THIS ISSUE INCLUDES: •  What's New? •  Going, Going … Gone! •  Resource Referral •  Lessons Learned •  Tips & Tricks •  Community Leaders •  Member Spotlight •  Community Stats •  Your Account Summary •  Success Story •  Special Thanks •  Last Laugh

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WHAT'S NEW?

Dear Askers & Answerers,

Ten weeks ago MarketingProfs launched our first Vendor Selector - an interactive buyer's guide to help people shop for Email Service Providers. The BIG news this week is we released our second one, a tool for researching Search Engine Optimization Firms.

You can get to both of them by clicking Vendors in the horizontal navigation bar at MP.com. If you are a Yearly Premium member, be sure to login first so you can access the enhanced version with a Shopper's Handbook, Filters and a Comparison Table.

A bunch of people helped us pull this together. It was a team effort involving the whole MP crew. Special thanks go to writer Alan Rimm-Kaufmann of the Rimm-Kaufman Group and Carrie, our stellar production editor!

Now that we've got the hang of this, watch for new Vendor Selectors coming out every other month. Web Analytics is next. Feel free to reply with requests for future vendor categories.

Have a terrific Friday and an even better weekend!

Happy exchanging,

Val Frazee
Moderator, Know-How Exchange
MarketingProfs.com

GOING, GOING, GONE!

Here are KHE's 10 oldest questions. They're likely to close soon. Have an idea to offer? Better do it now!

1. Looking for Online Community Consultant/Manager
2. Sale management
3. Are Brands Expensive?
4. Need a catchy name for my store
5. difference between services and products
6. Third Party Logistics Provider in Singapore
7. Online DVD Rental demographics
8. Slogan for Power Company
9. I need examples of brand savings to impress CFO's.
10. Brochure question list

RESOURCE REFERRAL: FINDING NICHE MARKETS

This week's resource referral comes to us from AndrewS. He recommends a great article on the uses of gap analysis. Given the number of posts in the forum about finding niche markets, the article is timely. One of our members liked the resource so much that she added her own note of thanks.

Resource: Spotting New Niches in a Market

Browse 313 other resources recommended by our members in KHE's Resource Library. Or add one of your own!

LESSONS LEARNED: USING PR TO GENERATE LEADS

Earlier this month, Premium Plus member Dyer asked for ideas about how to implement a theoretical point raised in our Sales & Marketing Alignment Benchmark Report. She asked how companies are using PR to generate leads, and how are they measuring response? Here are some brief excerpts.

• GUCIS: I work in B2B marketing analysis. The most popular tool for demand generation in our company is cooperation with business newspapers. ... We are not measuring this because it is giving results over the long term.
• AndrewS: Absolutely fascinating, I have never truly seen PR used to generate sales leads. In fact, I would argue that PR in its own right cannot generate sales leads at all! What it does do well is raise awareness and generate interest. I will admit its always possible that people will contact the business based based on good PR, but as a semi-professional PR person, I would be loath to see the channel targeted on generating sales leads.
• Candureactor: The dirty little secret of PR professionals is that the tactics they use really are not always about generating press coverage. If PR was still all about press coverage you wouldn’t see the plethora of marginal and uninteresting stories appearing on the news wires. Take a look at www.prweb.com and judge for yourself how many releases are trying to get the attention of news editors? ... In many firms, the news release is what counts because the objectives are: getting listed by the search engines on keyword terms; providing sales reps with cheap collateral; and staying top of mind with customers and prospective clients who may want to upgrade or buy into your new offerings. In the minds of many marketing executives, appearing on the Yahoo newswire carries more weight than a mention (6 weeks after the news release) in Fast Company. And who knows, maybe it should if it generates sales results.
• Ali JT: PR can generate leads – I have had incoming calls/leads based on PR, specifically after an award has been bestowed by a trade association – however it was an innovative service. More generally in a very competitive market such as financial services, I think the reality is that PR can bolster and improve the effectiveness of lead generation and must be included as part of an integrated lead generation campaign.
• BrianL: A couple of ideas from my frontline experience: 1) Re-package PR for use in direct mail, where you can add a call to action. 2) Set up a *system* for sales reps to use PR in prospect emails. 3) Give a reporter a specific landing page address instead of just the home page for your website, e.g., mywebpage.com/story. Use the landing page as you would for direct response email -- to move the reader through to the next step. Since story opportunities can come up quickly, you have to be ready to create these landing pages fast. 4) Train your spokespeople to seed their remarks in interviews with invitations to a landing page for more detail on something they've mentioned.
• bdennis410: Even though you may not be aware of it, or your company may not be measurimg it, your PR is generating leads. The question is: Is there a way or mechanism to measure the Where and When and Why of responses? And it is also true that alignment MAY mean better ROI on PR, but not necessarily. In some cases, the PR process and function is only indirectly capable of helping marketing, primarily through imaging and positioning.
• stevea: I have used PR in a B2B setting for over 21 years to generate leads and ostensibly only to generate leads. Yes, the articles give rise to brand awareness and they raise the profile of the company, but the primary aim has always been to make a reader think, "That’s interesting, let's make an enquiry." ... All PR should seek to inform the reader, not educate them (That’s your job when they contact you). ... And at the end of the day, a lead is a lead. It’s what the company does with it that counts!

