Step Into The Spotlight! Welcomes Guest Blogger, David Meerman Scott & Book Giveaway!
By tsufit on Mar 1, 2009 in Advertising, Blogging, Corporate Life, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Positioning, Top Marketing Bloggers, viral marketing
Time for another Step Into The Spotlight! Business Book Giveaway!
David Meerman Scott, one of our 50 Top Marketing Bloggers is our Guest Blogger this week and we’ll be giving away 3 copies of his new book, World Wide Rave
which comes out March 3. All you have to do for a chance to get a copy is
1. Enter your name in the boxes on the right and then come back here and
2. Leave a comment about David’s post which follows below.
You gotta do both! Deadline Thursday March 5 at 5pm EST.
Take it away David!
Why Most CMOs Get Fired
According to Spencer Stuart, the average tenure of Chief Marketing Officers is only 26 months. This is much shorter than the 44 months that the average CEO lasts.
I think CMOs get fired because they are resistant to change and they want to apply the marketing tools that worked in the 1980s (print and TV advertising and big budget PR) to today’s environment of online marketing and social media.
Marketing people have excuses for why they can’t market on the Web. CEOs, company presidents, and other executives have excuses for why their particular product, service, or organization doesn’t have potential to spread online. Authors and musicians offer excuses for why their books or music aren’t selling. Often, the excuse comes to me like this: “But David, we’re a _______________. We can’t do that.” You can fill in the blank with your organization’s excuse. I’ve already heard most of them: big company, small company, public company, venture-funded company, nonprofit, church, accountant, blood donation center, indie rock band, famous university, blah, blah, blah. Sorry, but they’re all just excuses.
If you’re obsessed with ROI measurements that worked in an offline world, then you’re just making an excuse. If you worry about losing control of your message, then you’re making an excuse.
The biggest requirement is that you change your behavior: Stop obsessing over the old measurements of sales leads and marketing ROI.
Instead, make your valuable online content free and registration-less.
Give away lots of good information (videos, photos, data, graphs, audio, blogs, e-books, and the like) to enthusiastic or curious people interested in your products and services.
Encourage an organizational culture of sharing.
> CMOs get fired because they would rather spend money on a PR agency to spam the media than be thought leaders that the media seeks out.
> CMOs get fired because they measure themselves on leads and press clips instead of what the marketplace thinks about their company and its products and services.
> CMOs get fired because they would rather spend millions on TV commercials than figure out how to get a free YouTube video that goes viral.
> CMOs get fired because they ________ (fill in the blank – there are many more reasons).
(And once they are fired and are looking for a new job, ex-CMOs obsess about resumes and networking and spamming people via LinkedIn instead of blogging, speaking, and writing about what they are passionate about.)
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David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, seminar leader, and the author of the hit new book World Wide Rave. His previous book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR was a number-one bestseller and is being published in 22 languages. He is a recovering VP of marketing for two publicly traded technology companies and was also Asia marketing director for Knight-Ridder, at the time one of the world’s largest newspaper and electronic information companies. David has lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, Boston, and Hong Kong and has presented at industry conferences and events in over thirty countries on four continents. Check out his blog at www.webinknow.com or download his free ebook The New Rules of Viral Marketing: How word-of-mouse spreads your ideas for free at http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/documents/Viral_Marketing.pdf
This is so true. I have been an Evangelist, Internet Marketer and a Success Coach for many years. Every conversation I am faced with as an evangelist or success coach begins with the other person giving me all of the excuses that have kept him or her from succeeding, spiritually and physically. After listening for a while, I usually interrupt them and give them the ‘reason’ for their failure – their own self defeating attitude.
Thanks for making this clear and keep up the good work.
Pastor Bobby | Mar 1, 2009 | Reply
I am really excited by David Meerman Scott.
I found his site last week, and read his free eBooks.
I wrote a book on simplicity and minimalism in stock trading, and decided to try his ideas in marketing my book.
I had a spreadsheet I was offering as a bonus for buying the book. I decided to try giving away the spreadsheet and a pdf copy of my book with no strings attached – without needign to register.
I want to see if this ends up resulting in more people discovering myself and my ideas.
Praveen Puri | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
Can’t wait to get my eyes on David’s new book. Being a blank page in this new world of social media and company imaging, I’m thrilled to find a credible guide on the trail to successful marketing. My last business venture led to many lessons learned but no money earned. Tsufit taught me the need to step out. David’s book is a road map as to how to put my company’s face forward. Learning lessons before disaster is much ,ore valuable than trying to implement lessons learned afterwords. Thank you, David for writing the book and sharing the expertise. Carol
Carol Shaver | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
Saw this on Benefits For Women Network. Glad I did – Great words of advise for sure! Sue
Sue Sutcliffe | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
Very insightful article. Especially about having to learn new marketing tips. Would love to read this.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Kimspam66(at)yahoo(dot)com
kim v | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
I totally agree. These days, traditional marketing alone is not enough. Online marketing is a powerful way to reach the audience – a potentially much larger audience. There is every reason to market online than not.
I look forward to reading The World Wide Rave.
Corinne Lor | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
Thanks David!
I love the idea of being a ‘thought leader.’ I can do that!!
In appreciation,
)
Arcadia
Arcadia Love | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
It is not only marketers who fight change. It is PEOPLE. The true definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Based on this definition, most people are Insane. They often work harder at doing the same things and then wonder why nothing changes. Now more than ever it’s either – “change or die.”
Good article
Rick Itzkowich | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
I wonder when companies are going to quit listening to CMOs who natter on about the ROI of their marketing expenditures, and start looking at the ROI of their CMO salaries. But keeping on doing the same old boring crap they’ve always done is familiar. It’s not scary like, oh, I don’t know, DARING TO TRY ENGAGING YOUR CUSTOMERS LIKE THEY’RE REAL PEOPLE AND NOT “TARGET MARKETS.”
I’m not even a marketer, and I can tell when companies don’t get it. (Maybe not being a “marketer” is a good thing, in this case.)
Roy Jacobsen | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
Agree.
I always used to advise businesses that they should reinvent themselves every 18 months.
With the pace now it is probably down to 6 months.
Processes, procedures, attitudes, ‘the way we do things’ all need to be readdressed.
Or failure is a close buddy!
Keith Grinsted | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply