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Before the ubiquity of information, prospects were able to get rid of the sales team with the simple demand: “Get me something in writing.” The sales professional, meanwhile, would guard information carefully, letting it slip out incrementally throughout the sales cycle, rewarding the prospect for moving each step closer to a sale. With websites, blogs and message boards available for virtually every topic imaginable, this doesn’t work any more. Most information is already out there.

Rather than give up and assume that the prospect has access to everything, however, there is still room for the controlled release of value-added information; it just has to be managed differently.

Don’t withhold information. That will lead a prospect to look elsewhere, and possibly end up in the arms of a competitor. Point your prospect to your blog, website, case studies and other information pieces — after all, this is why you’ve invested in them. But, make sure your sales professionals are equipped with additional insights — tailored to the prospect — that can be unveiled at each step in the sales cycle. This is where your marketing analytics become incredibly important.

A white paper cannot address a specific prospect’s specific pain points. That’s the domain of the sales force.

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When should the handoff from marketing to sales occur? The trend has been to gather ever more intelligence about your targets before unleashing the sales force on an opportunity, in the hopes that a more refined view of the prospect will lead to a shorter and more successful sales cycle. With more metrics brought to bear on the situation, the conventional wisdom goes, the sales team will be better equipped to communicate with the prospect, understand his needs and close the deal.

There is some truth to this thinking, but it has led sales and marketing departments astray with over-analysis. Analytics and market and prospect intelligence are undoubtedly crucial to the effective progression of a sales opportunity from early marketing efforts through the sales cycle and ultimately through implementation, as well. But, data has become a crutch, preventing sales and marketing teams from moving swiftly to take advantage of clear opportunities.

IT marketers and sales forces need to regain a sense of balance.

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IT sales call: Best time is Tuesday at 9 AM: At enter:marketing, we schedule a lot of appointments for our clients. Through the demand generation and lead cultivation programs we run, we’ve learned a considerable amount about how IT buyers prefer to be engaged, the best survey questions for triggering interest and even when they want to talk. What we’re about to show you isn’t the result of some survey: it’s live data. Real. These insights are based on the actions of IT buyers.

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Is your company a conversion engine?: You can’t talk about marketing without talking about conversion. Reaching a broad audience that is interested in your company or solution is only the first step in turning contact into a sale, and every professional marketer knows that names fall off from one stage of the sales cycle to the next. Ultimately, the number that indicates your success is revenue – if you’re hitting your targets, you must be doing something right, the conventional wisdom holds. But, there are measures along the way that can help you refine your marketing and sales practices and lead to greater returns on your marketing investment.

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Fill your IT marketing blog in five easy steps: The hardest part of maintaining a marketing blog is coming up with content … and producing it. Many attempts are abandoned simply because tier advocates didn’t realize just how much work it would involve. Doubtless, blogging is labor-intensive, but there are ways to make it much, much easier to keep your blog fresh without turning it into your full-time job. You have content all over the place and just need to put it to work for you.

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LinkedIn unveils new features for keeping track of connections: LinkedIn has been busy with new features this year, and the new tools have clear implications for IT marketing professionals who are using social media. Though the features are intended to make traditional use (i.e., by members who use LinkedIn to manage their personal networks) easier, savvy marketers can turn these new tools to their advantage.

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Choose the right multimedia for your IT marketing blog: Multimedia is becoming increasingly common on marketing blogs, but it’s still early. IT manufacturers and resellers are still figuring out how to use this type of content effectively. Among the sticking points is when to use audio rather than video. The latter is generally assumed to be “better.” After all, it has a visual element. But, the added dimension brings with it an obligation – you need to make both the spoken and visual components compelling.

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And, you may have missed …

Limits of the new retweet feature on Twitter: “Retweeting” isn’t new to Twitter. Users have been prefacing tweets with “RT” for a while now, indicating that they are broadcasting someone else’s 140-character-or-less sentiment. Part of the power of this practice is in the commentary that a Twitter user includes along with the retweet. The new retweet feature in Twitter makes it more efficient to RT, but deprives you of the chance to add some color.

