The Copernican Shift

The key to being customer centric is understanding your customers. And the best way for you, as a marketer, to understand your customer is to leave the friendly confines of your office or Zoom call and actually engage with the people you're trying to market to.

Sonia Sahney of GE Healthcare joins me for a discussion about customer insight, and ways to help your customers better understand their customers.

Sonia is the CMO of Molecular Imaging at GE Healthcare. You can find her on LinkedIn.

B2B buyers are overwhelmed. According to Gartner, 77% of B2B buyers said their latest purchase was complex or difficult. And, sadly, we're not doing enough to make the process easier. B2B marketing strategist Ardath Albee joins me with insights on what we can do improve the buying process, close more deals, and make our customers happier.

You can follow Ardath on LinkedIn.

We all say we put the customer first, but what does that really mean? What actions are you actually taking that show the customer how important they really are? In today's episode, Michelle Chiantera, CMO at Corel, talks with me about the stories we tell to our customers, and how those stories can translate into real action.

You can follow Michelle on LinkedIn

Do you understand the product or service you're selling? I mean, really understand it? I'm often surprised by the number of marketers who have never actually used the product they're marketing — maybe have never talked with anyone who has.

Annie Wissner, CMO at Whispir, leads by example to make sure the Whispir marketing team knows the product inside and out. This knowledge generates excitement, enables the team to truly add value for their customers, and is a perfect example of transformation in action.

You can follow Annie on LinkedIn.

Do you understand the product or service you’re selling? I mean, really understand it? I’m often surprised by the number of marketers who have never actually used the product they’re marketing — maybe have never talked with anyone who has. 

Annie Wissner, CMO at Whispir, leads by example to make sure the Whispir marketing team knows the product inside and out. This knowledge generates excitement, enables the team to truly add value for their customers, and is a perfect example of transformation in action.

You can follow Annie on LinkedIn.

Review sites are probably among the first places your prospects go when researching your product or service, and yet these sites are typically an afterthought in most marketing plans. It doesn't need to be that way. In today's episode, Yoli Chisholm joins me to discuss tips and tricks for getting the most value out of B2B and B2C review sites.

Yoli Chisholm is CMO at Venn. You can follow her on LinkedIn.

We're back with our continuing Modern Marketing Plan series. Today it's all about analyst relations, a critical, yet often overlooked, part of your marketing plan. Drew Tambling, director of analyst and influencer relations at Sprinklr, steps through why it's so important, how to get started, and explains why you should probably increase your analyst relations investment.

You can follow Drew on LinkedIn.

Ever wonder what's going through the mind of a CMO? The issues they're thinking about, and the problems keeping them up at night? Resident expert Marshall Kirkpatrick wondered too. So he fired up a few of his research tools (including Sprinklr, of course) and spent some time scouring the Internet to learn what CMOs are reading, and what they're posting about. It's an insightful glimpse into the key trends in marketing today.

Jordan Neuhauser, CMO at Trulli Audio, has a passion for music that is matched only by his passion for authentic customer engagement. In today's episode Jordan and I talk about how Trulli Audio is listening to customers, and — most importantly — reacting quickly and authentically, with personal engagement that reinforces the brand, and creates fans for life.

If you're looking to improve your customer engagement strategies, this episode will be music to your ears.

You can follow Jordan on LinkedIn.

The key to success for a marketer is to always be learning. And the key to learning is to read. In today's episode I review some of my favorite marketing and advertising books — from new releases to timeless classics. Add a few of these to your reading list and your career with thank you.

You can find the complete list on my blog.