What is Automated Marketing?

BrightBlue Marketing is honored to share a 2 part series of blogs from a respected colleague, partner and guest blogger, Brint Driggs with Brint Driggs and Associates. Read on for some educational information on Marketing Automation!

What is Marketing Automation? How Can Marketing Automation help my business?


In an earlier post, I pointed out how many (most) businesses are leaving hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars of potential new revenue on the table because they haven't yet figured out how to efficiently or effectively follow up with up to 95% of prospects and or customers in order to build trust, deliver value and position these prospects for future transactions.

An emerging new market, fueled by some remarkably simple technology has been created to enable businesses to solve this age old challenge...enter Marketing Automation.

Marketing Automation 101

Marketing Automation is the name given to software platforms that seek to simplify and automate repetitive tasks within Marketing departments. Software vendors typically provide these platforms as a hosted or web-based solution, and so there is little-to-no software to install.

These services are ideal for any company wishing to retain visitors and customers, improve conversions, reduce marketing costs, and streamline sales operations, and are often the mainstay of any B2B and B2C business that is on the web.

Important Product Features to Consider

Since the concept of Marketing Automation is relatively new, vendors will offer a varying choice of product features. It is then a wise choice to evaluate each vendor carefully and choose the one that best solves your immediate and long-term marketing and sales problems.

Overall, the most common feature one may find when evaluating vendors are listed here:

• CRM Integration: Ideally suited to align Marketing and Sales - bi-directional CRM integration allows for CRM data to be easily manipulated from within the Marketing Automation platform.

• Web Analytics: Incorporation of web analytics data, allows you to segment, score, and qualify prospects based on their website-viewing habits.

• Lead Nurturing: Automates the process of qualifying Leads and increases up-sell rate by keeping current customers engaged.

• Lead Scoring: Quality metrics applied to each Lead and Prospect, relative to that of others in your database.

• Email Marketing: Email Marketing platform designed to launch email campaigns to targeted prospect groups.

• List Management: Ability to segment your database of leads and target them with focused campaigns and programs.

• Reporting: An obvious feature for any product, as you can't tune your marketing initiatives if you can't measure the response-rates.

The above list is a broad overview of the necessary pieces to achieve a successful Closed-Loop marketing process. As noted above, every vendor in the marketing automation space will have his own twist to these individual pieces, so choose the one that's right for you.

In my next post, I'll share with you more about how marketing automation works and we'll talk about the ROI benefits to your business...and your life.

If you'd like to discuss how marketing automation can help you grow your business, please give me a call at 877-890-2555 or email me at brint@brintdriggs.com.

Ask not what your network can do for you - ask what you can do for your network…

One of the seemingly best kept secrets of great networkers is this: You should go into every networking situation asking how you can help those there and not how they can help you!
This sounds contrary to what most of us think is the purpose of networking. Aren’t you networking to get new business or important contacts? Yes, in theory, but the best way to make this happen is to help OTHERS get new business and connect them to important contacts. Remember: People want to help those that help them or, what goes around comes around. However you want to word it – it works.

Try putting this into practice at your next networking opportunity; however, you have to remember that the pay back doesn’t necessarily happen right away, but be patient, and you will be amazed at the results!

Check out these great events and networking opportunities we have attended recently - make plans to join us next time:

Metroplex Technology Business Council Technical Luncheon – http://www.metroplextbc.org
BizTech Roundtable – Dallas - http://www.biztechroundtable.com/
Dallas Ft Worth American Marketing Association’s January Dallas executive luncheon – http://www.dfwama.com
Technology Entrepreneur’s Exchange (Texchange) – Austin - http://www.texchange.org/
Brainstorming Networkers – Austin - http://www.meetup.com/BrainNet/
Austin American Marketing Association (AMA) Luncheon – Austin - http://www.austinama.org/
AMA National – Regional Board Meeting Retreat – Houston
Austin Women in Technology - http://www.awtaustin.org/
Texas Women in Business - http://www.texaswomeninbusiness.org/
Oracle Tech Data Training – Dallas - http://www.techdata.com/content/events/tst/tst_dallas.aspx

A Case for Automated Marketing

BrightBlue Marketing is honored to share a 2 part series of blogs from a respected colleague, partner and guest blogger, Brint Driggs with Brint Driggs and Associates. Read on for some educational information on Marketing Automation!

Why has IBM, Google, Adobe spent billions of dollars in the race to dominate the web analytics market?

The answer is simple: Traffic, conversion and new revenue.

These are age old challenges. How do I get more of my ideal customers to visit my business (on-line or off-line), how do I get them to reach into their pockets or purses, pull out their money and hand it over to me…and walk away thrilled for having done so.

The Internet has matured as a verifiable channel for filling your sales pipeline with pre-qualified prospects. With this maturation, the need to apply science and, well, technology to your web strategy is becoming more important than ever.

