The discussion began with Good requesting each participant introduce themselves, and share the challenges they are facing as sales and marketing professionals.  During the discussion, participants discovered helpful information, including how to leverage partnerships for business development.  Many participants shared a common thread as partners with AeA.

Gibson, who wears many hats, including strategic partnerships, public relations, and orchestrating legislative outreach for her company, shared that one challenge for her company is reaching struggling manufacturers who are not aware that CMTC can step in and help. "We have numerous consultants who work strategically across industries," Gibson said.

"We provide this consultation at no cost to companies with a revenue of less than $15 million for one year. Then after a year, in many cases, we move into a competitive fee-based consultation if the company requests further assistance. CMTC's name is not out there on a broad scale throughout the manufacturing industry. By partnering with AeA, we reach a broader audience."

Ng, who is penetrating the $300 billion US gifting market, enjoyed the roundtable discussion format because it was easy to participate and engage in open discussions -- not to mention, he walked away with a few new connections.

"Being a new start-up, it was great to take away some little nuggets of marketing wisdom from experienced sales and marketing professionals. I particularly appreciated the advice, opinions and personal dialogue that occurred in such a short period of time – something that is rare in larger settings," said Ng, who is looking forward to attending future roundtables with an emphasis on business-to-consumer marketing.

During the roundtable, the discussion turned to social media and how each professional is using it to their advantage. Good encouraged participants not to take social media sites for granted. WunderMarx|PR uses Twitter and LinkedIn often as a way to keep customers and people close because "we do not do business with companies, we do business with people," Good said. "We receive many soft story leads through Twitter for our clients." Not to mention, she secured three solid contracts via LinkedIn, one of which was from India--and the connection was not directly within her network!

Good asked who uses email newsletters and are they still relevant?  David McNeil, Edgewood Partnership Insurance Vice President, said he still uses email newsletters because he receives good customer feedback. 

Newkirk said blogs work best from his experience. For newsletters, he enjoys the Wall Street Journal at-a-glance approach. "I can quickly scan the cover contents to determine if I want to get into it or not," Newkirk said.

Gallagher said a key issue is there needs to be a coordinated integration of the various communications media in the marketing mix--they have to be synergistic. "The nice thing about blogs is that they can be repurposed for newsletters," Gallagher said. "I have a colleague who selects his top blog postings every quarter and publishes them in hard copy for clients who do not go online."

Zampiglia then chimed in to say there really is no right or wrong way to execute your marketing mix. "It's really based on your budget and your target audience response/behavior," Zampiglia said. "Measure the performance of each tactic and how your customer base responds to determine what strategy works best. We use a customized CRM database program to measure every marketing and sales tactic. That way, by the time I contact a prospect, I know their history with regard to what link and key words they clicked, what web page they visited, and what ad they're responding to. It's a great tracking process and helps pre-qualifying leads."

While the discussions took place, business cards from each participant were exchanged, and towards the conclusion of the roundtable, Good encouraged all to give someone a call and invite them out to lunch to further their connection.