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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Top 10 Negotiation Stories of 2012


I especially liked the strategies used in #6. The Chen Guangcheng Crisis and 5. Talks with North Korea



Top 10 Negotiation Stories of 2012

December 21, 2012
Edited by: , filed in: Negotiation Skills
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Top 10 Negotiation Stories of 2012
Here’s a recap of some of the most interesting and challenging negotiations of 2012 – some of which are ongoing:
10. Disney’s Purchase of Lucasfilm
On October 30, the Walt Disney Company made a surprise announcement that it was acquiring Lucasfilm, home of the immensely successful Star Wars brand, from its founder, George Lucas, for $4.05 billion, split evenly between stock and cash. Lucas is the sole shareholder in his company.
The acquisition bolsters Disney’s status as a leader in animation and superhero films and gives it the opportunity to reap huge earnings from the already lucrative Star Wars media and merchandising empire. Disney promised to begin producing and releasing new films in the Star Wars franchise every two or three years. The acquisition even included a detailed script treatment for the next three Star Wars films.
The 68-year old Lucas decided to sell his company after beginning to plan his retirement several years ago. According to Walt Disney Chairman Robert Iger, he and Lucas conducted the negotiations personally, beginning in early 2011. Speaking of Lucas’ decision to hand over his creative legacy to Disney, Iger told the New York Times, “There was a lot of trust there.”
9. Apple and U.S. Book Publishers
On April 12, 2012 the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Apple and five major U.S. publishers for colluding to raise the prices of ebooks. Three of the publishers settled the suit; two others and Apple have been unwilling to settle.
By January 2010, the publishers negotiated a new business model for ebook pricing with Apple as it prepared to launch the iPad: in exchange for a 30% sales commission, Apple would let the publishers set their own prices for ebooks. For the publishers, this pricing model appeared to be a vast improvement on their wholesaling arrangement with Amazon. After at least one of the publishers threatened to delay release of its digital editions, Amazon reluctantly replaced its flat $9.99 price for ebooks with Apple’s model, and prices rose industry-wide to about $14.99 on average.
The DOJ’s lawsuit suggests that the negotiators and attorneys involved may have neglected to thoroughly analyze whether their agreement would truly create value for consumers—and thus whether it fell within the parameters of U.S. antitrust law. In the flush of hammering out a deal that appears to create synergy for everyone involved, negotiators sometimes neglect to consider how their agreement could affect outsiders, an oversight with ethical and legal implications.
8. The Chicago Teachers’ Strike
After being elected mayor of Chicago in February 2011, Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s former chief of staff, took a series of actions that alienated Chicago schoolteachers, such as rescinding a promised pay raise and lobbying the Illinois state legislature for an education-reform that limited the issues the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) could negotiate and strike over.
In mid-2012, failed contract negotiations between the CTU and the City of Chicago led to a 10-day strike. The CTU and the school board eventually reached an agreement that provided victories for both sides, including a longer school day and annual teacher raises.
When a conflict looms, it can be tempting to try to make unilateral decisions on key issues for fear that negotiation with the other side will be a dead end. This strategy may pay off in the short term, but it’s important to factor in the long-term cost of a backlash. 
7. The Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement
In early February, following months of difficult negotiations, the attorneys general of 49 states and the Obama administration reached a settlement agreement with five of the nation’s largest banks aimed at stabilizing the U.S. housing market and punishing the banks for foreclosure abuses, theNew York Times reports.
Some analysts cheered the agreement as a positive sign that the country was beginning to move on from the housing crisis. But others criticized it for helping only a fraction of affected homeowners. The negotiations reflect the difficulty of balancing multiple goals in complex multiparty talks—a challenge that stronger communication and negotiation within each party could help to resolve.
6. The Chen Guangcheng Crisis
The Obama administration’s powers of diplomacy were put to the test this spring when Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng made a dramatic escape from house arrest to the American Embassy in Beijing on the eve of the United States and China’s annual negotiations on strategic and economic issues.
Negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials involving Chen’s fate were conducted under top secrecy, at the Chinese government’s insistence. Only after Chen decided he wanted to leave China for the United States did Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton broach the topic of his fate with her Chinese counterparts, and even then she did so indirectly. Within hours, the Timesreports, the Chinese announced that Chen had been granted permission to study in New York.
“Face is more important in Asian society than any contract,” one senior American officials told theTimes, emphasizing China’s need to keep the sensitive negotiations under wraps and speak only indirectly about ChenThe talks illustrate the potential value of adapting to your counterpart’s negotiating style in international negotiations.
5. Talks with North Korea
Beginning in 2011, the United States negotiated for many months with the erratic, secretive leadership of North Korea. The drawn-out talks began in the era of Kim Jong-il and, after his death, resumed under the new regime of his son Kim Jong-un.
