Dance With Strangers

Last year at SXSW a few of us had a little fun with a game we call B.S. Bingo. You take a bingo card and you add the most popular “lingo” that you might hear during an event like SXSW, specifically the Interactive portion. Below is the 2010 version, enjoy and remember it is all in fun. Big thanks to so many of you on Twitter/Buzz who helped populate this year’s SXSWi bingo card:

Download the SXSWi Bingo Card.

Linkedin in is a powerful tool for B2B sales enablement, engagement and prospecting. This is a presentation given to our global sales force at BreakingPoint on how to use the capabilities of LinkedIn to move from being an online resume to online resource.

From time to time I’m asked about social media guidelines for a company. Typically the person is putting something together and an executive has quite smartly stated that the employees need some guidelines. Now the original statement they made may have even said the dreaded “r” word, but either way the goal here is pretty straight forward. Or at least it should be. Your ultimate goal in creating social media guidelines is:

To produce a thorough but easily readable document that provides all employees a practical guide on how to interact within the context of social networks realizing that they are employed by said company.

Let’s break those down a bit further.

Thorough

• The social media guidelines should include as much of what people SHOULD be talking about as what they SHOULD NOT be talking about.
• The guidelines should take into account all facets of social media ranging from blogging and Twitter to posting online photos, audio clips and geo-location services.
• The guidelines should have some language approved by your legal department, but it should also be vetted through HR, sales, marketing, PR, exec leadership and others. This is a document for the entire company.

Easily Readable

• This may read as “short” to you, but that is not necessarily the case. It could also mean it is designed well or broken into well thought out chunks.
• Social media guidelines should be easily accessible to all employees.
• You do not have to publish your social media guidelines for the whole world to see. It is not frowned upon, but don’t think you have to reveal everything to everyone.
• Think about providing your guidelines in other formats such as video, audio or cheat-sheets to tack to cubicle walls.

Practical Guide

How to Interact

• Be respectful
• Be honest
• Be helpful

Social media guidelines are not rocket science, but they should provide people with a clear guide on how to participate in social media.

Thanks to Jim Storer for the inspiration needed for this post.

It’s event season for most B2B companies, particularly in the technology world. In the next six weeks I’ll be going to a bunch of shows for BreakingPoint, mainly to demo our cyber simulation capabilities to folks. As you prep for your upcoming schedule of events how are you telling your community that you will be out and about? Couple of suggestions:

• Blog about the events you are attending, why and what you will be doing at the event.
• Set up Twitter searches for the show names or hashtags, connect with people talking about the event.
• Post events to LinkedIn (groups and their actual event feature).
• Send out an email to segments who may be attending certain shows with an offer (we have a super cool t-shirt).

If you don’t tell people you are going to be someplace, don’t be surprised if they fail to show up.

The other day I got an email from Pam O’Neal (my Vice President of Marketing, for those of you new to our adventures here) telling me to check out an article in Washington Technology on using social media to connect to the top contractors, agencies and influential companies in the government space. Not only was Pam pointing out the article as a resource for us at BreakingPoint, but also how the author used LinkedIn at the end of his article.

Mark Amtower, the author, is a B2G marketing consultant and his resolution for 2010 was to be connected to at least one person, preferably three, at each of the top companies listed by Washington Technology by the end of March. Aggressive, most certainly. But Mark is a smart man obviously because he understands how to harness the interconnectedness of social media. Just head to the end of the article and presto, a hyperlink to Mark’s LinkedIn profile.

Nothing amazing at this point though, right? The magic actually didn’t happen until I connected with Mark on LinkedIn, that is when the addition of resourceful content, as usual, made it’s mark.

Within minutes of connecting with Mark there was a personalized response to me in my inbox. How do I know it was personal and not a really great form response? Pam had connected with Mark about an hour before and the emails were completely different. Nice touch. But here comes the move that I found to be brilliant; two invites to join groups that Mark had set up on LinkedIn, both extremely focused and full of resources.

