Image via Wikipedia

Sharon Drew Morgen recently authored a good article on the marketing automation guide on marketing automation.  It spurred some good comments, many of which I agree with.  As we develop more expertise in Content Marketing  I see a very strong correlation between great content marketing and increased momentum through the sales cycle.  As I read this weekend, “nurture your leads towards value, not the sale”.   What bothers me is that technology companies seem to want to reach first for a technology solution, before they identify their major impediments to sales.  Witness CRM systems that sales people still do not use.  If they do use it,  CRM does not improve the sales activities. Marketing Automation is now under that same cloud.

A long time ago I found that as a CEO you need to be in front of the customer to find out what they think of what you make and what you need to do to better serve their needs.  Of course marketing automation will handle lots of leads and provide support to a strong nurturing program. But to do this properly you need compelling content, written for the buyer to support their buying process, when they need it.  This is now  the time for the writer, not an automated tool.  The power is now in the hands of the buyer, not the seller. Buyers chose the field making the old push model, which never worked well, way past its best before date.  Sales must be beefed up with a strong inbound marketing program.  If you do not have the marketing chops already, buying a tool will not give them to you.

Related articles

• Demand Generation Necessary For Lead Generation! (customerthink.com)
• B2B Marketing Automation Industry Size and Segments (customerthink.com)
• Outbound vs. Inbound: The Risk Management Issue in the Complex Sale (customerthink.com)

Image via Wikipedia

The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices. How the digital magicians of MIT Media Lab are creating the innovative technologies that will transform our lives. Frank Moss.  2011. ISBN 9780307589101.  If you ever needed a reason to go to Boston, this book will give you one. The author was the Director of the MIT Media Lab and compiled this book while there.  It is a walk through the halls to see and  hear about the upcoming technologies that Negroponte‘s vision has brought forth. I also enjoyed the stories about the many brilliant researchers and the sponsors who stand behind them.  I had not realized that some of the researchers are successful company founders who after cashing out, are now doing what they love – creating new things.  The facility seems to be a hot bed of serendipity, bringing so many interests to bear on each project. You never know where the technology will be applied.  Good read and it gives you a boost.

Related articles

• The Sorcerers & Their Apprentices: The Untold Story of MIT Media Lab (brainpickings.org)
• Gotta read this book! (lawafterthebar.wordpress.com)
• Business Beach Reads? (800ceoread.com)
• MIT Media Lab develops “eye” phone to diagnose cataracts (whcchealthinnovations.org)
• The Wizardly Ways of a Tech Lab (online.wsj.com)
• Smartphone Accessory Detects Cataracts (mt-soft.com.ar)
• Talk by Ramesh Raskar, MIT Media Lab – 6th July (punetech.com)
• MIT Project Uses Smart Phones to Detect Cataracts (wired.com)