brain on immediate ways to beginning a positive marketing strategy.

 

 

Insight 2015 – Vegas with a Vengence

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Whenever October rolls around, my brain automatically switches on its “Data Management, Analytics and ECM” focus.  Because October means the IBM Insight show, always in Vegas, always at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.  But this year, it’s going to be a bit different as I’m here with my fabulous new company: Mainline!

The annual Insight show is always a unique experience for this social maven, as it’s targeted more towards solutions and technologies that are outside a typical “social” realm.  Upon greater inspection though, you can see of social tools, especially IBM’s collaboration portfolio, are integral parts of this conference and necessary for any organizations successful achievement of goals.  IBM does a great job incorporating other not-typical solutions into all their conferences, and getting better at it every year!

I’m looking forward this week to see of IBM’s Internet of Things, Smarter Way to Work and Watson marketing initiatives are going to help drive customer and business partner success.  I’m also interested in seeing the vertical presentations by customers, including the Mainline Healthcare Session, and how customers are using I&A solutions in day-to-day activities.

insight-2015-BA-Healthcare

Be sure to follow me on twitter to see where I am and what sessions I’m attending throughout the week.

 

IBM ConnectED – Orlando in January

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First blog of 2015 – let the fun begin!  This week I’m on my way to Orlando, Florida for the newly renamed IBM ConnectEd conference.  This year is sure to be different from the many IBM Lotusphere events as *most notably* it will ONLY be hosted in the Swan hotel, rather than the Dolphin.  I’m curious to see how this works out, as I’ve heard that there are over 500 people registered today than IBM expected.  Not sure where they’re going to put everyone!

During this show, I will be speaking during the Business Partner day activities on how to engage with IBM Co-funding and maximize your marketing budget dollars.  My talk will focus on successful activities, where you should outsource investments and most importantly, how to incorporate social in your marketing initiatives.  On this note, I invite anyone with questions on how to better work with the IBM system to reach out, as I have over 10 years experience with this subject.

Looking forward to seeing everything there and I’ll post more photos and reactions to events at the conference throughout the week.