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Forrester reported over three years ago that the lead management market was heating up…

“Since the start of this year, I’ve been receiving a boatload of briefing requests from companies wanting to show me their lead generation and management solutions. Most recently, Marketo just announced their lead management solution. While honored, I also find reviewing these solutions confusing because there is a lot of variation in the product presentations and overlap between categories. And it’s not clear to me if lead management automation deserves to be a separate category or to be subsumed as part of the broader marketing platform. (I know Suresh Vittal includes lead management as a component of his enterprise marketing platform. But does the B2B need the same platform components as B2C?) Here’s how I see it and I’d like to hear your views as well.”

Click here to read more…

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First Impressions

First, your headline matters. It’s what people see when they accept your invite, and it’s probably the fastest first impression one receives. If you work for a company, put that name in the headline. When I don’t see a company name, I wonder if you’re solo.

Your Summary

Here’s where I think the most work can be done. When I look at my profile, I think it’s a bit long, but otherwise, I’ve done the following:

  • Lead with what I do most.
  • Lead with the type of business I want to do.
  • Move into the reasons why you’d do business with me.
  • Move from there into all the nuances of what I do.

In every case within the summary, your plan should be to write from the mindset of the prospective employer (or client), such that when they read it, they think, “I need to hire this person.”

Tip: refresh your summary every two weeks.

Thanks, Chris, for posting this. My LinkedIn profile is the ‘red headed step child’ of my social media empire! If you’re like me, you can follow the ‘via’ link above to spiff up your profile…

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“As a lead generation tool, your website provides a virtual wonderland of sales and marketing opportunities. It’s easily accessible, available 24/7, highly visible, and gives you the ability to present your company and services in your most positive light.

Plus, your site gives prospects the ability to find you whenever they need to. All this makes it one of the most powerful lead generators at your disposal.

So… is your website, this powerful lead generating machine, doing all it can to bring new clients to your doorstep?” Click here to read more…

…through our partnership with AGCO around ‘socializing’ — using social media to cover — trade shows. Here are some interesting thoughts from Kipp Bodnar on the topic…

“Almost every B2B company invests part of its marketing budget in trade shows. It is one tried and true method of lead generation. The problem with trade shows is that they aren’t cheap, and they are a big line item on the marketing budget. So if your company is making the investment, then it should do everything it can to squeeze out every last drop of value. This need for value, combined with cut travel budgets across all industries, means that the solution to this problem is social media.” Source: 5 Ways To Make Your B2B Trade Show Social | Social Media B2B

Go to the source for the rest of the article. Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page to reach me…

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Outdoor: The only ad platform that survives social media?

“Ultimately, I see outdoor’s place as being the only unaffected traditional media out let that can effectively launch social media conversations.” If you’re interested in outdoor advertising + social media, you’ll want to follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article…

Ammunition for your social media arsenal

Here’s an interesting find from Mitch Joel…

“About a year ago, famed Marketing professor, Ken Wong, spoke at a private dinner event. During his talk, he pushed for Marketers to really take a serious look at the many Digital Marketing opportunities, but then cautioned the Digital Marketers in the audience that there won’t ever be any kind of true groundswell unless we provide the masses with real business case studies with defined metrics that truly demonstrate success. Essentially, most businesses will not be cutting edge or bleeding edge, and they probably won’t even be fast-followers. More than likely, they’re looking for those who have walked down the path before them and would like to read and better understand the process, the challenges and the final metrics.” Source: Proving Social Media Works | Six Pixels of Separation – Marketing and Communications Blog – By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

Joel continues…

“Tod Maffin is widely respected entrepreneur, radio guy (and Podcaster) who is always highly engaged in the Digital Marketing spheres (he’s also an author and speaker). He just launched his latest project, Case Studies Online – Proven Social Media Tactics For Assured ROI, and it’s pretty amazing. The database currently stores almost 300 Social Media – Digital Marketing case studies that can be searched and viewed by demographics, specific industries, types of organizations, regions and even specific tactics. So, you can look for Social Media case studies that involved moms for the automotive industry using a Facebook Fan Page, and voila! Pushing it further, you can even refine that search criteria more.” Source: Proving Social Media Works | Six Pixels of Separation – Marketing and Communications Blog – By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

Here’s a video that explains the concept…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea-stSxKySU&feature=player_embedded

Still not using social media because you’re not sure it works? You can find casestudiesonline here. You just lost your last excuse… ;-)

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Stop doing random acts of lead generation!

“I don’t know about you but I seldom meet a B2B marketer who time to think. And it seems that the pressure keeps building as more of us seek to do more with less.

That said, it’s vital for us to think before we execute. It’s not about doing more campaign activity… it’s about doing the right things repeatedly better.

The simple act of a sales and marketing team finding time to think and collaborate together is vital to developing a solid lead generation program. Our results will improve because we’re following this approach: ready, aim, aim, aim, and then fire.” Click here to read more…

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