There are a ton of RSS feed widget creators out there, and if you're a HubSpot customer, you can easily add a new RSS feed module via HubSpot's content management system. By now, most members of the inbound marketing community are probably aware that RSS exists (and if you don't, this blog post will help ). Does that spark a content idea?

His collective social media involvement and leadership is helping usher in a new era of sales that meshes with the customer 2.0 entails leveraging the same social media used by customers—Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs and others. Changes in Selling or Sales management? However the job of sales and sales management has not changed.

This could include a customer telling of their satisfaction with your firm, a sales trainer or a motivational message that propels your team to excellence. Sales Leadership: Ten 2012 Sales Kick-off Meeting Idea’s. I know this because I am booked for five events already.  You should schedule them no later than mid-February.

These guys are willing to trade off customer insight, practical segmentation, personalization, channel strategy, customer intimacy and message cues because the bag of numbers looks too big.  Data is being touted as the new marketing darling.   Here are 6 reasons; we need to get out of our own way.   

In the name of Edward Bernays, where’s the customer motivation in that? Substituting benefits for braggadocio never upset any customer. . Other Popular Posts:          DIY Media Buying Or Use A Pro ?          Twitter PR Gem      Email Scoop. Enjoy the read, please subscribe to my RSS feed , or. No one is blameless.  Welcome!

The large tech company needs marketing specialists while small tech requires generalists with expertise in customer acquisition. Would you rather be called a generalist    or a jack-of-all-trades ? Or would it be preferable to be called a Full-Stack Marketer ? It’s the size of company that dictates the scope of the marketer.

Ad networks such as Halogen Network and Martini Media Network attempt to offer a full service buying experience, from brand building, customized marketing programs and efficient customer acquisition. Furthermore, ad networks have the ability to create custom site channels specially built for a single advertiser. Privacy Policy

But then social media is not just about getting your potential customers to your website and then tracking them, its more about interacting with them on a neutral platform, engaging them and educating them about your company and its offerings, in a setting they are comfortable with and like to frequent. from social media.

small software company recently ran an experiment… The company, which had been requiring registration to download its customer case studies, decided to unlock those stories on their website. B2B marketers are increasingly using social media to connect with their customers, but oftentimes they are not using those tools effectively.

Salesforce.com is the cloud computing darling of customer relationship management (CRM) software. They have significant control of mind share in that space, and their legacy in customer service and sales force automation software is strong. Guest post by Lauren Carlson. However, CRM is a trifecta. You can’t argue with a free app.

All designed to add maximum value to our customers. I’ve always been a planner. like to write down goals and work toward reaching them. This is probably as a result of being a career sales guy. Or maybe it’s just the opposite. The fact that I plan and have goals has made my sales career a forgone conclusion. Loose ends drive me crazy.

With a properly timed approach, this prospect could very well turn into a customer/client. It has been a b-e-a-utiful weekend here in New England, and as we all prepare for the coming work week, here is a chance to catch up on some blogs you may have missed last week. Monday, June 18, 2012. Tuesday, June 19, 2012. Wednesday, June 20, 2012.

We’ve been trying to help our customers answer the “which data” question for the last couple of years by providing anecdotal insights via examples we’ve seen across the industry. That said, we are still in the very early stages of corporate adoption and there are plenty of unanswered questions for most companies.   Facebook?  Twitter?

The corporate website still is the primary hub to harness customer interest driven by outbound online marketing activities. How often did we hear this question in the last three years? Marketers, sales(wo)men and many C-Level’s in the B2B space have asked the question many times in seminars. What sounds as a clear message, is more a blur.

If you’ve already tried suggesting your company page to all of your friends and sharing its content on your wall, here are a few tips on customizing your personal account to share personally and directly with your friends. Creating a Facebook page for your company can be useful, but limited in terms of reach and connectivity.

Once a lead has been converted to a buyer, add the “Advocacy&# stage offering incentives to customers in exchange for endorsements and referrals. I’ve opted-in to receive content from a large number of marketing and technology publishers, so I get dozens of informational emails every day. Then I see another, then another.

But making purchases on the move can be a tricky business and your job as the marketer is to remove those barriers in order to ease the customer frustration and more importantly improve conversion. This ensures you don’t lose a customer who doesn’t feel like making a purchase via their mobile. The Mobile Opportunity.

