If you’re like me, you’re overwhelmed with the amount of marketing information being presented on an hourly basis. On top of that, keeping up with new technologies and terminologies is mind-boggling.

Quite frankly, my eyes have begun to permanently glaze over. So I was happy to hear that the marketing folks at Eloqua agree with me.

“You are correct,” says Joe Chernov, Director of Content for Eloqua, which provides marketing automation products and services. “People tune out when confronted with too much information. And, companies often use confusing concepts and jargon to explain what they do, especially when it comes to marketing automation. We wanted to turn our focus outward and get people’s attention through entertainment as well as substance.”

The result is Eloqua’s wonderful new Grande Guides campaign, complete with spokesperson Juan Eloqua, a “cheeky yet romantic” businessman who specializes in growing coffee — and revenue.

“Our CMO, Brian Kardon, came up with the idea for Juan Eloqua — it was one of those ‘lightning strikes’ type of ideas. Another idea was to film coffee barristas answering people’s questions, but we quickly realized that would be an execution nightmare.”

Campaign goal is more than just buzz

Casting, filming and editing the videos took eight weeks using a professional camera crew and a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) actor. Brian wrote the script; Joe was responsible for developing the Grande Guides.

“We had to go back and reshoot the videos because we wanted Juan to introduce the various Guides,” says Joe. “So that added to the execution time.”

The campaign launched August 24, 2010. “We put it out on various social media platforms and set it free,” says Joe. “However, we want more than buzz. We’re sending out over 100,000 emails asking people to subscribe to the content.

“And, because we’re always looking to add information to profiles in our database, we’ve put up forms to collect this information, which we’ll then use for our own lead scoring. We’re also hoping to reactivate inactive prospects.”

Grande Guides present one concept at a time

What I like best about this campaign is that Eloqua is seeking to educate people — the foundation of successful B2B marketing — while having some fun in the process. As such, the Grande Guides have been designed to look like a beloved moleskin notebook with valuable content . . . the kind you don’t want to throw away.

“The point with the Guides,” says Joe, “is to boil down complex concepts into a document someone can read in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee.”

The first in the series, The Grande Guide to Lead Scoring, for example, gives you a detailed overview of the topic, why it’s important, and how to do it. Information is presented in an easy-to-read format with lots of subheads, call outs, graphs — and coffee stains.

Be sure to check out the Guide. You can also follow Eloqua and the campaign via Twitter, Slideshare, and Facebook.

Dry cleaning as a service is a commodity. One dry cleaner is usually the same as any other. You take your clothes in and pick them up cleaned, pressed and wrapped in plastic a week later.

In my town you can find numerous dry cleaning businesses. Some are family owned, a couple of others are corporate chains.

Since I’m pretty busy running a small business and being a mom, I try to keep things efficient. I plan out my errands and group like-minded tasks together. So it makes sense to pick a dry cleaner in my town — saves gas, saves time.

Except I don’t use a dry cleaner located just minutes from my home. No, I do business with Rick, whose dry cleaning business is located 20 minutes away in Massachusetts.

This is because Rick has made taking care of his customers’ clothes a high art. And, as Seth Godin describes in his book, Linchpin, he’s made himself indispensable, to me and hundreds of people like me. In short, he’s a wonderful example of a Linchpin.

Don’t let appearances deceive you

The first thing you must know, when you walk into Rick’s establishment, is that it is *filled* with clothes and similar items. (That’s how busy he is.) You walk in the door and you get maybe 24 inches of space between the door and the counter.

You can’t even see the back of his establishment. Too many clothes in the way.

The counter is usually piled high with clothes people have dropped off.

You also see dozens of police uniforms hanging from hooks — all pressed to exact military standards.

But even better, you see money hanging from metal clips. I’m not joking. If Rick finds cash in your pockets, he’ll hang it on a clip with your clothing tag so that it can dry out. Then he returns it to you when you pick up your clothes.

One of his customers took a picture of the money, framed it and titled it, “Laundering money.” (ha!) Rick hung it above the counter.

