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Jeff Ogden
The Fearless Competitor and B2B marketing expert
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Thank you to all my good friends at SAlesforce for sharing this great post. Why don't you visit Find New Customers www.findnewcustomers.com to learn about ut.
Jeff Ogden
3 Marketing Lessons From a New York City Steakhouse
Let’s say you want to open a steakhouse in New York City. You sit down with your business partners and start planning things like location, food and payment terms. What would every restaurant plan? To be in a busy location, such as Times Square, which is the main tourist area in New York City....
Thanks for sharing this inspiring story. It really is amazing and I hope everyone shares it.
Jeff Ogden
www.findnewcustomers.com
The Importance of Attitude
The attributes that make a great employee or leader have long been discussed and debated. Intensity, drive, and risk-taking are a few that are often top of mind. A less highly regarded, but equally (if not more) important, part of being successful? A good attitude. I recently took a major fall...
Great post on a missed marketing opportunity, David. When I spoke to you on our live interview, you shared the advice of real time PR, like the Gwenneth Paltrow fire. This Ohio Arts example shows what happens when you fail to capitalize - no website update, no Youtube video and no press release.
Joe Pulizzi wrote about this and alerted me to your post. Great thoughts here.
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
Host of Mad Marketing TV
http://blog.actonsoftware.com/category/mad-marketing-tv/
Etch a Sketch newsjacking opportunity falls in Ohio Arts lap
Here in the U.S., if you’re plugged into real-time news, you can't avoid hearing about the Etch a Sketch brouhaha. An aide to Republican candidate Mitt Romney said in an interview that the candidate could reset his campaign after he wins the primary battle "like an Etch a Sketch." The reference ...
Your best friend calls you and tells you he/she's really sick? How do you show you care?
Posted Aug 12, 2011 at Jefflogden's blog
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Amen, Steve. Well said. Put some fun back in the funnel. Content marketing is deadly boring in most companies today.
To say companies need to loosen up is an understatement. I urge companies to "Let their freak flag fly." and have fun!
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Host of the weekly B2B marketing show Laugh and Learn
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
Put the Fun Back in the Funnel
Content marketing is a gaping maw, endlessly begging for a variety of words and pictures and videos, insatiable in its need for the new and better and more attractive. Some of the hottest trends in B2B marketing this year -- Facebook pages, LinkedIn groups, Twitter, Inbound Marketing -- all requ...
Sounds to me like those ad agencies are we, we, weing all over themselves. Learn your buyers and craft great stories that engage them. Journalists are story-tellers - ad agencies are not.
Great post.
Jeff Ogden @fearlesscomp
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
Advertising agency campaign mentality
Back when I had a "real job" running marketing departments, I worked with a number of advertising agencies. They were constantly pitching me "campaign" ideas. ("We'd love to work with you, David. What's your budget?") Advertising campaigns "target" a specific market within a fixed time period (...
Congrats to all these wonderful ladies, but particular congratulations go to our client, Lisa Arthur of Aprimo. We also congratulate friends like Ardath Albee, Trish Bertuzzi, Lisa Cramer, Jeanne Hopkins, Maria Pergolino, Jill Rowley and Ruth Stevens.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
“20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management”
Sales Lead Management Association Announces Winners for 2011’s This program is sponsored by the generous support of VanillaSoft, Performark, OppSource.com and PointClear. James W. Obermayer, CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association (SLMA) announced the results of the “SLMA 20 Women to Watc...
Great post on how to work with marketing content writers, Ardath.
I was fortunate that the first white paper I wrote was edited by Jill Konrath - a tough taskmaster indeed. It was a life-changing experience.
Businesses looking to hire marketing content writers will be served well by your tips.
Jeff Ogden
Find New Customers
www.findnewcustomers.com
Working with Marketing Content Writers
The two top challenges to B2B content marketers are producing engaging content and producing enough of it to fuel their marketing programs. This means, for many, that they'll need to hire freelance writers to develop at least some of the content they need. I help many of my clients learn how to ...
He's a lazy bum, imho. Be there to help. Ask questions. Listen. Simply standing and watch is okay in small bits, but you need to use what you learned.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find new Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
The Good and Bad of Low Hanging Fruit
A s salespeople, we are driven to make sales. Most of us are paid based upon our ability to do so. So I don't blame a salesperson who pursues the easy sale. Sales to low-hanging fruit are just as valid as the sales we made to customers who required a great deal of work on our part. But sometimes...
Sales says "These leads suck." Marketing says "They drop the ball." It's time to stick a fork in those.