  And while it’s easy to imagine how great it might be to focus your customer's attention on your vertical, to connect your brand advocates and to observe and mine the rich dialog among the faithful, it’s much harder to pull off than it seems.  And don't forget, even if you build it; they might not come.

Get sales customer service, engineering and of course marketing into the mix. Not all companies should be blogging. How do you determine if you’re one of them? Most manufacturers, unless they are making commodity items, should fit into the “do” column. Why should you blog? Position yourself as an expert in your field.

For one week each month, my routine was turned upside down, my commute took me to the airport instead of the office, and then my job was to talk with potential customers face-to-face instead of over the phone and email. Maybe its the tale of that customer or prospect that got away, and how it caused change within your company.

Inbound And Outbound - Talking With, Instead Of At The Customer. Inbound And Outbound - Engineering The Customer Experience As Well As The Product Or Service. Recently I was involved in a debate on FOCUS discussing how marketers can prepare for the new Inbound Marketing trend. Just like the chicken and egg.

Alinean can uniquely take your existing spreadsheet based tools, and using our XcelLive™ platform , directly create a sales / marketing tool with NO custom software development needed. Often we are asked, "If we already have a spreadsheet-based sales and marketing tools, can these be converted easily into an online tool?" The answer is "Yes".

Too often, product focused markets deluge customers with solution information without asking prospects what they “think they want” that can solve their problems and as a result, the prospect connection is not made. They ask questions and dig deeper below the surface to identity the pain, urgency and frustration of their customers.”

Social media better for retention then getting new customers. Below are selected tweets that were sent out by Chris Herbert, Founder of Mi6 through his @B2Bspecialist twitter account and his @mi6agency twitter account. Our goal is to provide you with a weekly overview of tweets that feature information you can use and act on. Monday. Tuesday.

If you want social media to work, you had better be social, you had better think through the media that reaches your constituents, and you had better work on your marketing–not to your customers but to your employees. Photo credit: mabith. One group doesn’t do anything and the other does whatever it wants. Somebody does get it.

You need to be present where your customers are searching for information. Mobile is one of the hottest topics in B2B Marketing in 2011. More businesses are embracing smart-phones and tablets as part of their support and operations. And more people are moving their search and content interaction activities to their mobile devices. Relevance.

Disappointed retailers eager to embrace new technology and engage customers have been burned. Social, local and mobile are the next big thing; the last mile; where the rubber meets the road, the ultimate game changer. The pundits predicted 2012 would be the year of SoLoMo. Now the same pundits predict hockey stick growth in 2013.

think 2010 was the first time that many local businesses realized they could use Internet tools to reach local customers (which was always the case, but there certainly are better tools for reaching specific people these days). When you ask a customer how they found your business, many may say online or “the Internet.&#

When creating content to send out, think about your customers and what you can do to benefit them. The type geared toward products, like Best Buy and Amazon , enable customers to browse and look at products. Technology is most ultimately the simple and convenient way to blast information in mass form. Always test everything. link].

One, I get the freshest fish available and two, I’m treated to excellent customer service, which in this day of rudeness run rampant, is worth every penny. However, what hasn’t gone out of style is old-fashioned customer service and values such as integrity and offering the best of yourself. Ok, yes! I’m serious.

Give current and potential customers a reason to revisit your website. Start by building a list of the keywords that you think potential customers will use in searches to find your business. Mashable had a great post for small businesses which I summarize below. Try the following tips. Keep Content Fresh. Integrate With Social Media.

Marketing data, including customer and sales information, is some of the most valuable information within an organization. There are many ways data can leave your building:  taking a customer file home on your laptop, mailing a USB drive, sending an email, using FTP, accessing company resources from offsite, and more. Kevin Gilbert.

67% said customer acquisition/lead generation is their primary focus. GlobalSpec  recently released its annual marketing trends report for the industrial sector. The online survey identified trends, challenges and anticipated expenditures in the Industrial market. 35% of companies are spending more on marketing in 2012.

Look at how it all fits together (or doesn’t) from the customer’s point of view, and in terms of your goal. At a recent PWB staff meeting, we sidetracked, as we often do, into a discussion of what makes for a successful demand generation program. Disciplined Point of View. The Discipline to Work Together. The Discipline to Test.

