Branding ... It's Not Rocket Science.

... And Rocket Science isn't branding - it's two totally different industries!


But seriously, whether you're branding a retail bank, commercial bank, credit union or coffee shop, the basics remain the same.


Strategy
In its simplest form, brand strategy comes down to one simple recipe:

• One part: know thy self
• One part: know thy competition
• One part: know thy audience
• Shake well and pour over differentiation

If you follow this blog, you've probably read one of our branding blogs. If not, here are some good ones:
     What if?...
     Brand YOU Day.
     Marketing & Branding
     Branding...It's Not What You Say, But What You Do.
     Is It Time To Relook At Your Brand?


Communicate
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"  As a true marketer, I say...who cares?!?!  No one heard it!


Any change in brand requires a focus on awareness.  Your key target audience(s) should have better top-of-mind awareness of your institution AND understanding of your brand message. This requires pre and post brand research.


Your creative doesn't necessarily need to win awards, but should be focused:

• On the right audience
• On your key point of differentiation
• Benefits, Benefits, Benefits

Employee Engagement
Advertising and logos are great, but your brand lives and breaths with the experience.  And the experience resides in your staff.

• Every employee MUST understand the brand
• They must understand how the brand is designed to make the customer feel
• They must know their role in the brand and what is expected of them
• They must be provided tools and training to make brand delivery second nature
• Experience must be measured, monitored and tweaked for improvement
• Consistency, Consistency, Consistency

See, branding is really not all that hard!

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

Learn more here.

Chat with me LIVE!

Or contact me directly (click here).

Five Ways to Improve Your Marketing in 2012

Bloggers love lists, and we're told that blog posts with titles like, "Five Secrets to. . ." or "Four Sure-Fire Tactics for. . ." are appealing to readers. Bloggers who write about business also seem to share another characteristic. About now, many feel compelled to make predictions about the new year. When you combine these inclinations, the results are lots of blog posts with titles like, "Six Game-Changing Marketing Trends for 2012,"

I'll leave the prognostications to others, but I will offer a list. I have five recommendations for improving your marketing efforts in 2012.

Before you do anything else, develop a marketing strategy.
You've heard this one before, so I won't repeat all of the reasons that strategy is necessary for success. At its most basic level, marketing strategy is a simple thing for most B2B companies. First, you need to identify all of the significant ways that your product or service can create value for customers and identify the kinds of companies that can obtain the greatest value by purchasing and using your product or service. Second, you need to determine the best ways for communicating your value propositions to potential buyers. This step includes the selection of marketing tactics and channels and the creation of marketing messages. Companies tend to spend most of their time and attention on step two, but step one is even more important. I discussed the "value identification" aspect of marketing strategy in an earlier post titled How to Make Difficult Marketing Questions Easier to Answer.

Shift primary responsibility for lead generation from sales to marketing.
I've explained my rationale for this recommendation in two earlier posts - Stop Depending on Your Salespeople to Generate Leads and Why Marketing Should Take the Lead in Lead Generation. I don't contend that traditional sales prospecting doesn't work at all or that you should completely abandon it. I do contend that traditional sales prospecting is an inefficient use of resources and that you should strive to become less dependent on it.

Increase the number of leads acquired via inbound marketing.
There is little doubt that inbound marketing has become the tactic of choice for lead acquisition. Buyers now control the buying process, and they are performing research and gathering information about products and services on their own, usually via the Web. Therefore, traditional outbound lead acquisition techniques such as direct mail and e-mail don't work as well as they once did. It's just good sense to make yourself easy to find when a prospect begins looking for the kind of solution you provide. Research firm SiriusDecisions says that 80% of new sales leads will come from inbound marketing by 2015. Your objective for 2012 should be to substantially increase the number of leads and the percentage of total leads acquired via inbound marketing.

Develop and implement a sound lead management process.
Consider these facts:  (1) Acquiring new leads is becoming increasingly difficult. (2) 50%-75% of new leads are qualified but not ready to buy. (3) Up to 70% of these lukewarm leads will eventually buy from someone. Put these facts together and one thing is clear - leads are valuable and must be managed with care. An effective lead management process will address several key issues, including lead nurturing, lead scoring, and marketing and sales alignment. A well-designed lead management process will enable you to maximize the sales you obtain from your pool of leads.