On February 29, the countries announced an agreement in which North Korea promised to freeze its enriched-uranium weapons program and its long-range-missile activities in exchange for large amounts of U.S. food aid. But just 17 days later, North Korea sabotaged the deal by announcing plans to launch a satellite using a long-range missile. On April 13, North Korea launched its rocket, which exploded in midair.
When dealing with untrustworthy counterparts, it can be worthwhile to negotiate a “test” agreement within which you make only a few concessions, but be sure the consequences of reneging are explicit to the other party. Prepare for the potential consequences of a broken deal, including damage to your reputation.
4. Iran’s Nuclear Option
In a White House meeting on March 5, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed skepticism that international pressure will succeed in convincing Iran’s leaders to halt the country’s nuclear program. Netanyahu reportedly told President Barack Obama that the West should not reopen negotiations with Iran until it agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, according to the New York Times.
Obama is said to have disagreed, saying this condition would doom talks from the start. He urged Netanyahu to give economic sanctions and diplomacy a chance to work before considering military action. Meanwhile, some Republicans expressed impatience with the notion that U.S. negotiations with Iran could be effective.
Instead of writing off a negotiation with someone you deem to be evil, irrational, or unethical on principle, advises Program on Negotiation chair Robert Mnookin, thoroughly analyze the decision regarding whether to negotiate, including the potential costs and benefits. Examine factors such as your interests, the other side’s interests, your alternatives to the negotiation, the shape of a potential deal, the various costs you might incur, and the likelihood that you can successfully follow through on a deal.
3. The European Debt Crisis
On June 5, another casualty in the European debt crisis emerged, as Spain announced that  it soon would be unable to borrow in the bond market without assistance from other European Union nations. Spain’s announcement launched unofficial negotiations over a deal to rescue the nation’s banks. As the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy, Spain was considered too big too fail. By demanding emergency aid for its banks, Spain tried to avoid the austerity measures and deep recessions faced by smaller nations such as Greece, Portugal, and Ireland.
Spain’s banking crisis underscores how the European Union has lurched from one crisis negotiation to the next. “The strategy of plugging holes only works for so long,” Friedrich Mostböck, chief economist and head of research for the Erste Group in Vienna, told the Times. “Eventually, you come to the point where a common euro area requires a common fiscal policy.”
This lack of a unified, guiding fiscal policy gave Spain and other troubled countries negotiating power—possibly at the expense of the broader European economy. The situation illustrates the value of establishing ground rules and policies before a crisis hits to make sure that you are playing on a level, fair field.
2. The Conflict in Syria
On August 2, former U.S. secretary general Kofi Annan announced he was resigning as the special peace envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League to the conflict in Syria. The peaceful uprising against President Bashar Assad that began in early 2011 has since exploded into a civil war.
Annan had negotiated a proposal that called for the Syrian government to withdraw heavy weapons and troops from populated areas and for opposition fighters to disarm. The proposal also detailed a process for political transition that included replacing Assad. Assad vowed to abide by the peace plan, but his government never took steps to implement it; nor did the rebels put down their weapons.
Annan had received unanimous backing from the U.N. Security Council, but Russia and China, which had veto power, opposed additional coercive measures that might have imposed a change of government by outside powers or foreign military intervention. The United States, Britain, and France clashed with Russia and China on the issue.
Insufficient pre-negotiation with Security Council members prior to the drafting of Annan’s proposal may have contributed to the international conflict over the terms of the deal and its implementation. Annan’s resignation underscores the importance of securing a mandate to negotiate from one’s constituents before engaging in a significant negotiation or conflict-resolution effort.
1. The Fiscal Cliff
Soon after his reelection, Obama signaled some flexibility on the issue of whether tax rates for affluent Americans should go up as part of a negotiated plan with Congressional Republicans to reduce the deficit and avoid the “fiscal cliff.” But weeks later, Obama did an about face, saying he would insist on higher tax rates for on top earners.
Many Republicans in Congress have said they would not support a tax increase for any Americans. In early December, however, some Republican leaders reportedly were weighing a “fallback position”—legislation to extend middle-class tax cuts while delaying more difficult negotiations over spending and taxes until late January or February 2013.
The Republicans’ search for a compromise reflects their relatively weak BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement, as compared to that of the Democrats. Polls suggest most Americans supported tax increases for the top 2% and would blame Republicans more than Democrats if the country went over the fiscal cliff. Moreover, the cliff itself was a better BATNA for Congressional Democrats than for their Republican counterparts, as the spending cuts and Clinton-era tax codes that would be triggered are less onerous to Democrats than Republicans.
In their most important negotiations, business negotiators would be wise to spend a great deal of time thinking about what would happen in the event of impasse in the current negotiation—and looking for ways to make their BATNA better.

