Focused on advancing the profession, this mission-driven organization, for which IBM provides lead sponsorship, emphasizes the development of leadership skills for current and future CIOs . Everyone selling high value solutions wants to engage C-level executives.  They're the ultimate decision makers. They They can provide deep insight into both their own companies and emerging issues in your markets. They They can give you the most powerful references and testimonials.  Of course they're also the hardest to reach.  Gaining justification for their business direction and intuition. MORE >>

That program did lead to some interesting inside reporting but whether the program overall actually served the public interest in terms of independent coverage is far from clear.  Read an interesting post by Ike Pigott today (thanks Amber ) suggesting that as mainstream journalism continues to shrink, struggling journalists should consider jumping to the dark side and plying their trade as corporate journalists.  Ike distinguishes his notion of the corporate "embedded journalist" from the age-old tradition of reporters simply leaving the newsroom to go work in corporate communications. MORE >>

Four years ago, I wrote this : The typical approach to marketing-sales alignment emphasizes getting marketing closer to sales through initiatives such as tighter alignment of marketing activities with the sales cycle, better coordination around demand generation and lead management, and allowing sales to have more input into marketing programs and materials. I'm all for more agreement between marketing and sales on which leads matter, how to map marketing to the sales cycle, and where marketing can help most with key accounts. Has the discussion really changed?  What do you think? MORE >>

Analyzing a year of data on the top news stories discussed, linked to, and viewed on blogs, Twitter , YouTube , and other social media, the Project found that, "the stories and issues that gain traction in social media differ substantially from those that lead in the mainstream press. So you're really competing for attention with sources like The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek along with leading trade publications, blogs, and social networks, regardless of what particular market niche we're in. But they also differ greatly from each other." Those are table stakes. MORE >>

Marketers investing in social media often focus on building awareness, demonstrating thought leadership, and (if at all possible), generating new leads. Jon Hampson, Environment Director, for Capgemini UK , gave a great presentation last week on the top lessons for building sustainability programs at large corporations. Listening to Hampson recount the impressive strides Capgemini has made in reducing the company's environmental impact, though, I couldn't help but think about how relevant his lessons were for B2B social media, as well. Focus on what matters. Social media is similar. MORE >>