Posted by: Josh Gibbs | October 6, 2009

HP Rolls Out New Cloud Marketing Initiatives

LOGO-HPHewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) this week added several new Elite designations for HP resellers in its PartnerOne program while consolidating some others and adding several more sales tools for its channel partners.

The new designations for HP business partners with leading practices in specific product and service categories are Virtualization Elite, Data Center Elite and Store Solutions Elite, with the last representing a new emphasis at Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP on its point-of-sale hardware, software and services offerings.

Some existing PartnerOne Elite designations such as Blade Elite will be rolled into the new Virtualization Elite program, said Tom LaRocca, vice president of marketing in HP’s Solution Partners Organization – Americas.

HP also has added some Web-based tools for its channel, including a publishing tool called HP Solutions Showcase that helps partners add HP-generated content to their own Web sites, and HP Event Designer, an online content resource and planner that partners can use to develop Webinars and customer presentations.

LaRocca said HP has settled on a metric called a Penetration Rate Index (PRI) for measuring PartnerOne members’ services attach rates. The PRI will become the primary measurement for partners with an HP Services Elite designation, he said.

On the benefits side, HP also has introduced new rebate rewards for partners demonstrating year-over-year sales growth, and training courses for HP’s Enterprise Server and Storage authorization and Elite status can now be paid for with PartnerOne market development funds, LaRocca said.

Original post from ChannelWeb

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Posted by: Josh Gibbs | September 21, 2009

SharedVue Hires Software Developer to Assist in Cloud Marketing

Josh Tucker, Jr. Developer at SharedVueSharedVue is proud to announce the hiring of Josh Tucker to the Software Development team. Josh will be assisting in creating new cloud marketing solutions for SharedVue’s channel marketing clients, as well as supporting VARs and channel partners in implementing SharedVue solutions. Additionally, Josh will help maintain and upgrade existing cloud marketing solutions dealing with content syndication and automated campaign management.

Josh has extensive experience in strategic application development and management addressing how Information Technology (IT) serves the needs of executives, managers, and end users in a customized integrated solutions. He also dealt with workflow optimization through automated processes, embedding computing products and customized digital solutions to increase business revenue,  and maximizing employee efficiency through better communication between employees, management, and customers.

Prior to SharedVue, Josh served as Security Analyst in the systems integration field, helping companies create internal security policies and security assessment services to facilitate proactive (vs. reactive) security models. With this experience, Josh will assist in managing SharedVue’s security protocols and tactical implementations for clients’ confidential information.

Josh has also helped create Internet portals with customized interactive experiences for end users, vendors, as well as internal employees.  His approach to unified information processes, as well as simplified customer support, will aid SharedVue in integration with large channel enterprises’ existing partner portals and lead management systems.

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Posted by: Josh Gibbs | September 17, 2009

Jigsaw Opens API for Developers

jigsawLogoJigsaw, one of the internet’s largest qualified leads and information databases, has officially opened its doors (and API) to allow developers to offer their customers additional ways to share leads and data. Some examples of the ways the new API is being used include iPhone apps, instant database lead info capture, website visitor identification, and lead scoring using Salesforce’s Force.com platform.

A developer community of 17 companies has also been established to help get API development underway. Of the companies involved, some of the most notable are SugarCRM, Netfactor, and SharedVue. But why has Jigsaw decided to do this? Ethan Prater, VP of Technology Alliances explains:

“We had two goals for developers in our program: to make it easy for them to implement and to provide them a real opportunity to make money. Jigsaw designed its program to drive a meaningful business result for developers, so they can deliver clear, recognizable value to their customers.”

So what does this mean for B2B channel marketers? Now, large enterprises will be able to provide their VARs, distributors, and other channel partners with immediate lead scoring, qualification, nurturing, and marketing tools. This will enable channel partners to increase sales and drive more profit. Enterprises will be able to track their channel partners’ leads across the entire sales channel with metrics and analytics for KPIs.

To learn more about the Jigsaw API, visit Business Wire article here.

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Posted by: rovercash | August 6, 2009

Cloud Marketing Described by SharedVue’s CEO

SV-sphere in cloudsOne of the hottest concepts in technology news today is “cloud computing.” Simply put, cloud computing is the next generation of software-as-a-service (SaaS.) Instead of maintaining a full IT structure with updated software and other expenses within your company, you keep your technology infrastructure remotely hosted on a web-based central server farm sharing software but having your own database.

At SharedVue we created an extension to cloud computing we call “cloud marketing.” Traditional marketing is still viable but can be expensive in the current economy. The Internet provides a much more cost effective way to market as opposed to TV, radio or direct mail. Some of the same content and promotional activities used traditionally can also be used in web-based marketing programs. By using the web you can utilize online activities such as social media, webinars, emails, events, YouTube and, most important, your own websites.

