Avi Hein

We’ve got marketing management all wrong. We’re defining the tactic – email, social media, trade shows, conferences, PR – without clear goals. As The Cline Group’s Josh Cline wrote, we’re putting the cart before the horse – running forward before we have the goals or a plan. It’s not a traditional or digital marketing divide. Companies are going to trade shows and looking for MARCOM pros with trade show experience without knowing what trade shows can do for their business

I’ve just completed an analyst briefing today at work and scheduling more. Here are some tips for how to conduct an analyst briefing.

From Dr. Peter Drucker: A business enterprise has two basic functions: marketing and innovation If we want to know what a business is, we have to start with its purpose. And the purpose must lie outside the business itself. In fact, it must lie in society, since a business enterprise is an organ of society. There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer. The customer is a foundation of a business and keeps it in

The Inbound Marketing Process Infographic From: IMPACT Branding & Design

At last year’s LeWeb, my colleague and social media superstar Ayelet Noff asked my favorite wine guy Gary Vaynerchuk the question that we were all hearing in 2009, 2010, and finally forced to answer in 2011: What’s the ROI of social media. Gary answered that that’s the wrong question – and it’s a problem. Gary asked, “What’s the ROI of your mother?” It’s not about data or Facebook friends or Twitter fans, he said. He also said that ROI should

Listen to Louis CK on social media strategy. He hates Twitter. Just because it’s the cool shiny tool doesn’t mean you should be running to it when your basic business strategy is lacking. Stop going after the shiny things. Start going after the value (which probably includes social media). Maybe Louis CK should be doing your social media strategy:

The following is sixth in a series of posts about high tech marketing strategy based on Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm. In order to win the battle for customers and revenue, you must define the battle. One essential component to building a market is positioning. Positioning is the image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Despite common misconception (and Wikipedia’s own entry), positioning is not a process but rather the market

The following is the fifth in a series of posts about high tech marketing strategy based on Crossing the Chasm. Haven’t read Crossing the Chasm? Buy it now. One of the most important functions of marketing isn’t viral and it isn’t advertising and no, it’s not creative slogals. Rather it’s in the fundamental 4Ps taught in every Marketing 101 class: Product. In order to win the marketplace, you must wire the marketplace. According to Moore, “For a given target customer

The following is the forth part of a series of posts about high tech marketing strategy based on Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. Moore opens with a quote from Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you probably aren’t going to get there.” The fundamental principle to cross the chasm is to pick a specific niche market and focus all your resources on achieving the dominant position in that segment. It sounds simple but most organizations fail.