Managing Your Social Network: Top Tools You Should Use

After having my kids I took a step away from social media except for posting adorable pics of my kids on Facebook. That's about all I had time for - so I thought. My thought process was driven by a severe lack of sleep (which still exists) and a desire to focus on my core tasks which included leading my team. Here's the problem: my role is all about helping out customers and providing the best customer experience possible. In addition, establishing relationships on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn doesn't mean just setting them up and letting them languish. You can do this but when you need these people, don't expect them to respond. Like any relationship, you need to nurture your social network. This doesn't mean connecting with everyone but there are some tools I've started to use that are easy to use and can quickly turn you into a social media rock star.

Top 5 Tools You Should Use to Manage Your Personal Social Media Network

Before we start, when I refer to social media, I'm mostly referring to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

1. Buffer. Buffer allows you to setup a bunch of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook updates to publish on a set schedule. That way if you have interesting things you want to post, you don't have to do it all at once or use another tool where you delay the posting. Just post items to Buffer and they will be published based on the schedule you've setup. In addition, you can use Buffer with other tools like Tweriod or Socialbro (recommended) that will tell you the optimal times to post your updates. That way your posts will get the largest possible audience. You can download a Buffer app for your Iphone or get the browser extension.
   
   Since using Buffer for only two months, my Klout score has jumped more than 5 points. I can't give all the credit to Buffer as I do have some cute kids and they do get a bunch of likes on Facebook but Buffer is a goldmine. When I have time, I find interesting pieces of information that I hope my audience will like and I post them using Buffer. It allows me to spend some concentrated time and then have posts setup for the next 2-3 days at least.
2. Flipboard. Flipboard is an app for your Iphone or Ipad that allows you to easily flip through a summary of your social media networks. It allows me to review what others in my network have posted and either like, retweet, +1 or comment on what they have created. I can do it quickly when I'm waiting in line or caught in a subway or flight delay. I see it as the ying to Buffer's yang. Buffer allows me to post more material and Flipboard allows me to better engage my audience. I like it as I can easily listen to what others including friends, colleagues and customers are saying.
   
   
   
   Flipboard has opened my eyes to new people and information that I would never have known about the flipping action of cycling through materials is fun for me. I can setup a number of boards based on my interests (for example, saved Twitter searches) and it also has a highlight reel of top pieces of information from your different social media accounts. I have used it to review my Google Reader RSS feed that I not looked at for 2 years (and never thought I would until my kids went to university). You can even blend Buffer with Flipboard by sending articles you find on Flipboard to Buffer's account email address which will queue up your posts via Buffer.
3. Pocket (Read it Later). Pocket allows you to save web pages and articles to read them later. I typically use the Iphone bookmark plugin or the browser bookmarklet to capture pages. I then read them using the Iphone app typically when I'm stuck without an internet connection (on a plane or subway). This application also works with Flipboard so I can save items I find there to Pocket to read them later. Once I've read the full article (when I have time), I'll then decide if I should I forward it on to my social network. This is another great application that helps me feed my buffer stream.
4. Rapportive (or Xobni). Rapportive is a Gmail plugin that allows you to easily social network with people you email to or who you receive email from. When you receive an email or type in an email you'll see their social media profile pop up on the right side and you can see which social networks they're associated with and if you're currently connected. If you're not connected, you can easily connect with them which quickly helps you grow your network. Xobni does basically the same thing for those that use Outlook and there is a version called Smartr for Gmail but I didn't like it as much as Rapportive. I do have Smartr on my Iphone as it does have all of the social media profiles for contacts that are on my phone but I haven't found a use for it just yet.
   
   
   What I typically do is provide an item of value (such as a follow up from a meeting) and then request a connection through Twitter and/or LinkedIn using Rapportive. I like this tool as I can expand my social network in the normal context of my working day. If I'm already connected, I may review their latest social media posts and decide to engage with them. I can also refer to this information during meetings etc...
5. An Iphone. Tying all of these tools together is an Iphone (or an Android phone). In order to make it easy to listen, engage, connect with my social network as well as expand it, I need my Iphone as it allows me to do all of this anywhere and with the swipe of a finger.

You don't have to right off social media or let it control you. You just need the right tools. Hope this helps. Do you have any tools you can recommend?

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Social Media Success Stories

I get a few blank stares at times when I talk about social media technologies with friends and colleagues but I’m starting to win people over day by day. How am I doing this? With real stories! Today, I want to share these stories with you to help you better understand the power of social media and to hopefully inspire you to continue on your social media efforts or to jump in for the first time.

LinkedIn: Starting an Alumni Group

When Linkedin started a groups feature (like Facebook groups) I thought about how I could network with former colleagues. Some of the smartest people that I knew were from a technology post-grad college that I attended called the “Information Technology Institute (ITI) in Toronto. I decided to create an ITI alumni group to pool together these brilliant people and the results have been terrific thus far.

