The Collaborative Growth Blog

Should Your Sales Team Only Call Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)? Hint: No.

Peter Caputa — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:30:00 GMT

Chuck Malcomson from Screwpile communications published an excellent article about the different stages that inbound leads go through:

Information Qualified Leads - These leads are at the awareness stage. They've shared their "information" in order to get some educational information from you.
Marketing Qualified Leads - They've investigated your products or services by reading something related to them.
Sales Qualified Leads - They expressed interest in talking to a salesperson about their needs.

I like the way he's defined these different stages for inbound leads. However, I have one big problem with part of his article. I have a problem with the part where he says that salespeople should wait for marketing to generate sales qualified leads:

"Smart companies will develop a feel for the right time for sales to reach out to their leads. Obviously all SQLs should be called since they have identified themselves as being ready to talk to sales. Calling IQLs may come across as too pushy or aggressive. However, reaching out to MQLs may make sense and help get more leads converted into opportunities that the sales team can work with and bring on board as new customers."

If your salespeople are only interested in talking about their products, then that's the right way to think about it. (You should fire them if that's all they're interested in doing.) Great salespeople are experts and approach prospects in a way that is helpful, regardless of stage. A great salesperson can move a lead from IQL to SQL in 20 minutes.

The problem is that most salespeople aren't experts at what they do. Assuming they do have the expertise, they also rarely know how to start the conversation in a helpful way. But, it's simple. For example, when a prospect downloads an ebook, a salesperson can call and ask, "I see you downloaded our ebook on xyz. I am an expert at xyz. What were you looking for help with?" This is often the start of a very welcome sales conversation. A good salesperson should be able to do a little homework about their prospect and find 5 other ways they can be helpful too.

Don't wait for prospects to realize they have a problem and raise their hand to talk to you because they've already determined your solution is the best. That's not selling. That's customer service. Great salespeople create demand, not just satisfy it. They pick target accounts and they pursue them persistently and creatively. Prospects supposedly conduct 50% of their buying process these days without talking to a sales rep. Let's not make it more than 50% just because we don't know how to be helpful, or we don't know how to avoid being perceived as pushy.

PS. You might have the luxury of sitting back and waiting for your marketing funnel to deliver sales qualified leads to your inbox. Some agencies actually do and it works for them because they only want to acquire a few new clients per year and their marketing is damn good. But, most companies who are serious about growing, would leave a lot of $ on the table if they sat back and waited for SQLs to arrive.

You Still Aren't Blogging Everday?

Peter Caputa — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 13:13:00 GMT

I manage 130 people. I've found the time to write a few words every day. You can too. It doesn't need to be a novel. Not every article needs to be awesome. But, blogging frequency is key to growing traffic, leads and sales. And key to connecting with people in a meaningful way over a long period of time. It's the best tool a marketer and a salesperson could ever ask for.

Mark Gibson's team at WittyParrot stepped up over the last month. They did the HubSpot 30 day blog challenge. Here's their results:

In case their results aren't impressive enough, I previously shared some results here about the impact of blogging frequency on traffic. HubSpot's data across our customer base shows, "customers who write just 3-4 blog posts per month get 20 more monthly lead submissions, get 800 more monthly site visits, have 60 more Twitter followers, and have 50 more Facebook like's than customers who only write 2 blog posts per month".

Don't want more traffic, leads, fans and followers? Don't blog more.

Equity for Sales & Marketing Leaders

Peter Caputa — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 16:29:00 GMT

Dan Lyons has an interesting article about compensation and equity for sales and marketing leaders. The article states that it's rare to find someone who can lead both marketing and sales.

"Who gets 5% [equity]? Santinelli says that’s usually an experienced executive who can come in as a VP of sales and marketing, “the person who can handle the whole funnel, from lead generation to lead nurturing to closing deals. That person is worth a lot of money. But it’s very rare to find them these days.”

I agree. It's rare to find someone who has lead both and knows the right playbooks for both. Most sales leaders don't know anything about modern marketing. And it's rare to find a CMO that even cares about learning anything much about sales. At HubSpot, we've had the opportunity to learn best practice in both. It's a rare thing to have on the resume, I've found.

"Honesty Is The Best Policy", Especially In Sales

Amanda Walters — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 22:39:00 GMT

This is a guest post written by Amanda Walters, a Business Development Representative, on my sales team at HubSpot.

Let’s be honest, when the term "salesperson" comes to mind, it doesn't always have the best connotation. A prospect’s thoughts as they answer the phone are usually something along the lines of "Oh god not another salesman harassing me with cold calls”. This of course, is if they even answer the phone at all.

I used to be one of those types of prospects and then I found myself on the other side of the phone line...as the salesperson. I'm technically a business development rep who has only been in sales for 8 short months. But in sales I've been forced forced to learn fast, so I figured I'd share a valuable concept that I've learned thus far.

No matter who you're calling, "HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY". This is, in my opinion, the best way to gain trust, establish credibility and break through the preconceived notion that you're just another swindling, dishonest salesperson trying to make a sale.

My Experience:

I was lucky enough to spend a few month sitting next to a Senior Inbound Marketing Specialist, Mike Fradette, here at HubSpot who had once been in my exact position! One of the first things he taught me is to find companies like our customers, and leverage the knowledge about our customers to connect and relate.

Mike told me that if you can tell someone about a time where you have:

Spoken to someone in their similar position
At a company that is similar to them (give an example of similar industry services or products that they offer)
Who were facing x,y and z problems or were looking to improve on x,y and z
and what you did to help them

....it should enable you to establish yourself as a credible resource to them and get them to feel comfortable opening up to you. Once you've done this, you can actually get the information you need to understand how and if you can help them.

WHY IS THIS?

You have been upfront in why you're not just calling anyone, but why you're calling them.
You're using relevant industry terms that will resonate with them and you'll be speaking their language.
You're giving examples of problems they too may be facing and you're explaining how you were able to help someone in the past.

SO HOW DO I DO THIS?

What that essentially is, is something called a positioning statement. These are very powerful and speak to the idea that "Honesty Is The Best Policy" whether you're using a positioning statement on a call, in an email, or on a voicemail.

Be upfront, make them feel special and explain why you were EXCITED to call them, excited at the opportunity to potentially help them in the same way you were able to help someone else, due to your EXPERIENCE!

This is especially valuable for a person newer to sales but also to someone who has been in the game for some time now. Since learning this valuable advice, I almost always start off any conversation with some sort of positioning statement that is honest and true.

I'll leave you with a personal experience where this has worked for me:

One day I turned to Mike who was sitting next to me at the time and said "Mike, give me some ideas for good fit companies I can source today and start calling".

Mike replied "One of my best customers is a company out of New Jersey and they are in the clinical research and testing services industry and specialize in clinical trials, clinical testing etc. They typically have a very consultative sales cycle and give their industry they have no problem creating awesome content because you have to be knowledgeable in order to be competitive in this space. Those types of companies are a great fit to be successful with Inbound Marketing"

Perfect. I called the VP of Business Development and set up a time to speak. When we connected for the call I opened with this positioning statement which I'll admit I took the time to write out in advance:

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions about HubSpot which I will do my best to answer but first I wanted to just explain my reasoning for reaching out. Not sure if you've heard of them, but we work with a company that's very similar to yours. When we started talking to them, we spoke specifically with their Director of Business Development - just like you - who was focused on lead generation and growing the business. They specialize in clinical research and testing services specifically in the environmental, pharma & medical device space. They have a really educational sales process and were looking for ways to leverage their online presence to drive more leads and nurture them more effectively.

