Monthly Archives: March 2014

The CMO Modern Marketing Guide To Buyer Personas And Buyer Insights Research (Part 1)

As the 21st century arrived, so did many new digital technologies. Well over a decade into the new century, we now have a robust digital economy altering economics and business forever. Enabling globalization on a scale unfathomable before the entrance of the 21st century. One significant outcome has been the continued evolution of buying behaviors. This outcome has created an ever-growing need for modern marketers to understand the new face of buyers in the digital economy. A need CMO’s across the globe are finding essential to developing modern marketing strategies. CMO Perspective Understanding the macro-economic changes underway globally represents just…

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The New Face Of Buyers In The Digital Economy

In the mid-to-late ‘90’s, as the first roots of the Internet began to take hold, Don Tapscott coined the phrase The Digital Economy. Tapscott’s landmark book is entitled The Digital Economy: Promise And Peril In The Age Of Networked Intelligence. At the time, it was filled with tremendous foresight. Much of the perspectives Tapscott offered have come to fruition. Global Phenomenon The digital economy has become a global phenomenon. Intertwined now on many fronts be they economics, political, finance, consumerism, technologies, globalization, and societal. The digitization and the Internet of everything no longer a far fetch idea but a reality…

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Facts vs. Insights: How To Know You Have Truly Profound Customer Insights

The edge. When you have it, it is powerful. It is what many B2B organizations are seeking today. What is sought is an edge over competitors, which translates into more wins. How to get the edge is what perplexes many marketing and sales leaders today in B2B organizations. Gaining an edge usually involves uncovering a level of customer insights, which are so profound; it endears you to customers like no other competitor can. The question many ask when helping marketing leaders recently is – how do we know we truly have profound insights? The Difference From Facts Matters Where many…

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7 Big Questions For B2B Marketing Leaders in 2014

The New Year is underway. The first quarter is nearing an end. Some of the best-laid plans have already vaporized due to unexpected events. While some plans are either tracking on-target – or – will be missed. Each year, B2B business must meet the challenge of our time – keeping up with rapid new developments in digital technologies and changing buying behaviors. Along with this challenge each year, comes a new set of questions: 1. Should Content Marketing Be Our Number One Priority? According to nearly 2500 marketers surveyed by Adobe and eConsultancy, 36% believe so followed closely by social…

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Story-Driven Insights Drive Growth

We have a problem. We are being inundated with facts, data, reports, and charts. In the digital age, instead of reams of paper piled high on a desk, we have megabytes being stored on a hard drive or in the cloud. The hope is these deeply stored megabytes will give us the analyses and insights needed to make the next leap over competitors. The dilemma faced by decision-makers and strategists today is the more data is collected and aggregated, the harder it is becoming to make sense of data. The more arduous the task becomes of connecting the proverbial dots…

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D.I.V.E. Deeper: Getting The Most Out Of Your Buyer Personas

To get the most out of anything worthwhile takes persistence, perseverance, hard work, intuitiveness, and grit. It is advice we offer to our friends, family, and children. Often in helpful conversations with marketing and sales leaders, I usually am posed the question of how to get the most out of buyer personas. A common theme is many have invested in buyer personas but are not reaping perceived benefits. It is a perplexing dilemma for executives who have sponsored such efforts. Much of the disappointment comes from not attaining new revelations about buyers or as one executive put it to me…

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Understanding Who Your Buyers Are Is Not Enough

“We need to know who our buyers are.” I hear this often today. From Chief Executive Officers, Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Operating Officers, and Chief Sales Officers, the confounding question of – Who are our buyers? – is asked repeatedly. Even in mature established B2B businesses, this question is often asked. In fact, more mature B2B organizations run the risk of realizing too late they have moved distantly away from their buyers. Like the frog that realizes much too late the water has reached boiling temperature. Guess Who As I have helped many B2B organizations in the past 15 years…

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