A carefully planned and executed program can end the finger-pointing once and for all.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
What Salespeople Think of Marketing
Let’s Cross the Cultural Divide between Sales and Marketing What do salespeople think of marketing? What do salespeople think of marketing presentations? What does marketing think of salespeople? It is time for salespeople to change their perception of marketing, and vi...
Great post and well said. I hear the words "Align Sales and Marketing," but very few companies do it well. Your reasons are spot on, but the fundamental problem is cultural.
Marketing looks for Mr. Right
Sales looks for Mr. Right Now
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
www.findnewcustomers.com
The Ten Causes of Sales and Marketing Misalignment
Every year CSO Insights surveys more than 1,800 sales organizations, and every year the survey indicates that many sales and marketing organizations are operating in separate silos. Here are the 10 obstacles that stand in the way of sales and marketing alignment: 1. The CEO who does not insist...
Love this post, Scott, especially how you used an incident from history (Cuban Missle Crisis) to tell a story. I too loved Adams thoughtful series. Great software married with strong leadership resulting in change (content, processes, etc) are the keys to success.
Hopefully more businesses will embrace this in the future.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
www.findnewcustomers.com
Marketers: you are the software you use
You are what you eat. You are the company you keep. And now a new maxim: You are the software you use. Like all great maxims, of course, that's more than a little overstated. But now that software and technology underlie almost everything we do — inside our our organizations, as well as in the me...
As one who despises repetitive car ads (and is convinced they sell no cars) your comments about Toyota were right on target. Simplify and talk in the buyers terms, not features.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
Toyota Ad Shows Need For Outsider's Eye on Marketing Content
One of the biggest blunders tech marketers make is not clearly explaining what their products do. A recent ad from Toyota makes this thunderlingly obvious mistake, and shows why it’s so important to get an outsider’s eye to review your copy. As everyone knows, Toyota has had some major qualit...
Good points raised on marketing automation and Craig Rosenberg too. Marketing automation is a "must own" for BtoB sellers today. Nurturing campaigns, landing pages and lead scoring cannot be done without marketing automation.
But many businesses see marketing automation as a salvation, but it is not. You need leadership, processes and great content. Without a carefully researched and planned approach, marketing automation underachieves.
Jim Burns of Avitage told me that even Marketo and Eloqua have a large percentage of under utilizing clients.
I simply could not run Find New Customers without Genoo. It is the engine of the business.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
President, Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.com
Marketing Automation Needs a Relationship
Much has been written about marketing automation. It's a hot topic, and rightly so. Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I believe in the need to have technology in order to execute on marketing strategies in today's digital business environment. But what often gets overlooked is who owns t...
Most organizations schedule time for creativity....
Most organizations schedule time for creativity. Call it a brainstorming or an off-site or any other clever title you want to give it - the concept is the same - it's a time in the calendar to be creative, to think outside the box, come up with innovative solutions or... Continue reading
Posted Jun 8, 2010 at Jefflogden's blog
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Happy to take that challenge, David, because bad writing is bad writing. A poorly written white paper is a poorly written paper. An ebook is a shorter bad paper.
How to Find New Customers has been downloaded over 1,000 times. I asked for name and email - that's all. I believe in giving away a lot of content and asking for a bit for the meat, like this white paper.
You can get How to Find New Customers at http://www.findnewcustomers.net/getcustomers
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
President, Find New Customers
www.findnewcustomers.net
Nerdy white papers vs hip and stylish ebooks
One of my favorite riffs is: "Ebooks are the hip and stylish younger sister of the nerdy white paper." When I deliver the line to B2B marketing or technology audiences, it gets a lot of laughs. But there are also a few people who are incredulous. Their body language says: "How can David be so ...
Good post and so very true, Ardath. People expect to find what they are looking for today. So gating your content is counter-productive.
You need your content everywhere they may find it. You need to be very, very easy to find.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
http://www.fearlesscompetitor.com
The Fallacy of Control for B2B Marketers
Even with all the ways in which B2B content marketing is evolving, I'm still hearing a lot about the desire to control prospect behavior. See if any of these sound familiar: We don't want to send prospects to any page not on our website. We want to have control over where our content is display...
I love this post and I have a similar story to share. We were down to a final two competitors and the top exec decided to meet with each -- thought IT recommended my competitor.
First up was my fully clothed competitor who used a frontal approach -- multiple execs, Powerpoint, armed to the teeth. In effect, they said "Aren't we great?"
Next up was me and I came in "Naked," armed only with a notebook and pen. We talked. I asked questions. We learned of his concerns. We discussed them. We bonded.
The next day my phone rang. The top exec overruled IT to go with us.