Would you like to share a bit about your role, your sales process, and who you're targeting so that I can better understand if I can help you too?"

This positioning statement combined with sticking to my newly found "honesty" policy helped me to have potentially the best conversation with a prospect that I've had since beginning at HubSpot. I've stayed on this path since and it is in my opinion the best policy for both ends of the phone line.

So in short, be honest! And use your positioning statements! They'll lead you to more meaningful conversations and business relationships then you could have ever imagined.

This Blog Post is for People Who Email Me Incessantly Even Though I've Never Expressed Any Interest in Their Product Ever

Peter Caputa — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 18:16:00 GMT

If I've sent you a link to this blog post by [a personal] email, that means you are probably emailing me incessantly about something that I have zero interest in talking to you about. You missed the mark with your approach. Further, your so persistent that it's actually really annoying. If I could report you to someone that could stop you, I would do that.

Further, if you want to improve your sales and marketing effectiveness, try learning about how to attract prospects to you. You can do that through improved sales approaches and/or modern marketing.

Update: If you subscribe to my blog by email, I didn't mean this for you. Sorry for confusion. If I sent this to you personally, then I do mean it for you.

Why the Marketing Software Space Needs a Winner

Peter Caputa — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:00:00 GMT

Scott Brinker has released the 3rd edition of his Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic. I copied and pasted the graphic below.

Crazy, ha? Imagine if manufacturing or accounting folks were subject to this mess? Companies would fail. How the hell is a marketer supposed to figure out what software to buy and use? I don't think it'll be like this forever. Every year, the number of marketing software companies grow. But every year, the number of different types of marketing software companies seem to shrink as different companies enter each other's space by adding functionality.

This is the first year that Scott has broken out software into only 6 different categories: Marketing Backbone Platforms, Marketing Middleware, Marketing Infrastructure, Internet Players Impacting the Marketing Environment, Marketing Experiences and Marketing Operations. You can read the full article to see what he means by these 6 different categories. Although there is no perfect way to categorize chaos, it's the first time I've seen someone make any sense of the space so fully.

I am completely biased of course, but my prediction is that the "Marketing Backbone Platforms" will eat the space. These companies include CRM players, marketing automation providers, web content management and ecommerce engines. Of course, HubSpot falls in this category as probably the broadest platform with both marketing automation and web content management built in, plus 10s of other needed software capabilities, for seo, social, analytics, etc. Then, the marketing middleware category turns software like HubSpot into a full platform since we have both our own integrations that connect HubSpot's data and functionality to CRMs and ecommerce engines, as well as third party integrations like Bedrock and Zapier that connect us to many more systems.

Scott seems to agree that the backbond platforms and middleware will continue to bring structure to the market, "Marketing Backbone Platforms and Marketing Middleware. These two classes of products are bringing some much needed structure to the marketing technology stack." Buyers are driving this consolidiation. No buyer in their right mind would ever want to evaluate and purchase 100s of software products or even 10s of software for one function: marketing.

I'd go one step further than Scott and wager that marketing, sales and service will have one software platform. In the near term, the marketing software space will have a winner (or a small # of them) when the software makes it easy for marketers to execute a brilliant marketing strategy; a strategy that supports the sales and growth strategies of their companies. I'd further wager that that'll happen through a proven marketing methodology and an integrated, all-in-one marketing software platform.

PS. Another great article from Luma Partners dissects the valuations of marketing tech companies and ad tech companies and shows that ad tech and marketing tech are destined to collide too.

Explaining Inbound Marketing to Engineers

Peter Caputa — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 19:44:00 GMT

As a trained engineer, I love inbound marketing. I love it because it's predictable, measurable and improve-able. You can predict, deliver, then systematically grow the traffic, leads and sales that a company generates by employing a strong inbound marketing strategy. In short, inbound marketing makes sense for my engineer-brain.

Recently, Trew Marketing - an agency that serves companies who sell to scientists and engineers - asked me to write the foreward for their new ebook called, Smart Marketing to Engineers via Inbound Lead Generation. It's an excellent ebook. If you're an engineer curious about online marketing, it should make a lot of sense to you. There's even a section called, "The Math of Inbound Marketing".

1 Click from a Twitter Profile to Information About How That Person Interacted with You and Your Business

Peter Caputa — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 21:14:00 GMT

HubSpot launched a new feature last month via a Google Chrome extension. Now, when you're navigating Twitter, you can see which of your twitter followers are also in your HubSpot powered contact database. In the screen grab from Twitter.com below, you can see the highlighted text that says, "View in HubSpot."

With HubSpot's social media monitoring and publishing tools, there's not a lot of reason to visit Twitter, except for browsing around. But, I tend to use Twitter by visiting Twitter.com. So, this is a cool way to see which of my twitter contacts are in my HubSpot portal. When I click on the "View in HubSpot" button, I can see much more about each contact. For example, below is a screen capture of Rick's profile from my HubSpot portal. In my HubSpot portal, I can see much more about Rick including: what pages he's viewed on my site; what he's shared with me previously via forms on my site; and information I entered into HubSpot (or my CRM) about him.

As a salesperson, I can see how this could help me connect with people on Twitter at the right time with the right message on (or off) Twitter - by using the information I have about them in my HubSpot contact database. With it being one click away, I'm much more likely to go through the effort.

You can read about this feature and learn how to set it up on this support article from HubSpot.

Discussions I Had in the Second Week of January, 2014

Peter Caputa — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 19:35:00 GMT

Most companies aren't very natural when it comes to blogging. They try to make everything a "how to" article or they report things in 3rd person like a journalist. That's pretty boring and un-natural. People don't talk that way. Commerce doesn't get done that way. With this post, I'm going to get back to blogging the way I used to blog: more like a teenager's diary.

I'm going to start by sharing some of the conversations I had last week. Met a few new interesting people doing cool stuff and talked to a few old friends. If you're interested in getting some time with me to talk about your sales and marketing, you just have to leave a comment on this post.

If I know you and you want an intro to anyone below, let me know. Otherwise, just reach out to them. None of them barked or bit.

