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5 Interesting Marketing-Related Infographics

by on January 21, 2011 in Infographics

Graph of iconolith.comInfographics are certainly trendy.

Blog posts with infographics are certainly popular.

Count me in.  I love ‘em.

The power, and dare I say beauty, of  well-done data visualization (I know that’s a loaded term) is quite evident when you look at some of the stuff that’s being put out day in and day out.  Below are 5 interesting infographics related to marketing that I came across this week.

1. Kickstarter: The Science of Crowdfunding (via DR4Ward): The Kickstarter method and short history of crowdfunding.  Very effective & awesome to be able to put your company in the context of the historical development of your industry.  When you

2. Internet Penetration Around the World (via TNW): Basic, top-level information, showing regions and select countries.  China is far ahead in raw numbers with 420 million users.

3.  Social Media Marketing by the Numbers (via Hubspot): Marketing dollars spent and usage data for Social Media.  % of Global Fortune 100 companies with Twitter accounts = 65%

4. The Illusion of Diversity: Visualizing the Soft Drink industry (via Cool Infographics) I had no idea that 3 companies accounted for nearly 90% of all soft drink sales.  Zooming in and looking at the detail is highly recommended.  Great work here!

5. How Color Affects Our Purchases (via Daily Infographic) – How does color influence your marketing?

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Communicating Marketing to Non-Marketing Personnel

by on January 19, 2011 in Everyone's a Marketer

In working with a recent client one of the things I recommended that they do as they implemented their marketing plan was to communicate with their non-marketing personnel. For them that meant their programmers and project managers. The people banging out the code might just be interested to know how their work relates to the company’s marketing strategy. It may be for an internal project, maybe a user interface or maybe a page on the company website that’s tailored to a buyer persona. Tell them how their work is tied to the marketing plan.  Let them in on the bigger picture.  Perhaps not everyone needs to hear this but some people do.  Helping the team see beyond the “project” and to see how their work connects to larger company goals can be very encouraging.

If the team is working on a client project, it may be helpful for example, to share the details of the new Customer Testimonial Initiative which aims for positive testimonial feedback from each and every client. In other words, if a point of differentiation for the company is high quality, transparent communication during the project cycle then this is something that has to be demonstrated, starting at the coding level. If at the completion of the project  the programmers and project leads have done their job such that the client confirms a high quality, transparent mode of communication then the road has been paved for a customer testimonial.  A customer testimonial that aligns with a major strategic component of the marketing plan.

Sharing with non-marketing personnel how their work is helping to directly implement the marketing plan is good for everyone.

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Everyone’s a Marketer. Still.

by on January 18, 2011 in Everyone's a Marketer

As a marketer, for some time I’ve been fascinated by the fact that everyone in a company, no matter what the size, has a part to play in the execution of the marketing plan.  Whether it’s the receptionist greeting you in the lobby or on the phone, the customer service agent who fields your call, or one of the technicians at the auto repair shop, every employee who ever comes in contact with a prospect or a customer is playing a part in the marketing plan.  The same holds true for non-customer facing employees.

As a topic this is not exactly ground-breaking.  Just google “everyone’s a marketer” and you’ll get over 42k results.  No wait don’t do that, stay here. The difference now is that the ante has been upped.  With today’s new media technologies, it’s clearer than it’s ever been that everyone’s a marketer within the organization.

Or everyone’s in sales.

Or everyone’s in customer service.

Take your pick.  The concept is the same.  People represent companies, they represent and embody the brand.  The brand is created and molded by people, not just slick marketing messages (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

What do the people at your organization “say” about the company?  Has anyone told them how they contribute to the execution of the marketing plan?

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Well Here Goes

by on January 18, 2011 in Site News

Start Line by Jayneandd

After a long, mysterious case of the cobbler’s kids having no shoes, I’m excited to be launching my personal blog.  After several other personal and professional website and blog projects, as well as helping clients do the same, I’ve finally carved out enough time to launch this personal project.

The purpose?

Well, I’m not promising the world, that’s for sure.  About all I can promise is that I will attempt, with some degree of regularity, to put down some thoughts and observations around various marketing topics that may matter to small and medium sized companies.  I’ll also insert the occasional shameless plug (rarely is the plan) to inform of professional happenings.  And even if I don’t hit that mark all the time, I’ll rest in the satisfaction that I am freeing my mind of some of the things that rattle around in there and sometimes have no place to go.

Give me just a bit to ramp up and let me know how I’m doing along the way.  I would appreciate it.

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