Any of these tools can be used if you have a channel strategy or a direct sales strategy. You can now take approved corporate content presented in a way your company wants it delivered and syndicate it through the web in a SaaS format. That is what we call cloud marketing or marketing in the cloud.

The channel partner or direct salesperson benefits because they get instant, customized help and expertise from the corporation that is based on market research and brand quality. The corporation benefits because channel partners and salespeople are communicating a succinct, cohesive, and consistent message at all customer touch points.

The benefits of cloud marketing are:

  • A relatively low cost way to have marketing content delivered to multiple web sites throughout an organization
  • Consistency of messaging and brand communication
  • Ability to customize for regional and local needs
  • Lead generation opportunities within the content
  • Messaging can be changed or edited within minutes
  • Since it’s on the cloud, the corporation does not have to manage the technology

Are there ways your company utilizes cloud marketing or other like strategies?

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Posted by: Josh Gibbs | June 1, 2009

SharedVue’s Channel Marketing Automation Tools

In the world of marketing automation, there are few vendors that really deliver for channel programs. Heather Margolis (formerly of EMC and Dell) gives a good overview of how SharedVue’s cloud marketing solutions improve channel messaging to drive leads.

Syndication allows relevant content to be pulled from a vendor’s website and displayed on the channel partners’ websites. There is usually a container page with the partners’ look and feel around the top and along the left side and the content is updated on a regular basis. Vendors get their product and value prop information relayed accurately up-to-date in hundreds of other sites and the Channel Partners are able to inform customers on their own sites without… click for whole article »

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Posted by: Josh Gibbs | May 28, 2009

SharedVue Hires 2 New Team Members for Facilit8

Carolina News Wire announced today that Sami Salek and Dana Chandler have joined Facilit8 team to help SharedVue’s cloud marketing efforts.

Raleigh, NC – SharedVue, Inc. has added Dana Chandler and Sami Salek to its cloud marketing and channel support group, called Facilit8. As part of the Facilit8 team, Dana and Sami work with clients to develop innovative ways to share enterprise content with clients’ customers and provide technical support to the channel marketers of SharedVue…(click for whole article)

Source: SharedVue names Dana Chandler and Sami Salek to Facilit8 Group 05-28-2009


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Posted by: Josh Gibbs | May 19, 2009

SharedVue Teams with Strategic Insights for Web Marketing Solutions

A recent article in the Carolina News Wire gives an overview of how SharedVue uses partner company Strategic Insights to create visually enhanced Cloud Marketing solutions for clients.

“As a brand marketing firm, Strategic Insights has been riding the digital wave since the web’s infancy. Designing and building websites has long been an in-house specialty, while many other marketing companies continue to outsource. The company has created effective and award-winning sites for SaaS-based tech companies, banks, restaurants, retail chains and government agencies.”

Click here for whole article »

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Posted by: Josh Gibbs | April 17, 2009

3 Ways to Improve Partner Portals

The more encounters I have with them, the more I see that partner portals are EXTREMELY inefficient. I have had first hand experience with some of the best ones out there, and they are still a complete mess to navigate. It can be almost impossible for partners to find the information they’re looking for. From a partner’s perspective, this can result in a giant waste of time and a huge amount of frustration. For the vendor/enterprise, there is a loss of potential sales growth because channel partners aren’t updating their websites with the most up to date, relevant product information. This means website visitors are not being converted to customers because they are not getting the information they need.

  1. Give partners ONLY the information they need. This can be done by optimizing your partner portal to have role-based users. Most often, channel partners have different certification levels, so don’t expect them to log in to a partner portal and then go find their certification level’s section. Only provide them with information relevant to their product offerings. Using  certification levels to act as filters for content can exponentially decrease the amount of time it takes for partners to find the information they need. This decreases the time-to-market for new products and promotions, cutting off competitor encroachment.
  2. Let partners know when there is new content in a more efficient way. The way we interact with the web is changing the way marketers should deliver information not only to customers but also to salespeople, resellers, VARs, distributors, etc. Thanks to the advent of RSS, email subscriptions, and other content delivery mechanisms, information delivery is becoming much more customized. Let partners choose the methods of contact they find most relevant/easy. At the same time, don’t expect one touch to be enough to get channel partners to change content.
  3. Automate content updates, lead nurturing, and marketing as much as possible for partners. The less time channel partners have to spend changing website content or turning their leads into quality leads, the less time it takes for them to convert a sale. Enabling partners doesn’t necessarily mean giving them the ability to do something so much as it means doing it with them. The old saying, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for life,” doesn’t necessarily apply here. Sure, you can teach him to fish, but when you have to hit your numbers by the end of the quarter, just handing him a net full of fish and telling him to reel them in seems a lot more practical.

