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The Competitive Advantage

March 8, 2016

Networking at a Conference… 8 Ways to be Awesome!

meet at confThere are a bunch of conferences in our industry – TMRE, ESOMAR, Quirk’s, CASRO, MRA and more… not to mention all of the industry-specific ones. And even when you’re attending for just the education (not exhibiting… not sponsoring), networking at a conference can still be a remarkable marketing & sales opportunity for you and your firm.

As you get ready to attend your next event, consider these ideas to maximize your time there…

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February 29, 2016

The Sales Presentation: Stop Reading the PowerPoint Slides and Tell Your Story

5 Proven Tips to Improve your Sales Presentation Process

PPT3I get it. Not everyone – particularly in our industry – likes to stand in front of a group and deliver a sales presentation. It’s so much more comfortable to not look into the eyes of the audience, turn away from them and read the PowerPoint slides up on the screen. But that’s not very engaging.

And to exacerbate the situation… often the slides themselves are horrible. 6-7-8 (or more) bullet points on a slide, each with a long, complete sentence. And because you don’t want to miss any of that detail, while your back is turned (see paragraph 1 above), you just read the slides… one long sentence… after another… after another. Not very compelling, huh?

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February 25, 2016

The Mobilization of Marketing… what’s the rush?

leecorsoAlong with topics like ‘inbound marketing,’ ‘growth hacking’ and ‘social media,’ the ‘mobilization of marketing’ has been one of the most written-about topics on most of the marketing blog sites and portals for some time.

So, with “everyone” accessing the internet for from their mobile devices, shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to move our marketing initiatives to align with that? Not so fast, my friend! (with props to Lee Corso of ESPN).

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February 16, 2016

Your Clients Don’t Have Research Problems

WIIFMI know, for most firms in the research industry, that statement seems a little counter-intuitive… but it’s true. That CPG firm you work with doesn’t really care about focus groups. The automotive company doesn’t get all that excited about conjoint analysis. And that healthcare firm… let’s just say that max-diff doesn’t keep them up at night.

The fact is, your clients don’t have research problems… they have business problems – that they need research to help solve.

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February 9, 2016

Content Marketing? But I’m a lousy writer!

river1

Content Marketing is a core marketing initiative for many – if not most – firms in the market research industry. A good Content Marketing program can position your firm in the markets you serve, build awareness, generate and nurture sales leads and so much more.

But the biggest [perceived] obstacle related to content marketing – particularly among the principals of small and mid-sized firms – is this, “But I’m a lousy writer!”

And while that may be what many MR professionals believe… honestly, it’s not that true. Based on our work with firms throughout our industry and across the country, here are 5 ideas to explode that myth and get you over the hurdle:

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January 30, 2016

Content Marketing not working? Eh, don’t worry about it!

Do these sound familiar?

  • “Only about 40% of the people who registered for our webinar actually showed up.” or
  • “I’ve talked to a number of those who downloaded our latest eBook and less than half have even read it.”

Here’s my advice… don’t be too upset about it. It’s not that big a deal!

The reality is… much of what you do from a content marketing perspective will fall on deaf ears – or more appropriately – might never make it to the ears they were intended for. Don’t sweat it…

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January 27, 2016

A Brilliant Example of Communicating in Plain, Simple English

simple2I’ve been looking for some new software lately to help with processing credit cards online for our upcoming workshop series. One of the vendors I was investigating is WaveApps.com.

While I was browsing their website, I did something I almost never do… I took a look at the Terms of Use. You know… that long, legal document that we usually completely ignore, or when necessary, just click ‘Agree’ and move on.

But WaveApps has done something remarkable… something I’ve never seen before with this kind of document.

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January 13, 2016

Are You an Expert?

expert2The 3 things you must have to truly be called an ‘expert.’

Read through many (if not most) websites in our industry and you’ll find that many firms – and the top employee(s) at those firms – claim themselves to be experts in their particular field… methodology experts… industry experts… application experts… or some combination of those. Further, an intellectual industry like Market Research is a great place in which to be an expert. Expertise is why we get hired. Expertise can differentiate us from our competitors. Expertise is how we position ourselves in the marketplace.

But what does it take to be an expert? Or more importantly, to be perceived by others (your clients and prospects) as an expert? I think there are three critical factors…

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