In a few short months, the group has 32 members without having done any advertising. There is also an active discussion going on about how ITI grads are succeeding and how ITI has contributed to this. I now have 32 new people (and growing) that I can network with who share my similar background and interests. Did you go to ITI? Join the ITI Alumni group (now I can say that I have done some advertising).

LinkedIn tip: Look for ways that you can create niche groups that pull together people with similar interests.

Twitter: Maximize Your Travel

In the past, I had blogged about why I use Twitter so it’s exciting for me to provide a success story for Twitter. In today’s economy, many companies are limiting travel in order to save a few bucks. In my new position, I not only manage my own clients but manage clients across an entire segment. I of course lead an amazing team, but this new position requires me to be active with as many customers in my segment as possible to support my team. Twitter helps me keep in touch with various clients and colleagues as well as better understand what people in my network "have on the brain". Besides the virtual interaction of Twitter, it has far greater benefits.

In my recent travels to Atlanta, I posted the following after I just arrived in the city and was doing some prep work from a Starbucks:

Visiting clients in Atlanta. Beautiful day! Beautiful city! Now to get down to work.

I then received a direct message (DM in Twitter lingo) via Twitter from a client in my segment in the Atlanta area asking me what my role at my company was and if I service clients in the area. I sent the client an email later that night after I verified who they were explaining to them who I was and suggested meeting for breakfast as I had time before another scheduled meeting. We ended up meeting and I was able to help this client out as much as I could in the short meeting time that we had. Here is the response from the client on Twitter after I tweeted about a successful tweet up:

Ohhh...knew I didn't have the lingo down @chadhorenfeldt ! Great success indeed - Eloqua crew welcome in Atlanta anytime!!

Twitter tip: Keep your network updated as to where you are. Twitter is a fantastic networking tool and it can help you maximize your travel time.

Twitter tip #2: Make sure you add your Twitter URL to your LinkedIn profile. I just connected to someone as I was writing this post.

Tripit: Maximize Your Travel #2

Tripit is a great application that allows you to post your travel plans so other people in your network can see them. A recent improvement has made this feature even more valuable – integrating with LinkedIn. Now, when I update my travel plans to Tripit, it will display my travel plans to all of my LinkedIn followers. This is helpful as I can keep track of people I work with and clients and partners have a greater insight into my travel schedule. For example, our sales team can see my travel plans and perhaps pull me into a prospect meeting if I'm in that area.

For my recent trip to Atlanta, one of our partners saw that I was visiting Atlanta and asked if I would be visiting them. I followed up and let them know why I was travelling and that I didn’t think we needed to meet this trip. I think it’s great that our partners are following our travels and offering up to meet. This definitely shows that power of Tripit.

Tripit tip: Use it and ensure that you have tied it into your LinkedIn profile. If you’re a manager or higher up, get others in your company to use it as well.

PS: The Tripit people have also made it very easy to post your trips – just email your travel itinerary to plans@tripit.com and it will update your network automatically. That is very cool.

Blogger: Blogging is the Differentiator

Some people may have written off blogging and I admit that I have a love/hate relationship with it but in 2009 I’m definitely seeing it as even more important social media tool. While anyone can sign up for the networking tools I listed above, blogging acts as a differentiator as it forces you to come up with good content that people will want to read (if that is your goal). While Twitter does this as well, Twitter is limited by its 140 characters (this is a debate for a future post). I see blogging as a way of connecting many of the dots in social media - let me focus on a recent story to show you what I mean.

Back on December 21, 2008, I wrote the post “10 Tips for Using Twitter And Email Marketing for B2B”. Perhaps because it was the holidays it didn’t receive that many page views at the time I published it. About a month or so later, it was picked up by another blogger, Kathy Pay, and then quickly by the Twitter community. Here is an example of what this looked like on Twitter search:

The result was a surge of traffic to my blog, additional Twitter followers, and blog RSS subscribers. The post was then picked up by other social media hubs such as StumbleUpon and Digg which pushed additional traffic along with search engine traffic.

Blogger tip: While I use Blogger, you can use any blogging platform that works for you. The real point is that good content drives traffic and your blog can be the driver for all of your other social media efforts.

Blogger tip #2: Make sure your blog is featured in your Twitter profile, on LinkedIn, Facebook and any other social media app that you use.

Best Story for Last

Almost three years ago I married my wife. That in itself is an accomplishment but it’s how I met my wife which is the interesting part. I found my future wife on Jdate.com which was a social media site before the term social media was widespread. We are happily married and are expecting our first child in August.

Takeaways: Before I sign off, I did want to point out that my stories demonstrate a few things to keep in mind:

• The power of social media tools. My stories are at a very small scale and something I do in my spare time. Imagine how you can use social media tools for your business

• Social media tools are interrelated. Think about how you can blend in various social media tools to increase your own voice in this digital world as well as your company’s.

I hope you enjoyed these stories and I encourage you to relate your own stories in the comments area. Did this post help you better understand the power of social media?