Negotiation Strategies Simplified 1


At the negotiation table, discuss the benefits of viewing each other as collaborators rather than arch enemies. 

Monday, December 31, 2012

10 Reasons Why Public Relations is a ‘Must-do’ for SEO in 2013


10 Reasons Why Public Relations is a ‘Must-do’ for SEO in 2013

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Many people today recognize that search engine optimization (SEO) and public relations (PR) have much to offer each other.
The latest Google changes have put a real emphasis on high quality, unique content that is linked to by quality sites. And this is where real public relations – as opposed to crappy news release distribution – can play such a crucial role.
There are real opportunities for great business. What follows are 10 reasons why SEOs should really get to grips with PR in 2013, based on my conversations with the people who are making the two work together.

1. The PR Industry is Definitely ‘Getting it’

Most of us who have been in link building for a while have in the past experienced a certain degree of frostiness from the PR industry. But that is clearly changing and people are breaking out of silos.
Mike Cherenson is a former Chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and is EVP of Success Communications Group. He sees the importance of SEO and link building.
“Authentic and relevant link building, aimed at driving engagement, informing publics and building mutually beneficial relationships should be a part of every public relations and SEO effort," Cherenson said.
But not only should link building be a part of every public relations effort, public relations also has much to offer SEO.
“Public relations professionals are skilled storytellers and content generators and should be a part of every SEO effort," he said. "The future of SEO is not in the technology, it’s in the ability to tell stories that readers and Google will find interesting… and that’s public relations.”
And Cherenson understands the value of linking.
“Links need to provide value to the reader," he said. "Media will be more likely to link to content that is compelling and provides information that goes beyond the original reporting.”
Another PR professional is Ken Deutsch, EVP of JPA, a healthcare communications firm and a seasoned specialist in public affairs.
His company takes SEO and link building very seriously. But that’s still not the case throughout the industry.
“Many PR people stop at getting media coverage and think their job is done. They get a placement in the New York Times but they don’t follow up to make sure a link is put in. So they’re not taking advantage of the SEO side of the story.”
And while many media outlets provide links, there are some that don’t link out as a matter of policy.
That influences the targets he goes after, “because they don’t put links in, it’s not worth putting as much energy into getting placement there.”

