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B2B Enablement

Business & Economics Podcasts

B2B Enablement is a Klyck.io podcast created to inspire sales and marketing leaders who are navigating digital transformation. On this show, we'll discuss how the world of B2B sales and marketing is changing and how to leverage digital tools to compete in the new environment. We'll discuss best practices in sales management, marketing management, CRM utilization, marketing automation, sales enablement, data analytics, and many other topics. Most importantly, we'll share actionable insights to build winning digital strategies and deliver better sales results with your customers. For more information on Klyck.io and to get resources related to the podcast, visit https://klyck.io/

Location:

United States

Description:

B2B Enablement is a Klyck.io podcast created to inspire sales and marketing leaders who are navigating digital transformation. On this show, we'll discuss how the world of B2B sales and marketing is changing and how to leverage digital tools to compete in the new environment. We'll discuss best practices in sales management, marketing management, CRM utilization, marketing automation, sales enablement, data analytics, and many other topics. Most importantly, we'll share actionable insights to build winning digital strategies and deliver better sales results with your customers. For more information on Klyck.io and to get resources related to the podcast, visit https://klyck.io/

Twitter:

@klyckio

Language:

English


Episodes

2021 Recap of B2B Sales and Predictions for 2022

1/6/2022
Podcast Summary On this podcast, we'll dive into a recap of B2B sales trends in 2021. What has changed? What stayed the same? What is going to carry over and what's going to be different in 2022? Timestamps: [00:01:07] Our guest: Josh Wagner Josh WagnerShift ParadigmLove Selling Hate Sales [00:01:40] What are some of the most notable changes in B2B selling in 2021? [00:04:10] What are some success stories of companies doing it right? [00:21:00] What are current views on the status of sales and marketing and the alignment post-2021? What are the biggest impacts in bringing them together? [00:28:00] How has the funnel changed? How has that to hybrid selling? Resources LinkedIn Profile – Josh Wagner Website – Shift Paradigm Podcast – Love Selling Hate Sales LinkedIn Profile – Dave Karr Website – Klyck.io

Duration:00:37:34

How to Optimize your B2B Website Strategy

12/1/2021
Podcast Summary On this podcast, we'll talk about some fundamental ways that you can enhance and optimize your B2B website strategy. [00:01:25] Our guest: Sam Moss Sam Moss1Click AgencyB2B Made Simple [00:02:25] Where do you start when you're analyzing an existing website strategy [00:04:20] What are some KPIs that you should be measuring to gauge your site's technical performance and conversion? [00:13:35] What is the value of customized landing pages? [00:15:40 How should a website tell your business' story and how are different pages part of that strategy? [00:21:30] What are the fundamental differences in how you should approach optimizing your strategy for e-commerce? [00:24:15] How do you make sure that your site is optimized for lead generation? [00:33:00] What marketing strategies drive traffic? Resources LinkedIn Profile – Sam Moss Website – 1Click Agency Podcast – B2B Made Simple LinkedIn Profile – Dave Karr Website – Klyck.io

Duration:00:38:49

How to Close the Gap in Digital Marketing Reporting

10/19/2021
Podcast Summary On this podcast, John Horn, CEO at StubGroup, joins us to talk about ways to improve your reporting and execution for digital marketing. We talk about how to use data insights on how to more effectively track your ads, increase your conversion rates, improve funnel performance, and more. [00:01:25] Our guest: John Horn John HornStubGroup [00:02:10] Where do you start with digital advertising online? How do you structure reporting? [00:05:30] How do you put technology platforms in place to help track metrics? [00:10:10] What are good platforms for starters and what do you need beyond the basic tech stack? HubSpotLucky OrangeHotjar [00:13:30] How are teams structured when they're just starting out vs when they are up to speed? [00:19:00] What are some of the challenges that companies run into? [00:24:30] What should B2B companies do to ensure that marketing metrics are front and center? [00:31:00] Key take-aways Resources LinkedIn Profile – John Horn Website – StubGroup LinkedIn Profile – Dave Karr Website – Klyck.io Website – HubSpot Website – Lucky Orange Website – Hotjar

Duration:00:36:05

How to Create a Culture of Data

10/7/2021
Podcast Summary On this podcast we talk about how to establish a culture of data inside your organization. If you're like most B2B companies, data and capturing it are likely on your mind often. How do you apply it? How do you monetize it? For the answers to these questions and more, tune in on your favorite podcast streaming platform. [00:01:05] Our guest: Nick Amabile Nick AmabileDAS42 [00:02:33] What is causing and driving the big focus on data? What kinds of trends are emerging? [00:05:00] How do you decide what technology to implement and how do you make it work cohesively? [00:07:10] How do you structure a team around data? [00:11:30] What are typical challenges organizations face and how do you minimize them? [00:16:30] What is a culture of data inside an organization? [00:20:00] What are some of the things you should be thinking about to start building data? [00:25:55] Key Takeaways Resources LinkedIn Profile – Nick Amabile Website – DAS42 LinkedIn Profile – Dave Karr Website – Klyck.io DAS42 Article – What Structure is Right for my Data Analytics Team Klyck Article - The Power of Data and Sales Enablement