Mark had gone from a random contact to a source of information in minutes and someone I was really looking forward to talking with and probably talking with about his services. Ultimately that was his goal through his resolution and he is making it happen by using some of the social media principles we have discussed here on the blog. But let’s rehash:

1. Be Accessible–Include links to where people can find you.
2. Integrate Social Media–Make sure you are integrating social into your byline articles, events, emails, etc.
3. Be Personable–There is a strong connection built quickly with personal communication.
4. Provide Resources, Not Promotions–Mark didn’t push me to a website that touted his skills, he introduced me to groups that can help me with my job.

Content is king and social media is the way to spread the word. Let’s all use Mark’s example as a social media best practice, whether for B2C, B2B or B2G.

Oh, and you can connect with me on LinkedIn too.

One thing will make you a better writer, besides actually writing, and that is reading. I’ve been trying to read a new book each week, which certainly has been difficult given the recent work schedule, speaking schedule and holiday schedule. Although I may be falling behind my goal of four books in December I have finished three and each really made me thing more intensely about my own writing.

The books were vastly different reads. I started with Barbra Kingsolver’s The Lacuna: A Novel, where the first person memoir aspect, mixed with third person recapturing can often challenge the reader. As with some challenging writing, if you stick with the author the payoff can be hugely entertaining and in this case moving. After finishing, as I do with every book finished, I reread the first fifty pages. In this case, I found myself learning more about the lead character, specifically about their relationships with people of prominence and how that altered his own life’s success. After digesting the novel and looking back at my 2009 writings it was obvious that I had started to get lazy in my layering approach for writing. This isn’t simply a call to have longer posts, but to write more stories that take the reader into the mindset of what I’m trying to convey.

After Kingslover I moved to one of my favorite authors, Chuck Klosterman and Eating the Dinosaur. Klosterman is a critic at heart, and all great critics, no matter their genre, can ask questions. Throughout each of his book, but I think most notably this latest collection, Klosterman comes at the reader with questions they probably thought of in some form or another, or at least it feels that way when you read it on the page for the first time. The whole book is a critical examination of various topics ranging from Kurt Cobain, ABBA, “the wildcat” and how Barack Obama is responsible for a thirst for Pepsi. The opinions can at one time be hilarious (Pepsi and Mad Men) and in the next moment infuriating (Kurt Cobain and Branch Davidians). But no matter what is written, it is done with zero hint of remorse nor apology. Too often in 2009 I didn’t write many of the posts that perhaps I wanted to write because it might have offended some folks, but when I did they were my most read and most commented posts. No more apologies.

Finally, I just finished Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. Everyone should read this book and I’m glad that I read it now this “late” in my own life. Reading it forces you to think about the world, and your existence within its confines, differently. Hawking is a certifiable genius and examines aspects of the world that should not be visited casually. Throughout he not only introduces serious theories around quantum physics, but does it in a way that allows anyone to understand. That, in itself, is an accomplishment, but what I find the most compelling and helpful for my own writing, is that he does it without demeaning the reader. All too often, when I re-read my work from 2009, I over explain simple concepts, which I think can frustrate the reader.

Reading makes me a better writer. What makes you a better writer?

This past Friday at around 9am I was sitting in the passenger seat of our car while my wife did her best Mario Andretti through the curvy roads of the Texas Hill Country. Our mission was to reach the ER since I had suddenly come down with a very bad allergic reaction to antibiotics I was on and it felt as if my throat was constricting along with the rest of my body. Fortunately for me nothing serious did happen and once they stuck that Epi into my left arm and filled my IV up with a bunch of steroids I was on my way back to normal. By the time we were driving back home, this time obeying the speed limits, I was just annoyed at how I had lost most of my day and the fact that my mind was so cloudy that doing work in the afternoon seemed impossible.

The latter part proved to be true. The mix of anti-histamine, epinephrine and steroids created this odd sense of being tired, but every time you close your eyes all you see is bright flashing lights. Thus sleep was not an option and I sat downstairs in my new favorite chair while my wife worked out of her home office upstairs. Little did I know she was about to give me a terrific reminder of how our jobs have shifted in marketing.

