Saddle Up and Run the Gauntlet!

Any executive today should have a strong About.me profile. While you should also work on your profile on Linkedin, About.Me creates visually stunning profiles.

Let’s see the difference here by looking at Jeff Ogden, President of Find New Customers, on both Linkedin and About.Me:

We hope you enjoy it and tune in every Friday for a new show.

This young lady is a dynamo and passionate marketing expert. I cannot wait to have her as my guest on Mad Marketing TV.

Check out her website and awesome content at http://www.ckb2b.com/

“A powerhouse… B2B couldn’t have a smarter, more engaging or more dedicated advocatedriving them to adapt to today’s technologies, and inspiring them to advance their businesses.”

The high-energy, highly engaging marketer known simply as “CK” guides B2Bs through the opportunities and complexities of modern marketing (and modern technologies). An impassioned voice in B2B, CK’s insights and personality have made her a popular speaker, writer, adjunct professor and industry advocate for marketing innovation in the often-overlooked, but forever fascinating world of B2B.

1. An all-new and very impressive blog From the general purpose WordPress.com to hosted WordPress, Genesis framework and a customized child theme done by real professional – our new blog looks awesome and is fully search-optimized. And it is filled with great content to help you create a great marketing plan with just the right marketing mix.
2. New robust email
   We’ve moved from POP/IMAP to Microsoft Exchange- just like large firms. So as we grow our staff, we can add personnel without a hiccup. Rock solid email is critical for an international marketing firm like Find New Customers.
3. A new TV show
   I’m the host of the marketing strategy show Mad Marketing TV, so I’m on YouTube twice a week, interviewing top marketing experts to help you create great marketing plans.  (Three times a week with our Laugh and Learn with Find New Customers show) Not only is it the most TV-like show out there, I also have world-class guests who are experts on buyer personas, content marketing, social media, lead nurturing and scoring, etc. And I learn tons from those great guests! (see below)
4. New Awards
   We were named one of the 50 Most Influential in Sales Lead Management recently, which really validates our expertise in demand generation and marketing strategy.

Without a doubt, 2012 is the most exciting year for the global marketing company Find New Customers in our history.

What do you think? We love reading your comments and those who share on social media.

As soon as a new lead comes into sales, a clock starts ticking.  In this world of empowered buyers, by time a prospect reaches out, he or she is ready to move. So a quick response is imperative.

This  is why adding the Ifbyphone LeadResponder is so important. The B2B demand generation and global marketing firm Find New Customers wishes to congratulate Hubspot on this important new capability.

Ifbyphone’s LeadResponder for HubSpot addresses the gap between web inquiries and sales follow-up, giving marketers the ability to instantly deliver inbound web leads to sales representatives as a phone call.
CHICAGO, IL – January 30, 2012 – Ifbyphone®, the leader in voice-based marketing automation, announced today that HubSpot, the second fastest-growing software company in the United States, has selected the Ifbyphone LeadResponder as the newest addition to the Hubspot App Marketplace. LeadResponder enables HubSpot customers to quickly connect with and convert qualified inbound marketing leads through the use of voice-based marketing automation.

Ifbyphone’s integration with HubSpot solves the problem that occurs when a prospect completes a web form, then waits hours to receive a follow-up response. During that time gap, sales are lost due to eager consumers moving on to competitors or losing interest altogether.

LeadResponder provides a solution by instantly connecting a user’s sales team with qualified prospects by phone while prospects are still actively engaged on the user’s website and thinking about their business. When a qualified prospect fills out a web form, the software automatically triggers a phone call to find an available sales rep. Once one is identified, the sales rep receives basic information about the qualified prospect and is immediately connected to the buyer.

“This latest addition to the App Marketplace offers HubSpot customers the ultimate marketing automation package by combining a leading inbound lead generation tool with voice-based marketing automation technology,” said Irv Shapiro, CEO and Founder of Ifbyphone. “Voice interactions are often a missing link that marketers fail to consider as part of their overall marketing strategy. With Ifbyphone’s LeadResponder for HubSpot, sales representatives close the gap in their lead response time, helping them to more quickly convert qualified leads into sales.”

