The sales manager is arguably one of the most important people in any office. Often when you are a smaller business, the entrepreneur or CEO doubles as a sales manager, and this can get a company so far, but not all the way.
Read more about: Sales managers are important people within any office → Expert Marketing Blog - Marketing - Page 33
LinkedIn has many benefits; you can showcase your whole work history on one platform and share with the world; you get job offers regularly if you have bothered to fill in your profile properly; you can connect with people you would not ordinarily have access to; and you can find the right person in the right position to pitch yourself to to get a job or to sell a product or service.
It's invaluable. No-one can argue that.
Read more about: Its invaluable to hire a job hopper → It's invaluable. No-one can argue that.
I will make myself feel old writing this blog. It is a reminder of how long I have been in this industry. But during this time there has remained a sense of achievement with each and every issue of the thousands I have helped put together, including the latest issue of Marketing Eye.
When I first started in this industry back in 1996, Tupac was still alive, Trainspotting was released into cinemas and the French halted nuclear testing in the Pacific. A lot has changed in magazine production in that time, but the principles have stayed the same.
Read more about: Everything you want to know about marketing is all in Marketing Eye → When I first started in this industry back in 1996, Tupac was still alive, Trainspotting was released into cinemas and the French halted nuclear testing in the Pacific. A lot has changed in magazine production in that time, but the principles have stayed the same.
It's been a rollercoaster of a ride the past 18 months. We've expanded successfully into the US market and built a profitable operation, hired a leadership team to take our business into the future, launched a magazine and built some technology. We have also started our rollout of licensing our brand to other successful marketers to expand our global footprint.
Read more about: It has been a rollercoaster of a ride for the business → 
What makes some marketers more successful than others? Is it that they tend to be smarter? Or do they have a secret sauce? Are they just in the right place at the right time, surrounded by the right people?
I've seen some mind-blowing marketers in my time, and I've also seen some marketers that are just terrible and give marketing a very bad name. But there are some particular things that stand out in successful marketers that we all can learn from. They have some basic fundamentals that they live by; either intentionally or not. Their behaviours are consistent and without exception.
Read more about: Behaviors of highly successful marketers → I've seen some mind-blowing marketers in my time, and I've also seen some marketers that are just terrible and give marketing a very bad name. But there are some particular things that stand out in successful marketers that we all can learn from. They have some basic fundamentals that they live by; either intentionally or not. Their behaviours are consistent and without exception.
The challenges of running a professional services firm are many. What most of my counterparts would say is that it's people that determine whether you are successful or not - and this is correct.
Read more about: Why we can let almost 19,000 hot leads get a way → 
The Urban Dictionary defines the Kardashian effect as “The practice of caring about D list celebrities who have no talent and contribute nothing to society.” However there is another more positive way at looking at this phenomenon, and that is to examine how the Kardashians became so popular on the first place.
In April this year, China’s Tencent bought a 14.6 percent stake in Glu Mobile for $126 million. The purchase has been put down to the Kardashian effect after the mobile game publisher struck gold last year with Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, a game that has the endorsement of reality TV celebrity Kim Kardashian.
Read more about: Behind the business of being a Kardashian? → In April this year, China’s Tencent bought a 14.6 percent stake in Glu Mobile for $126 million. The purchase has been put down to the Kardashian effect after the mobile game publisher struck gold last year with Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, a game that has the endorsement of reality TV celebrity Kim Kardashian.
When asked today what I think a Marketing Executive would need to have that they may not have needed a few years ago, my answer was simple. "A Marketing Executive must be a social media expert."
Read more about: The New Marketing Executive - What that really looks like → 
Jeff Bullas describes the age in which we currently reside as the Age of Visual Culture; in this period of time where everyone has a camera phone and selfie stick to capture one of life’s many moments, the label certainly stands true.
Visual content is now a universal language. It is Esperanto in image form. The image may be of a dog named Pippa with her own Instagram account or it could be an infographic detailing the complex nature of how to bone a fish Masterchef style. It may be a moving image of someone repairing a car engine or attempting fine tapestry.
Read more about: Extend your click through rate: create original images for your visual marketing → Visual content is now a universal language. It is Esperanto in image form. The image may be of a dog named Pippa with her own Instagram account or it could be an infographic detailing the complex nature of how to bone a fish Masterchef style. It may be a moving image of someone repairing a car engine or attempting fine tapestry.
The sun is shining and we have all gotten over the winter blues, but with that comes the mid-year, summer holidays slump.
There is so much to do, yet all that many of us can think about is the long-waited summer holiday that is imminent.
Perhaps you have gotten out of the normal rhythm that your sales and marketing efforts have been in, or maybe it's not quite working like it use to.
Don't fear! You are the norm.
What you do next will really set the mark on how you will end the year from a sales and marketing perspective.
5 Ways to get over the mid-year marketing slump
Read more about: How to get over the mid-year marketing slump → There is so much to do, yet all that many of us can think about is the long-waited summer holiday that is imminent.
Perhaps you have gotten out of the normal rhythm that your sales and marketing efforts have been in, or maybe it's not quite working like it use to.
Don't fear! You are the norm.