Rick remembers people’s name and asks them when they want to pick up their clothes (as opposed to telling you when they’ll be ready). He also tells you when he’s going to be closed or going on vacation.

What I love best about him is that he’s *smart.* Last year I provided a proposal to a company that sells items to dry cleaners like Rick and started hitting him up for insider information. In just a few conversations I learned more about the dry cleaning industry and its challenges than I would have reading trade journals.

Rick knew to the penny how much his attached laundromat cost him in terms of upkeep and water usage, what it would cost to convert over to energy efficient machines, and why he still used machines that accepted quarters rather than those new credit card type machines (which I hate).

What Rick does is magical

It’s not the fact that he has clothes ready when promised or that he doesn’t lose articles of clothing. Any dry cleaner can do that.

• Rick doesn’t have to return people’s money. If you’re like me, you have no memory of the money you leave in your pockets.
• He doesn’t have to ask people when it’s convenient to have their clothes ready. We’ve all been trained to have service people tell us what’s convenient for them.
• Heck, he doesn’t even have to remember people’s names. How many service people do you do business with that have no clue what your name is?

No, he doesn’t have to do any of this. But he does. And in the process, he’s turned his commodity business into an art, which is why I drive 20 minutes out of my way to do business with him.

Do you have an example of any business that’s indispensable to you? Is it because of one specific person and how he/she treats you? If so, please share it.

For a long time I had one type of bird feeder in my backyard, a feeder I kept filled with one type of food: black sunflower seeds.

The feeder attracted the typical birds you see in New England backyards: Blue Jays, Chickadees, and Cardinals, to name a few.

A few weeks ago, however, I added two new feeders, a nut feeder and a bowl feeder filled with millet in order to attract smaller birds.

Over night my backyard went from being the equivalent of a sleepy small town airstrip to a busy municipal airport.

Birds of all kinds flocked to my feeders — Woodpeckers, Titmice, Nuthatches, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Grackles, Finches, Mourning Doves, Sparrows and others I have yet to identify.

In fact, the bowl feeder / millet proved so successful, I now have five to six Sparrows sitting in the bowl eating seed at any given time, others fighting for a position on the bowl and more milling around on the ground waiting for seed to drop.

Wow!

Attract more B2B buyers with multiple offers

Generally, companies offer people something in return for “raising their hand” to be identified. I ask people to give me their first name and email address in exchange for my monthly newsletter, for example.

Other companies ask for additional information when it comes to Webinars, white papers and the like.

Giving people free information is good. The problem, however, is that people respond to offers depending on where they are in the buying cycle.

• Someone just starting research will download white papers or checklists but definitely doesn’t want a sales person to call and isn’t ready for a demo.
• Someone who is narrowing down the vendor selection list has probably already read a half dozen white papers and now is now ready to participate in a Webinar and/or read case studies.
• And a team that’s ready to make a buying decision may want to talk to a sales person or have a demo.

Having just one type of offer, i.e. white papers, will attract some buyers, but these buyers will most likely not be ready to buy for months, which is why you need to include offers that attract buyers no matter where they are in the buying cycle.

Instead of attracting people who are “just looking,” you’ll also attract those who are serious about finding a vendor / partner and making a purchase.

As to my new found birding love, I’m now researching platform feeders. My buddy Mac McIntosh (who inspired this post) said to put out cut up oranges, grapes, and bread crusts. He also recommended suet feeders. What’s your recommendation?

(Photo credit: Liz Leyden)

“Our customers already know who we are.”

This is a line I’ve heard since starting my business 12 years ago this month. The reasons for the statement vary with the company and the product / service offered:

• “Our known universe of customers is small. They all know us and we know them.”
• “We’re a big company with a big name.”
• “We’ve been doing this for decades.”
• “No one else does what we do.”

But what “Our customers already know who are we are” really means is this: “We don’t want to go to the effort and cost of changing our marketing approach.”