As an add-on to the HubSpot Marketplace, Ifbyphone LeadResponder for Hubspot is integrated seamlessly into customer accounts. Users simply register and view reports within their existing HubSpot platform.

“The introduction of applications like Ifbyphone’s LeadResponder is just the beginning of how our companies will continue to enhance the marketing automation space,” said Brian Halligan, CEO and Founder of HubSpot. “We recognized that voice-based marketing automation was a critical component to our offering, and we’re thrilled that we can give our customers even better capabilities to manage their inbound leads.”

Marketers can learn more by downloading a Lead Response eBook about How To Close More Qualified Inbound Marketing Leads, Faster.

To learn more about Ifbyphone’s suite of voice-based marketing automation services, including lead capture, lead response, lead scoring, lead nurturing, and lead analytics, visit ifbyphone.com

About Ifbyphone®
Ifbyphone is the leading voice-based marketing automation platform that manages, measures and automates voice interactions in the marketing process — including lead capture, lead nurturing, lead routing, and lead analysis. The Ifbyphone suite is a set of software-as-a-service applications implemented easily across an organization for better decision making and improving interactions across the customer lifecycle.

About HubSpot

HubSpot, Inc. offers an all-in-one marketing software platform that has helped more than 4,900 companies in 34 countries increase the number of visitors to their websites and convert more of those visitors to leads and customers. Applications in the software platform include website management, blogging, search engine optimization, lead management, marketing analytics, email marketing, landing pages, and social media monitoring. HubSpot is also the developer of the popular website analysis tool, WebsiteGrader.com, which has more than 3 million users. HubSpot, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Find them at http://www.HubSpot.com.

Date: February 15, 2012 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST Presented by True Influence (“hand selected” Jeff as speaker for this event.)

Overview
With prospects drinking from the fire-hose of content every day, their fingers hover over the Delete key. As a result, this noise means it’s harder than ever to get your message heard. When everyone’s shouting, no one hears anything.

Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers will share five creative ways companies today break through the clutter and getting themselves heard. Filled with actual examples, this is one webinar you won’t want to miss. In addition, as the host of Mad Marketing TV, Jeff interviewed Co-Founder and Creative Director of Velocity Partners, Doug Kessler, on a show entitled. “Leaping Out of the Content Ocean” - on differentiation strategies, which fits perfectly with this webinar.

Agenda:
Join us for this web-based discussion, where we’ll discuss and you’ll learn:

• How one company used humor to get attention.
• The power of online video with thought leadership.
• Why doing the unexpected generates results.
• Why you really need to “Let Your Freak Flag Fly.”
• Some actual case studies

About the Speaker:

Jeff Ogden is the President and Founder of Find New Customers “Demand Generation Made Simple.” He also is the Host of Mad Marketing TV – a weekly marketing show sponsored by Act-On Software. Jeff interviews top marketing experts every week.

B2B Marketing expert known as the Fearless Competitor. Author of the popular blog Fearless Competitor. Professional writer and speaker. Profiled in the book, Get Back to Work Faster.

Jeff is a Dad, husband and sports geek. Proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He holds a degree in Marketing from the #1 undergraduate business school in the USA. Born and raised in a small town in Southern Indiana, Jeff Lives outside NYC with his wife and three boys.

What do you think? We love to read your comments and appreciate those who share our content on social networks.

Check out her website and awesome content at http://www.ckb2b.com/

Here are some quotes:

“A powerhouse… B2B couldn’t have a smarter, more engaging or more dedicated advocate driving them to adapt to today’s technologies, and inspiring them to advance their businesses.”

The high-energy, highly engaging marketer known simply as “CK” guides B2Bs through the opportunities and complexities of modern marketing (and modern technologies). An impassioned voice in B2B, CK’s insights and personality have made her a popular speaker, writer, adjunct professor and industry advocate for marketing innovation in the often-overlooked, but forever fascinating world of B2B.