Companies spend billions every year trying to capture prospect information in hopes of closing immediate business. This is great and all very necessary; however, what percentage of this ‘new’ traffic is actually being monetized? Most would say that if a business could successfully convert 5% of this traffic to verifiable transactions, they would be thrilled...and rich.

While this is all fine and dandy (and necessary!), my inquiring mind has to ask the question:
"So, what are you doing with the 95% of the prospects that you're not successful at closing right away?"

The answer that I hear (and see) most of the time goes something like this "uhhhhh, not much. We try to follow up with them but most of them, quite frankly, kind of fall into a black hole and end up on some unused, rarely utilized database located somewhere on our servers."

Does this sound familiar? Does anything about this scenario sound crazy to anyone else but me?
Let's see, we're spending thousands, if not millions of dollars trying to get our ideal customers to visit our website and 'opt-in' to some sort of compelling offer...but yet, we're content to let 95% of that investment languish and die a slow, unprofitable death because we haven't figured out a way to efficiently or effectively follow up and nurture these types of prospects.

The Final Frontier

We’re now able to automate pretty much every aspect of our business. Our financial and accounting processes, our manufacturing processes, our operations, our recruiting and hiring…the list goes on-and-on! Some form or fashion of technology has now been applied to pretty much every facet of our business and in many instances has enabled increased efficiencies and, while some would argue this, technology has also increased our effectiveness.
We’re now seeing a number of great solutions that are enabling businesses, large and small, to automate many of the marketing functions, which historically, have been very time consuming and inefficient.

In the next few posts, I’ll explore more about marketing automation and will provide reviews of some of the tools that have emerged that are helping businesses incubate and nurture the ‘languishing 95%’ in order to build more powerful sales pipelines and to drive more new revenue.

If you’re interested in immediate help in increasing your revenue by automating your marketing, please give us a call at 877-890-2555 or email me directly at brint@brintdriggs.com.

Wrestling Match at the "Corner Drug Store"

I’m not one to wrestle. However, the only thing stopping me from wrestling the supervisor at the “Corner Drug Store” (let's call it the “CDS” for short) today was me being only 5’2 and petite.

After recently relocating to Austin I am still unpacking boxes and today I came across my cherished ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. This cleaner uses ammonia, but was bone dry in order to make the move. During my lunch break today, I stopped by the “CDS” to pick up some items and while there I remembered that I needed the ammonia. It was easy to spot in the cleaning supply aisle because the store was fully stocked with huge jugs of it all in a neat row; all clearly marked with price tags. Keep in mind that this was not just one bottle stuck on a random shelf somewhere in the store.

After waiting in line to purchase my items for some time (only one cashier trying to serve all of us that decided to buy something at the “CDS” during our lunch hour), a Supervisor came over to help speed things along and I happened to be next in line. As I placed my items on the counter, he asked me (rather abruptly), “Where did you get that Ammonia? “ I thought the question a bit odd, but I simply told him that I had gotten it on the cleaning supply aisle with the other ammonia. His response was again an odd one, “We do not carry that brand. I’m going to talk to my manager.” After what I assume was a conversation with his Manager about my apparently “rogue” ammonia, he returns and announces, “You can’t buy that Ammonia. It’s not our product. We don’t sell it.” This was just a bizarre turn in my otherwise normal day since I had simply grabbed some ammonia off a well stocked shelf of the same. My pleas for the wanting to still purchase the errant product fell on deaf ears and I was forced to leave knowing I would have to go another day without clean jewelry.

Have you ever been to a store that wouldn’t sell you something that was neatly stocked on their shelves complete with a price tag?

All my sales training friends out there cringing as I tell my tale- contact me as I will put you in touch with the “Corner Drug Store” immediately – they need you.

Marketing and PR Trends for 2011 - Communication Strategies for Uncertain Times

The Marketing Think Tank call hosted by BrightBlue Marketing and Big Noise Communications was facilitated this month by Andrea Lamarsaude of BrightBlue, focused on the topic of: Marketing and PR Tools & Tactics you can use to your advantage when exploring new markets.

The following are the topics we discussed:

• How has the recession affected you and your client’s marketing/PR efforts over the past two years?

A lot of people are looking at marketing & PR as a luxury and tend to put it at the bottom of their budget list so, larger projects have become much smaller or clients are putting off marketing efforts. Others are turning to doing just Social Media in order to find cheaper ways to market or they just aren’t doing any marketing which is causing them more issues.

There has been a bit of a downward trend in marketing however, in the last 6 months the activity has started picking up. Over the last 2-3 years companies want to check in on their ROI more than before and they are more aware of really staying on top of their PR investment.

Companies are much more interested in measuring and analytics and moving away from branding and awareness campaigns that cannot be measured as clearly.

Association & non-profits are more mindful about the programming they are presenting and making sure that are compelling enough to draw good attendance during tight economic times. They are also leaning more toward Social Media for marketing than before.

A lot more interest and willingness to look at ways to tie marketing more directly into their sales efforts and working together instead of doing separate efforts. More measureable leads to the sales force.

• What adjustments have you been forced to make?

Part of it is the need to become an expert in a lot of new areas that we haven’t been before like the various Social Media outlets and ensuring that all email type campaigns have a measuring tool or analytics tool attached to it so we can show clients immediate results.
Clients are noticing that with the rise of social media outlets like YouTube and FaceBook that all campaigns have to incorporate these types of outlets to be successful. Not just a novelty, but a key element to keep up to speed with everyone.

• What changes have you made to safeguard against future economic shocks?

It is all about making sure your pipeline is filled and finding ways to continue to keep contact with all of your contacts. You have to really work the leads in these times to make a sale.
Making sure that you have the social element to your communications plan just like ensuring you have a good website, etc. Then integrate it with your website and other elements.

Create a crisis plan to safeguard your branding and your integrity; both for economic issues as well as for things that happen on the internet like YouTube, etc. Be ready with an answer to something that creates bad press and be watching to catch things as soon as they happen so you can head it off at the pass.

• What trends are you seeing unfold in marketing and PR at the start of 2011?

Integrate the new trends with the traditional means. Direct mail pieces to include your FaceBook link, LinkedIn, Blog, Twitter to integrate them. You really have to be on top of all of them and know which of them are the biggest of these that your clients are using. Don’t lean too heavily on any single tool.

Everything has to be integrated and you have to be sure there is relevance to your messaging once you integrate. It has to be something that is worthwhile that makes them pay attention to your message and stay top of mind with your target audience.

Video put on the internet has become very relevant and should also be integrated into your communications plan.

Very important: Check to see what your website looks like on an iPhone or an iPad? Make sure it still translates well. Things come across very differently when they are looked at on smartphones and other different devices. If it doesn’t look right, make sure you adjust it to work on these mediums.

Social media
Must see social media as a part of traditional media and not such a novelty or add- on.

PR
2009 – 2010 people were learning that press releases needed to be more social and need to be released on social media outlets, etc. and not just press release sites.
Using Twitter will become more and more important. More members of the press are being forced to cover more things and can’t be on the phones, etc. as much and they are using Twitter to find newsworthy events faster and more efficiently.
Add videos, bios, etc. to Press Releases

Traditional marketing (print, direct mail, etc.)
Not everyone has embraced Social Media so; don’t give up on direct mail and the personal touch.
You need to touch your contacts and leads with all types of communication along with traditional marketing and social media. Compact the message on all fronts. A newsletter needs to be compact with links to get to the full story and compelling headlines.
Your message has to be consistent, but also unique. Social Media and Direct mail have different needs for the type of message. Consider your different audiences.
Must have very clear call to action in that compact message.

Event marketing
Companies moved away from events during the economic downturn, but are starting to come back to events and they are realizing that you need that face to face interaction to develop and build relationships.

The economy created a trust issue with companies out there and events build relationships which in turn builds trust. People do business with those they know and those they trust.
You have to stay ahead of the game. The younger generations have such a short attention span and are always looking to the next “big thing”. You need to make yourself the next “big thing”.

Lead nurturing: How do you stay in front of your contacts and nurture your leads?
Leads should be touched at least 1x per month through email, direct mail, newsletter, or having an ongoing list of contacts that you call each day.

Everyone is overwhelmed and we need to know how to realistically create a lead nurturing plan. BrightBlue Marketing’s Virtual Marketing Outreach can help by answering that issue and helping you to touch leads with little time or thought.

You must create valid reasons for you to stay in front of your leads/contacts: send them news items/trends/studies/something about one of their competitors, etc. Just keep them informed and to have a productive reason to stay in front of them.

SEO
Many companies don’t understand this important area of their website and, as a result, many times they don’t integrate the words, phrases and other elements that they need to create SEO on their websites. However, SEO done right and well can make a huge difference on your bottom line. It takes thought and effort, but is excellent means of free traffic beyond Social Media.
Your Website should have calls to action and they should have constant activity with blogs, sign up clicks, etc. You do not have to pay for advertising and pay-per-clicks to get on top of the search engines. It can be done for free by keeping your website fresh and always updating.
Blogs take time but they keep activity on your website but they also bring a personal touch to Social Media and increase SEO on your website. This makes blogs well worth the time investment.

Email
Email in boxes are so full that you have to become creative in your subject lines and make them teasers so that the recipient will take the time to open your email. Once they open your email, your message must be relevant for them to continue to open your future emails.

Put information people need on only one avenue (FaceBook, Blog, etc.) and then use all the others to drive people to that one place.

Use video email.