Implement a content marketing program.
Having and using the right kind of content is now essential for B2B marketing success. By "the right kind of content," I mean marketing content that is:

• Primarily educational and non-promotional
• Customized for the types of buyers you sell to
• Customized for where the potential buyer is in his or her buying process

I've discussed these requirements in a white paper titled, Two Powerful Ways to Make Your Marketing More Relevant. If you haven't already seen this paper and would like to get a copy, just send an e-mail to ddodd(at)pointbalance(dot)com.

That's my list. Do you have other plans to improve your marketing in 2012?

Top 10 2011

A big Thank You to Just Marketing readers. The blog was launched in late March 2011 with the hope of addressing "why we do what we do" in a crowded blogosphere of marketing blogs that mostly tell us "how to do what we want to do." 







The blog has had
a great first year. We’ve had distinguished guest posts by Dan Ariely, Mark
Binns, John Bradley, Mike Dover, Jay Lebo, Martin Roll, Jeff

What?? It's 3:00 am!

What?  It's 3:00 am... do you know where your prospects are?

Yes, its 3:00 am, but an interested marketer that cannot sleep is searching our site and sees things they like.  The key is engaging him/her NOW...when their interest is piqued!

At MarketMatch, we are always looking for ways to engage clients, intrigue prospects and demonstrate our leading edge capabilities and insights...

Our newest addition?  Workface

It is a new software that allows adding an engaging button on your website, email, blog, etc. to start instant interaction. In the words of Workface themselves, "Workface empowers your sales force to dramatically increase their visibility and engagement potential with clients and prospects. It's our unique way of making Internet commerce a lot more human."

• Our take....really cool (and cheap) way to initiate interaction and engage an
  interested party WHEN they have the interest!

If you are online, it establishes an online chat connection instantly...if you are away, it allows your profile and message to be displayed to the prospect and a message of interest for you to respond.  The best part...all this is done FOR YOU without effort or monitoring your website 24x7x365.  

Don't let people slip away when they are interested in learning more about you...and what better way than to be able to share one-on-one and in a live conversation!

Check it out on our blog, email tags and website (Team Member contact)...

Test drive the interface...  Chat with me LIVE!

Cheers!

Bruce

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

Learn more here.

Contact me directly.

PS: Happy Holidays...Hard to believe its almost time for the Holidays to kick in with a furry and the new year is right around the corner!

Christmas cards that "stand out"

With Christmas only a couple of days away, I thought it was fitting to display some awesome and unique holiday card designs to get you in the creative Christmas spirit.


Very simple clean design. The Volkswagen logo converts into snowflakes when the card is opened...very cool!























With this design it mails flat in a regular envelope to save on cost. By cutting it out and sliding the 2 flat pieces together it becomes a dimensional piece.






















This example shows a multipurpose piece. It mails flat - as a decorative ornament (that can actually be used). It then opens up to the message inside. Clever!






















This one is another multipurpose piece. It mails flat in an envelope - as an elegant card. It then opens up to the gift teabags inside.



















Hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Until next time,
Jeremy

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community. We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

Learn more here.

Santa Claus, The Real Thing?

Spoiler Alert: don't read if you believe in Santa Claus.





In the 1920s, The Coca-Cola Company was looking to nudge consumers into drinking more of its eponymous drink during the winter months, when sales traditionally slumped. In 1922 the company launched the “Thirst Knows No Season” slogan. 

Then someone hit upon the idea of associating the brand with that icon of winter, St. Nick (

Who are your best customers (and why many don't know)?

Some time ago, I was at the box office when a major donor who lives out of town came up to the window. I instantly recognized her even though she hadn't visited us in quite some time. After warmly welcoming her back, I stepped away briefly to attend to another matter, and when I returned to continue our conversation, I was startled to see that she was being charged an exchange fee to transfer into another performance. When I inquired, the box office associate rightly told me that she wasn't a subscriber, and that waiving exchange fees was a subscriber benefit. In this case, the patron wasn't a subscriber because she lived thousands of miles away, however she was an incredibly generous donor, giving both to our annual fund and our campaign. Her giving over the years easily made her one of our most valuable customers, but because she wasn't a subscriber, the box office didn't grant her one of our entry level benefits.

