Competitive Intelligence, Marketing Consultancy and home of the REPAMA Methodology that Visualises Competitive Differentiation

marketing tactics

Is this slowdown real?

Published February 9, 2009 | By Danny Goodall

I don’t mean to be crass here and I know that I’ve asked this question before, but I have to wonder whether we are experiencing as deep a slowdown as the media would have us believe.

Perhaps it hasn’t reached my part of the software industry yet but right now I’m working with four companies who are all doing incredibly well. They’ve all had great years and are looking forward to a better year. I have to balance that by saying that I’ve also got contacts in my network who have been hit by some real problems – but most of them are really closely tied to the investment banking market.

But most surprising for… Continue reading →

Posted in All Blog Categories, go-to-market, marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tactics |

Tagged economic slowdown, job market, marketing, marketing strategy, marketing tactics |

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What do you do?

Published November 24, 2008 | By Danny Goodall

It’s an easy question isn’t it? But its one that in my experience is so often misinterpreted or wrongly answered by high-tech software vendors through their web sites, marketing materials and meetings with prospects.

When a prospect poses that question of a software vendor, what are they looking to understand? The answer is that they actually want to know what you can do for them. They want to quickly envisage what will be left behind after they have bought software from you.

So an answer like:

“ACME provides KJ8 compliant infrastructure that is compatible with the latest WP* series of standards”

…does not really answer the question “What does ACME Corp do?”.

Consider the situation when a… Continue reading →

Posted in All Blog Categories, communication, go-to-market, marketing, Marketing Management, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tactics, product marketing, prospects |

Tagged budgets, lead generation, Lustratus, marketing strategy, marketing tactics, prospects, value proposition, value statement |

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What Slowdown?

Published October 20, 2008 | By Danny Goodall

I was discussing the economic slowdown with some friends over the weekend. We were trying to predict the likely depth, length and impact but we came to the conclusion that logic and a sound understanding of economics alone couldn’t help. You’d need to apply complex chaos psychology first. The issue, we realised, is that whilst people anxiously focus on the harsher trading conditions, we’re not focusing on the positives – the things that will bring us out the other side.

I’m not going to suggest that all we need to do is shut our eyes and wish it away but if we stop anxiously focusing on the negatives, we can turn a bad situation into a better… Continue reading →

Posted in All Blog Categories, Competition and Competitive Intelligence, marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tactics, prospects |

Tagged competitive, economic slowdown, lead generation, market dynamics, marketing, marketing strategy, marketing tactics, seth godin |

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2009 Guidance for CMOs

Published October 14, 2008 | By Danny Goodall

I think Michael Gerard is spot on with his views on the need for different priorities and strategies for CMOs in 2009. He talks about the need to remove the disconnect between sales and marketing, decentralisation of both the marketing function and budgets to the region and also about the importance of sales enablement. These are all hobby horses of mine. It’s well worth a read, I hope CMOs are listening.

Danny Goodall

High-tech marketing spend is…

Published September 26, 2008 | By Danny Goodall

…slowing according to IDC’s Michael Gerard. No surprise there then given the global economic slowdown. I guess we’ve all seen some evidence of a slowing in spending and recruiting perhaps the surprise is that the slowdown is not as bad as one might have expected. The results come from IDC’s 2008 Tech Marketing Benchmark Study (covered more fully on btobonline.com). This is a piece of research that should find itself on every senior marketing exec’s highly polished desk.

Anyone expecting a grilling over budget requests should have studied this report beforehand for justification. If you’re asking for money and you haven’t realised that your request is 10% higher than the average in… Continue reading →

Posted in All Blog Categories, marketing, Marketing Management, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tactics |

Tagged budget, budgets, IDC, marketing spend, marketing strategy, marketing tactics, michael gerard, priorities |

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Indocilis privata loqui – expelled from the marketing circle?

Published September 24, 2008 | By Danny Goodall

Without the benefit of a classical education I can’t be sure, but I think the Latin in the title says something like “not right to reveal secrets”. It’s the motto of the Magic Circle – an organisation that guards its magic secrets jealously. I wonder what would motivate a magician to leave the ‘circle and expose the tricks behind the “magic” and in doing so disappoint people everywhere with the realisation that the women doesn’t really get sawn in two but is in fact two very small women bred specifically for the act. Probably.