Photo: Jarle Vines (Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike 3.0)

I barely even made it to the pudding—or the dessert bar—at l’Auberge du Pont de Collonges after a four hour dinner! I have to share this story. It is not a visit to a fancy restaurant type of story but instead about a culinary experience that goes beyond imagination. On my recent trip to Paris, I took a detour to Lyon to visit one of the few select Michelin three-star rated luxury restaurants in France. The owner is a living legend whose very name is revered. So much so that my taxi driver was offended when I asked to be driven to “Chef Bocuse’s place”. He insisted I speak with respect (reverence?) and refer to him only as “Monsieur Chef Paul Bocuse”. My curiosity and excitement went up higher.

Think about this: *Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (shortened to MOF), “Chef of the Century”, “ambassador of modern French cuisine”; these are titles and awards that M. Chef Bocuse is known for. His restaurant, l’Auberge du Pont de Collonges has stood the test of time and is still the temple of classical French cooking. There is something to be said about this timeless tradition of excellence.

(*The title of Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (shortened to MOF) is a unique award in a contest between professionals. This competition requires extensive preparation. Technical skills, innovation, respect for traditions and other aspects are all practiced repeatedly to a level of refinement and excellence, effectiveness and quickness to succeed. Winners are crowned by the jury which makes its decision according to the distribution of points awarded during the entire process.)

It’s not about earning the Michelin three stars but retaining it year after year. Believe it or not, these are true culinary artists who are passionate and obsessed with their art of fine cuisine. Another very famous French Chef, Bernard Loiseau committed suicide because a newspaper report hinted that his restaurant may lose its three-star rating. Four years after he killed himself over this rumour, his restaurant, La Côte d’Or still remained a three-star establishment. But Loiseau did not live to see it.

The point I’m trying to make is, even with the mastery that these famous chefs have achieved, success can be fleeting. Even the thought of it slipping through your hands is fatal as we see in the case of Loiseau. The Bocuse family has been cooking famously since the 1700s. (Mind you, Chef Bocuse is now 87 years old, so if you want to enjoy the experience that I did, plan on going there soon!) In the meantime, please enjoy a few of the pictures I captured while there:

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How is this of any significance and relevance to our B2B demand generation world? To my mind, there is a lesson to be learned about how to make success enduring.

Yes you need a lead generation process. Yes you need a lead scoring system. Yes you can bring in marketing automation. Yes you can run on auto-pilot for fairly long periods. But you have to do all this with a heart. No matter how many unconventional, innovative, new tactics you bring in to your marketing plays, you cannot deny the power of traditional, tried and true lead generation best practices. There is no substitute for a carefully nurtured relationship that has a generous portion of the personal touch.

Chef Bocuse does not rely on his immaculately dressed restaurant and meal presentation, or the Michelin three-star rating, or a team that boasts 4 Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (most restaurants that have any at all will have one MOF). He takes it upon himself to make the experience memorable. I cannot explain to you how honoured and happy I felt when after the most exquisite meal that lasted 4 hours, I was greeted by Chef Bocuse himself. He walked around meeting guests at their tables and posing for photographs with them. Here are a few pictures from my experience at l’Auberge du Pont de Collonges.

Count On These 5 B2B Lead Generation Best Practices to Always Deliver

1. Blend the grey and the green: The challenge in many B2B marketing organizations is that it’s either the ‘grey’ (wise and experienced) or the ‘green’ (newbie and creative) in a position of power and calling the shots. Blend the two so that new age technologies can be optimally leveraged with the valuable mingling of experience. The wisdom and experience of the old boosts the agility and speed of the new. Everybody wins! It’s like the classic, all-time favourite dishes on your menu that appeal universally to all tastes.

2. Pull don’t push: Whether it is a traditional tool like a sales letter or phone call or a newer technique like an online video or blog, you just can’t be too in the face, selling all the time. Buyers are fed up of pushy sales talk. They want good, meaningful, engaging content. It’s like a vol au vent—the same, hollow case of puff pastry can be filled with an endless variety of sweet and savoury delights. What you fill it with will make all the difference.

3. Show your personality: It’s what people remember and the reason they come back for more. I cannot even begin to list everything I ate at Chef Bocuse’s restaurant, but my meeting with the legendary chef will always be a fond memory. As B2B marketers, we are often wary of showing our brand’s personality. In most cases, it is probably because it does not exist or is indistinct. A brand cannot be a commodity; it has to be an experience. You have to feel it, taste it, enjoy it and remember it.

4. Communicate and Listen: Mistakenly, many of us fall into the trap of broadcasting. We talk aloud on our websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and just everywhere, all over the place. We fail to listen to what customers and prospects are saying. And very soon, they stop listening too. We go back often to restaurants where a host remembers the wine or dessert we really liked the last time. It makes us feel special. Effective communication that generates quality leads is all about making your customer feel special.

5. Recognize that the middle is actually the deep end: You may serve up the best appetizers and the most exotic desserts, but your main course is the mainstay of your menu. It’s where your patrons look for the sublime taste that takes a meal from ordinary to extraordinary. The most compelling offer can bring in a great lead. The end goal, however, is customer engagement. Until you have engagement you cannot even think about conversion. The problem starts when organizations focus on the beginning i.e. leads, and the end i.e. conversion. What about the middle? How are you going to progress leads towards conversion without careful nurturing and ongoing engagement?

