The conference date is circled on your calendar. You are jazzed to attend a gathering of your peers because it is a challenge to break away from the day-to-day requirements of corporate, product or field marketing. Bring on the best practices! It is time to sharpen your craft!
It is a bummer when the event then falls short of your expectations. The speakers, panelists and presenters were well regarded. Yet, their content focused on big-picture trends and strategy. There was little shared that can help you ramp up tactical success.
At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we have stepped in to this void with sources to help you accelerate the impact and resulting ROI from your digital, content, Web, social media and demand generation programs. Subscribe to Modern Marketing Today. There’s no charge. Join the more than 300 marketers and sales professionals in the LinkedIn group we moderate.
And finally, check out these four proven approaches from clients we support.
1. Have You Considered this Source for Thought Leadership?
Thought leadership extends beyond a company’s management. Sales engineers, customer service reps and program managers can provide a unique perspective informed by their day-to-day work. This “in the trenches” knowledge tends to resonate with customers because it is timely and credible. The marketers at RedSeal show how us how in this article published by Government Technology Insider.
2. Define the Impact…Not the Trend
Trends, shifts and changes in the market have real and meaningful impact on customers. Ask your company’s subject matter experts to explain this impact, rather than merely identifying the trend. Here is an example from a retail expert at Pitney Bowes Software.
3. Get “Vertical” with Content
You have access to a portfolio of corporate authored blog posts, white papers and case studies. How do you make this content relevant to the customer communities important to your sales team? The public sector marketers at NetApp provide an example with the GovDataDownload campaign.
4. Articulate a Vision and Path for Customers
“The US government should consider creating a ‘Department of Data’ to protect constituent personally identifiable information.” This is a wonderful example of thought leadership from an executive at Reed Technology & Information Services.