Chad H.
@chadhorenfeldt

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Technorati Tags: social media,Twitter,Linkedin,Tripit,success stories,Atlanta. StubleUpon,Digg,Facebook,Blogger,web 2.0 tools,online marketing

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Email Autoresponders 2.0 in B2B Marketing

Reflecting back on a long week I had the pleasure of meeting a number of new clients and seeing what they have accomplished as part of their online marketing initiatives. I am extremely lucky to see some of the most cutting edge marketing tactics being used and wanted to highlight some of them here.

I was inspired this morning after my 11 cups of coffee by a former customer and now colleague, Heather Foeh and her blog post "Friday Quick Tip: Re-Visit Your Autoresponders". By autoresponder email, I mean the confirmation email that a registrant immediately receives when they fill out a form on a website. Heather has some good tips to ensure that your information and call to action(s) is up to date. At times, marketers set these up and then forget about them. In this post, I want to highlight some of the interesting trends I'm seeing in marketing automation - specifically the autoresponder email and how you can take advantage of this often neglected marketing gem.

The Evolution of the Autoresponder Email

Let's start with the evolution of the autoresponder. Although this post is mostly from a B2B perspective, the items described here can also be applied in the B2C world. In the past, email recipients were used to receiving a text based email that had a simple message that thanked the subscriber for submitting their information. This in itself was a big step forward as many marketers either didn't have the capability to implement this due to their technology provider or the insight to add this tactic. Now, there are many different types of autoresponder emails from product/service confirmations to event detail information. In this post, I want to concentrate on the use case in which a user either signs up for a newsletter or to access resources from your website. Here is a quick timeline to trace how far marketers have come by displaying how past autoresponders appeared:

1. The Traditional Email Autoresponder

Thanks for registering.

2. Email Autoresponder 1.0

[Insert company logo here]

Thanks for registering.

Click here to unsubscribe.
CompanyX address

3. Email Autoresponder 1.5

[Insert company logo here]

Dear FirstName,
Thanks for registering to receive [insert name of resource] from CompanyX. Please be sure to return to www.companyx.com.

Regards,
CompanyX

Manage your profile or click here to unsubscribe.
CompanyX address

Autoresponder Email The Next Generation

Looking at the examples above, there really isn't anything wrong with the autoresponder 1.5. It provides relevant information, it's simple and to the point. I would also include a few other items as part of autoresponder 1.5: relevant static links to key areas of your website as well as asking recipients to whitelist your email address. This is all great but, if you're looking at ways to get more out of your autoresponders then keep reading.

I've found that autorepsonders can have open rates that can achieve greater that 80% open rates and clickthrough rates in the 20-30% range which blow industry averages out of the ball park. Registrants who fill out forms almost expect to get these emails as they have already taken the time to provide you with some type of information. The least you can do is provide them something useful in return. Other goals to keep in mind is to encourage the new subscriber to open and read future emails but encourage as well as interacting with you in other channels that they may not have known about.

1. Personalization: Adding "Dear FirstName" in your email is good but you're wasting an opportunity to build a relationship between the new registrant and a real person at your company. You know the saying "people buy from people" - well it's true. A recent Aberdeen report has demonstrated that email personalization drives higher email open and conversion rates. Knowing that registrants will most likely open the autoresponder reduces the risk of having a real person in the "from line". What this does is begin or continue the relationship between the prospect and sales rep. As an added tip, make sure you add the name of your company in the first few characters of the subject line so the email recipients realizes that the the name of the person in the "from line" is from your company.
   
   Once the person opens the email, have a signature that includes a real person's name and contact information. The autoresponder should encourage the email recipient to contact the sales rep if they have any questions. The best in class marketers have their CRM synced up to their marketing automation platform which means that known contacts from their CRM should already have an associated sales rep. Your marketing automation platform should also allow you to dynamically include the sales reps information as part of the autoresponder. As an added tip, include a picture of the sales rep. If the registrant is new to your system, have a generic signature that perhaps is from your CMO or a known figure within your organization. Your marketing automation platform can also help you build signature rules based on other contact information such as geography which allows for a personalized approach even if a web visitor has yet to be assigned to a sales rep.
   
   This type of personalization leads to a much stronger and smoother hand-0ff process between the marketing and sales teams which I described in my last post "Lead Management and Football". Using this technique demonstrates that marketing is at the top of their game.
   
   
2. Dynamic Content: This is one of the key areas that makes me smile when I'm reviewing how our customers are getting the most out of our product. Dynamic content in an email allows you to:
   
   • Simplify the autoresponder email creation. Instead of having 20 different versions of the same email, have one email that you can easily maintain. Using dynamic content you can change key areas such as what was exactly downloaded as well as customizing a call to action either based on what they downloaded and/or the interests that were specified in the registration process.
     
     In one example, I have a client that promoted different case studies based on the industry that was specified in the sign up process. In another example, a client specified exactly what was downloaded by capturing this in the registration process and then dynamically displaying this on the email. These techniques are simple, effective and led to increased response.
     
