Social selling – get on the bus or be flattened by it

If you think “social selling” is just the latest marketing buzzword, then spend a half hour checking out the websites of the startups covered on TechCrunch on VentureBeat each day. Every one of these dynamic young technology firms, which are raising millions of dollars in venture capital funding, has one or more blogs and multiple social network accounts. This at a time when the most recent research by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth finds that blogging among the Fortune 500 is actually on the decline. What these growing companies understand that many big corporations apparently don’t is that the terms of engagement wit…

25 B2B Marketers Sound Off on 2016 Priorities

I was delighted when B2B Marketing Zone – a website and newsletter that I devour - asked me to be one of 25 contributors to its "B2B Marketing Trends for 2016" e-book. I love this content concept, and it’s an idea more B2B marketers could adopt. Contact influencers in your market – or even your own customers or subject matter experts – and ask them for short paragraphs on a topic, then combine that content into an e-book. Then do what Tom Pick and Tony Karrer of B2B Marketing Zone did – make it easy for people to compose posts like this one and share the book through their social networks. Your contributors will be flattered …

The Buyer Journey & Social Selling

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” Chinese proverb The journey of the buyer usually begins with a single step called search. Buyers have questions and they are searching for answers. Google puts the number of B2B researchers who are online using search to research business purchases at 90%, which is where you can be helpful by providing the content that feeds that need. “If only it were that simple.” Common refrain Creating and tagging content is what we marketers do best. Need a testimonial? A case study? A stat? We’ve got that. How about a demo video? We can get one made, but will it be effective? That …

5 Tips for Social Selling

Conventional wisdom these days says that social media is a poor lead generator. Conventional wisdom is wrong. While social media doesn’t lend itself to the hard sell, it provides some excellent opportunities to find and qualify buyers who can become leads. Here are five ways to do that. Research prospects Nothing is more flattering to prospective customers than showing interest in them personally. The Web is the greatest prospect research tool ever invented. Look up the LinkedIn and Twitter profiles of prospects before you contact them. Google them to see if they have online bios or blogs. Look for connection points. Was your prospect…

Sellers, Are You Social-Savvy or Social-Slouchy

by Victoria Bianchini,      June 2, 2015 Social selling is time well spent. I could stop right there and congratulate myself on the shortest blog post in the history of the blogosphere, but let me elaborate. A recent study conducted by Kitedesk took a look at social selling in the B2B realm and every data point shores up the benefits of being socially-savvy and the positive effects it has on the bottom line.  (more…)…

Social Selling for B2B, Webinar Summary

Social media has transformed the B2B buying process, giving customers unprecedented amounts of information and advice from their peers. Selling is increasingly about listening for opportunities, engaging early in the sales cycle and building trust. Last month, Paul Gillin led our Social Media Boot Camp Alumni through a session to help them navigate this new landscape by sharing some of the basics of Social Selling.  The session covered: + The changing customer buying process and its impact on sales cycles + Why trust is the new currency of B2B markets + How to use LinkedIn to identify opportunities, research prospects a…