The truth about B2B Blogs - are they worth it?

An old coworker (we'll call him Mr. X) of mine and I share a joke. He once said "I would never work at a company that has a corporate blog." In his defense, this was about 5 years ago when the world of social media was not so huge. But now I say to you Mr. X (you know who you are) and to any any other non-bloggers out there...

In all seriousness though, here are some tips I put together on ways to blog successfully:

1. Change it up - don't always blog about the same boring stuff. Have fun with your blog, throw in cartoons, change around your topics, and above all make it personable. 


2. Incorporate more than one blogger - we all have different writing styles, different experiences, and different views on business. Incorporating this into your blog is extremely beneficial as the blog will become more of a company community than a one person show. 


3. Listen to your audience - Blogging is only successful if you have an audience. This is why you want to be sure that you listen to your audience and blog about what they are interested in. When you have a comment, respond to it, and then blog about it (if it is topic worthy). The more you listen, the more your blog will be read.


4. Don't get too "business" in your blog - a blog is about personality. Don't be afraid to express yours. When you are all about business and selling, your blog will loose it's personal appeal. Too many companies are out there trying to promote themselves through sales methods. Take a step back and think about what you want to say, then say it without selling it. A blog should not be used to generate leads (that just comes as a bonus). 

Those are just some helpful tips to start you on your path to developing a successful company blog. Good luck!

Information Technology (IT) Trend Report for 2009

A number of software, hardware, and IT service companies have recently been coming to me and asking about trends for 2009; and more importantly, if the budgetary cut backs due to the recession will be lifted anytime soon. What we found were some very exciting and refreshing statistics that should take a big weight off of any one's shoulders (that work in IT of course). With all of these  statistics, we thought the best way to share our new found data was through our first ever newsletter direct to the IT community. Here are some highlights from the newsletter:

1. IT purchases are expected to grow to $616 billion in 2010 for a 7.5% increase from 2009 sales.
2. Software spending is expected to grow 3.4 percent in 2009
3. Gartner recommends the top 10 ways to save and do more with less
4. SaSS is growing at a rate of 40% annually 
5. Highlights on the top trends for IT spending (where the money is being spent)

This newsletter is NO COST and available to any interested parties.

Top 5 Marketing trends for 2009

In 2009 more people are looking for ways they can "Do more with less" by saving time and money through an effective go-to-market campaign. At TSL, we believe there are many things that can be done to enhance your lead generation efforts.Read this months article Top 5 marketing trends for 2009 and learn about:

Affordable multi-touch campaigns
Trends and statistics for 2009 marketing
How to optimize your landing pages
Market to a mass media and still save
Effective social media planning

For more information, please contact Tara Donnelly at:
Email: tdonnelly@tslmarketing.com
Phone: 617 753 9124

Marketing Operations - tracking your ROMI

Marketing Operations is a relatively new term that has been tossed around over the last couple years. According to wikipedia, Marketing Operations (or Marketing Operations Management/MOM) is a vision of end to end marketing optimization, from planning and budgeting, through marketing content management, to global marketing execution and analysis. While that is correct, we would term marketing operations as simply your foundation in which you work to improve your marketing effectiveness.

When starting your marketing operations plan, here are some basic steps to get you started in marketing more effectively. 

1. Track Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) 
Any and all marketing tactics should be tracked in order to determine it's effectiveness. You can track your ROMI by use of a marketing dashboard with marketing automation programs; however if you do not have access to these programs, a simple spreadsheet will suffice. Tracking ROMI should (in the least) contain the following: cost of tactic, time for implementation (cost of internal team), leads generated, conversion rates for leads, proposal stage, and closed/won revenue. By keeping track of these numbers, you will quickly learn which tactics generate the most leads, and more importantly, which tactics generate the most sales. 


2. Develop Dashboards
Most CRM tools have dashboards that can be created in order to track your ongoing marketing and sales activities. In these dashboards you can track lead conversions (by sales reps), marketing leads generated, sales goals, and top marketing tactics as some examples. If you do not have access to dashboards within your CRM tool, these can also be created via spreadsheets (though this can often be time consuming). For more information or ideas on how to custom create company dashboards, contact us. 


3. Marketing Lead Conversion
One of the best ways to measure campaign effectiveness is through lead conversion rates. This should be tested by assigning leads to (at minimum) 3 different sales reps from the same marketing tactic. After a few weeks/months, tracking what leads convert, which sales reps are converting them, and how long the conversion rate takes, you will have not only an idea of how successful your marketing campaign was; but also which sales reps have the highest conversion rates, and what the average lead lifecycle time should be for that particular tactic. 


4. Lead Lifecycle Management
Tracking the lifecycle of your leads is a crucial part to marketing operations. When leads are not tracked, it is easy for them to slip through the cracks and potential sales could be lost. Some successful ways in tracking leads are to create a lead lifetime with your sales team that is attainable. Based on your marketing conversion rates, you will soon be able to determine what the average lead conversion rate should be. For example, if you are able to determine that a lead should convert within 90 days, than your lead lifetime should be 90 days. If after 90 days a lead does not convert, the lead then goes back into lead nurturing for marketing or gets assigned to a different sales rep. Sales should also have an average per contact touch ratio to determine how many times a prospect gets reached out to within the 90 day time period. 