Duration:00:28:25

Using Video Marketing at Every Stage of the Buying Cycle

9/16/2021
In this episode of B2B Enablement, we're going to be talking about video marketing and how you can use it throughout the entire journey for your customers. Whether you're looking to create content for the awareness stage of the buying cycle, or for use later in the funnel, video is a powerful tool. Podcast Summary and Timestamps - Links and Resources Located at the Bottom [00:01:21] Introduction: Drew Franklin, Marketing Communications Manager at Altec [00:02:14] Getting Started [00:06:00] Production and Tools [00:12:20] Content Distribution [00:17:00] Importance of Video & How it Can Be Effective [00:18:00] Personalization [00:29:00] Distribution Tools [00:38:30] Scripts and Messaging [00:44:30] Hardware and Infrastructure Resources and Links from the Podcast Video Audio & Lighting Kit – Starter Budget Video Audio & Lighting Kit – Next Level Video Audio & Lighting Kit – Professional Level Wistia – Down and Dirty DIY Lighting Kit Wistia – Editing Basics for Business Video Predictable Revenue – Chain of Relevance Klyck.io Podcast - Video Marketing - Why B2B Businesses Need a Strategy Klyck.io - Sales Enablement Tools and Software Canva Descript Adobe Premiere SalesLoft Vidyard LinkedIn Profiles for our Guests Drew Franklin's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewdfranklin/ Paul Tkach's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paultkach/ Dave Karr's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekarr/

Duration:00:52:58

How 2020 Left a Mark on Manufacturing

8/25/2021
Podcast Summary Industrial manufacturing has been left with a nasty black eye from 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Joe Mills, Business Development Manager, Element Three, joins the show to discuss findings from his companies recent research report on the state of manufacturing, post-COVID. Joe shares 4 key challenges that manufacturing businesses are facing in the new normal, and how industry leaders are choosing to address these challenges in their businesses. Listen in to learn how others are viewing the market and what separates the leaders from the laggards. Key Topics of the Podcast Challenge 1: Changing Buyer Behaviors Challenge 2 : Event Uncertainty Challenge 3 : Hiring - an Obstacle for Growth Challenge 4 : Supply Chain Disruption Resources and Links from the Podcast Copy of the Presentation Slide Deck - Click to Download Element Three's Complete Manufacturing Trend Report - http://elementthree.com/trendreport 2021 Roadmap for Industrial Sales and Marketing eBook - Click to Download How to Approach Industrial Marketing the Right Way : Podcast - Listen Now Klyck.io Website - Sales Enablement for B2B Joe Mills' LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-mills-0ba62b42/ Paul Tkach's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paultkach/ Dave Karr's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekarr/

Duration:01:02:47

Getting Started with Sales Enablement

8/3/2021
Podcast Summary Sales Enablement is an important piece of any company's sales technology stack and getting started can look like a daunting task. Companies who have implemented a Sales Enablement strategy outperform their competitors by a remarkable margin (Aberdeen Group) In this podcast, we'll review a series of steps to get you and your team started with your journey. Key Topics of the Podcast Who Owns It? Build Your TeamSet Clear Goals & RequirementsDefining Key MetricsContent Management & Organization -Implement a Sales Enablement Platform Resources and Links from the Podcast Copy of the Presentation Slide Deck Sales Enablement BluePrint User Specification Requirement Sales Enablement Checklist Klyck.io Website What is Sales Enablement Paul Tkach's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paultkach/ Rebecca Spary's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaspary/ Dave Karr's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekarr/ Who Owns It? Build Your Team Set Clear Goals & Requirements User Requirements Guide Defining Your Key Metrics Content Management & Organization Implement a Sales Enablement Platform

