Macon Raine, Inc.

Differentiating Your Company’s IT Services Menu

Ben Bradley — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:10:34 +0000

NOTE: Robert Hamilton and I collaborated on this article. It seems every week we talk to just another IT services shop trying to kick-start their marketing and sales process. We sit down with the founder and ask the same question: “so how are you different from all the other firms out there?” When we ask that question, [...]

Upcoming Events

Phillip Macon — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:21:05 +0000

The next Silicon Prairie Social is here – are you ready? Join us for a drink on September 24 from 6 to 9PM at Arrowhead in Wheaton. Ben Bradley will be speaking to the Midwest Entrepreneur’s Forum on September 14 from 6 to 8PM. The topic is Using Trust to Bridge the Sales and Marketing Gap. Please join us [...]

Does social media generate leads?

Ben Bradley — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:56:42 +0000

These are my experiences. The answer to the headline question is “yes and no.” Let me explain by talking about a few different ways we’ve converted social media activity in new business. Later, when I have more time, I’ll talk briefly about a few things that didn’t work. TWITTER FOR LEADS? Personally, no. We have seen [...]

What do you do when you lose a client?

Ben Bradley — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:36:16 +0000

Ouch. It hurts. Now what? 1) Ask why? What didn’t we do? It is important to ask the client for candid feedback. The candid feedback is an important opportunity to improve things going forward. 2) Ask “how were we being measured?” Did we both understand the measurement criteria? Was it the right measurement criteria? Where did we overpromise [...]

Karma rocks

Ben Bradley — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:26:51 +0000

You reap what you sow. We just signed a new statement of work with a client (now in a new job) that we once fired. She appreciated the fact that we stuck to our guns. Doing a bad deal with a customer is not worth it. Doing the right thing sometimes hurts. No sales person wants to say [...]

When higher education and economics collide

Ben Bradley — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:58:50 +0000

by Robert van der Hooning and Ben Bradley NOTE: Robert is a friend of mine who used to teach at Northwestern, University of Chicago and University of Illinois. He’s a former high-tech CEO and President of the International Bankers School in Zurich, NYC and Chicago. This article is the result of an ongoing discussion about the [...]

Weigh the total cost of lead generation into P4P deals

Ben Bradley — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:58:40 +0000

In my 20 year career, I’ve used nearly every form of B2B lead generation available. To properly evaluate the performance of your marketing campaigns, it is important to know your real cost of a lead. Forrester Research recently revealed that about 50% of b-to-b marketers don’t use e-mail metrics to measure their campaign results(1). Do you know [...]

Sick of splogs copying your content?

Ben Bradley — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:05:28 +0000

http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2009/05/10/i-am-sick-of-splogs-copying-our-content/ This is a good article from Mark Ghosh about splogs and Content Theft. What Mark doesn’t talk about is the impact of plagiarism on corporate blog content. How is this content being policed and protected? Do sploggers deface the brand? How can corporations curb content theft? One of my clients, BrandProtect, is sponsoring a “Trademark Dangers [...]

Making your marketing tick

Pam Taylor — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:23:08 +0000

The pressure is on. How do you optimize your minimized dollars, eliminate stale marketing efforts, and expand your outreach to prospects? Focusing on what can be achieved quickly and by leveraging your existing marketing assets. You might be surprised at the results if you focus your efforts on just a few key components. Refine your messaging Messaging is key [...]

What do you value? Pay for Performance Marketing: Good or Bad?

Ben Bradley — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:59:49 +0000

As mentioned in our April newsletter, one of our clients recently asked us for a proposal for an email newsletter program. Instead of paying an hourly fee for our effort, the client wants to pay us for the for the “performance” of the newsletter. That means, they wan to pay for clicks, inquiries, leads. Compensation for [...]