marketing it services what’s working, what’s not presented by: leslie vickrey president &...

Marketing IT Services What’s Working, What’s Not

Presented by:Leslie Vickrey

President & FounderClearEdge Marketing

April 24, 2008

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NACCB Trivia

When and where was the first annual NACCB conference?

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NACCB Trivia

When and where was the first annualNACCB conference?

1988 – St. Petersburg, Florida

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Content

Who is ClearEdge Marketing? From Your Prospect’s Perspective Marketing Trends: What’s Hot Hot or Not Debate Inside the Biz: Audience Shares Marketing

Approaches Today’s Critical Marketing Questions

Social Networking & the Staffing Industry What is Your Value Proposition? Marketing Across the Entire Sales Cycle Solution Marketing Tactics How to Stay Top of Mind at the Top

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Who Is ClearEdge Marketing?

Outsourced marketing services provider offering extensive specialization in IT services and solutions

Clients include…

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From Your Prospect’s Perspective

Source: ITSMA, How Customers Choose

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8Source: ITSMA, How Customers Choose

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Marketing Trends: What’s Hot?

Marketing Opportunity o Gets your business experts out into the

public discussion in an informal, hip medium

o Allows you to rapidly share expertise

o Enables linking strategies with other expert organizations to demonstrate knowledge, derive association with leading entities

o Blends well with a range of Internet marketing

• Linking

• Digital direct mail

• Search engine optimization

Who’s blogging? o Everyone from CEOs down the corporate

hierarchy (not to mention movie stars, politicians, grandmothers, teenagers, etc.)

Blogging Is Sizzling Hot

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More on Blogging

Blogging Stats 120,000 new blogs being created worldwide each day.

About 1.4 blogs created every second of every day (Technorati)

Technorati tracks about 1.5 million posts per day The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months

(Technorati) Approximately 2% to 7% of adult American Internet

users write blogs (Pew) 61% of the blog readers are over 30 and 75% make

more than $45,000 annually (eMarketer)

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Customer RelationshipsBlogs are a fast way to join the customers' discussions, provide tips and insights or receive feedback

Media RelationsCreate a channel where media regularly check what you have to say

RecruitmentIf you establish your company as a thought leader, professionals in your industry will pay attention. Chances are good they will see you as an attractive employer

Test ideas or productsA blog is informal. It's part of a conversation where people (often) can comment, and the blog can provide you with a measure of value. Publish an idea and see if it generates interest. Does anyone link to you? What do they say?

Rank higher in search enginesTechnorati, Google and other Web engines reward sites that are updated often

Source: http://www.corporateblogging.info/basics/why/

Why Blog?

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Insight into Blogging

“Readers won't ever trust the typical corporate blog. The defining quality of blogs is that they are personal. As an employee of the company, you would never want to take a controversial stand on something in the corporate blog without first figuring out whether it accurately represents the opinion of your company and your bosses. There will be press releases for broader consumption. The point is not to get a message across anymore; it is to engage people who are, or may someday be, customers, peers, or partners in a dialogue—not with the amorphous corporation, but with smart individuals who want to help.” (http://www.itsma.com/News/ezine/current_issue.asp)

“The bottom line: we're seeing explosive growth in the tags index. People are clicking on tags, people are using tags, Google features tagged media in its results pages. Tags adoption has become a phenomenon across the Live Web, and we are seeing a correlative explosive growth at Technorati.” http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000493.html

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Who’s Blogging?

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Who’s Blogging?

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Who’s Blogging?

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Your Turn: Blogging

Questions for Audience Are you blogging? If so, who’s

your primary audience and tell us about your experience/return.

Is blogging a flash in the marketing pan?

Should businesses really be out in the blogosphere?

Can blogging have a measurable marketing impact?

What should and should not be blog material?