2. There is a Tremendous Synergy Between SEO and PR

Putting it simply, SEO enhances a press release. Use popular keywords and the press release, never mind any stories it generates will continue to bring search engine traffic. And the editorial links the press release generates bring direct click-throughs and lead to higher rankings.
Public relations enhances SEO by focusing on what’s newsworthy, crafting a great story, finding editorial opportunities, getting coverage and building relationships with reporters and editors. And of course, they got the negotiation skills to ask for a link without really asking for a link.
“PR helps SEO directly by increasing branded traffic," said Lindsey Kirchoff, a Media and Speaker Relations specialist at HubSpot.com. "We always see a bump in branded traffic after a big campaign! Indirectly, PR helps SEO generate inbound links from quality sources that not only gets first-touch exposure to new audiences, but credibility in the eyes of search engines.
“SEO grounds PR with hard, measurable data. PR has always been notoriously difficult to pin down, but SEO adds hard numbers to the equation. I also think that SEO allows PR to be less isolated from the rest of the team – sometimes PR can feel like an island. SEO helps PR connect their work to the rest of the company's business goals.
“Finally, SEO establishes credibility for PR for keywords. You look much more credible to a news source if you come up high for the term they are reporting on!”

3. Editorial Links Bring a Big SEO Boost

Most PR links are extreme quality links, according to Jordan Brannon, the SEO guy at Coalition Technologies. Why? "Because getting them is not a free for all – you have to earn your media placements,” he said.
But the rewards are worth the effort.
“If you get 200 high quality editorial links, it’s worth more that 20,000 low quality links,” Brannon said.
However, most reporters work to a deadline and you have to be swift in your response to get in.
“Most editorial opportunities are time sensitive and you need to act quickly. That means you need to have the authority to reply on the client’s behalf," Brannon added. "And you have to have an email account on your client’s domain – it’s not good saying you’re a marketing agency.”
Will Marlow was formerly a Press Secretary for two congressmen before founding a company that specializes in search engine marketing. He knows that to get those all-important editorial links, sticking to deadlines is crucial.
“You need to understand that you’re dealing with someone who has a hard deadline. It’s like a train going by in the night and there’s one open boxcar that can take you wherever you want to go," Marlow said. "But jump too early and the reporter won’t write about you: jump too late and the reporter won’t write about you. You got to get it just right.”
And it’s not unusual to miss opportunities.
“If an SEO was learning from any PR guy, they would all have stories about how they missed opportunities because someone internally didn’t get back to them or didn’t give the reporter what they need," Marlow said. “If the reporter wants to talk to the CEO and the CEO is playing golf, then you’re not going to get the story. So you’ve got to collaborate with people within the company and make sure that the right people are available.”

4. There’s a Big Cascade Effect

Journalists will often quote, comment or enlarge upon other journalist’s work. Bloggers are also constantly citing other stories.
So if you get your story covered in one prominent media outlet, you’ll quickly see a cascade of similar stories and links spring up.
You’ll get links you never even asked for.
Miranda Miller wrote about How Google Rakes In Over $100 Million in Search Advertising Daily, based on research from Larry Kim of WordStream.
In writing that report, Kim was directly targeting the Wall Street Journal for a link – and succeeded. The story really benefited from the cascade effect and attracted coverage and links from literally hundreds of quality media outlets.

5. You Win Bragging Rights For Your Client

Clients just love to write “As featured in ..." on their website, whether its the Washington Post, Inc. Magazine, or whatever.
That builds consumer trust in their brand and makes it more likely they’ll buy.
And you also increase trust from other reporters. If you’ve already been quoted or covered by a respected publication, then other reporters will think you’re a safe bet to write about, too.

6. PR Skills Can be Learned – or at Least Understood – Easily

Kirchoff has this advice for SEOs who know little about PR:
“SEO experts should think of PR as a way to build strong referral links – something that should be on their radar already. If you have a PR expert in the office, start by taking them out to lunch and chatting. After all, PR is all about building relationships.”
But of course, learning about public relations will help you understand the process – but it might teach you that there’s a lot you don’t know. If that’s the case you might do better to partner with a PR resource.

