TechServe Webinar: Marketing for Where You Want to Be

www.clearedgemarketing.com

Marketing for Where You WANT TO BE 3 Proven Ways to Get Leads & Grow

Presented by: Leslie Vickrey, CEO & Founder

August 20, 2014

Confidential Information. Copyright ClearEdge Marketing 2014.

Northern California

TechServe California Updates

•  September 22, 2014: Application deadline for the newly launched TechServe Excellence Awards   Learn more here

•  Date TBD: OPR The Race to Greater Profitability   Presented by Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance

•  November 3-5, 2014: TechServe Alliance Annual Conference   Boca Raton, FL   Click here to register

2

Your Presenter, Leslie Vickrey

3

•  CEO and Founder of ClearEdge Marketing, an agency specializing in outsourced marketing solutions for IT services firms   8+ years in business   Serving clients across four continents   Staff from coast-to-coast (30+)   8-year TechServe Alliance marketing partner

•  18 years managing marketing operations or providing consulting services for companies such as Spherion, Harvey Nash, TechServe Alliance, Bartech, CRi, Aon Hewitt RPO and Fieldglass

•  Co-founder of ARA—a mentoring organization for attracting, retaining and advancing women in tech (www.aramentors.com)

CEO & Founder ClearEdge Marketing

Q&A on Twitter

•  We want to hear from you during this webinar and after

  Send us a tweet with the following in front of the message: @clearedgemktg

  It will show up on our Twitter profile, open for the public to view

  We will reply during the webinar or after

•  Follow us at twitter.com/clearedgemktg •  Also follow us on…

  Facebook: facebook.com/ClearEdgeMarketing   LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/clearedge-marketing

4

Today’s Agenda

•  What You Are Up Against: The Challenges •  Most Effective (and Efficient) Ways to Get Leads:

•  Target Account Campaigns •  Website Optimization •  Social Media

•  Q&A

5

CHALLENGES IT & Engineering Services Firms Face

6

Competition for Talent

+  U.S. IT jobs grew13 percent from 2002 to 2013, while the number of people who graduated with IT degrees dropped 11 percent in that same timeframe (CareerBuilder).

Rise of Online Staffing

+  SIA estimated gross billed revenue in Online Staffing to be $1 billion globally in 2012 and forecasts 40 percent annual category/ segment growth for the next two years.

Limited Resources

+  Mid-size firms typically have small sales and recruiting teams, which limits time for strategic planning and work.

Limited Budgets, Tough Buyers

+  While job growth was up in April, employers remain cautious in their hiring.

OPPORTUNITIES for IT & Engineering Services Firms

7

Skills Shortage

+  High demand for IT in several skills areas—big data, mobile, security and cloud services. Employers need help accessing these skills quickly.

Recruitment Tools Perplex

+  Job search and talent sourcing mediums have exploded (social, mobile, etc.) making it more critical for businesses to employ talent experts . Employers want and need help.

8

3 Proven Marketing Approaches that Spark Opportunity & Fuel Growth

TARGET ACCOUNT & INCENTIVE PROGRAMS Right or Wrong for Your Business?

9

Poll #1

Does your firm have a formalized lead generation program?

10

1. Target Account Programs, Sales/Recruitment, Employee

11

•  Target Account Programs   Select a narrow, vetted prospect list   Spend 4-6 weeks targeting this short list with marketing

materials and contact

•  Sales/Recruitment Incentive Programs   Sales Incentive Programs and Recruitment Incentive Programs   Award sales and recruitment staff for achieving and/or

exceeding lofty targets over a set period

•  Employee Referral Programs   Provide incentives to contactors and staff for referring top

candidates

Arm Your Sales & Recruiting Staff

Target Account Programs: TAPs

12

“CUSTOMERS EXPECT EXPERTISE. While the right skill match is the number one factor in placement success, clients rank knowledge of their industry as second in importance to ensuring a successful placement.” TAPs offer companies a fun, engaging platform for explaining their expertise.

Inavero Insight

•  What Is It?   A scheduled weekly mail-based or drop-in

program for targeted accounts   4-8 weeks, depending on target and service/

solution   Branded Components: A weekly postcard and

giveaway tied into a campaign theme   Calls-to-Action: Get appointments, landing pages

playing new role for solutions-based campaign, including online advertising (LinkedIn)

TAP Benefits

13

•  Targeted & Concentrated •  Puts business development team in front of key decision makers •  Allows teams time to focus on specific businesses and needs

•  Training for Your Sales Team •  Arms sales staff with purpose and materials •  Offers a training tool for new sales staff eager to learn the business

•  ROI Is Easy to Measure •  Offers a simple way to measure marketing message effectiveness

•  Plan on a 30% return (if program and best practices followed!)