Duration:00:53:43

How to Approach Industrial Marketing the Right Way

5/18/2021
How to Approach Industrial Marketing the Right Way In this episode, we discuss the story and your brand, the strategy and your tactics, and your scorecard. [00:01:00] Introduction: Joe Mills, Business Development Manager at Element Three In his role, Joe Mills meets with everyone that starts working with Element Three, a marketing agency laser focused on industrial clients. He has experience with everything from local businesses that are trying to expand regionally, all the way to national brands that have a footprint throughout the United States beyond. He has a wide range of perspectives on the problems that people face when trying to scale industrial marketing. [00:03:00] Industrial Branding - The Story The story is really the brand. To benchmark how well your company is currently positioned with its branding, you should ask yourself the following questions: As a main starting point, you want to look at where you have the least amount of definition about what's happening within the business. If you don't have a story to tell, pumping millions of dollars into marketing campaigns is going to fall flat. To be successful, you need to build some foundational elements. The value inside of doing brand work is about building a story that makes you more significant as a business. [00:15:50] Industrial Marketing - The Strategy Think of a flow chart with your strategy on the far left and your tactics on the far right and in the middle, you've got audiences. The biggest mistake that people make is coming in with predefined tactics, but don't have a program to fit them into the strategy. The first thing you need to do is understand your customer. You must understand what resonates with them and what their challenges are. You must know your audience before you get your message out in front of them. If you don't have that defined, you're going to make mistakes and spend money on tactics you can't be sure are working. [00:23:00] Industrial Marketing Metrics - The Scorecard The scorecard is something you need to weave into your entire plan. So, you've got the story, you've got a strategy you're building through tactics, and now you need to define what you want to measure. Until you align marketing activities to business objectives, understanding what marketing should have ownership of in their scorecard is difficult. The most normal things you see inside of a marketing scorecard are cost per lead, leads generated, marketing-generated revenue, and the weighted value of your pipeline. Marketing should be there to make your sales team more effective. It should be there to make sure your sales team is busy. You should have qualified prospects that you are meeting with because marketing has ownership over the pipeline. [00:34:10] Take-Aways Resources LinkedIn Profile - Joe Mills Website – Element Three LinkedIn Profile - Dave Karr Website – Klyck.io Klyck Article – How to Improve B2B Sales and Marketing Alignment More Details on B2B Sales Enablement - Sales Enablement Platform

Duration:00:36:40

CRM Best Practices for 2021

3/10/2021
In this episode, Jeroen Corthout joins to discuss CRM best practices for B2B businesses and what insights you can apply in 2021. [00:00:35] Introduction: Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder and CEO of SalesFlare Jeroen Corthout is the co-founder and CEO at SalesFlare, a CRM for small businesses selling B2B. They help CRM work by automating the data salespeople normally have to input manually and then unlock that data by helping salespeople stay on top of their customers and follow-up at the right times. [00:01:39] What are typical challenges when implementing CRM systems? How do people overcome them? What are the broad level struggles of CRM implementation? The main issue is that it's not being used, or it's not being used properly or enough. One common mistake that companies make is getting the wrong CRM because they haven't thought through what exactly it is they want to achieve. People know they need a CRM, so they just get one. The easiest way to get the right one is first knowing what it will be used for. Most companies that face challenges with CRM implementations are ones that happen without a lot of thought or are used in an old-fashioned way. As long as you begin by defining your objectives, have an implementation strategy, and a team together a to help make decisions, you will have more success. [00:11:21] How are B2B companies addressing the low utilization problem? How do you improve that? B2B businesses have to get away from the bad habits that were created a decade or more ago regarding the traditional ways to use a CRM system. It shouldn't act as big brother to look over people's shoulders and tell people what they should be doing or micro-managing. Rather, use it to embrace the power of technology. You can sync things automatically with inputs so that you're not burdening the sales team. [00:17:28] From now through the next 5 years, how is CRM going to look different? How are we going to use it different? What should people be considering adopting in their businesses to be ready for that? Data inputs and connecting systems are two big things. Integrations are certainly part of the future. You have to try to make it as simple as you can. There is a big difference between simply gaining access to data or being able to report data in your CRM system, versus actually having a system set up where you can interpret that data and turn it into something actionable. [00:26:24] How do you begin to use CRM to report data back in a way that you can actually begin to take action and do something with it? Seeing the emails that have been exchanged and the meetings and phone calls that have taken place is interesting, but then it goes beyond that. It's knowing what emails were actually opened, what links were clicked, and who went to the website. It also helps salespeople focus on what their customers are looking for. A customer may be looking at on your site but checking out the pricing or a product you didn't expect. It makes it so the sales team can judge the kind of things their customers are interested in and real-time data allows you to get in touch at the right time. [00:31:12] Where does CRM fit into aligning sales and marketing? How does it bring those two teams together? CRM systems come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some are more focused on sales and some are more focused on marketing. If marketing had to ask sales about every single customer, it would very inefficient. With CRM, there's data in a system that answers those questions. Marketing just has to look at the data and doesn't have to ask sales for their thoughts. They can use that data to make decisions about marketing. However, if one team is out of balance with the other, it's always creates disconnects. Especially when you start thinking about things at scale. Open communication between sales and marketing is key. Resources LinkedIn Profile - Jeroen Corthout Website - SalesFlare LinkedIn Profile - Dave Karr Website - Klyck.io Klyck...

