Teaching the Neuroscience of Effective Selling

Learn how neuroscience shows that effective salespeople use a combination of physiology, psychology, and consultative skills. Go beyond “hard sell” tactics.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152951343683

Facebook Split Testing: How to Make Your Ads Better : Social...

Facebook Split Testing: How to Make Your Ads Better : Social Media Examiner

Social Media Marketing Podcast 213. In this episode Andrea Vahl explores Facebook split testing and how to best optimize your Facebook ads. Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.socialmediaexaminer.com

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152900880348

businessinsider: Here’s how to split the restaurant bill in any...

businessinsider:

Here’s how to split the restaurant bill in any situation

See more.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152900567263

Let’s Build the Next Twitter Like the Green Bay Packers Twitter...

Let’s Build the Next Twitter Like the Green Bay Packers

Twitter doesn’t work as an commercial company. But it would make a great co-op. Read the full article at: www.wired.com

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152896126423

Let’s Build the Next Twitter Like the Green Bay Packers

Twitter doesn’t work as an commercial company. But it would make a great co-op.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152896126073

Wizard of Oz Sales Process with Steve Kloyda #137 - Sales Babble Sales Podcast | Sales Training | Sales Consulting |Sales Coaching

Wizard of Oz Sales Process with Steve Kloyda #137 In this episode we have a  returning guest, The Prospecting Expert, Steve Kloyda. Steve believes that all sellers should get serious about sales and use a sales process.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152895678313

Programmatic Advertising Keeps Getting Better. Here’s How You Can Use It.

Programmatic marketing may soon dominate ad spending. You can’t afford to be behind the curve on these emerging programmatic trends.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152855672008

Programmatic Advertising Keeps Getting Better. Here’s How You...

Programmatic Advertising Keeps Getting Better. Here’s How You Can Use It.

Programmatic marketing may soon dominate ad spending. You can’t afford to be behind the curve on these emerging programmatic trends. Read the full article at: www.convinceandconvert.com

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152855669898

Why the Most Important Member of Your Sales Team Is the One You’re Not Coaching

Sales training and development is a critical component of any sales enablement plan. However, for many companies, one important segment of their team is being left behind: sales managers.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152855468538

A Quick Guide to Data-Based Display Advertising To improve the...

A Quick Guide to Data-Based Display Advertising

To improve the performance of your display ads, though, we’ll need to take a look at your analytics data. So, pull up your analytics platform and let’s get started! Sourced through Scoop.it from: blog.kissmetrics.com

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152773652243

A High-Level Foxconn Executive Just Confirmed Longtime iPhone 8 Rumor

A High-Level Foxconn Executive Just Confirmed Longtime iPhone 8 Rumor:

forbes:

Are you ready for the next wave of iPhones to rock the market? Here are the leaks about the soon to come iPhone 8 in 2017. 

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152743941353

Apple Receives Patent For A 'Foldable' iPhone Design

Apple Receives Patent For A 'Foldable' iPhone Design:

forbes:

This is a new iPhone design we can get behind. Check out the patent that is going to send Apple soaring into the future. 

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152743914218

entrevision: “A mistake repeated more than once is a decision…”...

entrevision:

“A mistake repeated more than once is a decision…” 🤔
#entrevisionu #quote #quotes #entrepreneur #motivation #holloween #gsd #inspire #live #quoteoftheday #donotgiveup #work #inspiration #entrepreneurs #keepgoing #win #imotivate #entrepreneurship #10x #monday #donotquit #entrevision #motivate #success #imotivateyou #business #instahub #instaphoto #goals

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152743832878

Social Selling Is The New Business Breakfast

Old school sales efforts just won’t cut it anymore. Here’s why social selling is the new “business breakfast.”

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152685869813

Are Your Superstar Sellers Disguising Bad Management?

Frontline managers have to make average performers better and not simply coast on what their top person’s results.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152651502718

Using tech to understand the customer journey in retail | ZDNet

Understanding what customers do online and in-store is key to success in retail, says Dixons Carphone CIO.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152651386093

Analytics Dominate CRM Lead Management Products: Gartner...