TAP Sample: Campaign Overview – Outreach Cycle

14

Prospect

Build Awareness

Schedule Meeting

Close Deal

Touch Item Follow-up

Touch 1 Fold-over Direct Mail Introduction Piece:

How Far Will You Go to Source Java Development Talent?

Follow-up call & e-mail

Touch 2 HTML Email:

How Hard Will You Work To Build Your Java Dream Team?


Touch 3 Drop-off Notecard + Low-end Giveaway How Quickly Can you Access the Java

Development Talent You Need? Follow-up call & e-mail

Touch 4 HTML Email:

How Much Will You Sacrifice to Hire Skilled Java Resources?


Touch 5 Drop-off Notecard + High-end Giveaway

How Long Will You Wait for Java Development Resources?


Fold-over Direct Mail Introduction Piece

HTML Emails

Drop-off Notecards + Giveaways

SAMPLE TAP: Campaign Schedule

15

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

July 2013

14 15 16 17 18 Kick off call/Rep Training

19 20

21 Touch Point 1 – HTML Email

22

23

24

25 LAUNCH! Push First HTML Email to List

26 Follow-up Phone Calls & Emails

27

28 29 Follow-up Phone Calls & Emails





3

August 2013

4 Touch Point 2 – Notecard & Giveaway

5 Prep Packages – Giveaway & Notecard

6 Deliver Package

7 Deliver Package

8 Deliver Package


10

11 12 Follow-up Phone Calls & Personal Emails

13 Follow-up Phone Calls & Personal Emails




17

18 Touch Point 3 – Notecard & Giveaway

19 Prep Packages – Giveaway & Notecard

20 Deliver Package

21 Deliver Package

22 Deliver Package


24

25 Touch Point 4 – HTML Email


27 Push Second & Last HTML Email to List



30 Follow-up Phone Calls & Emails. END CAMPAIGN.

16

TAP SAMPLE: Mailer (local message)

TAP SAMPLE: Metrics Report

17

Critical Success Factors TAPs

18

•  Executive buy-in and oversight •  List quality

  Target “real” buyers of your services

•  Sales buy-in •  Creativity •  Track/share results and ROI •  Going all the way in terms our outreach

  Making all the calls, all the visits.

Make the 5th Call

70% of the population needs at least 5 contacts before they'll trust you enough to grant you an

appointment.

TAPs: Right or Wrong for YOUR Business?

19

•  Can your business create and concentrate on a narrow, targeted list of strong prospects?

•  Do you have a sales team with the discipline and reliability to follow a carefully designed outreach program?

•  Are you willing to put some investment into a creative program that will catch the eyes and ears of top prospects?

WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION Right or Wrong for Your Business?

20

What Is Website Optimization?

21

•  Ensuring a Sharp, Responsive Design   This is more than how the website looks—it’s also about ensuring it performs for users across a wide

range of devices: computers, tablets, phones, smart TVs, etc.

•  Enabling Strategic SEO   Ensuring the website can be found through the search engines’ and online resources key audience

use to find information, products/services, jobs, etc.

•  Creating, Maintaining Engaging, Fresh Content   Providing informative content across the entire site and through a variety of mediums: videos, blogs,

whitepapers, case studies, news releases, social media, etc.

Poll #2

Is your website responsive?

22

Responsive Design Large Image Backgrounds

•  When a website is responsive, it means that the layout of your website will adjust to whatever screen size on which you're viewing it. This flexibility allows for a better user experience to get around a website, whether you’re on a smartphone, tablet or desktop.

•  We’ve all been to sites that have beautiful, full page stunning images that really make an impression. More and more businesses are putting large photographs as backgrounds of their websites to really give the site visitors an idea of what the company is about (i.e. culture).

Parallax Scrolling Infinite Scrolling

•  Parallax scrolling is a technique in which the background moves at a slower rate in the foreground, creating an illusion that looks like it is 3D.

•  Many websites have started to employ this technique, but if overused, it may look gimmicky. If you consider how this technique will make your website more interactive with the audience, it can be very successful.

•  You may recognize this technique when you are looking at Google Images. Infinite scrolling means that as you scroll down the page, the website continues to load.

•  It allows users to remain on the same page instead of hopping between many different pages within your website. Also, it's much faster to continue to load one long page than to load multiple pages.

