Darkam Marketing : August 2015

Monday, August 31, 2015

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How to Make People Fall in Love with Your Cold Call

Author: Chris Gillespie

When is the last time that you were cold called? Think back.

OK, so how did you react to it? As a salesperson myself, I always think that I am steeled for someone calling me out of the blue and asking me for something. I always assume that it will go something like that pretty awesome scene from Boiler Room where Seth coaches the sales guy selling newspapers. But, in reality, when I’m trying to get work done, a cold call can catch me completely off guard and sometimes even be disruptive, too. Let’s take a look at the transcript from the last cold call I received, from a fellow salesperson:

Cold caller: “Hello there, I’m X from Y company.”

Me: “Hi, how can I help you?”

Cold Caller: “I’m trying to reach John. He’s your VP.”

Me: “Listen man, I’m so far removed from power. I can’t help you.”

Cold Caller: ***Laughs*** “I’m in sales; you’re in sales. Why don’t you just patch me through to your boss?”

Me: “Sorry, I can’t help you.” ***Hangs up***

I sat there reflecting for a moment. Did he think that I was just sitting there next to my VP, and that we were both just waiting around to be called? Did he even look at my LinkedIn to see what my position is in the company and what my potential relationship to the VP may be? I felt upset with how he had expected me to give him something just because he called. The key here is that he totally missed sharing a value proposition that John or I would want. To my surprise, he called back the next day, only to have basically the same conversation all over again…really?!

The Mistakes

The problem with the cold call I received is that the sales guy forgot that there was an actual person on the other end of the phone. I suspect that lots of salespeople out there are falling into the same trap. As a salesperson, if you’re just dialing randomly through a list of numbers like a machine, that’s a shame. When performed tactfully, cold calls can be a very effective way for salespeople to break through the noise to start an engaging conversation and a real relationship…which will go a lot further in the long-run.

Let’s take a quick look at the mistakes he made and how you can avoid them, improving your sales approach:

1. Do your homework

With the availability of information online nowadays, it’s inexcusable not to know someone’s role and recent job history. A better way to approach me would have been: “Hey, I noticed that you’re an account executive. Do you work under John?” With this more personal approach, I would have wondered “Does he know John?” and would have felt inclined to continue the conversation.

2. Ask for permission

Being forceful doesn’t work when someone can just as easily hang up on you. You’ll need their consent to get the outcome you want. Try, “Have I interrupted something here? Do you have a moment so I can explain why I called?”

3. Explain why you’re calling, and have a good reason

Until proven otherwise, the person on the other end may think you’re a cheap telemarketer and so they’re just looking for an excuse to hang up. Give a concise value proposition like, “We help companies like yours increase revenue. Is that something that affects your role?” If you’re not up-front with your reason for calling, then people will suspect the worst and assume that you have bad intentions.

4. Build rapport before asking for something

People like people who are like them, and you’re going to be much harder to turn away if there’s a connection between you. Try something like: “I couldn’t help but notice that you went to State University. I went there, too! What did you study?”

5. Provide value

I can’t stress this enough: Without providing an element of value, you’ll get nowhere with your call. People have to clearly see how you will be helping them to gain something they don’t have or to alleviate one of their pain points: “We drive revenue for sales teams, so we’ll help you hit your number. Do you think John would be interested in that, too?” If I want to hit my number (I do), I’m at least willing to hear more.

6. Respect getting a firm “no” and preserve that bridge

There are hundreds of reasons that your prospect doesn’t want to talk to you right now, including just being tied up or even in a bad mood. Gather more information on why they don’t want to talk and be prepared to call again another day with a line like this: “I understand that you’re not interested right now. I can respect that. I have to ask though, is my timing just off, or are you flat-out not interested? Either way is totally fine. I don’t want to bother you if I’m way off the mark.” Show that you’re human and understand that there’s a real person on the other end who wants to be treated the same way you would.

Can you see the difference? The improved version empowers the prospect to accept the conversation, to understand why you’re calling, and see why they would want to keep talking rather than rush toward ending the call. This is the only way you’re going to see genuine success with cold calling.

So now you may be wondering, when your sales team performs cold calls, do they sound like the sales guy who called me, or are they more in line with the improved script? If you’re not sure, you better go check. If it’s the former, you’re leaving leads and, ultimately, revenue on the table.

Have you ever received a cold call that impressed you? What did the caller do well? Share your story below!