Doing any one of these three things will help improve vendor to channel partner relations. However, it is probably best to start with limiting irrelevant information and improving communication before tacking the problem of automation.

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Posted in Channel Marketing

Posted by: Josh Gibbs | March 19, 2009

3 Tips for Channel Marketing in a Recession

How New Internet Marketing Techniques Can Help You Stretch Your Budget and Increase Leads

Budgets are down and stress is up. You need marketing techniques to help you survive and thrive in today’s economy. Now’s the time to focus on your sales channel relationships – helping your channel partners and your inside sales team become better marketers of your products.

Here are top tips from the Internet marketing experts here at SharedVue to help you do that.

1. Consider cloud marketing.

Cloud marketing is the best marketing solution for the current economy. It combines traditional marketing with software as a service (SAAS). By placing all of your marketing assets (product info, training, whitepapers, promotion info) on-line – in “the cloud” – you make them available to an unlimited number of your partners, all at one low cost.

This means your channel partners and your sales team all have instant access to your most current marketing content and ensures that you have message consistency across all your sales channels.

Cloud marketing minimizes the cost to help every partner become a better marketer of your products. Plus, companies who help their entire channel network become better marketers will be in position to take market share from short-term minded vendors who react to reduced budgets by focusing on just their top selling partners.

2. Empower your sales channel.

Whether you use channel partners or an inside sales team, now is the time to make sure they have the tools they need to succeed. Use your partners’ Web sites or create individual micro-sites for each member of your sales team. These sites are a cost-effective alternative to buying banner ads to promote your sales campaigns and promotions. It’s like having customized, dynamic billboards that you can change at will and at no extra cost.

Make sure that the content on these sites is search engine optimized so that you drive traffic to your channel sites.

3. Maximize your marketing assets.

Don’t spend money to reinvent the wheel. Take inventory of all of your marketing assets. Remove any outdated or inconsistent material from circulation. Then, find ways to use what you have in other marketing channels.
Do you have killer customer quotes from a past direct mailer? Make sure to get them up on your partner/sales Web sites. Or use them in a low-cost e-mail campaign to new leads.

For more about maximizing your channel marketing efforts during a recessions, visit SharedVue’s main website.

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Posted in Channel Marketing, Cloud Marketing

Posted by: Josh Gibbs | February 20, 2009

Lead Scoring’s Importance for Lots of Leads

In a recent case study from DigitalBodyLanguage, Jeff Hartley at Terracotta outlines some ways he deals with their  biggest problem – too many leads. In this brief study, Jeff talks about the importance of lead scoring and how it has helped Terracotta streamline communications to buyers in different stages of the buying process.

Terracotta: Lead Scoring A Buyer’s Journey in Open Source

As a leading open-source software company, Terracotta has a challenge that most marketers would gladly choose to manage: too many leads. However, that wealth can create problems when you only have a few direct sales professionals. Those leads were generated from interest in a very strong, full-featured, open-source
version of its software – but which were ideal prospects to target for commercial service offerings?

The Terracotta marketing team turned to lead scoring to allow them to understand the process their buyers went through in understanding and evaluating their products. First, they categorized the buyer’s journey into a path called RESITD – Recognize, Evaluate, Sample, Integrate, Test, Deploy. Lead scoring was used to categorize each buyer in this buying path. The key metrics of each phase differed, depending on the likely approach a buyer would have:

  • Recognition: Awareness metrics such as the number of visits
  • Evaluate: Reading of introductory documents on Terracotta benefits
  • Sample: Downloading of the Terracotta open source product
  • Integrate: Forum activity, application-specific integration documents, or
    downloading of pre-packaged integration modules
  • Test: Reading of detailed tuning guides, sample test plans
  • Deploy: Reading deployment guides, reading about enterprise subscription or deployment services, and “phone-home” capabilities in the software itself

This framework allowed Terracotta to map and guide the buyer’s journey, even in an environment where direct interaction with the end purchaser was quite rare. Sales professionals at Terracotta were provided with deep insights into the buyer stage for each of their accounts, and were sent real-time notifications as buyers progressed from one stage to another.

Over 6 iterations, the Terracotta team continually refined their algorithms for understanding their audience. Insights such as a tight focus on recency and frequency as factors in evaluating any sign of interest came from this iterative refinement process. Evidence of a need for the high scale clustering software that Terracotta provides could be deemed out of date if it was more than a few months old, due to the changing nature of buyer needs. This detailed, automatically-created map of a buyer’s journey allowed their sales team to focus on the key prospects who were ready to move forward with a purchase, and allow marketing to guide the evolution of the others.

Reposted from DigitalBodyLanguage.

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