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The AI Training Economy: The Human Expertise Behind the Agent Revolution
The challenge of training AI models on human expertise is not new.What is new is that three college dropouts just built a $10 billion business by productizing that exact problem at scale.
Start Using Market Research Strategies to Drive Your Company’s Growth
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 — Market Research Strategies: Getting to Your Company to The Next Level Quite often these days, especially evident in mid-market businesses, I come across CEOs, who have been very successful at building their company’s revenues but are now are challenged with reaching the next level. Sales may have slowed down; the low hanging fruit picked; or competitors are upping their game. They may also have been successful in using their technology and expertise in one market, but totally misread another. Whatever the issues are; in order to flourish, every company should consider integrating market research strategies into their growth plan to keep a pulse on their market and its dynamics and to capitalize on market opportunities. Growing through market research strategies can include new products and services, new pricing plans, new positioning, new market segments, changes in business models, or new channels of distribution. Each of these should be evaluated, researched and integrated into your growth strategy and ultimately into your business, product development, and tactical go-to-market plans.
Great CEOs “Eat a Frog First Thing Every Day”
Wed, Aug 7, 2013 — “If you eat a frog first thing in the morning that will probably be the worst thing you do all day.” – Mark Twain. Mark Twain truly had a way with words. Most of us have read at least one of his 28 books. Much has been written about his famous “eat the frog first” quotation including articles that question whether he actually said or wrote this. Regardless of the truth, the analogy is intended to help great leaders tackle more difficult, dreaded and distasteful actions first everyday. There are some business coaches that don’t agree with doing the most unpleasant work first, but they all agree that successful business leaders are great at prioritizing their activities every day.
SEO for the CEO: What You Need to Know, How Not to Screw It Up
Sun, Jul 28, 2013 — Maybe it’s happened to you: your board looks at your budget for web marketing and asks about key performance indicators. As the CFO or CEO, you boldly look over the data from your marketing team and condense the complexity to a quick test: How are we doing on these five keywords? One of your board members measures the effectiveness by doing web searches: Are we ranked in the top 3 on Google for this one? And as the wind shifts, Marketing starts to focus on a few keywords, looking at rankings instead of results. Meanwhile, the OTHER 500 search terms that are driving traffic go under the radar, and the bounce rate (one page visits) doesn’t budge. While one search term can look like the prize because it has high volume, it doesn’t necessarily convert into new business. And more traffic doesn’t necessarily mean more sales. Top rankings don’t matter if they’re the wrong search terms.
Marketing Budget: How much should a CEO spend?
Wed, Jul 17, 2013 — How much sould a CEO spend on a marketing budget? Whether or not it is the first question asked, it is usually one of the first questions a CEO thinks about when discussing his or her marketing efforts: how much should I spend on a marketing budget? Well, the average company spent 10.4% of its revenue on marketing in 2012. And according to Gartner, that marketing budget is scheduled to go up by 6% in 2013. Now this includes salaries of the marketing people, but it doesn’t include things like software licenses or servers for the data. And this spend widely varies for the types of companies from IT at 3.5% to over 12% for media companies.
Five Marketing Lessons to Learn from Jimmy Buffett
Sun, Jul 14, 2013 — Friends asked my husband and me to join them for a Jimmy Buffett concert recently near Dallas, Texas. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that over a span of a few hours we would escape to a tropical venue where we would be entertained while learning marketing tips from a barefoot guitarist on a stage singing about margaritas, cheeseburgers and shark fins. Jimmy Buffett’s brand, inspired by his lyrics and lifestyle, has taken on a life of its own. I made it my mission to find out what Jimmy Buffett has done so right to grow a loyal fan base comprised of all sizes, shapes, ages and social economic classes. What I discovered during the course of observation and investigation, are the following five marketing tips. 1. Focus your strategy on a niche that plays to your strengths. 2. Build a brand that leaves a visual image in the mind of the customer. 3. Engage and listen to your target audience to grow loyal followers. 4. Establish partnerships that stay true to and enrich your brand. 5. Give back to the community in a way that complements your brand. Keep reading if you want to know how these tips worked for Jimmy Buffett and how they can work for you.
CMO's Guide to "Hiring" the Right CEO
Sat, Jun 29, 2013 — Today's blog is by guest blogger, Des Cahill. I recently enjoyed reading Barbara Fowler’s blog post “Hiring the Right CMO”, which outlines the things CEOs should thing about when considering the right CMO for their company. As a CMO, I thought it would be interesting to flip the perspective and outline what a CMO should look for in a CEO they might work for. Caveat - my background is primarily as a marketing executive (CMO, VP Marketing, VP Product) in Silicon Valley tech companies both large (Apple, Netscape, Autonomy) and start-ups (efax.com, Ensighten). So my views reflect primarily a Silicon Valley tech and B2B perspective. I also spent 5 years as CEO of a start-up (Habeas), so I do bring a view from both sides when considering what it takes to create a successful working relationship for a CEO and CMO.
Quid Pro Quo? Or Quid Pro NO? Discounting Can Be Dangerous!
Wed, Jun 5, 2013 — What is "Quid Pro Quo? Wikipedia defines it as an exchange of goods or services, where one transfer is contingent upon the other. Phrases with similar meaning include: "give and take", "tit for tat", and "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours." Recently, I have been involved in several discussions with CEOs on charging for their goods and services. The discussions weren’t concerning the actual price for the services, but the ultimate cost between the buyer and the seller. Let’s share some examples. (with the names changed to protect the innocent or, in some of these cases, guilty parties) The Stories One CEO—I will call him Joe—runs an executive consulting firm. He had a problem with a leak in his house. He needed immediate help and called one of his clients Sam, who is the owner of a construction company. Sam immediately sent someone out to fix the leak but didn’t send Joe a bill. When Joe asked him about it, Sam responded, “No problem. You’re a friend. Don’t worry about it.” Adele owns a restaurant in town. Bill, an influential colleague held several events there but has been ignoring the bills Adele has sent. The amounts are significant. Adele is worried about pressing Bill too hard as he could possibly react strongly and hurt her restaurant business. Bill has been referring business to her. Tim is the CEO of a local accounting firm. The firm needed a new website. He contacted Rachel who owns a website design firm, and they discussed a cost-effective approach to building the site. They decided to exchange professional services rather than money, so he is now taking care of her accounting and she is taking care of his website. Any of these sound familiar? Have you encountered any similar situations? For a another perspective on this, read this legal blog.
Bridging the Gap Between Marketing and Sales
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 — Guest blogger Carlos Nouche from Visualize. Many companies today grapple with a misalignment between marketing, sales, and the executive staff. This can cause a case of the “mis”- missteps and miscommunication, which lead to lower productivity and, ultimately, lower profits. According to a 2010 report by Aberdeen Research, companies who are “best-in-class” at aligning marketing and sales had 20% average growth in annual revenue as opposed to a 4% decline in “laggard” organizations. It is important for CEOs to lead the charge in aligning marketing and sales (critical aspects in any business) to develop momentum that feeds upon itself and moves your organization forward. Marketing Challenge: Marketing teams struggle today to maximize marketing dollars spent on lead generation, product positioning, analyst relations, and sales materials. Often these marketing resources are not targeted to reaching the ultimate buyer nor do they use a common framework that allows for sales to take immediate action in the field.
3 Ways to Drive Innovation – a CEO’s Perspective
Sun, Dec 16, 2012 — What makes some companies more successful than others? And what role does innovation play in this? I have always been fascinated by this topic, especially if the business is facing a turn-around situation.