B2B marketing
U.S. Agriculture buzz in a word: Vilsack
December has brought more attention to U.S. agriculture and how the industry is reacting to some of the hottest topics at the forefront of daily news.
Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, an aggressive campaigner for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton before his state’s caucuses in January, has been named U.S. Agriculture Secretary by President-elect Barack Obama. (If his name sounds familiar, in 2004 Vilsack was one of three finalists to be John Kerry’s running-mate. He also campaigned for president himself, but dropped out of the race in February 2007. His unusual stance included cutting subsidies for commodity crops and putting those dollars towards environmental improvements, such as bio-fuel production plants and wind farms.)
Vilsack has been reputed to be an advocate for young farmers and has a defined view on our nation’s place within global agriculture. As a big supporter of renewable energy, he has been a key supporter of Iowa’s ethanol industry, helping to establish the state as the nation’s largest producer of corn.
Q: Where do you think Vilsack will take U.S. Agriculture and will this appointment be a good thing? Very interested in others’ thoughts here.
On other fronts…
2008: A Love/Hate Relationship with the “Unexpected”
As marketers, we love the unexpected. And nothing thrills us more than “disruption”. Then along came 2008. Suddenly being disrupted and experiencing the unexpected was completely void of any of the delight we associate with those terms.
It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. Back in January several economic panels forecast the market would end the year up over 12,700. And though 35% of of leading economists thought we’d experience a recession, it would be shallow and short-lived. In fact, prospects for the second half of the year were downright rosy. Liquidity was predicted to rebound. And growth would chug along at 1-2%.
Of course, we all know what happened. Subprime mortgages. Credit derivatives. Billion dollar bailouts. All unexpected.
Enough already. It’s time we marketers reclaim what is rightfully ours and take back the true meaning of unexpected. 2009 represents the perfect opportunity to do it. Here are four notable “disruptions” you can implement that will have an immediate and delightful business impact.
New Frontier: The American Farm
Welcome to CBD’s Agriculture blog by Chris Chleboun, resident specialist in all things Agriculture, Food Ingredients, and Manufacturing. With a Purdue background and a network of connections in the Agriculture industry, the “American Farm” is one of my favorite subjects.
So let’s take a look at what’s happening “down on the farm” right now …
Evolution of the New Frontier: The American Farm.
The opportunity behind “Brand Attention Deficit Syndrome”
As CBD’s Director of Customer Engagement, I think a lot every day about the business implications of consumer beliefs and behaviors. Here’s something we all might want to think about.
80 million teens, tweens, and 20-somethings spent a record-high $200 billion in America last year. The challenge is that brand loyalty is virtually unheard of in these sectors. Companies continue to struggle to find a formula to engage these consumers in a way that will inspire brand preference.
If brand is irrelevant to our youngest consumers, we may be looking at a future of constant reinvention, a colorful and interesting parade of short term icons instead of true brands. This will challenge our entire way of thinking about branding and consumer communications. It’s a whole new land of opportunity.
Selling or stalking? Eight tips to making lead conversion a positive experience
Avoid turning sales into stalking—and convert more leads
What started out as innocent curiosity about saving on our firm’s health insurance costs spurred a sales pitch more frightening than engaging.
What had me so uneasy? Being pressured to quantify benefits without adequate information to skeptical co-workers. Being tracked down in meetings and paged incessantly. Explaining threatening-sounding intentions to our head of HR. Even checking my emails and voicemail became an exercise in anxiety.
While I’m confident this will get sorted out internally, I’m not so sure it will end positively for the company courting me—even though I’m still interested in saving money.
It’s prompted me to spell out eight key lead-conversion tips that will go a long way in helping any B2B marketer avoid the “aggressive sales” label, which can denigrate brand and, ironically enough, prohibit sales. And ultimately, convert more leads.
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