What’s Working in Marketing

The theme for the upcoming ISA Marketing & Sales Summit “In Search of the Holy Grail: Integrating Marketing and Sales”, and the Summit is running a blogging contest to win a iPod Touch if folks blog about a topic relevant to the upcoming Summit.  So, here’s my “entry”… although I’m not really qualified to [...]

We’re still recovering from the ISA Marketing & Sales Summit in Boston last week. It was the 4th annual event and, I think, the best ever. We had a great group of speakers from the automation industry, and engaged senior-level attendees from marketing and sales. It was 3 days of interesting conversations and idea exchange. [...]

We’re marketing gurus…not masters of world economics. But we know what to watch for when it comes to the ups and downs in our industry. We’ve heard a lot of talk that the economy is picking itself back up off the floor. And we are seeing some good news in manufacturers’ financials. So if our [...]

It’s a challenging time for selling anything lately.  We get that.  And we wanted to help get some answers about how companies in the automation industry can put their best foot forward and succeed despite the challenges out there.  So recently I had the opportuity to interview Julie Fraser from Cambashi, and recorded a podcast [...]

I was frolicking around Twitter, following the #marketing chat, and was reminded of the old McGraw-Hill advertising guy. Anyone remember him? For those of you who are too young, he’s got an important message for all B2B marketers:
“I don’t know who you are.
I don’t know your company.
I don’t know your company’s product.
I don’t know what [...]

Happy New Year from Shari and Juliann and the gang at Telesian. We thank our clients, families, and friends for all your support in 2008. We look forward to wonderful 2009!
As 2008 comes to  a close and we think about what lies ahead, there seems to be some mountainous terrain out there.  In tumultuous times, marketing has [...]

The reason I bring this up is from a couple recent experiences with vendors who think they are talking to me, and the reality is I have no idea what they are saying.   Well I do hear the words, but comprehension is low.   I call this vendor-ese where the person I am talking to [...]

At the last ISA Marketing and Sales Summit, the idea was introduced to set up a LinkedIn Group.  The intention was to provide a connection point for past and present attendees, and to open it up to all who are part of ISA’s marketing and sales community.  The good news is this group has been [...]

Journalists’ perceptions and engagement with social media differ based on their beat. That was one of the findings of a study released today by Brodeur and Marketwire.
The study surveyed journalists from five different beats — politics, lifestyle, technology, healthcare and travel. In addition to gauging their online activity and its impact on reporting, the study [...]

Don’t shoot the messenger, but here’s a must-read article from Computerworld on why IT execs avoid salespeople!
Unfortunately, although technology has made quantum leaps over the years, salespeople haven’t changed much. And today, as ever, too few of them act as honest advisers and problem-solvers. Too many are dime-a-dozen drones who stick to marketing scripts [...]