Indium Corporation recently received recognition for some Marcom results. I was asked to comment. Amongst my responses was this:
"I was once told that every job on Earth is merely a matter of problem solving of one sort or another. To me, that makes perfect sense. So, rather than stuff square pegs into round holes all day – hoping for bliss, set out to hire people who love solving the problems that your customer’s experience. Then, get out of their way; let them shine.
"Don’t attempt to engineer or construct it. Keep it organic, keep it genetic. Build your staff with people who CAN’T STOP solving your customers’ challenges. Hire maniacs, then turn your company inside out and let your team amaze your customers and truly intimidate your competition.”
We all seek simple answers (they're the best). But they're not always available. Sometimes there is only hard work - work that requires time, patience, investment - and talent. To build a truly effective B2B Marcom program, we can't "wack-a-mole" our way to success. Only excellent people, operating over time, can create a winning B2B Marcom program.
If someone demands that you work magic overnight, you may be in the wrong place. If you are expected to edit, tweak, and hand-hold your way to success, you may be in the wrong place.
Get the right (clear) goal, get the right (self-motivated) talent, then get out of the way. Spend your time keeping your talent happy.
I was on a roll with this one:
B2B Marcom practitioners are keenly aware of the admonition, "Believe Half Of What You See And Nothing That You Hear." Famous words from
I hate being “bought”. I feel both devalued and trivialized when that sort of thing is proposed. It actually turns me off when I am offered $5 to complete a survey. When I read opinion survey results, I often wonder how tainted the results are. How many of the responders were compensated? Do they always tell us that the results are derived via compensation?
B2B Marcom involves a lot of projects.
I walked into my office and there it was: a purple bag. THE purple bag!
In
Here is a photo of yours truly in a cornfield, right across the road from Indium Corporation HQ in Clinton, NY. (Sorry about the serious look - I was watching a ton of ants scaling my camera.) It was taken today - June 1st, 2012. Notice anything unusual? This corn is TALL! About one-foot tall already. And there is something else that you can't see - it is growing really fast.
Today a high school junior sat in my office, looked at a poster of my rock band, looked at posters of two magazine articles of a custom motorcycle that I designed and crafted, then looked at my business card and asked (with total innocent sincerity), "Why are you here?"
My musical audience has needs, wants, options, and desires: just like my B2B customers. My band is a collection of personalities with various skills, capabilities, and interests: just like my Marcom, Sales, and Technical Support teams.
Seth also shared this cartoon, sent to him by a reader who saw it in the Denver Post. It addresses the issue of honesty head-on. Yes, we can fabricate stories and hoodwink our audience, but not for too long.
Congratulations B2B Marcom leaders! You had a great 2011, filled with many achievements. You are now preparing to settle into 2012 and enjoy the fruits of your labors. Not so fast!
Travis Stanton
I say this nearly every day: "Always begin at the end."
If you've been in business to business marketing communications for any length of time you've heard parts of this. If you are a newbie, this might freak you out. Trust me on this one: seasoned pros stay very sharp on this topic, beginners MUST ramp up and get really good with this, fast.

Here is another example of a residence. This time it exists in modern times, was designed with modern technologies, built with modern tools - to address a modern goal.
Connect with Indium
+ Read our latest posts!