Analytics Dominate CRM Lead Management Products: Gartner – InformationWeek

Investments in predictive analytics, dashboards, and KPIs are coming to CRM lead management offerings, according to Gartner’s most recent Magic Quadrant report for the category. Read the full article at: www.informationweek.com

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152641471678

Analytics Dominate CRM Lead Management Products: Gartner - InformationWeek

Investments in predictive analytics, dashboards, and KPIs are coming to CRM lead management offerings, according to Gartner’s most recent Magic Quadrant report for the category.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152641471058

Know These Critical Qualities to Work With Business Owners

Business owners are a special kind of people. They are wonderful to work with but can be perplexing to those who think they are like the majority o

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152640673378

@Regrann_App from @success_worldwide1 - Keep people around you...

@Regrann_App from @success_worldwide1 - Keep people around you in your life that will level you up! Don’t keep people around that are going backwards! Love the process of going to the next level! And work hard and smart

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152615365958

marketingland: “Stop clicking around!” How Hilton’s CMO rallied...

marketingland:

“Stop clicking around!” How Hilton’s CMO rallied a 100-year-old company to No. 1

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152615222943

harvardbusinessschool: How We Make It WorkThe phrase “work-life...

harvardbusinessschool:

How We Make It Work

The phrase “work-life balance”—that mythical equilibrium between career and family responsibilities—has been firmly embedded in the collective consciousness since the 1990s. Its currency only grew with the 2012 publication of Anne-Marie Slaughter’s Atlantic Monthly article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” followed by Sheryl Sandberg’s (MBA 1995)2013 book, Lean In.

This conversation was born out of a cultural shift: According to Pew Research, nearly half of two-parent families in the United States with children reported both parents working full-time in 2015—up from less than a third in 1970.

For some, there has been a tangible impact on their professional lives, with 30 percent of the Pew survey respondents reporting that being a working parent made career advancement more difficult. A 2013 survey of HBS alumni explored this question in greater detail, finding that a majority of both men and women had made at least one accommodation to integrate their professional and family lives, including everything from choosing to travel less for work to making a lateral career move.

There are benefits to being a working parent, of course—not only for family income and personal fulfillment but also potentially for children’s choices as adults. Research by Kathleen McGinn, Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration, has found that women raised by mothers who were employed tend to be more successful in the workplace than those raised by mothers who weren’t employed. Men whose mothers were employed spend more time caring for family members.

“There’s a lot of parental guilt about having both parents working outside the home,” McGinn says. “But this research shows that being raised by mothers and fathers who work both inside and outside the home gives children a signal that contributions at home and at work are equally valuable, for both men and women.”

Still, the changes and choices necessary to integrate work and family aren’t always easy to plan for: The HBS survey found that 83 percent of alumnae expected to successfully combine their jobs and their personal lives, while only 47 percent said their expectations matched with the reality; 86 percent of men had expectations of success, with 70 percent saying it matched with reality.

So what does that reality look like? To further understand the families behind the statistics, we asked alumni to offer stories from their successes and struggles—their doubts, their decisions, and their daily routines.

Read more. 

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152615098748

Solving The Common Challenges Of Sales Coaching [Infographic]

Great coaches aren’t born; they’re made through hard work, discipline and training.

Read the full article at: www.salesforlife.com

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152604687268

@Regrann_App from @fixingcreditdaily - Every Day is a...

@Regrann_App from @fixingcreditdaily - Every Day is a Interview be prepared to Sale yourself. Your Next Opportunity is awaiting….#motivation #dreams #goals #inspiration #life #ambition #success #decidetowin #character #plantowin #moveforward #innovator #nevergiveup #creditqueen #entrepreneur #agentsneeded #makemoney #workfromhome #residualincome #businesswomen #creditrestoration #ambition #realtors #motivation #success #businessopportunity #hustle #grind #followmylead #opportunity #progress #innovation

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152576688623

analyticisms: This chart explains very clearly the rationale...

analyticisms:

This chart explains very clearly the rationale behind Twitter’s closing of Vine.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152575225788

The Right (And Wrong) Way To Harness Your Company's Underdog Status

The Right (And Wrong) Way To Harness Your Company's Underdog Status:

harvardbusinessschool:

If you harness your underdog status properly it can be a powerful motivator. Professor Anat Keinan explains how in this Fast Company story. 

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152575168598

startupvitamins: You’re not a cat, you don’t have nine lives....

startupvitamins:

You’re not a cat, you don’t have nine lives. Use this as a reminder to spend the one life you do have on something worthwhile. 