What you do next will really set the mark on how you will end the year from a sales and marketing perspective.
5 Ways to get over the mid-year marketing slump
Recently I shared a presentation about the value of marketing automation implemented correctly in a business. I gave the presentaton at Cebit 2015 and rather than use a generic case study, I focused on my own company, Marketing Eye, as an example of how to implement marketing automation and gain immediate results.
To give perspective to this, Marketing Eye has a substantial amount of traffic coming to our website each month, mainly due to the popularity of this blog and the effectiveness of our SEO team.
Read more about: How to increase your sales by 68% in one month → To give perspective to this, Marketing Eye has a substantial amount of traffic coming to our website each month, mainly due to the popularity of this blog and the effectiveness of our SEO team.
“It usually takes me three weeks to write a good impromptu speech,” wrote Mark Twain with a twinkle in his eye and his tongue in cheek. However, for all his great wit, he probably wasn’t joking. The best speeches you’ve ever heard were meticulously scripted and rehearsed before they were delivered with that engaging element of panache that keeps you hooked.
Politicians, motivational speakers and even inside sales rep need a good script and a dynamic script will ensure you have every base covered, including lapses of knowledge, any objections you may counter and a deep understanding and awareness of the product.
Read more about: The inside sales script that kicks ass → Politicians, motivational speakers and even inside sales rep need a good script and a dynamic script will ensure you have every base covered, including lapses of knowledge, any objections you may counter and a deep understanding and awareness of the product.
I live my life through two time zones; Melbourne, Australia, and Atlanta, Georgia. No matter where I am at any given time, these are the two time zones I consider most as I go about my daily life.
We have now been in the Atlanta for a few years, and have recently attracted a top-notch international marketer to our fold. She will head up our Georgian operations and with her 20 plus years experience, will bring much to the table.
When thinking about how her onboarding should look, I have taken time to reflect and get feedback from others in the organization as to how we should embark upon onboarding our new senior manager.
There have been a number of trains of thought, namely around giving her the freedom to work in an environment that is shaped by Marketing Eye, but not "owned" by it. We don't want to stiffle her creativity or what she may bring to the table. Instead, we want to encourage her to use her wealth of experience particularly in the technology space and help our clients reach the next level.
Marketing Eye has a methodology on how we work with clients. That's unchangeable. It's what we have built our business on. But its the grey areas around it that we are most open to providing freedom for marketing managers to explore their own experiences and catalogue of skills to take us further away from anything that our competitors could possibly offer.
We feel innovative. If you asked any employee at Marketing Eye, they would say this is the cornerstone of our business. But so often people get busy working that they don't have the time to think about the business side of things.
It's so important that we utilize this opportunity to do just that. By providing a framework and the ingredients and support to take the local Atlanta based business to the next level is important.
She will have a blank canvas but with paint and a brush to express her creative flair. I can't wait to see what's next for Marketing Eye Atlanta and share it with you all.
Read more about: Every now and again you need a blank canvas → We have now been in the Atlanta for a few years, and have recently attracted a top-notch international marketer to our fold. She will head up our Georgian operations and with her 20 plus years experience, will bring much to the table.
When thinking about how her onboarding should look, I have taken time to reflect and get feedback from others in the organization as to how we should embark upon onboarding our new senior manager.
There have been a number of trains of thought, namely around giving her the freedom to work in an environment that is shaped by Marketing Eye, but not "owned" by it. We don't want to stiffle her creativity or what she may bring to the table. Instead, we want to encourage her to use her wealth of experience particularly in the technology space and help our clients reach the next level.
Marketing Eye has a methodology on how we work with clients. That's unchangeable. It's what we have built our business on. But its the grey areas around it that we are most open to providing freedom for marketing managers to explore their own experiences and catalogue of skills to take us further away from anything that our competitors could possibly offer.
We feel innovative. If you asked any employee at Marketing Eye, they would say this is the cornerstone of our business. But so often people get busy working that they don't have the time to think about the business side of things.
It's so important that we utilize this opportunity to do just that. By providing a framework and the ingredients and support to take the local Atlanta based business to the next level is important.
She will have a blank canvas but with paint and a brush to express her creative flair. I can't wait to see what's next for Marketing Eye Atlanta and share it with you all.
Marketing Eye's journey over the past few years has hit some major milestones as the business heads into a future rich with possibility.
Despite our rough expansion into the US; we set up ‘part-time’ and employed a few people who were left to their own devices, the road has cleared and we are looking forward with enthusiasm.
Read more about: The biggest lessons come from our future leaders → Despite our rough expansion into the US; we set up ‘part-time’ and employed a few people who were left to their own devices, the road has cleared and we are looking forward with enthusiasm.
Failure is inevitable and mostly out of our control. Nobody actually sets out to fail? I certainly don't. But it happens, a little more often than I would like.
I fail at many things: walking my dog each day, keeping all employees engaged 100% of the time, communicating the value proposition of our business when we have severely over serviced, keeping a timesheet, and letting go.
Read more about: My biggest failures are my biggest lessons → I fail at many things: walking my dog each day, keeping all employees engaged 100% of the time, communicating the value proposition of our business when we have severely over serviced, keeping a timesheet, and letting go.