Top Website Design Trends to Take Into Consideration

23

It’s important to know the pros and cons behind each trend (from an SEO and development/maintenance perspective) and fully understand the terminology when working on your website project.

Trends courtesy of HubSpot

Sharp, Responsive Design

24

•  A good, professional website is the “cost of entry” in business today   Poor websites will limit business,

partnership and recruiting opportunities

•  Websites that do not adapt with technologies and users limit your audience

•  Mobile-able websites are critical for engaging with job seekers   77% of job seekers use mobile job search

apps – Beyond.com Career Network Survey

  3 out of 5 job seekers have searched for jobs on their mobile device in the past year – Glassdoor.com Survey

Optimized Web Design Example

25

Strategic SEO

26

•  SEO = Search Engine Optimization   The art and science of getting online

content traffic from listings on search engines through your…   Web content   Links   Blogs   Social media

•  The Benefits of Strong SEO   More visitors   Higher rankings   Increased engagement (downloads,

purchases, comments, likes, etc.)

Engaging Content

27

•  Original Content   Content that is unique to your expertise

and business will attract an audience   SME blogs, articles

•  Testimonial Content   Content that demonstrates your business’

success and abilities is critical   Case studies, testimonials

•  Multimedia Content   Websites that tap into multimedia (video,

social, chat, etc.) are more engaging to users today

27

28

Engaging Content Samples: Surveys & Reports

Critical Success Factors in Web Optimization

29

•  Willingness to Invest. A good website requires time, resource and investment.

•  Ongoing Content, SEO Work. A website is dynamic and must remain so to succeed.

•  SMEs. The very best websites rely on original content contributions (blogs, posts, articles, videos) from subject matter experts. Ghost writers can help ensure regular cadence.

Go Beyond the Basics

Website Optimization: Right or Wrong for YOUR Business?

30

•  Do you communicate on your website to prospects, job seekers, partners and clients?

•  Does your website work (responsive) across various devices?

•  Is your content fresh and engaging?

SOCIAL MEDIA Right or Wrong for Your Business?

31

Poll #3

Is your business using social media to reach candidates?

32

Poll #4

Is your business using social media to reach clients?

33

Using Social Media to REACH Prospects & RECRUIT Candidates

34

•  Identify, Listen to and Engage Talent and Prospects   Treat social media like a lead generation tool   Making social candidates with skilled IT/Engineering

professionals is critical talent database building today

•  Target, Target, Target +  Use social media sites and their tools for narrowing

audiences to improve recruiting and marketing spend +  Learn which social media sites are most important to

your clients, prospects and candidates and use them. +  To find jobs? +  To find talent? +  To find services? +  To gain knowledge? +  To network?

How to Do Social Media Right

35

•  Have a STRATEGY   Determine who you want to reach and where   Choose your sites/tools (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook)

•  Allocate THE RIGHT Resources   If interns or admins are in charge of social media, ROI may not

be reached   Make SMEs your top voices and ambassadors on social media

•  MEASURE Success/Failures & ADAPT   Sales = new business leads   Recruiters = new candidate resumes

Keys to Success/Tracking Your Success:

•  Multi-channel promotion

•  Website traffic and response influence

•  Response during campaign period

•  Overall social influence

Social Media – Sample Rule of Thumb

36

1/3 of your posts should be about jobs

1/3 of your posts should be about your company

1/3 of your posts should be about the industry

GOAL: •  Get at least 500 views on YouTube

and generate interest from candidates to apply for open positions

RESULTS: •  The video received nearly 3,000

views and the number of new candidates Harvey Nash received during the campaign more than doubled

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHjUU6rbkwM

“Place Me Maybe” – Email & Social Media Campaign

37

38

SAMPLE: Social Listening & Engagement Turns into TAP & ROI

39

SAMPLE: Social Listening & Engagement Turns into TAP & ROI

Social Media: Right or Wrong for YOUR Business?

40

•  Can leaders within your organization serve as social media thought leaders?

•  Will your business be able to keep pace (check regularly for comments, posts, tweets, etc. and respond)?

•  Is your ATS (job postings) integrated with your social?

•  Will you be committed to posting content that is valuable to your users? Job listing and event notices for candidates? Market insights, event updates for prospects and clients?

On Amazon On Amazon

Book Recommendations

41

Need Help? Contact Us Any Time!

42

Leslie Vickrey, CEO & Founder ClearEdge Marketing Tel: 312.731.3149

E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @lvickrey @clearedgemktg