And if you go one level deeper, that audience is likely made up of prospective Marketo users or current customers. by Dayna Rothman We had a great webinar  last week on visual content with Maria Pergolino, Sr. Director of Marketing at Marketo, and Jason Lankow, CEO and Co-Founder of Column Five. And we have been very pleased with the results.

can’t imagine inviting a customer to a weekend of golfing any more. I’ve learned a lot from Mark W. Schaefer , a marketing professional, professor and friend I first met through Twitter about three years ago. Mark’s Twitter account is quite active, too. That’s an unusual quality among social media gurus.

Part of my first job was to summarize important industry, business and customer news and have it typed in a standard format for worldwide distribution by 8 a.m.  The customer is not always right, but they are always the customer. This has been a week of reminiscing for me.  Back then, that meant being in the office by 6 a.m.,

It can help you: Get found by potential customers. Connect and engage with current customers. With over 750 million users, Facebook is now recognized as the most popular social network, and more and more businesses are harnessing its awesome power to achieve their marketing goals. Are you? But how do you get started? Generate leads!

Consider these advantages of using an article or blog writing service to help you create the unique content your customers love. And it’s hard to write the passionate content your customers want when you feel burnt out. Original Image Credit:  radixpower/photobucket.com. Outsourcing saves you money. Outsourcing saves you time.

You should also take time to think of some amazing referral programs that let your current customers get in on the sharing action while you reap the benefits of free marketing and a larger customer base. Well, I think that yes, it is the next big thing (dare I say it is already here?) What Is the Sharing Revolution? Feeling smart.

There's usually a higher lead-to-customer conversion rate for leads with multiple conversion events; part of that can be attributed to the fact that Sales has more information about the leads, and that information is more accurate. Don't make it harder for interested prospects to learn why they should become a customer of yours.

Customers will not be flocking to your door just because you are blogging (or Tweeting for that matter). It allows for feedback and interactivity, so you can get a sense for what your readers (or customers) think. play tennis with an “excuse champion.&# She’s quite creative. While that may be true, (who does?) Digg this!

Here’s why: Customer ratings and reviews are one of the ways we decide and choose to buy products online. But when I see a customer rave review and 5 stars, I’m all in. How are you using client recommendations in your online content marketing ? Do you add them as an afterthought? It’s called social proof. How often?

Customers rule. sense that readers/ customers/ prospects are getting more educated and sensitive to Internet copywriting persuasion tactics. There was a time I was in love with blogging … I had already been in the business of content marketing for 5 years on the Web, using an old-fashioned website platform. It was like magic.

Suprisingly in light of the value focus of sales enablement and marketing, less than 1 in 10 of sales engagements are perceived committed to customer’s outcomes, realized value and success. The good news is that many marketers and sales enablement groups have realized the change in buyers over the past decade. Not so fast.

Focus instead on creating tons of strategic, relevant content to attract and engage your prospects and customers. Tweet. Your search engine optimization (SEO) company, maybe despite claiming that their  tactics are above board ( white hat tactics), tricked the system with black hat tactics that go against search engine guidelines. Germain.

connect strategically to colleagues, customers, clients, classmates and others. Tweet. …Or your inbox fill with inquiries? It does for me. So, if I’m getting results, why do many business people still say, “I’m on LinkedIn – now what?” So you’re on LinkedIn – now what? while mitigating risk.

Mike, do you have any suggestions on what potential customers should look for in a B-to-B telemarketing company? This is the first in a series of occasional interviews with top practitioners in the field of B-to-B demand generation. Mike is an experienced marketer, having served as CMO of two software companies before starting Green Leads.

The new sharing options enable users to, on a message by message basis, choose whether content should be public, only viewable to friends, or viewable to a custom group of people. Personalization in marketing means more targeted and personalized messaging, which can lead to the ability to better convert prospects into customers.

Check out your page analytics (for HubSpot customers, you can use HubSpot Pages ) and fix the top 5 errors, evaluate a call-to-action, or check out A/B testing and improve a page based on those results. Does your marketing life ever feel like it’s just an endless to-do list, with all items labeled the highest priority and due yesterday?

Keep your content current and relevant for a well-defined set of potential customers within equally well-defined market niches. External links to your site from high quality, relevant websites are one of the best ways to generate great search results. It’s like being friends with all the cool kids in high school. Thank you."

