The Josh Gordon Group blog

What will the IP transition mean to you? Watch the on demand webinar

Posted by Josh Gordon on Mon, Oct 12, 2015 @ 15:10 PM

Watch an archived webinar hosted by Josh Gordon on the IP transition in the television industry. Speakers shown Left to right:

Josh Gordon, Moderator
Steve Fastook, CNBC’s Senior Vice President, Technical and Commercial Operations
Don Roberts, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Director of Television Systems

Sponsored by The Grass Valley Group

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Topics: IP transition, Josh Gordon, Broadcast, Steve Fastook, CNBC, Don Roberts, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Grass Valley

Webinar: IoT Opportunities for Security Industry Suppliers, on demand

Posted by Josh Gordon on Fri, Oct 9, 2015 @ 19:10 PM
I hosted a great webinar on opportunities for security industry suppliers in the Internet of Things. I had two fantastic guest speakers: Martin Gren, a true IoT pioneer who invented the world's first networked security camera, and Todd Baker who heads product management for Cisco's IOx product line, which specifically targets IoT applications. Special thanks to the Security Industry Association for sponsoring the event. 
  Officially Martin Gren is Founder and Director of New Projects, AXIS Communications.
Todd Baker, is Head of IOx Product Management, at Cisco Systems.
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Topics: webinar, Martin Gren, Internet of Things, Internet of Everything, Cisco Systems, security suppliers, SIA, Scott Baker, Axis Communications, Security Industry Association, Marketing opportunities for security suppliersfor, Josh Gordon

Video: Should I publish a companion digital magazine for my website?

Posted by Josh Gordon on Fri, Feb 21, 2014 @ 11:02 AM
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Topics: content, content marketing, webinar, video, digital media, Josh Gordon Group, digital editions, online content, digital magazine, Josh Gordon, digital magazines, IAB, Long Tail Alliance, digital publishing

TV production formats: 1080p and 4K to push out 720p, 1080i sticks around

Posted by Josh Gordon on Thu, Nov 7, 2013 @ 01:11 AM

The first half of this webinar was based on a six month study we did sponsored by Miranda Technologies that examined the future of Sports TV production formats. Using the links below you can You can watch the archived webinar or download the research reports the webinar was based on. Registation is free for both:

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Topics: Sports production, 720p, digital media, Josh Gordon Group, UHDTV, Miranda, 1080i, 1080p, Television production, Josh Gordon, Broadcast

Very proud to have the Sports Video Group cover our upcoming study

Posted by Josh Gordon on Fri, Jun 14, 2013 @ 17:06 PM

Here is an aticle that ran this morning: 

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Topics: content, content marketing, content strategy, bradcast indusrty survey, prduction research, Sports Video Group, educational content, Josh Gordon, Broadcast, Ken Kerschbaumer

FREE NAPR Linkinar today at 1 PM

Posted by Josh Gordon on Fri, Nov 16, 2012 @ 10:11 AM

Josh Gordon will give an hour long talk for the National Assocation of Publisher Representatives on his thoughts on selling media to marketers. (What is a Linkinar?

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Topics: B2B marketing, publisher representatives, media sales, Josh Gordon, advertising, BtoB, NAPR, linkinar

Top 10 lessons on motivating customers to buy

Posted by Josh Gordon on Thu, Oct 11, 2012 @ 07:10 AM
Are marketers in the business of selling or motivating customers to buy? Both! I wrote "Selling 2.0" as primmer on customer motivation. When it was released, Barnes and Noble stocked it in their sales department while the Borders chain stocked in their marketing department. Here are the top ten lessons from that book:  

Lesson #1: It is more important to be well trusted than well liked.

In a world of repeat purchases, consolidated buying, inter-dependencies, and partnerships, greater power may have shifted to the buyer but so has greater risk. When risk to the buyer increases, customers make buying from someone they trust their top priority.
 Given the limited time and resources you get to spend with any of your customers, how big a priority is trust building? Most sales people jump at the chance to build a personal relationship with a customer and invest considerable time and resources to do so. But trust building opportunities, such as aggressively handling mistakes or missionary selling before buying begins, are often overlooked. It is important to identify trust building moments, strategies, and codes of behavior and to pursue them as your highest priority.

Lesson #2 You have to create value not just talk about it
I used to ask myself what I was going to SAY on my next sales call. Today I ask what am I going to DO. Customers are less interested in spending time with salespeople who just add a positive spin and offer to buy lunch over information that customers can download from the Internet themselves. Today a sales call has to be more than presenting information; it needs to be about planning, researching, thinking, brainstorming, idea sharing, knowledge building, value creating, or discovery.

 Lesson #3: There are bigger differences between how you and your competition handle customers than between your products.
Your job is to live your product and as result you will see greater differences between your product and your competition than your customers ever will.  
 But today there are many new ways to work with customers that did not exist before. Customers may be seeing less and less difference between product offerings but are seeing greater differences in how sales people and companies build and maintain relationships and customer interfaces.

