Convince & Convert

APRIL 5, 2011

The great thing about companies widely publishing APIs in this age of collaboration is that crafty third-parties can develop tools and features that the developers of the “mother ship&# forgot. Browse through Laura Fitton’s amazing One Forty (the app store Twitter neglected to build) and you’ll find thousands of Twitter add-ons. But now that Twitter is clamping down on API access and trying to have their cake and eat it too, the next frontier for API-driven frosting is on Faceb

Facebook 167

Facebook API RSS Social Media 167

ViewPoint

APRIL 28, 2011

Today's guest blogger, Reg Nordman, is the Managing Partner for Rocket Builders , a Vancouver based sales and marketing consultancy for high growth companies. He works with large and small companies such as, Asentus , Maximizer , Sophos , Microsoft Canada , and Research in Motion. Previously he has worked in direct and channel sales for major firms such as Unisys and Commodore.

Work Management 170

Work Management Marketing Management Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads 170

Savanta

APRIL 27, 2011

I’m of the opinion that every car glove box should contain, as standard, boiled sweets. Some opt for the classic travel tin but I prefer a bag of Fox’s Glacier Mints. I like the taste, but I like the idea more. That in my little glove box sits an icon; a brand that’s part of our cultural fabric. Here’s some Glacier Mint trivia. The polar bear mascot is called Peppy, they contain only the purest sugar (impurities turn the clear cubes pink) and they’re full of B2B marketers.

B2B Marketing 120

B2B Marketing B2B Opt-in Opinions 120

Customer Experience Matrix

APRIL 26, 2011

Summary: MakesBridge offers a full set of marketing automation features with some special strengths that will appeal especially to small companies. I’ve written quite a bit recently about marketing systems for very small businesses – a category I’ve tentatively labeled “micro-business” and pegged at under $5 million revenue. This group of marketers has different needs from even slightly larger companies.

Small Business Marketing 179

Small Business Marketing Work Management Features Marketing Management 179

Speaker: Neal Boornazian, President and Nancy Harhut, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer - HBT Marketing

Direct mail has consistently remained a powerful tool in the marketer's arsenal, but in an age of digital dominance, its effectiveness hinges on the strategic integration of behavioral science. 💡 When you incorporate powerful behavioral science principles into your direct mail marketing strategies, you can prompt the hardwired decision-making shortcuts your audience relies on — and that automatically unlocks new avenues for engagement, conversion, and brand loyalty.

Response Rate

WriteSpark

APRIL 6, 2011

One of your company's sales reps e-mails you in breathless excitement: "We just signed a contract with XYZ company and they are willing to say great things about us. Can we get the writer to do a case study?". Of course, it's not everyday that a customer actually volunteers to give a positive testimonial about your product or company. Yet this situation presents a dilemma: you know a technical case study now won't be as strong as it will be in a few months, after the technology solution has been

Case Studies 120

Case Studies Case Study Studies Customer Satisfaction 120

Convince & Convert

APRIL 7, 2011

Real-time business is about capitalizing on opportunity. About keeping your antennae up and finding a way to engage with speed and context. Last month, Amber Naslund and I named our first NOW Revolutionary, someone who’s living the faster, smarter, and more social principles we wrote about in The NOW Revolution. Our first winner was NOW Revolutionary – George Jordan from the Hotel Felix in Chicago.

Godaddy 166

Godaddy Domain Social Media Curation 166

ViewPoint

APRIL 25, 2011

I recently had the opportunity to interview Ardath Albee about the importance of lead nurturing and I think you’ll be interested to read some of the valuable feedback she provided. PC: Ardath, you’ve written a lot about the importance of using lead nurturing to engage leads across the entirety of the buying process. Yet B2B marketers seem to be more focused on lead generation than the rest of the process.

Lead Gen 197

Lead Gen Emarketing Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 197

Savanta

APRIL 20, 2011

Every month David Willan interviews leading experts in from the world of marketing and B2B. This month David interviews Stephen Cheliotis, Chairman of the Superbrands Expert Councils and Chief Executive of The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA). Stephen offers some fascinating insights into the world of B2B brands. He discusses what makes a strong B2B brand and identifies the benefits that strong B2B brands bring; he looks at how B2B brands may evolve in the future, chooses his own favourite B2B

Analysis 139

Analysis Brand Identity Branding Peer-to-peer 139

Customer Experience Matrix

APRIL 13, 2011

Yesterday' post described the first three steps in Raab Associates' vendor selection process: defining requirements, researching options, and testing vendors against scenarios. This post lists the four steps needed to complete the task. As before, there's a worksheet for each step that can be a model for your own, more detailed version. And remember, the complete set is available for free in our Vendor Selection Workbook in the Resource Library at the Raab Guide Web site. 4.

Marketing Automation Services 152

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation 152

Speaker: Carlos Hidalgo, Co-Founder & CEO of Digital Exhaust, Author, International Keynote & TEDx Speaker

Recent research shows that only 50% of B2B organizations state that they have good alignment between their marketing and sales teams. This lack of alignment tremendously impacts the ability to meet business goals, and is a limiting factor for building and maintaining customer relationships. While many B2B organizations continue to struggle with aligning their marketing and sales teams, they can take practical steps to unify both teams and simplify their overall approach.

