This presentation covers the best ways to grow your firm in 2011 and beyond. It covers highly successfully marketing approaches and offers real-world case studies from IT services firms. It also examines a wide assortment of marketing approaches—from social media, PR and target account campaigns to events, award programs and the ever-essential website optimization—and shows exactly how industry peers are leveraging these techniques to achieve bottom-line results. For questions or details email lvickrey@clearedgemarketing.com or call 312.731.3149.

1. Marketing for Where You Want to Be
10 Proven Ways to Strategically Grow
© 2011 ClearEdge Marketing
January 26, 2011
Leslie Vickrey, President & Founder
ClearEdge Marketing

2. 2
Our Agenda
About ClearEdge Marketing
Challenges and Opportunities
What Marketing Can (and Can’t) Do
Marketing for Growth Top 10
Your Questions, Our Answers

3. 3
About ClearEdge Marketing
About ClearEdge Marketing
Founded in 2006, ClearEdge is an award-winning marketing firm
headquartered in Chicago, IL
95% of our clients are technology services firms
Operate on a unique and flexible outsourced marketing model
o Become virtual department on a monthly retainer or project basis
o Special forces for internal marketing when bandwidth needs arise
o Offer small- to medium-sized companies an opportunity to invest in
marketing without carrying the overhead of an entire department
Team of strategic and tactical marketing professionals with
experience managing global marketing operations
o Strategists, Project Managers, Writers, Designers, Developers

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About ClearEdge Marketing, cont.
Outsourced Marketing: Our Unique, Flexible Model
Branding & Messaging
Competitor and industry analysis, brand development, go-to-market strategy and
messaging
Digital/Interactive
Website, search engine optimization, blogging, social media, video
Campaigns
Lead generation and Target Account Programs (TAP), Keep-in-Touch (KIT) programs,
customer care programs, recruiting and retention programs
Sales Collateral
Custom tools that fit strategically into the sales cycle, including: brochures, presentations,
proposals, surveys, business perspective articles, case studies, testimonials, introduction
and follow up HTMLs and letters, etc.
Public Relations
Press releases, rapid response programs, editorial calendar, speaking opportunities, media
training, articles, awards
Event Support
Seminars, conferences, roundtables, webinars

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Challenges and Opportunities
Grueling competition to win an audience.

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Challenges & Opportunities
Competition for Your
Prospects’ Attention
Is Everywhere
In their pockets — Mobile devices
On their desktops — Web, direct mail, social media
Around the house — Web, TV, telemarketing, direct mail
When they’re with friends — Social media, events

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Challenges and Opportunities
Finding the
money for
marketing
programs today
is not easy.

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What Marketing Can (and Can’t) Do
Marketing Cannot…
Make the sale – great sales
processes and teams still
required
Work magically—like any
strategic process, it’s about
plans, hard work, smart insights
and creativity
Despite those Challenges
Marketing Can…
Build your brand
Get and hold the attention of
key audiences
Influence sales
Be affordable
Help you better address the
changing marketplace

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Marketing for Growth Top 10

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#1 Turn Clients Into
Raving Fans

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The Goal: Raving Fans
A Secret Sales Weapon
Your clients are powerful resources with broad networks of…
Colleagues
Peers
Friends and family
They are the smartest, most direct pathway to new sales success
A Client Fan Will…
Give your business great referrals
Spread positive word of mouth
Provide marketing legitimacy (back up your claims)

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Got Clients or Fans?
Do clients refer their contacts to your company?
Do they participate in testimonials and case studies
that demonstrate your company’s value and
capabilities?
Do they speak positively of your brand and become
an indirect yet highly effective component of your
sales and marketing strategy?
QUESTIONS?

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Tips for Client/Fan Conversion
Tip 1: Engage Clients
at Several Levels
Executive sponsor
Project manager and
team leader
Peers (developer-to-
developer, tester-to-
tester)

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Tip 2: Conduct Client Satisfaction Surveys
You Want to Learn…
If clients are satisfied and how to make them happier
How their needs are changing
If any accounts are in peril
Benefits
Easy to implement
More cost effective than ever
Provides data for benchmarking your performance over time
Tools
Online surveys (e.g. Survey Monkey, Zoomerang) and feedback tools
(e.g. NetPromoter, Inavero)
Keys to Success
Surveys need to occur regularly
Share results
Tips for Client/Fan Conversion

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Tip 3: Create Case Studies and
Gather Testimonials
Case Studies Work Because They…
Demonstrate capabilities
Underscore qualifications and experience
Show a solution in action/help sales tell a story
Reveal results
Testimonials Work Because They Are…
Authentic
Personal
Distinctive
Evidence
Tips for Client/Fan Conversion

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The Result?
An Organized Network of Fans
Who Refer Your Business

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#2 Compete for
Industry Awards

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How many of you have applied for an award either
for your company, one of your staff members or one
of your clients?
QUESTION?

