Three Key Job Roles to Make Your Marketing Automation Rock

Marketing automation is a great solution to help drive your business. Marketers need to be more accountable, engage with customers and potential buyers, and also scale their activities. They are increasingly spending more dollars on technology to support these activities, and in the near future may even out pace CIOs on technology spend.

While there is a great deal of discussion on the undeniable advantage marketing automation can provide, there has been less discussion around what that means for your team. Technology is awesome, but it really is only as good as the people who implement it and manage it on a day-to-day basis. That's why it is important to think about your team structure when putting software systems in place.

Here are a few thoughts on who you need on your team to get the most out of marketing automation; the good news is, you may already have people on your team that have these skill sets.

Content Manager

Make sure you have an individual who can create a steady stream of great content. With marketing automation software, it becomes easier to scale programs (e.g. different job functions at different verticals), so you will need someone who can create effective content for the programs and re-purpose it. This could be a product marketer, an evangelist, someone from marketing communications manager, or a new hire such as a brand journalist. Ideally, this person will have some writing in his or her background.

Marketing Operations Manager

You will need someone who enjoys mechanics. Setting up integrations, key reports, segmentation, and flows in the system are just some of the activities a good marketing operations person will do. This is one of the most critical roles to get right because they are essential to building the technological framework. A good framework = total and complete awesomeness. A bad framework = wasted time and added expense, which we all know equals bad things. A good candidate for this is anyone on your team who enjoys technical details, has a good mind for process and how things work, and feels happy when in Excel.

Nurturing Manager

This role makes sure you are squeezing the juice from the orange. They will work with your content manager and make sure their programs have the right content mapped to the buying cycle. It is also a very critical role because when done well, since nurtured leads can produce a 20 percent increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. It is ideal to have someone in this role who understands your buyer and user personas, and also is very good at thinking through the right workflows. I have seen strong marketing programs people succeed in this role.

I hope these suggestions are useful and help you think about the right team to make marketing automation rock in your office! What other players do you have on your marketing automation team? We would love to hear about them.

How Winning Customer Service Can Help Win Back Lost Customers

It's estimated that small businesses are losing up to 40 percent of their customers each year, winning customer service is a strategy for winning back lost customers.

Think that the statistics are wrong? How many customers can you stand to lose each year? 10 percent? 20 percent? Regardless of the number, each customer lost means that your organization has to work that much harder to win an extra customer to make up for the lost one. With the general business estimate of between 5-10x the cost to acquire a new customer compared to maintaining an existing customer, it makes absolutely sense to have a winning customer service strategy in place to keep customers or be able to win back lost customers.

Winning customer service will be the key to keeping your existing customers and the most powerful weapon you have to win back the lost customers that may have gotten away.

A customer you lose is a customer your competitor gains

Many business professionals and small business owners assume that some customer loss is just a cost of doing business. Sure, it's true that we can't please everyone and in the end some people will be disappointed, but this brings us back to the original question, how many customers are you willing to give to your competitors. Oh yes, the competition. When we talk about customer loss, those customers are going somewhere, they don't just stop doing business.

Every customer you lose is a customer one of your competitor probably gains. So winning customer service is crucial to keeping those heard earned customers. You don't want a lack of customer attention to let your customers slip away.

So how are you going to win back those lost customers? Customer service experts agree, it's not a given that once you gain a customer that you will keep them forever. And when you lose a customer, a specific strategy needs to be executed to win back the customer.

4 Effective ways winning customer service helps to win back lost customers

Four effective principles are part of the best customer service tips to get you on the right track and winning back those important customers.

1. Examine problems creating customer losses

There's always a reason why you lose a customer. Maybe it's price. It could be lack of features. The quality of your service or product can drive customers to your competitors. Maybe it's your customer service approach. The point is, in order to win back customers and prevent future customers from leaving, you have to understand why they are leaving in the first place. What are the problems that are driving customers away.

Sometimes it may be something unique to one individual customers, but usually it's a general trend with something doing wrong in your organization or with your offering. Identifying and correcting it is the first step to winning back the customer.

2. Winning customer service takes responsibility for customer service

It may not be your fault, but a lost customer is your problem. You have to take responsibility for your customer service losses and showing customers you're responsible and making steps to fix the problem is the next most critical step to winning back the customer.

Award-winning customer service training is a way to start taking responsibility for the type of service your organization delivers. When you approach a lost customer and can specifically state what has been done or how things have been fixed, you've opened the door for that customer to come back.

3. Make a special value incentive

You customer has already been burned in some way. How can you regain customer trust? It's not easy and often times it's going to cost you. It may not be practical to offer an aggressive deal to everyone, but it's a must for your biggest customer losses, or those customers that represent the most potential for revenue. But then again, can you make some special incentive that can be applied to any customer walking out the door? If you're saying no, think of it like this. Would I like something less than I normally get and keep this customer or am I willing to settle for nothing.

As long as you're meeting your basic costs, you have to consider that even the most aggressive discount is at least brining is something more than zero. Zero is what you get when you refuse to address the lost customer. Zero is the price you pay when you lack a winning customer service experience. You've lost a customer. You've lost revenue today. You've lost revenue tomorrow, and forever.

4. Winning customer service centers on exceptional communication

Communication is the final step in using winning customer service to win back that lost customer. By now, if you've been able to make some progress with getting back your customer, you've just begin to recreate that customer relationship. It's not done. You can't go back to how you've been doing things. You will need to continue working on and developing this tender relationship even after you've won back the customer. Customer service communication is the key to ensuring that this customer doesn't walk out on you again.

Winning customer service recognizes that its customer relationships that matter most. Improving customer communication and taking customer service to the next level is the way to ensure that you catch the warning signs that lead to customer loss in the first place. By communicating effectively with customers you get the hints that there's trouble with the customer relationship. You can catch customer dissatisfaction and fix it before it leads to outright customer loss.

What's your take on winning back customers?

These four principles are simple and effective at helping your organization develop the type of customer relationship that keeps customers loyal and creates winning customer service organizations. These principles are a central part of a winning customer service strategy. Your customers aren't asking for everything. They just want to feel valued. They want to feel respected. There's no better way than by creating a winning strategy that shows customers, even those who have chosen to walk out on your that you still care about them and are willing to do what it takes to get them back.

Exciting Ways to Market Your Business in 2013

The explosion of digital and social media has opened up exciting new avenues for marketers and advertisers. Never before have there been so many ways a business can get their message out to their target market. Some are new tactics while others are new takes on older methods. Here are some of the exciting new marketing strategies for 2013.

Content Marketing

The term 'content marketing' only came on the scene recently. Also known as 'inbound marketing,' content marketing is the use of articles, blogging, podcasts, videos and other content to answer prospect questions and help generate sales. The goal of content marketing is to create trust, answer objections and illustrate ways clients can use products.

One good example of this from Coca Cola. They have decided to transition their tradition of 'Creative Excellence' to the much different platform of 'Content Excellence.' That means they want to create content so valuable and interesting it is shared and talked about. The 30-second TV commercial is no longer the best way to get close to consumers. Coke is moving to a collaborative strategy that involves their audience much more than before.

Public Relations

Public relations used to concern itself with sending press releases and trying to get clients in the media. Now that many people get their news and information in social media, public relations has taken on more of a marketing role.

PR departments are working closer with marketing professionals than ever before. Public relations consultants are using their ability to tell stories to help create new narratives for marketing.

User-Generated Content

One of the fastest ways to create a marketing impact is to allow users to generate content. It gives consumers a chance to interact with their favorite brands, and marketers are able to rapidly create lots of content that will improve their presence in search engine rankings.

User generated content can be as simple as encouraging fans to make YouTube videos. Other popular methods are setting up online communities and asking users to contribute articles and blog posts.

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing has been on the brink of exploding into the big time for several years. While mobile usage has clearly made huge gains, marketers were never sure the best way to take advantage of the trend; recently they have made great strides in creating content exclusively for mobile.

For example, many businesses have created their own applications that help consumers get information they need. Whether for iPhone, Android or other mobile platforms, there will be more use of 'apps' to exploit the power of mobile marketing.

