CONVERSATION
STARTERS
Ideas for finding and converting strangers to extraordinary clients and partners
Conversations Starters is written and edited for B2B consultants and coaches who want to build more and better business relationships, achieve visible thought leadership roles and serve more of the clients you deserve.
There are no hacks or gaming of the system here.. If you want sound ideas and advice about how to look good, sound good and fill your sales pipeline, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome!
B2B Sales and Marketing Highlights from the 2016 LinkedIn User Survey
Wayne was a skeptic before he became an outspoken proponent of LinkedIn and is passionate about helping business professionals use LinkedIn more effectively to build their businesses and personal brands.
Four Keys to Successful Publishing on LinkedIn Pulse
Few publishing platforms are both as accessible and as powerful in expanding reach as LinkedIn Pulse.
The True Value of LinkedIn Company Pages
For our first three years of running lead generation programs for B2B companies on LinkedIn (we started in 2011), I advised clients - and anyone else who asked - to think of company pages as a defensive play.
Costly LinkedIn Mistake #3: Content Spamming
The vast majority of technology marketers (>80%) recognize LinkedIn as an important place to distribute marketing content. Unfortunately they’re using it as a news feed
6 Ways We’re Using Content on LinkedIn
Blending high quality marketing content with LinkedIn efforts is the key to how we generate leads, develop prospects and create thought leadership positions for our technology clients.
Ten Things Your Social Media Manager Needs to Know about Technology Marketing
Marketing complex B2B technology can be difficult to wrap your head around – even for people with marketing and business training.
Is Poor Messaging Sabotaging Your Sales Team’s Efforts? How to Use LinkedIn to Get on the Right Track.
In a new study from OpenView Venture Partners (available here for the price of your contact information), 39% of IT buyers said they rejected outreach from an IT vendor sales person simply because they were not interested in the product or service.
The Right Way to Use Gated Content on LinkedIn
Gated content, if you happen to be unfamiliar with the term, is any kind of marketing content – white papers, e-books, special reports, webinars, newsletters and other stuff I can’t think of right now – that has a form your prospects must fill out before they can access it.
How to Instantly Lose Credibility with a Bad Infographic
Recently a discussion posted in a LinkedIn group lead me to a blog article featuring an infographic that floored me in its inaccuracy and misleading conclusion.
Secret Weapon of North America’s Most Effective B2B Content Marketers Revealed
The findings of the 2014 State of B2B Content Marketing study are out and now we know how highly effective content marketers get so far ahead of everybody else. It’s pretty simple. They have a formal content marketing strategy.
IT Buyers Don’t Trust Your Content and What to Do About It
That’s basically what the CMO council found in a recent study where only 9% of B2B buyers said they trust content from vendors. And content, as we all know, is the new sales team when it comes to engaging buyers early in the decision process.
How – and Why – to Create Content that Gets Shared
Over the last three months, my blog articles have gone from zero LinkedIn shares to over 30. What did I change, and why does it matter?
4 Business-Critical Reasons to Stop Postponing Content Creation
If you’re not quite ready to start producing more marketing content right now, I have two words for you: DO IT!
IT Marketers: 6 Types of “Must-Have” Content for LinkedIn Marketing Success
Of all the elements that make for a great LinkedIn marketing program, relevant, original content ranks number one.
A New Old Way to Use Content Marketing to Get More Leads and Customers
Content marketing isn’t new. Neither, at a high level, is the process that gets you the best leads for your company.
How to Build a Simple Content Grid
This is the third in a series of articles on content marketing for software & technology marketers: How to Build a Simple Content Grid. The intent of this series is to lay out a clear roadmap for content marketing success.
5 Signs You’re Talking to the Wrong Content Writer
Finding someone to write marketing content for a technology company can be tricky. As with any type of company, the quality, style and tone of the writing contribute mightily to your image.
5 Questions to Ask When You Hire a Content Writer
With all the pressure to ramp up content marketing, technology firms are rapidly finding it necessary to hire a dedicated content writer – either in-house, freelance or via an external content writing service.
Why Tech Marketers Must Have a Blog
Corporate blogging can be a pain in the butt. I get that. Subject matter experts are busy with other more “mission critical” work. Some of them can’t write well anyway.