“No soup for you!” This became the cry of the “Soup Nazi” in one episode of the popular series Seinfeld when it was on. The plot is that one of the crew eats soup that is to die for, and the others won’t believe soup can be so good until they try it. When they go to the shop that sells the soup, there is a long line of people wanting this soup. Each person methodically and silently moves through the line, reaching and taking without talking to the chef. One of Jerry’s friends (or maybe it was him? anyway…) commits a horrible faux-pas and talks to the chef and doesn’t do something the way he should and ends up banned from the soup line, with the grouchy chef yelling this famous line after him as he leaves.The Soup Nazi came to mind the other week when I was musing over the latest nutrition fad to hit the market. Because I market liquid whole food nutrition as supplements to healthcare practitioners and those involved in the nutrition field, I hear a lot of people telling clients some pretty strange things. It’s not wrong to try something that someone you trust recommends. However, when someone issues mandates and absolutes about diets without the science to back it up, I start getting perturbed. So, I’ve coined a term for the people who are so far at the end of the nutrition spectrum that they have fallen off: Nutrition Nazis.A Nutrition Nazi is someone who requires another person to eat a plate of peas for lunch every single day. A Nutrition Nazi is a person who scares other people into eating certain foods with such authority that all types of (insert a certain food category) are eliminated from the diet. A Nutrition Nazi is a person who will not accept any other suggestions offered to a client if it is not made by them. A Nutrition Nazi will not accept clients if they do (insert something here that seems random) or don’t do (insert something else that seems random).Actually, you have probably seen Nutrition Nazis on TV (maybe even on Oprah!). You may have met one, or even followed one for awhile. They are people who make other people feel bad if they aren’t like them. They use nutrition as a reward and as a punishment. They look great, and they are healthy. But they make one mistake in their training that is a deal-breaker:They tell people to do things that aren’t enjoyable!I do believe in many, many things about nutrition that science, experience, and history back up as wise practices. These things come from all different sources. Anyone who converts his/her nutrition habits to even 20% of them would at least experience a greater sense of well-being and would be investing in their future good health. And I know better than to tell people to do these things.Good nutrition cannot be presented to clients as a god to please. I have yet to meet one person who craves failure, and to hold good nutrition up as something high to aspire to will create failure. So much in our culture that doesn’t relate to the stuff on our plates is twisted up in foods that I refuse to address clients in such black and white terms. If you happen to meet a Nutrition Nazi, I strongly suggest asking them up front what they won’t let you eat. Follow that with a question of what is the one food you should eat everyday. If they answer any food after question one, don’t sign any papers. If they tell you something odd, expensive, or yucky, make a one-eighty and tell them you’ll think about it. I hope you’ll think about how odd or expensive or yucky that food would be to eat everyday, and then think about finding some other sources (yes, plural) to help you grow in this area.
US Markets in green on Friday; Dow 30 up over 345 points, Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 up nearly 1%
US Markets were trading in the green on Friday with Dow 30 trading at 30,678.80, up by 1.14%. While S&P 500 was trading at 3,701.66, up by 0.98% and Nasdaq Composite 10,690.60 was also up by 0.71 per cent
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US Markets in green on Friday; Dow 30 up over 345 points, Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 up nearly 1%
Earlier today, Indian stock markets ended the week on a winning note. It was the sixth straight gains for equity markets. Source: Reuters
US Markets were trading in the green on Friday with Dow 30 trading at 30,678.80, up by 345.25 points or1.14 per cent. While S&P 500 was trading at 3,701.66, up by 35.88 points or 0.98 per cent and Nasdaq Composite 10,690.60 was also up 75.75 points or 0.71 per cent. A Reuters report said that today’s strength was on the back of a report which said the Federal Reserve will likely debate on signaling plans for a smaller interest rate hike in December, reversing declines set off by social media firms after Snap Inc’s ad warning.
Source: Comex
Nasdaq Top Gainers and Losers
Source: Nasdaq
Earlier today, Indian stock markets ended the week on a winning note. It was the sixth straight gains for equity markets. The BSE Sensex ended at 59,307.15, up by 104.25 points or 0.18 per cent from the Thursday closing level. Meanwhile, the Nifty50 index closed at 17,590.00, higher by 26.05 points or 0.15 per cent. In the 30-share Sensex, 13 stocks gained while the remaining 17 ended on the losing side. In the 50-stock Nifty50, 21 stocks advanced while 29 declined.
Top 2 Tech Marketer Challenges (and Solutions)
If you’re a tech marketer, you’re already aware of the particularly difficult challenges you face. Sure, all marketers have difficult challenges, but the ever-changing tech world introduces new complexity to the marketing mix. After all, the technology industry is growing and changing so fast that no one can possibly keep up. No one, of course, except for the tech marketer, who is not only charged with keeping up, but also staying one step ahead of the marketplace.LinkedIn recently published an article discussing some of the top challenges experienced by tech marketers today. Here are two of those challenges, along with actionable information you can use to start overcoming them now.Challenge #1: Identifying the decision maker?All marketers know how important it is to identify and understand the decision maker. Without this knowledge, it’s difficult to build a successful marketing strategy to win them over.The difficulty with tech marketing, though, is that the decision maker isn’t a single person. Instead, it’s now a cross-functional group comprised of IT, Marketing, Sales, Operations, Finance and more.This complexity makes it all the more important to fully understand the needs, challenges and motivations of each group member and appeal to them directly.A recent LinkedIn study of groups that hold decision-making power over IT and technology purchases discovered that nurturing prospects with informative content is a vital part of the sales process. Why? Because members of these groups are typically not ready to talk to a sales rep until they have consumed at least five pieces of “relevant, unbranded, non-sales focused content”.Additionally, LinkedIn’s post highlights the importance of producing content for every role on this cross-functional buying committee… at every stage in the buying process. Because, as the post explains, the tech decision maker is a group, not an individual, marketers have a responsibility to reach out to and engage with every one of them. You never know who will make that first contact, who will lead the buying committee, or who will have the most influence over the other members.That’s why it’s critical to have a strategy for how to reach, engage and ultimately convert every member of the group at each stage in the buying process. It sounds like a lot of work, yes, but tech marketers have the opportunity to influence every member of the buying committee and begin to win them over through always-on education. What’s “always-on”? It’s content that provides valuable, educational information at every stage of the buying process – anytime the users may want it. When you consider that, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 63% of tech buyers are more likely to consider vendors that take an always-on approach, it’s worth the effort.Challenge #2: Creating Engaging ContentAccording to the Content Marketing Institute, 93% of tech marketers use content marketing. However, they also say that “creating engaging content” has been a top challenge for the last five years. What does this tells us? While tech marketers see value in content marketing, they also have limited time and resources, which keeps them from creating content that is as successful as it really could be.So how do you compete in the saturated tech marketplace? According to LinkedIn’s post, build a reliable toolbox. If you think about it, there are more content marketing tools and resources available today than ever before – many of which are free or very reasonably priced. Marketers have more options available now than ever before to design, create, write, build and develop on their own – free of any outside support. Just think about what has done for marketers!If you’re a tech marketer, you understand the pressure to stay ahead of the ridiculously fast-paced world of innovation. It’s our job to not only reach out to, but also engage some of the brightest, most forward-thinking minds in the industry. Thankfully, there are tools and resources to help make it possible.