Promotional Products

Promotional products have been a cornerstone of marketing for decades. One might think this marketing method does not mix with new channels like social media. Interestingly, promotional products fit well into new marketing strategies. Since social media is entirely digital, promotional products give marketers the opportunity to make their message more real.

Promotional products are largely used in person and must be touched and handled physically. They are perfect for creating a three-dimensional aspect to a brand message. Promotional products move a brand from the digital realm into the real world.

There has never been a more exciting time in the history of marketing. Changing technology has allowed consumers to play a much bigger role in the conversation around their favourite brands. In the past, marketing was 'one-way' with advertisers blasting their message to the world. Marketing has become more dynamic with multiple voices influencing the direction of the brand and its role in the marketplace. Content marketing, mobile marketing, public relations, user-generated content and promotional products are leading these changes for 2013.

Achieving Success in a B2B Lead Generation

One step at a time.

Securing success in business is constantly a difficult journey. It involves a lot of money, time, effort, dedication and analysis. Besides, reaching the top requires a step-by-step endeavor. The same is true with B2B lead generation. Achieving success demands one step at a time.

Business-to-business (B2B) lead generation is just the start of the many steps in the whole sales process. What comes after is as important as the beginning. Never ever think that once qualified leads are identified, sales process ends.

Though the sales leads show interest in buying, it doesn't follow that they are ready to buy. Prospects that are sales-ready comes only in a small percentage of the total leads generated. It is therefore your responsibility to take care of the other leads. Lead nurturing is the major cause how to convert prospects into closed sales.

Think of applying these steps to have the best chance of being successful in your efforts. Each step is independent with each other.

Step 1. Distribute information immediately.

To make them feel that they are valued as customers, let it be a habit to keep them updated. Educate them by giving information about the company, the services it offers and product specifications. Serve them well by being respectful and at the same time professional. Respond to their inquiries as fast as possible. However, don't push them to purchase. Connect with them to create relationship and to build trust.

In addition, it would be very helpful to:

•  learn beforehand the right answers to diver
• se questions.
•  store information in a computer database to send it via email or downloads.
•  have enough supply of printed materials.
•  keep sales and marketing people prepared.

Step 2. Nurture leads by responding to all inquiries.

It would be an advantage to possess a computerized marketing database. This is a tool to respond to all inquiries swiftly. It is a law to all firms not to make the customers wait.

Step 3. Identify what kind of leads your firm are targeting.

Determining what kind of leads the company are serving is a golden rule. No one would waste everything to a customer who will never buy a product. In this case, let the marketing and sales people identify which of the leads generated are the qualified sales leads.

Step 4. Analytically and critically process lead distribution to sales.

After separating the qualified leads from those who are not, it is a must to concentrate on the qualified leads. As stated earlier, it would do no good if efforts are directed to customers who decided not to buy. Lastly, assure that lead distribution for sales team and others involved is easily accessible.

Step 5. Innovate a program that would nurture the not-yet-qualified leads?

Leads that are not yet qualified can be potential prospects in the future. It is highly recommended that you will create a program that would nurture these leads. Uphold the principles of building trust and be committed in exercising the entire endeavor. Research unfolds that three (3) out of four (4) sales are those often ignored.

It is then better that a separate team must keep in touch with those not-yet-qualified leads. Cold-calling, unlike other mediums, is more effective to generate responses. Let it then be made frequently.

Step 6. Establish a program to keep tabs on the results of every step in the sales process.

Having a program that could measure and track the outcome will be essential to evaluate the success rate of the lead generation process. This program includes an identification of costs (per lead and per sale), know which efforts worked and determining whether the entire lead generation is profitable.

Because leads are the life blood of the organization, monitoring the progress of these programs must be made habitually. Moreover, correcting and enhancing these undertakings will be of extreme importance in achieving success in a B2B lead generation.

Never forget, all it takes is just one step at a time.

This post originally appeared at Belinda Summer's EzineArticles

This article is an original contribution by Belinda Summers.

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Why is My CTR So Damn Low?

With Google Adwords (or SEO for that matter) when you find a keyword that converts well and that gives you good orders/leads at a great cost per conversion you want more from it. You want to squeeze as much traffic out of it as possible as you know that the more traffic you get the more sales you will get.

Unfortunately this can sometimes be tricky ' sometimes you can bid up a keyword into position 1 but even once there it's click through rate (CTR) remains pitiful. You check that you are not abusing your customers in your ad copy and see what some of the other competitors are doing with their ads and you find that (as objectively as possible) that you have strong ad copy. So wassup?

Today we are going to look at the process you should go through when you find yourself a bit stumped as to why your click through rate (CTR) is so damn low, and we will of course then give you some pointers on what you can do to improve it.

First up ' What is a good click through rate for Adwords?

This does vary greatly with each keyword, and in fact each auction as there are many influencing factors e.g. a domain that is almost synonymous with a specific product (think Amazon on book related searches), or whether or not there are product listing ads within the results, and if so where they are positioned etc etc.

all of that aside there are some general averages that are typically called upon at times like this data gathered by Accuracast:

You will probably have an idea of the specific auction peculiarities for your top keywords so can adjust due to this to work out whether your CTR is poor or not.

Here is a keyword that we were confused by this week for one of our clients:

Although the keyword is running in an average position of 1.5 the CTR is just 3.74%. Using the above table we can see that this is well below average for this position. The cost per conversion (£12.97) for this client is very good so we want more traffic; it looks like we cannot get into a much higher position and the issue is obviously CTR. Here is the process that we went through to figure out why:

Make a list of potential reasons

• Ad copy is poor compared to competitors
• Ad copy is not relevant to the keyword or to the intent of the searcher
• If broad match keyword are we getting irrelevant searches?
• Do we have a low impression share through day parting and compete aggressively at that time?
• Are we also running on the search partner network ' how does performance vary?
• What about ad extensions ' are we missing any critical ones?

Review ad copy

Here we refer back to best practices ' see this infographic on how to write the best PPC ads. In this case the keyword is exact match so we know that all of the searches are relevant to the ad we have written. We looked through all of the competitor ads and could not see any reason why ours were losing ' we had a good clear attention grabbing headline, strong call to action and ads that were focused to the searchers intention with this keyword.

Reviewing Adwords Auction Insights to see what competitors are doing

Another report that was released in 2012 is the Auction Insights report, this allows you to compare some of your performance indicators directly with specific competitors ' at first glance it can be a little confusing but with a little interpretation a fair amount can be learned from this report. To get the keyword insights you need to select an individual keyword and then click on 'keyword details' and then choose the option 'Auction insights' as shown in the screenshot below.

Here is the auction insights report for the keyword in question:

The first thing to look at here is the 'position above rate' as this shows you who is beating you and how much of the time they are beating you. You can see here that 2 of the competitors have a position above rate of 99% so this means that when our ads are shown together they almost always rank above us.

If you now look at the impression share column you can see that we had our ads served for 100% of the available impressions for this keyword whereas the 2 competitors that are beating us have a much lower impression share ' this could be because they are only running ads at specific times of the day. It could theoretically be because their bid is too low to get all of the available impressions but that does not make sense considering that when they do show they always show above our client.

So; in order for us to show above them more of the time we will need to bid up during peak trading hours.

Determining where our impressions are coming from? Google Search or the Search Partner Network

The next thing that we looked into is the network that we are running on and it quickly became apparent that our CTR in Google search was very good when our ad was shown in the top positions above the search results; this perhaps accounts for the good quality score of 10/10.

However; most of the impressions came from the search partner network when we were in lower positions. The take away from this is that we could split out the search partner network targeting into a separate campaign to better understand the performance and also to bid differently for the two ' perhaps we need to bid a little higher for the search partner network than we do for Google search.

Checking Ad Extensions

another reason why CTR may suffer is if you do not use relevant ad extensions: For example if you are a restaurant and you do not run call extensions to allow mobile users to click to call or if you do not link up your Places extension to show address details then you could lose clicks and sales. In Adwords you can check on the part of your ad or ad extension that was clicked ' in the example below you can see the comparison between the headline, the product extension and the ad sitelinks.

