I thought updating my annual B2B marketing budget blog would be a snap. Just update a few data points and done! What I have realized is that marketing is in upheaval and budget planning for 2019 will take some thought. While Gartner is predicting contraction in marketing budgets, looking more closely, I see the situation […]
Our WordPress security plugin blocked a brute force attack the other day. “Brute force” is a really exciting and fear-inducing way of saying “they tried to guess our admin password”. There are nifty automation tools available on the Dark Web that can make this pretty easy; the attacker makes some assumptions about what a username […]
WordPress is the most deployed CMS in the world, so it is not a surprise that WordPress security issues are an important topic for WordPress site owners and future site owners. For people thinking of building a new website, we often hear there are real concerns about WordPress security. Hosted website builders such as Squarespace […]
When B2B companies are looking to boost revenue, they need to look not just to sales (more deals!) OR to marketing (more leads!), but sales and marketing alignment. When numbers are not being hit, it’s seldom rooted in one or the other, but stems from a lack of holistic alignment between them. In other words, […]
The Continental United States has not experienced a really damaging earthquake since the 1994 Northridge, California quake. Yet around the world, large quakes have been devastating, particularly in Japan. Many experts believe that the US is well overdue for a bad earthquake. California is generally regarded as the most vulnerable area in the lower US, […]
Chief Digital Officer, or CDO, is a relatively new title being used by large companies, as many industries started to wake up to the realities of digital transformation around 2013. While a critical imperative, digital transformation doesn’t happen overnight. A 2017 CEO Pulse survey by PwC showed 47% of Chief Executives believed the speed of […]
The Gartner® Magic Quadrant (MQ) is considered nirvana for most IT technology and services firms. But as a niche or early stage company, what happens if you didn’t make it on this exclusive report? Having worked with Gartner and a number of other analyst firms over the past decade, I can offer a number of […]
This week we asked our guest blogger and SEO expert Brandon Leuangpaseuth to help us understand exactly what is SEO and what is current best practice. What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? Let’s start out by defining what is SEO. Simply put, Google is just an algorithm designed to show the most relevant results to […]
Analyst Relations (AR) is a communications or public relations activity in which technology companies create relationships within the industry analyst community. Well known top IT analyst firms include Gartner, Forrester, IDC, Ovum, 451 Research, and Frost & Sullivan, to name a few. Research analysts have the ear of the C-suite decision makers in enterprises across the globe […]
Wildfire management in the Western states has become a national issue, straining state’s resources and forcing the Federal Government to steadily commit more firefighting assets and emergency funds to containing the fires and then repairing the damage. ”The Wildfire Season” as a term has become irrelevant; the “season” is now year-around for much of the […]
Yet another news report adds to the urgency of advancing support for counter-drone technology. Yesterday’s assassination attempt on President Nicolas Maduro, ostensibly conducted by so-called “suicide drones” which would make it the first weaponized UAV-based assault on a Head of State. From the limited video available President Maduro and his group were looking into the […]
Why are enterprise sales so dismal? Approximately 40% of all enterprise sales reps don’t make quota! That’s right, you heard me! Only 60.9% of sales people achieve quota each year (Source: HubSpot)! Why is it that with all the modern tools and methods that fewer sales people are succeeding. Sales may think it’s because the […]
On June 20th, the MITEF San Diego Chapter hosted Drones Over San Diego, a panel discussion with local UAS innovators. Led by moderator Commander David Place Ret. US Navy, executives from the rapidly growing industry around unmanned aerial vehicles (also called UAVs or drones) came together to discuss the opportunities and challenges in this hot […]
More and more lately, new startups and established, growing businesses are looking to develop marketing teams. Unfortunately for those new marketing hires, the term “team” is only loosely applicable. That “team” that these fast growing or newly funded businesses hires is all too often a team of one and that’s an SEO Specialist. A single, […]
Here is how I’ll be attending Dreamforce 17 #DF17 for free this week! No, I don’t mean I am sneaking in the back door. I’ll be using Twitter. Here are 5 steps to attending Dreamforce 17 or any other conference, tradeshow or event virtually using your social media skills. Step 1: Research in advance Look […]
If you have more than 30 sales reps and plan to add inside sales or grow your team in the next 12 months, you need to be thinking about building out sales enablement services. If you have more than 300 reps, your ROI for implementing a formal Sales Enablement Function this year will start to […]
Intent Data is a term you will be hearing more about if you in B2B sales or marketing. There are two types of Intent Data, internal and external. Internal is the information we collect about buyers on our own online web sites such as what pages they read, what blogs they looked at, what content […]
October is the ideal time to create your marketing budget plan for 2018. This year, here are some things you might want to take into account in your planning. B2B companies are spending more on marketing than ever Marketing budget as a percentage of revenue varies by industry Expect to include sales enablement in your […]
As the weather starts to cool and pumpkin spice aromas fill the air, that means it’s time to start thinking about 2018 marketing budgets. And that’s when this thought pops back into your mind: What’s the value of a CMO? Do I need one this year? Most small to medium sized B2B businesses and tech […]
Recently I had the honor and privilege to moderate a panel of San Diego Sales Enablement experts. Sales Enablement is a growing topic of discussion as companies look for ways to increase revenue or make sales more effective without adding headcount. However, it’s still a very new topic and most companies are at the ad […]