This is why you see B2B Websites filled with hyperbolic fluff that says nothing and little in the way of high-value content that educates people (leads and prospects) on how the company can solve their business challenges.

It’s why B2B companies (large and small) continue to rely on marketing tactics from decades ago . . . the “old boys’ network,” the expensive print ads, the fruitless telemarketing calls.

Yes, yes, I know. These tactics still work somewhat. But what would happen if a B2B company approached its marketing this way:

“Lots and lots of men and women out there need our services / products but they don’t know who we are. How do we get the word out?”

• All of a sudden, marketing becomes an imperative, not a cost center that can be cut at whim.
• The Internet now becomes a tool for reaching many, not something to be feared.
• Marketing analytics and marketing automation become must-have tools that give knowledge and insight versus keeping a company in the dark.

Over time, the company increases sales and as sales increase, it hires someone fulltime to develop marketing campaigns and write content and use social media tools more effectively . . . which gets the word out even more . . . which increases sales.

Rinse, repeat.

In the old days, markets were relatively local. A business owner or marketer would might do business with people he or she knew outside of work. You found customers and vendors through your local Yellow Pages, Chamber of Commerce, or maybe even your Rotary meeting.

Now markets are “global.” Your competitor is no longer in the next town or state. Your competitors live and work all over the globe — and trust me, they aren’t resting on “Our customers already know who we are.”

No. They’re making sure your customers and prospects know who they are by pitching them. Every. Single. Day.

Thanks to the Internet, I can find and do business with a company in New Zealand just as easily as I can a company that’s a few towns over from me.

In fact, it might be easier to find the company in New Zealand.

Which is why B2B marketers and business owners really need to stop saying, “Our customers already know who we are.” Yes, yes they do because they’re doing business with you. Duh.

But what about all those people who don’t do business with you? Do they know who you are? No, they don’t. But they do know your competitors.

I have never forgotten the last paper I wrote in order to finish my Masters in English.

I wrote about Austen’s work, Emma. After being five years in the program, I had “good” writing and grammar down pat.

In fact, I strove to hand in error-free papers. I’d type and proof, retype and proof again. It took me days to write a simple five page, double-spaced paper.

I remember my Emma paper because the professor found a mistake.

When referring to Emma and Mr. Knightly, I used an apostrophe “s” after Mr. Knightley’s name only to denote they owned something in common.

The professor wrote, “A glaring error in an otherwise perfect paper.”

I can still feel the rage that welled up in my stomach when I read that comment.

I was so angry, I looked up the grammar rule and sent my paper back with a note to show that I was right.

The professor wrote back, “I stand corrected.”

A bad experience in an otherwise wonderful time in the Masters program.

In his book, Linchpin, Seth Godin writes:

Read someone’s resume, and discover twenty years of extraordinary exploits and one typo.

Which are you going to mention first? We are hired for perfect, we measure for perfect, and we reward for perfect.

So why are we surprised that people spend their precious minutes of self-directed, focused work time trying to achieve perfect?

I am not perfect.

Especially when it comes to writing typo-free content. When you get something written from me, it might have a typo in it. Or two. Maybe even three.

This is not to say I don’t care about my work. I do care. Deeply.

Like most writers, I proofread my work. I print out reams of paper, edit and proof, edit and proof. (I print out so much paper, I’m on a first name basis with A1 Datashred.)

For years I struggled to produce copy that did not have one typo. I firmly believed these truths:

• Typos show a lack of attention to detail.
• Typos reflect poorly on you and your work.

But given the nature of my work, I find it incredibly difficult to produce typo-free copy. I write all day long. I type a million miles a minute. My eyes glaze over from staring at the computer screen.

Given that 99% percent of what I write is digital content, it’s pretty easy to fix mistakes.

But here’s the big idea (you knew I’d get there at some point): I’m not writing so much as I’m creating content that will help my customers grow their businesses.

