Dana proceeded to tell me that her favorite presentation of the conference thus far has been from Steve Burke (@stevenjburke) of Everything Channel – Hot Vendors of 2010. His talk focused heavily on how to differentiate vendors from their competitors. Several ideas were tossed around, such as cloud computing, unification, and centralization. All of these provide overall solutions through the channel, but nothing that can help differentiate.

The panelists focused on the fact that technology is lead by the thought process of vendors and the channel. One of the trends that the panelists agreed on was that in order to succeed and prosper as a vendor, you must increase operational efficiency while exceeding customer service expectations. Thus, customer service is the critical differentiator. For the VAR/Vendor relationship, skill will never be beat out by intimacy. If you allow your process to be granular enough to encompass great customer support, you don’t necessarily have to sacrifice the ability to be nimble. The bottom line is delivering a consistent consistence response that is both accurate and personable.

If you take customer service as the differentiation point for vendors today, then the advice I gave Dana wasn’t that far off. Don’t just make yourself appear different – be different. When it comes to channel resellers, vendors must be accessible and helpful to the consumer. By making the VAR look good with superior customer service you  are able strengthen that relationship. The last thing a vendor should do is pass the blame to the VAR. After all, the VAR is your representative to the customer.

Social media has changed the way brands are managed on the internet. But this is not a nuance by any means. Blogs and forums (private social networks) have been around since nearly the beginning of the internet. In addition to that, the Web is by nature a social institution. Many companies have been incorporating sharing/social aspects for years online. Cisco, for example, has been federating content to channel reseller websites since 2006, allowing for easy sharing of marketing content, tech specs, and downloadable assets by consumers. Thus, I say that the traditional method of branding has been successful even with the advent of modern social media practices and still applies today.

In addition to that, brands have been in charge of personal relationships with customers for almost as long as marketing/advertising have been around. With things like memberships, workshops and events, and VIP rewards programs, brand managers have had direct contact (and probably more efficient) than any traditional one-way media communication outlet.

However, if you look at it from a cloud marketing technology standpoint then you can claim that the publishers have been in charge the whole time. The “technology” of direct mail and other publishing methods makes it seem that the brand is not in control; the medium is the message. Still, if you look at how brands use social media today then very few are in control. Only a limited number of brands use proprietary social networks as a method of communication. Instead, most use existing platforms such as WordPress, Facebook, or Twitter to communicate with customers. This means that the publisher (the technology) is still in charge.

What has changed, and I believe author of the AdAge article hints at this, is that the method of content creation has become more streamlined. I do challenge the idea, though, that brand management has become more difficult. Instead it seems to me that brand management is easier. Now you can rely solely on the brand manager. Companies no longer have to worry about involving a 3rd party publisher. After all, the more a message changes hands, the more convoluted it becomes. That being said, social media is not the hammer for pounding traditional marketing into the ground.

The question, however, is still unanswered. Who is in control of the brand, the publisher/platform or the corporation?

“Billy’s strong project management skills and customer service orientation are key assets for the clients he serves, including EMC, Salesforce.com and VMware,” said SharedVue CEO Reid Overcash.

Billy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Billy’s additional responsibilities include consulting SharedVue’s clients’ channel resellers on cloud marketing and lead generation techniques to help  maximize their sales. By combining traditional marketing techniques with the technology of software-as-a-service, Billy and the rest of SharedVue’s marketing team enable channel partners to become better marketers of enterprise companies’ products. SharedVue’s unique Web content syndication and automated marketing campaign tools are at the center of all client cloud marketing initiatives.

Prediction No. 1:

Lead Nurturing – Lead nurturing is certainly an activity marketers are aware they should be doing but in a lot of cases they have not yet taken this route to improve their marketing effectiveness.

Now more than ever bringing that lead to fruition will be heavily dependent on the relationship built with prospects over time. Marketing communications that are educational based and offer relevant and valuable information will triumph over broad, non-targeted messaging. Those Marketers who discard a lead just because it isn’t sales ready will realise that overtime investment will pay off if they nurture those contacts adequately.

Predication No. 2:

Marketing Automation – Lead nurturing leads nicely into Marketing Automation. Marketing Automation is a means to perfecting lead nurturing. I see the value of automating processes during the lead nurturing stage, marketing professionals can use the efficiency offered by marketing automation, so those leads that are not sales ready, can be taken care of by the marketing automation.

Marketing automation systems will become popular to automatically understand buyer interest and deliver educational content appropriate to the buyer’s next step.

Predication No.3:

Marketing in the Cloud – Many marketers are already using Cloud Marketing and enjoying the benefits of lower overhead costs and efficiency. My belief is that marketers will look to Cloud Marketing to reduce expenditure on marketing assets by moving them online, thus, freeing up more marketing dollars for actual marketing.

What is missing for the marketer is an independent advisory that can guide the marketer (unbiased) towards the best Cloud solution for their needs – this may just slow the progress of adoption for this technology.
If you agree or disagree or want to add some more, then please do – I would love to hear your feedback!

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“This is a new position for us and reflects our growth and maturation as a company,” said SharedVue CEO Reid Overcash.  “Steve brings strong experience in both financial analysis and strategic business planning to help us continue to grow.”

Steven brings 17 years of financial and operational experience to the business and most recently was CFO for a US division of a multinational corporation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Southern New Hampshire University.

