What are the best B2B marketing books out right now?

The perfect strategy is to show your client what their benefit and return on investment would be on this specific advertisement. This is what they are looking for from your pitch. It is great if you show them a positive benefit that they will receive from the advertisement. An example would be a return of a certain amount of money that is more then they invested. Sometimes they will have a certain budget that they must spend wisely. You must ask what the client needs for their benefit. It could be an increase towards their image or recognition. After you find out what they need you will be able to sell them the right advertisement.

Selling to enterprise customers is about demonstrating value while reducing risk. You will need to show irrefutable proof that your solution will address a pain - ideally, one that is both urgent and important (Eisenhower matrix/Covey). The best way is to point to tangible examples of where you have solved the problem before - through documented case studies, testimonials from industry luminaries, etc. Most enterprise solutions have been developed with the involvement of at least one customer to ensure there is some semblance of product/market fit. If that is your situation, you need to use that customer as a proof-point. In the absence of an existing customer, you need to find someone (a champion) who is willing to accept greater risk in return for the benefits of being an early adopter. The offer to them could be financial (free/reduced cost/pay when you're happy), exclusivity, customization/ personalization/integration,... - something that will provide extra reward for taking a chance with you, in return for allowing you to use them as proof when the value is proven. As well, expect that an enterprise will limit their risk by testing your solution in a controlled setting - in one department, a specific project, a parallel implementation with another product, etc. with very specific, measurable objectives and expected outcomes. Selling to enterprise customers can be daunting. Decision-making can be slow, complex and political. The reception area is full of existing account managers with big expense accounts and six figure salaries who call on the customer every day. But, if you can find a way to successfully break into the market, large companies can be like lemmings - and one sale can lead to many. Good luck! Ping me if you think I can be of help.

Find apps that are B2B and go to the review sections. Specifically going to Google's play or Chrome store and look at reviews and follow them to Google+ to engage. I took that same angle for B2C app I was building last year. Check it out. http://blendah.com/post/37331434653/lean-startup-hack

Quora to show subject matter expertise and 'nurture' your relationship with cold leads to generate more educated and eager signups. We did an episode on Quora marketing: (https://anchor.fm/marketing-automation/episodes/A-Quick-Intro-To-Quora-Marketing---General-Strategy-e1vlpr/a-a4noru) https://youtu.be/X9Akg7Z-KPI?rel=0 In fact, Quora is getting pretty busy due to the fact people like me have gotten very good at marketing on Quora. The ‘white hat’ version of this is below. I consult with founders and marketers to help them execute on this very strategy to help grow their personal brands which inevitably grows their business. The name of the game for marketing on Quora is showing THOUGHT LEADERSHIP (https://right2revenue.com/managed-thought-leader-creation-program/). This will result in: 1. More credibility to whatever you promote anywhere. 2. Recognition of your brand (it shows up next to your name if you edit your tagline correctly). 3. Targeted and educated traffic to your landing pages. Here are the steps in this thought leadership strategy: **Step 1 = Choose a topic** * Strategy: I start with the focus keyword for your product/service. For an example, I am about to focus my attention on the keyword “thought leadership” because I want to find those most-interested in building their personal brand recognition and credibility in a field (i.e. a Quora topic). For a founder of a SaaS tool, this would probably be the pain point your tool solves - the search term that you want to get traffic from. **Step 2 = Create a sheet with question links, total answers, views of the top answer, average views per answer (if you have time), and followers.** * Strategy: You need a formatted database of the potential for your content on quora so you can prioritize your time. * How data-miner, but I employ a team of data specialists trained in grabbing the right content from the right places on Quora (https://right2revenue.com/product-category/data-enrichment/), and then going about enriching that data to grab linkedin profiles and email addresses. **Step 3 = Answer them in a google doc** * Strategy: This is so you can make copies of the content and turn it into multiple types - i.e. a linkedin article, an article for your blog, a number of tweets… Also, if you have collaborators (editors), you can simply give them access to this doc. * How: Simply create the doc and share it. One doc per question. **Step 4 = Edit and publish related answers as an article on your blog** * Strategy: You want to have it on your blog and indexed first so you have attribution and the chance to outrank the quora question with the same headline, or at least be close to it. * How: Add the version of your answer to your blog. **Step 5 = Submit that article URL to google to be indexed using your webmaster tools (search console)** * Strategy: As mentioned, you want google to crawl/index your answer on your site before they index the same text on quora. * How: Head to your webmaster tools (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/) **Step 6 = Bring your friends and colleagues into a Quora ‘Pod’** * Strategy: You need initial engagement to ensure exposure of your answers. The first 24 hours are key, so find a group of people who also publish on Quora and create your own pod. * How: Reach out to colleagues, ask if they answer questions on Quora. If so, start a WhatsApp or Telegram group and invite them. Post links and share there. **Step 7 = Publish the answers to Quora** * Strategy: Now that the answer is on your blog, go ahead and format it for Quora. A video is ideal, but at least add some images. * How: Head to http://Quora.com (http://quora.com/) **Step 8 = Share the links to the answers with your friends and colleagues.** * Strategy: This is where you post to your pod or email/message friends to engage immediately after posting. * How: Any way you prefer. Or... hire me to do it all for you :) ~~<>~~

How to sell to retailers? As a former Retail Buyer from Target, here's my suggestion. You need to first ready your sales communication and materials to explain how 1) You will drive sales at their stores (best told through sales traction and history in comparable or slightly smaller retailers than the one you are targeting 2) Demonstrate how you will support sales with a marketing plan. Marketing mitigates sales risk and that's a retailer's #1 concern and 3) Prove you will deliver flawless vendor execution. There are many hiccups that happen along the supply chain and it takes an experienced company to flawlessly deliver inventory to the right stores/DC's in the right quantity on the right day. The best way to prove this is by showing that you are currently working with retailers of the same magnitude. So in short, you have to scale up slowly - from small retailers to larger retailers - in order to manage risk, build sales traction, build brand awareness, and manage cash flow. How to contact them and sell to them? Use Linked In to find retail buyers. I have a short video on how to do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwbfUMRHiq0 Trade shows are also effective; you can get the mailing address of retail buyers in attendance plus meet them face to face if they come to your booth. Also, network within your industry. You'll find your peers are wiling to trade buyer lists with you. But in short, don't bother reaching out to a retail buyer until you have talking points that address those 3 things I mentioned above all. I'm happy to do a clarity call if you have follow up questions.