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Marketing Opportunity o Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites have

quickly become a top tool for hiring IT staff.o According to 58% of IT recruitment firms, such sites are more

useful in finding staff than traditional print ads. And 49% said they were now more effective than Internet banner advertising.

o But 7 in 10 recruiters said job boards provide better quality of candidates.

o "Social networking sites make it very easy for recruiters to become trusted advisers to candidates. Candidates often reveal far more about themselves on these sites than they would do on the phone or in interview."

Who’s networking? o 57% of Internet users are now part of a social network.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/139037/tech_recruiters_turn_to_facebook.html

http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/04/23/state-of-the-nation-in-social-media/

Social Networking...

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Staffing Firms & Social Networking

Adecco

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Staffing Firms & Social Networking

Vedior

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In slide show view, click on image to read

full article.

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Your Turn: Social Networking

Questions for Audience How many of you leverage

Social Networking tools for clients? Candidates?

Do you believe Social Networking should be accessible during work hours and made part of the Corporate culture?

What are the risks (downside) of Social Networking?

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Marketing Opportunity o What is your business value proposition?

o What message is sent out to your clients?

o What value are your clients/customers expecting from your organization?

RESOURCE: Crucial Question for Business Owners: Will You Know How to Answer?

http://www.clearedgemarketing.com/blog/crucial-question-for-business-owners-will-you-know-how-to-answer/

Look around the room. How is your company different than the person sitting next to you?

What are YOU known for?

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The importance of a business value proposition

Value proposition is easily confused with a business’ services, capabilities, offerings or features.

Instead, it’s the ultimate value an organization delivers to customers.

If the owner of the business can’t sell someone on what makes their own company and services unique, then how can the sales team, or anyone on staff for that matter, be expected to do so?


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Writing your value proposition

Clarity Eliminate overstatements and use adjectives

sparingly to ensure a simple and uncluttered message.

Brevity No more than two sentences are needed to

convince an audience that the company has worthwhile value to deliver.

Persuasion There is nothing more convincing than numerical

confirmation of the value delivered.

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Your Turn: Value Proposition

Questions for Audience How many of you can clearly

state your value proposition? If you polled your clients, do

you think they could state your value proposition just as well?

How about internal employees?

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Marketing Opportunity o Puts your sales team in front of the prospect

on a weekly basis

o Offers a fun, creative way to communicate with prospects

o Your message stays behind long after the program ends (through giveaways and message cards)

What Does It Take?o Sales team willing to make numerous in

person calls for a series of weeks

o Creativity & Concordance – message and giveaways should relate to company and service

Target Account Programs

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Target Account Program Example

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Poor choices theme…

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Sample TAP Schedule

Touch Item Follow up

Week One Mail note card and/or HTML Follow up call

Week Two Drop off #1 Follow up call/e-mail

Week Three Drop off #2 Follow up call/e-mail

Week Four Drop off #3 Follow up call/e-mail

Week Five Drop off #4 Follow up call/e-mail

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Customer RelationshipsGet in front of decision makers regularly.

Push Your Sales ForceGet your sales team out to pound the pavement regularly, give them focus.

Measurement This is a simple way to measure sales and marketing

message effectiveness as the target group is small and the program carefully managed.

Why TAP?

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Your Turn: TAPs

Questions for Audience Can TAPs grow old/lose their

impact? Should sales teams be so strictly

armed and messaged in their sales approach? (Do TAPs limit sales creativity, spontaneity?)

Are you TAPing?

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Marketing Opportunity o Showcases the knowledge and expertise

within your organization, become a Knowledge Broker

o Press hits

o Can be delivered through numerous vehicles such as print, Web, events, surveys and more

What Does It Take?o Inside talent willing to take time to help

develop thought leadership content (papers, podcasts, presentations)

o Outside expertise – help getting thought leadership content distributed to the press, through associations at events, etc.