Lesson #4: You sell to a customer network, not a collection of isolated customers.
Your customers are more connected to each other than ever before. Through chat rooms on the Internet, email, partnerships between members of your customer base, and newsgroups, you sell in a networked world. Assume that if you do something truly outstanding, either positive or negative, all of your customers will hear about it and be influenced.

 Lesson #5: Information is a commodity, knowledge is power.
The old adage that, “information is power” predates the Internet. Customers can now access more information than ever and make informed decisions without ever talking to a salesperson. What now has value is the knowledge, judgment, experience, and training to help your customer take advantage of the ubiquitous information.

 Lesson #6: You will sell more as an agent of change than as an agent selling products.
Salespeople have always been an agent of change. The job is to change non-buyers into buyers and buyers into greater or more loyal buyers. As such, the status quo is your enemy. But this idea takes on far greater importance when you are selling in a market where change is fast and constant. In the corner of the world affected by your product you can lead change, draft along with change, or get hurt by change. As a salesperson it is essential to know what trends affect your business and embrace them.

 Lesson #7: You are your client’s personal brand manager.
The two most important parts of your brand are your brand’s promise and your brand’s deliver on that promise.
For your customer, you are the key to both. Individual products, corporate logos, and letterhead can change every year but the key to winning and growing business over time is to manage the perception of your company and make sure it delivers consistently to your customer. This means managing your company’s brand on a one to one level.

 Lesson #8: Customer loyalty is the result of better customer strategy not better customer service.
Excellent customer service has never been more important. It has also never been more common. Today, excellent customer service is only your admission to the game. The bigger question is, what do you do when you arrive on the playing field? Salespeople who invest time in creating unique customer experiences, strategically shape their customer relationships, and build multi-level relationships between their organizations have the best chance at customer loyalty.

 Lesson #9. It is easier to differentiate your product in the future than in the present.
In times of rapid change customers want to know that what you sell them today will stay current and maintain support into the future. The differences in how you and your competition propose to do this five years out can be more varied, interesting, and compelling than the differences between your current product offerings, which are limited by the rigidity of present day reality.

 Lesson #10. The biggest sales will go to the most aggressive customer motivators, not the most aggressive customer pushers.
What has not changed is that aggressive salespeople still make the most sales. What has changed is how the aggression is channeled. Customers are smarter and just won’t stand for the aggressive “closer” style salesperson of old. But if you use a motivational approach, your customer will view your activities as aggressively working for them. Stop pushing products, start motivating your customer to buy.

Download a free chapter from "Selling 2.0" 
Buy "Selling 2.0" on Amazon
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Topics: buyer seller relationship, value creation, sales strategy, Selling 2.0, customer motivation, changing customer, motivating customers, salespeople, Josh Gordon, Sales 2.0, trust building, selling strategy

Does your website content “show up and throw up?”

Posted by Josh Gordon on Tue, Oct 2, 2012 @ 10:10 AM

In the sales trade, a salesperson who “shows up and throws up” pushes his agenda at customers with no concern for their needs or pain points. His canned presentation is only about his products and bores customers to tears.

Better salespeople realize that selling is about motivating customers, which rarely happens by just dumping product information on them. These salespeople work to understand the customer’s point of view and to put their product into the context of their customers world. Before talking product they might ask questions to find out...
• What are the problems or pain points unique to the customer?
• How does this customer fit into his or her competitive market?
• Are there technical, regulatory, or financial trends that will affect their needs?
• Which applications or best practices might affect this company's purchasing decisions?

Better salespeople focus on solving customer problems first, product information follows. They collect information and advice helpful to the customer not just with a purchase, but in using the product successfully.    

Now, let’s get back to your website.  Which of these two approaches describe the content on it?  Is your content just about your company and products, or do you also have information helpful to solving customer problems?

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Topics: content, content marketing, problem solving, salespeople, Josh Gordon, Website, Joe Pulizzi, website development TrackBack

Video: How the shift to owned and earned media hurts B2B marketing

Posted by Josh Gordon on Thu, Aug 16, 2012 @ 09:08 AM

What is the downside to marketers shifting media dollars out of paid media and into owned and earned media? Matt Kinsman's team at American Business Media did a great job interviewing me in this video about this overlooked topic. In the intreview I refrence findings from our recent study, "Improving Marketing Effectiveness." Click on the picture below to see the video produced using the new, innovative Me!Box interface which blends video with posted content for a richer viewing experience.

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Topics: B2B suppliers, content strategy, digital media, B2B marketing, non-customers, e-newsletter, social media, Josh Gordon Group, buyer/seller relatsionship, Josh Gordon, advertising, earned media, existing customers, noncustomers

B2B marketing is 5x more persuasive with customers than non-customers

Posted by Josh Gordon on Thu, May 31, 2012 @ 11:05 AM

For immediate release:

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Topics: B2B suppliers, B2B marketing, non-customers, John Luff, HD Consulting, Tom Canavan, Signiant, Improving Marketing Effectiveness, Josh Gordon Group, B2B technology marketing, Josh Gordon