Social media gives us a personal connection with brands, the people who work for them, and the customers who buy their products/services. From my own experience, I’ve been able to connect with so many customers, partners, bloggers, and media in the financial community just via social media. Image via Wikipedia. They believe.

If you can inspire pride in your customers’ buying decisions, their confidence in you will soar. Any purchase that makes a prospect feel good about himself will make him more likely to be a repeat customer. Insulting your customers is a bold move, and can definitely backfire. How does the appeal to pride work?

With a focus on Strategy, Marketing Research, Custom Training and Implementation Services (Interactive Advertising, SEO, SEM, Social Media Marketing), we provide smart thinking and smart strategies to more than 100 organizations. Companies like e-storm international exemplify America’s remarkable potential and the future of our urban centers.

Related posts: Using Google Social Search for B2B Sales Google Social Search allows you to see custom search results. Google just announced the +1 feature to bring social recommendations to search. The initial presentation of the button is that it gives people the ability to endorse search results, and share that with their networks.

Understanding the Customer Buying Cycle and Triggers by @ BostonVC via @ bobapollo. Winter may be settling in where we Savvy Sisters live, but the blogosphere has been hot-hot-hot with all kinds of great content and conversations. How to Build a Subscriber Base of 10,000 and Growing by @amandamaks via @junta42. But these are really good.

Customer-centricity: Do marketers really get it? Is it really November?! It's hard to believe we're headed into the heart of winter (an especially chilling thought for those of us in New England). Ah well -- perhaps like us you can find escape in these thought-provoking posts from the blogosphere. Look no further. Here it is.

What you had for breakfast is not really what most of your customers want to know, but it is always a good idea to go beyond typical posts for the benefit of followers. It seems that the younger the employee, the more frequently they use social media. Tougher still is finding a teenager who is not connected on  Facebook and Twitter.

If the end user forwarded the email to IT, and that individual subsequently clicked on the email, the IT worker was directed to a custom Web microsite that offered an information kit on BYOD and how to implement an initiative within his or her organization. Here’s how the campaign worked: 1.

Furthermore, if you're a HubSpot user, you can even customize your blog settings to add an additional CTA to your RSS footer, which automatically displays at the end of every post in RSS. Note: HubSpot customers can easily A/B test CTAs using HubSpot's CTA tools.). But have no fear! Lead Gen Opportunities for Your Business Blog.

Umberto's article expands upon the following sales transformations caused by social technologies : From mass marketing to targeted/customized consumer messaging. We're in the midst of a revolution: the revolution of the B2B sales process through social selling. The Revolution of Social Selling for B2B Companies. It's true.

Although many of the basic principles such as making sure your images have alt text and having a 301 redirect in place remain the same, there are a few steps that international companies can take to improve their SEO and maximize the chance that potential customers are able to find them on the internet. Spend Time on Keyword Selection.

We keep a low profile and get most of our customers by word of mouth. We've all heard the old saying, "the cobblers children have no shoes." " As busy freelance writers and marketers it's easy to let your self-marketing slide. Focus on the Work. Heather. Sharpen the Saw. am a natural networker. Stephanie. Jamie. Wendy.

” And while that may help your company - in that you can point people to a legitimate website - more often than not, if your website is not clean and precise, you're probably losing potential customers. These days, we all know how important it is to have a web-presence. If you have a business, then you need to be on the web. Period.

As a marketer using Twitter and other social media sites to interact with customers, it will be important to create interesting multimedia content and distribute it via services, like those the Twitter media partners listed above, to ensure that content is easily consumed on Twitter and other social networks. Marketing Takeaway.

And increasingly, to keep an eye on existing customers'' activities to make the most of every repeat sales opportunity. Understand your Prospect/Customer Journey. Look It is six times easier to sell to existing customers than prospects source: Harvard Business School. What problems does it solve? Have a plan. Decide. Track.

Google can find your B2B Company, but can your Customers? I spoke with John Blue of Truffle Media at Blogworld about what he does within a B2B niche using social media. He produces regular audio shows, also called podcasts, for the agriculture industry, as well as video podcasts of conference presentations. Share the link.

27% Relied more on live customer feedback & recommendations. Long-time readers and colleagues well understand that when data is published which vindicates what I've long been saying, blogging, writing, WOMming, tweeting, nudging and all-out urging of B2B marketers. tend to get a little bold in my advice. Why so delighted am I?