I’ve been working on my DH Communications Facebook page and found myself writing this little description about myself:

“Dianna Huff is an all around B2B marketing expert who has been in the trenches since . . . forever. My passion is helping my clients grow their businesses through marketing. I ‘woot’ when this happens. Woot!”

I love, love, love when a client emails to say, “Dianna! Someone found my Website via search and I just got a huge order that will keep me busy for the next two months.” Woot!

These are the clients that “get” that I’m on their team. Not just rooting for them. Trying to hit singles, doubles, and triples and maybe if I’m lucky, a home run.

So a typo or two just isn’t that big of a deal.

“Here’s the problem [when we measure for perfect],” writes Godin. “Art is never defect-free.”

What it means — which is the thesis of Godin’s book — is that measuring for perfect won’t get you anywhere. If you’re a business and you want to grow, you need to start looking for the “remarkable.”

Are you a business owner or marketer who relies on local or regional business? If so, you may be frustrated that business has fallen off and that traditional marketing efforts no longer seem to work.

Added to that, your business is buried in the Google, Yahoo, and Bing search results — meaning few people are visiting your Website.

You may not know, however, that you can propel your business to the top of the search results . . . through Local Search. With the right tactics, your business can be listed — sometimes ahead of your competitors — in the coveted Google Maps listings.

I’ve been doing local search for a couple of years now — first for myself and then as a “value add” for my clients who needed it. I now make my expertise available to small and growing businesses.

With my new Local Search Pack, you get the following:

1. Complete listings in all three search engine Business Centers that adheres to your branding.

2. Submission to the major directories that Google, Yahoo and Bing use to pull in their local search results.

3. Recommendations for getting online reviews as well as tactics to help improve your local search results over time.

This is a great “baby” step for those of you whose head is swimming from trying to figure out SEO, social media marketing and everything else.

To learn more:

Web: www.dhcommunications.com/local-search-services
Phone: 603-382-8093
Email: info@dhcommunications.com

(Want to see your product or service in this space? See my Blog Sponsorship page for more details.)

Social media gurus tell you to have a strategy. “Not having a strategy” was the #1 marketing mistake people listed on the survey Mac McIntosh and I did (the upcoming e-book will list the other nine).

I’ve parroted this advice from the gurus. “You must have a strategy before you begin social media,” I say at my talks.

But here’s the deal. I’ve been wrong. Yep. Dead wrong.

Strategy, when it comes to social media, is overrated. Strategy makes it sound like the water is deep. Jump into the lake from the diving platform and you’ll need to figure out how to reach the shore. You need to know how to swim.

The social media lake is pretty shallow. Step in and you’ll get your ankles wet. Maybe. The water might only reach your pedicured toes.

In shallow water you can easily walk to the shore using what you already know – how to put one foot in front of the other.

Social media isn’t anything radical. It’s simply this: talking to other people. Some of them you know already. Some of them you don’t. That’s what makes it fun. It’s like being at a really cool cocktail party without the bother of dressing up and driving.

Social media strategy keeps you from being authentic. “We’ll cover all things relating to [insert topic here],” you think.

Strategy is important. It’s the first step in developing a new Website or a direct mail campaign or something of that nature. I’ve seen lots of marketing failures due to lack of a well-thought out strategy.

But sticking to a social media strategy is stifling. What if you have a terrific insight about something that has nothing to do with [insert your topic here]? Do you post it – or ignore it?

Ignore it and you lose authenticity.

You hear a lot about being “authentic.” Posting your location at some restaurant none of us have heard of isn’t authentic. Posting what you’re eating for dinner or that you have a headache isn’t really authentic either.

What is authenticity? It’s posting who you really are. It’s all the parts that make up who you are: your family, your interests, your pets, your likes, your dislikes.

Most of all it’s your unique insights.

Only you have your own perspective on what’s going on around you. Sure, you can read someone’s blog post and Tweet your “unique” take on it or post your Foursquare location – along with dozens of other people.

I won’t remember where you ate dinner or which blog post you read – last night, last week, last year.

