Magnus Marketing Blog

I don't belong to SCIP, AIIP or drip (joke) which governs the ethical gathering of research. I might join those groups eventually, but right now I am too busy trying to develop a business and deal with real competitive activity rather than sit in a meeting postulating about it.

I do not need to resort to "I am an MBA student", "I am shareholder", "I am Bob's friend", or other LIES to get names or find people in organizations. There are enough legitamate tools around to find everything about companies and competitiors out there. Plus, friends, relatives, and clients who will give you info.

Competitors beware! I will know everything or many juicy good things about you!

My former employer for example hired an analyst who I think is a kid and just graduated, changed another guys title from "Manager" to "Sr. Analyst" (which he deserves, a demotion!), got some guys to work for them in St. Louis and Florida - that I got from LINKEDIN. I found the kids on MySpace, which comprise most of their workforce. Plus, my spy told me the rest of the internal stuff.

I laugh mercilessly.

The company in MA which is close to mine is run by a kid complaining about the costs of running his business. His staff also has some MySpace denizens, one of which has no discernable technology experience. So much for experienced folks making calls for start-ups, my-my. My former employer needs to sue him for using a purportedly trademarked description of a service. I know that he doesn't have the level of expertise on his staff, his costs must be higher than mine, and his VP is probably recycling the same junk from a leading sales intelligence firm - I saw their stuff, baby-cakes.

I laugh mercilessly.

My client forwarded me a "canned" ad for a woman run marketing firm specializing in telemarketing. A little research later, I see the chick hires local folks who sit in their homes and are paid $10/hr. NO LAZY PEOPLE allowed was in her job ad. Nice lady to work for! She makes an $8 margin or more. I would partner with her for high volume telemarketing, she has her act together.

I laugh mercilessly.

I did a competitive research analysis for a client, it was amazing the stuff I found. Enough to gain serious positioning insight, enough to find salespeople for him to poach, enough to identify new services, enough to do a real SWOT Analysis....

Sometimes marketing and PR have benefits, sometimes they can lead to your competitor outpricing you, poaching employees, positioning better against you, and just....

laughing mercilessly....all the way...to the bank. $$$$$$$$
(and saving money from SCIP, AIIP, and drip).