For some organizations, taking a regular, hard look at the sales force is a given. Top direct sales companies, for example, analyze the results of their sales force at least every 90 days. From there, they can make educated decisions on which members of the sales force need additional training, which should be rewarded for their performance, and which should simply be cut from the team. In most channels, however, this kind of partner optimization rarely occurs, despite the benefits that could be reaped from the process.

To optimize your partner base, set aside a certain number of times per year (quarterly, for example) to analyze partner operations. Use that time to determine whether the fit between you and your partners is still right; to cut consistently under-performing partners or those that are not aligned with your end customers’ needs; and to recruit new partners if necessary. Make this process easier on yourself by maintaining comprehensive and accurate partner profile information.

By regularly evaluating partner operations, you’ll be in a far better position to achieve quality over quantity.

Put simply, advertising is marketing, but marketing is not advertising. In other words, marketing encompasses a broad spectrum of activities designed to gain or increase end-users’ awareness of a brand or product. Advertising is one of these activities and includes print, online, or broadcast ads that, ideally, put the reseller and product in front of the most likely end-users. As powerful a tool as it is, however, advertising is not the only one.

Usually, it is the reseller who is less familiar with the difference between the two terms. This gap can lead to the creation of MDF or co-op proposals that focus entirely on advertising, rather than on the myriad other tools that marketing has to offer, such as public relations or promotions. Vendors can—and should—help illuminate this difference for the reseller. And both vendors and resellers should also know that, while the end goal of marketing is sales, marketing does not guarantee sales; it simply creates an opportunity for the reseller’s salespeople to close the deal.

A channel goal often involves numbers. For example, you might want to acquire 1,000 partners; this is a goal, not a strategy. A strategy is the feasible, well-analyzed explanation as to how you’ll acquire the 1,000 partners and for what reason. For example: “To increase market share by demonstrating to our number one competitor’s partners that we have a superior product, provide better support, and enable them to provide additional services to the end customer.”

This channel strategy defines your target (your number one competitor’s partners), how you will win it (by demonstrating a superior product and better support, while enabling them to provide additional services, etc.), and why (to increase market share).

When you have determined both a channel goal and a strategy, it’s essential that you share both with the entire company and ensure comprehension. After all, if your executives and employees don’t understand the strategy, it will be almost impossible for them to execute it. Worse, they could inadvertently work against it. This harms both your relationship with partners and company morale… not exactly a good way to achieve your goals.

Ad-ology Research surveyed 752 U.S. businesses with fewer than 100 employees and 57 percent of them responded that social media is beneficial to their business. In a Forbes Insight report in May 2010, 85 percent of the SMB respondents said that social media sites play an important role in active sales—not just leads, but sales. And an American Express survey of SMBs reported that 39 percent of SMBs in the U.S. believe that social media increases their business’ exposure.

Social media delivers a host of results for the marketers who utilize the tool correctly. SMBs can generate leads, drive inbound links to their sites, increase their page rank for better visibility, influence their organic SEO, and influence keyword purchases. All it requires is for the marketer to be diligent, transparent, and engaging. Picture your end-user in front of you and start a conversation. Talk to them about their needs. Show that you care. Be human.

If you’re an SMB, how are you using social media as a marketing tool? I’d love to hear your experiences!

A blog shows active content, which captures the notice of search engine spiders that are crawling the Web in search of new, relevant information worth sharing as search results. The newer the post, the more notice it gets. The more keywords integrated relevantly, the more notice it gets. And this added notice pushes your blog higher in the search engine results page (SERP), which is the SEO goal of everyone on the Web.

The facts are out there. People are not just reading blog posts; they’re voraciously devouring this content! U.S. Internet users spend three times more minutes per day on blogs and social networks than on their email. The global population of blog readers is almost one-third larger now than three years ago.

About 40 percent of companies in the U.S. use a blog as a marketing tool—and for good reason. Research published by Hubspot reported that companies that blog have 434 percent more indexed pages than those who don’t invest the time in a blog. And Hubspot’s 2010 State of Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Report stated that companies that blog have 97 percent more inbound links and get 236 percent more leads!

But that still leaves 60 percent of companies blog-less. For the time being, I would relish this reality and blog my heart out, because I’m gaining the SEO value that they’re missing—this wonderful forum for communicating with my prospects, referral sources, colleagues, and guest bloggers.

What kind of results do you get from your blog? Let me know how it’s doing for you!

And why is it so popular? We are still human, and we want human interaction, even if it’s done via technology. The ability to easily stay in contact with people from your past, people who are far away, and even those who are in your inner sphere is far too tempting to ignore.

With everyone connecting on social networks, it makes sense for businesses to find their consumers there as well. This vast community is a powerful resource for lead generation if you can harness its power. Conversations regularly recommend products or services, promote events and offers, and share links to business websites, blogs, and Facebook pages. This method of inbound marketing demands that businesses take a different approach to their marketing.

In December 2010, the McKinsey Global Institute reported that 63 percent of companies surveyed indicated that social media increased the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. Half of these companies said social media increased customer satisfaction. And the other benefits recognized by social media marketing included reduction in marketing costs, decrease in support costs, greater speed to market for products and services, and an increase in revenue. Another statistic shows that 61 percent of marketers say that social networks increased their lead generation. Those are all plusses for marketers!