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“Retweeting” isn’t new to Twitter. Users have been prefacing tweets with “RT” for a while now, indicating that they are broadcasting someone else’s 140-character-or-less sentiment. Part of the power of this practice is in the commentary that a Twitter user includes along with the retweet. The new retweet feature in Twitter makes it more efficient to RT, but deprives you of the chance to add some color.

Read the rest of this entry »

LinkedIn has been busy with new features this year, and the new tools have clear implications for IT marketing professionals who are using social media. Though the features are intended to make traditional use (i.e., by members who use LinkedIn to manage their personal networks) easier, savvy marketers can turn these new tools to their advantage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Multimedia is becoming increasingly common on marketing blogs, but it’s still early. IT manufacturers and resellers are still figuring out how to use this type of content effectively. Among the sticking points is when to use audio rather than video. The latter is generally assumed to be “better.” After all, it has a visual element. But, the added dimension brings with it an obligation – you need to make both the spoken and visual components compelling.

Video can be powerful when you have a panel of speakers, high-impact visuals (e.g., charts or slides) or a demo. If you’re only communicating straightforward information, such as tips or news, audio is probably the better alternative.

Remember: video is, by nature, intrusive. You have to watch it actively, which means you can’t really do much else at the same time. With audio, you can listen while reading, driving or doing any number of other tasks. By not requiring someone’s undivided attention, you’ll be able to expand the reach of your marketing blog – and the information you hope to convey.

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#ITsalestip 1. Meetings don’t matter: good ones do. Gauge value of oppty before scheduling

#ITsalestip 2. Think ROI: how much is each meeting worth in terms of real revenue potential?

#ITsalestip 3. Be able to answer: How did I show the prospect that the meeting is worth it for him?

#ITsalestip 4. Will you leave the meeting feeling like you made progress toward a sale?

#ITsalestip 5. Have something new & interesting to tell your prospect

#ITsalestip 6. Don’t leave w/o clear next steps

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“Are you free on Tuesday at 9 AM?”

This question tips the odds of getting an appointment with an IT buyer in your favor. Yes, it’s a bit specific, and there are other times that work as well. Thursdays at 2 PM are pretty good, too.

At enter:marketing, we schedule a lot of appointments for our clients. Through the demand generation and lead cultivation programs we run, we’ve learned a considerable amount about how IT buyers prefer to be engaged, the best survey questions for triggering interest and even when they want to talk.

What we’re about to show you isn’t the result of some survey: it’s live data. Real. These insights are based on the actions of IT buyers.

Read the rest of this entry »

The hardest part of maintaining a marketing blog is coming up with content … and producing it. Many attempts are abandoned simply because tier advocates didn’t realize just how much work it would involve. Doubtless, blogging is labor-intensive, but there are ways to make it much, much easier to keep your blog fresh without turning it into your full-time job. You have content all over the place and just need to put it to work for you.

1. Original content
This is the tough stuff, which you’ll need to write from scratch. But, you don’t need an original post every day. Limit the original content to once a week, but try to make it substantial (400 to 500 words).

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Five characteristics of a highly effective marketing partner: There is no shortage of IT marketing agencies on the market that would be thrilled to have you as a client. You get calls regularly, have listened to countless pitches and reviewed what feels like a never-ending stack of presentations on demand generation. So, how do you choose? If you have a partner in place, how do you evaluate its effectiveness?

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What makes a social media user “friend” a company?: As you begin to enter the social media marketing space, you’ll start to hear about “fans,” “friends” and “followers” — variations on the connections that people make in these environments. These relationships provide a first layer of measurement for social media marketing success, as they define your primary high-value audience.

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IT Resellers: Make your blog multimedia without spending a dime: IT manufacturers are producing lots of multimedia content. Those with robust channel programs are investing heavily in video content, and they are making it easy to access and use. All you have to do is embed it in your blog. The method will depend on the video player chosen by the IT manufacturer and the blog platform that you have implemented, but the process is usually straightforward.

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