   
   
• Pull in content from RSS feeds: I've outlined this concept in an earlier post Latest Trends in Email Marketing: RSS and Calendar Reminders. You can promote corporate blog posts, upcoming events, press releases and the newest white papers/case studies in an RSS feed(s) that you can add to your email either underneath the main "Thanks for registering text" or as a side column. This means that not only are you saying "Read our latest blog posts" but you're actually including the title of your latest posts as well as a link to read the entire article. In this way you have new content that is dynamically added to your autoresponder without the marketer having to make any manual updates. This is a great way to get more out of your content and drive new registrants back to your website.
  
  
• Personalize who the email is coming from. I described this above but want to point out that this is a form of dynamic content
  


3. Promote Other Channels: More and more marketers are using social media to keep prospects engaged while they are in the sales and marketing funnel. In addition, more and more of prospects are using social media to learn about your products and services as well as comparing you to your competitors. As I outlined in 10 Tips for Using Twitter And Email Marketing for B2B you can add your company's Twitter address, Linkedin groups and links to RSS feeds such as your corporate blog to your autoresponder emails.
   
   You should consider other channels as well. For example, Breaking Point Systems offers a free poster which has proven to be a very successful campaign. I also find this approach brilliant as the autoresponder email drives recipients back to the website to fill out additional information to receive the poster. Another idea is to include a link to a video that may be a customer testimonial that is relevant to the recipients challenge or job role.
   
   
4. Sales Should not Follow up the Email With a Call: So you're reading this post and hopefully enjoying it and then you read this and you're like "What? Chad - you should have stopped after the second cup of coffee". Just because a web visitor signed up for a white paper or a newsletter on your website and you have pasted a nice picture of the rep on your autoresponder doesn't give anyone the right to call them up. If you have a properly defined lead management process, leads should only be passed on to sales for follow up if the prospect has attained a high enough lead score. In this way, you're focusing your sales team on the prospects that are more inclined to buy and sparing a potential buyer from being called too early in the purchase process.
   
   
5. Don't Stop After The Autoresponder: You may be saying: "Wait a minute - so, sales shouldn't follow up but I shouldn't stop after the autoresponder?". That's correct. As I mentioned above, you want to ensure that new subscribers are "sales worthy" according to the agreed upon definitions that you should have between sales and marketing. A great way to keep a new subscriber informed about your company is to move them into a nurturing program typically called a "welcome program" for new subscribers. This may involve a few different channels including having someone follow up with them by phone to further qualify the "inquiry" but the first few touches should be via email to demonstrate the value of having provided you with their email in the first place and to build a profile which translates into a lead score for marketers that have implemented a lead scoring system.
   
   What is important is to provide content that is relevant. Relevancy depends on the recipient's interests that they provided, what they have downloaded and/or which pages, offers or emails they responded to. Frequency is also very important. Try to prevent recipients from receiving email content that they have already received. You also want to ensure that recipients are not receiving too many emails in too short a period of time. However, I believe that relevancy trumps frequency and if the content is relevant, recipients will want to receive it and if they don't feel like looking at it right away, they'll still want to get information from you in the future.
   

Measure the Results

Measuring the results is very key in this process. If you've read the above you may either be excited or overwhelmed. I would recommend benchmarking your current key email and conversion metrics and then slowly adding some of the techniques above and seeing the results. For example, by adding in personalization, are your sales reps receiving inbound calls as a result of this email? Of course, you will need a process in place to measure this (perhaps a dedicated line) but I would recommend starting simple and building on your successes. While these recommendations will require an investment of time up front, it will pay off in the long run.

Have you tried any of these techniques? How has it worked for you?

Chad H.
@chadhorenfeldt

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Related Posts:

• Latest Trends in Email Marketing: RSS and Calendar Reminders
• Lead Management and Football
• 10 Tips for Using Twitter And Email Marketing for B2B
• Dynamic Email Content: The Next Generation of Personalization

Technorati tags: autoresponder email, e-mails, email frequency, relevancy, social media and confirmation emails, personalization, Twitter B2B marketing

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The Recession is Here - Time to Become an Eco-Marketer

When I say that you should become an eco-marketer, I don't mean that you should add some corny green recycle image to your website (who would do that?) or support a "Save the Whales" campaign. Although I'm a big supporter of environmental issues and started my career running an environmental organization, I would like to focus on eco-marketing in terms of demand creation.

I focused my research this week on how I can help my customers build out a demand waterfall as defined by the smart people over at SiriusDecisions. During my research, I stumbled upon a great article by the Canadian Marketing Blog called "2009 B-to-B Demand Creation Trends" eh (Canadian joke). It's here where I came across the term eco-marketer and I wanted to build on the excellent analysis that they have already provided. However, after I drank 10 cups of coffee, I've created my own version of the eco-marketer. Here are my three Rs that I recommend to become the best eco-marketer you can be in a down economy:

The Three Rs of Marketing and a Bonus R

1. Reuse: In a down economy you need to reuse all of your marketing resources that you have out there and maximize your marketing investments. Here are my recommendations:
   
   • Reuse your webinars. If you have run a live webinar, post the archived version on your website behind a form. It's been proven that archived webinars can generate more leads then the actual live event.
   • Reuse your email newsletters by ensuring they are posted on your website. This is a simple one but it's surprising how many e-newsletters remain only in email format. I would recommend to post in on your website and even create an RSS feed. With an RSS feed, you can promote in your email footers and it can be re-used by other bloggers and companies. You should even consider creating a blog and reposting your newsletter articles on it.
   • Reuse your live presentations. If anyone from your company or your customers are speaking on behalf of your company ensure that you film them and add them to the resource area of your website. You can even just post the slides or the speech text. Don't miss these great opportunities to build marketing content.
     
