Recap – Page 2 – ANA Business Marketing of Northern California

Recap: Agile Marketing and Next-Generation Go-To-Market Methods

April 14, 2016/0 Comments/in Monthly Meeting, Recap /by Venkat Raman

The evening started with a bit of excitement as the NorCal BMA team needed to demonstrate its agility in adapting to a last minute emergency in changing the venue for the talk.

Due to the availability of effective tools like email and social media, concerted effort in proper utilization of these channels by the team, and audience responsive to these channels of communication, the change went through flawlessly. The whole move was precipitated just a day prior to the meeting!

The panel of speakers, Adrian Ott, Sheryl Root, and Dave Lloyd, meshed their segments seamlessly and engaged the audience in a logical flow of exposure to Agile Marketing. They had presented this topic as a panel before and it showed. Read more

Recap: Fishing with Spears: All About Account-Based Marketing

March 10, 2016/0 Comments/in Recap /by Venkat Raman

It was the second month in a row that attendance exceeded the original conference room we had been using for our monthly talks.

Fortunately, we could double the room size and the oversized room was filled well to hear Jon Miller, CEO of Engagio, Inc. speak about Account-Based Marketing.

The video below captures the presentation. Read more

Recap: Data Insights for Marketers

January 14, 2016/in Recap /by Venkat Raman

If you time-travel to 1950 and meet someone who is curious about what 2016 is like, what would you tell them?

Perhaps that we have this little thing that fits in the palm of our hands that has access to all the information in this entire world; you will likely add that what we do with it the most is to look at pictures of cats.

This is the crux of the big data paradox. It is often not how much data you have, but what you do with it that drives success. Depending on your need, the right small data may be more valuable to you than big data. Read more

Recap: Evolution of a Virtual Sales Rep

November 19, 2015/in Recap /by Venkat Raman

Picture Robert, sitting among a bank of similar professionals, in a city near Provo, Utah. He is busy looking at different monitors that provide him data in real time, and typing on his keyboard and speaking into his headphone mic. No, he is not an air traffic controller.

He is a virtual salesman. He is chatting with a potential customer, aiming to convert him into a buyer.

This is what is shaping up to be the future of business-to-business marketing and sales.

What is Virtual Sales?

Virtual Sales is the model where a single human contact inside a company, the virtual sales rep, provides personalized, anticipatory, concierge-level service a business buyer needs to make purchase decisions. These virtual sales reps are marketers, salespeople, and service technicians, all rolled into one.

An excellent example of this model is already available in the B2C marketplace today: Read more

Recap: Leading a Digital Transformation: 5 Keys to Help Your Partners Succeed

October 8, 2015/2 Comments/in Recap /by Venkat Raman

We live in the 21st century and enjoy its benefits. We take the Internet for granted, for the most part. During my recent trip to Peru, not a day went by when I didn't check my smartphone for messages and updates.

Social media is the name of the game; emails are bread and butter. Serious businesses without websites are a thing of the past.

To have a presence where potential customers are, marketing departments have embraced digital media for sending out the messages.

This digital marketing, at its core, is a method of interactive marketing using digital technologies to convert leads into customers.

Challenges of Digital Transformation

But it goes well beyond change of technologies. Read more

Recap: Being Heard – How B2B Marketers Can Get Above the Noise in the Marketplace

March 29, 2015/in Recap /by Staff

It was November 1923. Bandleader Paul Whiteman asked composer George Gershwin to create a concerto-like piece for an experimental jazz concert he was planning. The event program was quite long that night and the ventilation system broke. It was hot, the audience uncomfortable, and many of the pieces sounded similar. Gershwin’s new composition was second to last on the program. The room quieted. A haunting clarinet solo began, and American music was never the same.

The new piece caught the attention of nearly everyone who heard it. Nearly a century later, Rhapsody in Blue is considered a cornerstone of our American musical heritage. United Airlines licensed the piece in the mid-1980s and is still using Rhapsody as its theme music three decades later.

In our March BMA Program, award-winning marketing expert Linda J. Popky, the founder and president of Leverage2Market Associates, wowed our capacity filled room at our March program held at the Microsoft Offices in Mtn. View with her colorful and effective storytelling when presenting some of the key messages contained in her new book Marketing above the Noise.

Recap: The Power of Gamification to Create Engaged and Inspired Customers

October 1, 2014/in Recap /by Staff

We saw all the die-hard B2B marketers at the August monthly meeting – still working hard while everyone else is on vacation. You missed a good one but here are some highlights from Rick’s presentation which was thought provoking indeed:

Gamification has been with us for some time but was traditionally used in sales. Today, gamification can be applied across the board in both B2B and B2C and is limited only by your imagination. He introduced us to the term Lagniappe (pronounced Lan yap): Something unexpected that sets you apart – a key element in any gamification strategy. He also pointed out that one of the most receptive audiences to Gamification is Millennials because they grew up with technology. Read more