Captavi QixSuite provides users the opportunity to save time by posting one discussion to multiple LinkedIn Groups while still collecting quality statistics that fit your company’s metrics.

Here’s how:

1.    On your company’s homepage, click on the LinkedIn Badge.



2.    Check the box “Post to Group(s)”. Be sure to uncheck the automatic option “Post to updates” before proceeding.




3.    Complete the discussion by entering the names of groups you would like to post to, the subject matter of the discussion, and the contents of the discussion.

Tips

Tip #1 - When entering the names of multiple groups, it is best to prepare a list ahead of time so that you won’t have to individually type each group name. Once the list is created, you can reuse it for each discussion that you post.
To create a list:

• Go to “Your Groups” within LinkedIn
• Copy and paste the name of each group that you would like to include in the discussion to a plain-text document (Notepad for Windows or TextEditor for Mac).
• Save the document and use it to copy and paste the names of the groups into the Group(s) input area.

Tip #2- Be sure to include a unique URL in your post so that you can track click- throughs, from the discussion.



Click here to request a demo of Captavi QixSuite and see how easy it is to manage your online and mobile marketing initiatives.



  

on @Focus

http://focus.com/c/Crs/  

Do, engage in personalized dialogue. Social business is a great opportunity to focus on specific interests.

Do, create sub-communities. Bucket your social audience into special interest groups and share relevant information.

Do, follow up to direct questions or messages.

Do, weave your social business activities with your CRM activities - Social CRM.

Do, connect your analytics to all communications activities: website, email, social business and make sure the analytics are integrated so you get the whole picture of what is going on with your communications channels.

Do, continue to use traditional marketing channels to augment your marketing program. Yes, social business is hot right now - but, we do not want to ignore some of the more traditional channels of marketing like - trade shows, print advertising, and direct mail.  
            
  

Increasingly buyer-centric sales cycles in the B2B space and the tough reality of a drawn-out recession has put a great deal of pressure on marketing organizations (if there is enough people anymore to call it an organization) to cut costs and still improve lead nurturing and customer retention. Marketing automation can dramatically improve this situation for marketers and their companies.

Cost cutting and improved automation has been widely adopted throughout many aspects of a companies’ business. However, marketing automation has often taken a back seat to sales and service automation as companies deploy customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives. Therefore; it should come as no surprise that marketing automation is the weak link in many CRM tools, forcing companies to select multiple, poorly integrated third-party solutions, jammed down marketing’s neck, not meeting their needs.

When you consider the critical role that marketing plays in initiating relationships, supporting the sales cycle, and building loyalty, it is clear that this has to change.

The buying relationship is increasingly based on nurturing and education, provided by B2B/B2C companies that communicate to prospects with the right information, at the right time, and in the right place. You don’t have to be everywhere, just everywhere customers are. Achieving this manually is next to impossible, and at the very least extremely costly. Marketing automation systems that provide lead-nurturing tools and integrate social media should become a necessity rather than a luxury, especially for B2B companies who seem to be lagging behind a bit.

As buyers across the market landscape gather more of their initial info on vendors and solutions online, the role of sales is changing. Sales reps should be expected to make “warm calls” to qualified prospects who have already given you at least their basic information online and who have shown interest in buying. “Cold calls” to uninterested prospects will be considered wasteful, if it isn’t already. And email shotgun blasts will be a relic of the past, a learning curve that has hopefully been straightened out. Automated marketing solutions should enable marketers to track leads from the moment they land on the website until the sales person closes a deal.

Marketing has been wrestling with executive management and sales on accountable, dollars and legitimacy in the boardroom. The time has come for marketers to step up to the plate, prove operational efficiency and show once and for all, that our discipline is and always will be both art and science. And now we have the tools to back it up.

Don’t stagnate automate.

  

In a recent meeting I had with a potential client, I realized that there are a lot of organizations that struggle with their trade show strategy, especially start-up or early growth companies. Each company, of course, has it’s own objectives they want to meet at a trade show, but here is a checklist that every organization with limited budget, people, and time should consider.

Every Dollar Spent Should Count Toward a Qualified Lead

Show organizers put a host of marketing vehicles in front of you to help get your company “noticed” at a conference or trade show: bus signs, hotel TV kiosks, print ads in the conference program – just to name a few. However, just because these marketing opportunities may seem easy to execute, it does not always mean that these marketing efforts will generate qualified leads for your sales pipeline. Every dollar should be calculated based on targeted reach (how many individuals will receive your marketing message that fit your specific target audience) and the number of times or impressions your target audience will be exposed to the marketing message. For most early stage companies, the name of the game is qualified trade show booth traffic. So, if you going to spend your marketing dollars at a trade show you need to make sure you are driving qualified booth traffic – otherwise you’re going to be disappointed with your trade show ROI.