Phone call after phone call I listened to her tell folks about a job opportunity within her company. The details don’t truly matter, rather it’s the fact that the people who do this job perform it basically at no pay, have to look after teenage students from foreign countries and deal with host parents. Sounds really great huh? Well after you listen to my wife tell the story of this position you might be submitting an application immediately.

Marketing, and selling, is about telling a story. It is not about regurgitating a messaging platform or a tagline (although those serve as building blocks). They story you tell about your product or service must be entertaining, personalized, seemingly original everytime and easily weave in the paing points you are feeling every minute of every day. Sitting downstairs I must have heard my wife make eight phone calls, each one had a different yet similar story, but there were always some common traits:

1. A measured cadence.
2. Inserting key pain points throughout the story, not simply at the beginning.
3. No reliance on a script.
4. Ability to recognize when to stop talking and start listening.
5. You tell the story from your own perspective, not the company’s.
6. Sound bites throughout which are ideal for the audience to write down for later review.
7. Confidence in each and every word.
8. Accurate use of analogies in order to ensure your story is understood.
9. Admitting when you don’t know the answer, but assuring the person they will have that answer immediately after the story is done.
10. Ending the story by leaving them wanting more of the story.

Great marketers and sales personnel, no matter the industry, are good at their jobs because they most likely had all of the skills listed above, plus more. As a B2B marketer you need to be an even better story teller than the sales force, since your job is to generate leads for the sales force. By the time you pass the lead into the funnel they have bought into the story, now they want to get into the product details and negotiation.

Have you listened to different people inside your company tell the story? Besides other marketers? Besides sales? No?

Get up and go talk to the engineers that designed the product, your CTO who co-founded the company, the CEO who has to tell the story each quarter to the Board, the COO, accounting and more. Each of these folks have been told what the tagline and the value proposition is for the company, but how do they actually tell the story? You’ll be surprised how much you will learn and how must stronger a storyteller it will make you.

As a kid I loved watching the NBC pre-game show for their coverage of the National Football League (NFL) and for years I simply figured it was nostalgia of a time when I was falling in love with football. Bill Simmons, a columnist for ESPN.com, shed a bit more light into my memory of NBC’s coverage showing how pre-game shows in the 80s and early 90s were made up of a couple of people giving full on analysis of the upcoming games. This weekend turn on CBS, Fox, NBC or ESPN and you’ll see four, five and even six people all sitting behind a desk talking football. These panels of analysts shed little light on the actual football game and end up being confusing and wholly void of entertainment.

Sitting in the audience watching panels at conferences has become a similar experience. Typically these panels are comprised of three to four subject matter experts and a moderator; at BlogWorld Expo I saw panels with four and five people, plus the moderator. Many of the participants on the panels were smart individuals and people that I have known or read for years. Yet in the panel setting they simply could not provide valuable information. When you have that many people on a panel you create inefficiency and the negative results include:

• Quick sound bites that do not provide useful information and leave you wanting more details.
• One panelist who hijacks the conversation.
• No time for questions and answers.
• A group of people agreeing with one another, or if there are disagreements, no time to truly have a fruitful debate.

It is hard to create a solid panel these days, particularly in the social media echo chamber, but it is not impossible. Having participated in and moderated panels I’ve made many of the mistakes above, but hopefully learned some lessons along the way. After sitting on the B2B Social Media Panel at BlogWorld I started to jot down five rules for creating a solid panel for a conference (many of which Kipp Bodnar, our moderator, achieved):

1. Choose Strangers:

The easiest way to get a panel together is to gather people you already know, perhaps colleagues or friends. Unfortunately this creates a panel filled with people agreeing with one another and providing many comments that are inside jokes. Additionally you start seeing, and hearing, the same people saying the same things at different conferences. By choosing strangers you eliminate these dangers, introduce some fresh blood into the process and potentially providing the audience, and the moderator, with some surprises. A stranger, of course, isn’t someone you simply pull off the street. Look for a blogger you have read for a long time or a contemporary at a competitor. The resources are out there, so make the effort to put together a group of people who are not intimately familiar with one another.