   • Use social media techniques such as Twitter and YouTube to maximize the effect of your webinars, videos and white papers. For example, you can mention on your twitter profile that you've just released a new blog post or newsletter. Think of social media as a big marketing ecosystem (see, I am focusing on the environment) and make sure you take advantage of all the tools out there. In this way, you can reuse your marketing materials as much as possible.
     
   • Reuse all of your marketing materials in your lead nurturing efforts. Having the right content for automated lead nurturing programs can be the most difficult part of a lead nurturing campaign. However, many companies have all of the materials they need already created. Even though some may be dated, if the materials are good they should be reused. You don't need to just focus on pushing out new content, you probably have some gold nuggets that may be hidden on your site.
     
     For your nuturing campaigns, create a document that outlines all of the marketing content that you have and map this to the buying process of your target audiences that you have identified (assuming you have created defined marketing segments).
     
     You would be amazed at how you can reuse the content you already have (blog posts, newsletter articles, industry white papers, demos) and create a specific and defined automated program that is designed to target a specific segment and has a specific marketing goal.
     
   • Create marketing campaigns that can be reused. For example, if you have a large marketing team, create processes so that you standardize your email and landing page templates. Tweak them as necessary based on your successes (or failures). Another example is to create automated program templates such as an event management or lead nurturing template. These templates can be copied and reused.
     
   • Reuse (and abuse) your whole company. If you have Jimmy from the development team who did a lunch and learn on how he coded a solution that will benefit your clients, get him to write it down and post it on a blog. If Sarah from your Support team came up with a great solution to solve a customer problem, video tape her and post it on your site or include it in your next newsletter. MAXIMIZE YOUR ENTIRE COMPANY IN YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS. Did I just write in caps?
     
     
2. Reduce: Not only should B2B companies reduce the amount of lead leakage where leads are being lost is the sales/marketing funnel by tightening up processes, the following also needs the be considered:
   
   • Reduce the amount of communication that you're sending to leads. Are you saying to yourself "Are you on drugs Chad? Why would I want to send less communications when I need to keep up the number of leads to my sales team?". In a down economy you need to work on further segmenting your campaigns and matching your communications to the right person at the right time. Any emails, direct mail etc... send should be based on a person's interest and the stage of the demand waterfall that they are in. This type of eco-marketing will achieve the best results and ensure that you conserve (another eco-friendly term!) you're ever shrinking opt-in database in the tough times ahead.
   • Reduce the amount of time it takes for qualified leads to be followed up with. An automated lead nurturing process will help deal with leads that are qualified but not yet ready to buy and thus reducing leads falling through the cracks but a process needs to be put in place to put the best leads on the desks of your sales team so they'll follow up right away. The best solution for this is a lead scoring process that scores leads based on their explicit information (industry, job role etc...) and their implicit activity (offers they've downloaded, emails they've responded to). With this type of process in place, you can ensure that your sales team is "cutting through the crap" and following up with the best leads before your competitors.
   • Reduce the complexity to getting access to information on your website. Optimize your landing pages by removing any unnecessary fields. Ask for more information only if it makes sense to the potential lead. Consider building up a profile of the lead over time. This requires more effort as you need to think through the stages on getting this information but it is worth it.
     
   
   
3. Recycle: By recycling leads that are in your sales and marketing funnel you will get the most out of your marketing investments. Just because a potential lead attends a webinar and doesn't respond to a sales call doesn't mean they're not interested in buying from your company. An eco-marketer may want to further investigate SiriusDecisions methodologies around calling webinar attendees "inquiries" rather then leads and not passing these on to sales until they've been further qualified through an automated marketing program. In fact, SiriusDecisions has demonstrated that webinars are typically viewed at the beginning stages of the buying process. This is just one example of how marketers need to go beyond lead generation to concentrate on the lead funnel and developing strategies to move leads through this funnel.
   
   Recycle your "inactive leads". Recycling doesn't just include those leads that are not "sales ready" or not yet ready to buy. You need to have automated processes that will detect those leads that you've been sending emails to (or other forms of communication like direct mail) and haven't responded. This means that they haven't visited your website, filled out a form or responded to your marketing communications. You can recycle these leads by placing them in a separate automated program with messages that are specific to this segment. This may include an email with a survey asking these "inactives" what they would like to receive from your company or a request to opt back in with a targeted offer. You may decide that it's time to take some of these leads to the curb but at least you have tried your hardest to maximize those leads that came through your front door.
   
