Marketing in the Time of Cholera
Fundamentals For Thriving in a Toxic Economy
Intrusion Marketing is Dying
As a marketing executive, you would have to be blind to not see that “intrusion” marketing is dying. The whole idea that you can thrust yourself into the consciousness of buyers via email or phone calls is outdated and slowly withering on the vine. I have watched connection rates to reach prospects get to as low as 4% when calling six times. That’s poor for any medium. And when you reach the prospect, the chances they are going to be receptive to your idea is slim. The higher level the person you are trying to reach, the more this will be the case. The future belongs to those who provide value in their marketing. Either through social means or linkedin groups or some other organization that a prospect should belong to, the marketeers who will be able to stay in touch with their market are those who will provide value in the greater “community” and will then be “allowed” to market to the target prospects. This ties directly into fundamental 2 of Marketing in the Time of Cholera – Provide Value Throughout the Entire Lifecycle.
Is Your Logo Really a Problem?
I have a marketing friend who is busy working on changing the logo of the company he works at. To put it candidly, they have two or three massively large issues that are killing the company and soon they will run out of money. Yet, for some reason they believe changing the logo of the company is important. As I have always said, changing the “logo” of a company will require the largest amount of effort and generate the smallest amount of positive impact on a company. I have never seen a company where the logo is what was holding it back. Look at Google. Their logo is their name using a bunch of colored letters. I’m sure this was designed to appeal to the masses, but my guess is that without colored letters, they would still be the massive juggernaut they are today. And ultimately when you change the logo, you’ll find everyone in the company has an opinion, whether founded or unfounded. My advice: if you have problems in your company. Focus on them. I’m 99.9% certain it’s not your logo. And the remaining .01% only applies to singers named Prince who changed their name to an unpronounceable symbol. 
Great Article on SaaS
Just reviewed this article again. It’s an oldie but a goodie.
VirtuOz CEO Video
Videos can be very compelling and engaging for potential clients. Here our CEO does a great video in one take. Steve’s a great face of the organization.
Book Reaches 60,000 Downloads
It’s getting kind of hard to track the book. It’s available on several sources (MyEbook, Scribd, iPad, and Kindle) and they each report results differently. The book has been doing well on MyEbook where it is at 60,000 downloads. The pace has been increasing so I wonder if there is a tipping point or if it starts slowing down. I’m sure the economy won’t be improving anytime soon so the title will still be relevant.
Social Social Social
Just got back from the Forrester Consumer Event in Chicago. It’s amazing how pervasive the social media topic is. It goes everywhere and reaches everything. To some degree I felt the analysts had no idea what to do than to say “you better consider this”, but that may just be the definition of of a new market. When everyone knows what to do you have to assume the market is mature. I know…. obvious.
50,000 Downloads Hit
Marketing in the Time of Cholera has hit 50,000 downloads at myebook.com
It’s been a good year for the book. Interesting how few comments you get.
One Year: Close to 50,000 Downloads
Marketing in the Time of Cholera has been available for one year. With all locations it appears it has been downloaded close to 50,000 times across 48 countries. Top countries have been US, France, Japan, UK and India. Some of the surprising countries to download the book have been Nepal, Bangladesh and Malta. Let’s see what the next year brings.
Power of Community: 35,000 Downloads
The strongest place Marketing in the Time of Cholera has been downloaded is at Myebook.com. They are up to 35,000 downloads. This amazes me, as it just shows the power of community. This is the strongest channel for the book, by far. Ultimately any marketing person needs to be leveraging community in their strategy.