Or, you can pull into your work parking lot and take a minute to enjoy the fact that a wild turkey is standing on one leg in your parking space — and tell your followers about it.

Personally, I’d rather hear about the turkey. I’ll remember the turkey and that you stopped to enjoy a gift from the universe because let’s face it – how often do you run into a wild turkey standing on one leg in your corporate parking lot?

It happened to me once. I’ve never forgotten it and always look for him now when I pull in. He hasn’t graced the parking lot since.

Being “social” on social media doesn’t require too much “strategy” or knowledge. You already know what to do.

Be nice to people.

Answer their questions.

Respond to what they have to say.

Post your own take on what is going on around you.

We’re all stuck in front of our computers pecking away all day – peck, peck, peck. It’s refreshing when one of us breaks loose.

People recognize authenticity and like moths, want to hover near the source. Maybe you won’t have 20,000 Twitter followers or be known as a “guru.”

But you’ll be true to yourself and your followers. And as Shakespeare said, you then can’t be false to anyone.

Over the weekend, my automatic garage door sprung a spring — meaning I had to pull the red emergency cord to get it to close.

Because I’m a handy-with-tools kind of woman, I could see how to fix it, but given that the pulley / cable combination had broken too, figured it better to call in the pros. (Plus, my garage door, which is solid wood, is *heavy.* As buff as I am, I couldn’t lift it to the open position.)

Going online, I searched for “garage door repair Plaistow” and was presented with the Google map pack.

Read the one review for Cass Shumsky Overhead Garage Door Corporation. The customer was very happy with her garage door repair. Bingo. Called the company on Sunday afternoon and received a call back from Cass Shumsky himself Monday morning.

I told Mr. Shumsky I had found his site through Google and he said, “They say now the yellow pages no longer work, so I’ve been working hard to make sure I show up in Google.”

Even better, to get people to leave a comment on his Website, he entices them with a $5 gas card — an enticement I read about on his Twitter feed. How cool is that? (I left my own comment.)

The entire experience of dealing with Mr. Shumsky was wonderful. Eric, his repair person, showed up at my house at 12:15 and because I had a call scheduled for 1:00, he had my door working again by 12:50. I was very impressed.

Small companies like Shumsky’s call me regularly because business has dropped off and they’re scrambling. I explain about why they need to be online, but I get resistance.

Here’s why being online — with just a simple Website that’s not even optimized — worked for Mr. Shumsky:

1. Because he has a Website and has claimed his Google Places listing, his business appears in the Google map pack.

2. He encourages people to leave testimonials, ensuring future business.

3. Simple site shows what he does — fix and install garage doors.

4. Phone number is on every single page making it easy to call.

But there’s more to it than that. Mr. Shumsky succeeded with me because he treated me with courtesy and respect (I can’t tell you how many male tradespeople have treated me like I’m an idiot), he had his repairman out when he said he would, and the repair was done quickly and cost-effectively.

Yes, the Internet has changed all the rules with regard to marketing. But some of the rules haven’t changed — as seen in my experience with Mr. Shumsky. As he said to me on the phone, “My name is on my business. That means I stand behind my word.”

Thank you, Mr. Shumsky, for reinforcing this “traditional” way of doing business, and thank you for fixing my garage door. It works better than it did before it broke. And, you’ll definitely get my order when I’m ready to order a new garage door.

A few months ago, while deep in the planning stages for my son’s bar mitzvah, I added up the costs of a typical bar mitzvah party, looked at the number for a long time and then said to my son, “Dude. I could take you to California for a week and give you a better time.”

His response, “Can we tour Google?”

“Uuuuhh, sure.”

The first thing I did, after hearing my son’s request, was to find out if Google even offered tours. In fact, they do! However, according to the Google page I read (which of course I can’t find now), the only way in is through a Google employee as employees are allowed to host two guests per month.

Pulling some strings, I snagged a tour . . . and off we went to California for eight days. Woot!