   
4. A bonus R is "Remove". Remove any of the following:
   
   • Remove barriers between the sales and marketing team. Everyone needs to work together. Think peace and joy on earth (just like a real environmentalist).
   • Remove campaigns or tactics that are not working. To do this, you need a mechanism in place to measure every aspect of your marketing efforts. This goes back to my original premise of researching the demand waterfall. Having a defined process in place where you can measure the success of your marketing efforts at each stage of the sales marketing funnel is crucial. For example, if the conversion rate of a Google AdWords campaign is failing as the effort to turn these "inquiries" into MQLs (marketing qualified leads) is too expensive and takes too long, remove it. Focus on sources that are bringing in more qualified leads.
   • Remove crappy data and automate the process if possible. You will probably have fewer leads coming in the top of your pipeline so you can concentrate on creating processes that will remove contacts that should never hit your database. This may include contacts with bad email addresses, your competitors etc... You can also look at your database for data that is inconsistent and clean it up. Where possible, you can fix this data using automated data tools. For example, it may be possible to standardize contacts that have various job titles or contacts that have different versions of a country (USA, U.S.A., United States etc...). Bad data prevents you from further segmenting your database. Clean out the crap and ensure it stays as clean as possible.
     
   • Remove or punish people that have not bought in. Relating this back to the environment, in Toronto we've implemented a new program for home owners that taxes you based on the garbage that you put at the curb. If you follow the three R's and reduce your trash, you save money. If you don't want to get with the program, you'll pay for it with your wallet. It's fairly straightforward.
     
     As an eco-marketer, you need to get the senior people bought in on your new eco-marketing mantra. If you have sales people that don't want to participate, have them penalized. If you have marketing folks that can't see the forest through the trees, remove them. It's obviously easier said then done but that's why you need executive buy-in.
     

I'm sure you can add here to my points above and I implore you to do that by leaving some comments. Good luck to you during some tough times ahead and be the best eco-marketer you can be.

Chad H.

PS - Here are some additional resources I used in my research (let me know if you have other useful resources)

• Lead recycling means nothing wasted
• Funnelnomics: Accelerate your marketing and sales funnel to drive growth and profitability
• B2B Lead: 10 tips for marketing and sales alignment

PPS - Here are some tips to reduce the amount of water you use in your home.

Technorati tags: eco-marketer, sirusdecisions, lead nuturing, scoring, water conservation, reduce, Reuse, Recyle, demand gerenation, marketing automation, Toronto garbage laws, waterfall, sales and funnel, twitter

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Latest Trends in Email Marketing: RSS and Calendar Reminders

As we move into a new week there are some interesting trends and technology enhancements that will start to change the way that B2B companies use email. For those that are thinking "email is email - how can it change?", keep reading.

Trend#1: The Blogletter is Coming - Actually, it's Already Here.

You may recall I blogged about a concept called the Blogletter (combo of email newsletter and blog posts). I don't hold anything against the blog readers out there who unsubscribed from my feed en mass after that post (OK, well a few of you I do). Here's the truth - the blogletter will be arriving very soon and will revolutionize the way some companies can create and execute an email newsletter or any email campaign.

The concept behind a blogletter is to be able to publish blog posts (or any RSS feeds for that matter) directly to an email and send it to subscribers. One of my readers back then asked me how this concept would work. At the time I didn't have any answers except for Feedblitz's tool which allows web visitors to get updated via email every time you submit a blog post (they have some new paid tools as well). This approach works for the average blogger but companies need better tools. The tools are now here and here are two approaches that you can use to take advantage of this technology:

• Integrating RSS feeds and emails. Imagine if you could integrate an RSS feed (if you don't know what RSS is and you are in marketing, you may want to read the following) with an email. For those of you who have feeds already (which include blogs) this would mean that you don't have to update content in multiple areas. You can update an RSS feed and have it publish to your website and email.

• Automating email using RSS feeds. Let's take this a step further with automation. If you regularly post content to your RSS feeds, you could potentially create an automated program that would send an email newsletter (Blogletter or RSSletter) automatically on the date that you defined. The newsletter would consist of the latest articles/posts from your RSS feeds as well as any other elements of your newsletter. What's key here is that the whole process to create a newsletter becomes much easier as you have an automated program that sends the email for you and the content is content that you've created for a blog or other RSS feed. This process works very well for new subscribers to your site as they can get a newsletter with the latest articles from the RSS feeds that you have defined.

Other advantages? As I mentioned in my previous article on the subject, your readers can comment on articles which adds a new dimension to email as it's no longer a one way push marketing channel.

I hope you find this interesting as the technology now exists to do this. The above examples are the tip of the iceberg.

Trend #2: Helping Your Customers/Prospects Organize Themselves

This tip/technology isn't new but it's now easier and thus has many more implications. A while back I wrote about how you can improve webinar/webcast attendee rates by creating a file that when clicked on, can book off the time specified in your email recipient's Outlook (and other programs too) calendar.