2. Choose Proven Experts:

The key word, as always, is “proven”. Thought leaders without practical experience on the topic at hand are immediately discounted by the audience. Too often, panels are full of smart people who love to provide businesses advice, yet have never sat in the same chairs of their audience. People want to hear about what the panelists have learned after implementing programs or practices, the good and the bad. They do not what to hear from panelists who have great creative ideas but have never actually done the work themselves. This is a familiar call here at Dance With Strangers, but remember to pick people who have dirt on their hands.

3. Create an Outline, Not a Script:

Being prepared is paramount of course, but going too far will create a static round of questions and prepared answers. Provide your panelists with details on the topic and how you will structure the conversation, how you want them to introduce themselves and perhaps the kick-off question. Otherwise keep it loose and you are going to provide the audience with a more entertaining conversation and you will also keep your panelists on their toes throughout.

4. Keep Your Panelists On Their Toes:

Now be careful here, your panelists have agreed to do this panel for you, so you’re not in the business of putting them on the hot seat. If that is your goal you should suggest a one-on-one or debate-style presentation. However, you do want panelists who are engaged throughout the session and provide them with questions that energize their answers before they even start speaking. The first start is what I mentioned above and not scripting out the conversation, but the other element is steering the direction of the conversation in a way that was perhaps not expected, but you know will be more helpful for the audience.

5. Read Your Audience, Not Your Twitter Feed:

A few weeks ago Jeremiah Owyang argued that we need to integrate social into our presentations whether they are keynotes, panels or something in between. The reason many give is that you need to be able to answer questions being asked on Twitter or redirect the conversation based on critiques being voiced online. As long as you can see the audience this is wholly unnecessary and in fact creates a panel and moderator that seems disinterested. During BlogWorld Expo I saw panelists typing away on their iPhones or laptops and on several instances needed to ask the moderator to repeat a question because they were so busy Tweeting. However, while at the MILCOM show in Boston a few days later I sat in on panels that were also discussing social media, this time the use within the military, and the panelists looked the audience in the eyes the entire session. It makes a huge difference! If you want to gather questions from Twitter you can do that at the end very quickly. Put down the iPhone folks and provide the audience with the information they came to hear.

Agree? Disagree? Did I miss something?

Customer success/reference programs are always one of the most challenging initiatives at any organization.  Anytime you are trying to coordinate multiple internal resources along with external constituencies, it makes for an interesting assignment.  The surprising thing is that so many organizations handle this one task differently, from who owns it, to how it is done, and what (if anything) the customers get out of it.  I have started a number of customer programs for different companies and have debated best practices with all levels of any given organization.  A customer reference program is often something that everybody in the organization wants, and can benefit from, but the question of ownership is always the elephant in the room.

Sales is often focused on moving product and talking to prospects, so they are often the customers of reference programs, but don’t want to own and administer a program.  Services are focused on implementations and utilization.  Again, not the ideal owners for this problem.  Most organizations have a sales operations staff, but again, they have bigger fish to fry in training and preparing sales staff, so a reference program may not get the proper attention that it needs.  This leads us to the marketing group (more specifically, the marketing communications or PR staff).  When you think about the end goal and the fact that marketing can use reference material in a variety of ways, it just makes sense that they own it.  When you can develop case studies, video testimonials, podcasts, and have media/analyst references, it is a natural for marketing to own this program and administer it for the entire organization.

A good reference program provides immense benefits to the organization.  In addition to the items mentioned above, you also have customer quotes, and sales references, and collateral that help drive new prospects, and more importantly new sales.  There are a lot of pitfalls with reference programs, and it is easy for them to stray off course.  Some tips that can help make for a successful program are:

1. Make sure that a reference program is properly staffed.  If you have employees that are trying to operate a proper reference program while also trying to do their day jobs, you are welcoming things to slip through the cracks.  These programs are important.  They are the lifeblood of supporting numerous sales and marketing activities, plan accordingly and have someone dedicated to making sure that things are done right.
2. Reward your customers for their time and energy.  Make sure that there is something “in it” for your customers.  These people are taking time out of their schedules to help your organization.  They need more than a “thank you” and a pat on the back.  Many organizations put some kind of incentives in place, whether it’s discounted services and maintenance, or specific rewards, or a points based reward system that lets customers participate in marketing activities, and rewards them for each instance – make sure that you are doing something for your customers, even if you just send them a gift basket.  If they can’t accept gifts, then make a charitable donation on their behalf.
3. Make sure that a program has the internal support that it needs to be successful.  This is usually the biggest obstacle, because it means budget.  Once management realizes that the return of reference programs helps fuel and support the new business pipeline, then you should have a good chance of securing the proper resources.  If the organization has trouble seeing the benefit of this program, see if you can get a pilot program in place.  If that doesn’t work, then you need to either get creative or your marketing programs will become more challenging, especially when you start hearing the question, “Can I speak with one of your customers?”

Everyone wins with a customer reference program.  While it may be challenge to get it up and running, it is worth all of the trouble because the benefits are felt throughout the organization.  With an effective program in place, the sales team has references for prospect call; marketing has customers to brief media and analysts, participate in Webinars, videos, podcasts, and speaking opportunities, as well as awards opportunities; and the events team can have customers to participate in panels and customer events.  The companies that make great impressions on prospects do it through the work they do with their customers.

Today’s great customer stories help bring tomorrow’s customers in the door.  At the end of the day, it is one of the oldest, simplest concepts, but it is still the most effective.

URL shortening tools are a godsend for those of us who have been curtailed to a 140 character limit in life, saving valuable space on Twitter and other social networks. Size, however, is really not the most important element of the URL shortening tool, especially not for B2B marketers. Instead you need to be looking at it’s impact on your search engine optimization (SEO) and it’s level of analytics for measurement purposes. Ultimately you can use short URLs to boost your SEO and measure lead generation, the key is in the features provided and knowing what to look for out of your URL tool.

URL Shortening and SEO
Effective B2B SEO must be a passion and the way in which you dictate your URLs can go a long way in helping you optimize your key word. Check out what I can do when using BudURL:

Custom URL

In this case I’m minimizing a URL from the BreakingPoint blog and attaching our most important keyword to the short URL. Now whenever this URL is shared it will attach itself to our keyword and redirect to a page that has been optimized for that keyword. Although this is a win for SEO, it also helps you tell people more quickly where your short URL is going to take them if they click. This is becoming more important as we see malicious activity around short URLs. Use descriptive words to customize your URL in order to give you a SEO boost and help the people you are trying to reach.

Additionally in the realm of SEO and short URLs the choice to perform a 301 permanent redirect (versus the more typical 307 temporary redirect) can be very helpful. Again, BudURL:

301 redirects are better for SEO and actually Page Rank because search engines will assume that the destination URL will not be altered and they may actually cache the URL. On the negative side however it may also be cached by proxy servers and end up messing with your overall analytics, specifically click counts. The nice thing about BudURL is that they allow me to choose 301 or 307. Most of the time I use 301 redirects, since the page is not going to change and SEO is critical. However, I do use 307 once in a while for special campaigns that I know are for a limited time and therefore I want more accurate data around click counts. The key is to have the option and choose what is right for you, rather than simply using a generic service that offers you no choice.

Short URLs and the Power of Measurment
The beauty of services like BudURL is that they provide a plethora of data around click-through, IP address, browsers and more. Combine that with your web analytics and back-end it with your CRM system and you have a very powerful tool. Recently one of the web analytics packages we use, GetClicky, launched their own URL shortening service. The company even joked on their blog that this seemed a bit crazy since there are hundreds of options out there already. However, using a Clicky.me URL I not only get the custom URL option as before, it integrates completely into my web analysis dashboard and I can dive into individual short URLs:

Now I can see not only how many folks clicked on the link, but how much time they spent on the site, average actions, what search term they used to find the link, what site referred them and more. When you scroll down you also see each individual IP address AND all the action those folks took on the site, including if they reached any of your business goals. Ultimately we have back ended the process into SalesForce.com and can track the success of short URLs on our business.

They may be tiny, but short URLs are a highly powerful B2B marketing tool when you know what to look for out of your service.