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Strictl
MARKETING
MAGAZ INE
$3.95 | JAN/FEB 2016
Lessons from the
Digital Trenches:
A Sales
Transformation
Google+
Changes that
Can Help You
Market Your
Brand and
Business!
Marsha Doll
Dishes on Promotions
Future Marketing:
Becoming Big
Social Mobile
Credits
Letter from the Publisher
Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that 2016 is
already here, this past year has just flown by. So many
exciting things are happening!
We have added a section in our magazine for
marketing product/service reviews. This issue is
showcasing Profnet services and the Book Big Social
Mobile. I hope you enjoy the review, if you are
interested in having your marketing product or
service reviewed, please contact our office via email
with a brief description. We are also excited to
announce that our radio show has moved to the
Talkzone platform. We are excited about this
syndication partnership and look forward to resuming
the show January 14th with special guest, Bill Corbett,
discussing the importance of Public Relations and
how you can benefit from utilizing a PR firm.
I would also like to welcome two new contributing
columnists for 2016, Debbie Qaqish and David
Giannetto, we are excited about the content they will
be providing to our readers.
This issue our feature interview was conducted with
one of my first Mentors! We had the opportunity to
interview Marsha Doll of Marsha Doll Models &
Talent about Promotions and how it can help you
grow your business. She shared some awesome tips
on promoting your business, just in time for the new
year! Thank you again for reading our publication,
we hope you find extreme value in our content!
Wishing you continued success,
Publisher, Strictly Marketing Magazine a division
of Kerry’s Network, Inc.
2
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
Columnists:
Debbie Qaqish
Cynthia De Lorenzi
David Giannetto
Contributing Writers:
Kerry Heaps
Kristine Snively
Patricial Hursh
Strictly Marketing Magazine
www.strictlymarketingmagazine.com
[email protected]
Toll Free: 844-222-9740
In this Issue…..
3
Top 5 Dos and Don’ts on seeking publicity
for your Business
4
Google+ - Changes that can help you
market your Brand
5
Publishers Picks
6
Marsha Doll dishes on Promotions
9
Media Spotlight - Latin Times Magazine
10
Lessons from the Digital Trenches
12
Mastering the art of online Reputation
Management
14
Future Marketing: Become Big Social
Mobile
21
Create a Powerful Landing Page
Top 5 Do’s & Don’ts on Seeking Publicity
Promote: Make sure you let the media outlet know
how you plan to promote the show, article, blog
post, etc. Whether its on social media or your email
newsletter, inform them of your promotional
efforts. Yes, you need to help promote your
appearance, it only hurts you if you don’t promote
along side the outlet that hosts you.
H
ave you ever wondered why some
businesses get featured in the media more
than others…well there are some reasons why.
We have outlined the top 5 Do’s and Don’ts when
pitching the media to maximize your chances of
future publicity.
DO:
Customize your introduction email: Have you
ever received an email and knew immediately it
didn’t go just to you, but to several people? As a
show host and publisher, I receive tons of emails
that are generic, some of them I can tell based upon
their pitch, don’t even listen to the show. For
example, I receive pitches for health and wellness
topics and we are a marketing based media outlet.
Make sure you craft a great email that can be
customized to each media outlet. Reference their
show in the email and comment on one of the
previous shows or articles to really catch their
attention. Keep it simple and to the point and be
sure to pitch to media outlets that you can provide
value to their audience.
Have a topic and sample questions prepared: If
you are pitching to a radio show or television
outlet, make sure you have one or two sample
topics for discussion. The topics should be
relevant to their audience. Prepare 5-10 sample
questions for each topic that the host can use.
DON’T:
Answer a query with questions: Should you
receive media queries through a company such as
Profnet be sure to read the submission guidelines
carefully…then follow them. If someone can’t
follow direction, imagine what they will be like to
work with, there are too many other potential
guests that can add value to any media outlets
audience, so be sure to give them exactly what they
ask for during the process.
Forget to offer a call to action: Most outlets offer
an opportunity for you to share your website,
upcoming events, etc. Be sure to have a call to
action. For example, visit our site for the Top 5 tips
to gain more media exposure. Set up a landing
page or website so you can track your results and
add leads to your own list.
Kerry Heaps is the Founder of Strictly Women in Marketing,
an online community helping Women Business Owners (and
men) learn more about marketing and gaining more media
exposure through their media directory. Get a FREE
download about the top 5 tips to gain more media exposure
here: www.strictlywomeninmarketing.wildapricot.org
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
3
Google+
Changes That Can Help You Market Your Brand
O
h thee of little faith, you naysayers and
doubters skeptical that Google+ is worth
your time for building your business and brand.
You have all but turned your nose up at those of
us building a throng of smart, savvy, fascinating
and successful followers. While you have been
ignoring Google+ I have built a following of more
than 21,000 people you would love to know and
introduce to your own bad self, business and
brand.
In our first article about Google+ we shared how
services from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and
social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
have become an important part of our nation’s
infrastructure. These services are just as important
as our telecommunications, the electric grid, air,
rail and our nation’s highway system. The
technology like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are
companies that serve as our virtual superhighway
to access information, news and connecting to
people and business!
In future articles we will be sharing social media
marketing tips and tools, like LinkedIn and how
to use it for your professional social network, how
to use Twitter for your news-based social feed and
Facebook for reaching both your personal and
potential new customers. Google+ was originally
created to serve as a portal to all of Google’s many
services. Unfortunately, by forcing everyone to
enter through one portal was not something users
liked, even those who were Google devotees!
4
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
One thing Google does well is adapt to change and
implement enhancement to their product line when
they perceive an opportunity for improvement.
Google recently announced some changes to the
Google+ platform that may just be what you need
to be enticed to try Plus again or for the first time.
Just remember that if you are not using Google+
you are missing out on a FREE marketing tool.
