In my blog, Has Social Media Failed SMB B2B Businesses? Part 1 – The ROI Problem, I shared an issue we hear a lot – How do small-to-medium (SMB) sized B2B businesses show a dollar-based return on investment (ROI) with social media? Until social platforms mature to the point where these companies can make predictable revenue directly attributable to their posts, it’s going to remain a very difficult question to answer. Right now, B-to-B interactions involve activities like EDI exchanges, supply chain or ERP activities, or possibly help-desk questions and responses.  Social media is not yet viewed as an imperative part of this communication mix,Read More →

By:
In: Channel Sales, Consulting, Lead Conversion, Marketing and Brand Strategy, Technology Solutions

We hear this question often: Can you show me the return on investment (ROI) of social media? With so many articles on the internet espousing the need for companies to invest in social media marketing, you’d think the answer would be “yes, and here’s how you do it.” As a matter of fact, if you do a search for “the ROI of social media”, you get many hits: How to define an actionable social media ROI for your business – SproutSocial How to Prove and Improve Social Media ROI (Includes a Free Calculator) – Hootsuite A Simple Way to Calculate Social Media Return on InvestmentRead More →

By:
In: Lead Generation, Marketing and Brand Strategy

Given the push by many companies toward digital transformation, few should be surprised by what’s coming next. Enterprises are gathering as much data as possible regarding business, consumer, and personal activities.  Many are wondering how they can capitalize on this and the more intimate portrait of their customers that it generates. From C-level executives looking to improve organizational efficiency to greedy cybercriminals seeking to wreak havoc, finding different ways to access and use this information has resulted in four very interesting trends. Reactive Technology Trends Newton pointed out that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As technology moves forward, we willRead More →

By:
In: Consulting, Demonstrate Competitive Advantage, Increase Sales Velocity, Marketing and Brand Strategy, Technology Solutions

The Buyer’s Journey.  It is the classic sales map on how to take the customer through the process from awareness and consideration to deal negotiation and close.  Looking at Al Morgan’s blog entitled Improving the Buyer’s Journey (and winning the deal), I wanted to applaud his thinking regarding the use of content in selling complex solutions today in a market where ubiquitous digital information has made the Buyer’s Journey significantly more convoluted.  Al is an expert at business development and sales. He has been at the sharp end of the stick for 20+ years, so he knows what he is talking about. The evolving Buyer’sRead More →

By:
In: Lead Generation, Marketing and Brand Strategy
Porter Consulting

Imagine you’ve just created a new service for your partners, perhaps a way of helping them work with you more closely to develop and market joint solutions, driving new revenue opportunities for both your companies. Your service aims at helping them define and promote the solution, given that their limited resources are mostly focused on development. Your management is onboard, and you’ve already developed a systematic approach that partners will flock to as soon as they learn about it. But, even though you come from a larger company, there are limits to your resources. You don’t have a dedicated marketing staff. Corporate marketing resources areRead More →

By:
In: Consulting, Extend Reach, Marketing and Brand Strategy

What problem are we trying to solve for Vendors / Distributors/VARs? (The entity that will write us a check?) Vendor/Distributor/VAR: The main problem holding back my business is…. How can I get more real sales opportunities into my pipeline? At all. Affordably. Without having to deal with a lot of non-opportunities. “How do I run a 100-lead campaign and then focus on the 10, 20, or 30 most promising leads – leads that meet all of the key criteria for success – and add a significant portion of them to the sale pipeline?” I need an “Easy” button for lead gen or the pipeline. PerhapsRead More →

By:
In: Consulting, Lead Generation, Marketing and Brand Strategy, Technology Solutions