Duration:00:37:25

Building a B2B Sales Enablement Strategy

2/9/2021
Episode Summary This episode is all about building a sales enablement strategy and deploying it across your business! I'm joined by Lisa Neff, who is the sales enablement manager for Porex. Lisa shares a wealth of information about how to get started building your strategy, where to begin with deployment, and how to manage KPIs for success. [00:01:15] Introduction: Lisa Neff, Sales Enablement Manager at Porex Lisa Neff is with Porex, a company based out of Atlanta. They are a global leader in advanced porous solutions and are a member company of the Filtration Group. She has been with them for a little over a year, but has about 16 years of experience in sales enablement. [00:02:00] How did Porex begin on their sales enablement journey? What were some of the drivers inside the business? How did that strategy begin to evolve inside of your company? Porex is a 61-year-old company that grew very quickly and expanded globally. There was a separation in the sales teams as they had different ways of handling their content and customers. Without a centralized location for sharing, we noticed problems and inefficiencies and it was the sales team that was carrying the burden. The sales leaders came together to come up with a plan regarding how they envisioned sales operations working. [00:04:40] How did your organization begin to look at structure? When did something click within sales operations? Who was able to help champion this concept of moving toward a formal sales enablement function? A critical step was defining what sales enablement meant to our company and then defining our mission statement. Ours is to be sure that we are developing our sales reps with actionable information to grow revenue. A major component for Porex is training – no matter where a rep lives, they have the same information across the globe. The biggest problem was that there wasn't an easily accessible and centralized location for content. We needed that so reps could have meaningful conversations with their customers. Sales enablement was a fantastic solution to that problem. [00:09:25] How did you address sales and marketing alignment and what were some of the things that led to your success of being tightly integrated? Marketing finds the need in the market or whatever niche they're focusing on and create content they're passionate about and then they bring that to the sales reps. The sales team has answers to questions and they're confident because all the content is right there. [00:13:25] How do you set metrics and KPIs around the success of the team? One thing we started looking at was what the expectation was for how often we expected a rep to be in front of a customer. Another thing we thought about was if the rep was in front of the customer, did we expect them to present material. We had an expectation that reps should be sharing a certain number of pieces of content with a client in a 30-day window. Our adoption in March was only about 40% and by the 1st of July, we were hitting that 85 to 90% mark. Now a year later, we at a 100% adoption and continue to see that month over month which is a testament to the software. It works. [00:18:30] How have you approached sales enablement as a function vs sales enablement as a software? As a function, it is building those partnerships across the other functions of your company - marketing and customer service operations, for example. Sales enablement acts as a liaison. It's really about communication. One of the key things is building trust with your teams and not working in a silo. You have to do what you say and say what you're going to do to form a trusting relationship. [00:21:55] What have you found to be the biggest challenges for deploying your sales enablement strategy and what have you done to avoid roadblocks? One of the challenges we faced was simply reminding the reps that the tool was there and how to use it. Sales enablement was the baby department and it was still brand new....