First of all, you could never spend enough money. If you’re a small company or a start up, the big guys are going to out spend you at least $10 to $1. With amphitheater booths, awesome graphics and expensive giveaways, it’s really going to be tough for you to compete for attention. But, don’t let that get you down. The point is, you can’t out spend the tier-one competitors, so you’ve got to out smart them. Winning this battle starts with creativity and ends with a great plan executed well before the show opens its doors.

Show Time

In my last gig, I had to roll out our company’s new product focus at the industries’ biggest show in Barcelona, Spain. In attendance was the top executives and directors of the world’s largest telecommunications and wireless companies, RIM, Motorola, ATT, Orange just to name a few. Not to mention the industry press and analysts. There was no way we were going to get any of these guys to notice us just from the show floor. Understanding that going in, we focused on what we could control by getting their attention ahead of the show.

Plan Ahead

We developed a pre-show email campaign targeting our sales & executive team’s contacts that will be attending the show. Next we targeted companies on the attendee show list that were on our radar to talk to. Targeting with laser precession was the key. We didn’t waste dollars on blast email to everyone on the show list. Not everyone at a show is your customer.

Building Relationships

To attract people, we needed a hook that would appeal to everyone. So in addition to pre-show campaign, we sent out personalized direct mail invitations to attend a party we hosted at the world famous Buda Bar. As a party town, Barcelona is right up there, being from New Orleans I knew a little bit about party towns. After all, building relationships is what its all about and what better way to do it but in a cool social setting with food and your favorite beverage. Through in transportation to and from and we had a first class event. While confirming everyone’s attendance to our event, we were able to set appointments with potential customers, the press and some analysts to come visit us at the show in our VIP Demo lounge.

The Hook

The show floor itself required a great deal of creative thinking. To have a booth presence at this show was unbelievably expensive, so we had to come up with an idea that would be both cool and cost effective and appeals to an international audience….. no pressure there.

Instead of spending dollars on a massive booth only to be dwarfed, I opted for the smallest space I could get and rented a hospitality room at the show. As we had achieved our initial goal of setting up appointments before we ever set foot on a plane, the show floor became less of panic and opened up more possibilities. We set up the hospitality area as a VIP Demo lounge complete with full product demo gear as well as a product video, a place to rest their feet with food and beverage. After they went through our presentation and saw a demo, we handed them a cool company branded soccer bag and branded soccer ball along with collateral. I know, soccer, where’s the tie in? I’m getting to it. Here again we created a relaxing setting, completely in our control without having to compete for my prospects attention.

Be Creative

As for the little show floor space I rented, we designed a soccer stadium field mural to cover the entire back wall of the space. On it, our logo and a simple message. In the front, we had a digital camera aligned perfectly to mural to make it look like you were on the field. That was cool, but not really going to bring them in droves. It was what accompanied them in the photograph that made all the difference. We employed four young ladies, dressed tastefully in soccer outfits representing various nations, matched purposefully to the countries of origin of our target prospects in France, Germany, England and of course our host Spain. Attendees lined up to take their picture and show their national pride.

In addition to our country representatives, we had skilled sales reps taking the pictures and speaking with the attendees in line, asking questions and qualifying them as they fill out their picture redemption form. In order to receive the picture, attendees had to go to our VIP area where they were presented with the opportunity to a see a demo and get our soccer packed giveaway, again all without competitive noise and distraction. Europeans love a good party and they love their soccer.

It was a great event; we accomplished everything we set out to do and spent a fraction of the cost doing it.

A recap of recommendations that can help you get all the leads you want for your next trade show.

Plan ahead – a pre-show campaign is a powerful weapon

Create a hook – you’re asking for them to take time out of a busy show schedule to come see you, make sure it’s worth their while.

Be creative – conventional tactics are for people that can afford them, think outside the building (even the box is too limiting)

Think relationally – everything you plan should be designed to give you the maximum opportunity to create a relationship with your attendee.

Captavi -- Go Hunt and Capture!,

  

In my many years in marketing I have built some brilliant campaigns and some that looked brilliant, but turned out not to be. Over time, like any good marketer I was compelled to analyze what I did right and what went wrong; in the hopes of understanding the anatomy of a really effective opt-in lead generation campaign.

I began riffling through old creative briefs, notes, and marketing campaigns analyzing every aspect – including the behavior of lead lifecycle, from prospect to loyal customer. Yeah, I know, there are better things to do with your time, but hay, I’m in marketing. Were else could an anal-retentive with a creative streak a mile long find work that satisfies both needs?

Back-to-the-analysis.