B2B Sales

WriteSpark

APRIL 6, 2011

One of your company's sales reps e-mails you in breathless excitement: "We just signed a contract with XYZ company and they are willing to say great things about us. Can we get the writer to do a case study?". Of course, it's not everyday that a customer actually volunteers to give a positive testimonial about your product or company. Yet this situation presents a dilemma: you know a technical case study now won't be as strong as it will be in a few months, after the technology solution has been

Case Studies 131

Case Studies Case Study Studies Customer Satisfaction 131

Ambal's Amusings

APRIL 30, 2011

Today white papers have become HOT marketing vehicles, and countless numbers of companies are using them to generate leads and grow their business. In fact, research conducted from leading industry analysts such as Marketing Sherpa, Eccolo Media, Tech Target, and Information Week all show that the vast majority of today’s business decision makers use white papers to make critical purchase decisions and learn about vendor solutions.

Paper 122

Paper Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 122

Convince & Convert

APRIL 25, 2011

I’m a big fan of QR codes and similar technology. Maybe it’s my failing memory brought upon by encroaching middle age, but the ability to snap a photo of something rather than remember a URL is a big win in my estimation. In fact, we included 22 Microsoft Tags (similar to QR codes) in The NOW Revolution, so we could direct readers to a treasure trove of additional resources that expand and enhance the book.

Sample 152

Sample Paper Order Tagging 152

ViewPoint

APRIL 18, 2011

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. The farmer trudged across the farm yard late one night and entered the barn. Light from the moon gave him enough visibility through the door and the cracks in the wooden walls as he crossed the open space to a wooden post mid-way into the barn where a lantern hung.

Barriers 166

Barriers Blogger ROI Work Management 166

Advertisement

Elevate your webinar game with WorkCast's Ultimate Webinar Handbook! Packed with insights from our seasoned webinar experts, this comprehensive guide is your go-to resource for mastering the art of B2B webinars. Learn the fundamentals, from defining webinars to exploring their benefits and diverse use cases. Discover the key elements of running a successful webinar, avoiding common mistakes, and making your sessions more engaging.

Webinar Metrics

Savanta

APRIL 10, 2011

Sometimes things just feel right. We can’t say why, they just do. The house bought not because it ticked all the boxes, but because you could imagine living there. The supplier chosen not after an exhaustive procurement assessment, but because they just seemed to fit. In his book, Blink, Malcolm Gladwell explores experiences like these. Gladwell’s theory is that there’s a part of our mind which constantly scans the environment digesting information, identifying patterns and matching this wit

Correlation 139

Correlation Statistics B2B Marketing Customer Surveys 139

Customer Experience Matrix

APRIL 12, 2011

Choosing a marketing automation system is a major decision. A disciplined selection process is essential to make a sound selection. This series of posts presents the seven-step methodology we use at Raab Associates, along with related worksheets. The first three are below. For a complete list of the steps, worksheets, and background materials, visit the Raab Guide Website and download the Vendor Selection Workbook from the Resource Library (registration required). 1.

Marketing Automation Services 168

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation 168

The Point

APRIL 29, 2011

Can a campaign about how to improve email design be a prime example of how NOT to design an email? If it’s the campaign below, received this week from Lyris , an email marketing software company, the answer is (in the view of this blogger): yes. Let’s start with the subject line (not seen here): Optimizing Email Productivity and ROI. First, almost the entire phrase is a marketing cliché: optimizing, productivity, ROI.

Email Campaigns 144

Email Campaigns Campaigns Bandwidth Fulfillment 144

Digital B2B Marketing

APRIL 28, 2011

When you consider what social networks can become key marketing channels for your business, there isn’t one right answer. Take a quick look at the very different sharing patterns of the three sites below. Mashable : Twitter is huge, LinkedIn isn’t even included. Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert : Twitter leads today, LinkedIn is growing.

Social Networks 110

Social Networks Network Marketing Social Marketing B2B Marketing 110

Advertisement

In the B2B marketing toolkit, white papers can be a powerful option for reaching decision-makers and experts, presenting them with interesting information that improves their perception of your organization's competence and thought leadership. That said, a poorly executed whitepaper will not only be unable to influence your desired audience but will also come with significant costs that other assets won't incur.

Paper

Convince & Convert

APRIL 11, 2011

The 5 Dangerous Realities of Social Media. View more presentations from Jay Baer. (summary of my keynote at Get Social PRSSA ). The Crossroads: Social or Media? As social networking has soared to become the largest voluntary behavior this side of teeth brushing , the money guys have shown up on the scene – right on cue. By all accounts, social media is a gold rush, with companies and consultants of all sizes and descriptions jockeying for a piece of a pie estimated to be $1.6 billion in th

Social Media 151

Social Media Media Business Case Studies 151

ViewPoint

APRIL 14, 2011

A recently posted success story describes PointClear’s successful collaboration with Ingenix, a $1.8 billion healthcare information technology company with solutions and services that help physicians, hospitals and health plans operate more efficiently and profitably. Like many businesses selling complex solutions, Ingenix was looking for a way to impact the quality of prospect development practices in order to influence sales outcomes and increase revenue.