Customer Engagement Part 1 5 Things Brands Want from Facebook Fans Besides Money. I t’s hard enough getting someone to flirt with you on Facebook. But getting engaged? Thankfully, the people over at BuddyMedia did some statistical analysis recently and came up with 4 ways to get better engagement on Facebook. Their findings?

The more customization in the email itself the better, greeting by first name if your program allows is excellent. This simple change can be incredibly effective, a recent customer of mine had previously never used landing pages or content on their site for simple email marketing. Lately there's been a lot of talk about ROI and email.

According to Harvard Business Review, companies that try to contact potential customers within 1 hour of receiving an inquiry are nearly 7 times more likely to have a meaningful conversation with a key decision maker. Sales wants more, better leads. Marketing wants sales to call all of the leads they're delivering. Set up SMarketing.

50) Despite the fact that 13% of execs are now primarily checking their email via a mobile device, less than half of websites/emails are optimized for customers to view or respond to via handheld resources. Contrary to rumor, email is not dead. Nor is it dying in the wake of social media's rise in popularity. Email Performance Trends.

To that end, your customers fully expect your company to be easy to find and easy to do business with, on their own terms. You need to use inbound marketing to attract customers to you, not interrupt people with ads they don’t want to see. Provide value to your customers. The traditional advertising model is broken. Be helpful.

But one fantasy that always topped my list – was to have the power to read my target customer’s mind. Depending on your findings you can then create your marketing collaterals addressing the different issues and concerns unearthed by your findings and populate the channels most frequented by your target customer. Research. Engagement.

This guide will help you build a lead generation engine that maps to your customers buying process and delivers maximum measureable ROI. This is a wake-up call for those executives who thought that marketing was about being creative and winning design awards. It’s about making money. Money! Is yours? How long will that take? Maybe.

It involved an influential basketball coach who used her Twitter account to complain about a nonspecific customer service problem she encountered at one of her favorite restaurants. Several months ago I wrote a post a bout what I considered to be a potential abuse of Twitter. restaurant that she had praised via Twitter in the past.

At this very moment, you could be bleeding leads and losing customers, hemorrhaging them by the dozens because of it. Sloppy writing is the silent killer of inbound marketing. Bad grammar and spelling might be turning away your most qualified leads every day, and you wouldn’t even know it. So glad you asked. Ye Olde Style Guides of Yore.

The original presentation: The Future of Websites View more presentations from TMG Custom Media (Special thanks to  Jackie Roy  for patient help on this presentation.) P redicting the future of the web is nearly impossible. Ever-changing technology provides fodder for our imagination to run wild. And it typically does. You’ve heard the stats.

Violation: The crappy carpet violates Rule 5 and the resolute ignoring of customers kicks Rule 6 to the curb. Last week we talked about how to rock your trade shows. This week let’s follow that up with a glimpse into trade show stupidity with some stuff that just shouldn’t happen, but sadly does (and I have proof). Let’s look at this booth.

When you feel you’re ready to move on to the next step of your PowerPoint design training, take a stab at creating your very own ebook to help you generate leads and draw in more customers. Now that 2013 is here, there's a lot to think about to help you kick your marketing year off strong. 16 Smart Resolutions for Better Marketing in 2013.

They’ll try out Twitter just long enough to have the rope jerked out of their hands—maybe they’ll experience a Twitter storm of angry customers posting negative tweets or links to embarrassing content about the company. Over the next few posts, I’ll present and expand upon some of their key B2B Twitter Research Report findings. Or Does It?

Whether it's a solitary customer complaint in social media or a more widespread issue like your products or services failing to meet expectations, a great crisis communications strategy to adopt is to respond quickly and openly, apologize, and explain what went awry as well as the steps you're taking to improve/fix/remedy the situation.

Whether this sparks ideas for blog posts or eBooks, or helps you connect with a potential partner or customer, it's a rich source of goodness. How do you use LinkedIn to your best professional advantage? The Savvy Sisters share their best tips: Stephanie. Keep Connected and Current. Jamie. Confession: I'm lousy at LinkedIn. get it.