Question: Lead Generating PR

Do you have something to add? Feel free, if you like. Even though the question is closed (and you can't earn points for it), the Asker will be alerted to your response.

TIPS & TRICKS: GROUP DISCOUNTS

An annual Premium membership with MarketingProfs is $49.95. But did you know that you can buy 5 memberships for $125? That brings the cost down to just $25 each. Here are two ideas:

1. Find four friends, and buy a Corporate Account together


2. Buy five yourself, and give four away to clients as gifts

Whoever purchases the account becomes the "Corporate Administrator" for the group account. He or she can invite anyone to use the other licenses.

Questions about the benefits of membership? This page will help.

Have a question? Ask the experts.

Post a brief synopsis below, and invite other members to offer their feedback.

My Question Title

COMMUNITY LEADERS

As of this week, these are our superstars! The Most Resourceful are those who have contributed the most entries to the Resource Library. The Most Expert are those with the highest number of Expert Points (earned by answering questions).

NOTE: These are our top members as of midday August 18, 2005

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MEET KOEN.H.PAWELS

Chances are you've seen the name koen.h.pauwels around KHE. This Top 35 expert has been with us since September 2003. Koen literally is a marketing "prof" in the real world, which may explain why his insights are so interesting. Read on to learn more about this active participant.

Where are you based?
Hanover, New Hampshire

What do you do in real-life?
I am an associate professor of marketing in the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

Tell us about your company.
Dartmouth is the smallest of the Ivey League colleges, and Tuck the smallest of the Ivey League business schools. We have 240 MBA students a year, who are mostly residential -- i.e., they do not have to wade through the snow like me in winter to get to class. :-) This creates a wonderful community and life-long friendships.

How did you find KHE?
Googling for Marketing ROI conversations, a subject I just started teaching.

What kinds of KHE questions do you enjoy most?
Research/Metrics is my favorite category, although I enjoy Advertising, Branding and Strategy too!

Describe a specific discussion you learned something from.
Just today, ROI of a Marketing Campaign at a Tradeshow reminded me how tough it is to measure ROI in the real world and show your boss (which part of) your marketing is paying off.

What is your favorite marketing book?
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Marketing and the Bottom Line by Tim Ambler. The guy shows different valuable perspectives on the subject matter and never takes himself too seriously. The one negative reference on the cover reads: "I hate this book. It will only encourage the accountants."

How did you get started in marketing?
I got my first course during my commercial engineering undergraduate work in Belgium and got immediately excited. It was taught by a professor who spent decades in business.

Describe one of your non-marketing interests.
Running around and kayaking on Mascoma Lake, where I live

What is the value KHE provides to you personally?
It is a wonderful community of people who take marketing to heart, and I greatly benefit from interacting with expert practitioners concerning new research ideas.

Do you have a favorite quote you want to share?
Eisenhower's: "Plans are nothing, planning is everything" taught me that although you have to prepare for opportunity, nothing is set in stone.

COMMUNITY STATS

Active Unique Participants (to date): 7,429
Closed Questions (to date): 8,732
Currently Open Questions: 123
Total Responses (to date): 58,164
Subscribers to this newsletter: 17,186

YOUR ACCOUNT SUMMARY

These numbers come directly from YOUR profile. Question Points tells you how many points you have available for asking questions in the forum. Expert Points indicates your standing in the community based on answers you have posted. Visit this FAQ, if you want to know more.

Question Points: %%PointsBalance%%
Expert Points: %%PointsCum%%

Click here to buy more Question Points

SUCCESS STORY

Frances shares this week's good news:

"Where else but MarketingProfs could I have received intelligent and well-written opinions from Poland, Uruguay, China, Bangladesh, India (and even Texas) - all in the space of a couple of days?! There was a real feeling of sharing in the responses, which ranged from pointing out common grammar mistakes and the importance of writing clearly, to the more subtle cultural dimentions of business writing. The responses helped me gain a broader understanding of how ESL speakers approach writing in English. They gave me ideas for how to improve my writing courses, and they will also help me develop a better framework for approaching the subject."

Question: Business Writing for 2nd Language English

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank you, AndrewS, koen.h.pauwels and Frances for contributing to this newsletter. And thanks to all the community members who have emailed or posted suggestions, technical reports or questions since the last issue. Your energy drives this community's development. We couldn't do it without you!

Finally, thanks to my MP colleagues for making my job easy: Aaron, Achim, Allen, Ann, Carrie, Jim, Kim, Roy, Sharon, Shelley and Vahe.

LAST LAUGH

I like to close with a smile. So this space is dedicated to something amusing one of you folks have posted in the forum.

Last week vpstapleycvw asked whether the definition of "business casual dress" seems to be changing. Not really a marketing question, exactly, unless you put it down to personal branding. But that didn't stop a host of members from sharing some varied perspectives. I particularly enjoyed stevea's response. Though frankly, SRyan ;]'s describes my perspective best.

Discussion: Business Casual???

Have something to add? Feel free! This question is closed, but the Asker will receive an alert when you reply.

Forum Feedback: The Know-How Exchange is still young. So we're constantly refining how things work. We have a gigantic list of action items, and your feedback helps us prioritize it. So please feel free to reply to this email with any suggestions. Thanks, in advance, for your time!

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