Lead Generation 152

Lead Generation PointClear Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 152

Marketing Insider Group

APRIL 28, 2011

You accepted a while back that social media needs to be an important part of the marketing mix. But resources are limited and maybe you find yourself asking “which social media tactics should I focus on?&#. My own social journey (and years of procrastination) pushed me into starting this personal blog nearly a year ago. And with 93 posts, almost 500 comments, nearly 30,000 visitors and just over 47,000 page views later and I am convinced that blogging is one of the simplest and most effect

Tips 176

Tips Blogger Business Digg 176

Customer Experience Matrix

APRIL 11, 2011

Continuing my adventures in online ad measurement, I attended [X+1] ’s NexTargeting Summit last week. This reinforced and refined my conclusions from last month’s OMMA Metrics conference , which identified the burning industry issues as: - better understanding of the interactions between online and offline events (both advertising and results), and - better scalability for successful online advertising programs.

Conference 156

Conference Advertising Channels Ad Frequency Ad Exchange 156

Advertisement

Upgrade your social media game with our in-depth playbook: "21 advanced ChatGPT prompts for social media managers". These powerful prompts are tailored to supercharge your content creation, strategy development, and results analysis. Say goodbye to writer's block and hello to endless creativity as you effortlessly generate engaging posts, come up with original strategies, and optimize your social media performance - all in a fraction of the time.

Social Media

Writing on the Web

APRIL 28, 2011

Content marketing is easier when you can outsource some of the writing and researching to qualified writers. A great way to short-cut the time needed to research, write and publish quality online content is to find a good writer to supply articles. For example, as a former executive coach and psychologist, I write for other coaches and consultants who are too busy with clients to write their own newsletters and blogs.

Content Marketing 144

Content Marketing Digg Tips Content 144

Everything Technology Marketing

APRIL 27, 2011

Content marketing is one of the most popular strategies deployed by today's B2B marketers to attract and engage prospects, and guide them through the buying process. But how do marketers measure content marketing success? We asked 20,000 members of the B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn what metrics they use to measure the success of their content marketing initiatives.

Content Marketing 156

Content Marketing Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency Content 156

Convince & Convert

APRIL 6, 2011

Guest post from Jessica Carlson , a social media manager at Off Madison Ave who specializes in building social communities that create brand loyalists and garner key insights. “Censorship reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself.” -Potter Stewart. Facebook recently released a Moderation Blocklist , a functionality that allows Page administrators to set parameters around certain keywords, automatically marking posts with those topics as spam , and placing it in the Hidden Posts filte

Tips 147

Tips Communities CAN-SPAM Facebook 147

ViewPoint

APRIL 12, 2011

At your desk and can’t make that physical change in latitude to get a change in attitude? There’s now a virtual destination for a good sales and marketing laugh in the form of the Sales Lead Management Association’s new cartoon series. PointClear is proud to be a sponsor of the first cartoon shown here, a lighthearted look at the “bigger box” solution for handling leads.

Lead Management 152

Lead Management Sales Leads PointClear Marketing Management 152

Advertisement

Whether your organization is at the start of its sustainability and impact journey or years into it, many brands share a common concern: the uncertainty of whether they are sending stakeholders mixed messages. Creating content that speaks to your audience's “love language” can be a tricky dance. But, worry not! 3BL has put together tips to ensure that your content not only finds its rhythm but also resonates with your target audiences.

Content

Tony Zambito

APRIL 27, 2011

Image by jasoneppink via Flickr. Story telling has obviously been around for a long, long, long time.  What is new is that story telling is beginning to gain acceptance as a planning tool for strategies focused on buyer experience interactions and understanding the social buyer persona.  In the design of products as well as in experience design, stories presented as scenarios began to appear in the mid to late 90’s as a way of imagining the usage of products in a contextual environme

Buyer Personas 136

Buyer Personas Storytelling Touchpoints Interactive Marketing 136

Webbiquity

APRIL 27, 2011

There’s no question that search has dramatically altered the marketing landscape; the traditional yellow pages are now viewed as a colossal waste of paper as 70% (and climbing) of consumers go online to find local businesses and more than 90% of B2B purchase cycles start on the web. But is it reasonable to say that search has changed everything ? That’s the contention of Marketing in the Age of Google: Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy by Vanessa Fox, formerly Google’s search engine

Paid Content 131

Paid Content Paid Search Agency Google Advertising Agencies 131

ANNUITAS

APRIL 26, 2011

Lead management continues to be a hot topic in the world of B2B marketing as we turn the corner and head into the second half of 2010. Over the last 12 months, marketing and sales dialogue increasingly has focused on how marketers can better engage with the more empowered B2B buyer and what they need to do in order to leverage the B2B buyer relationship.

Lead Management 156

Lead Management Work Management Marketing Management Lead Scoring 156