What Google witnessed on the Google+ platform
was more than 1.2 million users joining and
interacting with Plus communities every day. The
Google+ Collections feature saw steady growth
because users could group posts by topics. The
Collections are similar to a Pinterest Board, which
we will be talking about in future articles.
As a topic-centric network Google+ makes creating
content easier than ever before. The changes to
Google+ will make the site operate in a more user
friendly fashion!
As a change-maker and instigator I was a bit
reluctant about the changes at first, which surprised
even me! Now that I jumped on board I am really
enjoying the new features.
Of course there are changes that will improve these
new features, but Google is willing to listen to their
users. After all, studies show that Plus users are
more intelligent and wealthier than those on other
social networks. The most important thing to
remember is that you can optimize search for your
business or brand by using the Google+ platform!
So what can you do to market your business and
brand using the new Google+ Collections features?
To get comfortable with the new Collections format
start simple with what interests you and your
followers.
See what sparks your creativity. Every business
and brand is different so think about what your
customers and followers want to know. Not only
am I an international speaker and social media
guru, I am also an artist and photographer who
moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico. My collections
include art, photography, social media,
neuroscience and my political interest in saving
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That is a lot of great
information for sharing in individual collections!
Here are some ideas to get you started:
·
Share pictures of behind the scenes
activities of your business.
Our Publisher has reviewed the following products and
services as they relate to Marketing.
·
Highlight and share articles and pressreleases you have posted on your site.
·
Share videos of how you do what you do.
Even short videos of “howdy” from your
company can be great.
If you’d like your marketing product or service
reviewed, send an introductory email pitch to
[email protected].
·
Share images of the people who work with
you or who are your customers.
·
Share related industry news.
Let people get to know you and your interests by
sharing articles, images, stories of what interests
you. We all have a variety of interests and sharing
those can help you engage with existing and new
followers. With our smart phones we can readily
capture images of our daily lives, from our
customers visiting or the morning sunrise or sunset.
So what about you? How will you be using the
new Google+ Collections feature?
Cynthia de Lorenzi is an
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Motivational and TEDx
Women Speaker, Google+
and
Social
Media
Consultant,
Futurist,
Artist,
Photographer,
CEO and Chief Instigator
Success in the City TV.
One of the main reasons I received
great value from this book is the
Author covers everything that
frightens business owners (including
me) about social media, mobile
marketing and how we can apply
what’s in the book to our business
and make it work. Engaging with
customers can be difficult on any
level. Too many times marketers tend to complicate
marketing efforts, this book really de-myths a lot of
what’s out there and simplifies it. You can purchase the
book on Amazon or www.giannetto.com
Profnet is a division of PR
newswire, if you are looking for
media exposure, this is the
service for you! As a media
outlet, we personally work with
Profnet to field queries for
articles, or guests for our show.
You can view each query and if its a good fit for you,
send in the required pitch, article, whatever they are
asking for within the Query. www.profnet.com
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
5
MARSHA DOLL
Dishes on Promotions
trictly Marketing Magazine had the opportunity to talk with Marsha Doll, Owner of Marsha Doll Models
S& Talent.
In addition to working with talent all over the world, Marsha has created a successful niche with
promotions and has worked with Fortune 500 companies across the United States. Marsha shared valuable
promotional tips that can be implemented into any business.
SMM: Please let our readers know how you got started in the modeling industry.
MD: My grandfather came from Lithuania just trying to get away from the chaos there and the Russian
army, he ended up in New York City. He made his way down the coast to Savannah, then on to Perry,
Florida where he opened his clothing store in 1925. Since I'm the sole survivor of my family, my husband
Dean runs the store and it’s still thriving 90 years later! When I was 14 years old, my mother thought it
was time for me to start going with her on the buying trips, to gain market perspective. One year, she took
me to the Atlanta Mart to buy for the junior department. I’m in and out of the showrooms one day and
this guy comes out and says, “Have you ever modeled before?” I just smiled, I was so nervous, and replied
no. He asked me to try on some clothes and lucky for me, they fit perfectly. That one day changed my life
forever. I became a showroom model in Atlanta because his model hadn't shown up.
SMM: How would you explain to everyone the business of
promotions?
MD: The business of promotions is believing in what you have
and what it is that you’re promoting. People can sense
vulnerability, they can sense something that’s not real. When
you’re truly passionate about something, there’s no failure if
you’re willing to work hard. For some people, it comes very
natural but for others you have to practice. You have to be
comfortable talking to all types of people. Also, you need to be
able to shake things up and get out of your comfort zone. If you’re
promoting something, you have to let the world know, that’s what
promoting is, brand awareness. As a child, I was bubbly and had
all this energy (I still do) but I was actually a little shy to get up in
front of people. I knew that to accomplish what I wanted to in
life, I had to get over that fear. So I turned my fear into a thrill
and that's what I teach in my NYC model/actor boot camps. If
you’re promoting, you’re performing and it’s a great feeling.
Promotion is everything in a business, I mean everything.
Marsha Dolls Photos provided by Mike Copeland Productions
6
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
SMM: You bring up an interesting point when you
say, “Turn that fear into your greatest thrill.” What
tips would you offer to people that are still shy but
they have to get out there and promote their
business.
MD: Slowly get out there. You need to join
organizations and groups, get involved in charities,
mix and mingle with people that have the same
interests and goals that you do. No one’s going to
knock on YOUR door, it’s just not going to happen.
You have to be self-motivated, have a plan and get
up every morning and work towards your goals.
You’ll realize that it’s not that hard and it’s actually
fun when you get out of your comfort zone, but do
it in small increments. I would suggest you find
groups, clubs, schools, anywhere where you can
start practicing your presentations. As you get more
experienced with your presentation skills, the sky
is the limit.