5. Campaign Management
When starting your marketing operations plan, you should always make sure you manage your campaigns from start to finish. This encompasses setting up a marketing schedule and managing tactic launch dates, close dates, and multi-touch marketing efforts. This will help assure that your marketing efforts will stay within your monthly/quarterly budget and also drive consistent leads for your sales team. 

Good luck and let us know if you have any additional questions on how to start your marketing operations plan. 

How to go-to-market as an IT firm in 2009

With the economy in it's current state, it is no question that many industries are being affected more so than others. For technology companies, the hit has not been as hard, yet companies are now being asked to scale back on new purchases and CIO's across this nation are beginning to re-organize their departments. So what does this mean for an IT company who is looking to sell their software/hardware? 

Earlier this year we asked "What impact will the current Economic Crisis have on IT Budgets" and more importantly, who you thought would benefit the most. Here are the results:

1. Software Providers 15%
2. SaaS 31%
3. ERP Services 8%
4. Outsourcing 38%
5. Offshoring 8%

Based on this pole, you believe that outsourcing will benefit most from the current economic crisis. Other research points towards similar numbers as well. The important thing to note here is that there still is a wide variety of different IT companies who can benefit during the economic crisis and while some may benefit more than others, all can benefit if they play their cards right. Because of this, there are some important factors that should be taken into account when going to market during this recession.   

• Know how you can save your customer time and money - There is a very strong renewed focus on measuring cost and how cost will affect the current IT budget within organizations. If your product does not have a strong argument for cost savings, you will most likely be pushed to the sidelines. When going into any marketing or sales pitch, be sure you know your customer and how you will help them save!

• Know your target audience - With the state of the economy, more organizations have restructured so that the CIO and CFO are more aligned. As IT is one of the largest expenses in an organization, the CFO is now looking to the CIO to find ways to cut costs and save more money. Furthermore, if the CIO is able to make a strong argument for certain solutions saving money, a purchase could potentially be made. Therefore, make sure your message speaks to both IT AND Finance. 
  

Follow these two rules and marketing for technology in 2009 can still present success!

Target Marketing - why research is essential

Target Marketing is one of the oldest but most essential ways to assure you go to market effectively. Without knowing the "who" the "why" and the "how" a marketing program can fail and your hard work can go unnoticed. Here is an example of research gone astray:

To make sure that this doesn't happen to you, be sure to 'profile' your target market and your marketing efforts will gain monumental increases in relevance.

What is Profiling - When creating a target market, profiling is the process in where you create an actual persona (or several) that you are marketing towards. This should be created based on your secondary research of geographic, demographic, and most importantly, psychographic data. Here is an example: "George Smith is a CEO of a software services company who makes approximately 200k per year. George believes that marketing is an import tool to generating business and works over 70 hours per week. George values hard work, honesty, family, and independence." When you create profiles it sometimes becomes easier to say "Would George read this" or "would George buy this."

To successfully "profile" your customer base, it is most important to understand their psychographics (or behaviors) that motivate them to buy. Here is a list of question you can ask that will put you on your way to creating profiles; thereby generating your target market:

1. Basic psychographics: What are their values, what do they like, how does the product fit into their lives, how do they go about their daily routine, how do others influence them, what are their personalities, attitudes, lifestyles.
2. What are their motivations and unmet needs? - How do they think and feel about the products they use and buy?
3. What do they think/feel/use the product/service? - To what extent are they aware of the brand - Do they know about the brand's special features, qualities - Do they understand how the product/service works - Do they understand the brand's superior qualities - What is their attitude toward the product category - What is their attitude toward the specific brand - To what extent do they like or desire the product or brand - Do they trust the brand to deliver the promised benefits - Do they have a preference for this brand - What image or personality do consumer's associate with the brand - What do consumer's feel the brand essence is
4. What are they guided by (one of the three orientations as follows)

• Principle Oriented - guided by abstracts, idealized criteria, rather than by feelings, events or desire for approval by others.
• Status Oriented - these consumers look for products and services that demonstrate their success to their peers.
• Action Oriented - these consumers are guided by a desire for social or physical activity, variety or risk taking

Answer these questions and you are well on your way to successful target marketing!

Finding a new job during a recession

I recently met up with Dave Brown, the principle consultant for Ridge Global Marketing (a premier partner of TSL's) who mentioned to me that he was writing an article regarding tips to landing a new job even with the economic downturn. As several people have been reaching out to myself and my colleagues looking for new job opportunities due to recent layoffs within their company, or upcoming "re-organizations;" I figured what better than to share this article with TSL's universe and show that their can be light at the end of the tunnel. 

David Brown; Principal Consultant for Ridge Global Marketing writes:

According to TechCrunch’s Layoff Tracker, nearly 120,000 employees in the tech sector have lost their jobs since August 27, 2008. And the number is growing. As a result of the current economic climate, many Professional Services Leaders who once considered their jobs safe are now finding themselves back in the job market. It’s an uphill slog to be sure, with few open slots and many experienced candidates dusting off their resumes and targeting the next opportunity. Not only is it a buyer’s market but competition among world-class candidates is fierce. With this in mind, I was recently asked to consider the following: In order to differentiate ourselves in the job market, can we package and sell ourselves in the same way that organizations sell a product or service? Is it possible to architect and execute a sales campaign for ourselves? Can we in effect sell “Corporate Me” into the career market?