It is a unique look at using your customers as a referral source, as brand advocates and for case studies. Doing some last-minute shopping for the B2B marketer in your life? Or, maybe you've been a good little B2B marketer yourself and are looking for a little something-something to put in your own stocking? Thanks again for a great year.

He advocates painting a holistic picture of customers and urges marketers to strive for customer intimacy. Tired of James Patterson, Steig Larrson, Nora Roberts or Danielle Steele? Each one draws on personal experience, cites client cases or quotes clients and articulates their personal greatest hits. This book. By Justin R.

And yes, once again we've circled back to our buyers and customers. We all want to think our products and solutions are unique, differentiated and give us a competitive advantage in the marketplace. After all, we're passionate about what we do. We wouldn't be in business if we weren't. This perspective has its drawbacks.

It's also one heck of a community for getting to know your prospects and customers. LinkedIn can be a very valuable tool for B2B professionals to meet colleagues they'd never otherwise have access to, network with those they don't see very often and engage in conversations on topics of interest. No salutation. What a turn off!

We all like to think of our websites as destinations that serve to engage our prospects and customers. But this article from eMarketer — Has the Internet Made You More Productive — delivers a clear challenge to your website content. This means your content has to be on target. Obviously people are not satisfied with limited information.

If you like working along side of people who are smart, organized, thorough, and take pride in initiating meaningful relationships with future customers, then this is the team for you. . Sales managers and recruiters talk about a lot of qualities they want reps to possess. Relentless hunter, driving to win new business. For a while.

Author of the blog “Web Strategy” and Industry Analyst on Customer Strategy and a Partner at Altimeter Group. by Maria Pergolino Dreamforce is packed with big names.  We know the keynotes (of course) – Sir Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, and Gen. Colin Powell.  And who can forget the Red Hot Chili Peppers?  What makes them big name? 

SEO remains the most cost-effective way to drive website traffic. B2B websites often receive anywhere from 30%-60% from organic search, with 50% or more sometimes coming from Google alone. But SEO is changing. Sure-Fire Signs Your SEO Sucks by HubSpot Blog. Example: “2.) Content sounds like it was written by an SEO expert from 1999.

by Adrian Chang | Tweet this I’m an avid player and follower of tennis. In a previous life, I was also a Marketing Specialist at IBM focused solely on marketing and analytics across its sponsorship properties including PGA Tour, Cirque du Soleil, Super Bowl and Grand Slam Tennis where IBM served as a technology partner. When I last attended the U.S.

Ajay Goel is CEO of JangoMail, an email marketing company that helps businesses reach customers and prospects in a highly reliable and personalized way. Guest post by Ajay Goel. When more emails will go unopened, because chances are, recipients are either away on vacation, preparing for vacation, or simply wanting to be on vacation!

It not only increases your online footprint but gives you more credibility and exposure with potential customers. With more than 40 million users Google+ is growing as a social media powerhouse. Considering Google is the largest search engine in the world it would only make sense that you create a Google+ business page. Social Media

It not only increases your online footprint but gives you more credibility and exposure with potential customers. With more than 40 million users Google+ is growing as a social media powerhouse. Considering Google is the largest search engine in the world it would only make sense that you create a Google+ business page. Social Media

One of the areas where these trends both come into play for B2B is around online customer communities. suspect that tolerance for complicated, dry, blandly designed internal and customer communities by the users of those communities will wane. What connected them, in my mind, is the consumerization of IT.

Don't spend time planning a webinar and creating the offer button/landing page/web-to-lead form conversion path unless you know it's something your customers and prospects want. Solicit some sales folks - they'll be able to write out answers to questions they know customers are asking. Myself included. How many pigs are there?

Are you confident that your company is effectively handling potential customers’ online queries? B2B companies that use LinkedIn as a major component of their social media strategy generate business leads on the platform. But many marketers still can’t quite their heads around using this professional social network. from Lead Views.

The ideal player can explain the branding rationale, the desired customer experience and the operational steps to connect the dots to an interested but ignorant client.    Digital channels are ascendant for branding, lead generation and customer service and retention. No two organizations are alike. Others don’t.

We wanted to let our registered users select their interests from a predetermined set of categories, then present a customized home page when they logged in. MUD day 20: Back in the late 90s or early aughts, one of the hot topics in the Web 1.0 world was personalization. We never implemented our plan, but it hardly mattered. Aggregate.