Neerav Mehta, founder of Red Crackle, a 5 person Drupal web development shop. Neerav and his team are very technical. So they often find themselves working for technical buyers who need help designing and developing custom drupal sites.
Steve Ka, of Intralearn. I've known Steve for the better part of a decade now, when we last collaborated on some nightlife promotions. He runs sales and channel development at Intralearn. They are launching a new product that is a lightweight LMS for Sharepoint users called NanoLearn. Any company who uses Sharepoint and needs to verify that their internal teams are learning something can benefit from NanoLearn, especially if employee training is required for legal compliance.
Andrew Teman and I had beers last week. Andrew is founder of We Make Heart and was most recently a VP at Hill Holliday. His agency specializes in working with larger brands who are seeking new ideas for grabbing serious share. Andrew has seriously legit experience across traditional and the many facets of digital marketing, and has been helping clients bridge the two. Lots of agencies talk about this. He's done some cool stuff that actually brings digital into the real world and vice-versa.
Douglas Barth, founder of SimplyDirect, Jon Kennedy, sales at SimplyDirect, and I spoke for :30 minutes last week so we could learn more about each other's companies. I recently received a personalized message via email with an invitation to take a survey. I would normally ignore these things, but the email was compelling, I was interested in the topic and they offered me a free gift to complete the survey. It was also only a few questions and they offered to send me the results if I took it. I visited the company's site who ran the survey and discovered SimplyDirect, a sales prospecting service that helps companies reach executive decision makers.
I caught up with Brent Hodgins, founder of Mirren Business Development, Hillary Miller, VP of Training at Mirren and Stephanie Ostrander, Event Manager at Mirren - last week. Brent and I began collaborating a few years ago when I first attended his Agency New Business Conference in NYC. Brent spoke at the Inbound conference last year and we sent a whole crew to his conference last year. Look forward to working together more. Brent said that he hears about HubSpot everywhere he goes. :-)
Rick Kranz of Overgo Studios lead a small group discussion last week, where he talked about his agency's marketing plan for next year. Rick is an online video marketing expert. So, in addition to learning about a few new video creation tools, we talked about the value of video when it comes to making your company more personable/relate-able. Rick told a story about how he walked into a prospect's office and everyone already knew his name. He had never met them, but they had been watching his videos. In order to make his marketing even more personal this year, Rick launched a new blog appropriately called, "Grow Your Business with Rick Kranz" or "Rick's blog" for short.

That's it. Did you meet anyone interesting last week? Should I do more posts like these? Want to be featured in the next one? Book some time to talk about your sales and marketing here.

3 Theories I'd like to Prove About Selling

Peter Caputa — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 15:00:00 GMT

There are 3 things I'd like to prove about selling over the next year.

Product differentiation drives sales results. HubSpot has been lumped into the marketing automation category by analysts and marketers. We entered the space and by many metrics have taken the top spot. But, we're so much more than marketing automation and marketing automation by itself will not help companies grow in the coming years; a full approach to attracting and converting strangers into buyers is necessary these days. We already do all of that, while everyone else is playing catch up. Further, our product will get even more differentiated over the next year as our excellent product team further builds and broadens our platform. My goal #1 is to prove that differentiation is the key to winning sales. That's hard, though. It's easy to sell things that people are looking for, that they expect. What's hard is selling things that are different. It requires our salespeople to truly be experts at our product, at our industry (marketing) and at selling.
Salespeople should help first, sell later, in order to build a massive never-ending pipeline of qualified referrals. Salespeople are notoriously focused on finding low hanging fruit; quick sales that require less effort. They ignore the importance of helping people first. They're quick to run their sales process instead of helping prospect's manage their buying process. They're focused on hitting short term goals instead of long term goals. Too often, they turn prospects off without even realizing it - by showing that they're more interested in selling their product than helping their prospect. I want to teach salespeople that helping first helps them in the long run. I want to teach salespeople how to build a massive pipeline of future deals by creating a circle of people who refer them business because they trust them, like them and respect them.
Salespeople should build their expertise publicly, in order to command respect and trust from prospects - more quickly and more easily. I want to teach salespeople how to develop and benefit from having public expertise. One of the smartest things I've done in my sales career is devote time to marketing my personal expertise online. When I had my startup back in the day, I blogged about it. When I joined HubSpot in our direct sales organization, I built the first version of this site to talk about how I was helping my customers. When I started HubSpot's agency partner program, I wrote blog posts, ebooks and put on webinars. This has helped me establish more and more credibility over the years, amongst a small but loyal group of followers. I'd never join a sales organization that doesn't have a strong inbound lead generation team in marketing. But, whatever organization I ever join will most likely benefit from my ability to bring my audience with me. Back in the day (and still these days), salespeople were hired for their rolodex. The new salesperson's rolodex is a personal web presence.

What do you think of these theories? Have you already proven any of them? Interested in helping to prove any of these with me?

Anyone Want to Talk About Sales & Marketing? Book me Free.

Peter Caputa — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 23:20:00 GMT

I've blocked off a few hours each day in the afternoon to make some calls to help people with their sales and marketing strategy.

If you want to talk, leave your name and company name below. Leave a link to your Linkedin profile if your company is not easily findable online. Or reach out to me via Twitter @pc4media.

Here's crteria:

You can't be a HubSpot customer or partner.
Your company must be 2-200 employees.
You can't be a marketing agency or marketing consultant.
You have to be in sales or marketing.
You must want to talk about sales and marketing.
You and your company must be based in North America.

That's it. I might not get to you right away. So, please be patient.

Feel free to share this with other people who might be able to benefit from my help.

Gravy & Mashed Potatoes, Hammer and Nails, Email and Analytics

Peter Caputa — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 13:07:00 GMT

HubSpot is pretty famous these days. Well, maybe not as famous as the Beatles or bicycles. But HubSpot is as famous amongst marketers as let's say... One Direction is amongst teenage girls. Just like teenage girls and One Direction, there are different levels of fandom. Please don't ask me to explain what would make someone go gaga over these pubescent boys. But, maybe it's just that not every teenager gets to see One Direction live, up close and personal. I don't know. Probably taking this analogy too far. But, when my wife and I walked by them performing at a mall once, I saw firsthand how much their fans adore them. Most of the concerts I attended were in the 90s. So, it was new thing for me to observe. Anyway, the marketers who use HubSpot effectively are kind of like that. You can see it in the case studies. We get gushing notes every day from customers about how we've changed their fortunes and their lives, and helped them change the lives of their customers.

So, why is it? There's a reason, I think. Why do we have these gushing fans? Most companies would say that their fans are fabs because "of a lot of little things all wrapped up into one". That's true for HubSpot in two major ways. Yes, we pride ourselves on caring about our customers; providing support that backs that up, we focus on educating the market and especially our customers and partners; our software team is brilliant at UI and usability. There are lots of reasons. But, these are secondary to the one big one.

The big one is integration. Yes, integration is a cheesy over-used marketing word. Totally. We prefer 1+1 = 3. It's the same thing, though. The important thing is that our founders were ballsy enough to say from the beginning, "We want to be the only marketing software that a business needs!". And we did it. We'll never be done, of course. But, we're as done at this goal as anyone else is. Especially companies that don't innovate from within and have to acquire to try and keep up. The claim was certainly was more hyperbole in the beginning. We started with search engine optimization (SEO) tools and small businesses (SMBs) and a shitty content management system (CMS). But, we've broadened that big time beyond SEO tools-- all while serving many different types and sizes of businesses. The claim is true now.

So, why is 1+1=3 so important to our customers? Two words: Efficiency and Effectiveness. Yes. Also over-used and cheesy sales words. Let's get beyond the cheese. Let's start talking about cheese and crackers. Maybe a bit of PB&J? Or how about screw drives and screws?

