Moneyball For Sales And Marketing

Cover via Amazon

I know what you're thinking, Steve's writing about Moneyball only because of the incredible physical similarities between himself and Brad Pitt - who starred in the movie of the same name.

Well, Mr. Pitt's and my striking resemblances aside, the reason for my article is to share with you something I discovered that ties in the concept of Moneyball with sales and marketing. Now for those of you who are not familiar with the term "Moneyball" please allow me to explain.

The term itself comes from the title of a book written by Michael Lewis in 2003 called Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The book is about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and the highly unusual and controversial methods they took to compete as a small market team with little money against larger market, bigger budget teams such as the Yankees.

The team's general manager, Billy Beane (played by Pitt in the movie) decided to use a completely different set of statistics to gauge a player's value and these methods often flew in the face of conventional baseball wisdom and the beliefs of many scouts and executives.

While the team never won a World Series (yet) using the Moneyball approach, the A's have proven that their approach can work as witnessed by their 20 game winning streak in 2002, the longest of its kind in American League history - longer than even the most consecutive wins by the vaunted Yankees.

Moneyball For Sales And Marketing

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Peter Mollins, the VP of Marketing for KnowledgeTree - a company that specializes in helping companies use and improve their best collateral. Peter and I got to talking and he told me about the Moneyball approach to collateral and content marketing.

He also shared with me a very cool infographic he and his team put together to visually convey the concept of Moneyball for sales and marketing which is below.

SO: How does the theory of Moneyball apply to Sales & Content Marketing?

PM: You only have so many at-bats with a prospect. So, each interaction needs to have impact. And when the prospect is disconnected from you, they need to be producing a winning business case for your solutions. That's why it's so important to arm your prospect with great content. Content that advances a sales process. But what do you send? The same content you've always used? Generic content that doesn't speak to their needs? Of course not. You need to test which content works and works for different sales stages. Versus different competitors. For different pain points. And then put the right content into play. That's the Moneyball approach.

SO: What do you see as being the biggest mistake brands make when it comes to sales & content marketing?

PM: The biggest mistake that these brands make is to forget that they tune their messaging in email campaigns, website content, and more. But why aren't they doing it for the content that your prospects build their internal business cases around, the content that closes business? Generic messages and generalized content don't close deals. Deals get closed by sales people armed with content that's focused on the pains that a prospect is trying to ease. B2B customers need to know that you are speaking their language.

SO: Why do you think these same brands continue to keep making these same mistakes?

PM: These organizations keep making the mistake because it is a gray area between sales and marketing teams. Collateral generally gets produced by marketing and consumed by sales. So, how do you make sure that the right marketing content is getting surfaced to the sales team. And how does sales get feedback back to marketing to make sure content continues to improve? The divide between sales and marketing, the communication around what resonates with prospects, has to be bridged.

Source: Forbes

Named one of the Top 100 Influencers In Social Media (#41) by Social Technology Review and a Top 50 Social Media Blogger by Kred, Steve Olenski is a senior creative content strategist at Responsys, a leading global provider of on-demand email and cross-channel marketing solutions, and a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing. He can be reached via Twitter, LinkedIn or Email. 

LinkedIn Lady Show Interview March 22, 2013

Last year I had the honor of being a guest on The LinkedIn Lady Show hosted by the brilliant Carol McManus. 

Carol is a is a self-described recovering corporate executive who left that world in 2007 to start her own business. She grew it quickly with a very limited marketing budget but through the creative and diligent use of social media.

Today, she is one of the most sought-after speakers and consultants for businesses and entrepreneurs who aspire to grow their business by using this digital medium as a way to stay in touch with and attract new clients.

On Friday, March 22, 2013 I was once again Carol's guest and during the show we talked about Responsys - my employer who is a leading provider of email and cross-channel marketing.  Their services include email, mobile, social, the web and display. 

We also talked about some of my recent Forbes' articles and the state of advertising, marketing and branding in general.

Enjoy!

Price Always Trumps Brand, But It Shouldn't Matter To Marketers

Let me preface this article by saying categorically I believe very much in the power of branding. I myself (isn't that redundant?) have worked on many branding campaigns for marketers and advertisers of all sizes and shapes. I know first hand the value of branding done right and done on a consistent basis i.e. staying true to a given brand's tone and voice over time.

But I also have been witness to a growing trend. 

A revealing trend that is bringing to the light the fact that more and more consumers are sacrificing brand loyalty for the best price on a given product, service, etc.

What Two 5-Year Old Kids Can Teach Us About Society

As anyone who knows me will attest I am a very passionate person by nature. And normally my passion, in this particular space, covers topics like branding, marketing, advertising, social media and so on. I write about my thoughts on the aforementioned topics and hopefully anyone reading what I have to say, er write, will come away the better for it.

Today, however, I want to share with you two stories - each dealing with a five-year old child in very different, albeit equally difficult circumstances.

Each should serve as a lesson to all of us and serve as a not-so-gentle reminder that ignorance is still rampant in our world and common sense is a truly lost art for for many. And yes, there is a lesson to be learned here for brands, marketers and advertisers - at least one lesson such as the customer is NOT always right.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead - CMOs Weigh In

This is such a great time of the year isn't it? I mean with all the parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow. This time of the year is also time for fearless forecasts, the ones where everyone dares to boldly go where no man, or woman has gone before.

Or something like that.

What I am referring to of course is it's the time of year when people make predictions for the coming year about this and that. And while I wanted to pen such a piece myself, I wanted to put a little different spin on it - I am a big fan of spinning, as it were.

So I decided to reach out to a group of CMOs and other high-level folks across a wide array of industries to, yes, get their thoughts on 2013 - but to also get their take on the year that's coming to a close.