Get the poster here: https://www.startupvitamins.com/products/startup-poster-life-is-short-%20dont-be-lazy

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152575076718

motivationmasters: #motivation #quote #success #inspiration...

motivationmasters:

#motivation #quote #success #inspiration #lifestyle #business #entrepreneur #money #inspire #quoteoftheday #motivate #dedication #health #fitness #healthy #life #quotes #motivational #mindset #adventure #goals #travel #dreams #passion #lifecoach #entrepreneurs #successful #leadership

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152575031623

14 Growth Hacks To Get 20 Million Views Attracting traffic is...

14 Growth Hacks To Get 20 Million Views

Attracting traffic is the goal of the digital entrepreneur marketer and growth hacker. Here are some top growth hacks I have used to get 20 million views Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.jeffbullas.com

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152570624358

Key Questions that Will Help You Be a Better Sales Coach

Providing constructive and consistent feedback is an important part of coaching your sales reps to success.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152567517588

Why It’s Okay to Swear on Sales Calls (+3 Other Surprising Ways to Close More Deals)

We promise you haven’t heard these four suggestions before.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152567409368

Sales Coaching: Teach Your Reps to Ask Why

It’s your job as a sales leader to keep your reps on track. But too often, that job is done by quarterly number-watching—and sometimes by micromanaging.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152567308253

Hyatt introduces new loyalty programme

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has unveiled World of Hyatt, Hyatt’s new global loyalty program, which will launch on March 1st, 2017.
World of Hyatt is about building community and engaging with high-end travellers.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152553529688

4 Ways to Use Instagram Stories for Business : Social...

4 Ways to Use Instagram Stories for Business : Social Media Examiner

Want to incorporate Instagram Stories into your marketing? Discover four ways to use Instagram Stories to engage your customers and prospects. Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.socialmediaexaminer.com

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152515496248

Microsoft is taking on Amazon’s $970 million Twitch acquisition — here's why it’s a smart move

Microsoft is taking on Amazon’s $970 million Twitch acquisition — here's why it’s a smart move:

Microsoft is taking on Amazon’s $970 million Twitch acquisition — here’s why it’s a smart move - Read at Business Insider:

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152514471893

How companies can save themselves from being 'uberized'

How companies can save themselves from being 'uberized':

How companies can save themselves from being ‘uberized’ - Read at Business Insider:

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152514427263

This 55-year-old woman made history and $140 million by taking her tech company public on Friday

This 55-year-old woman made history and $140 million by taking her tech company public on Friday:

This 55-year-old woman made history and $140 million by taking her tech company public on Friday - Read at Business Insider:

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152513202048

LinkedIn is working on a project that should terrify Cisco and the rest of the $175 billion hardware industry

LinkedIn is working on a project that should terrify Cisco and the rest of the $175 billion hardware industry – Read at Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-linkedin-is-shrugging-off-the-175-billion-hardware-industry-2016-10?&platform=bi-androidapp

View On WordPress

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152513174013

How to make the most of your small-business loan

How to make the most of your small-business loan:

How to make the most of your small- business loan - Read at Business Insider:

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152513036763

Google’s ad-tracking just got more intrusive. Here’s how to...

Google’s ad-tracking just got more intrusive. Here’s how to opt out

Google’s privacy policy change means it can combine personal data from Gmail, YouTube, Search and more, with DoubleClick data from the web Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.wired.co.uk

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152482519538

businessinsider: Marcus Aurelius’ 10 rules for being an...

businessinsider:

Marcus Aurelius’ 10 rules for being an exceptional leader

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152480595028

businessinsider: The T-Mobile CEO who calls his competition...

businessinsider:

The T-Mobile CEO who calls his competition ‘dumb and dumber’ explains how he doubled customers in 4 years, and how a group of employees made him cry.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152480577183

7 Tips to Harness Your Event Superpowers

Follow these seven tips to maximize your social media around your event – Content Marketing Institute

