Information about online customer buying behavior and decision making can now be used to improve offline as well as online marketing. With web analytics, companies can test alternative sales messages, offers and promotions on their e-commerce websites, and then use the most successful message, offer or promotion in offline media (such as print publications or radio) and offline sales processes (such as direct sales, telesales or retail). Read more…

In 2001 Adobe Systems executives made the Routes-to-Market methodology the cornerstone of their Marketing Life Cycle process. Their goal was to transform the company’s engineering culture to focus on customers. The results were exceptional — over the next 6 years Adobe’s sales grew 179%, profits increased 252% and its stock price rose 179%, more than 5 times the gain in the NASDAQ Composite Index and more than 6 times the S & P 500 Index. In the video below, Peter Raulerson interviews Mamta Shah, Adobe’s Director of Strategic Planning, about Adobe’s experience in adopting Routes-to-Market.

The Routes-to-Market (RTM) methodology has been used extensively by product vendors and their distribution partners to develop and execute joint business and go-to-market plans. Using RTM in this way has generated significant incremental revenues and profits for the vendors and their channel partners. IBM, Microsoft and Cisco have done this with thousands of their resellers, distributors, independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators. RTM has also been used by partners in strategic alliances to develop and execute joint go-to-market plans. Alliance partners that have used RTM in this way include IBM, SAP, Cisco, Wipro, Nortel and Sony. In the video below, Peter Raulerson interviews Dhun Zwirble and John Skinner of the consulting firm Alliances & Channels, LLC, about using RTM with distribution and alliance partners.

You can now order our book at 800-CEO-READ. They specialize in business books, and do a great job with bulk orders. Check out Where to Order the Book for a complete list of sources.

Using the Routes-to-Market methodology, the management of technology start-up Baracoda changed the go-to-market strategy to take their innovative wireless barcode scanners across the chasm and became the leader of a new product category. Here’s a video interview and case study explaining how they did it.

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In the video below, Peter Raulerson provides a 2-minute introduction to the Routes-to-Market methodology and our book Building Routes to Customers. You can also watch this video on our book’s webpage on Amazon.com.

Our book, Building Routes to Customers: Proven Strategies for Profitable Growth, can now be pre-ordered at Amazon’s country websites in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany and Japan, via the following links: Read more…

“Trying to go to market without a detailed route map is like driving cross-country with no directions - the motion feels good until you realize it’s taking longer than you expected and the scenery looks familiar. This book distills the authors’ methodology and best practices and clarifies how marketing and sales can pivot from abstract segmentation and go-to-market planning to pragmatic and tangible implementation steps. Big impact on marketing and sales productivity.”

– Eugene Lee, CEO, Socialtext, Inc., formerly VP Worldwide Small/Medium Business Marketing, Cisco Systems, Inc.

“Routes-to-Market is a great tool for driving expansion into new markets and distribution channels. It also gets all of the management team on the same agenda. RTM has had a very positive impact at Plantronics.”

– Ken Kannappan, President & CEO, Plantronics, Inc.

“Technology innovation is not limited to the lab or the manufacturing process. Successfully marketing new technologies is about understanding change and helping customers adopt a new technology to create significant business value. RTM is a practical roadmap for maximizing revenue and profitability throughout the entire product life cycle. This book is a must read for anyone looking to drive technology adoption in today’s evolving markets.”

– Joan Jacobs, Executive Director of Itanium Solutions Alliance, formerly Global Alliance Director, Hewlett-Packard