Touring the Google Campus

For those of you who haven’t seen the Google campus, it is . . . amazing. I hadn’t been to Mountain View since I left California in 1999 and was astounded to see building after building that make up the campus.

According to our tour guide Karen Wickre, Senior Manager, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Google employs over 8,000 people in Mountain View alone — which is one reason why the company has dozens of cafes / cafeterias / smoothie and frozen yogurt bars through out the buildings.

To have thousands of people descend on the local area during the noon rush hour would cause instant gridlock.

In fact, according to Karen, due to having access to so much food, new Googlers often gain 15 pounds, referred to as the “Google 15″!

“We also lose lots of man hours when people leave campus,” said Karen. “People have to get into their cars, drive somewhere, eat, and then come back. By providing on-campus cafeterias, people can eat here with other Googlers and save time.”

In the hour that Karen generously gave us, we visited three or four buildings, a couple of the cafeterias, one of the gyms, the post office, and one small work area that wasn’t off limits to the public.

We also saw the beach volleyball area, the outdoor eating areas, the Corporate Store (in beta) and the funky bicycles that Googlers use to get from building to building.

Even more astounding, however, was the bus depot. To reduce pollution and traffic, Google buses its employees to various points around the Bay Area, including San Jose and San Francisco. We’re not talking vans — we’re talking full-sized coaches equipped with wifi!

I came to the Google campus with a slight chip on my shoulder. Google is a big company, it has made some questionable moves (re: the initial roll-out of Google Buzz), and it sometimes feels like Google is trying to take over the world.

But I came away with a new-found respect. I was simply blown-away at how the company treats its employees, its respect for the environment, and its visionary thinking.

We could all use a little Google dust in our businesses.

In addition to visiting Google, my son and I made stops at the Apple campus and the Intel Museum.

Unlike Google, Apple doesn’t offer tours, so we settled for walking up and down Infinite Loop and buying a t-shirt from the Company Store (which is open to the public).

The Intel Museum, on the other hand, was way cool. Free and open to the public, the Museum features a well-laid out historical timeline of the founding of Intel and the development of the silicon chip. I learned about Intel’s “Copy Exactly” strategy and how it manufactures wafers.

The museum even includes a history of Intel’s marketing and advertising — including its audio logo.

The lesson I learned from Intel? Don’t be afraid to be different and keep things simple. Intel’s founder, Bob Noyce, for example, wrote Intel’s business plan on one sheet of paper.

Because I focus on B2B Web marketing, I sometimes forget that everything a company does is marketing — from the way it answers the phone (or doesn’t answer the phone) to how it treats people who obviously aren’t customers.

Google gets five stars for its corporate tour — it’s the best one I’ve had. And the fact that Karen, a senior level employee, took time out of her incredibly busy day to show two tourists around campus says something.

How many companies would do this? I’m thinking not many.

And Apple? Steve, honey, you could easily build a pretty cool Apple museum or visitors center for the Apple faithful. Having one would go far in generating a little more good will. I love your products and I totally admire you, but you could do more to give people a peek behind the curtain.

Are you considering marketing automation software or need help implementing a system you’ve purchased?

Maybe you have a system in place but you’re not sure how to use it most effectively.

My good friend Mac McIntosh has opened a new division, Acquire B2B, which helps maximize your leads, sales results and ROI from B2B marketing automation.

Mac is offering a timely service. B2B marketers can choose from a plethora of marketing automation services and choosing the right one for your business and your budget can be overwhelming.

He’s also building on over two decades of B2B sales lead expertise that includes relationships with some the best B2B services companies and experts in the industry.

Mac prides himself on offering unbiased recommendations — whether your a small or mid-sized business or a large enterprise, Mac can recommend the right marketing automation software to you.

In addition to helping select and implement marketing automation software, Mac and his Acquire B2B colleagues (of which I am one) can help you design and implement your B2B lead generation and lead nurturing campaigns as well as to improve your results and ROI.

To learn more:

Web: www.acquireb2b.com
Phone: 800-366-1877
Email: www.acquireb2b.com/contact-us