This wasn't a human error, but a systemic one. At the time, we were operating a ticketing software that didn't reflect giving history, so there was no way the box office associate could have known the patron's lifetime value. And even if the ticketing system notified the box office associate of the patron's giving history, the associate would have had to override the benefits structure we had in place as complimentary ticket exchanges were a subscriber benefit, not a donor benefit.

We had a problem. Fundamentally, how we defined our best customers changed depending upon which department was asked, and the company as a whole had yet to identify our best customers in a holistic manner.

Two years ago, we took the first steps to address this issue. First, we replaced our antiquated ticketing software with an integrated database that housed all transactional data across our various departments allowing users to see an overall picture of each patron. Once in place, we had to develop a system for defining our best customers from the perspective of the entire company. We hired Target Resource Group to develop an algorithm that incorporated all transactional possibilities with our company, and then apply that algorithm to our database to develop a Patron Loyalty Index score for patrons in our system based upon transactions over the previous five fiscal years. The index scores allowed us to separate our database into four major categories, and today, certain overriding benefits are assigned to the higher level categories.

If the aforementioned major donor were to come to our box office today and request an exchange for a single ticket purchase, an associate would enter her information into our database, and the database screen would immediately turn red--our signal that we are interacting with someone with a very high Patron Loyalty Index rating. The associate would then know that an exception to the exchange rule would be in order as a result of the major donor's lifetime value to the organization.

The way the communications and development departments do business at Arena Stage has fundamentally changed over the course of the past two years. We view ourselves as full partners in building patron lifetime value. We work together to increase loyalty, reduce attrition and grow revenue. Subscriber renewal rates are at an all-time high, patron churn has decreased by 7%, the number of full season subscribers has increased 18%, and our membership program is pacing well ahead of last year.

Knowing who our best customers are has made all the difference.

Know the Lingo

You're chatting with your printer, designer or creative department about a current job or project... all is going well in the conversation until they start spatting out words like raster, kerning, cloning, hexadecimal. While you think to yourself what is a "hexawhodidhuh", here are a few resources to help with these terms.

• Graphic Design Dictionary
• Print Industry Glossary
• Proof Reading Marks
• News Print Terms
  

As always, if you need help making sense of a "hexawhodidhuh" we are always available to guide you through whatever challenges you might encounter.

Until next time,
Jeremy

Managing To The Customer's 1%

Lets face it.  Regardless of your great checking product or competitive rates or fancy branches, when it comes down to it, customers really want convenience and assurance.

 

The convenience is the acquisition phase. In most cases, the FI with the most branches wins market share.  But we can get into the discussion of covering the footprint vs brand awareness and differentiation in a different blog.

Today, I want to discuss retention and relationship depth … the assurance phase.

When it comes to existing customers, here’s the REAL secret …

99% of the time, your customers just want you to do your job!  Don’t screw up!

It’s what happens in the other 1% of the time that really helps you to stand out. That other 1% -- when they’ve mismanaged their budget, want to make a major purchase, are experiencing a significant life change, need guidance.

Our rally cry as bankers should be to shine during the customer’s 1%.

• Train to spot the 1%: Your staff should understand this 1% rule and know the difference between a need to simply do their jobs and a need that will change a customer’s life.
• Life Stage: To help identify many of your 1% situations, understand the events in a typical life cycle that impact someone’s finances.  Define the events, understand the customer needs, present solutions, provide front-line tools and train, train, train.
• Tell your story: Your staff impact customer’s lives every day.  Your bank or credit union has helped many customers tell their life stories.  You’ve helped them buy their first home, manage their budget so they can keep their home in times of trouble, you’ve helped to retire early or restructure finances when priorities change with the birth of a child.  You should share these stories inside and outside of your branches.

Being prepared for the customer’s 1% will help to create more loyal customers, will increase referrals, and will help deepen relationships.  Keeping their accounts accurate and not charging ridiculous fees is expected – for the day-to-day stuff, people only notice when you drop the ball.  But, being there for customers when they REALLY need you is what gets them talking and keeps them with you.