Duration:00:42:03

How to Build a Modern Industrial Marketing Strategy

12/17/2020
Introduction: MJ Peters, VP of Marketing at Firetrace (Time stamped at 1:00) MJ Peters has been in her position for two and a half years. Firetrace sells and manufactures automatic fire suppression systems that detect and suppress fires that start inside of equipment. They sell through OEM, distribution, and direct channels. How should marketing be viewed inside of an organization and what is marketing's role at the executive level of the organization? (Time stamped at 2:00) Marketing teams need to be deeply involved in marketing strategy and actively bring insights to drive the strategic direction of the company as a whole. How do you structure a marketing team within an organization and how do you set that team up for success? (Time stamped at 3:30) There are three marketing components. Product marketing, growth marketing, and product management. Product marketing is going out to market understanding your customers, what solutions are out there, and what opportunities exist. Growth marketing amplifies the value proposition that you bring to the right customer on the channels where they spend time. You can generate opportunities for the sales team regardless of the medium you're going to market with – traditional or digital. Product management is the whole lifecycle. It addresses things like: How should marketing manage the voice of the customer and how do you get those insights delivered back to the organization? (Time stamped at 10:30) Try to set up conversations where the objective is not a sales call. The purpose of the call is to really find out what the customer needs. That will bring the most insights forward. Start broad and then zoom in. The first couple of questions you ask should have nothing to do with your product. You should aim to find out what they think are the most important elements of their job because it can help you uncover latent needs. How do you set up customer meetings to capture insights? (Time stamped at 14:45) It's easier said than done. Try working with sales because sales can open doors for you – especially with the customers they have good relationships with. But you don't only want to talk to your friends. You want to talk to customers that might have cooled off or customers you aren't selling to right now. You will need to do some cold calling – especially if your organization hasn't done customer research like this before. People won't always take your call, but if you send enough targeted emails you should be able to set up seven or eight calls and that's all it takes. How do you determine the most effective marketing channels for your business? Once you do that, how do you begin to scale that strategy? (Time stamped at 17:20) Start running experiments by channel type, and you need to start thinking of events as a channel, too. If you want to have good results you should only be looking at two channels at a time – especially if your marketing team is small. Use experiments to find out what works and then scale up or down accordingly. SEO and paid ads are a good place to start. What are your thoughts on integrating MarTech and how did you start building your digital strategy? (Time stamped at 21:30) Start working on the tech stack earlier than you think you need to. Having an effective tech stack (website feeding information to your CRM and then Google analytics) can accelerate your knowledge about the customer. MarTech systems, like Hubspot, can identify how your new leads arrived and you can learn more about the customers from their contact information. Tools like Hubspot can provide you with information that you wouldn't otherwise have. If you don't have a marketing automation system in place, you're going to have to find things out manually and it will happen slowly. Make sure your website plays nice with your CRM and follow it up with Google Analytics (make sure you set it up properly). HubSpot is a great tool. It's a marketing automation system, it's a CRM, it's a social...

Duration:00:40:49

Sales Training Trends for 2021

12/8/2020
In this episode, Kristine Sizemore joins to discuss the importance of refining your sales training strategy for 2021. With so much changing in the world of solution selling since the pandemic, many organizations are struggling to pivot their sales operations to adapt to the new normal. We'll discuss ways that organizations can leverage new training techniques to ensure that their teams are equipped to succeed in 2021 as they navigate the post-COVID environment. Introduction: Kristine Sizemore, President at Sandler Training At Sandler Training, Kristine Sizemore works with companies that are doing well but looking to grow in terms of revenue, prospecting process, and having better conversations with customers in their ideal target market. She also helps companies that are tired of cutting costs to win deals when they don't need to. (Time stamped 1:00) Discussion topics and time stamps What are the fundamentals of what has changed in sales training since the pandemic? What has stayed the same? How should we be thinking about 2021? (Time stamped 2:20) What sort of adaptations are organizations and sellers having to make to continue to stay relevant? How can organizations help train their sales teams on how to better adapt to the new normal? (Time stamped 6:25) How are organizations looking at their training metrics to figure out if there is the stickiness factor in actually seeing results from what they're implementing in terms of training? (Time stamped 16:10) How has training for channel partners or rep agents changed as we've morphed in 2020? How is that going to play out in 2021? (Time stamped 22:30) What has changed in terms of the bid process? How are people handling the touchpoints in between in that process? (Time stamped 27:50) Take-aways Resources Kristine Sizemore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/link-kristine-sizemore/ Dave Karr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekarr/ Sandler Training: https://www.ksainc.sandler.com/ Article - The Importance of B2B Sales Training: https://www.klyck.io/blog/the-importance-of-sales-training-for-b2b Klyck.io: https://www.klyck.io