This data does not mean that site links are bad ' they probably help the CTR overall as they allow your ad to take up more space on the page and to say more about your offering but the fact that most people click on the headline is probably more down to the nature of how people are used to using a search engine. It does look like the product extensions help the click through rate as when they are shown we get a better click through rate than on the headline as people are interested in specific products.

Looking at this I cannot see any action that needs to be taken.

Other things to examine

A number of the factors we have looked at here in this post can be found under the 'Segment' option on the keywords tab (shown in screenshot below).

Play around with the different reports under here to see if and where any data stands out.

Considering what we have found through the auction insights data it would be interesting to know the performance of this keyword by time of day; unfortunately the smallest unit of time available under segments is by day. Under the dimensions tab you can get a performance report by hour of the day but this is at ad group and campaign levels only, so you would need to put a keyword in it's own ad group to work out at what time of day the CTR is suffering.

Conclusions

From this analysis we have the action points of:

1) Create a separate campaign targeting the search partners and to bid slightly higher in that campaign for this keyword.

2) Test a slightly higher bid in Google search too.

It's important to remember that ads can always be improved too and to keep testing.

Are You Responsive to Your Customers?

While trying to choose an 'R' word for this post I considered reality, responsibility, relativity, respect and several others but decided on responsive as a particularly apropos topic in that I could talk about a lot of the other 'R' words using responsive as the context. See what you think.

What do your clients or customers expect in terms of responsiveness? Do they expect you to respond instantly to their every need, whim or desire? It they do you might consider them the customer from hell if they provide you with little revenue but with lots of grief. On the other hand if you are making seven figures from them you might be willing to ask how high they'd like you to jump in satisfying their requests. So I guess in this respect responsiveness is relative.

When do your clients and customers expect you to respond to them? Responsive for one can be construed as extreme tardiness for another. If your service level agreement, for example, specifies 24/7 service and they find that no one is available at 2 AM on a Sunday morning when they are getting ready for a major announcement on Monday then they will probably consider you non-responsive. If, on the other hand, you've trained them to expect to wait days for a return phone call then calling them back the same day might be considered wonderfully responsive. So responsiveness can indeed by relative.

Another consideration when it comes to responsiveness is how you respond. Do you use a CRM or auto respond system or do you provide a personal response to requests via website or email? Do you have a 'feature rich' (i.e. overly complex) menu driven telephone system where it is virtually ' or even literally ' impossible to get to a human being? Or do you have a person answering the phone? It may be 'cheaper' to lay off the phone answering employees and use an automated system, but that really depends on the criteria you use to define 'cheaper.' The bean counters probably aren't including churn and attrition due to severe customer dissatisfaction in the calculation but it could be having a huge impact on the company's revenues.

What do you consider to be responsive in your business? Do your customers agree with you? Do you know if they agree with you? If not, they may be feeling that you don't really respect their needs and you won't really know that unless you figure out that very few of them are remaining repeat customers. And that's way too late in the life cycle of your business to find out because by then it's likely that you will be at the end of it way too soon!

I'd love to read your responses to this post. Please do comment below or send me a message via the website contact form. I promise you that I will respond to you ' promptly, courteously and in full. Thanks for reading.

Musings on Relationships, Experience, Engagement, and Relationship

It occurs to me that we, the folks in the world of business, are blind to relationship, relationships, experience, and engagement. It occurs to me that we just don't get it! Let's start with relationships and work our way through to relationship (no there is no typo here).

Customer Relationship Management

Whilst we talk about relationships, sometime a lot, in business it occurs to me that we don't get relationships. That was the whole issue with CRM and still is. Within the context of CRM, R stood for let's put in technology that makes me more powerful and allows me to control you. That is still what relationship stands for! It take a genuine connection with our own humanity, our feelings, our existence to get relationships. If you haven't seen this TED video then I invite you to listen to it. Enjoy!

Customer Experience and Customer Engagement

Now the talk has moved on. It is no longer cool to talk about customer relationships. Now the talk is of customer experience and customer engagement. And, who is doing the talking? The same people who didn't and don't get relationships. And they are equally ignorant of experience and engagement. Are you up for getting to get what experience is for human beings? Are you up for getting what engagement is for human beings? Are you up for getting the experience of relationship? Then I offer you this video ' please see it through the end:

Relationship: life itself is relationship

Are the soil, the plant, the sun, the rain, the bee separate? Of course they are! Our language tells us that they are. But is that really the case? Can we treat these separately doing what we want without consideration of the bigger picture?

Of course, we cannot. They exist in relationship! What happens when we take out bees as we are doing right now? Who pollinates? Without pollination what happens to the plants? And when the plants that require pollination by bees collapse? What happens to us? All that is, is in relationship. That is the central point of ecology, of systems thinking. Get it?

The 'I' is an illusion, a very persuasive one, yet nonetheless an illusion. You don't believe me? Please allow me to put you in a vacuum and then I want you to tell me that you are an 'I'. We exist in relationship. All there is, is relationship. Yet, we are not mindful of this especially when it comes to the world of business. And so I leave you with the following infographic on climate change. Why? Because climate change (like our feelings) is an indicator of the health of relationship of life itself:

3-Step Time Management

A man who dares waste one hour of time

has not discovered the value of life.

Charles Darwin

Time management is one of the least well-mastered and most desired skills in out fast-paced modern society. Time management is critical to doing everything you want to do, and achieving your individual version of what your ultimate success is. Here is a list of a few 'fairly simple' things can you do to significantly improve your time management ability.

DO THESE THINGS NOW!

1. Eliminate time wasters in your life.

Time wasters are those things that interrupt you while you are working on something, but things that you would not have consciously chosen to do with your time. Try eliminating these time wasters and make some important strides toward managing your time better.

- Email. If you are spending more than 30 minutes of your day on email, unless that is your business, you are spending too much!

- Telephone. If you answer the phone live more than 5 times per day during your most productive time periods, whether at work or at home, then you are sacrificing your time management and efficiency. When you answer the phone, you interrupt your current productive flow and thought processes, and this can instantly kill your productivity.

- Television. You must limit this to be able to achieve some kind of control over your time. My recommendation is 30 minutes per day, especially if you are not getting all the things done you need or want to. On a personal note, there have been weeks that I have not turned the TV on. Yes, I know that's not possible for everyone, but my reasoning is that I have precious few hours at the end of the work day to get all my 'stuff' done. Yes, I take breaks, but I always try to remind myself to use and spend my time wisely. Sometimes its the only coin I have.

2. List

You knew this was coming. Make a list of what is truly important in your life and get started doing the things on your list. One of the keys to managing your time is the ability to prioritize. You absolutely must know what you want to accomplish and then go and do it! Today's world an almost overwhelming number of distractions, and when you allow those distractions to become your priority, you sacrifice your time management.

In case you are new to this blog, here are some simple steps to get this rolling:

- Make of list of what you really want to accomplish

- Set time frames for accomplishing each item- long and short range

- Organize each item in order of importance

- Create a game plan for achieving each of your goals in their respective time frames

3. Focus

Begin to focus on your time management throughout the course of your day. You must consistently focus on what's happening with your time. Look for the leaks in your plan. Where is time slipping away from you unnoticed?

Once you have determined your goals and set your priorities, start focusing on simply getting those things done. If something is not on your goals list for this week, then do not stop to do it until all your goals are done! When you begin to prioritize every single interruption, you will lose your focus, and begin to move your own goals much lower down your list. Okay, to say it more bluntly, if you stop for everything, you will not accomplish your goals! Instead, you will become a servant of every and any interruption that crosses your path, and you lose track of where you want to go.

Three simple steps. Take back the reins of your life, stop wasting time. List out what you want to accomplish. Get focused and get 'er done!!!

Thoughts?

Photo Credit: AlicePopkorn via Compfight cc

Using Video and Audio as a Content Strategy

Business websites contain a plethora of content. Until fairly recently, the content that was posted on most websites consisted primarily of text and photos. While these types of sites can definitely be interesting, businesses are now focusing on using rich, interactive media, like video and audio as an integral part of their websites.

