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On this blog we assemble the world's sharpest minds in marketing and strategy innovation. People who spark exceptional insights in their field of expertise and inspire their readers to action.

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March 7, 2008

Marketing Spirals + Fuzzy Funnels

by: David Armano

When I originally wrote about the Marketing Spiral, I said this:

"Often times our first interaction with a brand is through a digital touch point like a site.  Maybe we heard about it from a friend or somewhere else. We interact with it--we give it a try.  If we like it--that leads to deeper levels of engagement. Maybe this repeats itself adding more "cycles" to the spiral. We continue to engage. Some of us even begin to participate. We transition from downloading to uploading our media. We talk about how great the experience is. To our peers, to each other. We become evangelists--the spiral actually expands as we engage with multiple touchpoints--not only the digital ones."

Continue reading "Marketing Spirals + Fuzzy Funnels" »

March 4, 2008

Sales is from Mars, Marketing is from Venus - Podcast

by: Jon Miller

The relationship between Sales and Marketing at B2B companies is too often precarious and subject to change day by day.

Continue reading "Sales is from Mars, Marketing is from Venus - Podcast" »

March 3, 2008

Developing an Effective Channel Strategy in the World of Channel Proliferations

by: Idris Mootee

Dell is seriously thinking about expanding their stores and giving up their strategic competitive advantage of direct e-commerce only distribution. There were so many debates on how the role of intermediaries has changed due to the Internet and social networks. Today many companies still have not resolved these issues while spending millions on world class solutions such as ATG. I came across this note which was a speech given to a b-school marketing club 2-3 years ago. I was talking about channel strategy and I thought I should share with you here:

Continue reading "Developing an Effective Channel Strategy in the World of Channel Proliferations" »

February 26, 2008

The Communist Manifesto of Chris Anderson

by: Ilya Vedrashko



Deep under the layers of acquired historical meanings lies an often overlooked core of the economic theory that describes production of goods under public ownership, their free exchange, and their free consumption by all members of the society according to their needs.

Continue reading "The Communist Manifesto of Chris Anderson" »

December 17, 2007

Advertising During Recession

by: Ilya Vedrashko

Buckle up.

Washington Post (Nov 26, 2007): "Widespread expectations of a recession could be self-fulfilling because of how financial markets and mainstream America are interconnected. If investors are sufficiently convinced a recession is ahead, they would be reluctant to lend money to businesses that want to expand, making it so."

Continue reading "Advertising During Recession" »

December 3, 2007

On Accountability, now on Slideshare

by: Alain Thys

Apparently the guys at Marketing3 in the Netherlands liked my I am the media slide-show to Chris Anderson enough to ask me back for more.  This means that this year, I had the honour of sharing the stage with Charles Leadbeater and Andrew Keen (for a video review of their keynotes click here and here).

Continue reading "On Accountability, now on Slideshare" »

November 27, 2007

Marketing Challenge: Can We Profit From Poverty?

by: Alain Thys

Every day thousands of people die from bad marketing. Neither Google nor I remember where I read these words.  Perhaps I never read them at all. But as I was flying from Zurich to Amsterdam I couldn't get them out of my mind.

I had just read about Sir Bob Geldof badgering a number of CEO's on their moral obligation to get involved in poverty. And while - bless him - he probably saved quite a few lives by guilting them into a donation, I doubt whether anything beyond "token money" will change hands.

Continue reading "Marketing Challenge: Can We Profit From Poverty?" »

November 26, 2007

Cyber Monday Impulse Buying

by: Roger Dooley

Cyber Monday is one of those recent inventions that seems a bit suspect. Is the Monday after Thanksgiving really the biggest ecommerce sales day? It looks like Cyber Monday will have to work hard to beat Black Friday, when reports indicate that shoppers spent over $500 million online. Just in time for the online sales blitz, Web marketing expert Gord Hotchkiss has written a thoughtful post on Web impulse buying.