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152458757938

The Ultimate SaaS Metrics Guide to Smarter, Faster Growth

UNDERSTANDING FUNNEL METRICS Let’s say you have a goal of 100 new customers this year. In order to reach those 100 customers, you might need 200 engaged, ready-to-buy leads: after all, not everybody you start a conversation with ends up a paying customer. Working backwards, to generate those 200 sales-qualified leads, you might need to collect the contact details of 400 people, some of whom will have a serious interest in your products, while others will require a bit more time to reach the same place. To generate those 400 leads, you might need 2,000 website visitors. Understanding how this progression through the sales funnel happens allows you to predict the number of visitors and leads you’ll need to actually hit your sales targets, and gives direction to your marketing strategy. You will want to measure the number of prospects going into each stage, and the conversion rate to the next stage. You will also care about the overall conversion rate of prospects from the top of funnel to closed deal, and the average deal size. The shape of your funnel will likely vary for each different lead source, e.g. leads from Facebook ads may not convert well into trials, but those that do convert to trials may have a higher conversion rate to closed deals than normal web traffic, and the deal sizes may be larger. That means you will need to track the funnel metrics separately by lead source. These metrics will show you your funnel blockage points, and help you understand whether your actions to improve funnel flow are working. David Skok, Matrix Partners

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152423503613

TALKING SALES 131: “Conversion strategy – How to plan the sale”

“The winners always research, prepare and plan the sale” – Interview by John Smibert     In our last discussion with Dylis Guyan – “Sales mistake 1 – Lack of strategy”  – we talked about how it is importance to have a strategy to attract customers and gain commitment to meet. Now that we have a commitment what next?   Dylis told me that too often, “salespeople will rock up, open their boot, and they’ll rummage through and pull out some dog-eared brochures”, and go to their sales meeting with little more preparation. They wing it. She emphasises that top salespeople carefully plan all sales opportunities. In this discussion she talks in some detail about the need for preparation including research, understanding our customer, their customers and industry, planning your questions, determining the insight we need to use to underpin our questions and more. Dylis uses an excellent case story to emphasise the points. If you want to know the details you are invited to watch or read the full interview below.     Dylis Guyan is based in Oxford, England and is an international sales and marketing expert, trainer, coach and speaker. She is also founder of the B2B Sales Academy. Interview John: Hello, I’m with Dylis Guyan again – welcome back, Dylis! Dylis: Hi, John! John: Hey, we had a great discussion about how important it is to plan and build a strategy, and the case study you talked about was about how to build a plan to attract, and I thought they were great. But there’s a lot more to building a sales strategy than just attracting. Dylis: Absolutely, yes. John: Tell me what else we need to focus on. Dylis: Well, once you’ve got that prospective client showing interest and wanting to see you, and bearing in mind what I talked about earlier, it takes multiple contact, that has to be part of your strategy. John: And never give up, yes. Be persistent. Dylis: Yes, exactly. So, let’s say we’ve got to the point where they’re happy to see us, then we have to be prepared for when we go to that face to face meeting. I’m sure that you’ve seen this, John, where sometimes salespeople will rock up and they open their boot, and they’ll rummage through and pull out some dog-eared brochures and so on… John: Brochures and stuff, yes. And all about “My product or my company.” Dylis: Yes, exactly. So, it’s about being prepared. It’s, again, doing research to fully understand your client, where they are now, and looking at what their products and services are. John: So the preparation is all about your client, understanding your client, understanding what they’re about, the challenges they’re facing, what’s happening in their industry, what’s happening with their customers. Dylis: Yes, yes. And of course if you’re experienced in a particular industry, you will have great insights to bring to your clients, you will become a valuable asset. You will get to the position where they can’t do without you, not just your product or service, because you’re such a valuable… John: That’s absolutely right. I’ve seen so many very successful salespeople get their—not because they’ve got the gift of the gab, it’s all about the fact that they get to know their customers, they become an expert in what’s happening in their industry and in their particular organisation, and those customers just want to spend time with them because they’re creating value in the discussions and conversations they’re having. Dylis: That’s right, that’s exactly right. So, as part of your preparation you need to think about the questions you’re going to ask. After all of these years, I’ve been in sales over 30 years, and I still prepare my questions. John: I just talked to Wayne Berry recently, he was saying he still tells everybody to have a script when they’re going to make a phone call with somebody, and I said, “If we’re really experienced salespeople, surely we shouldn’t have a script,” and he was adamant. Be prepared, know what you’re going to talk about, write it all out, and then make the phone call. Dylis: Yes, absolutely. Even if you don’t want to have a script, at least have bullet points so that you cover everything on that telephone call, otherwise you’re just going in… And what happens is, you then fall back to the default position of product dumping. John: Yes, which is going to get you nowhere. Dylis: Yes, exactly. So, you need to prepare, research your client again, prepare your questions, prepare your marketing support material, all of your brochures. John: You’re great on stories. Can you give us a case study where somebody’s done this really well? Dylis: I’ll do better than that, I’ll give you one where they’ve done really badly! [laughs] John: Okay. We learn from mistakes. Dylis: We learn from our mistakes. And this was just this week whilst I was in the hotel, because I’m on holiday here in Sydney at the moment, and I was privy to a discussion between a guy who was selling some advertising to the hotel. It was beyond dreadful. It was the usual, “Really pleased to meet you, this is my company, we’ve been in business, la-la-la-la-la,” and he asked her nothing about what they were doing, what their challenges were, he didn’t bring any insights; he just went straight into a product dump of what he could do. John: And he didn’t demonstrate that he knew anything about them. Dylis: Nothing, nothing. And this lady, her body language… I mean, I was so interested, and I really… It was eavesdropping. I’ll put my hand up, I was eavesdropping. John: [laughs] Dylis: There was nothing at all, there was no interest from her, she was sitting back. And all he had to do was ask, “What are you doing at the moment with your advertising? What results are you getting?” John: But as you say, if he’d done his research… I’m sure in the open market, on Google or whatever, you’d be able to see some of the issues and challenges that hotel were facing, what was happening in terms of their business and so on, and he could’ve brought that insight to the table with ideas and “Have you thought about this?” and “Here’s some ideas for you,” and so on. None of that? Dylis: None of it, none of it – it was just a complete product dump. He didn’t talk about what their challenges were with the current advertising, and even more importantly – and I see this missed so many times – he didn’t bring up the financial impact and that ripple effect across the business. John: That example really shows all the mistakes you talked about. Dylis: Yes. John: The fact that he didn’t plan was one big thing, he didn’t do the research, but he also talked about me, my product and my company. Dylis: Yes. John: And as you said, customer with folded arms. Hey, there’s some great messages there. What’s the bottom line message you want to get across to the audience? Dylis: It’s to be customer-focused, and understand the benefits that you bring your client, by taking them to the position where they want to buy from you and where they’re going to benefit from buying from you. John: Those benefits and the value they’re going to get from that is likely to vary from client to client even in exactly the same industry. Dylis: Yes, it is. John: So actually the research has to be down to the individual client before you have these meetings. Dylis: Yes, yes. And your questions have to be down to the individual client. John: Exactly. Dylis: So, you can have a top line, but then it needs to be very individual as you’re taking it further down and further down, to really get to the… John: Through that sales process. Dylis: Yes, to get to the nub of the issue and that financial cost too then. John: Dylis, thank you very much. I love talking with you, and I look forward to the next time we have a chat – I think we’ll get lot of value! Dylis: Okay, great – thanks, John! *********** More discussions with Dylis: **************** Your Invitation: I invite you to join the Strategic Selling group on LinkedIn where you can experience informative discussions with your peers and sales thought leaders on subjects like the one we have discussed here. Please Share: If you valued this article, please  share via your Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook social media platforms. I encourage you to join the conversation or ask questions. So feel free to add a comment on this post – I promise to respond. Please follow my LinkedIn post page and follow me here on the Strategic Selling Group. I also recommend you follow my associates in the SMA Sales Masterminds. Your invitation to subscribe to this blog:  Please feel free to SUBSCRIBE HERE August 16, 2016 - 7:45 am Panning the sale, Planning and strategy, Strategic Selling, Talking Sales 484 views opportunity strategy, Planning, Sales, Sales preparation, sales research, Sales strategy