SMM: Your Company works with a lot of major
brands like Bacardi, Proctor & Gamble just to
name a few. Companies that are in a service-based
business such as insurance what advice would you
suggest to use promotions to market their
business?
MD: If it’s a product and it’s something that
somebody can smell, touch, feel, eat or just
experience it, that's incredibly important. When
people are starting a business they’re nervous about
spending the money on promoting, but if we’re not
aware of your product, we’re not going to buy it.
Take Irish Spring soap for example, it’s just a bar of
soap. If the company that makes the soap goes to
Florida State University as well as campuses all over
the country during the first semester of college and
gives the kids a free bar of soap as a gift, they're
more likely to continue to use that soap. The great
thing about that, they usually stick with those
products for life.
In the service industry, if you’re a CPA, you do taxes,
you make bookkeeping a lot easier, I’d suggest
joining the Chamber of Commerce. Go to every
single club in your community, charity events and
make sure you mingle and talk to people. Talking
about how fabulous you and your products or
services are is not bragging, it’s marketing 101. If
you’re not talking about your business and believing
in it, how’s anybody else going to believe in you?
You’re selling yourself. There’s so many wonderful
things about being in the service industry because
you don’t have the overhead like you do when you
have a product. You are your product, regardless of
your service. The brand awareness of the name and
anything you can put in people’s hands is brand
awareness. Everybody wants something free.
Business cards for example, having your picture on
your cards makes a huge difference. I come back
from events and there’s all these people I talk to, I
can’t remember every person I met. You want people
to be aware of who you are and what you do, make
your business exciting and entertaining. People like
to laugh, they like cute things and things that make
them feel good. So if you can get a promotional
product to hand out that goes with your business,
hand it out as a sample everywhere you go.
SMM: What do you find are the top three major
mistakes that people make in their promotion
efforts?
MD: They spend money where they don’t need to
spend money. Unless you have a huge budget, radio
and television is not as good as one-on-one. Also,
talking bad about your competition, it shows you’re
unprofessional. The last one would be promoting
their product to the wrong audience, the wrong
demographic. If you’re going to use your time,
energy and money giving out samples and you have
the wrong demographics you are wasting your
efforts.
7
5 Strictly Marketing Magazine September/October 2014
Do your homework, get more information about the
events that you’re paying to go to and make sure
you are targeting the right demographic for your
service or product. Also, get to know the people that
can give you free publicity, because there's a ton of
it out there. Starting a new business can be stressful
but you have to be resilient, positive, work hard and
persevere. Put a smile on your face, help others, give
back and never say anything negative about a
competitor. People gravitate to people that are
positive and fabulous, it's just that simple.
SMM: If you could only offer one piece of advice
to a business owner about promotions, what would
it be and why?
MD: Have passion for what you do. Don’t be
scared, be fearless even if right now you're
struggling to pay the bills. If you’re truly passionate
about what you’re doing, it'll work out if you’re
willing to work hard and sacrifice. The best advice
I can give about promoting is don’t give up, have
fun with it. When you try something new and you
don’t get what you thought from a certain event or
the money you put into an advertisement/promotion
is not working, you have to remember the possible
residual effects. Surround yourself with positive,
successful people as well as places and things that
inspire you. You have to keep up the enthusiasm
that made you start your business to begin with and
remember it doesn’t happen overnight. Don’t be
discouraged by little or no results from a promotion,
you just can't give up!
Marsha Doll is the Owner of Marsha Doll Models &
Talent, a national promotions and modeling agency.
With a degree in communications and a minor in
psychology from Florida State University, she has been a
driving force in the industry and has developed
relationships with some of the top agencies in the world.
Her clients through the years have included Samsung,
Seventeen Magazine, Kohls, Victoria's Secret, MTV,
Bealls, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Fitness Magazine and
more. Visit her site at www.marshadollmodels.com
85 Strictly Marketing Magazine September/October 2014
MEDIA
SPOTLIGHT
Latin Times Magazine
Ever w onder w hat is in our media directory? Here is a great example of one of many
Publications we have listed. If you are looking for more media opportunities, for just $249
our Premium Membership gives you access to various media outlets. Sign up today at
Strictly Women in Marketing, www.strictlywomeninmarketing.wildapricot.org
Magazine: Latin Times Magazine
Website: http://www.LatinTimesMedia.com
Description: Latin Times Magazine is celebrating 14 years of excellence. As an established minority and
woman owned company, Latin-Times Media, Inc., is committed to our clients and to our community, we
take great pride in the host of tools we offer including full marketing agency services that offer businesses
specialty marketing and advertising solutions that specifically target and reach Florida’s thriving
Hispanic/Latino communities!
Latin Times specializes in Bilingual Advertising, Marketing, Communication, Custom Event Production
and Promotion as well Recruitment and can assist you in all our Hispanic/Latino marketing needs and/or
initiatives.
How often is your publication released?
Quarterly
What would you like a potential writer to submit to you? Bio, Headshot and short pitch for a potential
article.
Where should someone submit this information for consideration? [email protected]
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
9
Lessons from the Digital Trenches:
A Sales Transformation
“Once you have this kind of insight at your fingertips, you
simply can‘t go back to not knowing.”
The Definition of Insanity
I
magine…a sales process nearly devoid of
guesswork; one where salespeople track what
their prospects are researching – and thinking –
without having a conversation or meeting.
In this new world, cold calls have become obsolete,
replaced by a technology that provides salespeople with a real-time view into the prospect‘s digital body language.
What if...at a critical point in the buyer‘s evaluation,
but before they engage with a competitor, an alert
is sent to the salesperson‘s inbox or phone telling
him/her it‘s time to engage.
This is what salespeople really want. In today‘s
competitive arena, it‘s what they must have to
survive. These new capabilities are causing a
seismic shift in the traditional sales cycle,
ultimately changing how leads are managed and
opportunities are converted into sales.
