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Love is underrated

Post Author:Jos Schuurmans
Post published:February 27, 2017
Post Category:focus / love / strategy

In order to discover and formulate a focus and a strategy, businesses should identify (1) what their people (would) most love doing, (2) what they are – or could become – better at than anyone else, and (3) where market demand for their output is – and will be – the greatest. So, next time you iterate on the direction, positioning and focus of your business or brand, I suggest you take a good look at what your people love and could excel at.

Does your C-suite need to know how to ‘do’ digitalisation?

Post Author:Jos Schuurmans
Post published:February 8, 2017
Post Category:Cluetrain / digitalisation / inbound marketing

Wow. I didn’t see that one coming. It was a remark by someone (I don’t wish to put anyone on the spot) in the audience at a business panel in Mikkeli last month *1). They basically said – and I’m paraphrasing from Finnish:

“Well, a company’s leadership doesn’t need to know *how* to carry out digitalisation. That’s for their staff to know.”

As it happened, I had just been ‘spontaneously volunteered’ to the panel and asked to respond to the thesis on this slide:
(more…)

How to hack ‘born global’ marketing? #Slush16

Post Author:Jos Schuurmans
Post published:December 1, 2016
Post Category:born global / growth hacking

Slush is not primarily about growth marketing.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as I know, there is no export hacking, international marketing or digital sales track at Slush Helsinki. Maybe it’s time for the ‘born global’ startup community to have a conversation about allbound growth marketing.

The reason I take an allbound perspective is because I believe that in many cases, a combination of content strategy, inbound marketing & sales, and paid media offers the best chances of success.

This country is in dire need of export growth as it is still struggling to compensate for Nokia’s demise. (more…)

Stay on top of Helsinki #Slush16 with Twitter lists and Nuzzel feeds

Post Author:Jos Schuurmans
Post published:November 29, 2016
Post Category:startups

Here’s an idea that may help in curating Slush16, or the social news and information coming out of Slush Helsinki this week.

Step 1: If you will attend Slush16, send the following tweet:

@slushdotblog #attendingslush16 #slush16

Like so:

@slushdotblog #attendingslush16 #slush16

— Jos Schuurmans (@josschuurmans) November 28, 2016

and your twitter handle will be added to the public Twitter list https://twitter.com/slushdotblog/lists/attendingslush16

Step 2: If you will be on stage at Slush Helsinki this week, send the following tweet: (more…)

Statistics on the efficacy of inbound marketing

Post Author:Jos Schuurmans
Post published:July 11, 2016
Post Category:content marketing / inbound marketing

Statistics provided not only by HubSpot but other marketing solution providers and research organisations as well, suggest that inbound - if done well - is significantly more cost-effective than outbound, or at least outbound alone. Selected stats from Impact Branding & Design, SmartBug Media, as well as some of my own. Categorized by (1) Inbound versus outbound, (2) Buyer preferences and behavior, (3) The impact of content, and (4) Marketing automation.

Inbound marketing unpacked

Post Author:Jos Schuurmans
Post published:September 7, 2015
Post Category:content marketing / CRM / inbound marketing / marketing automation

The terms 'inbound marketing' (coined by Brian Halligan) and 'permission marketing' (coined by Seth Godin) refer to various practices that brands can apply to build positive relationships with their intended audiences, particularly on-line. The term 'content marketing' is also very closely related, although it may have a slightly stronger connotation with off-line content, like customer magazines.