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152423470553

Six tips to boost conversion rates and increase sales

Jane Frankland is a successful cyber security entrepreneur, consultant and speaker who has had a diverse career encompassing art and design; business development; and operations. Having held directorships and senior executive positions within her own companies and at several large PLCs, she now provides agile, forward thinking organisations with strategic business development solutions. Right now she is writing a book on gender diversity in cyber security and is focused on increasing the numbers of women in the profession.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152423416758

150 of the Best B2B Case Study Examples

Case studies are persuasive narratives featuring specific, real-world uses for a product or service produced by companies to help demonstrate their value. Case studies are more than a simple testimonial from a customer – they speak to specific needs and customer pain. They are designed to sway purchase decisions and literally make a case for why a buyer should choose a certain solution. Most importantly – they are a critical part of your sales collateral library.   When it’s time to create new case studies where do product marketers and sales enablement professionals look for inspiration? Often we download competitor case studies or look at ones that we produced in prior roles. This leads to uninspired, undifferentiated case studies that get forgotten as soon as they’re read. The purpose of a case study is to make your product or service stand out – so why would you want to model yours after a direct competitor? If your collateral doesn’t differentiate your solution and make an impact on the buyer, your case studies aren’t doing their job.   That’s why we put together this case study library featuring examples from over 150 enterprise and mid-market companies. Browse through case studies from various industries, see the different formats and styles of case studies marketers are producing for their teams, and get inspired!   Jump to case study examples in a specific industry: Marketing, A/B Testing and Personalization A few of our favorite marketing case study examples: BrightEdge has produced a strong and straightforward case study that proves their product’s value with some bold charting. After giving some background, explaining the problem, and detailing the results in one page via text, the second half of this two page case study shows two up-and-to-the-right charts demonstrating how BrightEdge helped their customer achieve SEO success. Sometimes less is more when you have really strong data to stand on. App Annie has published a great example of a case study targeted at small businesses. This text heavy case study starts with a narrative that most small development studios can relate to – having their most important business metrics stored in different apps and disparate spreadsheets. App Annie was able to highlight a real pain point that their ideal small business customers experience on a regular basis – siloed data and manual reporting. Bitly’s ecommerce case study demonstrates their ability to add value by tracking multichannel campaigns in a single dashboard. It’s a visually engaging piece that makes use of large font, bold colors and a lot of negative space to stand out. It doesn’t look like any of the other case studies we came across in the marketing tech category. Sprinklr’s case study with Groupon uses an infographic-like visual style to show off major KPIs and performance metrics. If you are looking to create a more formal, enterprise case study template, take a look at this impressive case study from Adobe detailing the Royal Bank of Scotland’s use of Adobe Marketing Cloud. Advertising Technology A few of our favorite advertising technology case study examples: Ad tech case studies always contain impressive figures, but the ones we find ourselves pouring through also tell great stories. That’s one reason why this LinkedIn Marketing Solutions case study featuring HubSpot is so engrossing, it’s not just about a simple win with a new ad platform, it’s the story of one of the best companies in marketing adopting a new channel that quickly became one of its best sources of leads. Some case studies are more about “who” than “what”. Quantcast’s case study about Buzzfeed’s adoption of their audience segmentation solution is an excellent example of this. A large part of Buzzfeed’s marketing strategy is to target niche audiences with its shareable content. If Buzzfeed trusts Quantcast to segment their audiences for advertisers, why wouldn’t any other large publisher? This case study from Unified detailing how they were able to overcome dark social attribution issues from Linkedin Sponsored Updates using their proprietary technology, is a stand out in terms of its template. A lot of customer success stories in the ad tech space are very heavy on ROI and conversion metrics, but light on design. Unified makes good use of space and large images to create an elegant look and feel. Sales and Sales Enablement A few of our favorite sales and sales enablement case study examples: DocuSign does a great job of explaining their value in simple, digestable terms in their Salesforce.com case study with headlines like “Deal close cycle time cut from 2 days down to 90% in less than 1 day; 71% in less than 1 hour.” This Datanyze case study featuring HubSpot makes use of a great template that features a large logo garden for Enterprise brands. Although Datanyze is a relatively new company (founded in 2012), their customer logos tell buyers, “We are trusted by big brands to provide prospecting data at scale. If they trust us, you can trust us.” LinkedIn’s case studies contain a lot of information, so to drive the point home, they put their most important metrics into a small infographic at the end to inform the reader of the most valuable takeaways. This Five9 Case Study articulately discusses the advantages of moving to the cloud in a way that most non-technical buyers can grasp. Many case studies from tech companies regard cloud-hosted technology as the superior choice, but they don’t state why. This Five9 case study actually makes the case for why it’s better for SMBs to store their business data in the cloud. Five9 knows their buyer and makes the effort to educate them during their purchase journey. Customer Success and Support Software   A few of our favorite customer success and support case study examples: Going niche and speaking to very specific industry segments can help customers know that your product is the right fit for their business. UserTesting’s case study featuring Automatic does a great job of appealing to open source software projects. Automattic, the makers of WordPress, needed to understand how users interacted with their CMS product. However, being