Continue reading "Cyber Monday Impulse Buying" »

November 24, 2007

Black Friday Neuromarketing

by: Roger Dooley

Across the U.S., retailers launched massive ad campaigns for the day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a Black Friday. The biggest shopping day of the year offers retailers a major challenge: how to get people into THEIR store, because once there the customers may spend a good part of their holiday gift budget. While most of the stores use the unsubtle approach of marking a small number of items down to ruinously low prices, there’s certainly some psychology at work too.

Continue reading "Black Friday Neuromarketing" »

November 23, 2007

Telemarketing Calls ... the Customer Strikes Back

by: Alain Thys

We probably all know the trouble Vincent Ferrari's had to go through when trying to cancel his AOL account over the phone. But to vindicate him and all other victims of the telephone terror direct marketers often inflict on us, Tom Mabe created a rather cruel, yet hilarious method of dealing with any tele-marketer that dares to invade his privacy.

Continue reading "Telemarketing Calls ... the Customer Strikes Back" »

November 5, 2007

Penalty Pain: How to Make Your Customers Hate You

by: Roger Dooley

penalty_pain.jpg Neuromarketing readers are by now familiar with the idea of “buying pain” or “pain of paying” - when we buy something, the pain center in our brain can be activated. Work by Carnegie Mellon’s George Loewenstein and others shows that this effect is greatest when the price is perceived to be high or unfair.

Continue reading "Penalty Pain: How to Make Your Customers Hate You" »

November 1, 2007

Sensory Marketing to Jolt Espresso Sales

by: Roger Dooley

One of the keys to the phenomenal success of Starbucks has been that its stores offer a consistent and appealing sensory experience. The music, colors, and lighting are all important, but clearly the wonderful coffee aroma is what dominates one’s senses on entering a Starbucks outlet.

Continue reading "Sensory Marketing to Jolt Espresso Sales" »

September 25, 2007

HeadOn Spots Effective in Driving Sales

 by: Ilya Vedrashko

headonAdAge: "The HeadOn, apply directly to the forehead spots (YouTube) are arguably among the worst commercials ever from a creative standpoint. They're annoying, repetitive, obnoxious -- and effective."

Continue reading "HeadOn Spots Effective in Driving Sales " »

September 21, 2007

Drive Revenue With Lead Scoring

by: Jon Miller

Another popular session at Dreamforce 2007 was titled 21st Century Lead Cultivation. My favorite part was the presentation from Jason Hekl, Sr. Director of Marketing at InQuira, which focused on best practices in lead scoring.

Continue reading "Drive Revenue With Lead Scoring" »

September 20, 2007

Best Practices in Lead Management

by: Jon Miller

The most crowded session I attended at Dreamforce 07 was Best Practices in Lead Management. The room was PACKED beyond capacity, and to make matters worse, the AC was broken so it was sweltering.

Continue reading "Best Practices in Lead Management" »

September 19, 2007

Effective Negotiations May Sometimes Mean Staying with it even after You've Lost

by: John Caddell

Negotiating skill is partly personality, mostly hard-won experience. There are a few good books on the subject (I've found "Game, Set, Match: Winning The Negotiations Game," by Henry Kramer pretty useful, despite the silly title), but they don't substitute for getting in there across from the other party and trying to work a deal.

Continue reading "Effective Negotiations May Sometimes Mean Staying with it even after You've Lost" »

July 31, 2007

7 Strategies To Building Sales-Marketing Alignment

by: Jon Miller

As buyers take more control over their buying processes, building alignment between Sales and Marketing teams is now more important than ever. Yet despite the fact that they are pursuing common objectives (growth and revenue), Sales and Marketing all too often suffer an antagonistic relationship. Why can’t we all just get along?