Salespeople who don‘t have it, want it. Those who
have it, say they couldn’t live without it. As one
office equipment salesperson explained,
10
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
As we look into 2016, I see lots of sales leaders
deploying what I call the ―”Re” strategy. They are
re-thinking, re-organizing, re-doing, and re-aligning all the same things they have done before and
are expecting a new result in what has become a
dramatically different selling game. This is true
from the beginning of lead generation, to the opportunity pursuit, to the final closing of business.
Let‘s analyze this further and see what the market
leaders are doing that is so different.
For companies today, the lead production process
occurs in three different ways:
(1) sales scratches out their own leads by prospecting their personal networks, sending one-off or
batch emails
(2) the marketing departments turn over long lists
of leads, which are typically no more than a contact
with a pulse or
(3) the marketing department practices Revenue
Marketing™ and is part of a repeatable, predictable, scalable revenue machine.
In the first two cases, the essence of effort is
thick-skinned people trying to overcome the
telephone rejection. When finally presented with
a genuinely interested prospect, they are smart
enough to stay out of their own way. For the most
part, they blindly cold call and email contacts for
months, hoping to set up a meeting and begin a
sales cycle. Eventually they move on to a fresh list,
and classify previous prospecting failures as disqualified leads. (My next article will discuss option 3 – how marketing works with sales to
produce a repeatable, predictable and scalable revenue machine.)
Once disqualified, the leads fall into a Zombie Lobby, waiting for the “new guy” assigned to begin the
blind cold call/email process all over again.
Worse, they‘re never contacted by your company
again. Or the cruelest outcome — marketing repurchases the Zombies for the 3rd, 4th or 5th time.
The nightmare recycles and you can't wake up!
In this traditional sales landscape, it's difficult to
get a sense of what is (or isn‘t) working. What are
your salespeople really doing, how are prospects
really acting, and just how hot are the opportunities they are chasing? Most sales leaders just keep
coming up with the next ―”Re” strategy because
they have no better way to attack these age-old
challenges.
The Impact of Digital
You see it every day: technology is changing at
warp speed. Some of it annoys, some amazes. As
sales leaders and professionals, it's up to us to
recognize which changes and which advances can
have a profound impact on our selling efforts and
competitive position.
The use of the Internet for research has produced
a radical break in the model of how individuals
and companies buy. However, there‘s been little
corresponding response in the way most companies sell.
There are exceptions though. New technologies –
especially automated Sales Enablement tools –
provide sales leaders with a way to rapidly respond to this new buyer behavior by aligning your
9 Strictly Marketing Magazine September/October 2014
sales process to the customer‘s buying process. This
alignment translates to more revenue and a stronger competitive position.
Here‘s an example of how the Internet has changed
conventional "relationships":
Many car buyers are now using the Internet to do
extensive research on makes, models, options, pricing, service and more, before they ever walk into a
dealership. By the time they're ready to buy, they
know what they want and what they are willing to
pay for it. When they walk into the dealership,
there is little need to interact with a sales person.
These are self-informed buyers and they‘re ready to
begin negotiations.
Do you have prospects like this? They are potential
customers armed with more information about
you, your competitors, and the market than ever
before. They know much more about you than you
know of them.
Here‘s a scenario of what the process might look
like if the dealership used automated Sales Enablement tools:
The dealership can “watch” in real time, an individual prospect‘s online behavior as he/she builds a
custom model on the company‘s web site, choosing
specific features and a particular color of paint.
(These online behaviors and choices are the typical
tire kicker activities of a casual shopper on the dealer
lot.) When that same prospect returns to the site to
research financing options, chances are he/she is
getting more serious about purchasing. When
there's a search for a local dealer, this prospect is
ready to spend money.
Debbie Qaqish’s Column continued on Page 17
Strictly Marketing Magazine
Jan/Feb 2016
11
Mastering the Art of Online
Reputation Management
R
eputation Management is the shaping of public
perception of an individual or business by
influencing online information. Originally a term
reserved for the PR industry, the advancement of
the internet, social media and the birth of companies
specializing in online reputation marketing has
shifted the primary focus to search results.
As individuals continue to live out their lives online,
many have found there are major downsides to
over-sharing on social media. However, business
owners are often caught off-guard by issues
concerning their online reputation. It can take a
company years to build a strong brand and loyal
following, but one disgruntled customer who wants
to damage your business’ reputation can easily do
so with the click of a mouse and a couple of scathing
remarks.
What’s worse is these negative reviews are often on
websites that rank high in the search engines, so
anyone doing a search on your business will likely
see them. Unfortunately, whether the review is true
or not, it has already jeopardized your online
reputation.
A survey from Dimensional Research reveals that
90% of consumers who recalled reading online
reviews claimed that positive reviews influenced
their decision to buy. To the contrary, 86% said that
negative reviews had also influenced purchasing
decisions. The survey found that negative reviews
are most commonly found on popular review sites
and positive reviews are seen on social media sites44% coming from Facebook.
Creating your own content through blogging,
published articles, online press releases and client
success stories can enhance your online reputation
12
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
when shared on social media and strategically placed
on high-ranking sites. If you have negative content
that appears when your name is searched, optimizing
the positive content will help offset it, pushing the
negative content off the first page of Google search
results.
Consumers want to know they can trust a business
before investing their time and money. The best thing
business owners can do is encourage their happy
customers to share their experiences online. Reviews
from your best customers posted on high-ranking
review sites will have a major impact on your
business and online reputation.
So how do you go about gathering these positive
customer reviews? There are a variety of web-based
survey solutions, allowing you to create and publish
online surveys in minutes, collect the responses and
view the results graphically in real time. Getting this
type of customer feedback is invaluable to any business. These survey tools can also alert you of negative responses quickly, allowing you to mitigate the
situation with the customer before they write a negative review about your business online. Staying in
touch with what your customers value allows you to
identify new trends and can have a substantial impact on customer retention and business growth.