open source software, Automattic couldn’t just stick analytics inside of the core code. This is a unique industry problem that a lot of open source software providers face. UserTesting does a great job positioning themselves as a solution for evaluating how users engage with open source software when tracking software is not an option. Words like “global” or “enterprise” can become meaningless after reading them enough times. To help illustrate how Conversocial helps their customers succeed on a global scale, they visualize their impact on a map on page 8 of this case study. Infastructre, Hosting and CDNs A few of our favorite infrastructure, CDN, and hosting case study examples: This VMWare case study, covering their partnership with CenturyLink, touches on a very complex aspect of cloud hosted infrastructure – hybridized cloud. VMware’s case study describes hybridized cloud technology eloquently so that both technical and non-technical buyers can get a better understanding of what they are buying. HPE makes good use of narrative to break down a complex story about a cloud hosted rapid app development platform. HPE does an excellent job linking out to more content so readers who want to dive deeper can find additional content and self-educate. This CA Technologies joint ROI case study with YJT is visually stunning. It makes excellent use of imagery and space. Unlike some case studies in our library that try to sandwich everything into as few pages as possible, this CA Technologies case study is deliberately lengthy and dives into a ton of detail. This RedHat case study makes excellent use of narrative. It starts with a mandate from the governor of North Carolina to improve the usability of government websites for taxpayers. RedHat positions themselves as the answer to the government’s big technical challenge. This case study gives you a quick summary on the first page – like a one sheeter or an executive summary– then it dives into the story in the subsequent pages. Security Software and Services A few of our favorite security case study examples: Coalfire’s casino case study has one of the best stories we’ve ever read in a case study. It details a casino hiring Coalfire to test for security vulnerabilities – it’s a real life Ocean’s 11 in case study form. Two big thumbs up. Akamai’s financial services security case study is a great example of a case study for a highly technical product written for a non-technical buyer. Alien Vault’s Bank of New Glarus case study is an interesting example of “versus content”. In the case study, the Bank of New Glarus was originally researching a SolarWinds product. The case study details how the bank stumbled onto Alien Vault during their research and explains why they decided to go with them over the well known industry incumbent. Given it’s nature, versus content often comes across as cheap or mud-slinging – this doesn’t. Big Data Software and Services A few of our favorite big data case study examples: Many case studies featuring technical products are dense and hard to follow. This Cloudera case study does an excellent job of using hyperlinks to drive interested readers into deep dives, while still getting less technical buyers through the meat and potatoes of the case study without a ton of technical jargon or unneeded complexity. For non-technical buyers, it can be hard to to get interested in a case study about a big data platform. That’s why this Datameer’s case study is so interesting, it focuses on something that just about everyone is emotionally invested in – how their product is being used to help cure cancer. This HortonWorks case study has an example of a visually appealing stack architecture diagram. Most of technical architecture visuals look outdated and awkward, but HortonWorks found a way to visualize their stack in a way that’s engaging, and on brand. This VMware case study about Adobe deploying Hadoop is a polished example of a case study designed for technical buyers. Application Performance Monitoring and Log File Analysis A few of our favorite APM and log file analysis case study examples: A visual standout in this category is Riverbed’s Case Study with China Bank, which contains a well thought out overview page and numerous stack architecture diagrams for more technical buyers. This case study from SolarWinds featuring Product Hunt’s use of Liberato and Papertrail has an aesthetically pleasing and well designed template. It makes good use of product dashboard screenshots and it tells an interesting and relatable narrative about Product Hunt and why they needed Liberato to scale. This New Relic case study covering how the Obama for America team used the New Relic platform during the 2012 election gives an interesting technical take on a campaign just about every buyer in the US will be familiar with and experienced firsthand. Business Intelligence and Analytics A few of our favorite business intelligence and analytics case study examples: This Amplitude case study is a great example of versus content and shows the benefits one of their customers experienced after moving off of a direct competitor’s analytics platform. Sometimes you can get halfway through a case study before you realize you have no idea what the benefit is or what they are driving at. AgilOne uses a single sentence on the first page of its 100% Pure case study to act as an executive summary. It reads, “AgilOne helped 100% Pure to identify where to build their brick and mortar stores, what product categories their customers tend to buy in, which products could be marketed for replenishment and to establish successful VIP campaigns.” With this case study, a buyer knows exactly what to expect and the promises being made by AgilOne the moment they start reading. HR Software, ATS, and Recruiting   A few of our favorite HR, payroll and recruiting case study examples: If you’re looking for a great example of a case study from an HR software company targeting SMBs across industries, look no further than Zenefits. If you are looking to create an HR software case study template that’s a bit more complex and buttoned up, we recommend checking out case studies from Oracle and SuccessFactors for some inspiration. Want to see a best in class case study example for recruiting services? Check out this excellent case study from Betts Recruiting featuring Greenhouse.         Are you using Case Studies to Grow Your Business? Then sign up for a free DocSend account today. By putting your company’s marketing materials and sales collateral (like case studies, white papers and one-sheeters) in DocSend, you’ll finally get data on how your content is being used by Sales and your team will understand how content engages and influences prospects during your company’s sales cycle. Want to submit your case study to our library? email marketing@docsend.com for consideration. (sources)