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

Learn more here.

Chat with me LIVE!

Contact me directly.

Four Tips for More Effective Business Blogging in 2012

With the end of 2011 less than three weeks away, most of you are probably well into planning your marketing programs for 2012. If you don't already have a blog, you should plan to begin one next year. If you already have a blog but you haven't been posting to it frequently, you should make that a priority in 2012.

As I wrote in an earlier post, a blog can be a highly effective marketing channel. It provides a great way to introduce prospects to your company and your content, and it can improve your organic search results. To maximize the benefits of your blog, you must post new content regularly and frequently. Therefore, publishing an effective blog requires a commitment of time and attention.

The suggestions I'm including in this post are the result of first-hand experience. I launched this blog in early 2010. For the first three months or so, I added new content frequently, but then I ran out of steam. By mid-August, I had stopped posting entirely. After a hiatus of about nine months, I "relaunched" the blog in May of this year. This time, I had a better plan, and the plan has worked well.

There are several keys to successful blogging, but these four are among the most important.

Create a schedule and stick to it. Writing a blog post is a task that's easy to put off. So, to be successful, create an "editorial calendar" for your blog that contains specific publication dates. Just saying "twice a month" isn't specific enough. Posting regularly is almost as important as posting frequently. So, start with a schedule that you feel comfortable with (as long as you are posting at least twice per month). You can increase the frequency as you get accustomed to writing posts.

Create and maintain a "reserve" of completed posts. Before launching your blog, write enough posts to fill your schedule for at least two months. This will give you some breathing room before you need to create additional posts. In addition, you should always maintain a "reserve account" that contains one or two months of completed posts. If you run into a "dry spell," this reserve will give you some time to work through it.

Always be looking for topics. One of the biggest challenges for any blogger is identifying enough topics to write about. This can be particularly intimidating when you're just getting started. I don't have a silver bullet for this challenge, but I can offer a few suggestions:

• Tap internal resources - Get all of the people in your company involved in suggesting topics.
• Use your experience and read - The inspiration for my posts comes from two primary sources - my work with clients and what I read. If you're involved in a major project for a client, use that experience to create one or more posts. It's also important to read other blogs in your field regularly. On several occasions, I've been inspired to write a post by one sentence I've read in another blog.
• Write down your ideas - Whenever you think of a topic for a post, take a moment to write a couple of sentences that capture the essence of your idea. Don't be judgmental, just get the idea down on paper. Some of these ideas won't work out, but some will.

Promote your blog. To attract readers to your blog, you'll want to use two basic strategies. First, you'll want to configure your blog so that readers can subscribe via both RSS and e-mail. You'll also want to configure your blog so that "social sharing" buttons are included in every post. Second, every time you publish a post, be sure to announce the new post in appropriate social media venues. Since I have relaunched this blog, I have followed this practice religiously. Every time I publish a post (including this one), I announce it in appropriate discussion groups at LinkedIn, and I tweet about it 4-6 times. Since following this process, the readership of this blog has increased by 400%-500%.

Effective blogging requires work, but the more organized you are, the easier the work becomes.

Lousy choices

In a free market, the choices consumers make guide the
allocation of the economy’s resources. But what happens if consumers make lousy
choices?




The consumer is king. We’ve all heard that. To some, it may mean that
front-line salespeople should treat consumers well - that the consumer is always right. But it has a larger meaning too:
the consumer’s choices backed by dollars guide producers

Lessons From The Cheshire Cat

“One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. 
‘Which road do I take?’ she asked. ‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response.
 ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.’”

~Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

By now, you no doubt have your 2012 plan complete.  And that plan, no doubt contains annual objectives with month-by-month plans on how to achieve them.

Like Alice, you will encounter forks in the road on your way to December 31, 2012.  Setting smaller, periodic goals will help you to know where you want to go at each fork.

“The uninformed must improve their deficit, or die.”

~ Cheshire cat

You don’t need to drown in information, but each month and each quarter, what is the data that will help you best track your progress towards your annual institution goals?  The answers are as varied as the goals themselves and the means to access data.