This process was a bit of a pain as you need to create the .ics file and then upload it to your server. It's much easier now as some systems will allow you to create this on the fly and integrate directly into your email or website. What does this mean? Here are some ideas:

• Set real milestones: There are many "How to" white papers out there that pose a problem that that you may be experiencing and provide a solution with next steps. For example, a white paper that outlines a ten step plan to turn around their business using your product or service. Imagine if you could create a solution with key milestones including REAL dates that the your prospect/customer can save on their own Outlook/Lotus calender. In addition, this information (email clicks) can be tracked. By tracking this information, you can have your inside sales/demand gen team follow up with these prospects on the actual date of the milestone that was outlined and ensure that they are on the path that was outlined which may include a meeting with someone from your company.
  
  
• Read later reminder: Do you hate an inbox full of email? I know I do. I can't hit the delete button faster in many cases (still waiting for that voice activated delete email function). What if you created a standard feature for all of your emails that was a simple link that said "I want to read this at a later date". By clicking on the link, the user would be presented with a calender item that had an online link to the newsletter and a recommended calender reminder to read the email at a later date as well as a suggested time/day. This approach may book off 10 minutes of a person's actual day to read your email. The email recipient can adjust the date to suite her/his schedule. The mobile folk may also like this feature as they can set a reminder to read the email when they are back in the office. Will this work? maybe. Is it worth trying? Definitely as it's very easy to do with some of the new enhancements out there.

Email is going well beyond the traditional approach where it was used to just push out information. The interactivity described above is part of a trend in B2B marketing which is focusing more on the ongoing conversation with prospects and customers rather then a one-off batch and blast approach. The ideas described above may seem a bit off the wall but should be considered along with other ideas on how to make email more interactive and to integrate it with overall marketing processes rather then as a tool in itself. I hope I have at least made you start to think about new approaches.

Chad H.

PS - Thanks for the image Just Say Hi

Technorati Tags: blogletter, blog newsletter, calendar reminders for events, deleting email

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What is RSS? Check out this video

Instead of me writing about what RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is , I'll let this whiteboard geek tell you all about it (thanks MarketingProfs!). Feel free to pass this along to your manager who doesn't understand what the hell RSS is and doesn't want to invest in it:

Chad H.

Tags: RSS, Really simple Syndication

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USA Today is Web 2.0. OK

If you're looking for an example of a website that employs some of the latest and greatest of web 2.0. and does it successfully, look no further then USA Today. USA Today has reported a 380% surge in web traffic since it re-built its website last month with over 40,000 more user generated comments.


Here are some of the web 2.0 elements that I spotted:

• More then a Website - a Web Community: USA Today didn't just build a new website, they built a new online community that has a completely new experience. The website is no longer a site that you go to when you want the latest information and then leave - it's become a community that many web users call home. You can now register (which includes uploading an image) to become part of the community which entitles you to create a profile, add friends and leave comments which leads me to the next web 2.0. theme.
  

• User Generated Mania: USA Today allows its community members to leave your own comments on actual articles. The success of this is clearly evident with close to 1000 comments left for article that covered the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech. From scanning through the comments, USA Today has provided a forum for its members to cope with this senseless act by allowing visitors to have their say. You can equate leaving a comment to lighting a candle or dropping a flower off a memorial - it isn't much but it's something and the least that we can do.
  
  To demonstrate the importance of these comments USA Today actually profiles some of them in a rotating header image on the home page. Readers can recommend comments that they like and also report those people that abuse this feature.
  
  In addition, the USA Today community allows for its online readers to rate articles to guide readers as to which articles were actually enjoyed by others in the community.

• My blog, your blog, OUR blogs: As a community member, you can write your own blog on USA Today or you can read one of the various "expert blog" on the USA Today website. They have The Weather Guys, American Idol chatter, and a sports blog. The effect is that you feel like your really one with the USA Today website as you can try and copy the experts and comment on their articles as well as write your own.
  

• Simple, Boring, EFFECTIVE RSS Feeds: If you're still one of those people that could care less about RSS it's time to get serious about it if you produce quality content on a regular basis. On USA Today, you can subscribe to blogs, articles, videos - whatever you want. They also have a section called "Other Voices on the Web" which is an RSS feed of articles from other sites. In this section, USA Today has republished articles from blogs and other sites from around the web.
  
  
• Interactive Features Keep 'em Coming Back: If you and your spouse want to have your own celebrity name like Bennifer or Brangelina, check out the Celebrity Couple Name Maker. (My wife Allie didn't mind "Chadlie"). These type of interactive elements that ask for user input keep people coming back to your website.

So if you're looking to learn more about what this whole web 2.0. thing is all about, skip the books, the reports, the analysts and hot air and check out www.usatoday.com.

Chad H.

PS - To the families and friends that have suffered from the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech, I would like to know that we are thinking about you up here in Canada.