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Why Enter Industry Awards?
Worth their Weight in Gold
The “cool” factor:
“It’s a chance for everyone to rally around the company—which
is great for morale—and the application process raises questions
that opens the door for people to talk.”
— Jeff Miller, Founder and Managing Director of EdgeLink
Clients are flattered
Visibility in the marketplace
Third-party validation
Staff pride increases

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Awards in Action
Talon Professional Services
2010 Bronze Tower Award, Corporate Identity
Business Marketing Association

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Awards in Action
EdgeLink
Award: 100 Best Companies
to Work for in Oregon
From: Oregon Business
Magazine
Broadcasting Channels:
o News
o Boilerplate
o Marketing
About EdgeLink
EdgeLink is a Portland-based, technology staffing firm that recruits the area’s best mid-to-executive-
level technology professionals on a contract, contract-to-hire and direct-hire basis. EdgeLink’s client
companies include Digimarc, Sharp Laboratories, RuleSpace, Ensequence, Biamp Systems, RNA Networks.
Since its inception in 2003, EdgeLink earned the 100 Best
Companies to Work for in Oregon by Oregon Business Magazine
three years in a row: 2009, 2008 and 2007.

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#3 Speaking
Opportunities

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Speak at Industry Events
Speaking Opportunities
Local business groups
Local, regional and national
business and industry
associations
Conferences
Webinars
Benefits
Reach a diverse audience
Gain industry validation
Increase brand credibility

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The Value of Events
Many legs
Provides multiple avenues for building brand recognition, gives
you a reason to contact a client, you can be creative!
Demonstrates thought leadership
Gives you clout as an expert in a particular area
Direct contact
Allows you to get in front of prospects
Insight
Lets you learn more about a prospects pain points or business
needs

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Webinar Best Practices
Target your audience
Choose a great topic for
your audience
Partner with an expert
Promote it everywhere
Offer incentives
Communicate often
Make it dynamic
Follow up

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Webinars in Action
Harvey Nash Webinar Series
Average of 60 attendees per
webinar
6-8 webinars per year
44 appointments to date
5 deals in the pipeline

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Market Validation
Harvey Nash
2010 Gold Tower Award, Best Webinar Series 2010
Business Marketing Association

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#4 Pulse Surveys

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Multiple Touch Points
Do You Have
Marketing Tools and
Resources for All
Phases of the Sales
Life Cycle?

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Do you currently have marketing tools that can be
used in all stages of the sales life cycle (reaching,
acquiring, developing, retaining)?
If so, what are they?
QUESTION?

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Member in Action: SCS
The Marketing Tactic
Thought leadership on Business Intelligence (BI)
o Pulse Survey
o Survey Report
o Event – Panel discussion on survey results
The Goal
To connect with the senior-most IT leaders and/or the most
senior BI representative at client and prospect companies
Networks Leveraged
Clients: A narrow swath of 250 existing, former and prospective
clients for survey participation
Staff: BI practice and thought leader
Clients: A small panel of clients to participate in survey event

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How It Worked
Clients asked to participate in
select survey and would receive
thought leadership insights and
opportunities (event invites)
Survey report is developed and
delivered in person and by mail to
survey participants and prospects
Panel event created to share and
discuss survey findings with SCS
thought leaders, SCS clients and a
network of clients/prospects

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Results to Date
Survey achieved a 14% response
rate, which is well above the
widely accepted 10% mark of “a
very good response”
Panel event had a 63% turnout
rate, which is on par with similar
type events
Three current clients participated
as panelists; shared real world BI
experiences; answered several
audience questions

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Key Takeaway
Thought leaders are as important as
cultivating thought leadership.
34
What You Can Do:
• Identify internal team members
who can fill your channels with
great content—thought
leadership, industry insights, etc.
• Find ways to connect thought
leaders with your greater
networks: blogs, events, social
networking, etc.