Are you looking to drive awareness?  Quarterly, conduct a quick 100 blind phone survey exercise asking responders to name the first 3 financial institutions that come to mind.  Is your institution coming up more each quarter?  Is it showing up as number 1 more often?

Product and balance growth are as easy as a core report, but were is the balance growth coming from?  If it’s loans, are they favorable, or at least variable, rates?  If it’s deposits, are the core deposits?  How much are you paying for them?

Customer/Member growth is also as easy as a core report, but what is your product penetration with new customers?  What products are bringing them in?  Are you getting them into checking and at least 2 access products?

By collecting and regularly analyzing the right data, you will know which road to take when you reach the fork.  Then you can ignore the Cheshire cat and his mischievous grin.

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

Learn more here.


Chat with me LIVE!

Or contact me directly (click here).

Want To See What's Inside Bestseller, Content Is Cash?

If you haven't had a chance to read the Internet marketing bestseller, Content is Cash: Leveraging Great Content and the Web for Increased Traffic, Sales, Leads and Buzz [Que Publishing], then check out the full Table of Contents.

Then you can decide if there's information in the book that appeals to you.

Take a sneak peek here: http://books.google.com/books?id=ANR1dLr3aeAC&pg=PR10&lpg=PR10&dq=content+is+cash+table+of+contents&source=bl&ots=g6ZtFcGen8&sig=g_MXb-cgMhXKAMymRqNUFgbLi1g&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

Internet Marketing Bestseller, Content Is Cash, By Wendy Montes de Oca, On Amazon Top 100 List For Ten Weeks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Precision Marketing and Media

media@precisionmarketingmedia.com

http://www.precisionmarketingmedia.com/

Internet Marketing Bestseller, Content Is Cash, By Wendy Montes de Oca, On Amazon Top 100 List For Ten Weeks And Focuses On Leveraging Great Content And the Web

December, 6, 2011 Palm Beach Gardens, FL Looking for proven, powerful and cost-effective ideas to get the most out of great content? ‘Content Is Cash: Leveraging Great Content and the Web for Increased Traffic, Sales, Leads and Buzz’ [Que Publishing, Paperback, ISBN# 0789741083 http://www.quepublishing.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0789741083], by Fortune 500 and top publishing marketer, Wendy Montes de Oca, MBA, contains the formula for online success for virtually any business in any niche.

Content Is Cash has been on the Amazon ‘top 100’ best seller list for more than 10 weeks since it’s August publication date. The book hit #1 and #5 simultaneously in Internet Marketing (Kindle and paperback, respectively), #13 in Business and Culture, and #1,806 in Amazon’s entire universe of over 8,000,000 books on September 26, 2011. Content Is Cash was featured by Newsmax.com and Target Marketing Magazine as well as being on Website Magazine’s ‘Hot Reads for Web Marketer’s’ list and PracticalEcommerce.com’s ‘25 Top-Selling eCommerce Books in August 2011’.

Content Is Cash describes several high-performing, organic (free) strategies which are part of a comprehensive, systematic method known as the SONAR Content Distribution Model, to help increase website traffic, visibility, and more. SONAR marketing is similar to article (content) marketing, but more comprehensive and has an extended reach.

According to Montes de Oca, “The book centers around a synchronized strategy of using great, original content that is ‘UVA’ (useful, valuable, and actionable) which business owners and publishers have already created, then repurposing and distributing it to targeted, relevant locations on the Web, based on target audience and business objectives”.

She continues, “SONAR represents five organic online channels: S (Syndicate partners, content syndication networks, and user generate content sites), O (Online press releases), N (Network [social] communities, social bookmarking sites), A (Article directories) and R (Relevant posts to blogs, forums, and message boards).”

Content Is Cash has received praise from some of the most respected marketers, publishers, and entrepreneurs in the industry including Michael Masterson, Bob Bly, Martin Weiss, Ph.D., Marc Charles, MaryEllen Tribby, Brian Edmondson, Conrad Hall, Dr. Jonny Bowden, and more.

Says Montes de Oca, “The book has been embraced by consumers and colleagues alike. I think what resonates with people is this powerful, yet easy-to-implement strategy which leverages great content for virtually no cost. And in the current economic environment, business owners are looking for free and creative ways to create visibility and website traffic for their business.”

