Sales Leads for B2B services - FAQ This FAQ is focused on small (less than ~100 employees) companies that provide B2B services (e.g. software development, engineering, etc). What are the different categories of leads I should be thinking about? While there’s no universal precise definition for different types
Inbound marketing FAQ for B2B services Just starting to think about inbound marketing? Below are answers to some foundational questions. This FAQ is geared toward the B2B world (software development, engineering services, etc), but much of it applies generally as well. Why does inbound marketing fail? Inbound
The problem with marketing plans for small B2B companies If you run a smaller B2B services business (e.g. software development, engineering, etc), especially one with less than ~100 employees, you’re going to want to get real, quickly. You don’t have the energy, time, or money to waste that some
Pros and cons of content marketing For B2B services companies. Content marketing seeks to provide useful information, where the long term goal is to be so helpful that people trust you enough to want to do business with you. Pause. Re-read that first sentence. Content marketing has
Tired of traditional sales methods? Inbound & content marketing might help Why? Content marketing: you may appreciate content marketing because it helps you be more useful and less annoying to your potential customers. Inbound marketing: you may like inbound because it totally flips the selling scenario around. Instead
Inbound Marketing – what's the risk of waiting to get started? My theory is that breaking into the top few spots on Google/Bing will become harder and harder over the next several years. This makes it harder for new companies to enter the market.Before we get too far, let's
Good reasons and bad reasons to overhaul your website For engineering & software development companies If you work for or run a small'ish (<100 employees) engineering or software dev company, you've probably already had a website for many years. There’s also a decent chance that your website
Pros and Cons of Inbound Marketing Inbound marketing is a method that focuses on trying to position yourself ahead of when someone (a potential customer or customer) has a need, so that when they do, they can find you. This approach primarily leverages search marketing and content marketing.
Digital Marketing for IT services Marketing IT services is challenging. The sales cycle is long and complex, the sales price is high, and you’re selling services more so than products. Here’s what you want to keep in mind for digital marketing in your small/medium-sized IT company: You need to build
What data to capture in your CRM, and why - for marketing and sales It’s true, capturing data in your CRM isn’t the most fun thing to do in the world. In fact, it sucks. It’s tedious. So why do it at all? In one word: feedback. CRM
How to get started with digital marketing For engineering / tech companies Do you head up a mature company with lots of technical experience? (if you're heading up an early-stage company, you'll probably want to check out How to bootstrap your marketing instead) Are you getting frustrated with your
How to make digital marketing less frustrating Marketing can be very frustrating. Especially for those with an analytical mindset. Why? Because it involves a high degree of uncertainty, complex human behavior and partially-observable information. Marketing (especially for smaller, services-oriented companies) is way less deterministic than that of other
Selecting a marketing consultant What to look for and what to watch out for Quick poll - Vote to see how your peers voted Considering bringing on a marketing consultant? They're not all the same. You might be asking yourself: isn't there an
Is Lead Generation Sales or Marketing? The short answer: lead generation is the responsibility of marketing. Usually. I say “usually” for 3 reasons: There’s fuzziness to the term “lead”. There’s at least one exception to the rule that comes to mind. There’s an is-ought problem that you might
Marketing for engineering services companies Many presidents / founders / CEOs don’t like the word “marketing”. It puts a bad taste in their mouth. I don’t blame them. I used to be an engineer, and the word marketing generally put a bad taste in my mouth
Why you need a niche for your engineering or software development services company, and what to do about it For Engineering Services, Software Development, and Industrial Automation Companies The main reason you need a niche: survival as a business. Your customers and the market as a
How should your marketing Actually help you as a Business Owner? As a business owner of a small-medium tech/engineering/manufacturing company, you’ve got a lot on your plate. You care about all aspects of the business. There are so many moving parts to make it all work together, from
How can marketing actually help salespeople? You (a salesperson) don’t value marketing. Why? Because marketing isn’t focused on the right things (they’re likely doing some of these things). So what should marketing be focused on to earn your respect as a salesperson? If you work for a B2B company with
Why your Marketing Machine is Broken This article applies to small B2B services companies with a complex sale (e.g. IT, engineering, software development companies). Some marketing sucks. Why? Because it’s ineffective. Let’s make sure we’re on the same page. Here’s what I think your marketing should
How do you determine the true value of a new customer? Want to really figure this out? Then get ready to live with some amount of uncertainty and some amount of qualitative value, not just quantitative. Lifetime Customer Value (LCV, or sometimes denoted as LTV or CLV) is