Continue reading "7 Strategies To Building Sales-Marketing Alignment" »

June 4, 2007

By the Numbers: How I built a Web 2.0, User-Generated Content, Citizen Journalism, Long-Tail, Social Media Site for $12,107.09

by: Guy Kawasaki

Because of Truemors, I’ve learned a lot about launching a company in these “Web 2.0” times. Here’s quick overview “by the numbers.”

Continue reading "By the Numbers: How I built a Web 2.0, User-Generated Content, Citizen Journalism, Long-Tail, Social Media Site for $12,107.09" »

May 24, 2007

Take Me to Your Lead Generation Optimization Leader!

by: Joseph Mann

chttopgoals07200x235_01In case you missed the news, the top priority for marketers in 2007 is to quantify the value of marketing programs and investments, according to the CMO Council's Marketing Outlook 2007 survey. 44% of respondents said this was their primary goal in 2007, a change from 2006 where the emphasis was on building sales.

Click image to enlarge.

Continue reading "Take Me to Your Lead Generation Optimization Leader!" »

May 22, 2007

For solutions providers, Account Management is king

by: John Caddell

Every product company wants to sell solutions. Packaging products with useful complementary services can elevate a firm above commodity-provider status and provide more value to customers. Customized solutions also are more difficult for competitors to replace than standalone products.

Continue reading "For solutions providers, Account Management is king" »

May 16, 2007

CEOs can no longer sit out the sales process

by: John Caddell

A CEO used to be able to sit in his office suite in the "God Pod" and issue proclamations. No longer. Now he has to get on the road and sell. And not the "glad to meet you" meetings he used to have. He is rolling up his sleeves, solving customer problems and committing the company to deliver.

Continue reading "CEOs can no longer sit out the sales process" »

May 5, 2007

Dissecting Marketing Forensics

by: Joseph Mann

I just came across an intriguing banner ad offer for a webinar titled "Multichannel Forensics: Understanding How Customers Interact with Advertising, Products, Brands and Channels" being given by Kevin Hillstrom and it made me think - what exactly is multichannel or marketing forensics?

Continue reading "Dissecting Marketing Forensics" »

May 4, 2007

“Value”, “Value”, “Value”– the Most Vague and Over-Used Word in Marketing

By: Chris Lawer

Everyday, marketers, product developers, managers, all business-people in fact talk about “value”. In fact, I reckon it is probably the most popular – yet at the same time, most misunderstood - word used in everyday business conversation.

(Quick “non-empirical test” using Google: Value – 776 million hits, Customer – 583 million hits, “A Definition of Value” – 606 hits!)

Continue reading "“Value”, “Value”, “Value”– the Most Vague and Over-Used Word in Marketing" »

May 3, 2007

Networking: burden or pleasure? It depends on how you approach it

by: John Caddell

766548_bonsai_treeAuthor Barbara Ehrenreich writes about personal networking in the latest issue of Forbes magazine (link--free with registration). She comes to the completely unsurprising conclusion that for most people networking is difficult and unpleasant.

Continue reading "Networking: burden or pleasure? It depends on how you approach it" »

March 29, 2007

Think business as usual doesn't cost you money? Check out Parker Hannifin

by: John Caddell

If you thought cost-plus pricing went out with the Reagan administration, read today's front page Wall Street Journal article on Parker Hannifin Corporation and the efforts by its CEO to overhaul its decades-old pricing approach.

Continue reading "Think business as usual doesn't cost you money? Check out Parker Hannifin" »

March 28, 2007

Painful Sushi and Other Pricing Blunders

by: Roger Dooley

What’s the worst way to sell something? According to Carnegie Mellon University economics and psychology professor George Loewenstein (see The Pain of Buying and Brain Scans Predict Buying Behavior), selling products in a way that the consumer sees the price increase with every bit of consumption causes the most “pain”.