7. It’s Easy to Partner With an Up and Coming PR Person

Mona Moore is an SEO who has teamed up with a small PR company, Hepner Communications, to pitch their services together.
“I think SEOs are always so focused on getting those links back to the client, we sometimes forget how important it is to nurture those long-term relationships necessary to continue working with specific media outlets,” Moore explained. “And PR reps are great at finding opportunities - but, they don't always take full advantage of those opportunities from an organic SEO standpoint. By working together, SEOs and PR people are able to maximize exposure to a higher level than either of those entities by itself.
Joel Gross, who works with Brannon at Coalition Technologies, describes himself as the SEO tech guy.
“I know how to build and code websites so that they are search engine friendly, and I understand that in order to achieve visibility and revenue for our clients we need to build high quality links and work in tandem with traditional and social media," Gross said. “I know what needs to be done, but Jordan is able to bring in the creative aspect and wow factor that is needed in order to gain the attention and keep it focused where it needs to be. He devises how we frame the content and package it for the consumer in the most digestible and memorable way.
“The best advice I’d give to an SEO would be to get to know your client’s people, their background and story, what’s unique about the company," Gross said. “And remember, this is news and human interest so your stories don’t always have to be selling product. You can have perfectly good story and link from a story on say, ‘work places that are pet friendly’!”

8. You’ll Build Media Contacts That You Can Use Time And Time Again

Contacts are essential both to PR people and to reporters.
“One mistake I made at the start was sending out too much poor stuff," Kim said. "Blasting out press releases is over-rated. What you need to do is get to know the reporters or bloggers you’re targeting.
“Read their articles every day, get a sense of what they’re interested in and only approach them with what you know they’ll be interested in,” Kim continued. “Start small and work your way up. Once you’ve built a relationship, they’ll start contacting you.”
He said he has found that PR is the fastest way to generate those backlinks on related industry websites, but you’ve got to go past distribution services and build your own contacts.
“We are diligent in keeping a database of related editors here," Kim said. "So we're sending press releases directly to the editors and not through a service. However, we also post the press releases to PRweb or PRnewswire to get the added Internet news site exposure (i.e., Yahoo News)."
Kim said those personal relationships increase the chances of coverage so much it’s "unreal."
"We now get lots of calls from editors who ask – is there an engineer over at such and such a company that we could talk to?" Kim said. “Now, when they see our press releases, they always read them. And they’re more likely to publish them because we’ve been helpful.
If you’re an SEO who new to PR, the best place to start is by reading the editorial guidelines of the publications you’re targeting, Kim advised. Then you know what they’re looking for and can pitch accordingly. Don’t pitch something they clearly don’t want.
And don’t forget editorial calendars – you can see months in advance what the publications are going to be covering.

9. It Strengthens and Extends Your Relationship With the Client

If you learn how to do proper public relations effectively or bring in a competent professional that you work well with, then you increase the respect your client has for your work. That can only strengthen your relationship and help ensure that they’ll stay with you.

10. It Opens up Additional Income Streams

It probably goes without saying that with the increasing interest in this area, it should offer some profitable and additional income streams to your agency.
There are tremendous publicity and quality links available through effective public relations. You’ll probably have failures to start with but if you keep at it, your skills will grow and you’ll get the benefits.
How do you cope with failures?
“I don’t believe in failures – it’s a matter of setting your expectations," Kim said. "You can’t start out and immediately get coverage on CNN. Far better to pick a local target and learn from it. Every time you do it, you have more experience. Say you approach 10 journalists and you get nothing but two reply and say I’m not interested because it’s not exactly what I do – you’ll get a better idea of what will work next time.”

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Marketing owns telephone lead qualification


Marketing owns telephone lead qualification

Marketing and Sales have long been at odds over whether it’s better to generate a large volume of leads or if it’s better to generate fewer, higher quality leads. Anyone involved in Sales or Marketing today, however, knows that the volume game is over. But the question still lingers: How do you get Marketing to deliver the high quality leads that Sales wants and expects?
While there are several ways to improve the quality of Marketing leads, I think one of the best solutions is to have Marketing manage the telephone lead qualification process. Here’s why.

