Fall is my favorite season. While most would think this is due to the swift drop in extreme Arizona temps, I actually love this time of year for the other season that simultaneously starts—FOOTBALL SEASON! Don’t let the love of all things pink, sparkly and girly fool you. I’m a diehard Oregon Ducks fan and will cheer, yell and devote my every weekend to all things pigskin for the next four months.

My team’s having a great year and has given me a lot of media content to enjoy. But last weekend I read an interesting article about how my beloved Ducks might be missing out on a top 2 ranking—not because of their play but because of their…marketing, branding and external messaging?!

‘The cutesiness surrounding the Quack Attack, Team Nike, and The Duck’s hundreds of pushups might actually be holding back Chip Kelly’s team and could cost them a shot at the national championship.’

I’m here to argue that nice guys won’t finish last and marketing yourself as the ‘nice guys’ is a refreshing change. Who doesn’t want to work, interact and talk with nice, fun people? And when you have the excellent portfolio of skills and customer service to back you up, people will take notice that nice guys actually finish first. Do you want to work with nice people? Then you’ve found the right place because at Canyon we follow the ‘nice guy’ rule every day.

Because I’m so excited about Oregon’s game this weekend (and I love a NICE giveaway) I’ll send a Canyon/Starbucks ‘buzzcard’ to the first person who can tell me the Ducks opponent this week.

Being an effective B2B marketer requires the desire to be a life-long learner. While I’m a firm believer that basic tenants of marketing communications hold up over time, it is critical for marketing professionals to continue to push themselves to learn the new and innovative ways that other B2B marketers and leading organizations are applying tried and true marketing principles using the latest tools and technologies.

Last week, the Phoenix Chapter of the Business Marketing Association hosted its second annual Marketing Technology Summit along with the Arizona Technology Council. Event attendees were able to gain knowledge from marketers at leading organizations including Microsoft, Motorola, Intel, Honeywell, Molex, Avnet and OMS.

It’s impossible to walk away from an event like this without a few good ideas that you can use to steer your next marketing communications strategy. The important thing is to be proactive in your pursuit of new information and innovative thinking. Even the best ideas require a little inspiration. Be an active participant in guiding effective marketing communications program for your business by seeking out information from industry resources, media outlets and events.

What are your go-to resources and venues for new ideas in marketing communications?

Is there a sales and marketing lovefest going on at your organization? Do your sales and marketing departments go together like ham and cheese or oil and water? Are you using the perfect combination of technology tools and strategies to find new customers?

If you answered no to any of these questions, please join our strategic partner, Loop Demand Gen, for a Lunch and Learn on Sales and Marketing Alignment presented in conjunction with the Arizona Technology Council on October 12^th. Here’s why you should attend:

1. You’ll learn about the best practices in sales and marketing alignment
2. See why aligning technology tools and strategies are critically important for business growth
3. Learn how to automate lead capture, opportunity scoring, e-mail follow-up and online prospect tracking
4. Experience a live demonstration of marketing automation and CRM technology

Best of all, one lucky attendee who requests and downloads the ‘What is Demand Gen?’ white paper prior to the Lunch and Learn will win an iPod® Shuffle and have the opportunity to participate in the marketing automation technology demonstration.

Click here to find out more and to RSVP. We look forward to looping in with you.

Corporate blogging is a COMMITMENT. I know it’s a scary word, commitment. It’s natural to be afraid of commitment. I’ve known many commitment phobes in my life—heck, I married one and believe me he tried to run for the hills on more than one occasion when we were dating. But, if you’re still reading and haven’t trekked it to the hill country, then perhaps corporate blogging is for you.

You can make the corporate blog commitment as long as you have two things figured out: quantity and quality.

I’m sure you’ve weighed quality and quantity in some aspect of your life before, be it friends (quality), beer (quantity) or b2b leads (quality). In blogging, these two share the same level of importance.

Photo courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/501356671/

Obviously, you need to have quality content that informs and entertains your readers—this will keep them coming back. But, if when they return, they see that you haven’t posted anything new in weeks or months, well you just lost your readership.

That doesn’t mean you should post a bunch of empty, valueless content just to keep your blog current. What it does mean is make sure that every post brings value to your readers and you establish an expectation for post frequency and stick to it.

At b2b Fishbowl, we try to bring you new posts at least three times a week. Sometimes, we fall a post short (we do get busy here @CanyonComm). Sometimes, we bring you more. But, we always strive to balance quality and quantity.

Tell me about your blog balance. How often do you blog? How do you ensure quality content?