What B2B lead generation practices does your organization use effectively? Please comment below. Plus, if you are interested in accelerating your demand generation, be sure to download a free copy of The ALEA Demand Generation Playbook by following this link.

Photo: Shutterstock

The post 5 Essential B2B Lead Generation Ingredients that Never Fail appeared first on LEADership.

If you were to ask me whether there is a single, most important factor that impacts B2B marketing success, I would say yes. And that factor is TRUST. For undeniably, we cannot sustain marketing success without it. In our everyday lives as B2B marketers, how do we go about winning trust?

Social media is a fabulous tool to help you build and sustain the trust factor among prospects and customers. No doubt about it—this is definitely an area in which I agree that social is useful for B2B marketing. I am still not completely convinced about how much it drives lead generation in any tangible way, but it does warm the air by allowing marketers to earn the trust and steadily increase it.

3 Ways to Win Your Customers’ Trust Using Social Media

1. LISTEN: Size does not matter—big, small or medium sized—if you are a B2B marketing company, you cannot ignore what is being said about your brand. Social is now mobile and your customers are having conversations on-the-go which can make or break your brand. You have to listen, and listen proactively to these conversations. What I mean by that is, avoid knee-jerk reactions to negative comments and be spontaneous about responding to positive ones.

This SlideShare presentation by Dell’s director of social media and marketing, claims a “98% (complaint) resolution rate” and a “45% ranters to ravers conversion rate.”These are significant numbers, I have to say. And I say significant because they are reflective of customer engagement rather than a mere fan club figure. Well, when you have 110,000+ employees worldwide, and you train at least one in every twelve of them to represent your brand on the social network, you better have good results!

For a smaller company it’s not going to be that easy, and yet, I believe it is worth the effort to monitor your brand’s social mentions. There really is no formula to predict how customers will behave. But in order to tailor your marketing and lead generation efforts to affect a positive sales cycle, it certainly helps to know what they are thinking and saying, before they make a purchase decision…or reject you for your competitor.

2. WORK AS A TEAM: Your people are your biggest assets. I have always adhered to this view and my angst continues to grow for companies that choose marketing and sales automation over their people. This is true of companies with a large workforce but it is even more true in the case of smaller, leaner B2B organizations. Customers don’t begin to trust a brand before they trust the people behind it. It is for this reason that employee collaboration can yield fascinating results. I was impressed with how this enterprise technology consulting company, Bluewolf encourages social sharing and collaboration among employees. Read the case study on MarketingSherpa.

I see very often how some manufacturers compel their channel partners and VARs to engage in social marketing without any training, tools or guidelines on how to go about it. There are other B2B companies that place the onus of becoming the ‘social voice’ on one department, or even worse, one or two individuals. However, this company, Bluewolf has gone about it in a sensible, methodical manner—showing their employees what to do and what not to do on social channels. As the employees build their personal brands, it’s inevitable that there is a growing sense of pride in the brand they represent. Plus, with the ‘gamification’ and ‘incentivization’ of social activity, it is not surprising to note the results they are seeing on the three key metrics they used for measurement–site traffic, internal collaboration and Klout score. I quote from the case study:

• Website traffic from social media increased 100% after the gamification effort went into effect
• Social traffic increased 20% month-over-month since the beginning of the entire campaign
• 57% increase in collaboration via an internal social network
• Klout score rose from 43 to 45.28 over the course of the campaign

No small wins, in my opinion, but not too difficult to achieve when you put your heads together and pool resources internally. As a company, Bluewolf seems to be winning customer trust through social media, one employee at a time. Thumbs up to that!

3. BOOST SEARCH WITH VALUABLE CONTENT

Content rules the roost online. We all know that. We also know that posting good content on your B2B company’s website is simply not enough anymore. Social is a powerful medium to publish all that valuable content your target wants, needs, and will appreciate. But you have to pick the right channels—read my earlier post about “6 Tips on Content Curation”. Then, you also need to choose the right ingredients, as I said in my recent post “The Top Social Media Skills Marketing Executives Need in 2013”.

There is a lot to be gained from quality content marketing but there is no place for noise in social media. In this article from B2B Magazine, there is a good example of a machine tool company, Makino Inc. and its success with search marketing. How does a prospect you never heard of become a customer that brings you a multimillion dollar sale? This can only be possible when your search and social marketing efforts establish a feeling of trust. The prospect spent 20 minutes viewing over 45 pages on the company’s website and then filled out a contact form. The level of interest and engagement was more than apparent. And that is clearly, the first step. Of course, it is up to you to then take that lead by the hand, strengthen the trust, and carefully guide it through the sales cycle until conversion is attained. That’s what Makino did.

In the same article, Lauren McCadney, senior manager of social media at technology solutions provider CDW Corp. says, “If you’ve got a person doing back flips over your brand, go after them for the case study.” I agree, customer testimonials through case studies are incredibly careful. But a word of caution, don’t literally “go after them”…I know people who do this, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on other social channels; and it is annoying, to say the least!

Have you seen impressive results with social marketing? How has social media helped build the trust factor for your brand? Please share your experiences on my blog. You can also email or call me, Louis Foong, at (905) 709-3827.

The post The BIGGEST Factor in B2B Marketing Success —And 3 Ways to Win It appeared first on LEADership.

The interesting Infographic I shared last week shows that 170 million people are on Twitter. It also says that “Twitter tops B2B lead generation, outperforming Facebook and LinkedIn 9 to 1. 82% of social media leads come from Twitter. Google+ establishes itself firmly in the mainstream of social networking with 9400% increase in followers since last year.”

These “facts” seem to be circulating from the Optify study. But tell me, how many times have you read or heard someone actually tell you that Twitter really is the best social media channel for B2B lead generation? I do wonder—where is the evidence? Have there been any good case studies to show how Twitter tops B2B lead generation or is this a chicken and egg scenario? Both the Infographic and the Optify report make a good case about why a company should have a presence on Twitter and ensure it is part of their strategy. I am just not convinced about how effective it is…is it really? I surmise the term “leads” really means an interested inquiry in these claims.

Here is how I imagine “leads” are obtained on Twitter and other popular social platforms—in my opinion, this is the wrong way:

This cartoon (from HubSpot) may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I have seen companies and individuals using Twitter to broadcast multiple self-promotional Tweets on auto-pilot and “badger” someone until they click on the link. In my recent post on The Top Social Media Skills Marketing Executives Need in 2013, I listed the #1 skill as “have the ability to determine what counts, what doesn’t.” So let’s ask the question—is Twitter something that counts in B2B lead generation or not?

Tooting the Twitter Horn—More Noise in the Social Media World!

The 2013 Social Media Benchmarking Report says that “Twitter is the business to business (B2B) social media platform of choice, favoured by 85 percent of B2B brands, ahead of LinkedIn (82 percent), YouTube (77 percent) and Facebook (71 percent)”. Think about this. The same report also notes that while driving traffic to their website was the primary goal for B2B marketers using social media, almost two-thirds (61 percent) described their social marketing strategy as “ad-hoc”. Are you kidding me? An open declaration based on “ad-hoc” social media marketing strategy?

Ever since this Optify study came out I’ve heard people talking about Twitter as though it is the best thing since sliced bread for B2B. But like I’ve always said, show me the numbers and I’ll become a believer. How can you rely on anything that is “ad hoc”? Thank you to the one smart person who pointed this out.

Let’s look at another study that gives us more examples:

• Avaya was able to close a $250,000 sale because they responded to a tweet.

I ask—a huge sale from a single tweet? It’s not clear from this post. One case does not make a trend.That’s like telling people about the hole-in-one you got with a certain club.

• B-Co Communications developed several potential business leads based on media coverage that came from that single tweet.

I ask again—How do you measure this? Did they really get “leads” or just inquiries?

• Neenah Paper has 10 sales reps who are using their personal Twitter accounts to close new Neenah Paper business.

I ask—are they really getting measurable results or are they wasting time?

Is Twitter the Bitter Pill for B2B Social Media?

In all my years of working with B2B companies day in and day out, not once have I had a prospect or executive whip out his mobile phone to Tweet or say – “Hey that’s a good point, I’m going to Tweet about it!” It just does not happen.

So yes, it is hard for me to believe that some of the busiest people in the world firstly have the time to be on Twitter, and secondly, do enough business on Twitter to make it the #1 choice. Personally, I spend more quality time on LinkedIn than Twitter. I don’t need someone to keep spamming on Twitter to check out this photo they have of me. To answer the main question—have we had our fair share of RT’s and mentions on Twitter? Yes—thanks to some posts like this one about social media lingo that went viral. BUT I would not equate this to leads.

Studies and reports circulating around the web are overwhelming perplexed B2B marketers. Many are wondering if Twitter is indeed the bitter pill for B2B social success. I do not believe it is.

Use the Right Social Media Mix for B2B Marketing—2 Case Studies

Everything has a purpose; the same goes for social media. Use the different social media platforms where they are most effective. A good example is Maersk Line, the global Danish shipping giant which was the subject of a case study presentation.

They used:

• Facebook to attract attention by sharing positive and negative newsworthy stories, including users’ own images and stories

• Twitter to share more serious news with the industry-based press and people with a panel of employees to bring expertise and diversity into play

• Instagram to start a #maersk spotting trend where people around the world shared  pictures of Maersk ships and containers which were also shared on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

• LinkedIn to set up The Shipping Circle LinkedIn group inviting shipping experts from around the world to debate industry challenges, opportunities, etc.

• Google+ hangouts to hold smaller press briefings where a few journalists can video conference with executives when the company is launching new initiatives.

I think they did this the right way—used Twitter effectively to broadcast interesting news and brought in a team of experts to bring diversity and expertise into their Twitter account.

Optify also posted an interesting – case study from Twitter about Promoted Tweets with Optify.  This could also be an effective way; using a paid Twitter campaign to reach your prospects—like a calculated strike. The only drawback is, you need XXXXXXX million impressions, XXXX to get XXX tweets. The case study shows they had to get 2.12 million impressions and 18.3 thousand clicks which resulted in 242 ReTweets and 53 replies.

In both case studies, the number of leads or sales attributable to these activities was not mentioned. It would be nice to have this. Perhaps they, like many others, are still struggling with how best to measure social ROI.

So you tell me, is Twitter only effective for larger companies who can amass millions of impressions? Or can businesses of all sizes use Twitter to generate leads by following the value driven, customer focused approach?

RT this blog post if you think Twitter is a must for B2B lead generation. You can also email or call me, Louis Foong, at (905) 709-3827.

Featured Image: 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com | Cartoon from HubSpot

The post Is There a RIGHT Way to Use Twitter for #B2B #LeadGeneration appeared first on LEADership.

Dan is a marketing executive for an IT network management company. I am a B2B lead generation specialist. We both love food so our business meetings frequently happen over lunch. While Dan is satisfied with a nice meal, I am always curious about what went into my plate. Food, like travel, is my passion and needless to say, the two go hand in hand. I travel around the world exploring different cultures, ethnicities, lands, people and their cuisine. While I cannot say I have traveled extensively in the Indian sub-continent, I certainly have had the opportunity to savour Indian cuisine for many years. Right here in Toronto too, there are Indian restaurants, actually, many of them are small take-out food places that serve up the most delicious Indian snacks, full meals and desserts.

What I find most intriguing about Indian cuisine is the sheer variety—in fact, if you ask an Indian in the western world if they cook Indian at home, she or he will probably ask you what you mean by “Indian”! Literally, every region of the sub-continent dishes up its own unique taste of food. You have North Indian food (or Moghlai) which is so different from South Indian; East Indian which is not anything like Indian coastal cuisine, and so on. And, each of these cuisines has its own set of ingredients—spices, herbs, chilli peppers, seasoning, etc.

So while our simple Chicken Parmesan will primarily have two main ingredients, chicken and parmesan, Butter Chicken (or Murg Makhani which is the correct term for this popular Indian dish) has a lot more going into it besides butter and chicken! Yes, you can try to make it with a ready-to-heat bottled sauce but when it’s made from scratch, the chef has a carefully (masterfully) selected list of aromatic and flavourful spices that go into it, in a precise step-by-step manner. You have to know the right ingredients to choose from a kitchen stocked with a hundred different options.

Chef de Cuisine for Your Company’s Social Media Platter?

What Skills Do You Need? How Do You Pick the Right Ingredients?

Dan was talking to me about his continuing challenge with social media. What he said to me probably echoes the sentiments of many other marketing heads of B2B organizations:

• I’m under pressure to deliver results from social media marketing.

• My boss wants to see results fast but I also have to stay within budget.

• Some of the other VPs at my company think we should really go all out and use this shiny new toy called social media, but the bean counters, will of course pin me to the wall about ROI.

• I do want to make social media work for us but I don’t know how. Where do I start?

• The social media expert we hired says I must start Tweeting. I feel stupid even just saying the word ‘Tweet’!

• Tell me the truth – what do I have to do? What’s the minimum I need to know and do to be successful in 2013?

While I may have been lost without a guide in Peru, I fortunately have not been abandoned when it comes to social media, and the journey continues. So here is the advice I offered to Dan from a lead generation and social media effectiveness standpoint.

The Essential Social Media Skills You Need As A Marketing Executive In 2013:

1. Have the ability to determine what counts, what doesn’t. A blog post being picked up by other sites, blogs and industry forums counts. That will add to your position and credibility as a thought leader. The rub-off on your brand will be valuable, meaningful and contribute towards lead generation. On the other hand, a photograph being pinned on Pinterest, a Tweet being Re-Tweeted or a thumbs-up on Facebook will usually not count towards lead generation or lead nurturing even.

2. Whether you use the various platforms or not, you should know the terminology. Keep handy this list of commonly used social media lingo so you can keep up with the social media mavens when they start throwing the jargon around.

3. Know the difference between making a noise and making an impact. Don’t add to the noise on social media channels; offer value instead.

4. Differentiate between brand “ambassadors” and “influencers”; they are not always the same. Try to find individuals who may or may not even talk about your brand on social conversations. You may be able to piggy-back your brand’s capabilities onto some best practices, trends and winning value propositions that these channel influencers talk about.

5. Learn to customize content for different segments of your target market. If you want to stay relevant, you cannot neglect this aspect and get carried away with producing high volumes of content.

6. Think ahead and plan your social calendar. But realize also that social is real-time and it requires 24/7 monitoring, listening and being proactive. You have to be flexible, nimble and be able to think on your feet.

7. Be patient. Social is a complex medium and structural in nature. There is no rule book, secret sauce or silver bullet. You can’t work at it with the expectation of immediate returns. You need patience to see this through. If you are able to understand the mid to longer term impact of social versus the short term one, you may be on to something good…and profitable.

And How Do You Select the Right Ingredients?

The only way to do this is to think very carefully through your funnel optimization strategy and monitor lead progression. It’s very easy to find yourself overwhelmed with the various social platforms and build an equal presence on each. Remember, you are the Chef de Cuisine—you only pick the best ingredients for your dish. You don’t take everything that is on the spice rack and pour it into a melting pot of goulash. When you undertake an activity or a piece of content marketing that is customized to one channel, align your other marketing activities, offline and online to work together and push qualified leads further along through your sales funnel.

I can’t remember where I read it, but I consider it is a very wise and pertinent comment—“think about the social, not about the media”. And when you think about how to be social and how to make an impact on the audience that matters, you craft a strategy. For the different media that you plan to use, you just need the right tactics and the right tools. So—there is no such thing as a Facebook Strategy. There can be a set of tactics that may work for Facebook marketing. Although, in my honest opinion, Facebook is still a long way off from being in any way useful and effective for B2B lead generation.

Does your organization have a hand in every social media pie? Are you monitoring effectiveness and impact? Please comment below. If you want to learn more about B2B lead generation, please join our email list and download the free ALEA Lead Generation Playbook here.

The post The Top Social Media Skills Marketing Executives Need in 2013 appeared first on LEADership.

The  following social media sites by total number of unique visitors – can you afford NOT to at least have a presence on them if your target market is already there:

Facebook – 950 million

YouTube – 880 million

Wikipedia – 410 million

Blogspot – 340 million

Twitter – 170 million

Or throw this quick fact at them:  ”Twitter tops B2B lead generation, outperforming Facebook & LinkedIN 9 to 1. 82% of social media leads come from Twitter. Google+ establishes itself firmly in the mainstream of social networking with 9400% increase in followers since last year.”  That said, I still question the definition of a “lead” used in that statistic about Twitter and am continuing to search for definitive statistics and case studies to support the case that Twitter gives B2B the best leads – if you have any, please share below.

In terms of budget, marketers plan to increase their budgets in 2013, including their spend on social media. In fact, according to the infographic below, 56% of B2B businesses are increasing their marketing spend on social media this year. If your competitors are increasing their social media budget, shouldn’t you at least consider why and if it makes sense for your company?

The Big Why

The top marketing goal remains Demand Generation or Customer Acquisition. So this brings us to the big question: why do we need social media?

• B2B businesses rate social media as the 2nd most important factor (64%) in search, behind strong content (82%)
• one third of global B2B buyers use social media to engage with vendors
• 75% of B2B buyers expect to use social media in future purchase processes
• 77% of buyers say they are more likely to buy from a company whose CEO uses social media
• Social media can help with:
  • branding and SEO
  • personal connection with target customers
  • employee collaboration
  • building trust
  • creating relevance
  • generating authority

See for your self in the Infographic below designed by Real Business Rescue:

The post Why B2B Companies Must Invest in Social Media in 2013 appeared first on LEADership.

By definition, a “guide” is someone who assists another individual to travel through or reach a destination in an unfamiliar area by accompanying and / or giving directions to the person. As such, when you have a guide, you expect to have help and reach your destination safely and in a relatively stress-free manner.

What happens in reality can often be a SCAM.

I don’t want to generalize but because I see a lot of this happening, I feel compelled to write about it. You pay big bucks for a social media guide and yet, you wander aimlessly in darkness until your resources are spent, energy is depleted and bottom line has been badly hit. This is a situation you can avoid. And here’s how:

1. Check your social media guide’s credentials. You want to engage a marketing specialist with a track record of success in communication strategies and brand building. A mere social platform specialist won’t cut it.
2. Gauge the guide’s experience with marketing and lead generation programs. Ask for references to determine whether or not the companies this guide has worked with have seen real value and ROI.
3. Judge whether the guide understands your target audience. That comes before the knowledge and skills of social tools and technologies.
4. Don’t be fooled by new-fangled social media tricks. Traditional, time tested and proven marketing methodologies must not be ignored. Social media can and should be integrated in a cohesive manner to deliver all-round marketing success.
5. Ask about measurability and accountability. Or you could end up pouring money down the social drain. Remember that numbers mean nothing unless there is engagement and conversion.

And one last tip: look for a Good Samaritan. There is usually one somewhere close—in your industry, with the necessary experience, having gone down that road before you, eager and willing to help you complete your journey and come out relatively unscathed. Learn to trust the voice of experience…even if it is not that of your paid social media consultant or guide.

Lost, Tired and Abandoned in Peru—But We Were Saved!

During my recent trip to Peru, I had an unfortunate experience with our tour guide on one of the most difficult treks I have undertaken. Let me share with you this story because I believe it is a good analogy of what many of us in the B2B world are going through with our so called “guides” and “experts”.

So this was the part of the trip where my daughter and I visited the Sacred Valley. We left early that morning for our trek from Cusco to Lamay. Our climb would take us to one point that is almost 12,000 feet. Our local guide accompanying us said it would take us eight hours to complete the trek. I was ready for this; I had prepared for it and was looking forward to all the intriguing destinations along the way. Needless to say, my mind was at ease owing to the fact that this guide, a local person, would be with us throughout.

We walked from Cusco to Lamay in the Sacred Valley. I cannot downplay it—the terrain was difficult, the ground was often wet and slippery, and it was a slow journey. For the first eight hours, my mind was fully in control and helping my body along. To my disappointment though, our destination was still far away. Anyone could see that Lamay, the little village where we were to stay the night, was not even close. And yet, our guide assured us it was “round the corner”. The last 2 hours of our hike were in pitch darkness and we were hiking along the edge of a mountain with the deep valley on one side. And…wait for this…our guide abandoned us! We hoped he was walking ahead to lead the way, but we soon realized that neither he, nor his flashlight were anywhere in sight.

Like an angel sent from heaven, a local Samaritan appeared out of nowhere. He cut wood to make us walking sticks. He walked ahead of us clearing a path and pushing rocks out of our way. For the last half hour, he even took me by the hand and walked with me. By the time we got to Lamay, I was so exhausted, I think I barely managed to thank the man but I have thanked him in my heart many times since. Because words were not enough and money would not mean much, I took the watch off my wrist and gave it to this stranger who guided us from darkness to light.

We finally met up with our so-called guide at the end of the journey where we had to cross a waterfall. He was waiting for us on the other side and not bothered to even point the flashlight so we could see where we were going. He left us with the driver to go for a “very important” soccer game and we were driven back to the hotel.

The travel agency heard from me about this in no uncertain terms, and to their credit, they were deeply apologetic. It appears that this excursion was the only part of our Peru trip that had been outsourced, so the disappearing guide was not part of the travel agency that we booked our trip with.

From a customer service standpoint, I have to say, the travel agency lived up to my expectation. They took ownership of the issue and made sure they communicated with me. In addition to a fabulous complimentary dinner at a Peruvian restaurant in Lamay I was also refunded the full amount I had paid for the trek through Sacred Valley. The rest of the trip was without hiccups and I would definitely recommend them to anyone planning a trip to Peru—check out www.perutourism.com.

How is your organization faring so far on the B2B social media journey? Have you been confused, frustrated and led astray by your social media guide? Do you need help and direction to get back on track? Click here to download the free ALEA Group Demand Generation Playbook and join my email list for information that can help you get back on track.

Image: Shutterstock

The post B2B Marketer Alert: 5 Steps to Avoid the ‘Social Media Guide’ Scam appeared first on LEADership.

For a member of the C-Suite, this is a perplexing situation to be in. It’s usually the same questions to grapple with:

• What lead generation processes should we change?

• What B2B marketing channels will deliver the right results?

• Is social media right for us? If yes, how do we get it right?

• How will we measure ROI?

• Should we or should we not increase the use of marketing and sales automation?

• What B2B marketing functions should we outsource?

• How do we bring down the average cost per marketing qualified lead?

• How can we increase conversion?

All of the above are very pertinent questions and the answers will vary for each organization. What that means is that if you are a CMO at a B2B company, there is no rule book for you to turn to. And yet, a very simple, common sense approach using these 5 surprising qualities can make you look like a demand generation superstar.

1. BE HUMAN.

We talk to our phones (and they talk to us). We talk to our tablets and computers and navigation devices (and yes, they also talk to us). On the personal side of things, certainly, life is simpler. But are we getting carried away with automation? I think many of us are. It’s time to ditch the vanilla approach and have real conversations with prospects. Recognize that social media is a tool to amplify your marketing efforts and help you establish profitable, long term relationships. Don’t make the automation mistakes that will turn you into a robotic failure.

2. STICK WITH THE PLAN.

And of course, that means you need a plan. In the days of traditional marketing, direct mail and telemarketing, we always had a plan. So what in the world happened when social came around? We got all excited and tossed demand generation strategy out the window. And then we cry that “social media is so freaking hard”! It is still a whole new world with social media and it is ever-changing. Every day there is news of another start up, a new social network, a new tool – so in this new world, there are NO rules. No doubt you’ve got to be creative, but remember your foundational strategy. And at regular intervals, keep looking at the results. For as Winston Churchill said, “However beautiful the strategy, you must occasionally look at the results.”

3. GIVE PEOPLE OPTIONS – SIMPLE OPTIONS.

I recently attended a web conference where they showcased the success of using forms with optional fields. The panelists also examined some pretty hefty sign up forms that they whittled down to make them simple yet effective. This goes back to being human. We’re all busy – so are your prospects. Keep things simple. Give them enough information AND give them a choice. Do away with all required fields and give them options instead. You will be surprised how many people actually fill in the optional fields if what you are giving away delivers significant value.

4. GIVE YOUR BEST STUFF AWAY.

As B2B marketers, we (stupidly) think we must protect our best offer by making sure we get what we want from our prospects and customers in exchange. There is no need for that.   Lead with your best information first. You can’t go wrong. Gone are the days when you could entice prospects to check out something and then say “oops – you need to fill in the form” to view it. This sounds counterintuitive but once you stop “selling” and actually give something of value, it makes prospects want to know more about you. If you have been to a wine tasting event that you still remember, think about how the best wines were put out for tasting first. Not the cheapest, not the most common, only the very best ones. It’s the same reason big band singers open a concert with one of their most popular songs. That’s how they keep the crowds on their feet wanting more and more.

5. JUST DO IT.

We discuss. We commission studies. We analyze results. We discuss some more. We brainstorm next steps. Then we freeze! This scenario is so typical, particularly of large organizations where analysis-paralysis plagues the board room. You need to keep up the momentum for demand generation and ensure a steady flow of quality leads that can be worked through to conversion. Get your Nike shoes on and Just Do It!

Any suggestions or comments to make demand generation more effective for B2B marketers? Let’s discuss this on my blog. Plus, you can enter your email to download our complimentary Playbook for Demand Generation.

Image: Shutterstock

The post 5 Surprising Qualities that Make You Look Like A Demand Generation Superstar appeared first on LEADership.

A long-standing client of mine had the pleasure of a visit from one of my local competitors. And I say pleasure, because as he told me later, he was happy to meet this other vendor. Happy because it reinforced his confidence that he had made the right choice over the years in engaging ALEA. The excerpts of their conversation that he related to me did not surprise me at all. Even less surprising was the fact that like so many B2B lead generation companies, this vendor too was pushing automation as the way to go.

It just makes me cringe to think of how many organizations have suffered losses—time, money and valuable resources—procuring sales automation and marketing automation tools. Decisions were made without fully understanding the functions of the automation tool and without knowledge of what results could be expected. These deep-pocketed companies then had to hire highfalutin consultants at top dollar fees. Why? Because the “sophisticated” automation tool that started out being the “sexy new thing” in the boardroom had now become the “elephant” in the finance room.

The same mistakes companies made with automation in the past are now being repeated with social media. Why can’t we put away that ghost of automation and think coherently about relationships and engagement instead?

7 Automation Mistakes You DO NOT Want to Repeat with Social

—Here’s How…Ask these Key Questions and Run these Sniff Tests

1. If it’s not tried, tested and proven for YOUR industry, don’t buy it. Social automation and content curation tools that work for B2C may simply not apply to B2B. Plus, just because a tool or platform has proved effective for another industry within the B2B space, that’s no guarantee that it will deliver the right results for your market.

2. Recognize that volume is not reflective of quality. I keep reiterating this and yet I see a continued frenzy among organizations of all sizes getting excited with growing Likes and Fans and Followers. Automation may crank up volumes in your social network but what these numbers mean to your brand and its marketability are the questions to ask.

3. Weigh the capabilities and expected results against your social media goals. If you have a defined social strategy in place (I hope you do), then you know what your goals are. Does the social automation tool that is being canvassed to you have the capacity and capability to deliver those goals? Maybe it can deliver a certain different set of results but if those aren’t high up on your priority chart, then the tool is not good enough for your company. And take a close, hard look—maybe you don’t need it all.

4. “New” and “different” is not good enough; is it truly transformational? Information technology needs to be applied but not to throw out the old, tried and true processes and systems. Automation, particularly in the context of social media must work to enhance proven processes and help organizations to be effective within a digital footprint.

5. Does it allow you to plan for customer acquisition in emerging markets? That’s what you need. Simplify your complex social marketing processes on the foundation of proven best practices. Just adding complex automation tools will not help you build social engagement. You also need a forward-looking mobile strategy for emerging markets, where the phone is the primary means for Internet access.

6. Will it help accelerate speed to market? Market dynamics are evolving even as we ready ourselves for the next big change. We have no choice but to be accurate and fast in decision making, stay alert to new opportunities, and prepare to handle a market that throws up unexpected risks. Ask the next vendor pushing automation in your face: Will this fancy new social automation tool apply real-time business intelligence and predictive analysis?

7. Is it secure? While cloud marketing and storage virtualization are gaining ground, there is a dire need to build stronger safeguards into our operations. Social is all about open communication. When we begin to automate it, are we thinking about possible security risks? Does the automation technology offer a zero-tolerance approach to security breaches?

Under pressure to automate your social media activities? Too many vendors soliciting your business with no promise of real social ROI? Don’t buckle and give in!

Please leave a comment below and if you enjoyed this blog post, you can learn m ore by downloading a free copy of The ALEA Playbook by entering your email address here.

The post 7 Automation Mistakes to Avoid with Social Media appeared first on LEADership.

As B2B marketers, particularly in medium to large organizations, many of us are guilty of focusing on far too many KPIs. We get bogged down by complicated reporting mechanisms and meaningless metrics. All in the name of measuring ROI. Don’t get me wrong—ROI is critical and you absolutely must monitor and measure it. But if it takes away from the real, tangible goals and objectives that make any sense at all from an overall business perspective, then maybe you are over-thinking the matter.

It doesn’t have to be so hard and so complicated. You do not need to feel overwhelmed. You need to keep the end in mind and remember why you are doing what you are doing.