When it comes to managing your reputation online,
knowledge is power!
It is important to know what is being linked to
your name and business. Perform a simple
Google search on your name and business. You
can even set up a Google alert on your name and
business to monitor any new content that
becomes available.
I encourage clients to take control of their online
reputation. By controlling what the public is able
to view about you and your business onlinewhether it is information you want potential
customers to see like press releases, biographical
information and awards to information you do
not want seen, like a negative review or
disciplinary action- you can successfully master
the art of reputation management.
Kristine Snively is the founder of Pristine PR, a
full-service legal marketing agency located in Winter
Park, FL. For more information, please visit
www.pristinepr.com.
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Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
13
Future Marketing:
Become Big Social Mobile
R
eaders should prepare to swim in deep water
in 2016. Author, speaker and practitioner David
F. Giannetto’s column, Future Marketing: Becoming
Big Social Mobile, reflects the diverse, eclectic nature
of his experience and the unusual, often
controversial perspective he’s known for. We sat
down to pull the covers back and give readers a
glimpse into the mind and background of the
thought-leader who has driven major initiatives in
organizations ranging from the United Nations,
Coke, Pepsi, and JP Morgan to American Express,
Scholastics and many more.
SMM: We try to bring together an interesting mix
of experts for our readers and you come to
marketing from an unusual background. Can you
give us a glimpse into how it happened?
DFG: My work in the marketing space is really a
reflection of the executive mindset these days. There
are a lot of different skill sets coming together in the
marketing space right now. I was fully committed
to the information space—business intelligence and
analytics, what you would think of as a very
practical application of data science before it was
cool enough to be called that—working mostly with
fortune 2000 brands. I was designing everything
from transactional system data capture to
overarching management blueprints; real enterprise
performance management stuff. Then social media
hit, then mobile and companies started racking up
expense. Eventually executives got tired of asking
their social experts about ROI and getting answers
that involved friends, fans and followers, sentiment
and engagement. I was talking to them about using
data to drive revenue and profitability, so it really
shouldn’t be a shock that they would turn to me and
say: can you use this data too?
14
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
I was already working with these companies to help
them become truly customer-centric. Gaining access
to “big data” just allowed me to paint a more
complete picture about their customer base and how
to use them in new ways. I was still talking revenue
and profit, and that connects with them. Once I
showed them an ROI was possible on social they
were hooked. It just made too much sense and
marketers need to jump on that bandwagon. For me
that’s where the whole concept of Big Social Mobile
started, how they are all really part of one larger
movement and how they can be used in an
integrated fashion to drive performance. It did take
ten more years to make it a real methodology anyone
can follow.
SMM: It seems pretty clear your experience with
clients has shaped your perspective. Is this what
readers can expect in your Future Marketing
column?
DFG: I hope so. There’s a lot of great social and
mobile experts out there; a lot of people with a
deeper data science background than I have. I am
usually working collaboratively with these experts.
When we work together it’s very powerful. Good
social practices are really mainstream in most companies. They’re ready for more; ready to take it to
the next level. That’s usually where I come in.
I’m talking about using these initiatives at an
enterprise level to support strategic objectives, to
improve the customer experience and ultimately
drive revenue and profitability. To me methods, all
types of technology, diverse data stores and
organizational behavior and physiology are all just
different tools in the toolbox to get the organization
to connect more closely with consumers, win their
hearts and minds—and wallets.
I also hope the column will be very practical. That’s
something I pride myself on. Someone once said to
me “you take complex theory and make it very
practical.” It might be a bigger compliment than I
desire but I took great pride in it. Too much of
what’s put out there today isn’t actionable—too
much of what marketers deliver to the business isn’t
actionable. I am relentlessly driven towards
practicality in the use of technology, data and
methods that are real and actionable. If you can’t
measure success it doesn’t count. Success is
measured in dollars. That rule of business has not
changed.
SMM: Which came first, the chicken or the egg—
you were a Rutgers University professor and an
operations manager earlier in your career, did the
theory or your real world experience drive you
towards these beliefs?
DFG: It all started with a very simple report when
I was an operation’s manager at Airborne Express.
We were battling a very tough union and this report
had some extra columns tagged on the right-hand
side of it. No one knew what they were. Corporate
couldn’t tell me. It was curiosity as much as
anything else, because there was clearly a pattern in
the data. I had taught myself to program in middle
school so I could figure out that the report was
showing when route drivers used the new barcode
scanner or were entering information manually—
which they weren’t supposed to do. It allowed me
to discipline and fire a lot of bad or even corrupt
route drivers. I don’t think the other managers ever
figured out how I knew so much—it gave me a
competitive advantage so to speak, that was the
spark. Once I became a consultant it was really just
a natural extension of that.
SMM: You once keynoted a leadership conference
and the title was “How Steve Jobs Killed American
Leadership…” Some of your ideas have been
labelled as controversial. Have you always
thought about these topics differently?
DFG: Yes, I’m glad I made it out of that conference
alive, but it is my favorite topic to talk about because
it gets people fired up. You need people to hear you
through the noise. Social has actually had a
negative impact: it has made the mainstream more
entrenched. It’s easy for someone to write a blog
post that essentially says what everyone already
believes. Psychology states people actually like
reading affirmations of what they already know
(translate that as “likes” which makes a post
popular) so it’s actually harder to get them to think
differently because there are so many people
jumping on the easy idea and not challenging easy
beliefs. I’m really a marketer at heart—selling to
customers, getting them to adopt your approach,
getting them to change—those are really all about
marketing. So you have to get them to stop and
listen. It isn’t easy in today’s climate. This is what
marketers are up against.
SMM: That doesn’t answer the question. But let
me rephrase it then: so have you always thought
differently about things or is this just marketing?
