All posts by Nikki L

Are Your Salespeople Selling or “Playing Sales?”

By in Sales, Training

by GEORGE BRONTÉN for Membrain In the world of complex sales, people generally take themselves very seriously. Sure, there’s fun and laughter in the workplace, but when it comes down to it, business professionals like to think of themselves as results-driven, real-world achievers. People certainly don’t like to be accused of “playing” at work, or, worse, “gaming the system.” Yet, according to Pieter Kemps, a venture capitalist at Sequoia Cspital with a focus on SaaS, that’s exactly what starts to happen in companies north of $10M in annual recurring revenue after introducing sales management, KPIs, dashboards, etc. “Everyone does it. Your reps do…

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Survey: Only 26% of SMBs are using AI for marketing

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Marketing

by Danny Goodwin  for Search Engine Land Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have been slow to adopt AI technology. While 74% of SMBs are not using AI, 44% of those hope to start using it within the next year, a survey has found. Why we care. Marketers have felt overwhelmed by AI and all the changes we’ve seen in the past year. SMBs that can unearth the potential of AI tools and harness its power can reap the benefits (e.g., saving time and money). But it’s a steep learning curve and SMBs typically are time-strapped. By the numbers. Larger SMBs (with over 50…

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4-Day Workweek Gains Traction

By in Work Tag

By Lin Grensing-Pophal for HR Daily Advisor If there’s one thing the pandemic experience has contributed to, it’s employees’ demand for more flexibility and work/life balance. Hybrid work is becoming more common, but so is another flexible concept: the 4-day workweek. It’s an idea that has been gaining traction globally, and it holds a lot of advantages not just for employees but also for employers. And, it’s an idea that has slowly gained traction over the past several decades. A Continued Push to Shorten the Workweek Henry Ford is generally credited with being one of the first to acknowledge employees’ need…

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4 Ways Business Blogging Helps Your Company Grow

By in Work Tag ,

By Michael Brenner for Marketing Insider Group Are you taking advantage of the massive benefits of a blog to grow your business? If not, you’re missing out. Publishing a blog is one of the best ways to connect with your audience and drive long-term growth. In fact, businesses with a blog see 126% higher growth than those without one. Check out all of the ways business blogging can help your company grow. Plus, we included a handful of blog examples we love to give you inspiration. Key Takeaways: If you want to grow your business, you should be blogging. A blog offers…

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Do you have career blues?

By in Self Improvement

by ELENA VERNA for Elena's Growth Scoop Every 2 years on the job, like clockwork, something happens in my brain: All of a sudden I’d start to get antsy. You probably know what I mean. That phase where your current job turns into yesterday's leftovers, and new opportunities look like a five-star dinner. And the recruiting pitches never help. Constantly painting an enchanting picture of a bustling 'hyper-growth' company with a stellar culture where you’re apparently "the chosen one" the hiring manager has been dreaming about (or some other bullshit narrative). Consequently, you start nitpicking at your current role—those pointless…

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Why Leaders Should Have a Slice of Humble Pie

By in Business Management Tag

By Whitney Breer for HR Daily Advisor Alicia, the Head of HR, leaned back in her chair and looked thoughtfully out her office window. She had just wrapped up another exit interview, the third this week. She thought about the old adage, “People don’t quit their jobs; they quit their managers.” “Well,” she thought, “if this is true, then ‘Houston, we have a problem!'” None of the employees who had quit had mentioned bullying, discrimination, or explicit conflicts in their team – the classic red flags that quickly drew attention. Alicia scanned back over her notes and began to cluster…

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11 Ways to Create Content that Generates Leads

By in Content Marketing Tag

By Michael Brenner for Marketing Insider Group “How do they do it?” my clients ask, as they look at the number of blog articles by their industry’s top producers. “How many articles should I publish to increase my traffic and leads?” Often, it feels as if we can never quite write enough content to keep up with the “big guns” in our industry. Then, we read that we need to write 2-4 articles per week? And then we sink a little lower in our chair. How in the world can we do that? We want to focus our content on our…

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AI for Content Production

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Content Marketing

by LIZ CHRISTO for Ask Stage 2 DEAR STAGE 2: I’m the first marketer at my startup and we desperately need more content to scale our online presence. I’m used to doing the heavy lifting (keyword research, actually writing/editing content, etc.), but I’m spread pretty thin these days. Should I try to save time by plugging my ideas into ChatGPT? ~MARKETING MARATHONER Subscribe for more GTM tips & tricks! DEAR MARKETING MARATHONER: We couldn’t agree more — content is essential to establishing your brand’s digital footprint, and should be a primary component of any foundational marketing strategy. The right approach will…

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How Enterprises Are Using AI for Email Marketing

By in Email Marketing, Marketing

by Ayaz Nanji for Marketing Profs Are enterprise marketers using artificial intelligence to help with their email campaigns? If so, what are the most common uses and challenges? To find out, RPE Origin and Ascend2 surveyed 110 marketers who work for organizations with 500+ employees. Some 24% of respondents say they're already using AI extensively in their email marketing campaigns, 33% say they're using it to some extent, 25% are not using it yet but have plans to, 14% have no plans to, and 4% are unsure. Among enterprise marketers who are using or plan to use AI as part of their email campaigns, 50% are doing so…

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AI-powered content marketing: A startup’s guide to success

By in Content Marketing, Marketing

by Victoria Shepherd  for Search Engine Land AI, machine learning, robots, expert systems, knowledge engineering – these buzzwords are no longer reserved for technology. They are increasingly prevalent in a variety of industries. Many companies now view artificial intelligence as a standard tool, particularly in marketing and sales. This surge underscores the recent rapid advancements in the technology. Startups, in particular, must adopt AI swiftly as most of their resources are constrained by budget limitations.  Whether it’s crafting content for pitch presentations, creating one-pager pitch documents, or developing a content calendar, AI offers numerous ways to boost productivity.  While not all startups…

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