I concluded that the one common element shared by all of the really successful campaigns was the effectiveness of the Offer or also referred to as a “Lead Magnet”. You’re saying to yourself, no duh, of course, I always have a Call to Action or Offer in my lead generation programs. Of course you do, the question is not if you have one, but how good is it? Good campaign ideas and creative are often foiled by weak, or worse, non-relevant offers. Flip Cameras, iPods, GPSs and White Papers are all good Lead Magnets and have proven to be interesting to people, but is that what your audience really wants from you? And more importantly, is that what they need from you to become your customer?

So here is some food for thought that should get you to rethink your Offer:

While good design and clever copy are important, these elements are not essential when it comes time to closing the deal or get an individual to take action and ultimately buy. Blasphemy, I know. Don’t share this with the creative group, least you suffer a let down in their brilliance. You’d like to have both.

A great deal of thought should be given to what you are giving people in exchange for their opt-in.

This three-step filter can help you determine or re-determine whether your Lead Magnet is viable or not. In the end, it’s all about the conversion. Steps one and two, I’m sure you are well versed. It’s number three and its sub-parts that I think people forget about the most and are the keys to effectiveness.

1. Have you made it sound sexy? Yes, I said it. It’s not PC, but the truth often isn’t. It’s one thing to have a great piece of content, but does it sound great to your audience – and is it relevant. How you “sell it” is as important as what it is. (Basic advertising principle here). And if you are selling a house, make sure your Lead Magnet is related to owning or living in a home. Don’t offer a USB stick to potential home buyers; a discount on an appliance upgrade is more relevant.
2. Does it deliver? OK, now that it sounds sexy, can it deliver on the promise? Let’s say you are offering a report that let’s a campaign respondent predict, with 99% accuracy, the stock market for the next 3 months. When you promise the goods, you better darn well deliver or you will lose that person for good. The point here is you may get the opt-in, but they’ll never buy from you if the promise of the Lead Magnet does not deliver what you promised.
3. How does the Lead Magnet frame your desired end result? How does the Lead Magnet frame or push leads towards buying your product. The Lead Magnet has to be valuable or invaluable to your audience. Trinkets may have a “cool factor”, but are they generating interest from individuals that you want to do business with or is the Offer creating urgency to ultimately close the deal. This marketing concept is reinforced from renowned marketing guru and author, Seth Godin, who suggests using his best-selling book, Free Prize Inside, using “soft innovations” or product/service/solution improvements that don’t fundamentally change your product or service, but change the way people interact with it. The simple act of getting something they already find valuable, in a new way, is just the ticket to building a loyal relationship with your contact. Filling a void or solving a person’s challenge is the marketer’s basic building block to solving marketing problems. Let’s break this down further.

a. Create a void. In developing a great Lead Magnet, the opt-in offer should be something extremely useful, but the offer is not complete - yet. The best example that I can give comes from the virus/malware removal software industry. They offered a free diagnostic on your computer to tell you whether your computer was infected. Some even cleaned up the first 10 bugs. Of course, the only way to remove them all was to purchase the software package. The Lead Magnet creates voids and your products/services should fill them. This is a key element in getting the qualified lead as opposed to somebody who just wants the prize.

b. Build credibility. It is very important, if you are in a services business where your team of advisors are the product, that your Lead Magnet be services-centric – like: Special Reports, White Papers or How-To’s. These Lead Magnets should also leave the offer recipient, saying: “Wow, these guys really know what’s going on with my industry and my challenges. I want to do business with them!”

Attracting qualified leads, making a connection, establishing trust and creating a loyal working relationship -- what more could you want?

I’m sure the earth hasn’t shaken under you feet with this information. However, it should have, at the very least, shaken the sleep from your eyes the next time you are developing a Lead Magnet for your lead generation campaign.

Happy Relationship Marketing.

  

Setting a company policy for mass emailing will also help support the success of protecting your Digital Reputation. 

We suggest that you:

• Distribute an email communications policy, picking up the points above, to all employees, partners, or individuals emailing on behalf of your organization. 
• Classify “mass email” as any email that is addressed to 10 or more contacts.
• Identify a single point of contact to manage your email distribution lists and distribute all mass emails.  This includes, but not limited to; press release distribution, promotional emails, service emails, etc.
• Educate employees and partners on these guidelines, as well as the CAN-SPAM rules and regulations.  Many people are just unaware of the CAN-SPAM rules.  For instance, they may not know that it is illegal to type in names and email addresses from an association directory to use for email purposes.
  

  

 

#1 -- Brand and Organization Reputation Leakage

The number of organization departments, divisions, subsidiaries, or third-parties can and are affecting your email deliverability. This can include your accounts receivable department, sales teams, support staff, distribution dispatch group, channel partners, vendors – the list of reputation influencers can go on and one.  Who else is sending email at or on behalf of your company? Any message, regardless of IP address (the origin of the email – your SMTP server, an email service provider server – like Constant Contact, or a partner’s email server), which includes your company name, your website URL, office address, phone or any other identifiable attribute of your organization, is factored in determining your Digital Reputation.