And yet, there many other B2B marketers feeling the same way, as is apparent from this chart:

Here are 9 Ways to Simplify Your Social ROI

1. DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE. Start with this very basic rule. You know you can’t please everyone; but should you even try? Instead focus on the audience that matters. How does this group currently perceive your brand/company? How engaged (or not) is this audience currently? Once you know the current perception level of your key audience, you can steer your social media activities to move the audience towards the level of engagement you want them to reach. This will also help you decide which social media channels to use because that’s where your key audiences should be. Remember also that evolved channels such as LinkedIn and Facebook are multi-dimensional so you need to know how and why your audience uses the channels they do.
2. RECOGNIZE AUDIENCE NEEDS. Unlike the “send us your feedback” link in your email newsletter, company blog or website contact page, third-party or independent social platforms witness a much more vocal expression of customer likes, preferences, feedback and commentary. This is your marketing intelligence gold! Listening and understanding what your audience wants to see and hear is key to building engagement and forming lasting relationships.
3. IDENTIFY GOALS. What results can your different social media activities deliver? Are these the results you want to see? Why not start with knowing what you want to change (for the better) before you devise a strategy for change? For instance, there may be certain social tactics that work very well to pull an organization through a crisis…but do you have a crisis on hand to deal with? Other platforms or channels may help with employee retention; but is attrition an issue currently? The point is, organizations make the mistake of taking on everything all at once and then the mixed bag of results becomes impossible to weigh and quantify. Let me remind you of the 5 laws of real social ROI.
4. SET BENCHMARKS. It’s funny how often and how many of us make the mistake of blindly doing everything our competitors are doing. This is especially true in the social media world. We don’t want to be left behind. From a common sense point of view, we should only be doing what is visibly working for our competitors! Makes sense, right? Once the goals and objectives for social media marketing have been determined, these need to be measured up against industry best practices and benchmarked against the top performing companies.
5. DETERMINE BUDGET. We typically do this, and in a very hard-nosed manner most often, for traditional marketing. When it comes to social though, we are so frantic about trying to build volume and being seen everywhere, always on, that our budgeting exercise is on-the-fly and haphazardly done. This is not good, for two reasons: (a) You can’t be socially active today and drop off the planet tomorrow. Social is an ongoing, consistent marketing tool and for it to be sustainable, you need a carefully planned budget. (b) The “always on” approach of social media requires an “always on” labour force. Are you accounting for that valuable, expensive personnel time? Even if you outsource your content production, there is a lot of thought and planning that must go into figuring out what to say and from what perspective to approach different topics. That is when thought leadership happens. That is when you start to realize customer engagement. That is when relationships come into play.
6. PICK THE RIGHT KPIs. Social tools and technologies today offer a plethora of quantifiable measurement metrics. From Likes and Shares to Tweets and Retweets, and so much more, you can measure the volume growth in your social media activity levels. This can, however, become an endless and meaningless exercise. Instead, select the core metrics that you can draw upon to extract real results that match your pre-defined goals and objectives. The rest, if they do not align with your goals, are not important.
7. TRACK SUCCESSES. Keep a close watch on what’s working, what’s not. And apply winning strategies to avoid failures. You will make mistakes as we all do, but as the saying goes: you can’t make the same mistake twice; the second time it’s a choice.
8. MEASURE VALUE. You can monitor and measure this on various levels. If you are using social advertising you measure advertising value. If you are focused on social content marketing you measure the value of your content and how shareable and viral it grows to be. If your social efforts involve undertaking and presenting new research that is of value to your audience then you measure the research value. Perhaps the most challenging one to measure is sales value, but then remember that social is not about selling, it is about creating and nurturing an environment that is ripe for selling. Of course, there are some paid services that social channels are now offering where selling is the main goal; but that’s a separate discussion altogether.
9. FOCUS ON PROGRESSION. I’ve always given social media a thumbs-up as a powerful relationship building tool. The quality and depth of engagement you are able to build with your audience may or may not translate fully into leads; and it doesn’t matter. As long as you nurture your social network and focus on progressing the relationships towards trust, credibility and brand awareness, there will be conversion ultimately. There is always light at the end of the tunnel; you just have to work your way towards the end.

You have to keep the end in mind. And that is perhaps one of the most important lessons from Stephen Covey that I covered in an earlier blog post about highly effective lead generation habits.

Have questions about determining the right KPIs for your social media strategy? Not sure what measurement mechanisms to apply? Let’s discuss this on my blog and you can also email or call me, Louis Foong, at (905) 709-3827.

The post Feeling Overwhelmed? Too many KPI’s? 9 Ways to Simplify Your Social ROI appeared first on LEADership.

Faster is Better

The faster you place a call to an inquiry, the more likely you are to convert them. The study revealed that attempting to contact a lead by telephone within one minute of the inquiry dramatically increases the likelihood of conversion, even if the contract is not made. The chart shows the difference between one minute and 2 minutes is 160% increase.

Persist, don’t Annoy

How many attempts do you make to contact a prospect before you give up? According to this study leads first contacted after 7 or more telephone call attempts are 45% less likely to convert than if contacted after six or fewer call attempts. So if you are using a telephone, the study indicates to stop trying after six times.

When examining email communication, leads first contacted after six or more email attempts are 36% less likely to convert that if they leads were first contacted after five or fewer attempts.

Timing is Essential

If you believe the first two findings then this is an obvious conclusion. What they are attempting to show in the chart that if you combine phone calls and emails perfectly, your conversion rates will increase up to 128%; however, the infographic does not tell you how to combine them. Instead, it references you to their full report. We will need to obtain it before we can comment further but at least this infographic provides a start.

See the infographic below.

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