Marketing with Mike Volpe

I get a cold / unsolicited email from a vendor trying to sell me something.  99.9% of the time, these get marked as spam and not only is that message gone without me opening it, but anyone from that company can never get into my inbox again.  Brilliant!

But, one day I was in a spunky mood and happened to reply to one of the emails - I had just come from a meeting where we talked about a need for this specific thing and lo and behold I just got an email about something similar.  You are the one person so far in 2010 that cold emailed me a standard sales pitch and didn't get marked as spam.  Congrats!

What happened?  Well, I waited for a day and heard nothing, and then I mentally moved on.  Now today, a full week later, I get a voicemail from the company saying they are following up.  Oh boy...

First, why voicemail?  I live in email, and I emailed you.  I don't even have an actual phone on my desk.  Respond to me in my chosen medium.  The last thing I want to do is play "chat with my new best friend" on the phone when I have a couple really specific questions about what you can or cannot do.  I think it makes sense to answer my communication in the same medium I used.

Second, why respond so late?  I was clearly ready to talk purchasing when I responded to the email.  I had a specific question of "do you do XYZ".  By waiting a week you lost the sale.  I bought something else.

What annoying things have sales people done to you that made them lose the sale?

Share your stories in the comments.  I am sure you have better examples than mine.

This is a guest post by Ilya Mirman (@IlyaMirman), who has held marketing and engineering roles at several hardware and software companies. His last three gigs have been as VP of Marketing for SolidWorks (3D design software), and two venture-backed MIT spin-offs - Interactive Supercomputing (acquired by Microsoft) and Cilk Arts (acquired by Intel). During his free time, Ilya enjoys photographing rock concerts and political events. [Photo: Ilya in his "Florida Uniform"]

Serves me right. Here I was, recuperating from a bender in Vegas by relaxing with in-laws in Florida, when I saw Volpe's tweet ("I'm looking for GUEST BLOGGERS for MikeVolpe.com - @ or DM me with an article headline if you are interested") and sarcastically DM'd him the headline above.

Mike took the bait ("love it. email it over and i will print it. if u are serious") - but now I was on the hook to produce something. So here's my two cents on the topic:

7 Reasons Why Guest Blogging is a Great Thing:

#7 - Introduces new perspective, new content to your audience

#6 - At the same time - gives guest blogger a new audience to share their content with

#5 - SEO benefits for your site (broadens the scope of terms your site can rank for)

#4 - The links between your sites will make it easier for your audience to discover your guest blogger's site - and for his audience to discover yours

#3 - The links between your sites will make it easier for Google (and other search engines) to know the sites are related, and leverage each site's SEO juice to help the other

#2 - Helps establish the guest blogger as an expert on the topic

#1 - And YES... it is a bit of a lazy way out: a great way to have fresh new content on your site without actually writing it (though of course there's no free lunch - you're still your blog's editor-in-chief!)

Ok, if the above is wicked simplistic, and you're thinking, "Thanks, Captain Obvious!" - here's another angle: there might be something akin to Metcalfe's Law going on here. Instead of two separate audiences exposed to separate content, guest blogging exposes more people to more content, and the social nature of the web allows for that many more possible interactions - blog comments, tweets, sharing. Feels like this would be an amplifying, non-linear force in driving communication, awareness, activity - and ultimately some conversion relevant for your site.

Anyhoozle... Having guest bloggers participate is a great thing for everyone - for the people you are all trying to deliver valuable content for, for the guest blogger, and for your business - so give it a shot. (There's a few tips and tricks to doing it efficiently and successfully - perhaps a topic for another post :).

I am in the middle of a problem.  I can't decide on my next phone.  Neither one is perfect.  (Yes, all you Apple groupies, the iPhone has drawbacks!)

Blackberry Curve Benefits:

1. Full Keyboard.  I have huge hands and LOVE my full keyboard with real keys.
2. Video.  The iPhone does not take video.  I would use video for interviews for blogging.
3. Corporate Synch.  Bulletproof IT-supported synchronization with Exchange Email & Calendar.  Simple, works, easy.

iPhone Benefits:

1. Full Browser.  Using a full browser would be great for blogging and a ton of other stuff.
2. Qik.  I can't take recorded video, but I can live stream with Qik now.  Cool, but will I use it?
3. Cool.  It is cooler.  But is it also a fad?  Do I really want to be an Apple Black Turtleneck person?
4. Podcasts.  I think my iPhone will download podcasts automatically, which would be cool and help me keep up to date.

<rant>

I have been a LinkedIn member for longer than I can remember.  Normally it is a very reliable service.  But recently in the last month that has changed.  And frankly, I am sick of it.

All I want to do each day is check my inbox, approve or archive invitations, approve people who have requested to be members of my groups that I manage (http://LinkedIn.ProMarketers.com) and see what other people are up to.

But, for some reason, LinkedIn is making this really hard.  A few days back it would not let me log in, no matter how many times or browsers I tried.  Today it is letting me approve group members for one of my groups, but not the other.

LinkedIn... Look, you used to be pretty cool.  If you really want to be like Facebook (and not the next Friendster, aka failure) get your act in gear.  Your website needs to be highly available and you need to stop giving me error messages whan I try to do basic things.

</rant>

I heard someone call HubSpot the "Web 2.0 Version of [a marketing software company]" this week.  It annoyed me.  Less because they were comparing HubSpot to a sort of boring company with complicated, expensive products that don't really work, but more because they described HubSpot as "web 2.0".

Top 10 Reasons Why HubSpot is NOT a Web 2.0 Company

1. Our company name is easy to spell.
2. We have more people over 25 in the company than under 25.
3. Our company name does not sound like it ends in "-er" but actually just ends in "r".
4. We are not based in a loft in San Francisco.
5. Our logo does not have a reflection in it.
6. Our product does not say "Beta" over 2 years after launch.
7. We do not have Guitar Hero in our office. 
8. Both of our co-founders have gray hair.
9. We have paying customers... lots of them.
10. Revenue.  Did I mention revenue?