How to Make People Fall in Love with Your Cold Call was posted at Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership. | http://blog.marketo.com

The post How to Make People Fall in Love with Your Cold Call appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

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Sunday, August 30, 2015

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Wikipedia picture of the day on August 31, 2015: Lindi Nature Reserve in Estonia. http://ift.tt/1JqJ0Hw http://bit.ly/1hNpKgK

Saturday, August 29, 2015

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Wikipedia picture of the day on August 30, 2015: Willem Blaeu's 1635 map of the northeastern part of South America, Lake Parima (Parime Lacus), and the route to El Dorado. http://ift.tt/1KUdXDO http://bit.ly/1NGoNn7

Friday, August 28, 2015

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Wikipedia picture of the day on August 29, 2015: Mottled Bolete (Leccinum variicolor), Ånderdalen, Senja, Norway. http://ift.tt/1WY4C7k http://bit.ly/1N1oe7n

Day 3 and 4 in Ghana – Pencils of Promise Field Trip, SPI TV Episodes 21 and 22

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QOTD: Are You Managing Your Event Check-In Process the Best You Could Be?

Author: Chelsea Serrano

This summer, I attended Marketo’s Seattle Block Party. For those of you who missed it, sorry but you missed a good one! We packed the Elysian Bar on 2^nd Avenue with over 100 people. The interior, brick walls and soft lighting, created a warm ambiance perfect for networking with B2B and consumer marketers and some of our awesome partners—LinkedIn, Bizible, and PFL (Print For Less).

To kick-off the event, I put on my marketing hat and helped at the check-in booth where I saw first-hand the power and usefulness of using an event check-in app. Some of you may be wondering, event check-in app?—What’s that? Well, let me tell you! As an Account Executive at Marketo, I have conversations with marketers every week, and one of the most common pain points is not being able to automate event support.

Cue marketing automation! Marketing automation software empowers marketers by creating workflows to automate marketing programs, campaigns, and processes, including event management and promotion and post-event follow-up with targeted messaging that takes their persona and event attendance into account. Without marketing automation and a handy check-in app, marketers have to succumb to manual list exports and imports. Not only is this process time consuming and tedious, but it allows for human error and follow-up that can occur weeks later versus the next day or even that night. Many marketers I speak with wear multiple hats, so once the event has concluded, the focus shifts to the next priority or event. Importing a list and sending a post-event follow-up email can easily be overlooked. But an event check-in app powered by marketing automation eliminates the problem!

When searching for a marketing automation tool, make sure to hone in on event support. Whether you are running an event every few months or managing an entire event season like Marketo’s Marketing Nation Roadshow, it will save you time and provide a smoother, organized experience for your customers and prospects during and after the event. You will love it; they will love it.

Event Check-In Process

So, how exactly does it work? Let’s take a look:

As people arrive to your in-person event, grab your iPad, open up your check-in app, and get ready to work it! Searching for their name on the left hand-side will pull up their record, which you can append with more info or just press the “Check-in” button. Voilà! Now in only 30 seconds you have checked in your guest and they are on their way to enjoying the event (bruschetta and olives, anyone?).

What if someone shows up but has not pre-registered? No problem. The button on the bottom left will allow them to fill out a quick form and register right there on the spot (cheers to that!).

Marketing Automation for the Win

Back in your marketing automation system, you can automatically:

Trigger one of two follow-up emails: “Thanks so much for attending, we’re glad you made it!” or “We’re sorry we missed you, however you may enjoy one of our other upcoming events! Here they are…”
Increase an attendee’s lead score: (+5 for event registration, +15 for event attendance)
Send an alert to sales and create a task in your CRM: Conversion rates suffer dramatically the longer it takes for follow-up, so make sure your sales team is alerted in real-time so that they can get the ball rollin’ as soon as possible!
Attribute success back to your marketing program: Multi-touch attribution will give revenue credit to this event, which is critical when you consider the high cost of events. In order to justify coming back to Seattle next year, we need to calculate the return-on-investment. Ask your marketing automation provider how they can help you with multi-touch revenue attribution.

So, what do you consider to be an event must-have? I’d love to hear about it! Please share in the comments below.

QOTD: Are You Managing Your Event Check-In Process the Best You Could Be? was posted at Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership. | http://blog.marketo.com

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Best Ways to Get Prepared for Inbound 2015 interview with Markiesha Ollison

Excited about INBOUND 2015? In this interview, I get a chance to talk to Markiesha Ollison from HubSpot. She is a member of the HubSpot Academy team. One fun part of this interview is that it is our first Blab.im interview. Even better, it was Markiesha’s first time on Blab. Best Ways to Get Prepared for…

The post Best Ways to Get Prepared for Inbound 2015 interview with Markiesha Ollison appeared first on The Sales Lion by Marcus Sheridan.

