THE ONE THING ALL MARKETERS MUST MEASURE IN 2023
Key Point: Much of the marketing process is aimed at one thing: Getting more leads. There’s just one hitch in that statement, though. It leaves out the word “qualified.” Savvy salespeople would rather have a handful of qualified leads than a bucketful of names and numbers.
This LinkedIn article by Jodi Cerretani of RollWorks suggests marketers separate leads into three piles:
- Leads to leave behind
- 2023 must-have leads
- Deanonymized hot contacts
Cerretani then provides four steps toward lead optimization — beginning with “Establish a unified GTM team.” According to Adobe, the GTM (Go-to-market) concept fine-tunes marketing team alignment to render leads 67 percent more likely to close.
Do you know of any businesses that could use more and better leads?
AVOID THESE 8 MISTAKES LEADERS MAKE ON LINKEDIN EVERY DAY
Key Point: It’s no secret that LinkedIn is a powerful social platform for personal branding and business development. It’s also no secret that many LinkedIn users aren’t getting nearly enough leverage from their presence there.
From the first mistake (using third-person language in your profile) to the eighth mistake (failing to be transparent) this article provides a helpful checklist for grading your own LinkedIn presence. With 900 million worldwide members, LinkedIn is a fertile mining ground for savvy marketers.
HOW MACY’S IS RETHINKING ITS LABOR FORCE
Key Point: News of another retail chain struggling to survive is much too common. Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Bath and Body Works, JCPenney, and Nordstrom are just a few examples of brands that have felt the heat intensely.
Macy’s hasn’t been exempt from the pressure, but the company is taking a novel approach. The company “has changed how it thinks about developing its labor force.“ Rather than view all employees the same, management “now focuses on two tracks: customer-facing front-of-house roles and its backroom operational side of the workforce.”
You’ll find some gems in this article from a talk given by Marc Mastronardi, the company’s chief stores officer. Here’s one of them: “We’ve actually changed a lot of hands-on training and changed the training from being a point in time to being all the time.”
Will Macy’s succeed where others have failed? Time will tell, but there’s one thing for sure: Macy’s won’t go down without a fight.
HOW AI WILL ADVANCE THIS YEAR
Key Point: Where is AI (artificial intelligence) headed? Pretty well everyone at your school or office has an opinion — but Senthil Kumar, CTO and head of AI at Slate Technologies, may have a better seat on the AI bus than most of us.
Kumar says we can expect three near-term AI developments:
- Generative AI
- Adaptive intelligence
- Cognitive computing/NLP
If you’re like many other marketers and aren’t really sure what those terms signify, here’s your chance to get an insider’s update on artificial intelligence. Not only will you be better able to understand how AI applies to your own work, but you’ll know more about AI than pretty well anyone else in the conversation. There is power in education. Never stop learning.
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