There are several easy and effective ways to add interactive content to your website. Here are a few suggestions:

Video Content

Adding video content to your website is really pretty simple. Sites like YouTube, Flickr or Vimeo make it easy to upload and share content on your site. Most of these sites offer a limited amount of free upload space each month, and you can buy more if you need it. These sites also typically offer a very simple way to embed your video content into a website or blog.

So what types of videos should you incorporate into your site? What does it take to make a successful business video? The opportunities are pretty much endless. Depending on the type of business you have, you can consider shooting video of the services that you provide. A local cleaning company in my area actually took video of their employees on the job, showing how thorough they are when cleaning. This definitely inspired confidence in the company, and I hired them. You could also offer video tutorials, product spotlights, or employee biographies.

While this may go without saying, do be careful when it comes to the content of your videos. If your audience is primarily a business audience, make sure and watch your language, and don't post anything that could be considered not suitable for an office setting. Check out our blog post on how to use YouTube for marketing for more ideas.

Audio Content

Audio content can be a bit tricky to get right. In the past, websites have had sound effects that are not the most pleasant thing to hear if you aren't expecting them. Sites like Myspace started playing music immediately when you clicked on a user's page. I think it's safe to say that many consumers found this more annoying than engaging. Imagine clicking on a webpage and having it suddenly blare music throughout your office!

However, there are definitely ways to do audio content on a website correctly. One idea is to have a company podcast or series of podcasts. Pick a topic that you or your company is an expert on and talk people through how to do it, or hire experts like the group at Pagatim to help make professional audio content. Audio makes it easy for people to access your site and the information and resources you share there while they're on the go. For example, they could listen to a podcast you produced on a particular topic while driving or biking, which makes it possible to multi-task, but still be consuming media that's interesting and informative. Another innovative idea might be to have a phone number where people can call in to review your product or service (leave a message on a voicemail) and you could then post those reviews on your site. Music can be a great tool as well, just make sure that your user is able to choose to listen to it, rather than it just start playing when they click on a page.

(Photo Source)

How to Launch Your Brand with The A & R Perspective

Based on Nielsen findings, there were an estimated 3.2 blogs worldwide last year.

Let that sink in for a moment'

Three.

Point.

Two.

Billion.

Blogs.

Now, how many of those are producing hits?

I'm talking about the kind of stuff viral dreams are made of ' shares, links, comments, buzz, traffic, massive subscription lists, sales, etc.

Answer? Very few.

How many business bloggers thinks theirs has hit potential? That's right' all of them!

Of course they do. Why else would are they trying to create an online brand? But 99% have what it takes to create a hit blog, which is why you only have a few breakout stars in each industry. And if you're using your website build an influential brand, this is what you are up against.

Sound impossible? It's not.

And now, I'll tell you the story of Kimberly and here adventures in the great wide open of online branding'.

Entrepreneurs: Rebels Without A Clue

When I launched my website, I was clueless.

Like many online newbies, I made a lot of mistakes and had my fair share of setbacks. But within 18 months:

• The Huffington Post recognized me as a one of the nation's top personal branding experts
• Online influencers regularly share my blog with hundreds of thousands of their followers
• Respected organizations invite me to speak at their events
• I am repeatedly invited to guest blog, contribute, and quoted in major online publications
• And, best of all, my pipeline has been full of dynamic clients that I love working with

I'm not bragging (my blog has opened up a lot of other cool opportunities for my brand)' I'm just pointing out that it can be done. And you can even wear a Beastie Boys shirt while doing it.

So what did I do?

I put in a lot of hard work around a simple brand launching concept I call 'The A & R Perspective'.

The A & R Man Said I Don't Hear a Single

I'll get to the details in a moment, but first a quick marketing lesson about the music industry.

In a nutshell, here's what record labels are looking for:

a talented artist + a hit single

The talented singer part is probably no shock to you, but why a hit single? Because that's what leads to multi-platinum album sales, sold out concerts, and legions of fans buying merchandise.

In other words, a musician doesn't have a brand until they have a hit.

So, the record companies create Artist and Repertoire departments and hire executives to scout new talent and hit songs. These people have a pretty sweet job. But don't be fooled, scouting isn't easy.

Why?

Because EEEEV-EEEER-YYY-ONNNEE artist thinks they've got the 'it factor' and the next smash song. And 99% of them don't.

(Hmmm' sound familiar?)

So, what does an A & R executive look for?

Oh, they're just looking for a talent'

' and buzz factor, a strong work ethic, an established fan base, strong web presence, a proven ability to sell songs, isn't overwhelmed with other commitments or debt, is compatible with recent trends, and strongly positioned with a fresh image, look, and sound.

You didn't think it was just talent, did you?

Okay, let's get on with applying this lesson to you'

The A & R Perspective

The 'secret' to my success has been my ability to look at my brand (or products, services, website, etc.) from an A & R Perspective, and then create a strategy based on my assessed results.

Here's what you do'

Answer the A & R questions, be specific and detailed:

1. Have I highlighted my talent?
2. Can I create buzz?
3. Am I committed to seeing this through?
4. Do I have a large enough fan base?
5. Do I have a strong web presence?
6. Do I have a proven track record?
7. Am I focused on results?
8. Am I keeping up with recent trends?
9. Have I strongly positioned a fresh image, look, and/or sound?
10. Is this worthy of producing a hit?

Score your answers with a 1-5 star rating (5 being best). Be brutal and honest with yourself. Would an A & R Rep sign you to their company based on your answers?

Create an action plan to improve your results and start implementing. Okay, that's the tricky part. But the A & R Perspective will tell you what to focus on (and where to improve), if you want turn your brand into hit.

In the upcoming weeks, I'll release case studies and additional insights on the A & R Perspective and how you can implement this technique for your brand, products, services, and blog. Some of this information will be reserved exclusively given to my subscribers, so if you want to stay in the know with more valuable information and tips on creating a brand that rocks with the A & R Technique, enter your email in the box below.

The Dawn of Marketing Automation [Video]

Marketing automation is not a new concept, according to the Google Ngram Viewer, the term was first used in 1980, and then started to gain traction in the late 1990s, peaking around 2004. The term then started to decline in usage, reaching a low point in 2007 before slowly rising again. Today its back up near the 2004 peak. What is the history? And why has marketing automation suddenly come into the spotlight?

As a our new video The Dawn of Marketing Automation states, 'In a primitive world, marketers were forced to dig up leads, a miserable job at best. Finding the most unqualified leads at the bottom of the barrel. How could they be qualified? They couldn't. And sales just had to deal'sucks to be sales'.

For decades marketing and sales have struggled to remain aligned, and marketing has struggled to tie revenue directly to marketing programs. With modern business changing the marketing profession so rapidly, marketing automation has come to the forefront as a solution to help plan, execute, scale, and measure marketing transactions with more precision. But what are the trends driving an explosion in the marketing automation space?

Trend #1: Changing buyer behaviors forced companies to change how they market and sell.

Before the internet and social networks, buyers had limited ways to obtain the purchase information they needed, so the seller controlled the buying process. But then buyers moved into the power position. They could access the information they wanted on their own online, anywhere and at any time. And they could delay engaging with selling representatives until they knew as much (or more) than the salesperson did.

To address the challenge, Marketing started to play a larger role in the revenue process. They nurtured relationships with early-stage prospects until they became ready. But this solution posed a challenge of its own: the problem of scale. How do you manage individual dialogues with hundreds of thousands, even millions, of potential customers?

This is precisely why having a marketing automation platform became so critical in the mid-2000s. There literally wasn't any other way to keep up with the demands of modern marketing. Attempts to implement such massive processes without the right systems quickly create colossal messes and lost opportunities.

Trend #2: The 2008 recession permanently altered how companies approach revenue generation and measurement

No business completely escaped the impact of the economy in 2008. But while some organizations hunkered down to weather the recession, cutting resources and headcount, leading companies recognized that growth was their ticket not only to survive ' but also thrive. So they reorganized their processes to increase revenue effectiveness. They refused to tolerate traditional dysfunctions between marketing and sales departments, and those associated with measurement tools like spreadsheets. Instead, they invested in technology that automated and streamlined critical revenue processes.

