Author Archive for Marty Gruhn

Lead generation. How to build a better mouse trap.

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)
Monday, August 30th, 2010

Most companies need to rethink their online price & lead generation strategies. Ignoring the sales force is the first step.

I can’t quite figure out why so many companies avoid putting prices on their Website. Actually, I do know. The company’s sales force wants to embargo product prices to force Web visitors to fill out that pesky contact form or engage in an online sales chat. This, they say, allows them to sell the product’s value and benefits, and work around the product’s price.

This is a big mistake. Here’s three reasons why.

Read More→

Bookmark and Share
Comments (0)
Categories : Marketing, POV (point of view), Strategy, eSelling
Tags : , , , , ,

The borg, the butterfly, and the problem

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)
Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Too many dotcom Web teams are borgs and butterflies. They need to be problem solvers.

I faithfully read Seth Goden’s blog every morning. One reason is that it’s blissfully short [memo to self]. The other reason is the golden marketing nuggets he brings to the table.

This morning is such a moment – and one that speaks to why so many LOB execs and stakeholders constantly push back on dotcom Web teams pitching new designs or the latest industry trends.

They don’t think they have a problem.

Face it. From most stakeholders’ perspective, dotcom teams come in two flavors: the “borg” [you will be assimilated] and the “butterfly” [this is the latest trend and we need to capitalize on it].  Neither are focused on a problem from the stakeholder’s point of view.

But what if a dotcom team saw its stakeholders as customers?  Like any good salesperson, the team would help stakeholders identify a problem and explore its cost or impact on the LOB.

In other words, dotcom teams should sell the problem.

Until stakeholders agree that they have a problem, the solution doesn’t count. That’s why so many projects end up in chaos.  In pushback, deliberate inertia, and stakeholders who spend their time deliberately coloring outside of the lines.

Bookmark and Share
Comments (0)
Categories : POV (point of view), Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, Web 2.0, Website Launches

When support worlds collide. How to screw up a new market gambit

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (1)
Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Happy campers now, unhappy campers laterCompanies eying new markets should avoid “Marie Antoinette” and “Frankenstein” support strategies. Here’s why.

You can tell a lot about a company’s prime customers by its Website—and even more by how customers fresh from acquisitions and market gambits get lost in the shuffle.

Examine companies like Dell, that has moved from its consumer roots into enterprise markets. Or, IBM’s, CA’s and Cisco’s endeavors to translate historical successes in the enterprise realm into SMB markets. And then there is Oracle’s attempt to execute simultaneous vertical and horizontal market strategies by lashing together its software applications with Sun’s hardware and storage products. There are plenty of examples.

If you think the “tell” of these (and other) companies’ successes or failures are found in their online marketing content, you would be looking in the wrong direction. In reality, the “tell” is found in their support and training zones.

Before support and training Web teams even entertain the hope for a successful market move, they must take these two approaches off the table:  Read More→

Bookmark and Share
Comments (1)
Categories : Branding, Marketing, POV (point of view), Strategy, Support
Tags : , , , , , , ,

Are your troops saluting? Two strategies that don’t work

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Website strategiesThere are many ways to destroy a perfectly designed strategy. Here are two.

One of the things Web teams constantly struggle with is the ying and yang between centralized governance and the wants, needs, and demands of stakeholders and line of business (LOB) managers who operate different parts of the site.

Over the past few years, I’ve seen these dynamics play out many companies – and in different ways. The most memorable are:

The inmates run the asylum

Here, I’m reminded of a huge software company who belatedly realized that competitors were selling their low cost software online – and they needed to get with the program.

To achieve this, the dotcom team spent weeks confabing with line of business marketing managers and stakeholders to get their buy in and identify requirements. Then they consolidated the feedback and developed a working project plan.

Three months later, the dotcom team was ready to launch the company’s first foray into ecommerce. The platform was built. LOB marketing managers were trained. Then everything went off the rails.

Read More→

Bookmark and Share
Comments (0)
Categories : Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, Uncategorized
Tags : , ,

Oracle.com: New game, new rules, new problems

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (6)
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Oracle.com + Sun.com = less than the sum of their parts

Oracle.com has been the big Kahuna in the enterprise software industry for the past couple of years when it finally slipped past IBM’s Software Group site, which has been stuck in idle since early 2008. Then it decided to change the rules of its own game.

In 2009 Oracle bought Sun Microsystems in a quest to graduate into the business of selling hardware, software & services to the enterprise business set. Along with its red, white and black cap and gown, Oracle now gets to compete with the likes of IBM, HP and Dell. The question is, of course, how well does the combined Oracle.com & Sun.com sites perform against competitors that have been marketing & selling complex products online for well over a decade?

The answer is: not very well.

Read More→

Bookmark and Share
Comments (6)
Categories : POV (point of view), Website Rankings
Tags : , , , , , ,
Next Page »

 Subscribe

Receive New Best Practice Alerts


Yes! Please sign me up for the siteIQ Digest.

Your Email      

Follow Marty Gruhn on Twitter

  • Sorry! My Tweets are on a break, please check back in a little while.

siteIQ Poll | How Does Your Website Sell?

Websites are built to sell. Products. Services. Opinions. Access. Most companies use their Website to inform & engage. But smart companies see them in a totally different light. For these organizations, their Website is the most invaluable salesperson on their team. The question is: What roll does your Website play in your selling process?

SiteIQ • Copyright © 2010 All Rights Reserved