The top exec of that competitor later say "How the hell did we ever lose that deal?"
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
Sales Classics: Why You Must Go Into Sales Calls Totally, Stark-Raving Naked
Earlier today I got an email from a seller who'd just read my article on naked selling. He shared with me how he does it - which I thought was a great idea too. Then it hit me. Most of you haven't read it yet. So I'm bringing it back. Enjoy! ------- My daughter went to a small college in No...
As one who has hosted and attended hundreds of webinars over the years, I've always been on the hunt for ways to improve their results.
These 7 tips are exactly what webinar producers need to do to get the maximum results out of their webinars. Terrific article and one to bookmark and save.
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
7 ways to take your webinars to the next level
Webinars are a key component in generating compelling and relevant content to feed your lead generation, lead nurturing and content marketing programs. We see all too often however that companies take a “show up and throw up” approach to webinars, and therefore are only scratching the surface i...
This is a great post and so very true. I've worked for so many selfish and self-centered sales leaders, who never lasted long. The best is today the CEO of NASDAQ -- he was honest, hard working and focused on team.
The three P's People, Passion and Performance are exactly right.
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
The 12 Qualities of a Successful Sales Leader
Recent research suggests that the average tenure of a chief sales officer is about 24 months. Why the rapid turnover? In today’s tough market, CEOs demand a return to growth and change. If the sales leader can’t manage change, CEOs change management. I like to think of sales leadership as a ...
I love this post, Ardath, because it describes an epidemic in the technology industry.
There was a concept from Made to Stick called "The curse of knowledge" The idea of the curse is that once you become an expert in something, you lose the ability to speak to mere mortals. A very popular blog post came from this idea.
Your example was spot on. It was a good example of what Jill Konrath talks about -- gobbledy gook.
Write from the buyers point of view. That's what works.
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
The Difference Between Features and Value
There are numerous articles, blogs, Tweets and discussion groups that talk about content marketing. The consensus across the web is that content needs to be highly relevant and engaging to break through the clutter. So, why is it that so much B2B content misses the mark? I call it feature focus....
Another great article filled with insights, Jim. We live in an era of specialization is something business leaders must embrace and adapt. Love the fishing analogy too -- sales gets the fish in the boat, but marketing is the grizzled old man that knows where and when the fish feed, the ideal spots and the right bait to use.
In adddition, I believe marketers need to outsource to experts like Avitage and Find New Customers.
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
How long is your sales process?
One of the early questions I ask prospective customers with a complex, B2B sale is, "how long is your sales process?" The answer is almost always, "it depends, it can be three to eighteen months depending …" In the past few years we've all gained a stronger appreciation for the idea of the custom...
Love this post, Ardath. Buying a list and blasting it in hopes a handful don't opt out is a loser strategy and results are terrible. In fact, I was trying to open an US office for a UK firm and they insisted on fast results - it was a disaster.
Create great content, share it freely and be patience is the only strategy that works. As you say "Cultivating leads takes time and effort. It takes generosity and caring with a mutual exchange of value."
Amen!
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
Why Opt Out is Not a B2B Marketing Strategy
There's a pretty interesting discussion going on over on HBR based on a post Ruth Stevens wrote about using opt out vs. opt in for B2B email marketing. As you can imagine, I'm not a fan. Strangely, the comments on the post are mixed. Here are a few reasons I'm against it. Opt out is: Lazy. Pre...
Agree 100% with your four points, but one thing I always ask myself is this "Was this written to me?" All it has is the name at the top. This email failed that test.
Mike Stelzner was the best at this. Every time I got an email from him it read like a personal note from Mike to me. Only a careful reading revealed it was not.
Marketers need to strive to convey a one to one image with their emails. That means careful crafting and testing.
Jeff
4 Invaluable Sales Lessons From Email Scammers
Have you ever received an email like this? When the post below arrived in my inbox, I didn't recognize the sender's name but I still scanned the message in my preview screen. Here's what it said: Hey. This guy has another list that includes contact info. Thought it might be helpful. Angel...
Could not agree more with you, David. 98% of B2B marketing is deadly dull. Staid, boring and tedious.
Inject some fun. Add some humor. Throw in a dash of the unexpected. And the world will stand up and take notice.
You're right. It's "Okay to have fun."
Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.net
http://www.fearlesscompetitor.com
Hey B2B marketers: It's okay to have fun!
Why is so much business-to-business marketing dreadfully boring? I think it's because the marketers involved think "business" as in "I am marketing to a business" and this results in an overly serious tone. After all, if you are marketing to, say, technology companies that’s different than cons...
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