DFG: Does it really matter? This is capitalism.
Perceived value has just as much value as real value
does (don’t let me get on that bandwagon).
Honestly, when I became a consultant I didn’t know
much about the theory and today’s marketers don’t
need to either.
Strictly Marketing Magazine May/June 2016
15
It is the expert’s job to make it practical and
actionable for you. If they don’t then get a new
expert.
When I started I asked operations managers what
information would be helpful and then I figured out
how to get the data in the easiest and simplest way
possible. I created the most actionable reports I
could, and then I had them use it every day to drive
performance—performance in areas that were
directly tied to financial goals because that’s what
the firm I was working for was known for. I didn’t
realize I wasn’t supposed to use this new “business
intelligence” technology for such a practical
application. It wasn’t until several major accounts
later—the first time a client of mine won the
Business Finance Vision Award—that I realized I
was doing things much differently than other
consults. That method became my first book. I had
to learn a lot of theory to write it and I became really
fascinated with that too. That led to teaching.
Today’s marketing leaders can create practical
applications for the other departments they need
support from and they’ll get support.
But the readers will see the answer to that question.
I can’t really avoid what I believe—I’m too much
like my father. I believe in the practical application
of theory—like Malcolm Gladwell if he really had
to work with clients for a living. That comes out in
every aspect of my life, whether I want it to or not.
SMM: So that’s it? You are just relentlessly
practical in all things?
DFG: I’m actually a dreamer at heart—doesn’t
marketing really require that? I just can’t earn a
living that way.
16
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
SMM: How does your new book, Big Social
Mobile, fit into this?
DFG: It was the next logical step for me after the
Power Grid. I took a break off to write a nonfiction
novel as my second release, but this is the book my
readers wanted. When Palgrave Macmillan calls
you, you don’t say no. I think the book is well done
and ahead of its time. A mix of theory and practical
application and something that readers can take to
their office and use to make a real impact the very
next day. I hope that the column is that same thing.
Something that will make them stop and think
about their company and their role within it and
how they can make an impact.
David F. Giannetto helps organizations leverage technology—
providing both the technical and business insight necessary
to create, understand and utilize it to improve performance.
He is SVP of Services at Astea
International, the leader in
service management and
mobile workforce technology.
He is author of Big Social
Mobile:
How
Digital
Initiatives can Reshape the
Enterprise
and
Create
Business Value (Palgrave
Macmillan 2014), the first
enterprise-level methodology
that helps organizations
integrate social media, mobile
technology and big data into
their core people, processes,
technology, information and
strategy to create tangible improvements in revenue and profit.
This work builds upon his first book, the award winning
management methodology, The Performance Power Grid, The
Proven Method To Create and Sustain Superior
Organizational Performance (Wiley, 2006), that defined how
organizations use internal information to improve
performance. Visit his site at www.giannetto.com
Lessons from the Digital Trenches:
A Sales Transformation…..Continued
With automated Sales Enablement tools, you can
customize automatic sales alerts and communication responses. For example:
Ÿ When the prospect visits the financing options page, an alert is sent to a salesperson
via Smartphone, email, or as a task in CRM
with all key prospect information, including
web site activity.
Ÿ Subsequently, the prospect is sent an offer
of special financing via email.
Ÿ Simultaneously, the prospect is added to a
lead nurturing program of promotional
communications that maintain digital dialogue until they are ready to buy.
The class of software that includes Marketing Automation, Lead Management, or automated Sales
Enablement can be described in simple terms: It's
(1) the gathering and understanding of a prospective customer‘s online behavior and
(2) the ability to take automatic and/or real-time
action on that behavior – whether as a lead or an
opportunity.
Automated Sales Enablement tools allow you to
have specific individual behavior information
pushed, via alerts, to the top of your sales team‘s
“To Do” lists. For a sales rep, this is nirvana.
Ÿ How would your forecasting accuracy improve
if your salespeople took part in the prospect‘s
evaluation meetings?
Ÿ Would your revenue achievement see a significant uptick if you had the inside track on their
buying process?
Ÿ How would it help if you could deliver the right
message at exactly the right time during the
solution investigation?
Empowering the Sales Team with Technology
The emergence of Marketing Automation (MA)
software tools marks the advent of powerful sales
enablement tools. With MA, marketing has access
to online behavior and tools that enable responses
– automatically or in-person.
Until recently, a lead typically was “qualified” by
marketing, then passed on to sales for close or
disqualification. Sales could see static information
about the prospect, but nothing live or active from
that point forward. Only marketing could see realtime online behavior.
I saw my first Marketing Automation system in
2003 and bought it as the VP of Marketing. However, with my background as Sales VP for many
years, I could hardly believe the powerful implications it had for sales. It took the major vendors
until 2009 to bring this capability to the forefront
and place it squarely in the hands of sales organizations. As we head into 2016, this powerful capability is still vastly under-utilized.
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
17
With advancements in automated marketing tools
through the addition of Sales Enablement – salespeople can have the insight and the power previously available only to marketing.
Now there are several choices of action. Leads can
be (a) qualified as true sales opportunities then
closed, (b) disqualified, or (c) enriched by being
added to a targeted nurturing campaign that engages prospects in a virtual relationship until they are
ready to buy.
To launch this nurturing campaign, the salesperson
simply goes to either a tab in CRM or to the Outlook
toolbar. They select from a menu of templates,
choose a nurturing campaign, set up an alert for
designated online behavior, and deploy the campaign. That's it.
One of two things will then happen: (1) the prospect
will be enrolled in a campaign. When the campaign
is over, the salesperson will receive an email saying it
is time to call the prospect. (2) Or, the prospect will
show significant signs of interest demonstrated
through online behavior. The salesperson will receive
an alert to immediately follow up.
