Quotes from just a few of the varied, informative offerings of the competing blog posts on the Community Marketing Blog-Off in which I am competing. These are not my entries, but some of the entries of my esteemed rivals.
From Winning Strategic Accounts: Permission + Self-selection= Referrals by Catherine McQuaid, a self-proclaimed "Big Game Hunter in the Urban Jungle."
Smaller firms need major accounts because large companies are more likely to award multiple contracts year after year. However, getting past the barriers in Fortune 1000-sized companies can be daunting and time-consuming. How about doing something counter-intuitive?Cold-calling senior executives is discouraged in many key account acquisition strategies. Yet how do you crack into a Fortune 1000-sized firm who would be a perfect client for you if you have no "natural" network access?
Here is a 2-step process to getting an executive-level "green light" plus a referral to a member of their team.
1. Making a "cold" call to an executive is very inefficient. Sending an executive briefing BEFORE asking for an appointment improves your odds. By giving you an you email address and permission to send the briefing, you are using opt-in principles adapted from the internet.
Opt-in, permission-based interaction is not only king on the internet, it is the kind of good manners our aunts taught us at Sunday dinner.Key account4
If someone agrees to an appointment after reviewing an executive briefing or gives you a referral to someone on their team, that's a "green light. It means that the business challenge your firm solves is on that person's radar screen. This executive has self-selected to support a discussion with your firm.
2. A "green light" plus a referral can happen either after reviewing an executive briefing or after having had a discovery conversation. In my experience, more than 40% of the time, an executive will suggest talking to another stakeholder in the decision-making process.
Being sent to another stakeholder is not a brush-off. It means that you have established credibility with that executive and they are willing to guide you to others whom they would involve in the decision.
If your objective is to become a preferred vendor enterprise-wide, You may have contact with as many as 36 stakeholders across several lines of business
(eg. 6 lines of business/divisions x 6 people in each business unit)
From The Trials and Tribulations of creating an iPhone game called "Beat the Boss"
by Animator / Producer Mike Browne, "an artist first, Mac geek second."
My blog follows the creation of my new (not yet released) game for the iPhone and iPod Touch, called "Beat the Boss". I am 6 months into development and was just about to submit to Apple, but something happened on the way to the submission line... I hired a PR company . . . The iPhone market is evolving and becoming more sophisticated. If I come out with a spineless game I will make less money and there will be less buzz. I am really glad I hired an outside source to pick the game apart . . . Apple's rules have changed so it makes more sense to improve my game before it hits the market. It will still come out January 2010 . . .My final post in this contest will have a link to a new YouTube commercial advertising the game.
From THE SECRET FAMILY RECIPE FOR COOKING THE BEST CHRISTMAS TURKEY MEAL IN HISTORY! by Darlene Sabella
Family narrative for cooking the turkey was passed down to me. The first and most important is to prepare and execute: to brine your turkey. Place your Turkey in a large pot that would completely cover your turkey in water, and add into this water the following ingredients:* Orange juice, about two cups.
* A full cup of kosher salt
* Brown sugar, one cup
* Chopped ginger
* Black pepper corns
* Bay leaves
* Fresh thyme
* Christmas cake
* Any patch that is not covered with this mixture will dry up. Place in the refrigerator and leave in there for 24 or 40 hours. Now, Early on Christmas day pull your turkey out of the brine, raise well, dump out all your brine, then all you need to do is stuff your turkey. Many people don't stuff their turkeys in fear of getting sick. Nevertheless, we consistently have done so. After your turkey is stuffed, place it breast down in a turkey roasting pan, pat dry with paper towels, then rub vegetable oil all over your turkey and season, place it in the oven to bake.Throughout the day you want to glaze your turkey, I would execute it all day long:
* Fresh bag of cranberries
* Chopped ginger
* Orange zest, which is simply to shred the outside of the orange peel.
* Sugar, one cup
* Orange juice
* WaterCook all these ingredients together until the cranberries pop, allow this mixture to cool, then with your basting brush, glaze your turkey periodically all day.
Thinking about writing for a living reminds me of how I always feel when I'm not making money (like now) - guilty, guilty, guilty as charged. To try and earn a living from your real passion in life can be a bit like the proverbial double- edged sword. What on earth am I doing? (I sometimes ask.) How could I have ruined such a good thing ... or how might this have played out had I only followed my father's advice and become a lawyer (yikes) or stuck with that first job at the publishing house, or stayed in Los Angeles, or moved back to New York?. . . Anyone with a computer can claim to be a writer. To actually earn a living producing words or copy that comes from the heart is a very different story. Yes, it's true that I worked as a writer/editor, producer, marketing director for more than 25 years, but in those "jobs" and for all those years, I never felt like a writer. And I never felt I was doing anything that mattered.
Pursuing an advanced degree has been the ultimate gift. It allowed me to regain that fresh perspective. It's as if I re-learned all the old life lessons but got them right this time. Because of my combined experiences, good and bad, I became a far better student, and I daresay, a better human being. I am finally beginning to feel like a writer. The blank page no longer frightens me. I am ready to find new communication solutions, to help educate a new generation, to put all that I've learned to work in some (as yet unknown but definitely bold) new way.
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