Marketing

Technology is offering pretty convincing answers to some of the challenges for today’s salespeople. In the first of two articles, Dave Stein explains why. New and evolving technology has an important role to play in enhancing sales performance in two particular ways. First of all, it can be very effective in enabling sales learning, which I firmly believe should not be seen as a one-off event, but more as an ongoing process that never stops. In terms of day-to-day selling, meanwhile, technology can certainly help salespeople do their jobs both more effectively and more efficiently, whether it’s used before sales meetings, for phone calls, or when they’re planning a sales…

Spending on email marketing in the US will grow by 14pc each year to 2014 to reach $2 billion by 2014, a new forecast from Forrester Research reveals. Falling cost per thousands (CPMs), a high return on investment, and growing use of social email accounts will all fuel the use of email by direct marketers, according to the forecast, which also predicts that consumers will each receive more than 9,000 email marketing messages annually – equating to 25 a day – by 2014. “By 2014, direct marketers will waste $144m on emails that never reach their primary target,” said Forrester Research vice president and principal analyst, David Daniels. “Successful direct…

Dublin-headquartered online music video site Muzu.tv, which has struck major deals with labels like Universal, Sony BMG, and EMI, picked up last night’s top gong at the IIA NetVisionary Awards for its breakthrough in building a commercial model for the music business in the digital economy. Muzu TV allows fans to create, watch and share music-video playlists. Users can create video playlists from thousands of videos and embed them on their social- networking sites. The site generates its revenue by sharing ad revenues with artists and labels. “This year’s Overall Net Visionaries, Ciarán Bollard and Mark French of Muzu TV, have developed a TV website and distribution platform that shows…

For many, Seth Godin is a leader among marketers. In his latest book, Tribes, however, he puts forward the idea that we must all be leaders. He explains why to Marketing Age. It’s not every day you come across someone perceived to be a real hero in the field of marketing. Still, Seth Godin – bestselling author, speaker, blogger, entrepreneur, and self-professed agent of change – appears to have nailed it, right down to the fact that he has his very own five-and-a-quarter-inch tall ‘Marketing Guru Action Figure’, complete with trademark odd socks and casual business gear. Godin’s list of achievements to date is extensive by any standards. He has…

OwensDDB’s Polo ‘Dog’ ad has been awarded gold in the print category of an internal Volkswagen competition of all of its global advertising last year. The inaugural Volkswagen Global Adwards, which took place in Geneva last week, presented gold, silver and bronze awards in online, film, outdoor, print and below the line categories. An international panel of judges picked the Polo ‘Dog’ campaign as the best Volkswagen print ad of 2008 out of 350 entries. The judges described the ad as: “world class, timeless creative that was perfectly pitched for its audience, and was beautifully crafted without any hint of taking short-cuts in the production.” They also said the ad…

Jameson has signed a deal to become the title sponsor of the 2009 Empire Awards. The partnership involves sponsorship of the Best Actor Award, editorial coverage in six editions of Empire magazine and exclusive spirit status at the awards ceremony that takes place in London at the end of March 2009. “Jameson is currently involved with film all over the world including The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Ireland and film festivals and events in over 20 countries,” said Catherine O’Grady, head of PR and sponsorship for Jameson at Irish Distillers, Pernod Ricard. “This is a really exciting partnership that’s going to further strengthen and build Jameson’s relationship with film.”…

While sales tips books, articles, and websites may have their place within a robust sales strategy, Dave Stein maintains that they should never replace sales training or process. There is no question that there is currently an abundance of websites and books focusing on sales tips. All you have to do is type ‘sales book’ into the Amazon search facility to get an idea of the thousands of books that have been written on this subject. Many new ones are published each month, and each one has a new approach or a silver bullet – something that the author will use as a draw to try to get people to…

A new book by David Brain and Martin Thomas redefines crowd surfing and examines how today’s savvier customers are influenced. When asked to review a book called Crowd Surfing I was excited about the prospect of getting under the skin of Iggy Pop’s concert dives. Recent research in Ireland indicates that having ‘cool parents’ has overtaken ‘I want to be famous’ as the No 1 teen aspiration in life, so this book could be the defining moment in helping me bond with my kids. Listen out for ‘There goes my dad’ at next summer’s Electric Picnic! Unfortunately, I quickly realised that I had been suckered. The book is talking about…