Customer Reviews

eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike many of the "new marketing paradigm" books, Albee doesn't repeat the viewpoint of "be everywhere, all the time blogging, twittering, [insert latest social media craze here]." Instead, she advocates a more thoughtful approach to content marketing, one that is better suited to the deliberate and complex marketing activity of large B2B companies.

The planning guidelines are very helpful for making manageable a large corporate content effort and measuring the impact of your new marketing efforts. If you want to give your executives a book to help them understand why you are taking your marketing activities in new directions, this is the one.

The book also presents many guidelines for copywriters on new marketing styles, storytelling techniques, and understanding reader's needs for and perceptions of content.

The book has one significant shortcoming, which caused me to rate it as 4-star instead of 5-star: The book presents only a few real-world examples. More examples would help to validate the author's points and add interest to what is sometimes a dry writing style.

Overall, this is a book that you'll want to give a thorough read, mark-up, share with your team, and reference again.

At last, a thoughtful effective marketing book written on how to accelerate sales! I have waited so many years for a book such as this. ( Recently I was getting resigned to having to write it myself!) I am adding this book to the must read list for sales people new and old. She thinks, talks and writes about things from the buyers perspective. I took forever to read this book, each section was chock full of terrific content and strategies causing me to take copious notes. It just makes so much sense to what we see every day in our practise. So it you take this book , with Jill Konrath's new one and Sharon Drew Morgen's work you will have the trifecta of today's real world sales approaches. Albee also references Brian Carroll's grat work on lead generation. Albee's blogs and sites (more than one) are highly referenced in marketing today. Anyone who has to sell products and services today must buy this book.

The book is very useful with a lot of good examples of hints. It explains what is important, what you need to consider when using eMarketing when selling products or services that are new or complicated. I found the ideas on how to establish a position in the market by making the company a source of knowledge in the specific topic quite important, as it prevents the company in ending up in a fierce competition, by being just like all the others. A must ready for anyone involved or who likes to stay informed on this important topic.

Ardath has managed to take a very challenging subject and distill the information down to understandable and useable strategies and tactics for the reader. This book is extremely well writen. While it is not a casual read, there are several examples of companies with real world challenges that use the methods in the book to dominate their industry. This is not not a book I would recommend to someone just getting started with web based marketing initiatives but for those who are ready to roll up their sleeves and commit to this strategy this book is the bible of e-marketing for B to B companies. I'm in the middle of my second read and pulling out additional nuggets. I'd love to see this book offered via Audible for those of us that live their lives looking through a windshield.

I teach sales training and I think Ardath does an excellent job showing not just Marketers but also salespeople how important lead nurturing is today.

One of the big hurdles she effectively shows is just how busy executives are today that you are trying to reach. That's why really good content that is on target is so important.

I liked her book so much that it inspired me to produce a video on her Busy Buyers called "New Sales: Mission Impossible" (find it at InsightDemand dot com)

I like long airplane rides because I get to read well-written books like Ardath's new book. It is refreshing to read a book written by an author who knows how to write, organize thoughts and make it sound so compelling and contagious. In reading this book, I learned logical and sound strategies that confirm the value of smart content. I recommend this book for salespeople and marketing pros who need to understand how to position enterprise solutions in today's sales 2.0 landscape.

The line between sales and marketing is blurring.

If you're in sales - you've seen the trend move from push to pull strategies.
So even if you're in Sales - not Marketing, you can't get by without an understanding of the lead-to-sale process. Well, you can get by without it, but at your own peril.

From the first chapter of the book, I didn't want to put it down. I don't like feel-good fluff. I want well organized, original, practical, insightful information. And I got that from page 1 where Albee illustrates what's wrong with the typical approach sales people take when sending e-mails.

By writing this book, Albee has done a service for marketers and sellers everywhere. People pay good money for this kind of information - and you can get it for around $30 if you just buy her book.

I rarely learn much new from books anymore, having studied and lived B2B marketing for years. But the author, Ardath Albee, proved me wrong. i learned a LOT from e-Marketing strategies.

This book is the blueprint for a world class marketing operation today. Ardath is one of the very best in B2B marketing today. I urge everyone to buy this book and read it -- and then read it again. It's that good.

Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers

If need to learn about developing content that generates and nurtures leads. Her books is a road map on the future of demand generation and lead nurturing.
ar.
I've read lots of good marketing books, but this one is on a stage by itself. CMOs should by it for their teams. The teams should read the book once a ye

For marketing practitioners and executives who are looking to innovate their revenue engine, this is indeed a must read. Marketers serve multiple "beasts" who demand increasing quantities of quality, relevant content: lead generation programs, lead nurturing with marketing automation, and the sales organization to name a few.

The motivation is considerable. When "marketing has taken charge of propelling prospects farther through their buying process, salespeople are selling to more qualified buyers. This means shorter time to revenue and optimized results from your sales force. "

Starting with the well accepted premise that business-to-business (B2B) buyers begin their buying process online with searches for a rich array of available information, Albee lays out the business implications along with a cogent framework for content strategy and execution.

Most organizations lack a content strategy, and many lack a marketing strategy. "Event thinking" pervades our approach to marketing, lead generation, content creation and sales support. Albee makes the case for a "mind shift" required to capitalize on the potential of emarketing and marketing automation.

"It's time to shift your thinking. Think of today's marketing department as a publisher with a variety of content channels at its fingertips that can provide you with a larger communications reach than you've ever had before. Even though 80% of companies say that they "found" their vendors rather than their vendors finding them, chance are high that their initial discovery was somewhere other than your corporate Web site. "

With her guidance, readers will begin to develop not only effective strategies, but new processes and procedures to create the volume and kinds of "contagious content" buyers demand.

"The buying process for a B2B complex sale has shifted in recent years. This shift means that much of the time that was previously spent with salespeople is now spent reviewing online resources. For this reason, it's imperative to be found in the places where your prospects are looking. Now more than ever, your company must be recognized as a source of relevant knowledge that pulls prospects into the sales pipeline. Well-executed content will play a bigger role in building trusted relationships that get salespeople invited into the process more efficiently."

Content -- buyer relevant, edu-focused, convenient, compelling, story-based content -- is indeed the fuel for today's revenue engine. It is the "bait" that attracts prospective buyers to find you on the web, and to be found by you, long before they are ready to speak with your sales people.

For most organizations, "Content development is seen as an overwhelming task that takes too much time, effort and money from an already stretched-thin budget and overworked marketing staff. The reality is that a well-structured content-development plan can supercharge marketing and sales results. A well-designed, integrated content strategy will give you more content with less effort."

Albee fulfills on this promise with practical, actionable prescriptions and recommendations.