At the same time, budget cuts made it more important than ever to measure the effectiveness of their marketing investments, even as new highly measurable digital channels raised the expectation for measurement across all channels. Empowered with these new tools, companies determined what was working and what wasn't, and then scientifically re-allocated their resources to operate more strategically.

Trend #3: A new software delivery model unlocked new sales opportunities

Unlike prior generations of marketing automation, today's leading companies provide their solutions using 'software as a service' (SaaS) ' meaning marketers could access the tools in a browser with little or no IT support. Also, these solutions are sold as a recurring subscription, so marketers can buy them using operating budgets instead of making capital investments.

These two factors are critical. Marketing is unfortunately seen as a cost center at most companies. This made it a challenge for marketing to get the capital investment and IT support needed by traditional solutions. But at the same time, marketers have large discretionary operating budgets that they easily spend on marketing programs such as tradeshows, online advertising, and agency services. By enabling companies to buy marketing software like any of these services, the SaaS-based marketing automation vendors removed the largest impediment to marketing automation'adoption.

Luckily, in this modern world, you don't have to worry. In this world, we have marketing automation. Be sure to check out our newest video to learn more about how marketing automation changed the lives of many marketers in The Dawn of Marketing Automation.

Why Online Business Reputation Management Should be On Your Radar

A lot of business leaders are so busy running their businesses that they don't have time to focus on building marketing systems that get them new clients, let alone worry about their business reputation management online.

Your Business Reputation is Whatever Google Says It Is!

Face it, when someone is looking for your business, or your services they go to Google and type in your business name. The chances are the results they will include your website, amongst several other citations of your business.

Now you might think, 'Well that's ok we have a website and it has positive testimonials on there so we are fine, no need to worry!'

Well I am sorry to tell you that that isn't good enough and here is why:

Very rarely do people enter your website url directly into the browser, even if they know you. The normal web user goes to Google and types the company name into Google and then hits search.

What the user is presented with is a list of pages that Google believes to be the most relevant for your business name. Now of course your website is one of those pages, or at least it should be, if it is not then you really do have trouble! The other listings will be other relevant and useful information concerning your business. This could be:

• Press releases
• Articles
• Videos
• Forum sites
• Blog Posts
• Local directory listings
• Review sites
• Social media sites.
• Images
• PDf articles

Do you see my point? If the answer is no, then let me explain some more.

There are many forms of content that people can place online, all of which can be relevant to your business, your name, your products or services. If you don't know what is online when someone searches for you then shame on you.

Remember, the internet is not static, so just because you checked what came up in a search 6 months ago it doesn't mean it's the same today, or tomorrow or the day after and the day after that.

One negative comment left online, or a negative article, can quickly be syndicated to many sites across the internet. Once this happens then that piece of content becomes more credible in the eyes of the search engines because people are taking the time to comment on it and share it.

That means the piece of negative content moves higher up the search engine listings damaging your business reputation, potentially losing market value and impacting your lead generation.

3 Steps to Better Your Business Reputation Management

Take accountability

Don't ignore your online business reputation. Make a point of taking responsibility by assigning someone in your business to take ownership. Then go out and proactively work to provide the search engines with useful, relevant and quality content that adds value to your business and to people searching for your company.

The sooner you create value added content, the sooner it can be indexed and shared by the public, therefore increasing relevancy.

Don't enter a Slanging Match

'He said, she did, I said,' is not going to help you out in this situation. If the comment or content is someone having a good old rant then sometimes it is best not to add fuel to the fire by leaving a response.

Analyse the comment or content that has been posted and think about how best to respond. If the comment is reasonable, for example if the user is talking about an experience they have had with your business and how it was disappointing, then step up to the plate and offer an apology and an avenue to interact with that consumer in order to investigate the issue and make things right. By doing this you get the opportunity to rectify the client's sentiment about your business and also show the outside world, who are watching, that you really do care about your customers and clients.

Positively ask for feedback

Getting positive reviews is another way to counteract the negative press that is online. There are many 3^rd party review sites that allow consumers to leave their honest feedback about businesses that then get published online.

Ask your customers to go to these sites and leave honest reviews about your business, this will help build up a series of reviews, hopefully positive, that can be used to push down the negative reviews, provide feedback to your business and increase the perception of your business online.

Ultimately business reputation management is vital. If someone is saying something negative about your business or services they might have a reason to make a valid complaint. Consider all negative comments or complaints seriously and take corrective action where warranted.

If you want to know more how we could help you develop an online business reputation management system, marketing the GREAT work that you do for clients, protecting your business from the bad comments and winning new and repeat business online then call us today. 0844 245 7365

Landing Page Techniques that Drive Higher Conversion

At Search Mojo we're always looking for new and creative ways to utilize the capabilities of marketing automation software to help drive higher conversion rates for our landing pages and for those of our clients. Conversion is often driven by the effectiveness of the landing page itself. Some of the common landing page issues that affect conversion:

• Does the landing page keep the promise of the search ad?
• Is the landing page designed with a clear call to action?
• Is the offer compelling?
• Is the offer worth the exchange of information?

The last question is one that many marketers may not fully consider. All too often I see landing pages that require far too many form fields for the visitor to fill out for what may not be perceived as a very valuable offer. What is a piece of content worth? If we think of personal information as a form of currency, what is a visitor willing to 'pay' to receive the content asset?

Shorter Forms Increase Conversion Rates

What we do know is that the less we 'charge' for access to an asset, the more likely a visitor will be willing to the information exchange. There are many studies available that demonstrate how reducing form fields on a landing page improve conversion rates. Marketo ran a study that concluded that reducing form fields from nine fields to five improved conversion rates by 34%.

MarketingExperiments ran a similar study that showed by reducing form fields on a landing page from nine to three increased conversion rate by as much as 300%!

Marketing automation tools can make it simple to reduce form fields using three approaches: progressive profiling, conversion paths and social login.

Progressive Profiling

Progressive profiling is by far one of my favorite features of marketing automation. For those who may be familiar with this feature, progressive profiling simply allows marketers to update a prospect's information over time, dynamically updating forms to reflect information that may still be missing for that individual. In essence, rather than gathering all of the information about a prospect up front, information is gathered over time and the prospect's record is continually updated. Here's an example of how progressive profiling works:

Using progressive profiling, marketers are able to reduce the initial number of form fields required for the visitor to receive an asset, which as we've seen, improves conversion for landing pages. Progressive profiling can help marketers achieve a quick win with conversion by reducing form fields on landing pages.

Conversion Paths

Conversion paths involve using multiple landing pages as opposed to a single landing page to convert visitors. Often with search advertising, keywords may not clearly define a searcher's intent or requirement. Conversion paths, or a series of landing pages connected on a path, can help searchers drive down through pages to a more specific result.

The same is true for gaining more information about prospects in a conversion path sequence, similar to the approach with progressive profiling. For instance, Search Mojo holds regular webinars. On the initial webinar registration landing page, the prospect is presented with six fields:

Once the prospect reaches the 'thank you' page after registering for the webinar, the prospect is then presented with the second page in our conversion path, offering an additional asset (in this case an infographic) in exchange for a few extra fields of information:

Using the conversion path method for all webinar registrations over a twelve month period, on average 42.3% of prospects filled out the additional fields on the second page, even though this page was completely optional in regards to webinar registration.

While conversion paths are not unique to marketing automation tools per se, these tools typically allow streamlined updates to existing prospects within its database, making conversion paths much easier and straightforward to implement without causing duplication of lead data.

Social Form Fill and Social Login

Finally, the newest tool in the collective marketing automation toolbelt is social integration. The social form fill option makes it easier for landing page visitors to complete forms with just a click of a button.