Ÿ All activity – including web and email behavior –
is recorded and scored. A salesperson can send
out a marketing-created template to 30 prospects.
He can immediately see who opened it and how
often it was opened. Did the prospect forward it?
If so, to whom?
Ÿ Rather than cold call from a “Top 250” list, salespeople can now control their territories and manage many dynamic lists in several different
verticals. Once contacts are entered into the system, they are rolled into a nurturing program
defined by specific criteria such as persona, timing, vertical, territory and more. They will receive consistent and pertinent communication
from the marketing team and/or directly from the
salesperson.
18
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
Ÿ If a Top 250 prospect visits the web site or
responds to any communication, the salesperson can be alerted via smart phone, cell or email.
The ramifications are dramatic and quantifiable.
Salespeople make fewer calls, but make a higher
number of quality calls. They are calling the right
people – those who have shown an interest in talking to them.
“It allows me as a salesperson to enter a contact into a
90-120 day nurturing campaign without having to
know any of the mechanics of how that actually happens,” said one salesperson I interviewed for my book,
“Rise of the Revenue Marketer.” “Now I am spending
my time focusing exclusively on the hand-raising behaviors that fit my Ideal Customer Profile – those
prospects with the highest propensity to buy. I haven’t
cold called in almost three years.”
Prospecting in 2016
With today‘s automated Sales Enablement and optimization tools, a dashboard, integrated with a
salesperson‘s CRM, ranks the most interested customers – those who exhibit the most desirable buying behaviors. This way, salespeople can easily
prioritize their calling activities toward the most
qualified prospects. This is a real- time dashboard
that salespeople can check throughout the day in
addition to receiving alerts vie email, Blackberry or
cell.
Further, salespeople can easily discern the prospect‘s interest and be prepared to facilitate the education process with the right message at the right
time. Prospect digital behavior is displayed in an
easy-to-read line-item and graphical format. Before
the salesperson picks up the phone, he/she can
easily review the prospect's historical activity and
demographic data to determine the overall quality
of the lead and basis for the conversation.
“In the old days, when someone told me to call them in
90 days, all I could do was put in a reminder to call
them back. Now I can enter them into a nurturing
campaign, stand back, and track their behavior,” said
one office equipment salesperson I interviewed. “The
power to have insight into the buyer‘s interests is a
game-changing capability to me as a sales guy. Now I
can pick and choose who, and how, I will attack, based
on empirical evidence of their behavior.”
“My cold calling has decreased by 60%,” said another.
“Before, cold calling was the only way to reach someone.
Now, I can see that they filled out a form, visited our
web site, opened my email and researched us online. I
can reach 30 people with one message, and, I can track
them individually. It‘s like I am my own marketer.”
By reading prospects‘ online behavior, salespeople can also gauge the strength of certain opportunities over others and more quickly determine
which prospects are most likely to buy. This insight and automated response reduces lead waste,
to which salespeople are typically the biggest
contributors. Forecasting also improves because
both the salesperson and manager can now “see”
how interested (or uninterested) an opportunity is
behaving.
Forecasting in 2016
Insight into prospects‘ online behaviors makes
forecasting a much more reliable process because
salespeople have a way to determine if the customer is telling the truth.
If a prospect said he/she would buy in 60 days, for
example, but has not visited the web site in the last
30 days, this could mean that the deal is going
south. Having this information helps salespeople
get to the “no” faster, so they can move on to the
next opportunity.
On the other hand, it can act as a confidence builder, providing peace of mind. For example, if the
general counsel – someone not involved in the
sales cycle – is engaged on the site the night before
a deal is scheduled to close, this gives a salesperson confidence that the deal will most likely go
through. Before, salespeople were completely
blind to these propensities. Sales managers benefit as well. In reviews, managers can see the activities of both the rep and the prospect, enabling
them to validate the sales story and build a more
confident pipeline.
Technology Affects Every Area of Sales
“It helps me learn to get comfortable with radio silence,
which can be a scary thing when you have no insight
into what a prospect is doing,” said one medical devices salesperson. “But now I have more insight about
what is going on behind my back in the opportunity. I
can read the signs.”
This kind of intelligence impacts the way salespeople work opportunities. To build credibility
within a prospect‘s organization, salespeople can
include multiple contacts who are not directly
involved in the sales process by adding them to
various nurturing campaigns to educate them
about their solutions. This is an effective way to
gain access to all the key decision makers, especially when working with gatekeepers.
Quota
Salespeople and managers have better visibility
into the pipeline & can make more accurate forecasts. Managers have a more realistic view of
territories. Salespeople are able to handle a larger
number of accounts through Sales Enablement,
creating a virtual sales headcount for the organization.
Deal Size
A prospect‘s online behavior exposes which features and pains interest him/her most about a solution and whether there is shopping with the
competition.
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
19
Understanding buyer pain enables salespeople to
better position solutions and up-sell to a higher-end
solution. Knowing if a prospect is shopping around
helps keep pricing competitive. Where salespeople
were selling on price before, now they are selling
value.
Time to Close
With these automated marketing tools, salespeople
are no longer pushing a selling process – they are
facilitating a buying process. Sales cycles are shortened because salespeople are able to more quickly
understand a prospect‘s interests and motivations for
buying. Armed with this information, it is easier to
qualify good deals and drop those who are not engaging. (One sales organization told us it‘s time to
close was reduced from 120 days to just 80-90 days as
a result of using Sales Enablement tools.)
Conversion Rates
Conversions from opportunities-to-close improve
because salespeople are more likely to have meaningful conversations with prospects and move them
through the sales cycle more quickly. Prospects not
yet ready to buy are nurtured in the funnel until their
behavior indicates they are ready to move to the next
stage of conversion. (The same sales organization
claimed its qualified opportunity-to- close ratio increased from 8-9% to 15-16% in just 12 months.)