HubSpot has integrated things together in ways that no other marketing software company has. We've done it in a way that our customers can't imagine living without. A grass lawn with no lawn mower? A garden without a shovel? Cars without wheels? Ha? What are you crazy? You can't take this stuff apart?

The thing we don't talk about enough is that long list of things that make 1+1=3 equations. We're not talking about just 2 things that make three. We're talking about a whole lotta math equations that just don't make any sense. There are a handful of 1+1=5 equations in there and even one equation that goes something like 2+2=12.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Web analytics + contact database = lead intelligence
CMS + Analytics = Smart CTAs
Social Media Monitoring + contact database = social prospecting
Email marketing + website analytics = marketing automation
SEO + Web analytics = you still do manual SEO reporting, you fool?
CRM + HubSpot = closed loop marketing
Blogging software + CTAs = lead generation
Landing pages + analytics = lead tracking

What are your favorites? How do they help you be more effective and more efficient?

PS. If you're a HubSpot partner or customer and you've written an article about how HubSpot makes you more efficient or more effective because of a 1+1=3 equation, tweet it with hash tag #HubSpot1+1=3

Tweets about "#HubSpot1+1=3"

Technical Content Drives Online Engagement For Industrial Companies

Todd Hockenberry — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:06:00 GMT

We work with a lot of highly specialized, technical manufacturing companies and one of the things we've heard a lot over the years is that no one wants to read about them. We've had clients who thought their products and services were too complex and technical to drive substantial internet traffic to things like a blog or social media account.

The thinking goes that highly technical fields, such as fiberglass reinforced plastic parts for cooling towers, aren't flashy enough to be interesting to read about. If someone is in the market for these kinds of goods and services, then they're going to want spec sheets and wouldn't be interested in regular blog posts.

There is one big problem with this line of thinking. It isn't true.

Well, to be fair, part of the underlying assumption is true. It is true that there isn't as much interest in something like laser marking systems as there is in celebrity gossip or home décor. Highly specialized engineering and manufacturing-based blogs and other content probably isn't going to go viral, retweeted by teens and pop stars. But that's not really the point of this kind of content anyway. So, what is the point?

Content With a Job

Every piece of content needs to have a purpose, a job. When it comes to technical content the job is fourfold:

1. Attract

2. Educate

3. Qualify leads

4. Contribute to the Inbound Sales process

To really understand and get the most out of technical content you need to keep the purpose of the content in the forefront of your mind.

Attract

Straight up good old SEO is a prime use for technical content. By definition technical content is long tail. Not many people search 'pipe beveling machines for gas lines' or 'fuel additives for power generators,' but when they do, you can be fairly certain that they want to know what you are about. Industrial SEO is measured in quality of leads, not quantity. Most industrial companies need 10s and 100s of leads to make a huge sales difference as opposed to a consumer-oriented seller that needs thousands just to move the needle a little bit. Some of our clients are thrilled when we get them two or three great leads per month making the long tail part of SEO an ideal tactic to grow revenue.

Educate

Technical information might seem dull, but it has great potential for education. One of the great things about working with technical and industrial companies is that there is always something to write about. There are always topics to cover that the average reader might not know a lot about, or might like clarification on. New applications, new inventions, even new industries always provide lots of topics in which to place in context the solutions of an industrial company. Problems multiply and solutions are always in demand so the technical company that is writing will never lack for topics to address.

Qualify Leads

Technical and complex areas of manufacturing aren't going to dethrone the latest Justin Bieber stunt, but that's ok. Good technical content is going to help you pull in leads that are high quality. Why? Because a Justin Beiber fan isn't going to be in the market for a laser marking system, but someone who downloads a case study about laser marking probably is. Judicious use of prmeium content will help qualify leads. Developing content that matches sales cycles shows you where technical buyers are in the sales process. Someone who asks for a request for quote is probably heading for the bottom of the sales funnel. Someone downloading a whitepaper about the used of fiberglass resins in the chemical processing industry is in your world, but may just be beginning to research a project and is an ideal candidate for lead nurturing.

Contribute to the Inbound Sales Process

The right case study sent to a good prospect builds credibility for inbound-focused salesperson. A relevant blog article builds credibility for a salesperson as more than an order taker. A vibrant LinkedIn group where the latest technical information is shared and discussed positions the salesperson as an expert in their field.

Using content produced for inbound marketing as a sales enablement tool is the hallmark of an inbound salesperson. Inbound is all about attracting people using marketing that is relevant to them. Inbound sales is about being the type of salesperson who prospects want to engage with and not hold their nose and tolerate.

Sharing great content, focused on prospects, delivering technical solutions that they need, using the channels they use, is the right way to drive online engagement for technical and industrial companies.

Email Personalization: Pushing it Beyond Hello {First Name}

Shannon Fuldauer — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 10:10:00 GMT

Late last week, I found myself with 114 new emails in my inbox. Not unusual, but not wonderful to wake up to. But there was one that really caught my eye. The email was from J.Crew, and the subject line read, “Easiest wedding ever – two steps to the perfect bridal party.” As a recently engaged bride-to-be, knee deep in wedding planning mode, my curiosity took over and I opened the email.

This was the only email of the bunch I opened. And I am sure I don’t need to tell you what happened to the remaining 113 (insert evil laugh here).

So what made that email so unique it avoided the dreaded trash folder? Well it just so happens that earlier this week I was perusing the bridal gowns and bridesmaid’s dresses on Jcrew.com. Unlike the other 113 emails that were offering free shipping, half off pants, BOGO sweaters and gosh knows what else, J.Crew used behavioral intelligence to develop a message that really resonated with me. Sure it's much easier to create one-size-fits-all emails, but easier does not always equate to the best results.

While most marketers agree email personalization is important, not many companies today are leveraging the power of personalization. In fact, according to the 2013 Experian Digital Marketer Report, 70 percent of brands are not personalizing emails sent to their subscribers.

For those companies that take the extra step of creating personalized campaigns, the results speak for themselves. Here are a few more interesting statistics from the report.

Personalized promotional emails had a 29 percent higher unique open rate and 41 percent higher unique click rate compared to non-personalized emails
Personalized triggered emails had a 25 percent higher unique open rate and a 51 percent higher click rate
Personalized emails generate transaction rates and revenue per email that is more than six times higher than non-personalized emails

With the tools available to marketers today, creating a personalized experience for your audience in well within your reach. Personalization is much more than including the person’s first name in the subject line or body copy. A truly personal email speaks to the subscriber’s pain points, preferences, fears and stage within the buying cycle.

Developing buyer personas is a great way to uncover a potential buyer’s preferences, pain points, fears, etc. Targeting smaller subsets rather than blasting your entire audience with a generic offer often increases engagement rate and, in turn, conversions.

Remember simpler is not always better. Is your company part of the 70 percent underutilizing the power personalization?

Shannon Fuldauer has a B2B and B2C eCommerce Marketing background including roles as Vice President of Marketing & Sales Support, and subsequently Vice President of Public Relations & SEO Services, for CareerBoard.com. She has expertise in digital marketing and advanced email communications.

photo credit: m-c

The Importance of Confidence in Sales. Channeling Liam Neeson's Taken Character.

