Business Growth Strategies For CEOs: Top CMOs On Marketing Strategy Implementations

Ed Valdez

Ed is a metric-driven CMO who enables growth that is powered by data (Voice of Customer-focused), scaled by automation and optimized with analytics. By adapting a blend of Fortune 500 and lean startup processes, Ed uses field-proven strategies to accelerate growth, foster collaboration, spark innovation, enhance customer experience and create a sustainable competitive advantage.

The Hidden Costs of Overwhelmed Sales Teams

Fri, Feb 7, 2025 | Posted by Howard Doherty

An alarming insight from Gartner: Overwhelmed sellers are 45% less likely to hit their quota. The culprit? Too many required skills and tech tools meant to "help."

Overwhelming sales teams with non-sales tasks and excessive technology can significantly impact performance and profitability. Salespeople burdened with administrative duties and complex tools have less time for core selling activities, leading to decreased sales performance and lower conversion rates.

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A CEO’s Guide to Growth | Part 2

Tue, Apr 11, 2023 — Part 2: The Go-to-Market Pyramid – Five Steps for Scaling to Success Navigating the complex terrain of modern business can be a difficult path, with roadblocks, detours, and uncharted territory, but with the right guidance, you can reach your destination. As a CEO, you’ve been given an incomplete map for this journey, but often have been told that you have until yesterday (as if you were a time traveler) to reach the destination. It’s little wonder that CEOs like yourself struggle to find a path toward growth.

A CEO’s Guide to Growth | Part 1

Wed, Mar 22, 2023 — Part 1: Introducing the GROW Blueprint In less than 30 years, the lifespan of an S&P 500 company declined from an average of ~ 32 years in 1996 to a projected 19 years in 2023. By 2030, experts predict companies will last a mere 17 years. The trends will be no different for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Infographic: 5 Social Media Insights from My Viral LinkedIn Post with Over 120,000 Views

Tue, Jan 29, 2019 — How to Create Engaging Content and Gain More Followers When Visual Capitalist republished an updated visual of Jeff Bezos’ Empire on January 11th, I posted the following on LinkedIn: The Jeff Bezos Empire in One Giant Chart (Infographic). Within 2 days, the traffic went viral- achieving over 120,000 views in less than a week. Typically, a viral LinkedIn topic is one that exceeds 100,000 views beyond the normal life cycle of a post (2 days). Viral video content has a much higher bar for the number of views in a 3- to 7-day period. As a reference point, most of my LinkedIn posts get a few hundred views and a handful of likes or comments. For a summary of the 5 social media tips, see Infographic at the end of this article.

How Does Your Brand Positioning Measure Up?

Tue, Jan 15, 2019 — 3 Sales Lessons from Harry Winston vs. Tiffany, Tesla vs. Mercedes Benz The latest issue of Harvard Business Review (Jan.-Feb. 2019) included one of the best Brand Identity methodologies published in the last few years: What Does Your Corporate Brand Stand For? The authors, Stephen Geyser (Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School) and Mats Urde (Associate Professor at the Lund University School of Economics and Management) contend that developing and enhancing your corporate brand takes a concerted and lengthy effort between the executives and team leaders throughout your company. It is a far more extensive process if your team has international locations. Yet they share a systematic 9-box matrix exercise that your teams can use to examine your core brand identity along four paths: Strategy (Mission & Vision and Position) Communications (Personality and Expression) Competition (Value Propositions and Core Competencies) and Interaction (Relationships and Culture).

5 Ways Customer Experience can Influence Sales Growth [Infographic]

Fri, Feb 23, 2018 — According to Accenture, the business costs of poor customer experiences can be as much as $1.6 Trillion from U.S. consumers who switch their service to a different brand or service provider. However, CEOs and companies who demonstrate a continuous pursuit of excellence in customer experience reap not only long-term customer loyalty, but also positively impact revenue growth. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, enjoys sharing the story in his bestselling book [Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose] about a client of his who wanted pizza late at night even though hotel room service was closed. Hsieh challenged his client to call Zappos customer service for his order even though it’s a fashion retailer – and, thanks to his customer service staff, pizza was delivered at 2AM.

Growth Insights for CEOs