Duration:00:36:58

Sales Enablement Best Practices

10/29/2020
In this episode of B2B Enablement, Paul Tkach joins to talk about sales enablement best practices and the value it can bring to B2B organizations. He shares insights and tips on how your business can use sales enablement to help improve sales and marketing alignment, increase ROI on marketing content, and deliver powerful customer insight data. Introduction: Paul Tkach, Director of Business Development at Klyck.io (Time stamped at 1:00) Paul has been with Klyck since its inception and has been on both the sales and customer success sides. He helps companies with their sales enablement deployment and projects. Over the last few years, he's been working to implement sales enablement solutions both locally and globally. What is sales enablement? What is the difference between sales enablement as a function in a business and sales enablement as software? (Time stamped at 2:20) Sales enablement enables teams to sell your products more effectively and efficiently. As a function, there are a couple of different teams and stakeholders (sales, marketing, and customer success) involved to help achieve the main goal. It's about teams coming together to figure out what empowers them to sell to your customers. In terms of sales enablement as software, it combines what's needed (training users, streamlined digital content, team alignment, collecting data) to do that into a single platform How does sales enablement bring sales and marketing together? (Time stamped at 5:33) There is a major disconnect between sales and marketing teams right now. Sales might not know what content is available and marketing doesn't know what content sales teams are using on the frontlines. Sales enablement allows marketing teams to know what content is being used and sales teams to know what content exists. How does sales enablement fit in with new selling resultant from COVID-19? (Time stamped at 9:25) Gone is the handshake. Teams are being forced to use technology that they haven't had to use before. Even before COVID, the sales landscape was changing drastically. Buyers are so much more informed than they were before. Buyers are looking at five or more pieces of content before even interacting with a seller or trusted advisor. Sellers need to have the information on hand to field questions, cross-sell, and/or up-sell. How does sales enablement fit into how customer interactions are changing and the way that salespeople are changing? How has sales enablement changed the game? (Time stamped at 11:40) There are two benefits: personalization and analytics/customer engagement data. Sales enablement allows you to personalize messages for every step of the buyer's journey. It also helps align the content you present with where the buyer is in their journey. When content is shared, analytics and data provide insight into how to focus follow-ups with more accurate information. You can see how often content has been opened, which content has been viewed the most, and how long they looked at each piece. This gives the seller an idea of when best to reach out again and what to focus on. Data fuels personalization. Sales can see customer engagement and marketing can see what's working and what's being looked at the most and can continue making more of it. Plus, from an administrative/managerial level, you can see what's being shared and adjust training to focus on what works or change processes depending on what's building up to opportunities. How can sales enablement improve employee training? (Time stamped at 17:00) Sales enablement allows you to have all of your training content in one place in your platform. Teams can navigate through that content based on filters or keywords and be onboarded faster. Using Conversations – a package of content together on a certain topic – provides a holistic view of a product or service and also includes coaches that have sold the product successfully. They can share best practices or tips via a document or recording....

Duration:00:30:22

How to Improve Search Engine Visibility

9/29/2020
On this episode of B2B Enablement, Chris Dickey (CEO and Founder of Visably) joins to discuss how B2B marketers can apply new techniques to increase search engine visibility. Chris shares insights on ways that search engine visibility differs from traditional search engine optimization (SEO) and how marketers can use this concept to help them more effectively rank their brand, not just their website. Introduction: Chris Dickey, Founder and CEO at Visably (Time stamped: 0:45) Chris has been a marketer for 17 years and has been involved in publishing and agencies for 11 to 12 years. His new company, Visably, helps companies measure their brand footprint and search. Chris also owns his own PR agency. What's the difference between SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEV (Search Engine Visibility)? (Time stamped: 2:05) SEO is about trying to get your company's content at the top of the search results. If you're successful, that's fantastic, but it's tough to do because there is an incredibly competitive landscape. SEV is about trying to get your company's brand to rank. It's about your customers discovering you in any kind of search. How does SEV relate to ranking your brand versus ranking your website? (Time stamped: 3:45) The main point is to get people talking about you. eCommerce partners and wholesale partners have a huge presence online, have a more powerful domain, and do well in non-branded search terms. The idea is that you're trying to get other people's websites working for you. What is the difference in how you rank a page with SEV versus traditional SEO or SEM and how is the buyer intent different? (Time stamped: 6:50) Most modern marketing organizations have several different functional groups (SEO, content, PR, eCommerce, etc) and they can all be brought together through SEV to improve overall SERP performance. Google tries to determine intent based on three things: do you want to click to buy, click to learn, or click to go. Marketers need to match the content and strategy with the intent of the keyword. Visably will go through and aggregate the content on the first page of the search to figure out intent for you. How does one handle the difficulty of keywords in niche market and is it worth it? How can SEV help B2B marketers? (Time stamped: 11:10) When you do a search, look at the page. If it's full of click to learn sites, that is your contact list. You can ask one or more of the writers to consider updating a blog post to include some new information you provide them. Try to make better relationships with the people getting the top Google spots. If you can get in front of them, the next time they write a review, your company might be in it. It's important to build visibility that's not just your own content. This is an integral part of improving overall SEV. How does media and other site listings affect SEV? (Time stamped: 18:40) Reverse engineer how someone finds you by getting a handle on your keywords. Ask yourself: What are the search phrases people are using to look for what I offer? Then you can figure out the relative search volume for each of your keywords. Use the search results to build lists and targets, then allocate those targets to your respective teams to work on optimization. Examples of when SEV has shown good results for B2B. (Time stamped: 22:15) Using Visably as an example: Seeding and answering questions on question-and-answer websites like Quora helps improve online visibility. Similar approaches can work well for B2B in general. Take-aways (Time stamped: 24:05) Shift your search engine results strategy from just ranking your website to ranking your brand Don't think about the current SERP results as opportunities you've missed, but future opportunities you can gain. Use the results as a list building tool. Don't write off competitive keywords - Create strategies to get into search results with a more holistic approach, including...