Similarly, webmasters and marketers can also combine the APIs from their marketing automation tool with any number of social platform APIs to enable similar approaches using a 'social login'. On Search Mojo's site, we've implemented a similar approach to social form fill with social login, allowing visitors to automatically sign in to see assets on the site by providing social profile information:

Why would a marketer want to implement social login or social form fill? In addition to making the landing page process faster and simpler for the visitor, marketers stand to receive more qualified data from the integration with social networks. A study by MarketingSherpa of technology firms indicates how often incorrect information is entered in forms:

The benefit, however, of integrating landing pages with social networks is that the information from social networks has often been verified in some way. For instance, email, which according to the survey data is listed as 68% always inaccurate, is often verified by social networks in order to ensure that the user can be contacted. Name also is often very accurate with social network profiles, as users of social networks want to ensure their profiles can be found easily by name.

Finally, social networks often provide greater depth of knowledge about a prospect's demographic information (professional or personal). This information can then be used within the marketing automation tool for more targeted nurturing campaigns over time.

How to Get Started

When clients ask me which of these approaches they should employ, I recommend them all! But as marketers, we must often prioritize these initiatives.

• First and foremost, if you're not already doing so, implement progressive profiling on all of your forms. Progressive profiling provides a 'quick win' for marketers to begin gathering much more information over time about prospects, and no salesperson has ever complained about having too much information about a prospect! As you implement progressive profiling, begin reducing your landing page form fields so you can put more prospects into the pipe faster and begin that nurturing process.
• Second, consider how you can begin integrating conversion paths into your current conversion process. This requires mapping out which assets can be used, like progressive profiling, to gain more information about prospects over several pages in a path.
• Third, begin by planning to add social form fill and social login to your landing pages. While this may require greater initial effort, the benefits in the end will be better conversion and more accurate prospect data.

Brilliant Basics: How FedEx Delivered Outstanding Customer Service

It never hurts to reiterate the basics in discussing the quest for outstanding customer service.  In fact, if the basics aren't right then achieving even acceptable service can be a challenge (see my article for an example of how the UK's Barclays Bank demonstrated that lesson).

This article tells a happier story. It's a tale of genuine customer delight generated by a huge global organisation getting three simple things completely right at the point of customer contact.

Three simple things happened today that transcend organisational structures and processes and put this customer first.  It is a definitive example of 'brilliant basics' delivering exceptional customer service.

I'm talking about FedEx.  How did this organisation warrant the prize of being a feature case study in customer service excellence?

Three reasons FedEx demonstrated brilliant basics

What did the FedEx employees I dealt with today do to create such exceptional customer service

1. They listened to what I wanted, but adapted to meet my real needs
2. They reacted swiftly, going beyond their promise to exceed expectations
3. Their employee had an outstanding attitude and genuinely 'lived the values'

If only every company got these simple basics right, how much better could average service be?  It wasn't hard to do, but came down to the initiative and attitude of the people involved adding a personal touch to their day to day job.

It's a people thing, that's the key point. Employee attitude matters.

What do customers know about your 'brand promise'?

Before I give you the example, let's talk about marketing and brand image. That's important because it sets your customers' expectations. A company's brand and culture starts with the words and the promise, but only delivers when the people follow through on that promise.  The 'mission statement on the wall' remains a series of words, unless they come to life through the employee's deeds.

In the courier business, I've dealt with a lot of companies in the past. One regular courier I deal with seems to be a pleasant enough guy when he can be bothered to walk up the 42 steps to the front door and not dump my parcel about halfway up with a 'sorry you were out' card.  This does not show customer care.

My impression of FedEx derives from the fact I'm a fan of Tom Hanks and rather like the disaster movie 'Castaway'. If you've not seen it, Tom plays a FedEx manager fanatically obsessed with achieving performance in getting packages to the customer. This continues, despite suffering an inconvenient plane crash leaving him stranded on a remote pacific island for four years talking to a basketball named 'Wilson'.

Whenever I think of FedEx, I think of the scene at the beginning where Tom Hanks pops a clock in a FedEx passenger, sends it to himself in another country and then berates the employees into process efficiency because it took three days to arrive.  That and the welcome home he receives as 'part of the FedEx family', which subliminally set a message about a corporate culture looking after its people.

As an aside, there's a lesson for the marketing director there.  Don't worry about advertising, just sponsor a disaster movie and make sure you get positive corporate values in there because impressionable people like me remember them.  I tend to discount advertising as blatant fibbing and spin.

Your employees turn brand promises into customer service excellence

Back to the point.  I've been overseas recently and a package arrived for me whilst I was travelling. FedEx had valiantly tried to deliver it to no avail. When my housemate tried to collect it for me, they wouldn't hand over my confidential package (good protection of privacy there), but instead listened to the circumstances and held it at the depot until I returned in person.

This morning, I went online and tracked my order. Instant information. Fantastic.  I called the office at 8am, requesting a re-delivery for tomorrow.  I thought that was pretty reasonable and was just happy they'd kept it for a fortnight in the depot and not shipped it back to the supplier. Lesser companies have previously viewed stored packages as inconvenient after 7 days and sent it back to the supplier.

The FedEx employee on the phone listened carefully and agreed to send it tomorrow. He warned me they couldn't guarantee a time, but engaged in my conversation about when I may or may not be out.

Here's a brilliant basic ' he wasn't humouring me in a call centre obsessed with lowering its average handling time (AHT), he was actually listening to my personal situation. I know this because of what happened next.

At 9:26 am, the doorbell rings. In front of me is the cheeriest employee I think I've ever met (even for a New Zealander ' a nation seemingly genetically predisposed to being incredibly nice, should you never have had the privilege of visiting this sceptre isle in which I now live).

The man from FedEx, in 1 hour and 23 minutes, arrived with a package I called about at 8:03 am.  I was promised tomorrow, it arrived in 83 minutes.  Wow.

Rather than listening to me rambling about my recent travels, the employee on the phone had clearly listened 'between the lines' and heard that I was in today, but might not be tomorrow.  In amongst company schedules, predefined delivery times and corporate procedures; somebody took the individual decision to get my parcel out of an office and give it to a man leaving the depot right away, thinking 'maybe the customer might like this today instead?'

Brilliant. Basic. Customer first.

It's an individual thing

If you thought this was good, the icing on the cake was the reaction of Craig, who stands today as the FedEx world's finest in Wellington, New Zealand.  On hearing how impressed I was, he introduced himself by name and with a beaming smile, turned to run off to delight the next customer with the words 'well, that's what you get from FedEx.'

The values of the 'FedEx family' that I only know through Tom Hanks being stranded in the Pacific arrived today on my doorstep. I am, in the words of customer service guru Ken Blanchard, more than a delighted customer ' I'm a 'raving fan'.

Summary ' key lessons and learning points

For all of us involved in delivering customer service excellence, the messages of this story are simple, clear and brilliantly basic:

• Listen to your customer; pay genuine attention; understand their real needs.
• Promise to meet expectations, but exceed them to achieve 'raving fans'.
• It's your people and their attitude that makes the difference.  A positive culture exists because people take the mission and vision off the plaque on the wall and turn in into their day to day behaviour.

Today, FedEx outdid themselves in comparison to every other courier service I've ever used.  From the mixed reaction to my enthusiasm on Twitter, it's pretty clear who got the basics right today.

Well done, Craig from Wellington.  You're a FedEx legend.

__

Find out more about Price Perrott at our website, www.priceperrott.com, or follow us on twitter @priceperrott

Effective Sales Coaching ' It's All About Your Timing

The fundamental mistake that sales managers make ' and that is perhaps the worst culprit in terms of demotivating their sales force'is managing only results instead of the behaviors and activities that lead to the results.

It's entirely rational that we sales managers focus on results because that's how we are measured and, of course, compensated. Unfortunately, it's not very effective at motivating salespeople. Here's why'

A sales 'result' is what comes about as a consequence of the sales process(es) that preceded it. Sales managers who manage by results ' by which I mean a sales manager who waits until a poor result is produced and then confronts the salesperson about the poor production ' is like a 'Monday morning quarterback.' They are criticizing what happened after it happened, and much too late to do any good.

To be an effective sales manager you must focus on the input side of the production equation, the sales behaviors and activities that contribute to the sales results.

Many sales managers haven't clearly defined the behaviors and activities that sales reps need to be successful. Here's a test for you. Suppose you were to email five of your salespeople and ask them to each reply to the following question: 'Please describe to me the specific behaviors and activities you need to perform to achieve the sales results our company expects.'