And it’s not just the corporate giants who are reaping the social networking rewards. A study of SMBs by Ad-ology Research last year showed that 57 percent of them believed social media was beneficial to their businesses.

Social media marketing is key to the future of marketing. As the social networks continue to evolve, marketing strategy will have to adapt as well. But the effectiveness in terms of ROI is staggering!

How have you adapted your past marketing strategy to incorporate social networking? Please share your experiences, challenges, and successes here.

The new media—the digital world—has shifted the “hide and seek” methodology of finding the buyer who is hiding behind his remote control to fast forward through those costly commercials. Instead, marketers are playing host to a party where they welcome their arriving guests who have been invited by means of intriguing viral videos, online reviews, search engine results, captivating blog posts, and informative ebooks, articles, and white papers. They’re coming to you via useful webinars and RSS feeds. They’ve been referred by other customers who shared the news about the value of coming to your gathering.

Being a host is far more cost-effective than crashing someone else’s party. Hubspot reports that the average cost per lead with outbound marketing is $373; inbound marketing delivers a cost-per-lead of $143—that’s 62 percent less!

In October 2010, Marketing Sherpa published results of a survey that showed that B2B marketers are increasing their investment in inbound marketing. Sixty-nine percent are upping their social media spending; 60 percent will do more virtual events, webinars, and SEO. Meanwhile, only 15 percent were planning to spend more on print advertising, 22 percent planned more tradeshow activity, and 24 percent expected to increase their direct mail expenditures.

The Hubspot State of Inbound Marketing Report for 2011 indicated that 54 percent of the marketers surveyed were increasing their inbound marketing budgets. This same analysis reported that the average budget for a company’s social media and blogs has almost doubled in the past two years. And that’s because these tactics generate revenue. Of the companies that Hubspot surveyed, 57 percent said that their blog and LinkedIn page generated revenue as well as leads, and 48 percent attributed the same results to their Facebook pages. And the choice makes sense, since outbound marketing tactics are shown to cost more and deliver fewer results.

Have you turned your tasks inbound yet? Please share your experiences here with inbound versus outbound marketing.

1.    Create awareness.

Through advertising, publicity (trade shows, event sponsorship), and public relations, you build awareness of your brand. This familiarity prompts interest in your product or service.

2.    Build desire.

Your next step is to cultivate that awareness into desire. In this stage, you employ heftier marketing tools, like online tours and demonstrations, special events, social media (Facebook, Twitter) to differentiate your brand from the competition.

3.    Cultivate prospects.

Take those tire-kickers to the next level with direct mail, email marketing, special offers, whitepapers and case studies, and a landing page or microsite that is targeted to your audience. Give them the hard data on your benefits.

Most importantly, measure every step of the way. Any marketing task that isn’t measured is a failure. If you want to justify the value of your marketing for budgetary purposes, use metrics. Track media coverage, website and social media traffic, email opens and clickthroughs.

The success of your marketing relies on the strength of each effort. Make each one count, and count each one!

The advertising category dropped to 29 percent when these same prospects were identifying which providers could provide the solution. Provider websites scored highest here, with 47 percent. But only 40 percent of those respondents considered websites as a big influencer in the first phase.

Contact from the provider scored 23 percent in the first phase but jumped to 45 percent in the second phase.  Similarly, sales presentations went from 22 percent to 45 percent. White papers were fairly consistent in the first two phases—42 and 44 percent, respectively—which makes sense since this medium feeds the information gatherer, which is carried out in the first two phases of the buying cycle.

In the decision phase, references from the provider’s customers carried the most weight, with 54 percent. This category far outpaced the second place category, sales presentations, which garnered 33 percent of the response, and provider contact
with 32 percent.

Knowing how much influence your various marketing activities can exert on your sales prospects is key to making the right choices—and investments. Give careful consideration to the prospects you’re trying to reach and in which phase of the buying cycle they are in so you can tailor not only your message but also your medium to get the most ROI.

The marketing tasks within the buying cycle require slightly different tactics. The buyer’s mindset varies depending on where he is in this cycle:

• Phase 1: Determining solutions for a business problem or need
• Phase 2: Researching and evaluating the provider to deliver that solution
• Phase 3: Choosing the provider

In Phase 1, the prospect is sparked by a need. Maybe their technology is outdated or they’re expanding and need to add to their existing systems. Or maybe they’re unhappy with the current solution they’re using. For whatever reason, they’re in the market for something new and different.

The prospect starts by doing research on the solution. They begin with brands they know, which is why image advertising is still essential. Ongoing advertising contributes to top of the mind awareness. And, according to a 2011 Gartner study, advertising is still the most influential medium for building awareness.

Once the prospect has narrowed down his product/service choices, he investigates the solutions providers who could deliver what he wants—exploring pricing, availability, warranties, and service. Most often in today’s marketplace, this step happens online, with the majority of buyers utilizing the convenience of the Web to check out companies. So, your website had better quickly and clearly differentiate your value proposition!

The buyer then contacts a few providers. This process starts online but usually ends up with a phone call or, depending on logistics and the dollar value of the sale, face to face. The quality of the sales contact is critical here. All the investment in advertising (for Phase 1) and the online presence (Phase 2) could be a waste if the salesperson doesn’t listen and respond to the needs of the buyer.

At every point in the buying cycle, be aware of your marketing and sales activities. Overall, they should work as a value chain, with each link as strong as the last and the next. Don’t allow a weak link to break the chain!