Duration:00:29:05

How to Use Customer Testimonials to Close More Deals and Build Brand

9/15/2020
On this episode of B2B Enablement, Sam Shepler (CEO of Testimonial Hero) joins to talk about the importance of using customer testimonials in your sales and marketing strategy. He shares insights and tips on how your business can use video testimonials to help reduce friction in the customer journey and build brand equity with potential clients. Introduction: Sam Shepler, Founder and CEO at Testimonial Hero (Time stamp 1:00) Testimonial Hero is a video testimonial creation service for B2B marketing leaders. They produce videos all over the world (in-person and remotely) and help B2B marketers drive better results by using the voice of their customers. Why do video testimonials really matter for B2B revenue teams and how does that function bring together sales and marketing? (Time stamp 2:10) Prospects want to hear from other prospects. Many buyers are skeptical of sales content and are more interested in hearing from their peers. In fact, only 9% buyers rate vendor content as trustworthy. How are testimonials valuable for marketing and sales? (Time stamp 4:00) For marketing, video testimonials reduce friction wherever you use them (landing pages, cold emails, etc.) It's best to make several versions of the video. Use a 90 second version as standard, 30 second version for social, and a 15 second version for digital paid ads. Testimonials help you build trust faster and increase credibility thus accelerating the buyer journey. What are the friction points and where do testimonials come into play? (Time stamp 6:25) There's never a time when buyers don't want to hear from other customers. Traditionally, testimonials have been used in the final stages of the sales process. Now they are being used in all stages of the funnel. If video testimonials are so important, why aren't more people using them and what's preventing them from becoming more popular? (Time stamp 10:30) One major problem is that no one is putting their hand up to be featured in them. Marketing, sales, and customer success all need to come together to figure out who is the best person to approach. Testimonials aren't only for you. They hold your customer up as an example of best practice in their industry, plus, it's good PR for the individual featured in the video. People want to showcase their achievements. How do you go about making a video testimonial? (Time stamp 14:25) Big companies are hiring videographers and can use in-house resources. But there is also the DIY approach. You can simply record a video meeting and do some simple editing. It won't likely be a show stopper, but it's an option. You can also work with a partner, like Testimonial Hero, that can do on-site and remote filming for you. Have there been any big changes in the way customer testimonials are handled as a result of COVID? (Time stamp 21:25) There has been an increase in remote-only testimonials. Though in-person filming is still happening. The challenge isn't maintaining physical distancing, it's that many offices are closed. Videos are being filmed in rented conference rooms or co-working spaces that can be dressed up to provide a nice background. Tips for people looking to get started with video testimonials? (Time stamp 23:10) The challenges are getting people to agree to do video testimonials and getting comfortable asking for them. There are some options. You can build the ask into the initial sales agreement. It has a greater chance of being redlined, but also sets the expectation early. You can also use the ask as a bargaining tool. If they put the brakes on the project because of the cost, you can offer to discount the price if they agree to do a video testimonial (pending satisfaction, of course). That way, they get a discount and conversation about a testimonial is already started. Take-aways (Time stamp 27:00) Resources and links from this episode: Written summary overview of this podcast :...