A typical young lady in marketing

Had an interesting chat with Todd Lebo, Senior Director of Content & Business Development at MECLABS Primary Research. He observed one of the most common mistakes made by B2B companies – excessive reliance on junior marketing team members.

That rang true. I’ve observed the lack of marketing leadership affecting a lot of companies. It’s been confirmed by many other marketing experts too.

While these junior members handle day-to-day responsibilities, they lack the leadership and strategic planning skills a marketing department really needs. It adversely affects a company’s ability to attract and win new customers.

An Example of Junior Marketing – a comment shows the problem.

The global marketing firm Find New Customers was meeting with a prospective new client – a multinational software firm –  in New York City. In the meeting, we turned to the young lady responsible for operating their Marketo software and asked her to define lead nurturing.

She told me “Lead nurturing is sharing information with prospective buyers to convince them to buy your product.”

OUCH!

I bit my lip and said nothing. But in the back of my mind, I was appalled. I knew this was a terrible definition, but how to I tell them?

That’s NOT an adequate definition of lead nurturing. (If you cannot even define it, you sure can’t implement it.)  Here’s my definition:

“Lead nurturing is the process of sharing highly relevant content with target buyers, regardless of their timing to buy. The goal is to earn their trust and become the preferred provider for their business challenges.” Notice my definition is all about the buyer.

If you wish to learn more about Lead Nurturing, watch this presentation from Find New Customers.

It is clear this young lady lacks the experience or knowledge to implement lead nurturing and scoring, though she has the operating role with a fine software product like Marketo. Interestingly, I spoke to their Chief Marketing Officer – he agreed completely. His team, though hard workers, are novices at B2B demand generation and global marketing and are unable to create a best-practices marketing plan.

The Real Problem – A Failure of Leadership

What we have overall is a failure of leadership. Fortunately, this particular company realizes the problem and may hire Find New Customers to provide leadership in lead nurturing and scoring. The CMO told me he’s a fan of outsourcing talent.

I suggest rather than hiring marketing leadership, you should do what this CMOs wishes to do and turn to outside experts such as Mac Macintosh of AcquireB2B, Paul Mosenson of NuSpark Marketing, or Dan McDade of Pointclear. Their expertise can provide the short term leadership your company really needs and provide the guidance your young and experienced marketing staff needs to develop a best practices marketing strategy.

The Effects of Junior Marketing Folks Shows in the Data

The problem with junior marketing folks shows in the data too.

As you see from this chart by Act-On Software (sponsor of Mad Marketing TV), the twice-weekly show hosted by Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers, companies do a good job on “top of funnel” activities, such as email, direct mail and events. Those functions can be handled by junior folks.

But very few (see chart) do “middle of funnel” activities such as lead nurturing and scoring. (Look at the low scores for lead nurturing and scoring in the center of the chart.) Those functions tend to be beyond the abilities of junior marketing folks. For instance, lead nurturing requires deep buyer personas, compelling content and story-telling skills – far beyond the pay grade of most “marketing managers.”

What do you think? Do you agree that too many companies, especially smaller ones, have too much of a reliance on young, inexperienced marketing workers?

We love your comments (enter below) and we invite you to share on social networks.

“Find New Customers can certainly help your business dramatically improve the flow of sales-ready leads to salespeople.” Paul Dunay, Buzz Marketing for Technology.

Think about it. Humans have been communicating for centuries.

1. Cave drawings
2. Papyrus
3. Telegraph
4. Telephone
5. Postal Mail
6. Email
7. Instant Messaging
8. Social Media

Therefore I content that social media is nothing more than the next generation of communication device.

That said, there are some fundamental differences:

1. Social media is robust. You can share images, links and more.
2. Social media happens all the time, making it a superb listening tool.
3. Social medial has enormous reach. Earlier communication devices were one to one. Social media is one to many.

It is time for every business to embrace social media and share engaging content all the time.

What do you think? What is your opinion of social media? We love comments and those who share.