 

 #2 -- Poor List Hygiene

An email distribution list sent to a lot of undeliverable addresses will adversely affect your reputation. Be sure to remove them immediately after each send.  And, if you repeatedly send email to the same undeliverable email address, it can be a negative mark on your Digital Reputation.

 

#3 -- Skipping a Double Opt-In Procedure

Sending new subscribers a confirmation email will prevent erroneous sign-ups and complaints.  Captavi QixDatabase auto manages opt-ins and opt-outs with a subscribe/unsubscribe option in the email footer from QixCampaign, your website inquiry form, online event registration, new user subscription, and profile updates.

# 4 -- Incorrect Use of Rented or Third-Party Lists

Never send email to a recipient who has not personally opted-in to receive email from YOUR organization no matter how tempting it may be. Even having a media source send a message to their subscribers on your behalf can have a damaging affect on your Digital Reputation.  If you pay to send an email blast to trade publication subscribers, always have that media source send messages to their subscribers, in their own names, from their own servers or through their own email service provider relationship (e.g., their own Constant Contact account – not your organization’s Constant Contact account).

 #5 -- SPAM Complaints

Even recipients who, at one time, opted-in to your subscriber list may later register you as SPAMMER or simply use the “SPAM” button on their email system, instead of unsubscribing or blocking your emails, because it is easier.  But, no matter how the SPAM is reported, it still degrades your Digital Reputation.

 #6 -- Using Non-Optimized Images and Rich Media in Your Emails

By default, over 75% of most email clients (like Outlook, Yahoo Mail, etc.), open messages without images (this is represented by the “X-Box” you see in an email that requires a right-click to download the image). If you send emails not optimized for image suppression your target could receive a blank or partial email from you.  Also, if your email images take too long to download your recipients are more likely to opt-out of your subscriber list.   In addition, using rich media or scripting language in a message is likely to get blocked.

 

#7 -- Using Multiple “To”, “From” or “CC” Names

Using a variety or multiple “To”, “From”, or “CC” email addresses when sending different messages may confuse your audience and cause them to unsubscribe or flag you as SPAMMER.  In addition, one of the individuals that you are sending to or copying on the email may not want their email address exposed to the other individuals that you are sending the email.  And, there is one more problem.  If one of those email addresses is blacklisted, your Digital Reputation is compromised by using their email address.

 

#8 - Email Content is Not Valuable to Recipient or Contains Word or Phrase Triggers

Sending your audience messages, without relevance or is solely self-promotional will hurt your reputation.  There are also words that flag Spam Filters to block your email from delivering including: “Free”, “Limited Time Offer”, “Urgent Matter” or words in all caps – among many others.

 

#9 -- Too Many Emails

Senders can quickly wear out their welcome with too many emails in a short period of time.  Consolidate your messaging and profile the recipients need for information using the Captavi QixDatabase query tool and your messages will be more closely aligned to their interests.

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Every time an email is sent on or in your behalf, a new type of “electronic fingerprinting” is created that identifies your organization’s reputation for sending email-based communications.  There have been some good practices by organization, but there have been many infractions as well.  We most commonly refer to those who break best email practices as “Spammers”.  Through the advent of the FTC CAN-SPAM Act, federal requirements are in place for commercial emailers.  The primary goal of this act to is protect individuals from the “assault” of non-solicited marketing (e.g., email blasts).   Not following these rules will result in a poor Digital Reputation and can lead to significant fines (up to $11,000) and even jail.   If your Digital Reputation is damaged, not only will your email be blocked by Spam filters, but your IP address can be blacklisted and blocked by ISPs.

 

Click here to review the rules => http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm.

 

  

The new Captavi brand has now been officially rolled out.  The first phase of our website is now live and we have rebranded most of our public-facing communications channels.

Rebranding a company is never an easy task.  We view branding as a complete 360 degree view of a company.  Our brand is represented in everything we do.  Some representations may not be that obvious -- the way we answer the phone, how we treat a client's challenge, or the way we package our solutions.  Other, more obvious efforts; include our website, our business card, and our outbound marketing efforts. 

Our new name, Captavi, is a Latin word that means "Go Hunt and Capture", which we thought captured the essence of relationship marketing.  We strive everyday to help our clients practice relationship marketing with ease -- which is the reason we crafted "Relationship Marketing Made Easy" as our tagline.

And, our logo, expertly created by our highly-talented design partner -- Andre Leeder (thank you Andre!) represents the different marketing channels that can be leveraged for personalized dialogue with an individual.  Check it out: