Chuck Rutledge
Sr. Mktg & Biz.Development Executive who excels at identifying, and capitalizing, on opportunities that drive revenues & growth. Introduced new products and services, and opened up new markets for Fortune 500 companies & start ups.
Steve Wozniak to Keynote ITEXPO Las Vegas
We are extremely proud to announce Steve Wozniak is a keynoter at ITEXPO in Las Vegas, Thursday, August 29 at 10am....
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WebRTC Screen Sharing Demo!
In a recent post WebRTC Test Demo Fun, I gave some real world "working" examples of WebRTC. One of the demos I...
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Attend the WebRTC Webinar and Learn More about the Disruption
Tomorrow, February, 20th, Dialogic will be hosting a WebRTC webinar and we’re pleased to have with us respected analyst Dean Bubley from...
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Thank You Amazon, Retailers May Now Merge at Will
When reports surfaced regarding Office Depot merging with OfficeMax, the first thing which may have occurred to many, is regulators wouldn’t let...
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Scam Users, Accumulate Facebook Likes, Buy a Ferrari
Bitdefender Labs recently reported that a site showing kittens and unicorns suggested users download a “business flash” plugin in order to see...
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Windows 8 Sync Settings - Security Hole
Windows 8 has a cool new feature that lets you login with your cloud-based Microsoft account (@hotmail.com, @live.com, @outlook.com) and it will...
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Is Apple Too Sexy for MWC?
In deciding not to exhibit at the Macworld events, CES and MWC, Apple has shown the world that it doesn’t need...
Full Story »Love Your Customers - Not Your New Start-up Concept
March 31, 2012One of the challenges facing start-ups is that they are typically based on a product/service concept hatched from the imaginations of the founders. The vision is pursued, but often with little or no customer feedback before being introduced to the market. There are certainly some products and services that have instant appeal and grow in a viral manner. But too often, the vision falls short of addressing critical customer needs.
A New Year to Make a Difference - A Little Bit At A Time
January 1, 2012Happy New Year!
It is the time of year to start fresh and look forward to the New Year with optimism and hope. The last year has been difficult for many.
The Marketing Silver Bullet
December 17, 2011Recently, I encountered an all too common frustrating marketing scenario. It’s often a situation found in small companies, but I have seen it in medium sized companies as well. I refer to it as the ‘marketing silver bullet.’ It is the concept that with a simple single stroke of well directed marketing, business will take off and money will instantly come streaming in the door.
The marketing silver bullet is rooted in the thought that the product or service concept is so great, so intuitively obviously great, that with a simple well designed exposure, customers will come running.
High-tech B2B Messaging for Humans
April 4, 2011Take a look a random look at web sites of high-tech B2B companies. Have you noticed how many high-tech B2B companies have weak messaging based on the technology they sell? An unfortunately large number have messaging based on technical capabilities and features. Even the images are often of equipment – 1U “pizza boxes” or racks of servers.
Are You Willing to Risk an "Edgy" Message To Get Above The Noise?
November 19, 2010One of the dilemmas all marketers face is how to get above the noise. This is particularly true for small companies. In the world of high tech marketing, most of what I see in terms of company image seems to fall into one of three categories that, for lack of better terms, I will call “Technical,” “Corporate,” and “Edgy.”
The first is “Technical,” which is marketing that driven by the nuts and bolts of the product or service being offered.
Marketing Obituaries - Why The Grim View of B2B Marketing?
July 13, 2010
It has been hard not to notice the increasing number of articles and blog discussions on the health of B2B marketing. There has always been a portion of the B2B community that has felt marketing has limited value and is somewhat of an unnecessary evil that should be minimized. Now, some have taken to the web proclaiming the death of B2B marketing.
Though the discussion around the death of B2B marketing due to the advances in the Internet is somewhat new, the perspective is not. For years I have been hearing about "products that are so good they sell themselves" (btw - these are highly intelligent products designed by engineers that understand exactly what the market wants and they have the capability to identify a target customer, walk into visit with the customer, introduce themselves and their value, determine the needs of the customer, clearly articulate the benefits and competitive advantages they offer, and finally close the sale).
This perspective has evolved to the notion that B2B marketing is dead because of the advances in the Internet. The Internet now provides so much information, that customers have the power to get all the information they need to make purchase decisions. This perspective seems to view the marketing function as simply communications. It also seems to assume that companies have a limited interest in the information about their company or products that is on the Internet.
To begin with, let's understand that communications is one role of marketing, and if done in isolation from the other functions, it is bound to be ineffective. Poorly implemented marketing functions may be a source of the challenges directed at the value of B2B marketing. Even the most basic textbook definitions of marketing include the 5 P's (Positioning, Product, Pricing, Placement, and Promotion) or SIVA (Solution, Information, Value, and Access). All of these elements of marketing must be coordinated and work together.
