Observations from the ISA Sales & Marketing Conference

Last week I had the pleasure of co-presenting with one of our clients, CSE-Semaphore, at the International Society of Automation’s (ISA) 4th Annual Sales and Marketing Conference. Our topic was Launching a Global Brand on $250 Per Day. Throughout the meeting, I heard marketing professionals at many companies express common themes:

• The wave of corporate mergers and acquisitions that has swept through the industry has created extreme branding challenges. (My observation is this is true in other B2B markets as well.)
• The deep global recession has forced marketers to search for new cost-effective and measurable forms of lead generation and demand creation
• The rapid introduction of new interactive technologies has overwhelmed many practitioners who are struggling with integrating these new tools into a strategic marketing process

The audience showed particular interest in several elements of our presentation that addressed these issues. Semaphore used an online performance-based advertising strategy to acquire leads in real time at highly cost-effective rates. In addition, they incorporated high-value content to stimulate prospect response. Our experience has shown that combining these two strategies has resulted in the acquisition of qualified leads in greater numbers and at cost-per-lead rates significantly lower than traditional marketing tactics.

Semaphore also embraced a disciplined brand development process that created a new global name and corporate identity. The brand was economically applied and implemented on a global basis and across all marketing initiatives. By coupling today’s highly efficient digital technologies and some unorthodox strategic thinking, launching a B2B brand on $250 per day now becomes a reality.

To request a copy of the Semaphore presentation, click here.