Continue reading "Painful Sushi and Other Pricing Blunders" »

March 24, 2007

The YouTube Approach to Lead Nurturing

by: Jon Miller

Content is critical for lead nurturing. Whether it is a case study, new research on some aspect of your industry, a how-to guide, or a whitepaper, content is what makes your lead nurturing programs work – and lead nurturing is what helps marketing drive more revenue to sales.

Continue reading "The YouTube Approach to Lead Nurturing" »

March 21, 2007

Candor in business storytelling

by: John Caddell

houseofgamesstillIt's called a "confidence" game, right? Why? Because you give me your confidence? No, because I give you mine. So what we have here, in addition to "Adventures in Human Misery," is a short course in psychology. - David Mamet, House of Games screenplay, p. 34 (Photo still from the MGM DVD.)

Continue reading "Candor in business storytelling" »

March 20, 2007

B2B Branding - Why Branding Matters in B2B Marketing

by: Jon Miller

Strewn around my house are pens, coffee cups, calculators, USB memory sticks, and assorted swag from various companies I've met over the years. What is the purpose of all this stuff? Does having a leather portfolio with a vendor's logo on it make me more likely to buy their products?

Continue reading "B2B Branding - Why Branding Matters in B2B Marketing" »

March 11, 2007

Cold calling with dignity (yours and the prospect's)

by: John Caddell

I had to do some cold calling today, so naturally I worked from Jeff Thull's script. It's simply the best approach I know to keep the dignity of the customer intact while you're interrupting them with an unsolicited pitch.

Continue reading "Cold calling with dignity (yours and the prospect's)" »

How To Use Thought Leadership To Build Brands and Nurture Leads

by: Jon Miller

RainToday.com's recent report "What's Working In Lead Generation" got me thinking about the relationship of thought leadership to branding and lead nurturing. In B2B marketing, all three serve the same purpose: to establish your company as a trusted adviser, so when a prospect is ready to buy, he or she will think of you and will want to speak with your sales reps.

Continue reading "How To Use Thought Leadership To Build Brands and Nurture Leads" »

March 5, 2007

Happy Birthday Futurelab Blog

by: Alain Thys

Exactly a year ago this blog went "live" and we just wanted to thank everyone who's been part of making it something much more successful than we ever thought it would be.  Today, we've got about 25,000 regular readers, over 1,400 posts, and more importantly, our base of daily feedburner subscribers keeps growing by the week (currently at 2,500).

Continue reading "Happy Birthday Futurelab Blog" »

March 3, 2007

Do You Recognize the 4 Warning Signs of Bad Lead-itis?

by: Jon Miller

Countless companies end up with poor sales-marketing alignment because they suffer from Bad Lead-itis. This crippling disease can destroy marketing's credibility, waste demand generation dollars, and damage your company's brand reputation.

Continue reading "Do You Recognize the 4 Warning Signs of Bad Lead-itis?" »

February 14, 2007

Web 2.0 helps sales & product insight flow and grow

by: John Caddell

By now, anyone who's acquainted with Web 2.0 tools realizes how peer-to-peer, bottom-to-top, and diagonal information sharing can greatly increase insight.

Continue reading "Web 2.0 helps sales & product insight flow and grow" »

February 8, 2007

8 Ways The Internet Changed Software Marketing

by: Jon Miller

A key theme of this B-to-B marketing blog is that the internet has completely transformed best-practices in technology marketing. In the past seven years, perhaps no company has done more to establish the new best practices than Salesforce.com. By unshackling themselves from the constraints of traditional B2B marketing and sales models, Salesforce.com has emerged as the dominant player in their market.

Continue reading "8 Ways The Internet Changed Software Marketing" »

January 23, 2007

The sneaky price increase - should you use it for business purposes?

By: John Caddell

Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge site has just republished a fascinating piece from 2004 in which HBS marketing professor John Gourville tells us something we should already know, but don't:

Continue reading "The sneaky price increase - should you use it for business purposes?" »

January 3, 2007

What's a "strategic alliance" or a "partnership" anyway?

By: John Caddell