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Thursday, August 27, 2015

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Wikipedia picture of the day on August 28, 2015: Seated Golden Buddha from Guhwang-dong, Gyeongju, Korea. http://ift.tt/1ElRjYa http://bit.ly/1JzTdjS

The Hubcast 57: HubSpot Cash Flow Positive, Engagement Measuring, & #Blab

The Hubcast Podcast Episode 057 Welcome back to The Hubcast , folks: A weekly podcast all about HubSpot news, tips, and tricks. Please also note the extensive show notes below, including some new HubSpot video tutorials created by George Thomas. Show Notes: Inbound 2015 Inbound is only two weeks away! Random free t-shirts: Monday…

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How To Do Guest Blogging Right And Grow Your Audience By Leaps And Bounds

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9 Productivity-Boosting Gmail Tools (That Are Actually Useful)

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Your Trusty Guidebook to Marketing Nation Online 2015

Sept. 2 Marketo Marketing Nation Online 2015

Author: Lizzy Funk

The largest online marketing conference on the planet, with approximately 30,000 marketers from all over the globe is right at our doorstep! Join us, why don’t you!?

In case you haven’t heard, let me be your insider guide to what you can expect at Marketing Nation Online 2015:

Sit in on 25+ thought leadership sessions to hear the latest from industry movers & shakers (where is marketing heading?)
Mingle with thousands of your marketing peers (can you say brainpower?)
Get acquainted with the newest marketing solutions (do you have the right marketing stack?)
And best of all—the entire conference is online (so you can watch and participate from work, a coffee shop, your mobile phone, or even at home in your pajamas!)…and it’s 100% free!

Let’s dive further into all the majorly awesome things you can expect at Marketing Nation Online 2015 (try not to drool):

25+ Thought Leadership Sessions

Yes, 25 sessions is a lot. But guess what? Just by registering, you will have access to every single session on-demand after the event concludes. Let’s put that in perspective…unless you’re currently enrolled in networking or university programs, you’d be hard-pressed to encounter that volume of current marketing education in one place—especially for free. To whet your appetite, here’s a sneak peek into some of the sessions we are most excited about:

1) Personalized Marketing at Scale, featuring Facebook

Learn the new phenomenon of people-based marketing and how you can create those meaningful and effective connections with your audience.

2) How to Build a Brand That People Love, featuring Virgin America

We all know and love the brand of Virgin America—learn how to build an incredibly unique and eye-catching brand.

3) Utilizing Digital Creative to Foster Communities, Not Just Consumers, featuring Mashable

Get a fresh perspective on how you should be creating content for the newest generation of digital marketers.

Networking

Where else are you going to find tens of thousands of marketers all in one place at the same exact time? Only one place that I can think of immediately…at Marketing Nation Online! Join our networking lounge to meet other marketers in your particular industry and ask other attendees a question. Or for those of you shy types out there, just say a quick “hello!”

Marketing Solutions

Are you looking for that perfect marketing solution to make your life that much easier? You’ll get a chance to meet with 20+ other marketing solutions that will help make your marketing dream a reality. Are you looking for a solution that will help you with social marketing, consulting, event marketing, webinars, direct mail, and more? Enter Marketing Nation Online to discover and network with partners such as Vidyard for video marketing, NewsCred for content marketing, PFL for direct mail marketing, and much more! You’ll walk away with the knowledge to make an informed decision about the technology you need to execute your marketing strategies and programs.

Exclusive Content

By attending Marketing Nation Online, you will be the very first to receive Marketo’s brand spankin’ new content! We are releasing our newest definitive guide, The Definitive Guide to Digital Advertising, a whole week early to everyone who attends (yes, you’re special!). This guide covers everything about digital advertising from A to Z, so if you’re a digital advertising amateur looking to learn or an expert looking to brush up on your skills—this guide is for you!

We have also revamped and are making available to you our PowerPoint marketing program planning template (with B2B marketer and consumer marketer versions). Customize this template for all of your own company’s marketing program planning and have a great visual way to show your campaigns, programs, budget, and resource needs for the year.

This content is only available to those of you who attend—so don’t delay, register today! (Ohh, that rhymed…**pats self on back**).

Prizes

We all love to win (#winning), and there are so many ways you can win cool FREE stuff at Marketing Nation Online. Just by registering, you are automatically entered to win a trip to Marketing Nation Summit 2016 in Las Vegas to continue your inspiration in the nation! You also can win countless prizes, such as a Jambox, Apple TV, Beats headphones, and more just by attending sessions and visiting booths, in case you want to learn tons about marketing and get some sweet swag.

You’ve heard it all. So what are you waiting for? Register today! (And don’t forget to tell your friends, too).

“See” you September 2nd!

Your Trusty Guidebook to Marketing Nation Online 2015 was posted at Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership. | http://blog.marketo.com

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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

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Wikipedia picture of the day on August 27, 2015: Origami crane (Orizuru). http://ift.tt/1i2Ze2v http://bit.ly/1LBWG8b

SPI 176: Backlinking – What’s Working with Brian Dean

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#85: The Potpourri Episode

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On this episode of the UnPodcast, we reach into the treasure chest of our email inbox and share some colossal failures, as well as disappointing successes, in marketing and platform building, and show you why stealing content is bad.

