Squeeze the Most out of Summer (and Sales)

Thomas Krol — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:15:27 +0000

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If you’re like me (or my employees) you are trying to squeeze as much out of summer as possible. And hopefully, you’re enjoying the great outdoors this morning and not succumbing to the summertime blues… this week’s post will be short, and you’ll be back to your summer fun in no time!

Give this song by the Who a listen while we (briefly) see what the experts are saying this week…

Avoiding the Summer Slump

I was so optimistic a couple weeks ago. My clients seemed like they were proactively marketing through the summer months, and I was seeing some great activity. This past week? Not so much.

So – here are some ideas for you to get the juices flowing…

Focus on appointments vs. total revenue
Focus on referrals and upselling
Clean that database!
Refine your B2B content strategy
Focus on prospecting!!

See more details here and here.

Something our team has learned over the years – when you know a lot of people are gonna take two weeks off at these times, make a careful note of when your contact will be back and schedule a call in your CRM. And grab those contact names and emails mentioned in your prospects’ out-of-office notifications – build that database!!

Summer Touring is Booming…

…but smaller artists are singing the blues.

Over the course of the year, touring has rebounded into a booming and healthy business for touring acts. But while equipment is easier to come by, crew and vehicle shortages – along with “astronomical” prices – remain an issue for theatre and club acts on the road. These stings are felt especially by small and mid-range acts, who have to find ways to reduce costs in order to tour… or are cancelling tours altogether!

Check out this article. When you factor in revenue challenges from streaming, touring costs, and the additional effort required to stay on top of social media and build those connections with your fans… being a musician just to try to earn a dollar is not as easy or lucrative as many think!

What have you found in B2B? Have live events rebounded like they are for big musicians? Or are they still struggling alongside those smaller acts to make a comeback?

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

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Need to Grab Your Leads’ Attention? Make Waves!

Thomas Krol — Mon, 22 May 2023 14:32:12 +0000

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

I feel like I’ve been talking about the weather a lot lately. A sign of old age? Who knows – but I do know that some days feel much more productive than others – moments when the creative work we do really flows.

When the surf’s up, cancel everything else. Make hay. And listen to a song that just makes you feel good – for no particular reason.

Check out this song by Joe Satriani while we see what the experts are saying this week…

Surf’s Up for Bad Data

I’ve always been a proponent of data hygiene – but at what cost? I’ve had clients tell me they can’t run campaigns because they need to finish cleaning their data. Or they’re sooo close to getting their database in perfect shape for their marketing efforts. Is this a case of perpetual stalling? Will the data EVER be good enough to go?

I remember research outlining the cost of bad data years ago – in the early days of SaaS. The 1-10-100 rule: it costs $1 to verify a record as it’s entered; $10 to cleanse and de-dupe it; and $100 if nothing is done, as the ramifications of the mistakes are felt over and over again.

With new martech out there, perhaps the costs have decreased… but the first-hand experience my teams have tells me that critical data errors are increasing. Sure, there are great (free) tools out there to do things like validate emails (here is one of my favourite ones), but it seems like it’s getting more and more difficult to manage.

Ten years ago, industry pundits were saying that between 10% (in strong organizations) and 25% (in typical organizations) of customer and prospect records at any given time included critical data errors – ranging from incorrect demographic data to a lack of current disposition.

Has that changed? What are you seeing in your organization? I’d love to hear your feedback on this trend…

Engaging with Fans – An Alien Concept No More

SoundCloud’s been making some waves in the streaming world. The platform has unveiled its newest feature, called Fans, which will allow musicians to direct message their biggest fans through the platform and sort listeners by engagement metrics. Maybe this new DM feature could stir things up (in a good way), hopefully causing artists to wonder why they can’t do the same through other platforms.

Between this move and Apple Music now hosting mix sessions (including some legendary sets from Ninja Tune), Spotify is suddenly starting to feel a little questionable in terms of its feature set and value proposition.

Couple that with increasing discontent from the majors and I get the sense streaming platforms in general are soon to be challenged for the first time in a long while.

But that’s a good thing! I agree with those saying the current model doesn’t work for anyone but the top 1%, and it’s why I welcome SoundCloud pushing to try new systems of remuneration.

Is it all perfect? No, but only because nothing is. Will it show potential new paths forward? Absolutely – and this is why it’s great to see these developments.

No one wants to be the disruptor that gets disrupted… so it’s important to keep innovating. And what about B2B? What are you doing in your own organization to keep ahead of the curve?