How many different answers would you receive? If you're like the managers who have actually tried this test, chances are quite a few. In too many sales organizations, there is a lack of clarity about and understanding of the behaviors needed for success. Your salespeople, then, are selling on instinct. Surely you can do better.

Now imagine that you're a salesperson. You've just had a bad month. Your boss confronts you about that bad month, but he or she doesn't have a clue what caused the bad month. The manager just pushes the button that sales managers always push when they don't know what caused poor production-: 'You're not making enough sales calls. Increase your activity level and you'll sell more.'

If you were a salesperson, how would that make you feel? Probably demoralized. You feel like you worked hard, and don't really know what to do differently. You would appreciate a more constructive coaching discussion, but you're not getting it. Your boss just tells you, 'get out there and sell more.'

To be a great sales coach you need to define the behaviors and activities your sales force needs to know and do to achieve maximum sales success. Put those in a document titled 'Standards for Excellence.' And communicate them clearly and repeatedly to your sales team. Have your salespeople practice new skills and approaches while you observe so you can give them specific tips. Give them the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback early in the sales cycles.

We all know that being the coach is far more effective than being a Monday-morning quarterback. It pays better, too!

What to Do When Your Client Hates the Work

For those days when client feedback feels like a punch in the gut.

I recently got a letter from a freelance writer who just took on her first challenging client. She was distraught because the content she'd been working so hard on hadn't gotten a very rosy reception from the client'and she wanted to know how to deal with negative feedback. She was committed to getting it right (which is most definitely the first step), but was feeling drained and nervous after the client's negative reaction.

I thought today I'd share with you all what I shared with her: 4 steps to turn negative feedback into a positive experience.

1. Take a deep breath & remind yourself of your value.

If you're getting feedback by email or voicemail, take a minute to make a cup of tea, take a deep breath, and remind yourself of some of the nice things past clients or colleagues have written or said. Be willing to learn and grow, but also practice a little self love.

2. Listen and empathize.

Messages, words, and language can be surprisingly emotional topics.

Just because a client is sending you emotionally charged emails or using always-never-love-hate language doesn't mean the situation is dire. Sometimes it is one simple phrase that triggered the emotional reaction. Sometimes the client just needs for you to connect the dots'how did you get from the strategy to the written copy. Sometimes the client is just having a bad day.

This is where it's really important to come into the call or meeting recognizing that it's not about you. Feedback is complicated and messy and full of the emotions each individual attaches to not only words, but the values and experiences those words connect to in his or her own life.

However silly it seems to those on the outside looking in, sometimes a sentence fragment (even an intentional one) can feel like that proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

This is where the listening part comes in.

Listen carefully to people's concerns and let them know you hear and understand and that you are on their side. You are writing or designing or developing for them because you want their business to succeed. You both have the same end goal. It's just a matter of how to get there.

I had a client when I was working full-time at the ad agency who gave my project manager a heart attack when she wrote to tell us she 'hated' all the copy we'd written. My project manager came to me in a panic and I told her it would all be okay and she should set up a quick call to find out what exactly the client hated.

As soon as we had the client on the phone and I asked some specific questions about the things she didn't like, we learned that what she 'hated' was one specific phrase that appeared throughout the copy because her SEO specifications required it to. Her hate language was just a result of her own anxiety about having the right words on her website, not a real reflection of how big the problem was. We fixed that word, cleaned up a few other minor things, and the client was really happy in the end.

If someone says they hate the word 'savvy' or 'sun-drenched' or 'offshoring,' simply reply, 'Okay, so you don't like it because it is {fill in the blank}. We can find a better word. Any other words like that that rub you the wrong way?'

3. Calmly explain your reasoning'and let them know they're still welcome to make the changes.

Always make sure your clients have full information. Don't argue. Don't get upset. Remember that it isn't about you. And say something like this:

'Great. We can definitely change that word if you want. The reason I used that kind of simple language is because your audience has varying literacy levels and I want to make sure we are clear to the largest number of people possible. Do you want me to go ahead and change that or do you want to mull it over?'

The final decision is the client's, but making sure they understand the nuances and reasoning behind your choices will often impact those final decisions.

If you have a content strategy, personas, SEO keyword lists, etc. and the client has already seen and signed off on them, this is a great time to draw the line from your strategy to your content and always always always make sure to update the strategy, style guides, and other documentation if things shift based on your conversation with the client.

4. Don't be afraid to fire bad clients.

I hate to say it, but occasionally listening, respect, and a genuine concern for the client's business success doesn't solve the problem.

When I worked full-time at the ad agency, I actually had to go to the CEO once and ask to be taken off a project because the client had crossed the line from providing feedback into actual verbal abuse.

In case you are just starting out and feel like you have to take on anything and everything that comes your way, let me be the first to say to you: it's never okay for a client (or anyone) to verbally abuse you. Name calling, sweeping generalizations, racism, sexism, or any other form of discrimination are absolute grounds for you to fire a client. If you do end up in this situation (and I hope you never do), always be polite and firm as you end the client relationship. Do your best to respond in kindness. You never know what impact that mix of kindness and self-respect will have.

* * *

Any other tips for dealing with negative feedback?

Photo by Vu Bui.

Getting Out of the B2B Lead Generation Trap

Most B2B marketing organizations miss the biggest opportunities to impact their business because they have not identified the right goals.

Why isn't business coming out of your ears?

Dig into that question, ask why of every answer or assumption you come up with, and you will eventually get to the root challenge and the basis for goals that can move your business forward.

It is easier said than done.

Most B2B marketing organizations start with a goal that looks like 'deliver 18,000 leads to sales.' The lead goal was determined by the new revenue goal, the number of leads sales will need to reach the goal, and the portion of leads that marketing will need to contribute.

It makes sense, it is logical and it can be difficult to question. However, if a spreadsheet and series of status quo assumptions are driving your marketing goals, you will continue to compete on the basis of an increasingly expensive volume game.

Ask Why

It is time to start asking why and finding new opportunities. Here are just a few of the why questions to start with.

• Why is our conversion rate so low?
• Why can't we raise our average contract value?
• Why isn't our churn rate lower?
• Why don't we have more organic, or over the transom, leads?
• Why do we lose so often against competitor X?
• Why do we win so often again competitor Z?

Eventually you will get to answers that highlight things like perceptions, competitive positioning or buying processes that are impacting your business's success and can be changed through marketing.

Your New Goals

You have now identified things marketing can do that will give you a competitive advantage. You need to prioritize these goals and identify just one or two to adopt as marketing objectives.

If the priorities are not clear, begin estimating the cost, the time and the benefit to your business of each potential objective.

If, like many B2B marketing organizations, you have been primarily focused on lead generation in the past, start with objectives that require a smaller investment and that you will benefit from quickly.

You will still need to deliver leads, but as you work towards your additional goals, you will develop a stronger competitive position that is less dependent lead generation.

Your Turn

Do you see B2B marketers get caught in the lead generation trap, striving to deliver more volume to support growth every year?

Share your observations in the comments below or with me on Twitter (@wittlake).

Photo Credit: archer10 (Dennis) via Flickr cc

Marketing Transformation: 3 Leadership Skills You Need To Succeed

Has the rise of digital, social and mobile technologies affected your marketing organization?

In response to these rapid changes in the way everyone on the planet gets and processes information, governments, businesses and individuals are all facing the challenges of adapting to continuous change.

As organizations seek to differentiate themselves, Marketing has taken on a more prominent role in many organizations. Simple advertising campaigns and tactical approaches to gain new customers are no longer enough. CMOs see the need to define the vision and path to real marketing transformation.

Why? Because business innovation cycles have sped up. Communication happens across the globe in milliseconds Customers expect real-time service and support. All while the global, political and economic landscapes have become more complex. As a result, CMOs need new skills.

Earlier this month, Caren Fleit and Brigitte Morel-Curran from Korn-Ferry released 'The transformative CMO: Three must-have competencies to meet the growing demands placed on marketing leaders.' (No registration required.)

