Career Trax - Management Consultants-Latest Requirements

Career Trax - Management Consultants-Latest Requirements

Making Money from Social (2) | Futurelab – We are marketing and customer strategy consultants with a passion for profit and innovation.

Making Money from Social (2) | Futurelab – We are marketing and customer strategy consultants with a passion for profit and innovation.

Marketing trends 2010..

2010 is poised to be an exciting year for marketers; Now is the time for new opportunities for business owners. What we are increasingly seeing is a shift from traditional media to New Media more so in facinating world of internet where conversations flows faster and farther than anyone could have imagined. Thanks to the tools of the social web, such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, online video and so on, news and information travels instantaneously, and that means marketers have new and exciting opportunities to reach consumers.

Here goes my take on the trends for the season

1. Transparency and trust are paramount- Consumers no longer willing to accept anything businesses tell them. Brands that an effort to be honest and open in their marketing communications will generate positive consumer responses, which can lead to brand loyalty and brand advocacy. Building trust is the most important thing in 2010, and once you've earned it, you need to make sure you keep it. In other words, transparency and trust are not a one-time thing. They're an ongoing effort.
2. The Era of "value-add"-Its not enough to be seen, its not enough to be heard.getting the attention of consumers os not enough. People expect more from businesses and brands. Give them more by ensuring your marketing communications and efforts deliver useful and meaningful value.
3. Show it-Consumers don't believe everything they hear. Indeed, consumers are more skeptical than ever, and you need to prove your marketing claims. Don't just tell consumers about your product, business or services, show them what's in it for them if they pull out their hard-earned money and buy from you.
4. Social media is here to stay -Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube, and other tools of the online social community are not going anywhere. Instead, these tools are being adopted by more and more people around the world. If you thought you could avoid joining the bandwagon, you were wrong. In 2010, it's critical that your business joins the social web conversation, and you must engage consumers on the social networking sites. Give them amazing content and interact with them to fully leverage the power of the social media.
5. Focus, focus, focus!-Don't try to be everything to everyone in 2010. The strongest brands are focused brands. As the first decade of the 21st century unfolded, marketers and social media professionals began using the term niche more and more to identify highly focused products, websites, blogs and so on. Today, that strategy is even more important. Build your core and keep it as strong as possible before you try to extend your brand and branch out into new areas.
6. Integrated marketing -It is absolutely essential that you surround consumers with your marketing messages in 2010. The number of marketing communications that people see each day is overwhelming, so it's important that your messages don't get lost in the clutter. You can make your brand, your business and your messages stand out by surrounding consumers with branded experiences and allowing them to choose which of those experiences they want to consume. For example, use online advertising, online video, custom content, point-of-sale collateral, and ads with consistent messaging to engage consumers in different parts of their lives. If you're consistent and persistent, your messages are more likely to connect with your target audience--raising brand awareness, recognition, purchases and loyalty.

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Sales operators........!!!

Quite fascinating to see the very interesting use of titles ,but one tends to think that fancier the title the job just may not be the most sought after . for example "CSO" (Chief Sales Officer) , CRO (Chief Revenue Officers),SSO (Strategic Sales Officer) ...Ahem, and the good old "Bussiness Development" Sales Managers etc.....
All of these guys do one thing Sell , Up sell, cross sell etc...

So What Drives them?
Do they love doing what they do..?
Is it the most sought after job..? ...especially if there were no incentives.. YES, NO Mebbe .

But there is no denying the fact that these are the most important people in the organization. They are the basic reason the rest of the guys get paid for month on month.

So now how does organizations get the best out of them..? what are the Tools used ? Incentives , Targets, Monitoring systems...etc...They all basically scream one thing "Show me the money"

Inspite of best HR practices, what is it that is used most. is ...FEAR..

a very simple unsaid, Underlying message which very subtley says is “if you dont achieve -No Incentive" if you still don’t achieve- Demotion" last but not the least....Pink slip..
In between all of these, there are Offsites , Parties , feel good team building exercises etc etc...And yes motivational Training sessions. Basically all sorts of people sermonizing how to sell, peddling some “Tips & tricks”, or inspirational stories .

More often from people who have never ever sold anything to anyone ever in life.
What sells, what does not, what to say, more importantly what not to say. It all boils down to lead generations, cold calls, follow ups and rapport building. And a sales man who manages to sell ICE to an eskimo is not a good sales man , he is more of a con man. Since an unsatisfied customer is more detrimental to the bussiness .

What also matters is the product packaging , USP and in the online space its "how easy it is to use" Most products especially online can be put into 2 baskets "Need to have" & "Nice to have ".

There is a very fine line between the two, the challenge therefore is the right go to market strategy, centered around , creating a need , generating curiosity, encouraging participation, collecting feedback and building enough flexibility within organizations to quickly imbibe and package the product accordingly.

One cannot do with out the other, each done separately will yield very low returns. Impacting scalability and sustanance .

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