AT&T Wireless Price Changes - Market Leadership or Marketing Blunder
June 9, 2010
Dallas, we have a problem! Bandwidth hungry customers armed with iPhones and the availability of over 200,000 apps, are straining the AT&T wireless network. The new iPhone 4 with video calling (FaceTime) and HD video recording, will only further tax the network. Economics provides a fairly simple answer when the demand for bandwidth exceeds the supply - raise your prices. Which of course is exactly what AT&T has done.
AT&T faced with imposing even more demands on their already strained network, created a pricing plan that will force the high bandwidth users to either pay for their share of network usage or look for an alternative elsewhere. AT&T chose to create a tiered pricing plan that lowered prices for most customers, but also makes users pay for bandwidth usage. They had to know that they risked creating a negative response from the market place. In fact, you can bet the lower priced plans were offered to minimize the negative aspects of a tiered pricing plan.
Smart Grid Home Energy Management - A Lot of Activity Just Under the Radar!
April 19, 2010
There is clearly a lot of interest in Smart Grid Technology. Through the integration energy, IT and telecom technologies there is a substantial effort to build the infrastructure and applications to support a more energy efficient world. Smart Grid technology holds the promise of offering end-to-end communications connectivity from the utility operations center to the Home Area Network (HAN).
Recently, I had the opportunity to do a little research on some of the activity around Home Energy Management systems and the Home Area Network. I was surprised to discover how much activity there is in pursuit of a market that is still in the incubation phase. In the market research report "Smart Grid 2010" by GTM Research, it is recognized that today this technology is in the pilot stage. The report goes on to project that by 2015 Consumer Energy Management Systems will be "gaining traction as 'set-it-and-forget' technologies make energy management simple to use and cost-effective," and by 2020 the technology will be "routine."
Pike Research forecasts that 14.4 million units of home energy management display devices will be shipped by 2015.
SMB Spells Opportunity for Competitive Service Providers!
March 24, 2010As the VoIP market continues to grow and mature, something interesting is happening. Below the radar from the large carrier services, the SIP trunking providers, and the Cable triple play - the Small Medium Business (SMB) market for hosted VoIP services is heating up! In fact, it is growing faster than all other VoIP based services. The SMB market is opening up an excellent growth opportunity for competitive service providers of all types.
That's right - small and medium businesses are seeing the benefits of VoIP services. They want the productivity improvements and find the cost benefits attractive in this uncertain economy. VoIP based services for businesses are the fastest growing part of the VoIP market with hosted VoIP services growing at a rate of over 28% a year according to Frost and Sullivan. Not only is this a fast growing market, it consists almost entirely of SMBs. In 2009 over 90% of hosted deployments were less than 500 seats.
What makes this good news for competitive service providers? This is a fragmented market without substantial competition from the large dominant players. The large carriers and service providers are focused on their profitable large enterprise accounts and the healthy margins they are making on Centrex services. The established incumbent players poorly serve SMBs because they do not fit into their existing business model, but SMBs can be well served by competitive providers dedicated to this market and its unique needs.
Also, as the economy recovers, it will recover for SMBs first - they will be the engine of future growth. These are the companies who best adapt and find new opportunity after a downturn. This is where we can expect to see both new companies and the early new growth.
B2B Social Media Benefits Are Maximized With A Clear Strategy
October 17, 2009
Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter and all the other forums for social media are all the buzz. And rightfully so - it is changing peoples' communications habits. There are now ongoing conversations taking place on-line about every topic, and as a marketer you want to be included in the conversation. Social media is a great opportunity to communicate with your constituencies and prospects and stay fresh, relevant and top of mind. Better yet, you can become the topic of conversation.
For B2B marketers, the challenge of being the topic of conversation is a bit greater. You want to be the topic of conversation in places where buyers go to look to make decisions about products like yours. Like other elements of the marketing mix, it is critical to view social media as part of an overall communications plan directed by a marketing strategy. But, as is too often the case - organizations move right to tactics that are implemented without a strategy or cohesive plan. Social Media is no different than other elements of your communications plan. "We need to get on LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter" is not a plan.
As with the entire marketing mix, it starts with your target customers. How are they making their decisions, what information do they need, who influences them? You want them to have all the information they need at the time they are looking to make a decision. The ability to do this will be based on your ability to be viewed as a reliable authority. Being knowledgeable and acknowledged as such by the relevant community provides that credibility. This requires not just providing valuable relevant content, but being active in the conversation.
Delivering a consistent message in the right places, at the right times, with valuable content and active participation will all add up to success. This requires having a supporting theme and a coordinated approach in all communications including: the company website, e-mail, blogs and social media, in such a way that they work together, complement each other and support one another.
