Forrester on B2B Blogging

A recently published study from Forrester Research raises a new question: Are businesses of any size benefiting from blogging?

A new study by Forrester Research reviewed 90 blogs run by business-to-business companies in the Fortune 500, and surveyed about twice that many B2B marketers. Like most businesses, these companies want to use the Internet to reach their customers. But because B2B companies are selling to people who follow their products professionally and not for pleasure, they face a greater challenge than companies that sell primarily to consumers.

Forrester doesn’t recommend that businesses give up on blogging, however. Instead, it suggests that they spice the blogs up.

I think companies should move away from drab 'this is me' messages to 'customer insight' messages, presented in an absorbing way. Probably get a blogger and not just a 'press release' writer to do this. Does your marketing write your company blog?

Barack Obama, the new CEO

Barack Obama is the presidential contender that corporate recruiters say they would most likely recruit as CEO of their organizations.

In a recent Jobfox online poll of 573 recruiters, nearly half (49.6 percent) said Obama was likely the best CEO material for their organizations — politics aside — compared to Hilary Rodham Clinton, with 32.8 percent of the vote, and John McCain, with 17.6 percent of the vote.

Hmmm... interesting!! This made me think on another tangent - how far can recruiters keep emotional aspects out of employee selection in day-to-day life? Do they get carried away with popular opinions?

Would you rehire him?

Take a look at these smart questions used by reference checkers. I picked these up from Business Pundit.

1. Were you asked to be a reference by (candidate name)?

2. What did he learn during his time with your company?

3. If you could give him a single career suggestion, what would it be?

4. What circumstances frustrate him the most?

5. How well does he manage pressure, stress, or crises?

6. (If reference managed the client) How did the candidate respond to your management style?

7. Would you rehire him?

8. Can you refer me to someone he didn’t get along with?

I personally believe that answers lie in your questions. Sharper the questions, better and closer are the answers !!

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

75% Talk & 25% Songs

Recently I got a chance to listen to the entire plethora of FM Stations in Chennai during a long drive. It's unbelievable. Except for a few frills and noise elements, all sounded the same. Same formula. Same themes. Same jokes and satire.

Did a bit of research and found out that currently the ratio of talk to music playing time is 70:30 in most of these channels. This is excluding the ad time.

Probably some newbie should enter in and turn things around its head. Say do 75% talk and 25% songs. At 3:1 ratio! This might take listening and conversing to a different level and hence 'value' differentiation happen.

Any takers for a daring risk like this ?? After all a creative idea is something that scares everything out of you. And it produces an eerie feel of a kick-boxer's pinching punch in the abdomen. This eerie feel transforms into crazy delight once you see the buy in and positive results.

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

BBC, Vivek 90.4 FM & IDEA

BBC programmes are available on Vivek 90.4FM, the first community radio station in Chandigarh, India. Listeners of Vivek 90.4 FM will now have opportunities to learn English, get health tips from across the world and learn about world opinions on technological advances, environment, music, art and culture - all on their local FM radio.

Vivek 90.4 FM is a community radio initiative at Vivek High School, Chandigarh, and has been on air since March 2007. The radio station has been involved in spreading community awareness and information in the field of health, education, literacy and nutrition. With the BBC’s enlightening programmes, Vivek 90.4 FM will further enrich its current programming to provide its local audiences with international content.

Remember the latest 'IDEA' TV Commercial. It just stays as a commercial. Your thoughts?

~ Satish Chathanath
Call : 9884011654
Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Is Europe Insulated?

Is the United States of America going into a recession or not? A million $ question!!

There are media reports, analyst briefings and of course scores of online surveys saying 'it is', 'it is not' and so on. We need to view all this in the right context. And as a business strategy, there are biggies going to Europe to beat the US recession. Let us pause here... how insulated is Europe anyways !?

For example take UK considered as a key economic indicator of Europe's financial health. Let us see what CBI has got to say about the trend there...
UK’s premier business body, the Confederation of British Industry, has just turned in a survey that shows that Britons are spending less than ever on eating out, gyms, entertainment, and bars, and consumer facing businesses faced the weakest volume and value of business than at any time since 2001 — even though Britons are continuing to go on holiday.

And if confidence has anything to do with tipping the scale towards a downturn, indicators are that things are on the verge of it, probably not, and so on.

Product Launch - What do we miss?

Hyundai Motor India Ltd., (HMIL) has launched a new ‘i10’, powered by a 1.2 litre Kappa engine, at its plant in Chennai.

Another 'under the hood' product launch and another missed opportunity. Please read my post on 'What does Centrino 2 stand for?'

What does Centrino 2 stand for ?

Intel unveils Centrino 2 technology for laptops.

Gone are the days when 'under the hood products' are launched without showing the products. Nowadays we display them. But can't we do it better? Can't we present them in a way that throws a glow around it rather than show them as a dull, weird looking piece. When we bring a product out of a box, let us present it in a out-of-box way too !! What does Centrino 2 stand for... show that. Any takers !?

'Value Selling' - The Case Study Method

Great sales happen when you bet on 'Value Selling'. And the value should be in the thick of the specifics and not in the thin of the generalities. Because customers always look for the elusive value that a seller brings to them. How do you do it?

I suggest a daring method. Try doing case studies by yourself and not be dependent on Marketing or outsourced consultants. Because I think if sales people cannot put in words their thinking and their methodology, they’re going to be hard pressed to verbalize it to the customer. Move away from the usual Marketing style : We sold this solution to 'X' customer, they loved it and hence you buy it from us.

You have to take the customer rung-by-rung through a flow of events that happened between the time they encountered a business pain, saw its impact on their bottomline or the manager's pride and finally unable to explore the right solution. So Here I AM !!

Easy said, isn't it ?!?

Mackay 66

The Mackay 66 is a tool Harvey Mackay,founder, Chairman and CEO of Mackay Envelope Corporation, uses and recommends for gathering information about customers: personal information, business background, special interests, lifestyle, their business needs, and the nature of your relationship with them.

His approach to using this information is both practical and ethical: it is not used to deceive customers into thinking we care about them more than we do, but rather to allow us to treat them like we would want to, if only our brains could handle the information.

You could download his famous 66 questions from his website : http://www.harveymackay.com/tools/mackay66.cfm

Chinese Whisper - Brand Lesson

At times, Branding can be like a game of Chinese Whispers. Whisper a complicated word into the ear of the first participant in a group and by the time it comes back the word is lengthened or shortened and changed beyond recognition. Try playing the same game with a very very simple word instead. Fair chance that it will remain intact even after a few rounds of whispering.

It is the same with Branding. Have a complex brand positioning, the purpose is lost even before it crosses the chain of management, marketing, sales. Forget the crucial player in the chain - Customer.

Then why do more and more brand owners come up with complex marketing messages. Because they think complexity equals deafening impact and more importantly it will make them look good. But in reality, your brand should be a force of ONE. Just one word. One association. Powerful without dissipation. For example Google means 'Search'; LinkedIn means 'Networking'. What's yours? That is understood by all in the chain from CEOs to the salesgirl in the retail store to the courier pick-up guy.