Peter Caputa — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:52:00 GMT

I'm a huge fan of the movie Taken. In general, Liam Neeson is the man. But, he's especially the man in this movie. If you've ever watched the first Taken movie, I'm sure you remember the scene where his daughter calls him from underneath a bed in her friend's cousin's apartment in Paris, as she's about to be abducted by what turns out to be some thugs running a prostitution ring. The kidnapper picks up the phone and Liam notices the change in breathing. He then delivers an amazing set of lines over the phone from across the world. If you haven't seen the scene, here you go...

If you don't want to watch it or don't remember the scene, here's what he says:

I don't know who you are
I don't know what you want
If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you that I don't have any money
But what I do have is a very unique set of skills
A set of skills I have acquired over a very long career
Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you
If you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it
I will not look for you. I will not pursue you.
But if you don't...
I will look for you. I will find you. I will kill you.

As you can see, Liam has confidence. He is direct and concise. He knows what he's capable of delivering and he's confident in telling the guy on the other end of the line what he can do. He is appropriately aggressive for the situation, but in a calm, cool and collected way. Anyone who is a father can relate to wanting to react in that way. Not many of us could. Very few of us would be able to deliver on the threat, either.

Salespeople need to be confident too. Salespeople need to be calm and collected. Even in difficult situations, they need to state clearly what they can do, set expectations properly, and then follow through on their words. They need to be appropriately confident so that their prospect believes them.

Just like very few (if any) of us would ever be able to react the way Liam did in the movie, salespeople do not commonly exhibit the appropriate level of confidence. I've found that it's important to remind salespeople that they are absolute experts at what they do. Salespeople often need to be reminded of how much of an expert they are before they can project it. Sometimes, they have it. Sometimes, when stress hits them at the end of their quota period or they lose a deal, they really lose confidence. A sales manager isn't always there to remind them how awesome they are. So, sometimes, it makes sense for salespeople to develop a habit of reminding themselves through sales affirmations, so they can project the confidence they need to project. At Inbound13, in my "Transformational Selling" talk, I delivered these lines to a room full of inbound marketing agency owners, as a reminder to them that they are experts and that as they talk to prospects, they should be confident in their expertise:

I know who you are.
I know what you want.
If you're looking for an easy answer, I can tell you that I don't have one
But what I do have is a very unique set of skills
A set of skills that I have acquired over a very long career
Skills that make me a savior for people like you
If you buy from me now, we will make progress faster
But if you don't..
I won't look for you. I won't find you. I can't help you.

$10 to the first person who uses it on a sales call at closing time. Have your prospect comment here after they've bought. It's pretty much what a great salesperson should be able to say anyways, if they've done it right.

More, Better, Faster (TM)

Peter Caputa — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:24:00 GMT

I've been using the phrase: More, Better, Faster for a few months now. Maybe a year. Can't remember the time when I originally coined it, or at least made it popular around HubSpot. But, I found myself always asking people, "How do we do more of that?" and challenging people, "But if we did it this way, wouldn't it be better?" Or "How can we get there faster?" I'm not the only one that asks these questions. They are pretty much the questions we're all asking all of the time. It's a big part of our culture to always be improving. So, I started saying, "More. Better. Faster." a lot. I end emails with it, when appropriate... which is almost always, of course.

This past Tuesday, I presented HubSpot's new sales methodology to the senior leadership team. There was a big slide that said. "More. Better. Faster" in big bold letters. Here's an article and slideshare he wrote this morning called, "Sell More, Better, Faster with Inbound Selling." You know it's good when the CEO picks up on it and starts using it in our public positioning... I love @bhalligan's vision on Inbound Selling. See his slideshare below:

Why Sales Is Going Inbound (And How You Can Keep Up) from HubSpot All-in-one Marketing Software

Social Media Implementation Checklist

Peter Caputa — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 16:13:00 GMT

Love this social media 'setup and go' checklist. Set goals first. If traffic, leads and sales are part of the goal, then gotta have the next focus be on content creation. Then, using social to share. Can't get much value out of social unless you're actively creating, publishing and sharing content.

The Social Media Implementation Checklist – An infographic by the team at Maximize Social Media

Targeted Lead Generation

Todd Hockenberry — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 11:30:00 GMT

In July of 2012 we began working with a company that designs and manufactures custom fiberglass pipe, large diameter fiberglass ductwork, fiberglass tanks, fiberglass vessels, other equipment and services relating to fiberglass products. This company is a subsidiary of a larger parent company, and for a number of years was content to supply cooling tower components for the parent company's projects. We began working with them because they felt it was time to branch out and had turned to HubSpot and inbound marketing to help them reach new markets.

Like a lot of manufacturing companies, many of the companies within their industry were using very high level, general keywords. Our client, like their competition, was targeting keywords like fiberglass pipe and fiberglass tanks. As you can imagine, the competition for these keywords was fierce, but also broad. If you searched for fiberglass tanks it would return everything from huge industrial tanks to small tanks for animals.

This is something that a lot of the clients we've worked with have seen. Every company has some high level keywords that are pretty standard across their industry. There is nothing wrong with these keywords, and there is nothing inherently wrong with the leads they bring in. But as you can imagine, a lead that comes to a site looking for a fiberglass animal tank isn't much interested in an industrial fiberglass tank for chlorine storage.

The goal, then, is to generate specifically targeted leads.

1. Identify your wheelhouse

The first step in targeted lead generation is to figure out what it is that makes your different. What do you do that your competition doesn't? What do you do better? What makes your clients choose you?

Our fiberglass client, for example, identified their ability to create targeted industrial solutions as one of their strongest points. The fact that they could create very specific, tailored fiberglass solutions made them stand out from their competition.

You need to identify why your clients are your clients, what makes you stand out, because if you can—then you can move onto step two.

2. Generate long tail keywords

Once you know what makes you stand out, you can start creating long tail keywords targeted at leads who need what you offer.

We created keywords for our client like:
• large diameter fiberglass pipe for waste water
• fiberglass storage tanks for HCL storage

The number of people searching for these keywords is, admittedly, low. On the other hand, if you search for a large diameter fiberglass pipe for waste water then you want what our client offers, not a fiberglass tank for your hamster.

3. Create highly targeted content

Step three is creating content focused on those highly targeted keywords. For our fiberglass manufacturing client, we created a number of pieces of content focused very narrowly on a variety of vertical industries and custom solutions. This meant downloads and blog posts that addressed a narrow set of concerns. For example, the long tail keyword fiberglass storage tanks for HCL storage spawned a download and multiple blog posts about specific clients the company had worked with who needed HCL storage tanks. We also created some posts about HCL, its properties, and challenges associated with storing, hauling, and manufacturing.

These pieces of content did a couple of things for our client. First, this content attracted the leads we were specifically targeting. The leads that converted on landing pages for HCL storage tanks were actually looking for information about HCL storage tanks — no more lost pet store searches! Second, these pieces of content really helped to build our client's credibility. The content we were helping our client create was highly specialized and, a lot of the time, technical. Content like that really resonates with the target buyers in this industry and generated high quality leads.