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Pulse Survey Best Practices
Narrow your audience
Choose a great topic
for the media and
your audience
Keep it short, 10-15 questions
Get a substantial
respondent pool
Incorporate SMEs in analysis
Provide a report with good,
actionable insights
Generate local (and national!)
PR
Keep it going—write blogs based
on each key finding, link to
survey

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STAR BASE Consulting’s Annual Pulse Survey
85 responses
5 appointments to date
8 requests for report without prior
appointment
1 new client
Pulse Survey in Action
“The STAR BASE
Consulting Pulse Survey
became a part of every
sales call we made.
The data we had was
relevant to our
prospects and helped
give us much greater
credibility in our
meetings.”
— Jeff Welsh, President,
STAR BASE Consulting, Inc.

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#5 Public Relations

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Public Relations
Provide business updates and
introduce experts ― Buzz
Build relationships with media
Identify target publications
Be on the lookout for newsworthy
information
Community involvement
New hires/promotions/acquisitions/
mergers
Pulse surveys
Blogs (can turn into bylined articles)
New business
New services
Events
Awards

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Required for Success
In-house experts
Use your own expertise or that of your staff to
become a reliable resource for the media
Awards
Good PR topics that can be added to brochures,
company profiles and website to bring distinction
and credibility
Places to look:
o Industry associations
o Clients and vendors
o Local media outlets

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Public Relations in Action

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#6 List Development
& Cold Calling

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How long has it been since you updated your
prospect list?
1 – 2 months
6+ months
1 year
More than one year
Never
QUESTION?

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List Development & Cold Calling
Focus: A well-defined list of
prospects grounds your efforts
Clarity: There is little guessing
about who you are going after
Results: An accurate list
quadruples the effectiveness of
a cold calling campaign
Appointments: You won’t have an
opportunity to get a meeting if
you don’t call and ask for one

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List Development Best Practices
Conduct an Internal Audit
Have a sales team list “spring cleaning”
Send out “update your profile” e-mails
If needed, hire help
Find New Prospects
Conferences and events
Online registration on your website
Referrals and co-registration
Carefully consider renting and buying
lists
Maintain, Maintain, Maintain!
Have a regularly scheduled clean up
Conduct regular evaluations of list
building tactics

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Cold Calling Best Practices
70% of the population need at least
5 contacts before they'll trust you
enough to grant an appointment
Increase cold calling activity to
increase sales
Take time to measure activity and find
out what is working and what is not
Have a precise value proposition
Offer something (a demo, a prize)
Use scripts
Take good notes
Follow up, many, many times!
DO YOU HAVE ANY COLD CALLING
BEST PRACTICES WORTH SHARING?

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#7 TAP Your Targets:
Target Account Programs

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Target Account Program (TAP)
What Is It?
A scheduled, targeted weekly mail-based or drop-in
program for target accounts
4-8 weeks, depending on target and service/solution
(on average 10 prospects p/sales rep p/campaign for
drop-off; increases for mail-based)
Branded Components: A weekly postcard and
giveaway tied into a campaign theme
Touch Item Follow up
Week One Mail note card and/or HTML Follow up call
Week Two Drop off #1
Follow up call/e-
mail/LinkedIn
Week Three Drop off #2 Follow up call/e-mail
Week Four Drop off #3 Follow up call/e-mail
Week Five Drop off #4 Follow up call/e-mail

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Why TAP?
Increase Customer Relationships
Regularly get in front of decision
makers
Push Your Sales Team
Get your sales team out to “pound
the pavement”
ROI is Easy to Measurement
A simple way to measure sales and
marketing message effectiveness
Engage in Direct Contact
I one of today’s most successful
marketing approaches

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TAP in Action
IBS Results to Date
28 meetings
20 requirements
5 new billable clients
6 placements

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TAP in Action
Consultis Results to Date
253 acknowledgements
155 meetings
61 requirements
9 placements
“The sales campaign broke down
client barriers, it set us apart from
all of the other competitors trying to
get in the door and significantly
increased our activity even during a
downturn.”
― Jamie Delsing, Managing Partner,
Consultis

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#8 KIT Programs
Keep-in-Touch

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Keep-in-Touch Program (KIT)
What Is It?
A scheduled program of tools and resources that keep businesses
connected with existing clientele, great coming off a TAP
What Can It Include?
Feature articles, blogs
Team profiles
Digital marketing
Webinars, social media activity
Events
Client case studies and testimonials