Duration:00:34:23

Marketing Automation Strategies to Empower Operations

7/30/2020
In this episode, Dave Karr (VP of Marketing at Klyck.io) and Michael Hartman (Director, Marketing Technology, Demand Generation and Analytics at Freeman Company) discuss how marketing automation and MarTech systems can support B2B marketing operations. We'll discuss how marketing automation can be optimized to support the sales funnel, best practices and concepts for launching a MarTech integration project, how to handle change management when implementing new MarTech, and how to align MarTech systems to support overall revenue generation in the organization. Summary and Time Stamps: Introduction: Michael Hartman, Director, Marketing Technology, Demand Generation and Analytics at Freeman Company (Time stamped at 0:40) Michael's background is in implementing and deploying marketing automation and MarTech. He is currently leading demand generation at Freeman, but started out in management consulting then took a turn into marketing. Marketing automation and its importance (Time stamped at 2:10) Marketing automation and CRM are the core of what every B2B enterprise has and that's not going to change. The major problem is the enormous growth in point solutions in marketing technology and finding a leader in that space. Marketing automation is the core in scaling what you do and CRM is at the center of all of that. Properly making MarTech work and where you get started (Time stamped at 4:00) You need to understand what is currently in place. You need to know how you go to market and decide if your organization is ready for a MarTech solution. ABM is an example of where things become challenging. First you need to get sales and marketing in alignment. Then you can experiment. People and process need to go in front. How to Setup Marketing Automation for Success (Time stamped at 6:25) People and process should precede technology. The system needs to support the day-to-day needs. One of the challenges is the hand off of leads to sales and getting information back to the marketing system. There needs to be a clear picture of the full lifecycle. With that, you can start to see which channels are working better to generate pipeline and revenue. How to leverage the capabilities of marketing automation and the data (Time stamped at 10:45) Enable the sales team to have visibility and see what's happening with prospects and customers. Marketing automation can make the information they're tracking visible within the CRM application. Get the intent information and then you can customize to a prospect or organization. Make sure you update lead statuses and then keep them up-to-date. Having the discipline to update makes the work the best it can be. How marketing automation empowers personalization in customer touchpoints (Time stamped at 14:20) Educate sales teams how marketing automation and the data it can collect can help the them with personalization. It doesn't have to overly complex, you can start by making simple lists. Much of the time, keeping things simple can generate the most wins. The simplest way is often the best way. It's important to not get caught up in complexity and to remember that it won't be perfect. The role management plays in MarTech (Time stamped at 16:40) Bring in middle management because they can upsell through the chain and help sell it to their managers. It's important to enable people to make decisions, but also to give them space to get it wrong. That said, you should continue to try to get better and better. “Done is better than perfect.” It's the journey. It's not the event. Best practices in marketing automation (Time stamped at 21:40) No company is the same, so there is no one size fits all. Having marketing automation and CRM in place is at the core. There are some principles that apply across the board, though. One thing is keeping things simple and solving for the 80% and not the 100%. Also, try things and try to move forward. When it comes to technology, figure out if there is a way to...

Duration:00:37:49

PPC and Social Media Advertising for B2B

7/9/2020
In this episode, Lewis Mudrich, Founder of KonvertLab, joins as our guest to discuss how B2B companies can build a PPC and social media advertising strategy. Topics include how to get started with PPC and online ads, the best ways to set up a strategy with internal or external resources, common mistakes made with PPC, how to set up analytics to track success, how to align your sales funnel to nurture the leads, the power of LinkedIn advertising for B2B, and how to ensure that you are getting a positive ROI on your efforts. Links to episode resources: Lewis' LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismudrich/ Dave Karr's LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekarr/ Klyck.io Website https://www.klyck.io KonvertLab Website https://konvertlab.com/

Duration:00:33:00

Video Marketing - Why B2B Companies Need a Strategy

6/9/2020
In this episode, Drew Franklin (Marketing Specialist at Altec) joins us for a discussion about why B2B businesses need a video marketing strategy. Video has solidified itself as the king of content and marketers must understand how to utilize video in their overall content marketing strategy. Topics of discussion include : What is video marketing, how to build a video marketing strategy, what type of videos you should be creating, how to track analytics on video marketing, and what B2B companies are benchmarks for success. Links to show resources below: Drew Franklin's LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewdfranklin/ Altec's Website - http://www.altec.com Altec's YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/AltecTrucks SPOC Automation's Website - https://spocautomation.com SPOC Automation's YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/spocautomation Refine Labs Video Library - https://refinelabs.com/videos/ Peter McKinnon's YouTube Channel (great educational content on how to produce video!) - https://www.youtube.com/user/petermckinnon24

Duration:00:34:51

The Connection Between Sales Enablement and Revenue Enablement

5/19/2020
In this episode, we dive further into the concepts of sales enablement and the connection to revenue enablement within organizations. Jamie Kirmess, Principal at LeadMD, joins as our guest to discuss how B2B companies can leverage sales enablement to support better connectivity between sales and marketing, digitalization, change management, and ultimately revenue enablement. Jamie shares real life examples of how LeadMD's clients have applied sales enablement strategies in their business to drive better marketing results and increased revenue. She also leaves listeners with 3 powerful concepts that can be immediately applied in their business. Links from the episode: Jamie Kirmess's LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiekirmess/ Klyck.io Website - https://klyck.io LeadMD Website - https://www.leadmd.com

Duration:00:27:54

The Importance of Personalization During COVID 19

4/23/2020
In this episode, I'm joined by Stephanie Friedman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at City Paper Company, to discuss the importance of personalization in your sales and marketing activities during COVID 19. We discuss a number of best practices from B2B business that are doing this well and share some practical steps that you can take to improve your outreach. If you are looking for creative ideas on how to connect with your customers and break through the cloud of COVID 19, this episode is for you. Resources and links below from the show: City Paper Company's Website : https://citypapercompany.com Stephanie Friedman's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephkfriedman/ Klyck.io's website : https://klyck.io Klyck.io's blog : https://blog.klyck.io/blog Dave Karr's LinkedIn Profile : https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekarr/

Duration:00:36:17