In closing:
It doesn’t have to be perfect – just get out there and start doing it.

For further reading:

1. 2011 Marketing Resolutions to Consider
http://www.customerthink.com/blog/2011_marketing_resolutions_to_consider
2. Do you agree with Ingrid Helsingen Warner at LEIDAR Communications that, “2011 communication strategies need to be more like jazz.”
http://www.leidar.com/news/how-jazz-can-help-deliver-relevant-2011-communication-strategies/
3. Customer Experience Strategies for 2011
http://www.customerthink.com/blog/customer_experience_strategies_for_2011_0
4. 2011 – The Year to Evolve or Become Extinct?http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/01/03/2011-–-the-year-to-evolve-or-become-extinct/
5. The year in email marketing
http://myemma.com/blog/2010/12/13/the-year-in-email-marketing/

Is cold calling really necessary?

Barry Caponi is a regular guest blogger, President of Caponi Performance Group, Inc., and author of the upcoming book, Contrary to Popular Belief, Cold Calling Does Work! The Art & Science of Appointment Making (stay tuned for the release announcement). Caponi Performance Group has created a proven formula (called The Appointment Making Formula™) for setting more initial appointments. Barry has become a trusted sales resource to BrightBlue Marketing as we stress to our clients that cold calling is an important part of a successful marketing mix. Enjoy his blog and please share your thoughts! You can find him at www.caponipg.com.

Very few of us like to cold call, so how do we figure out if we need to cold call at all?

It’s really a pretty simple process as there are basically only three sources for an Initial Appointment with a target. They are:

1. Lead generation marketing campaigns that get people to raise their hands and tell us they are interested

2. Networking and referrals

3. Cold calling

To figure out if we need to cold call (and how much if we do), follow this formula:

1. How many Initial Appointments do I need in a year to hit my sales goal? (You can use our Activity Calculator (free on our website http://www.caponipg.com/ or send me an email at http://www.blogger.com/barry@coldcalling101.com)


2. From that number, subtract the following:


1. The number of Initial Appointments we get from marketing programs


2. The number of Initial Appointments we get from networking activities and referrals from customers


3. Whatever gap there is between the number we computed in step 2 subtracted from the result in step 1 is the number you’ll need to fill with cold calling. There is no other alternative.

Two last caveats –

1. Cold calling works best when we do it on a consistent basis, so we must figure out how many we need on average and do some every day, or at least, week.


2. Marketing, networking and referrals can sometimes not generate what we expected, or an economic downturn can cause us to need more. Make sure you’re looking at your results each week to see if you need open the cold calling spigot to make up the difference – did I mention there is no other alternative?

A Marketing Birth Announcement for 2011!

Happy New Year! We have an exciting announcement to make that will provide you with an energized start to your marketing efforts for 2011...

Have you built a new product or service from scratch or been part of the process?
Some might say giving birth to a new product or service is worse than giving birth to a human! Do you agree?

Well, after all the hard work, sweat and tears shared by me, my designer, Karen Lang, and our wonderful web developers at WarbWeb, I’m proud to say it’s finally here:

Welcome, Virtual Marketing Outreach! (www.vmobrightblue.com)

We feel like proud parents announcing the newest member of the BrightBlue Marketing family: Virtual Marketing Outreach (His nickname is VMO)!

You will have access to our best genes… Each of us applied our years of marketing/web/design experience and lessons learned to ensure VMO has all the best practices worked in.

A little bit about our boy VMO… The best way to describe VMO is as a “Marketing in a Box” Lead Nurture Program -it’s an exciting new way to reach your contacts, prospects and clients on a consistent basis. That way you will stay top of mind when they are ready to buy!

VMO can take the form of many activities… By providing you a variety of marketing activities to choose from each month, the chances you’ll get your message heard and remembered is increased. Depending on the package you choose, the menu will include:

Direct mail postcards,
Email Bulletins,
Industry letters,
Press Releases,
Success Story Postcards,
LinkedIn Activities, and
Thought Leadership Activities

For each activity VMO makes your life easier by providing
A wide variety of design variations
Several branding color palettes for you to choose from
Written content you can edit or substitute with your own
A connection directly with our printer so you can mail your activities to your lists
BrightBlue Marketing experts on hand via our help line to answer all your questions, and help you through the process!

So please introduce yourself to our new family member VMO by going to www.vmobrightblue.com. Sign up for a year long relationship and receive a 10% discount!

Or if you are not ready to sign up and just want to chat, contact us by email at vmo@brightbluemarketing.com or go to www.vmobrightblue.com.

We look forward to sharing our marketing ideas with you!

A toast for 2011... May all your marketing efforts bring you tons of success in 2011!

Creatively Yours,
Candace and the BrightBlue Marketing Team

(This blog was written jointly by Candace Lopez-Miller and Karen Lang)