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Why KIT?
Maintain Strong Customer
Relationships
Keep Your Brand and Services in
Front of Your Clients
Build Credibility
Warm Them Up for Future Sales
and Recruiting Calls

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KIT Best Practices
Share thoughtful, useful content
What does your audience want to know?
Create short, benefit-oriented subject lines (make it catchy)
Time campaigns well
Send campaigns when your audience will open
o Tuesday/Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. tend
to have highest open rates (some say Friday and
weekends work well too!)
Include sales teams in the process
Forward with personal note—easy, thoughtful touch point
Promote across everything you do, including social media
Set goals, measure results
What open rates/click through rates to do you want to
achieve? Start at 18% with goal of 25%+
Set goal, measure, enhance and increase!

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#9 Get Social

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The Power of Social Media
The way people communicate is changing,
evolving…sales and marketing programs should
span as many mediums as possible!
Power to easily edit and create content
Tools to share and broadly distribute content,
opinions, insights, experiences and media
Forums for easy, regular and low-cost
communication and congregation
Clients can rely more heavily
on personal networks to make buying decisions:
78% of consumers trust peer
recommendations, only 14% trust
advertisements
(Source: www.socialnomics.net)

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Social Media. What Should
You Be Doing?

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Put a Plan in Place
SET A GOAL
Where are we?
Where do we want to be?
How do we get there?
Agree upon metrics…

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Define Metrics that Matter
Be Open to New Metrics
INVOLVEMENT: Web analytics measure if a person is present through site visits,
page views, time spent, etc.
INTERACTION: Addresses more robust actions people take, such as signing up for
an e-mail, posting a comment, etc.
INTIMACY: The affinity that a person exhibits in the things they say or the actions
they take
INFLUENCE: Addresses likelihood that a person will recommend your service to
someone else.
(Source: Forrester’s Four Components of Engagement)

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Identify Communities
Discover places where key
clients, candidates and
partners are meeting,
interacting and networking.

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Assign Some Voices
Identify internal team members that can help contribute
content—thought leadership, industry insights,
community knowledge, etc.

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Social Media in Action
Consultis
779 fans to date
Targets candidates
Highlights a “featured job”
on the wall nearly every day
Candidates can apply for jobs,
take polls, watch videos, see
pictures and more…
“Social media is helping us
connect with candidates ... more
and more we are placing
candidates we find through
Facebook with our clients.”
- Jamie Delsing, Managing Partner, Consultis
“Cool man!
Very innovative!”
- Director of Corporate
Information Technology

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#10 Website
Optimization

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Website Reminders
Your website is still #1 marketing tool

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Website Best Practices
A Website must be:
Functional
o Is it well organized? Attractive?
o Does it convince people to take action?
Well designed
o Is the layout interesting and clean?
o Does it grab users?
Content smart
o Is it clear what you do?
o Are messages easy to understand?
o Is it written to the right audience?
o Does it promote action?
Contain SEO!
o At a minimum title tags, keywords and meta
descriptions … make it easy to find!
Make sure your site is always ready to win business

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Do you have strong SEO best practices in place?
QUESTION?

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Why SEO is a MUST
Without good SEO...
You can’t be found
You give competitors a free
advantage
SEO Tips
Get your content SEO friendly
(title tags, key words and link rich)
Link everywhere (internally and
externally) - register your site!
Use bullets
Put most important content up
front
Add and create content regularly
o Blogs
o News
o Multimedia (video)
57% of Websites are using Google
Analytics

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Marketing for Growth Top 10
1. Create Raving Fans
2. Win Awards
3. Speak To and For the Industry
4. Survey and Report Your Findings
5. Increase PR Activity
6. Improve Prospect Lists and Cold Calling
7. Leverage TAPs (Target Account Programs)
8. Incorporate KITs (Keep-in-Touch Programs)
9. Engage in Social Media
10.Optimize Your Website

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Register for Next Webinar
Your Brand Matters! What
Does it Say About You?
Tuesday, May 10
12:30-1:30 p.m. ET
Register: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/842058547

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Let’s Talk
Your Questions, Experiences & Thoughts.
Let’s Share & Learn.

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Thank You!
For More Insights, Contact Me Anytime
Leslie Vickrey, President of ClearEdge Marketing
Tel: 312.731.3149
E-mail: lvickrey@clearedgemarketing.com
www.clearedgemarketing.com
www.facebook.com/clearedgemarketing
www.twitter.com/clearedgemktg