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4 Mistakes Marketers Make With Their Personal Brand on Twitter…and How to Correct Them

Author: Jamie Lewis

Did you know that there are over 300 million active Twitter users? That’s a HUGE market for your business. So it goes without saying that I am a (vocal) advocate of all companies (B2B and consumer-geared alike) using Twitter as a marketing channel.

I myself have had some pretty compelling results with Twitter. For example, I recently tweeted a link to a faux movie trailer that was used to advertise a product that was retweeted 198 times (impressive, I know), netting me dozens of new followers (which I immediately think: potential leads?). With the median Twitter account having about 100 followers, this particular piece of content had the potential of being retweeted nearly 20,000 times!

Over time, I have learned through careful, and not so careful, trial & error how to be relevant to my particular audience, and I am achieving better results because of it. Cultivating a strong presence on Twitter has many benefits: you support your organization’s marketing efforts, you can use it to sell socially, you can build your personal brand, or any combination of these things. With all these benefits, I have wondered, why do some of my fellow marketing and sales professionals still struggle to gain traction on such a promising channel?

Based on my first-hand observations, marketers and sales-people don’t treat their personal brand enough like a real brand. Here are four common mistakes they make when using Twitter and how to correct them:

1. They don’t pick a specific target audience

This often overlooked task is actually pretty easy—just pick one or more of the top target audiences from your other channels and start from there. If you fail to properly identify your audience, your messages will not resonate with the majority of people who see it. The right message may be very different for a business audience and a consumer audience, executives and practitioners, and so on. Selecting an audience is important, because once you have identified a target audience you can address what exactly they’re looking for. Some audiences will be interested in product discounts, others in entertainment, and others in exclusive content. Having a clear idea of the audience and their wants and needs is crucial for capturing their attention.

2. They don’t create a compelling account

In order to harness the true power of Twitter, you need to have the right people listening to your messages. This means that you have to be strategic about creating a highly networked account—one where you are following the right people and the right people are following you.

With that in mind, I recommend you start by simply searching on Twitter for people to follow for 5-10 minutes a day, every day. Set yourself up for success by finding interesting content and contacts. Pinpoint people your target audience would be interested in, such as industry thought leaders, cultural icons, contemporary movers & shakers, and brands themselves. Next, start listening to those people by reading and engaging in their conversations for at least a few minutes per day. Begin by sharing some witty comments or valuable links and see what happens! Here you’ll learn what type of content is captivating to your core audience. It’s important to remember that Twitter is a social network, but often marketers and salespeople forget to be social on it—so, make sure you participate and listen.

3. They don’t create a logical posting plan

A posting plan should be based on your overall Twitter strategy with the goal of engaging your target audience. First, you need to have business outcomes in mind for why you are using the channel to begin with. It could be for personal branding, lead generation, or customer service, to name a few. Make sure you know what the goal is! Then, determine when the target audience is listening and schedule posts accordingly. This is very important, because, according to Quora, retweets peak between the hours of 2pm to 5pm EST. If the target audience is listening during the afternoon, then why post first thing in the morning? Lastly, you should aim to create a detailed editorial calendar for your Twitter messages. This will allow you to create a series of related messages that work together in a coherent, branded pattern which makes sense to your audience. You might think “That’s just for brands”, but really an editorial calendar is for anyone who wants to be successful; often brands are. One more tip—when you post, ask for a retweet. Be explicit and actually spell out this request: “Please Retweet.” According to Fastcompany.com, you are 23x more likely to get a retweet when you do!

4. They aren’t using promoted tweets

Promoted tweets are ordinary tweets that get a boost by an advertiser who wants to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from their existing followers. Anyone can be an advertiser and most platforms (including Twitter) offer tutorials on how to get started. It is important to use promoted tweets regularly to ensure that messages are seen by the largest audience possible, especially your most important messages. While a regular tweet is only seen by a fraction of the target audience, promoted tweets stay at the top of the Twitter feed for an extended period of time, guaranteeing that more of your target audience (follower and non-follower) see them when they log in. This is vital for growing a Twitter account and finding new followers. Promoted tweets are also great for testing your content types, time of day, and target audience, because the advertising platform gives you data on the success of your tweets. Lastly, explore the different ad options. Once you’re familiar with the Twitter advertising platform, try out other products like promoted Twitter Cards. These types of posts allow you to embed graphics into the tweet for an eye-catching effect.

So, by correcting these four mistakes, you can harness Twitter to grow your audience, reinforce your personal brand, and support your organization’s marketing efforts. And remember, always observe the activities that brands do to be successful on social media and apply them to yourself—you’ll be surprised by how often they translate. Happy tweeting!

Do you have any other tips for mastering Twitter as a marketing channel? Let us know in the comments below!

4 Mistakes Marketers Make With Their Personal Brand on Twitter…and How to Correct Them was posted at Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership. | http://blog.marketo.com

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