Thought Leadership

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Harvey Nash CIO Survey

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Harvey Nash CIO Survey

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Galmont Articles

Build credibility…stay top of mind

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PRThe press loves good stats, a good interview and/or an expert to quote. It’s an excellent way to build strong media ties

Archive & Showcase Your KnowledgeYour business is rich in expertise but marketing lingo cannot communicate that. Thought leadership offers you many ways to give the industry and your prospects a direct look at the expertise you offer

Endurance Some marketing tools expire, but thought leadership

tools (articles, surveys) can be used again and again across the sales cycle from introducing your company to maintaining contact

Why Thought Lead?

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Your Turn: Thought Leadership

Questions for Audience What is the most effective way to

distribute thought leadership today?

How important is thought leadership to your clients?

Are you capitalizing on your own thought leaders?

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Hot or Not?

Search Engine Optimization Makes it easier for prospects and candidates to find

you Improves ranking on major search engines Drives traffic to Web site Generates sales leads

Questions for the Audience: Does search engine optimization work for services firms? How are you taking advantage of it?

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Hot or Not?

Case Studies Demonstrates ability to

successfully deliver service/solution

Serves as testimonial from satisfied client

Questions for the Audience: What makes a case study a truly valuable marketing and sales tool? Is the client’s name enough or does it need more to successfully market and sell?

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Hot or Not?

Mass E-mailing/E-Newsletters Anything that looks like SPAM or a form letter

(impersonal, grouped) is quickly dismissed Mass marketing is obsolete. Even today’s

largest marketers (McDonalds, Coke,) consider themselves target marketers

Questions for the Audience: Should businesses use mass e-mail and if so, how? What are the benefits of producing monthly e-newsletters?

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Sample e-newsletters

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Audience

What innovative marketing approaches is your business taking today and why?

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Audience

Five Critical Marketing Questions to Consider NOW!

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Question 1

What Social Media (Live Web) tools are you leveraging to strengthen

relationships with clients and candidates TODAY?

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Question 2

What Are You Known For?

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Question 3

What Phases of the Sales Cycle Is Your Marketing Program Omitting?

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ProspectingResearching the

marketplace and existing accounts for new client

opportunities.

ClientIdentification/ Qualification

Identifying and qualifying strong new prospects &

client opportunities.

Generating Interest Courting prospect/client by providing information about company and its services.

Pitching Services & Solutions

Post-pitch Follow-up

Maintaining contact after the pitch and responding to

questions/ information needs.

Sales Win/NewClient Orientation

Account Maintenance

Ensuring the client’s ongoing satisfaction/retention.

The Sales Cycle

A company’s arsenal of marketing tools

should support every phase of the sales

cycle.

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Question 4

What Solutions Sales Tactics Can You Put to Work for Your Business?

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Question 5

How Can You Market at the C-level and Stay Top-of-Mind with C-level

contacts?

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In Summary

What We Know About IT Services Marketing Today? More and more prospects are researching and finding IT

services vendors online vs. vendors contacting them first Case studies, public speaking opportunities and thought

leadership articles rank in the top five ways to get a prospect’s attention

Companies looking to improve communication and knowledge sharing with clients, candidates and the media should seriously consider blogging and social networks

Search engine optimization should be part of an integrated marketing program

The more you stay top of mind with prospects whether through TAP campaigns, articles or events, the more likely you are to win business and gain trust…

Arming your sales team with collateral across the sales cycle will enable them to sell more effectively and build credibility with prospects

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NACCB Trivia

Who was the keynote speaker at last year’s conference who became famous for

wearing a nametag?

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NACCB Trivia

Who was the keynote speaker at last year’s conference who became famous for

wearing a nametag?

Scott Ginsberg, author of Hello, My Name is Scott

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Contact Information

Leslie VickreyPresident & [email protected]

www.clearedgemarketing.com

marketing it services what’s working, what’s not presented by: leslie vickrey president &...

Documents

marketing opportunity

services whats

blog readers

typical corporate blog

customers discussions

blogs pew

prospects perspectivesource

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