The Accidental Marketer Podcast

We continue analyzing the dark side of marketing by studying the Opioid Crisis. The villains in this tragedy, Purdue Pharma, executed a joined-up marketing and sales plan that led to untold suffering. We want our listeners who are marketing highly-valuable - and sometimes even life-saving products -  to put these approaches to use for good purposes!

In this episode, we continue shining the light on the dark side of marketing by studying the "The Social Dilemma." What can B2B marketers learn from this popular Netflix documentary that explores controversial aspects of social networking? What can you put to use in your markets for the benefit of your customers?

In season 7, we are shining some light on "the dark side of marketing." People with less-than-wholesome ideals sometimes use marketing brilliantly. What can "the good guys" learn? In this week's episode, we discuss the $100m business of Ashley Madison — an online dating service that specializes in hooking up people who are already married!

In this week's episode, we discuss customer acquisition costs and how to make a "reverse ROI argument." A reverse ROI argument aims to prove that marketing's efforts made a downturn in revenues less dramatic than they could have been had marketing done nothing at all.

Digging deeper on the last episode's discussion of customer-level ROI metrics, the team unpacks a variety of ways to measure —and more importantly — grow your share of every target customer's business. "Is your company just stapling together your strategy, or is it more coordinated than that?"

Marketers can’t be content to be judged by short-term campaign metrics only. Mary, Sean and Tom outline a host of longer-term metrics that are great for the overall health of a company—and help marketing investments be evaluated more fairly. "Marketers who aren't measuring customer lifetime value are missing an opportunity to get financial types off of their back."

As the marketing function becomes more strategic in a company, it becomes harder to discern its impact. The team talks about how marketers can solve this dilemma. "Marketers need to look for opportunities to take partial credit—or partial blame—for other functions results if they are to be thought of as orchestrators of a company's strategy."

We start a full season of podcasts on the topic of Marketing Return on Investment (ROI). For a number of reasons, many marketing departments struggle to justify their spending on programs and headcount. Mary, Sean and Tom provide advice on how marketing departments can better insulate themselves from being at the top of the chopping block.

The second topic in this episode (after the team discusses a segmentation dilemma) is very topical: should you raise or lower prices in a pandemic? Sean, Mary and Tom outline what your considerations should be as you make this very crucial pricing decision. Listen--or watch here (https://theaccidentalmarketer.com)-- and refine your thinking about your own pricing strategy.

We continue discussing "surprise" marketing topics. In this era of CSOs, CDOs and CXOs, Mary asks if businesses should have a Chief Disruption Management Officer (CDMO). This person would be on the look out for your industry's next big innovators and challengers, and craft proactive strategies. An interesting debate ensues. You can now watch our podcasts here: https://youtu.be/r44qPuAogNM

This season we surprise each other by throwing out un-rehearsed marketing topics and debating them. The second topic on this podcast is one that is on a lot of business people's minds right now: Are virtual business models as good as live ones? Listen as the team debates the pros and cons of each approach in light of the current pandemic. Also, you can now watch our podcasts here: https://youtu.be...

*NOTE: This podcast was recorded prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Sean wrote an article on Linkedin regarding 10 trends that shaped the decade. It's a fitting backdrop for our season finale, where several of these trends are examined for their ongoing relevance to the world -- and to your B2B business! Here is the link to Sean's article on Linkedin: inkedin.com/pulse/ten-trends-shaped-decade-sea...

*NOTE: This podcast was recorded prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Brand heresy is the practice of established brands promoting in ways that are very different from their past positioning. For example, when an airline advises "think twice before your book a flight" something strange is going on! Mary, Sean and Tom share examples of brand heresy, and discuss if and when a strategist should commit...

*NOTE: This podcast was recorded prior to the coronavirus pandemic. The trend of gamification applies aspects of game-playing to business, in order to invite more customer interaction on your website, help you invent new products, and even get employees to go the extra mile to take care of customers. The team discusses what you can do to leverage fun and games in your business!

Our Season 4 podcasts were recorded prior to the Coronavirus pandemic. This special edition podcast was recorded on April 14, 2020 and focuses specifically on how to plan for the uncertain future spawned by COVID-19. The team puts this event into historical focus, discusses implications, and generally aims to help B2Bs be proactive in jump-starting their post-pandemic planning processes.

*NOTE: This podcast was recorded prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is not a new idea, but B2B clients are starting to demand a more coordinated approach by their suppliers. The team discusses what ABM is (and is not) and describes several helpful tools that can make effective ABM a practical reality for your company.

The new generation of B2B buyers have high expectations for the experience of interacting with and buying from suppliers. From the front-end of the "customer journey" (e.g., researching solutions) to the back-end (e.g., buying add-on products)-- to all interactions in-between, a focus on improving experiences provides a powerful non-price reason for customers to do more business with you!

Many of us have experienced personalization in our relationships with consumer products and services providers. But can B2Bs personalize their offers and communications? The answer is YES. New technologies are enabling B2Bs to deliver increasingly more customized messages and offers. The team uncovers some of the keys to success in using personalization to drive higher margins and customer loyalty...

This episode focuses on the trend of surge/dynamic pricing - the practice of charging more when demand is higher and vice versa. Just because technology gives unprecedented power to suppliers to match price with demand, should they do it? The team discusses the pros and cons of this variable pricing strategy -- when circumstances warrant it, and when to be cautious about the approach.

This season's discussion of trends continues with a growing phenomena: replacing traditional pricing models with subscription-based pricing. The group discusses why subscription models can make sense in many types of B2B and B2C businesses, which situations are best for the concept, and the "watch-outs" for sellers considering the approach. Listen and decide if you should be consider this trendy p...

This new season covers trends that businesses need to know about and have a plan for. This episode discusses how new decision-makers are gaining power in every industry. Is now the time for re-tooling your sales force to effectively call on economic buyers and executives? Should you start promoting to end-users in your market, when you never have before? This discussion will help you decide!

The last episode of Season 3 unpacks the interesting cases of Lexus and the Volkswagen Phaeton. These two brands -- one a colossal success and the other a notorious failure -- show how two companies attempting to do the same thing took divergent paths. See the specific strategic planning moves that led to Lexus' legendary success, and how Phaeton did the exact opposite -- to it's immediate and las...

Most marketers are familiar with Net Promoter Score (NPS) -- a metric to measure the strength of your relationships with customers. The Wall Street Journal wrote that some companies are reporting changes to NPS on quarterly analyst calls -- and called NPS a "Dubious Management Fad." You probably have an opinion on NPS -- listen in as we discuss plusses and minuses of NPS, particularly in a B2B con...

This week we focus on the agricultural giant John Deere. Amongst the many reasons for Deere's long-term success is an astonishing fact: they began practicing content marketing over 120 years ago! The team digs into the principles of B2B content marketing. Why does it work? How should companies be guided in developing content? Learn the differences between B2C and B2B content marketing strategies.

This weeks focus is on Netflix, a company that has continually been ahead of huge technological shifts. What kinds of practices does Netflix have -- as well as other companies who have successfully re-invented themselves? How do they know which trends to ignore, and which ones require massive shifts internal change? The group discusses the specific disciplines required to successfully respond to t...