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152423395158

Why B2B Marketers Need to Educate Buyers With Content

If it’s Friday, it must be my day to create some content. Marketers are busy planning, creating, optimizing, and analyzing, and for many of us, creating content is just one of many things on our to-do lists. We’ve all seen the stats that reveal B2B marketers are spending more time, budget, energy, happy hours, hackathons, and puppy time on content. But to what end? It’s great to have that fabulous piece of content to attract readers (or more often than not, downloaders), but what happens next? Those big download numbers you’ve been getting don’t count for much. And if you are being honest, you, your team, and your boss already know that. Most of those people are not ready to have a sales conversation. Many of them are not even interested in your products or solutions. That’s where lead nurturing comes in. The Truth About How Content Converts 68% of B2B marketers say that increasing conversion rate is their leading objective for lead nurturing, according to a December 2015 study by Ascend2. That means marketers want more people who download their content to become marketing qualified leads. For some of those prospects, it is never going to happen. They may love your content, they may read it and even share it, but they just don’t fit your profile of ideal customer. You can segment them as “content advocates” and keep feeding them your content, but don’t expect them to ever convert. But for many of these prospects, it’s just the timing that’s wrong. They could be the right person at the right company, but they are just not ready to have that dreaded conversation with an inside sales person. This is why so much of the buyer’s journey is now digital. Buyers continue to educate themselves with the content you are producing. (highlight to tweet) There are many factors that make up a marketing qualified lead, both explicit (like company, job title, and the need to solve a problem) and implicit ones (visits to your website, blog, and downloadable content). If you have the right marketing automation tools in place to track all of this, you will know not only if they are the right person, but also that is it the right time. How to Create Content That Educates The same study from Ascend2 found that 69% of B2B marketers say that creating relevant content is the most effective tactic for lead nurturing. That makes sense, since lead nurturing is all about staying in contact with those who have reached out to you. The best way to do that is not to send them an email telling them how great your products are, or if their new best friend in sales can have just 15 minutes of their time. (If these kinds of tactics annoy you, you are not alone. I ignore those sales emails, too.) Send them a series of relevant content based on what you know about them. That’s what this marketing technology allows you to do. Provide some value as you are building the relationship with this prospect. You know they are not ready for sales, but you do know they responded to your content. Send them more. Here’s one final stat that is at odds with the one above: 59% of B2B marketers say that creating relevant content is their most challenging obstacle to successful lead nurturing. This is not just a challenge for lead nurturing, but for all your content needs. You need to change your attitude, allotted time, workload, or even your socks to put yourself in a content mode. This is not an optional process. While it is easy to find companies struggling with content, there are plenty that are doing a good job. Emulate the content and tactics you respond to. If you are reading this blog, it is because you understand content marketing is important, and you want to improve your results. The more you understand your prospects, the better your opportunity to resonate with them. This also allows you to experiment with different delivery mechanisms. Here are few recent, personal examples. I tested the gated versus ungated ebook approach by releasing a full ebook for free on Slideshare with no registration required. It pointed to a gated asset. The two of them together were part of our most successful campaign of the year. Now, I am creating a series of short content pieces specifically for a nurture campaign. These are meant to educate our readers about the ideas behind our products. They are not about our products. It is the type of content that prospects might seek out in their journey, but we know about their interests, and we can feed that. These content pieces will not appear on our blog. They won’t be shared on our social channels. They are for this specific nurture. It’s important, so I am finding the time to write them. Create all the content you can, and push it out over every channel you’ve got, but focus on getting some of that content in front of people who have already told you that they are interested. You’ve got the technology—now it’s time to put it into action. Get more content like this, plus the very BEST marketing education, totally free. Get our Definitive email newsletter.

via Tumblr http://mymarketingfile.com/post/152423392778