Marketing and Sales: BFF?
Best Friends Forever? We'll see. The contentious
relationship between sales and marketing is as old as
the sales process itself. Sales constantly demands
more sales-ready leads, and marketing becomes frustrated with salespeople for not being engaged with
their "carefully orchestrated campaigns and directives."
Marketing Automation tools give marketing the ability to produce more and better quality leads. It also
provides the sales force with visibility into what
marketing is doing on their behalf.
20
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
Better qualified leads transform marketing into a
demand generation department and a key player in
the sales cycle.
“Before, marketing was a bunch of spreadsheet jockeys and
they were turning me into a spreadsheet jockey as well”
said one salesperson. “Now I absolutely pay attention.
There is a lot of value in the emails and reports they send
me because they are using their knowledge of what is
going on behind my back and delivering it in an effective
way. If I have half a day to call down a spreadsheet, it is
now weighted so that I call the right ones.”
You Can’t Go Home
Once salespeople have access to the capability of
Sales Enablement tools, most say there just isn‘t any
going back to the old way of doing things. One
veteran salesperson in the healthcare field described
these tools as ―the machine he used to run his business. "Once the machine is up and running, the
contacts have been added and the templates begin to
go out," he said. "There's no stopping it."
Sales Enablement tools allow you to see, track and
respond to prospects‘ online behavior. But in the
end, it‘s still about the numbers.
The Queen of Revenue Marketing™, Debbie Qaqish inspires
marketers to join the Revenue Marketing™ Revolution and
evolve their departments from traditional cost centers to revenue generating centers.
As Principal Partner & Chief Strategy Officer of The Pedowitz
Group, Debbie develops and
manages global client relationships and leads the firm’s
thought leadership initiatives.
She coined the term
“Revenue Marketer” in 2011
and she has been helping B2B
companies grow revenue by
applying strategy, technology
and process for over 30 years.
www.pedowitzgroup.com
Create a Powerful
Landing Page
C
onversion - the one word that should drive most
marketing decisions but often doesn’t - is what
we all want from a landing page. Converting a
prospect into a true lead, or better yet, a sale
demonstrates
landing
page
effectiveness.
Companies invest big money in the who, what,
where and how of the business through a website.
The landing page might be beautiful, but it also
needs to drive the desired results.
The bad news is that there is not a standard formula
for companies to follow to create a landing page that
is compelling and effective. Each situation is unique.
B2B marketers often do not really know how
effective their landing pages are, especially in terms
of visitor engagement and conversion. What
happens after the click is critical to a company’s
digital marketing success and it’s how executives
outside of the marketing department measure
success.
It is important to think of a website as an extension
of the sales team. How much do you pay a sales
professional to drum up valid leads? Websites
should serve as a lead generator, not just a dumping
ground for company information. Make sure you
are taking all the right steps to increase landing page
engagement, conversion and ROI.
There are three critical landing page elements to
consider when assessing a website’s usability:
content, engagement and conversion.
concise. The action message should be direct and
should clearly tell the user what you want them to
do; how you want them to do it; and describe the
benefits they will receive.
Images help make a compelling case for prospects
to complete a desired action. Use imagery that
communicates benefits and helps build confidence
that the experience is legitimate and not setting them
up for an onslaught of unwanted emails. Imagery
should complement the message by helping the user
along the conversion path.
Videos can also be very effective if done right. Using
video to briefly describe a customer problem and
how your company is going to solve that problem
in a compelling manner can be a powerful driving
force to increase conversions. However, video can
also make a company look inexperienced if the
messaging is off and the video quality is poor. Be
thoughtful about how you create and utilize visual
content.
Engagement
Content
Think about the intended audience you are trying
to attract to the landing page and call out benefits to
that audience at the top of the page. Messages can
become convoluted; keep the language clear and
The landing page should motivate your prospect to
take action. How do you pull someone in and create
engagement? Think about what makes you act. Is
it a tug at the heartstrings? A compelling story that
demonstrates success? Sometimes companies are so
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
21
wrapped up in their product offerings that they have
a difficult time looking at the landing page from a
customer perspective.
Taking a unique stance is one way to create
successful engagement with prospective clients. Do
not tell the same story as the 50 other companies
selling wireless service, explore a different angle,
make the landing page stand out. The prospective
customer should want to find out more about the
service offering.
Benefits should be obvious. Answer the prospect’s
question: “What’s in it for me”? Digging for
information on a website creates additional hoops
that nobody wants to jump through. Minimize the
number of clicks. Engage the perspective customer
through clear, unique and compelling messaging.
Conversion
There must be a clear and easy path to conversion.
Keep registration forms short and simple. Ask only
for required information. Make sure that your form
is not a wish list for the sales team. Remember, a
registration form is often the first step to engaging
a prospect.
After the perspective customer has completed the
required action, it is important to follow up post
conversion.
22
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
Handling the lead effectively will make the
difference between a successful lead conversion and
one that stays cold. You have to earn the right to
convert a landing page visitor into a lead. Invest a
little more in identifying what tweaks need to be
made to the landing page for a successful lead
conversion rate and ROI. If you do not have a
landing page specialist in the marketing department,
look outside the organization to find a digital
marketing firm to advise on landing page testing
and conversion improvement.
Patricia Hursh is executive director of client delivery at
SmartSearch Marketing, a Boulder-based search engine
marketing agency that specializes in helping business to
business companies improve their brand positioning and
generate
leads.
She
can
be
reached
at
[email protected]. For more information
about this and other topics, please visit our blog at:
http://smartsearchmarketing.com/blog/.
www.skinnywrapsbeforeandafter.com
Strictly
Marketing Magazine
Talk Radio Show
Thursdays
at 11 AM EST
www.strictlymarketingmagazine.com
Strictly Marketing Magazine Jan/Feb 2016
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