Caren and Brigitte argue that today's CMO must move beyond brand-building and even voice of the customer to become strategic leaders who carry the weight of delivering quantifiable business results. They must think more broadly than ever before and need the skills (and the relationships) to drive change across the organization. To become a transformative CMO or marketing executives, they believe you need to acquire 3 new competencies:

3 Competencies Required For Marketing Transformation

The report defines the 3 skills required for marketing transformation as:

• Creating the New and Different: more than just the ability to 'create new ideas' this skill requires the acumen to manage the innovation process and implement chang.e

• Focusing on Action and Outcomes: requires the ability to make decisions with 'incomplete data' that have the largest potential to impact the bottom line.

• Inspiring Others: transformative marketing leaders understand the importance of 'compelling vision, commitment, and superior communication' in a diverse work force.

After seeing the report, I reached out to SAP's CMO, Jonathan Becher (@jbecher) who is leading the marketing transformation effort here at SAP. Jonathan also speaks and writes quite a bit about the need for marketing transformation. Jonathan agreed with the main points of the report but added 'the one thing that might be missing is Culture. You know I believe Culture eats strategy.'

In What Every CEO Should Expect From Their CMO, Jonathan mirrors the need to create 'the new and the different' by capitalizing on insights. Jonathan says 'For the first time, marketing has the ability to get a view of customers in real time. Jonathan also suggests marketing leaders 'inspire others' by not just 'representing the voice of the market,' by being 'the champion of the overall experience' and the 'brand steward' but also by being an 'integrator and force multiplier across the company.'

Finally, Jonathan agreed with the need for a 'focus on actions and outcomes' in Three Must Dos For The Modern Marketer where he recommends marketers 'measure what matters.' Jonathan states 'I believe we should track outcome metrics, not activities.'

Now it's your turn'what skills do you think are required for marketing leaders to drive transformation across our businesses?

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

What Kinds of Businesses Benefit from Inbound Marketing?

As a HubSpot Gold level partner we get this question pretty often from prospects and businesses starting to do research on various marketing 2.0 approaches, and from other marketing firms like Weidert Group interested in selling Inbound Marketing services.

They already know traditional methods aren't generating the quality or quantity of leads needed to achieve business goals, and they also know that the web should or could be a more productive new business channel for many business types. At the same time, if they've started to look into the capabilities needed to realize any improved online marketing performance, they know they'll need to either hire new people or pay someone to help fill their capabilities and capacity gaps.

In the past 2 years we've answered this question many different ways, sometimes from the gut relying on instinct and intuition, and sometimes armed with research and quantitative evidence to support a point of view. I just got a heavy dose of the latter doing research for this post when I found a recent study conducted by MBA students at MIT's Sloan School of Management, Return on Investment from Inbound Marketing through Implementing HubSpot Software. The good news: this study provides lots of great evidence that Inbound works; unfortunately it didn't help answer my question about types of business.

In fact, based on search results it looks like there hasn't been much written so far about the types of businesses that can benefit most from Inbound, so what I'm providing is based almost entirely on what we've learned first hand. So here are my top 5 characteristics of businesses that could enjoy attractive benefits from Inbound:

1. Selling a very considered purchase. A pack of gum is not a considered purchase. A compensation study, a warehouse conveyor system, or an emergency response vehicle are. So are snowshoes, canoes, and vacations. Whether it's B2B or B2C, when it takes research to make the right purchase, and being wrong has serious ramifications, purchases become 'considered' and sellers will benefit from Inbound by being found by serious considerers. Good indicators of considered purchases are the sticker price, the process businesses or individuals design to support the purchase, and the approvals required before it can be finalized.
2. Already spending big money on lead generation. Businesses that depend on lots of sales funnel activity because they primarily do project work or their industry has high customer turnover often rely on expensive lead generation services that pummel cold prospects. Research indicates Inbound can reduce the average cost of qualified warm leads by over 60% compared to traditional methods like direct mail, trade shows, call blitzes and PPC ads.
3. Heavy reliance on RFPs. Businesses that rely on requests to provide formal proposals (contractors, OEM equipment manufacturers, consultants) know that getting on the short lists of companies issuing RFPs is the biggest challenge. Companies using RFPs to make important purchases rely on search to update their short lists of potential vendors. Inbound Marketing can quickly improve SERP (search engine results page) rank and targeted visibility.
4. Meaningful and demonstrable point of difference. To create content that will attract qualified traffic a business has to possess real competitive advantage that is relevant and compelling to their target. You need to provide something in your product or delivery that reflects greater value to customers, compared to most alternatives. Your competitive advantage should be the foundation of your content strategy.
5. Lack of geographic sales boundaries. Specialty manufacturers and technology providers have long recognized that they have potential customers around the world, but some have relied too much on bi-annual trade shows or purchased mailing lists to develop leads. If you sell the best orthopedic dog bed, industrial dryer, or methane digester on the planet, your market should be the whole planet, and Inbound Marketing makes you visible to all potential buyers.

Is your business a prime candidate for the improved performance Inbound Marketing can deliver? Help yourself to our Step-by-Step Guide and decide for yourself.

Boxshot King: Can You Create Professional Cover Graphics in Minutes?

As CSH subscribers know, I like to keep a list of marketing tools that I call 'The Marketing Toolbox.' It's quite a lengthy list, and I very rarely actually write a review (in fact, this is the first one). But I recently added a tool that I think is absolutely awesome. It's called Boxshot King.

I think it deserves a lot of praise, so I figured I would write this.

I received access to Boxshot King from Jack Born. There were no strings attached. He wanted nothing in return. But this software is so awesome that I had to write this Boxshot King review anyway.

Why?

Because you can literally use it to create professional-looking graphics' in just minutes (seriously, you can click here to watch the video of a cover graphic being created in under two minutes).

In fact, the image above was created in less than a minute using the software.

But should you care?

Do Graphics Really Matter?

The short answer: absolutely!

And they matter for two reasons'

1) Studies have shown that having an image on a page increases trust.

2) Studies have shown that when people distrust websites, over 90% cite design issues.

In other words'

Good Graphics = More Trust.

Bad Graphics = Less Trust.

And we want more trust. Increasing trust also increases conversions (which means more sales).

This holds especially true when you are talking about the cover of the actual product being sold. On a personal level, I can't tell you how many times I looked at an eBook cover and instantly decided I wasn't going to buy it.

Yes, I often judge books by their cover (literally). We all do. That's why the saying exists in the first place :) .

OK'But Why Boxshot King?

It's easy. It's cheap. It solves a specific problem.

We all know that the gold standard for graphics and design is Photoshop. But the fact is Photoshop costs and arm and a leg. Plus it has a significant learning curve.

And unless you are a professional designer or illustrator, you just don't need to splurge (or spend the time learning).

I'm a typical man in the sense that instructions are a foreign language to me. The little booklet that comes in the box stays in the box

Unless it's Ikea furniture'it's like Legos for adults'you need the instructions! If you want to put the thing together the right way anyway'

So I was very delighted that I was able to log in for the very first time and have a brand new cover ready within a few minutes. The learning curve is practically nonexistent ' very slight at most. And I'm happy to say that the eBook cover is being used live in the Kindle store right now :) .

I also love the fact that Boxshot King knows what it's supposed to do'and just does it. It creates professional-looking cover graphics. Nothing more. Nothing less.

But what it does do, it does very well.

In fact, there 90 (yes 90!) cover templates to choose from covering pretty much everything you can imagine (DVD cases, CD cases, software boxes, spiral binders, notebooks, iPads, Kindles, membership cards and more).

Who can Benefit from Boxshot King?

If you are a publisher, digital product creator or just rely heavily on online promotions and content, then Boxshot King might be for you.

As I already mentioned, I used Boxshot King for a Kindle book I recently published. I also used it for the graphic at the top of this blog post. And I plan on using it for training program I am currently working on.

In other words, Boxshot King has just become a mainstay in my marketing tool arsenal.

I don't want to say that Boxshot King if for everyone. But if you create, sell and/or market with digital media and content, then Boxshot King is definitely worth checking out.