Marketing Doesn’t Have Near-Term Quotas to Close Deals

The reality of Sales departments is that salespeople live quarter to quarter, and they have to hit a quota each quarter in order to stay in the good graces of their department. While this is a great incentive for keeping your sales team motivated to bring in revenue, that same incentive be counterproductive in the lead qualification process.
If a salesperson is worrying about whether their going to hit their quota for the quota, most are going to go after the low-hanging fruit or the big deals because this is what will bring in near-term revenue. It’s part of the reason that, according to a SiriusDecisions report, sales only calls 20 percent of all leads sent by Marketing.
Unfortunately, not every lead is ready to buy–or even ready to speak with a salesperson. So that prospect needs to speak with someone that can move them along the qualification process and find out more about their needs. While many companies keep this function within their Sales department, I think that Marketing is better equipped to handle this process. I think this for two reasons.
Firstly, Marketing isn’t worried about hitting near-term closed deal quotas. This allows the marketer to engage a prospect in a more open and honest conversation about their needs, purchase timeframe, budget and other factors that comprise typical qualification criteria. Beyond that, Marketing departments need to become more responsible for the quality of leads that they send to Sales. By asking Marketing to manage the qualification process, they’re intimately tied to the quality of lead they’re asking Sales to close.
In order to make this work, however, Marketing departments need to be methodical about who they hire, how they compensate and how the lead qualification process is managed–and improved. Here are four tips for managing this process.

1. Hire at the Junior Level

In any role, hiring the right person is critical. For the role of lead qualifier, you want someone energetic, competitive and willing to a lot of spend time on the phone. And you want them to junior enough to grow into a different Sales or Marketing role. Beyond that, you want someone that can really drive a phone conversation and has the inquisitive nature to to dig beneath the surface to uncover information from the prospect.

2. Compensate with a Sales-like Pay Structure

The biggest driver in increasing the quality of Marketing leads is to tie compensation to the sale. The easiest way to do that is to start them off at a base salary and offer a commission based on the total revenue of closed deals. You can also add incentives for qualification accuracy such as an additional bonus for a great Sales-accepted lead metric.

3. Decide How to Route Leads

The natural lead category breakdown is to create three buckets of leads: qualified leads, disqualified leads and leads that need to be nurtured. All of these are fairly self-explanatory but the last one is worth elaborating on. The real opportunity for shifting this role to Marketing is that you can dedicate someone to nurturing leads with a human touch. As such, there should be an intense focus on the nurturing aspect of lead qualification.

4. Improve Sales and Marketing Alignment

While this is a long-standing issue in companies across the globe, it’s a necessary area of focus for making this model work. You need Sales and Marketing to have regular meetings about lead qualification criteria to have Sales understand why Marketing is disqualifying certain leads (and to double-check that they’re not disqualifying a few hidden gems). The best way to manage this process is to have Marketing and Sales meet frequently. Start off having weekly meetings, then move to once a month afterwards.
While this is not an exhaustive list of what needs to happen, I think these are the key areas of focus. If you follow these steps, you can create a Marketing team that both drives more sales and is more accountable and better able to see its contribution to revenue.
What do you think about this approach? If you have some thoughts, I’d love for you to contact me at Software Adviceon my blog at: Marketing Should Own Lead QUalification or to simply email me directly atderek@softwareadvice.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Social Media Is a Corporate Blind Spot for B2B Execs


Social Media Is a Corporate Blind Spot for B2B Execs

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More than one-third (36%) of US executives say they either never consider (7%) or rarely consider (29%) their company's social media reputation when making important business decisions, according to a survey from Zeno Group.
B2B executives are even more likely than their B2C counterparts to ignore their company's social media reputation when considering a business decision, and they tend to be slower to respond to damaging online articles or social media posts.
Below, additional findings from the 2012 Zeno Digital Readiness Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive.
Among the executives surveyed:
  • 43% of those working for B2B companies say they either never consider (10%) or rarely consider (33%) their social media reputation when making a business decision, whereas 57% either always consider (21%) or sometimes consider (36%) social media when making a decision.
  • 30% of those working for B2C brands say they either never consider (1%) or rarely consider (29%) consider their social media reputation when making a business decision, whereas 70% either always consider (35%) or sometimes consider (35%) social media when making a decision.