She concludes, “It really is all about the power of great content and that content is king.
Creating solid, original content will first and foremost provide valued information to its readers and encourage bonding; but it can also help the publisher (business owner) with increased website exposure and visits. That increased traffic can then be harnessed for online product sales, advertising sales, and more.”

Content Is Cash is available at Amazon.com, QuePublishing.com, BarnesandNoble.com other book retailers and e-tailers world-wide.

For more information visit http://precisionmarketingmedia.com/book/wendy-book.html.

About Wendy Montes de Oca, MBA
Ms. Montes de Oca’s diversified background includes nearly 20 years of experience in direct response and online marketing, media, publishing, financial services and law. She’s worked for renowned publishers and Fortune 500 companies. Ms. Montes de Oca is an Internet marketing expert with a proven track record for both acquisition and retention efforts. During her career, she has generated over $150 million in total revenues for various corporations, consulting clients, and her own consulting firm, Precision Marketing and Media, LLC.

###

It's Time to Fix the Marketing Supply Chain

Improving the productivity of the marketing supply chain probably won't be near the top of most marketers' list of new year's resolutions for 2012. Marketers are facing extraordinary pressures to drive increased revenues and maximize the return produced by every dollar invested in marketing. So, it's understandable that they focus most of their attention on developing more effective marketing campaigns, creating more compelling content, and generating more qualified sales leads, rather than on "mundane" issues like the production and distribution of marketing consumables.

In reality, however, the marketing materials supply chain represents a large, and largely untapped, source of both cost savings and revenue-enhancing improvements. The marketing supply chain in most companies is highly fragmented and filled with manual, inefficient processes that result in excessive costs and a lack of both responsiveness and reliability. If not completely broken, the average marketing supply chain is dysfunctional and in serious need of repair.

Research by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and Forrester Consulting (part of Forrester Research) shows both the economic significance of the marketing materials supply chain and the opportunities for improvement.

• A majority of companies spend at least 20% of their marketing budget on marketing consumables, and almost a third of companies devote at least 30% of their marketing budget to such materials. (CMO Council)
• Four out of five companies distribute marketing collateral documents and similar materials to salespeople and other sales channel participants, and a majority of companies distribute such materials on at least a weekly basis. (22% distribute on at least a daily basis) (Forrester Research)
• Just 25% of marketers have performed a comprehensive analysis of the costs and process efficiencies in their marketing materials supply chain, and only 11% have implemented new workflow systems to reduce costs and inefficiencies. (CMO Council)
• Fifty-nine percent of salespeople and other sales channel participants still rely on e-mail to request marketing materials, and nearly half (47%) still rely on telephone requests. (CMO Council)
• Sixty-five percent of salespeople say they over-order and stockpile marketing materials because it takes too long to receive ordered materials. (CMO Council)
• Only 17% of companies are using eStores or sales portals to support their marketing fulfillment process. (Forrester Consulting)

The good news is that companies no longer need to tolerate an ineffective and inefficient marketing supply chain. Marketing asset management technologies, combined with on-demand manufacturing capabilities and state-of-the-art warehousing, inventory management, and fulfillment services, can eliminate waste from the marketing supply chain, while simultaneously improving responsiveness and reliability.

To determine how much your company would benefit from an improved marketing supply chain, you need to perform a comprehensive audit that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of your current supply chain. Such an analysis will also enable you to quantify the cost savings and other benefits that an optimized supply chain would provide. You'll probably be surprised by the results. Even in relatively small companies, we've seen benefit values that reach well into six figures.

We've developed a process for quantifying the major cost savings that a "marketing asset management solution" will produce. This doesn't take the place of a comprehensive supply chain audit, but it is a good way to begin your evaluation. If you'd like to see a sample version of our cost savings calculator, send an e-mail to ddodd(at)pointbalance(dot)com.

Where do you find your most useful ideas?

Where do you get your best ideas? Are they all from within your industry? 

Many of the managers I know and speak with are constantly curious -- they seek out ideas, incessantly ask questions, read the business press, attend conferences, network, seek out consultants, or even sign up for
training and management development courses. Their goal is to find new ideas, the best ideas, and take them