4. Fill in the blanks

All of the work you've done to get through steps one through three isn't going to get you very far if you neglect all the other aspects of inbound marketing. So step four is doing all of the other bits that make an inbound marketing strategy work.

Without getting into too much detail, that means creating conversion opportunities, landing pages, maintain and engaging in social media, lead nurturing, the works. You're only going to be able to engage in targeted lead generation if you have the internal resources and structure to support it.

Inbound marketing finally gives industrial marketers the tools to target specific targets that match their ideal customer persona. We can stop casting a wide net and hoping to catch a few fish and focus on finding and attracting the right prospects.

About the Author: Todd Hockenberry is the founder of Top Line Results, an inbound marketing agency that specializes in leading top line revenue growth at small and medium-sized companies with a focus on manufacturing, technology and capital equipment.

Building A Lead Generation System For Your Sales Team

Rick Kranz — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 11:22:00 GMT

I think it is important to understand the difference between the time we spend generating leads, versus the time we could spend building a lead generation system. The difference is similar to working in your business versus working on your business.

As a business owner, I have always been fascinated by systems. To me these are the components of what makes a successful business. The better your systems, the easier it will be to deliver your product/service and grow your business. Bottom line: better systems equals better profits.

Most business owners understand this, and are great at applying this principle to developing manufacturing systems, delivery systems, and accounting systems. But more often than not, they fall short when it comes to applying this to their sales and marketing efforts. When it comes to lead generation, they always seem to be flying by the seat of their pants, and we as marketers are guilty of letting them do this.

What Is A Lead Generation System?

For our purposes here, I am going to define a lead generation system, as a group of processes that are repeated on a regular basis to drive a predictable quantity of leads. I just made that up, but it sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

To further clarify what I mean, let me illustrate an example of the exact opposite of a lead generation system. Have you ever tried to do a direct mail campaign, when you have never done it before? It usually goes something like this:

Hey, let’s try direct mail to generate some leads.

Okay.

What’s it going to cost?

Well... we can afford to do one mailing this year, to a small segment of our target audience.

Okay, Let’s try it.

Rick’s Marketing Rule - IF YOU CAN’T REPEAT IT, DON’T DO IT!

Now I’m not picking on direct mail, because if you can afford to do direct mail consistently, and it's part of your lead generation system, then that's great. What I’m pointing out, is how business owners and marketers waste resources launching one-off lead generation efforts. If you can’t afford to repeat the effort, then you just wasted everything you learned. Not to mention the marketing budget consumed.

So how do you build a lead generation system?

A simple way to start is by following inbound marketing methodologies. The first step is to begin by attracting strangers to your website. You accomplish this by blogging and then by sharing your articles through your social media networks.

But here is the trick — to make this a lead generation system you need to determine how frequently you can blog — realistically. You don’t want to make this a one-off effort too. If you have enough staff to generate two blog posts a week, then don’t try to do five. What you are shooting for here is a repeatable process. Developing an editorial calendar for your blog articles will help with this. You will also need to do the same for your social media activity. Your goal is to commit a consistent amount of time to social media each week. Even if it is only 15 minutes each week, it is more important to be consistent.

The second part of this involves converting those new website visitors into leads. To do this you will need to offer some unique piece of content on your website, and place it behind a lead capture form. You can create an ebook, webinar, white paper, or case study.

Again, the important thing here, is to have a schedule for creating new content on a regular basis throughout the year. This content can be top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, or bottom of the funnel. Every piece of content should appeal to your target audience.

Just by implementing these two processes you will have the foundation of a lead generation system in place. You can then refine it by adding processes such as: lead nurturing, lead scoring, list segmentation, and workflow automation.

Just like they always say, “Consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program,” you should consult with a professional inbound marketing agency before implementing your lead generation plan. They can help you determine the best way to go about creating a lead generation system for your sales team.

How are you currently generating leads for your sales team? Share your thoughts in the comments section

About the Author: Rick Kranz is the Founder of OverGo Studio, a HubSpot certified partner agency specializing in inbound marketing services. You can connect with Rick via Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+

Photo Credit: L. Richard Martin, Jr.

How to Guide the Buyer’s Journey with Email Marketing

Dan Stasiewski — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 11:22:00 GMT

As marketers, we can all agree the journey a consumer takes from lead to customer today is much different than it was 10 years ago. However, email still plays a major role in that process. Almost a third of repeat customers are initiated by email. And, according Epsilon’s Email Trends and Benchmark report, open rates are increasing with the new benchmark number set at a 31.1 percent open rate. That’s an increase of nearly 4 percent from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013.

Why are open rates going up? Mobile is one reason, according to Epsilon. Inbound marketing has also changed exactly what and how we’re emailing leads, prospects and customers. Instead of a giveaway or email that offers a free quote or consultation, educational offers like eBooks and guides keep leads engaged until they are ready to buy. Plus, providing leads with a flow of nurturing emails after a lead takes action on your site also boosts the chances relevant emails are being opened.

But what happens after engagement? The buyer might not know what the next steps to take should be. It’s your job as a marketer to make sure when a lead is ready, you’re providing him or her an opportunity to move through your funnel. Here are five basic tips you can use to guide leads through the journey rather than letting them go it alone:

Segment, Segment, Segment

At the heart of every good email program is segmentation. Your subscribers expect you to send only the most relevant information because they know you can. Email has been done this way for years now on the B2C side, but B2B companies still have a lot of catching up to do. Get started by creating these segmented lists, and then look for as many additional opportunities to segment your list into smaller and smaller groups. An email with 500 people might get a 15 to 20 percent click rate, whereas an email to 5,000 might only get 1.5 to 2 percent. That’s the same number of actions with fewer annoyed subscribers.

Don’t Be Afraid to Send Frequent Emails

What seems frequent to you (say twice a week or every other business day) might not be so frequent to the subscribers. Smaller, more targeted segmented lists allow you to send more messages in a shorter time period. To use the 500/5,000 comparison above, targeting the smaller list means you can contact the 4,500 other subscribers with content more relevant to their needs.

Provide One Offer Per Email

Because your lists are getting smaller and your emails more frequent, simple one-offer emails are necessary both for relevance and your sanity. Customizing an email newsletter with multiple offers and actions for each targeted group decreases the effectiveness of the offers overall and wastes time. Plus, giving the user too many options doesn’t help move the user along on their journey. If you focus on the offer at hand, you’re a much better guide.

Tell a Story with Lead Nurturing Emails

Once a user converts on a single offer, you can continue to provide the user information of interest to him or her with lead nurturing emails. But rather than just hammering leads with offer after offer, tell them a story. Your lead nurturing workflow should have a first, second and third act (top, middle and bottom of the funnel) and should be just as creative and engaging as the content that started the workflow in the first place.

Always Include a Bottom of the Funnel Offer

Now there’s one thing we all know about any journey: It’s nice if you have a shortcut. Whether it’s a line in a lead nurturing email, an image in a footer or a call-to-action on a linked website page, you should always give the subscriber a chance to take the final step in the journey from lead to customer. Without it, you could miss a valuable opportunity to convert a lead when he or she is ready.

How do you guide your leads through the buyer journey? Share your tips in the comments.

