Vya Marketing Blog

Is it Time to Hire a Social Media Marketing Expert?

Aug 06, 2013

There was breakdown in the assembly line and no one on Henry Ford’s staff could fix it. As the story goes, his production lines were down for hours; hours turned into days, and Ford was frustrated. In desperation he called an electrical engineer friend whom he trusted to come to his plant, diagnose and repair the problem. His friend promptly arrived and after about ten minutes the Ford lines were up and running. A most grateful Henry Ford thanked him and told his friend to invoice the Ford Company for the repairs. A few days later Henry Ford received an invoice from his friend in the amount of $10,000. Flabbergasted, Henry called his friend on the telephone and protested, “You only tinkered around for ten minutes! Ten-thousand dollars?!” His friend agreed that he would re-invoice the repairs. A few days later Henry Ford received a modified invoice:

Tinkering…..$10

How to Localize Social Media Marketing

Jul 23, 2013

We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing the challenges and benefits of localizing your marketing strategy across both traditional and digital marketing channels, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a marketer that doesn’t see the value in the practice. But there’s one marketing channel where questions about localization remain and answers are hard to come by: social media.

When I was at the Integrated Marketing Week Conference in June, this was a continuing theme and topic of conversation, whether it came up in presentations, questions to speakers or simply conversations among attendees, so it’s clearly an issue of great consternation in the marketing community. That being said, let’s take a look at some possible strategies that can help businesses overcome the challenges of social media localization.

June 2013 Monthly Marketing News Snapshot

Jun 27, 2013

Stay better informed as a marketing professional with this monthly series highlighting the latest developments in all things marketing. Get caught up with the June Marketing News Snapshot.
Video Is the Next Frontier for Email Marketers
This eMarketer article delves into the statistics behind using video in email marketing. While only a quarter of businesses are currently using video in email, 81% of respondents said they were at least somewhat likely to integrate videos into their email marketing practices. The article breaks down reasons why marketers are not using video in email and also the top benefits of using videos in email according to marketing executives. Read the full article. (6/19/2013, eMarketer)

Personal Clout vs. Company Clout: Our People Are Our Most Important Source of Influence

Jun 11, 2013

Somewhere in America, a business leader is standing in front of an audience prepared to use the phrase, “Our most important asset is our people.” Do you think they really mean it? What about other key assets, for example:

1. Real estate
2. Rights to natural resources like oil and gas
3. Cash reserves
4. Patents
5. The corporate brand

Marketing Organizational Leadership – Alan See, Part One

Mar 18, 2013

Leadership Toolset #10: Social Media & Content Marketing
The concept of social media – a reach of millions, limitless targeted messaging, free to all – is a marketer’s dream. Yet many business-savvy professionals just don’t see its value and, if they do, still don’t know how exactly to squeeze that value out of it. But whether understood or not, social media is changing the business landscape, and failure to adapt could have implications that stretch beyond the marketing department. Adaptation requires knowledge of the technology and the willingness to reach out across department lines to build true organizational success.

We invited Alan See, the third most-followed CMO on Twitter according to Social Media Marketing Magazine, to share insight he’s picked up from 25 years of experience helping businesses develop profitable marketing strategies that drive sales and growth. He has served in senior roles at MindLeaders, AT&T, Seapine Software, AberdeenGroup, Teradata, SAS Institute, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and NCR Corporation in addition to facilitating courses on marketing and management theory as an associate faculty member for University of Phoenix. He has recently started a new business, Alan See CMO Temps, LLC. Alan’s perspective on the subject of social media marketing is as comprehensive as any you’ll find, and he held nothing back in sharing that perspective with us.

February 2013 Monthly Marketing News Snapshot

Feb 28, 2013

Stay better informed as a marketing professional with this monthly series highlighting the latest developments in all things
marketing. Here is what was new in February...