Tags: USA Today, web 2.0., American Idol, user-generated content, UGC, news blogging, fun with web 2.0., online communities

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Does Your Business do Podcasts? It Should

I'll admit that I don't regularly download podcasts via an RSS feed but I do listen to them the odd time. It looks like I'm not the only one. eMarketer.com reports that in August of 2006, 17 million people had listened to a podcast which is 70% more then the number of people who downloaded a podcast from April 2006. Holy crap batman, it's time to get your recording devices out! But, before you do that you need a podcasting strategy.

Podcast Strategy: It's Time to get one

One of my favourite podcasting sites is by Brian Caroll on the topic of B2B Lead Generation. Yes, his topics focus around his book and his consulting services but he provides amazing content using engaging interviews as part of his podcast. It really works and I come away from the podcast with some better insight into the sales and marketing process. If you have plans to start using podcasts, have a goal in mind as to what you want to achieve. Here are some ideas:

• Create useful content to reinforce image as industry expert. This is sometimes referred to as thought leadership.
• Drive website traffic. Like blogs, podcasts can help you in the search rankings if the content provided contains relevant keywords.
• Educate potential buyers in the sales pipeline or existing customers on new offerings
• Generate new leads via a co-registration process. In this case, the podcast could involve interviews from multiple people representing different companies

There are many other high level goals that you may use podcasts for. Let me know if I've missed any.

"I Need Podcasts Like I Need a Hole in my Head"

I hear the Mr. Busy Marketer saying "OK, we already have those goals and we are achieving them through our existing initiatives. We already have a significant amount of content on our site. What more do we need?" This is typically coming from someone in marketing who has just enough time to complete their existing marketing initiatives let alone this new podcast schmodcast stuff. "What's the point?" is a typical response.

Well if you're into online marketing and you're down with web 2.0. you know that producing new content that is engaging and entertaining is critical to generating increased web traffic and conversions. Podcasts allow you to provide content that is easier to digest for a busy executive who doesn't have time to read a full case study, in a creative format that allows you to generate a more personal experience and all at a relatively low cost.

Think of it as starting a conversation with your customers or prospects. If you allow comments (which you bloody well should) then your listeners can respond and continue the conversation you started. In addition, you don't need a fancy-pants flash developer to engage your audience - you can create the podcast yourself. Take some Tylenol, grab a cup of something that is highly caffeinated and get your marketing team in a room to start brainstorming about what type of content you will be 'casting about.

What do we Podcast About?

If you're team can't come up with any ideas, here are a few to get them thinking:

• Interview a few of your customers regarding a specific challenge that they faced and how your service/product helped them overcome this. Let your customers do the product plug. What you're creating is a living and breathing case study that is much more enjoyable then reading marketing-speak. For your next case study, consider doing both a written and oral format. If you can't do an interview, consider just having someone record an oral version of it. Have you heard of books on tape? Do a case study on tape! Why not do this for a white paper as well. This was suggested recently by MarketingSherpa.
• Interview a few people in your company regarding a new product that was developed. Besides the obvious announcement and description of a new feature , this type of podcast serves a couple of purposes. Because this podcast gets published on a live website, you're giving one of your team members some recognition for helping to develop a new product. If you're a developer, you typically get zero recognition outside of your department. This type of podcast can create some pride and well needed moral. Who better then to evangelize a new product then someone who actually helped build it (well, this can depend on their communication skills but you know what I mean). Prospects and clients also get some insight into the quality and expertise of the people that are working at your company. It may give them further incentive to work with you. If you didn't realize it, this podcast idea was like a press release but one that makes your company come alive in the minds of your customers and prospects.
• Create testimonial podcasts. If you go to a typical business website, you have a client testimonial section. Instead of having written quotes, why not record sound bites and create a podcast. Nothing sells a message like an actual voice rather then just a written quote. You could also do a conversation type of a format where you're asking your clients questions.
• Transform your existing webcasts. Here's a potentially easy one. If you have done some webcasts already that don't require that the person have access to the power point slides, turn this into a podcast. Why would you do this? If you're doing a real podcast in which you have an RSS feed, new content increases your web traffic. Some companies post an audio file on their site and call it a Podcast. Remember, it's nota true podcast unless it's accessible via RSS.

The first thing you may want to do is ask your team which podcasts they like and why. This gives you an ideas to who is doing their homework on the latest marketing and/or industry trends. You can then ask them to forward on their favourite feed or podcast to the group so that everyone can have a listen. There's also plenty of experts out there who can provide you with podcasts they like (for example, have a look at Pete Lerma's article on ClickZ).

Here's the bottom line: Get you're thinking caps on and think of ways that you can exploit this new format before your competitors do.

Before you go, let me know if there are any podcast feeds that you recommend and why. In addition, are there other ways that you have used podcasts effectively?

Chad H.

PS - Yes, I myself have yet to create a podcast but who knows what will happen in 2007.

Tags: lead generation, creating podcasts, podcast rss feeds, interviews, web 2.0., B2B podcasting, business blogs

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