Dan Stasiewski is Technology Director at Kuno. When he's not talking about marketing data and trends, he's probably in a movie theater... or randomly breaking into song. You can connect with Dan via Twitter, LinkedIn or Google Plus.

photo credit: RambergMediaImages

Making the Case for Storytelling in Content Marketing

Brianne Carlon — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 11:28:00 GMT

Mazda car company decided to forgo its popular “zoom zoom” advertising campaign this year in favor of an ad that tells a great story. And it isn’t even a story about Mazda. It portrays Dick Fosbury who revolutionized the high jump by soaring over the bar backward. Fosbury and other “game changers” portray Mazda’s idea behind “developing new and different ways to build outstanding vehicles.” The ad goes beyond the what to the "why.”

By reaching buyers on a human and emotional level, this simple, 30-second commercial has made the case for storytelling in advertising, marketing and content development.

Let’s take a look at a few other elements that make the case for storytelling.

According to Psychology Today, the influential role of consumer behavior has been proven again and again:

fMRI neuro-imagery shows that, when evaluating brands, consumers primarily use emotions (personal feelings and experiences) rather than information (brand attributes, features and facts).
Advertising research reveals emotional response to an ad has far greater influence on a consumer’s reported intent to buy a product than does the ad’s content—by a factor of 3-to-1 for television commercials and 2-to-1 for print ads.
Research conducted by the Advertising Research Foundation concluded the emotion of “likeability” is the measure most predictive of whether an advertisement will increase a brand’s sales.
Studies show that positive emotions toward a brand have far greater influence on consumer loyalty than trust and other judgments, which are based on a brand’s attributes.

In a less formal study, a marketing researcher decided to have each of the students in her class give a 1-minute pitch. Only one in 10 students used a story within his or her pitch. The others stuck to more traditional pitch elements: facts and figures. The woman then asked the class to write down everything they remembered regarding each pitch. Only 5 percent of students cited a statistic, but a whopping 63 percent remembered the story.

However, no one says facts and figures should be completely eliminated from your storytelling. In fact, weaving the two together can have an even greater effect on your buyers. “Studies show that we are wired to remember stories much more than data, facts and figures,” explains Jennifer Aaker, professor of marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “However, when data and story are used together, audiences are moved both emotionally and intellectually.”

Now you know storytelling is good for your bottom line. But how do you implement it? Marketers are not traditionally skilled in writing prose. Well the truth is, storytelling can be broken down into three acts, each one ultimately leading your buyers down the rabbit hole. To learn more, download the free guide, “Storytelling: How to Acquire Leads in 3 Acts.”

With a degree in journalism, Brianne Carlon has more than seven years of professional writing and content marketing experience. Through web and editorial writing, she reaches target audiences for Fortune 1000 companies, as well as small businesses. She uses her content marketing powers to help Kuno and its clients build their brands. You can connect with her on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.

photo credit: Scottish Libraries

Q&A with Jon Hainstock of Zoomshift on driving leads & customers

Steve James — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 11:33:00 GMT

Jon Hainstock (@jonhainstock) is co-founder of Zoomshift, an Online Employee Scheduling Software company. A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to grab lunch with both Jon and co-founder Ben Bartling (@benbartling). As a startup with a limited budget they have strategically used SEO and Inbound Marketing to build their traffic and more importantly drive leads and customers. They have a great product and story, hope you enjoy!!

Q: What is Zoomshift, who is it for?

A: ZoomShift is simple employee scheduling software for small businesses. We really focus on solving the scheduling problem for businesses with under 100 employees.

Q: What marketing/advertising have you done in the past?

A: We’ve tried cold calling, direct mail, Facebook ads, Google AdWords, PR and SEO to try to build awareness and increase leads.

Q: What marketing initiatives have worked the best?

A: SEO has been the best marketing channel for us. Interruption (outbound) marketing wasn’t working well for us, mostly because business owners were not ready to change their scheduling process, even if it was terrible. When someone is actively searching for a solution, they are usually fed up with their process, and are ready to try something new.

Q: How does content marketing play a role in your daily activities?

A: We spend a lot of time interacting with customers everyday via support and chat, and we are able to build better content based on their feedback. Our initial goals were to climb the SERP’s for a handful of keywords, but now we are really focusing on using the language of our customers to build better content.

Blogging gives us the ability to build trust and provide fresh insights on how small businesses can streamline their processes. We are also tweaking existing content and building new pages on a daily basis to test if they will be valuable for our SEO campaign.

Q: What tools do you use for your inbound marketing/seo efforts?

A: We use Juxseo, an on-page SEO grader, to optimize the content on our site. We have also used Scribe to make sure our content is valuable and readable for our target market. We use Positionly to track rankings on a day to day basis. We track domain authority and trust with Moz’s tools.

Q: What are the results so far?

A: We are always amazed at how well SEO works. While SEO is only one arm of the inbound game, it brings in over 60 signups every week, and converts into around 3-5 paid customers per week, all on it’s own. Some of these conversions had assists from social interactions or referrals, but a majority of them convert from a keyword.

Q: What advice would you give to help others with their SEO strategy?

A: Go for the low hanging fruit. Start by doing a lot of keyword research, using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, Google Suggestions, and Übersuggest to give you keyword ideas. Then find the keywords with the most search volume, highest buying intent and the lowest competition. Use those keywords as the main pages of your site and as categories for your blog.

About the Author: Steve James is a partner at Stream Creative, a certified HubSpot partner and full service digital marketing agency specializing in inbound marketing, web design and development, and social media.

Ensure Inbound Marketing Success with The First, First Impression

Todd Hockenberry — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 11:31:00 GMT

You don't want your prospects to need these to make your site experience better!

The first "first impression" happens when a visitor finds you online. More often than not the first impression your company makes takes place far from any representatives of your business. Not that long ago you could control your first impression — a perfectly staged trade show booth, a well researched phone call, an amazing sales pitch. Nowadays you still have opportunities to make great impressions, but more often than not the first impression happens without you even knowing it.

Back in my days as an EVP Sales & Marketing at a manufacturing company, we always tried our best to get requested test samples back to a prospect as fast as possible. We were a small company playing with some big competitors and we figured if we got our stuff back to them first, we would set the table for everyone else.

If our samples were high quality, correct to the specifications, and the first in the door, then we had the upper hand. Everyone else was now measured against our quick response and quality work. Whenever we conducted a win analysis with our customers, this first impression was often cited as a critical reason why our company was chosen.

That was few short years ago and while the idea of making the first impression still holds, it now relates to what your prospects see before they ever call you.

For you manufacturers and industrial B2B companies out there, I am talking to you.

There are a lot of examples of great websites, but so often industrial and manufacturing companies websites are examples of what not to do. I've seen many manufacturing websites that look like a glorified business card or catalog, but in today's business climate that just doesn't cut it anymore.

Your buyers are turning to the Internet for answers long before they reach out to you. Between online directories, social media, and stellar web content — it's no wonder that the first place consumers turn for a solution is a search engine. Inbound marketing principles are gaining traction, content marketing is becoming a standard marketing activity, and more and more companies are spending their money on building great sites that attract the best prospects.