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Moreover, B2Bs are slower than B2Cs to respond to negative online content.
When confronted with a damaging article or social-media post, 43% of B2B execs say they believe their firms can respond effectively within a 24-hour period, compared with 63% of B2C execs who say the same:
Some 13% of B2B execs say their firm would not engage an audience online at all to defend its reputation, compared with only 6% of B2C execs who say the same.
Execs in larger firms (those with more than 10,000 employees) are more likely than smaller firms (fewer than 10,000 employees) to say they always or sometimes consider their company's social media reputation (71% vs. 55%): 
Similarly, the findings by company size in terms of revenue show that larger firms (with revenue of $10 billion or more) are more likely than smaller ones (less than $5 billion in revenue) to respond within 24 hours to a damaging issue online (63% vs. 42%).
Geography also plays a role in social readiness. Execs in the northeast are far more likely than those in the western region of the US to be concerned about their company's social media reputation (72% vs. 49%).
About the data: The Zeno Digital Readiness Survey was conducted online among 300 US corporate executives (VPs, CEOs, presidents, and chairmen) at companies with revenue of $1 billion or more, by Harris Interactive, October 4-11, 2012.


Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2012/9718/social-media-is-a-corporate-blind-spot-for-b2b-execs#ixzz2FPvsEG3K

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Six Crucial Steps of a Successful Lead Nurturing Campaign


Six Crucial Steps of a Successful Lead Nurturing Campaign

Industrial marketers know that not every engagement opportunity they uncover will result in a hot prospect ready to buy. In fact, studies show that 70 percent of new business can come from long term leads, those prospects that are in the early stages of their buy cycles when they first engage with your company, but will be ready to make a purchase decision at some time in the future.
Your challenge is to keep these prospects in the fold and your company at the top of their minds so that they turn to you first when they are ready to buy. The way to do this is through lead nurturing campaigns.
If your company uses any kind of marketing automation program, you’re probably already familiar with setting up, executing, and tracking lead nurturing (or drip-marketing) campaigns. If not, you can still build and deploy an effective campaign by following these six steps.
1. Define your audience segment. The first step is to define the audience that will be included in your lead nurturing campaign. If all of your company’s prospects are alike, then all new leads might be put into a general lead nurturing campaign. But if you have specific types of customers — as most industrial suppliers do — you’ll want to define a segment or multiple segments for lead nurturing, either by current stage in the buy cycle, area of interest, market sector, product type, geography, or some other relevant criteria.
2. Offer value, not sales pitches. The reason you execute lead nurturing campaigns is because your prospects are not yet ready to buy, but might be in the future. Therefore, offers of product demos, pricing quotes, and special discounts are not only wasted at this point, they are likely a turnoff for your prospects. Instead, offer content that helps educate prospects on ways to solve the problems they are facing and that demonstrates the value your company can provide. Use educational content such as white papers, Webinars, articles, and videos as offers. You probably already have a lot of this content. If not, you may need to create new content to support your campaign.
3. Create a call-to-action and define objectives. For every e-mail, direct mail piece, or phone call that is part of the campaign, create a call to action and objective: download a white paper, register for a Webinar, read an article, view the video, subscribe to the e-newsletter or blog, follow you on Twitter, and so on. Then track your performance against those objectives to see what content and offers work best with your audience.
4. Build a schedule. Lead nurturing campaigns consist of multiple touches spread out over time. You will need to develop a timeline for when and how often you touch your prospects. It could be once a week for six weeks, or once a month for six months, or some interval in between. The important point is to define the entire campaign, so you will know how to phase your content and messaging, and to stick with it over the duration.
5. Develop response rules. Naturally you want to keep track of how your audience responds to the elements of your campaign. What your audience does determines what you do next. A prospect that clicks on every offer might be a prospect that gets a call from a sales rep. Or prospects that attend a specific Webinar might be candidates for a certain white paper. Plan ahead of time and apply logic, rules, and perhaps even branching (if they do this, then that, otherwise something else) in order to optimize your campaign’s flow and effectiveness — and to get high-potential leads into the hands of sales reps at the right time.
6. Measure and improve. Because you have created offers, established goals, and defined campaign rules, you can track what works and what doesn’t in your lead nurturing campaign. Get rid of offers that don’t perform well, while building on content that is popular with other similar offers. Continually refine your campaign and you should see improved results.
Have you set up lead nurturing campaigns? What were your steps to success? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.