MARKETING AND SALES EXECUTIVE THINK TANK

This ITAC Marketing and Sales Executive Think Tank was held on May 24, 2007 at SAP Canada .

Mandate of ITAC Think Tank:

To discuss and establish thought leadership positions on critically important issues, which will be communicated to the technology marketing and sales community at large.

Issues Covered:

1. Online marketing to customers and prospects: Best practices and innovations
2. Outreach to community: Social responsibility and roles

Attendees:

  • Barbara Betts, Associate Director, Enterprise Marketing Broadcast Services, Bell Canada
  • Ann Christie, VP, Marketing, Octopz
  • Steven Fair, VP of Sales, Strategic Accounts, Avaya Canada Corp.
  • Linda Fitzgerald, District Sales Manager, Sun Microsystems of Canada, Inc.
  • Yvonne Gibson, Director, Communications for Canada, CGI
  • David Grindal, Director, Marketing and Sales Support, ACI Worldwide, Inc.
  • Chris Herbert, Marketing Manager, Unis Lumin
  • Rakesh Mistry, Marketing Manager, Business Integration, IBM Canada, Ltd.
  • Peter Owsiany, General Manager, Ontario, Acrodex
  • Josey Panetta, Associate Director, Business Communications, Bell Canada
  • Neel Sharma, Director, Sales and Marketing, Qlogitek/L’eBIZ
  • Meg Sintzel, VP, Communications and Marketing, Accenture
  • Paul Stables, Director, Web Marketing, OpenText Corp.
  • Margaret Stuart, VP, Sales, Longview Solutions
  • Host: Conrad Mandala, VP, SME Canada, SAP Canada

The discussion was moderated by Bob Becker, Principal, SMA.

The Internet has caused sales and marketing executives to rethink strategy. New tactics emerge daily. Some of the best practices now in use are…

For prospects:

  • Links with third parties and associations
  • Using blogs to continue conversations after an event
  • Webinars, a powerful tool with higher uptake than onsite events (although actual attendance may be only 50% of registrants)
  • Leveraging meta assets
  • Use of online tactics to grow SME business, which would be prohibitively expensive on a face-to-face basis
  • Search engine optimization to build awareness of brand, drive website traffic
  • Segmenting and customizing web content to user needs

For customers:

  • Building communities of interest
  • Using online collaborative tools to collect customer input on new product designs
  • Personalized web portals
  • Online user groups
  • Embedding links in emails, not sending attachments that are subject to filters
  • CEO blogging
Some of the factors determining success in online marketing are:
  • Transparency: paying for bloggers to talk up your product can backfire
  • Executive buy-in – difficult to get when decision-makers are a different generation
  • An integrated marketing approach: present corporate and product information on the website, use webinars to generate leads, telemarketing for follow-up
  • Use of marquee customers for webinars to boost attendance
  • Differentiation among markets: use different methods and messages
  • Good measurement tools for tracking online traffic
  • Customization of content, especially for customers
  • Continuing the relationship building: nothing can replace that!
Sales and marketing executives expressed a wide range of opinions on community outreach, and the extent to which companies should be involved in philanthropy.

Some companies that operate around the world find local projects on every continent; some focus on a single cause to build their brands. Some pursue a major corporate initiative while giving employees the freedom and opportunity to volunteer for what’s important to them.

Those that engage in outreach see it as an opportunity to engage employees and show their company as an “employer of choice”. All agreed that it is essential to make wise choices, as resources are finite.

Some criteria to use when considering community outreach are:
  • Your corporate culture – what do you represent? Find something that aligns with that. Examples: donating technology to Aboriginal communities, enabling girls to choose high tech careers
  • Your product differentiators – reinforce those. Example: energy efficiency
  • Your key business initiatives – show you care. Example: an outsourcer supporting education to help workers retool
  • Executive passions and interests; extend out from those
While measuring a return on investment is extremely difficult, socially responsible practices produce the following benefits:
  • Helps build brand awareness
  • Helps attract top talent in recruitment drives; the next generation cares about this
  • Helps in contract bids; your community involvement shows your staying power
  • Helps build relationships at executive level; they support each other’s charities

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