“I am excited for the opportunity to enter SharedVue at this stage of their business development, and look forward to working with all levels of the staff to continue the growth of both the business and the marketplace,”  said Steven.  “The dedication and determination to succeed is evident with all of the employees and their successes so far are evidence of this.”

SharedVue is a marketing technology company that provides cloud marketing and lead generation tools that help companies maximize sales through channel partners and direct sales.  SharedVue clients include:  Cisco, HP, Salesforce.com and VMware.

Cloud marketing enables channel partners to become better marketers of enterprise companies’ products by using Web content syndication and automated marketing campaigns.  It combines traditional marketing techniques with the technology of software-as-a-service.  SharedVue combines marketing and technology expertise to develop cutting-edge Web marketing products that enhance companies’ relationships with their customers and generate leads.

“We chose to work with DemandGen for our European expansion because their technical knowledge and expertise are ahead of the rest of the market,” said Reid Overcash, SharedVue CEO.  “As one of the few European providers of marketing automation services and demand generation tools, they have the skill needed to expand our Facilit8 client support program to provide locally-based assistance for clients in Europe.”

DemandGen will serve as the European support center for SharedVue, helping existing clients and their partners to make the best use of SharedVue’s technology.  Starting in 2010, DemandGen will also promote the technology and sell it in the European market.

“The partnership with SharedVue is very important because it gives us the opportunity to meet the channel marketing needs of our existing clients and to promote SharedVue’s Cloud Marketing technology and lead generation tools in the European market,” said DemandGenReinhard Janning, CEO of DemandGen Europe. “ I’m not aware of any other company in Europe that is providing a similar level of services and functionalities as SharedVue does today.”

Through this partnership, SharedVue and DemandGen plan to help enterprises enable their channel partners to become better marketers by using SharedVue’s Web content syndication and automated marketing campaign products. SharedVue combines marketing and technology expertise to develop cutting-edge Web marketing products that enhance companies’ relationships with their customers and generate leads.

DemandGen specializes in marketing automation and demand generation tools. It focuses on high-tech, software and IT companies in Central Europe.    DemandGen has offices in Munich, Paris and Vienna. Some of DemandGen clients are Adobe, Conject, Microsoft, Messe Munich, FARO, NetApp, NXP Semiconductors and Novell.

Jena holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from North Carolina State University with a concentration in marketing and a minor in Spanish.

“Jena brings a variety of marketing experience and a strong customer service orientation to her work with clients and supporting clients’ channel marketing partners,” said SharedVue CEO Reid Overcash.”

The new designations for HP business partners with leading practices in specific product and service categories are Virtualization Elite, Data Center Elite and Store Solutions Elite, with the last representing a new emphasis at Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP on its point-of-sale hardware, software and services offerings.

Some existing PartnerOne Elite designations such as Blade Elite will be rolled into the new Virtualization Elite program, said Tom LaRocca, vice president of marketing in HP’s Solution Partners Organization – Americas.

HP also has added some Web-based tools for its channel, including a publishing tool called HP Solutions Showcase that helps partners add HP-generated content to their own Web sites, and HP Event Designer, an online content resource and planner that partners can use to develop Webinars and customer presentations.

LaRocca said HP has settled on a metric called a Penetration Rate Index (PRI) for measuring PartnerOne members’ services attach rates. The PRI will become the primary measurement for partners with an HP Services Elite designation, he said.

On the benefits side, HP also has introduced new rebate rewards for partners demonstrating year-over-year sales growth, and training courses for HP’s Enterprise Server and Storage authorization and Elite status can now be paid for with PartnerOne market development funds, LaRocca said.

Original post from ChannelWeb

Josh has extensive experience in strategic application development and management addressing how Information Technology (IT) serves the needs of executives, managers, and end users in a customized integrated solutions. He also dealt with workflow optimization through automated processes, embedding computing products and customized digital solutions to increase business revenue,  and maximizing employee efficiency through better communication between employees, management, and customers.

Prior to SharedVue, Josh served as Security Analyst in the systems integration field, helping companies create internal security policies and security assessment services to facilitate proactive (vs. reactive) security models. With this experience, Josh will assist in managing SharedVue’s security protocols and tactical implementations for clients’ confidential information.

Josh has also helped create Internet portals with customized interactive experiences for end users, vendors, as well as internal employees.  His approach to unified information processes, as well as simplified customer support, will aid SharedVue in integration with large channel enterprises’ existing partner portals and lead management systems.

A developer community of 17 companies has also been established to help get API development underway. Of the companies involved, some of the most notable are SugarCRM, Netfactor, and SharedVue. But why has Jigsaw decided to do this? Ethan Prater, VP of Technology Alliances explains:

“We had two goals for developers in our program: to make it easy for them to implement and to provide them a real opportunity to make money. Jigsaw designed its program to drive a meaningful business result for developers, so they can deliver clear, recognizable value to their customers.”

So what does this mean for B2B channel marketers? Now, large enterprises will be able to provide their VARs, distributors, and other channel partners with immediate lead scoring, qualification, nurturing, and marketing tools. This will enable channel partners to increase sales and drive more profit. Enterprises will be able to track their channel partners’ leads across the entire sales channel with metrics and analytics for KPIs.

To learn more about the Jigsaw API, visit Business Wire article here.