Making the First Impression Count

If the first thing that your prospects are going to see about you is your website, you need to make it count. To make sure our clients' sites are packing a punch, we start with a simple checklist to make sure the basics are covered. Once you've nailed down the basics you can worry about the details.

1) Great Images - people are visual and becoming more so every day. Make all of your images top quality, focused on your solutions, and please stop using those stock images (see the lady with the headset on supposedly depicting someone's customer service).

2) Statement of Value - who are you, what do you do, and who do you do it for. Do not use marketing mumbo jumbo words like 'world class' or 'top quality.' Say what you do plainly and clearly. This makes a strong first impression and sets the tone for the rest of your interactions with a visitor.

3) Compelling Offer - give way your knowledge, show that you care about them and now what issues are relevant to them by sharing something of value to them, not to you (your catalog does not count as interesting or valuable).

4) Call To Action (CTA) and Landing Pages - put high quality offers behind landing pages and attract visitors to them by using compelling calls to action. This step alone has generated an outsized level of value for our clients by taking existing content assets and requiring a conversion on a landing page to get them.

5) Sharing Options - make it easy for your site visitors to share your awesomeness with others. Enough said.

6) Easy Ways to Connect - e-mail, blog updates, social media, phone calls. Give your visitors as many ways to connect with you as possible.

7) Reasons to Dig Deeper - add interest to your site by having a varied approach to content so that the first impression is of a company that has something to say and is worth investigating further.

The first "first impression" is the one you do not even know you are making or when it will happen. Make sure you set your company apart by leaving an impression that keeps them coming back for more.

Beer Goggles Image Credit: Guardian UK

New To Inbound Marketing? You Are Not Alone

Murray Sye — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:50:00 GMT

Are you a small business trying to make sense of all this social media? Blogging SEO, landing page, blah, blah, blah? Are you confused about how Twitter, Google+ and Facebook will help you grow your business?

Let's face it, digital marketing, with all its bells and whistles, is evolving at lightning speed, making it difficult for most of us to keep pace, let alone stay ahead of the curve. And, the result of all these advancements is that most marketers are overwhelmed. Regardless of the rate of change, it's incredibly important to recognize that simply having a website is not enough.

In today's world, marketers must adapt to new marketing strategies and leverage the available tools. To achieve optimum leverage with your website, you need to turn it into an inbound marketing machine. That's a lofty goal! So, your website will need to wear many hats. A website needs to perform and not just exist. Your site needs to attract visitors, educate them and convince them to buy.

In most cases, the traffic you drive to your website from blogs, social media sites, as well as organic and paid searches ends up converting into leads or sales. Without your website acting as an online "home base," it would be difficult to attract new business. This is why having an effective website is so crucial – and why it's so important that it contains powerful key elements to drive more traffic, leads and sales.

Whether you're just getting started with internet marketing or want to brush up on basics, our latest eBook "Small Business Inbound Marketing Starter Kit" is an essential step-by-step guide to setting up and implementing a successful internet marketing strategy.

The Small Business Inbound Marketing Starter Kit covers the following four essential "must haves" to achieve internet marketing success:

1.) Findability
Let's face it, it's not going to be much of a website if no one visits. Therefore, your first mission is to get found online, covering the very top of your inbound marketing strategy funnel. Building inbound links, discovering the secrets to on page SEO and how to create effective meta tags are all essential ingredients.

2.) Design and Usability
Let's assume you're really gaining traction–– getting found online. Your next focus is to get that traffic to stay and not stray. Remember, you only have one chance to make a good first impression. Make sure your website reflects your brand and positions your company as trusworthy and credible. Don't underestimate the power of good design, including: navigation, fonts, colours, images and branding consitency.

3.) Content
With the rise of inbound marketing, content has become front and center in the minds of marketers. It is what search engines and potential customers are looking for. It's what drives visitors to your site and turns prospects into leads. There is no disputing that content is king. However, while search engines are getting smarter and smarter and buyers are becoming more and more selective, quality content is king.

4.) Conversion
Now that you've increased traffic to your website, it's time to convert prospects to leads. Don't let visitors leave your website without providing them with valuable information or you'll lose the opportunity to nurture them until they are ready to buy. Landing pages are one of the most important elements of effective lead generation. Building powerful landing pages allows you to direct your website visitors to targeted information, present them with robust calls-to-action and capture leads at a much higher rate.

If your business is struggling to adapt to new marketing strategies or, you simply haven't been able to generate a profound impact in your niche market, it may be time to conduct a marketing audit.

Client's Social Responsibility Campaign Yields Big Results

Jeff Coon — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 11:37:00 GMT

The other day I was at our local watering hole, enjoying its regular "Happy Hour 2-for-1 Special," when it occurred to me that the recent social marketing campaign we helped develop with West Bend Insurance to "Avoid Distracted Driving" was a super mega "3-for-1 special". Because when companies like West Bend support worthy causes, they create this "3-for-1" effect — with values and benefits that are passed along to:

The Cause
The Company
Their Customers (or the general public)

One of West Bend's core principles is to give back to the communities it serves—its employees are very active in the community, so this campaign supported its culture and brand. At Stream, we believe in supporting like-minded companies such as West Bend, so to be a part of a program that offers this kind of value is personally rewarding. And it doesn't hurt that having a "meaningful brand" makes a brand stronger, more engaging and 120% more valuable, according to a study done by Havas Media.

The Campaign

This 5-week campaign, launched through the West Bend Cares program, featured the following content elements:

Video: An interview with a professional driving instructor discussing safe driving tips
Infographic: Outlining driving distraction types, reduction in brain activity and tips to prevent distracted driving
Blog post: Tips and resources to help prevent distracted driving
Blog post: Ten tips to avoid distracted driving
Blog post: Is distracted driving a world-wide problem?
Landing page: Insureds can request a free wristband to remind them of their pledge to avoid distracted driving

The Results

West Bend received a lot of positive feedback from their associates, customers and independent agents network. After 5 weeks, the results of the campaign elements listed above have garnered:

1,200+ Page Views
200+ Leads
700+ requests for bracelets
220+ Facebook Likes
65+ LinkedIn Shares
40+ Tweets

This campaign also caught the attention of a national safety organization that will be featuring West Bend and their commitment to promoting safety, recognizing West Bend as a thought leader in this area.

Marketing Takeaway

Businesses should continually look for ways to align their personal passions and company message platforms. In short, find a cause you believe in to support! If you don't currently have one, ask your employees — surely, they'll have one that is near and dear to their heart.

The benefits of social marketing can be:

Increased brand awareness/PR
Increased trust for your company, showing the personal side of your business
A boost in company morale (team-building at its best)
Positioning your firm as a thought leader
A warm fuzzy feeling deep within your soul knowing that you made a difference (and that my friends, is priceless)

In closing, do some good. Leave the world a better place and "Happy Hour" will lead to many Happy Hours for you, your company and your cause.

What causes do you support? How have your efforts resulted in a 3-for-1 special?

About the Author: Jeff Coon is a partner and creative director at Stream Creative, a certified HubSpot partner and full service digital marketing and design firm specializing in inbound marketing, web design and development, and social media.