Marketing Technology Blog

I have been kicking around the idea of offering a free eCourse for a few months.  The inspiration for the idea was a result of participating in the ProBlogger’s original – How to Build a Better Blog in 31 Days.  ( It was a free eCourse, now it is a book)

The original concept was cool:  Sign up, get an email, link to a blog post, comment, join a forum, read other comments, get an assignment, share what you learn,  and the cycle starts again.

I thought it was a great way to engage readers , show off what I know, pick up a few book sales, and possibly a client along the way.  With the launch of our new website behind us, I was ready to get started.

An avid Constant Contact user,  I was disappointed to discover I could create up to 15 auto responders, but only have 5 active at any given time.  (That doesn’t work well for someone planning a Ten Week course)

And so the hunt began for another, affordable resource. I was delighted to find, locally developed Address Two now offers a campaign function.  Still in Beta, there have been a few quirks, but developer, Nick Carter doesn’t sleep.  My requests, questions, and even the occasional complaints are answered, and fixed, often before I log in again.

What is AddressTwo? The short answer:  A simple CRM tool, for someone not big enough for Goldmine, or Salesforce.   With the help of the campaign tool, I have a set of 10 emails, preprogrammed to be delivered once a week.  Each email is connected to a blog post.

As new people download the business plan outline they are added to a new group, and begin receiving the sequence.  I can have as many individuals or groups growing through the program, all at different stages.

How is it working so far?  Since I sent out the first invitations a tendays ago, I have about 60 people enrolled in one of four groups.  Will I see additional business?   That is the plan, but atleast for now, I have 60 people  being invited to come back to my website for new content each week, and about 1/2 of them are making the return visit so far.

There are lots of applications for this type of campaign, and if we can get all the bugs worked out, we are going to try it out on a few clients as well.

What’s a CRM?

If you’re curious what a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) package does, AddressTwo has done a great job of documenting what a CRM is it in this video:

Long time fans of The Marketing Technology Blog know that Douglas Karr loves using technology to save time. If you can work faster, you can reach clients faster, provide customer service more quickly, and outrun the competition. But how can you pull ahead?

The secret to productivity is a combination of the right tools and the right perspective. Next Monday, March 30, the full-day Indianapolis Productivity Summit will provide a series of comprehensive seminars for professionals who want to improve their methodologies. Keep reading for an exclusive offer for this event!

Not surprisingly, most of the tools are software systems. Email is one of the most fundamental mediums in the modern workplace, but so many of us are slaves to our inbox. There are dozens of tools and techniques for battling email, but the most powerful of all is changing our approach to email to get away from messaging and to focus on routing. If we learn think about email as processing rather than as reading and writing, our inboxes will dwindle to zero and our days will be freed up to do real work.

The problem with email is a larger problem with technology: our mental model for how the system works is not aligned with how it actually operates on the inside. This is why we end up with Excel spreadsheets pretending to be databases and email attachments used for document control systems. We need to know just a little more about the way a technology actually works, so we can work with it rather than against it.

From here, there are countless tools for workplace productivity. Everything from browser plugins to desktop applications to third-party web 2.0 sites that can save unimaginable amounts of time. Even social media provides a way to have real conversations faster and more precisely than ever before.

If that’s how productivity happens at our desks, how does it happen in the corner office? Six Sigma, Lean, TQM, TCO, Kaizen, 5S—these approaches all have strengths, weaknesses and lessons for every employee. Understanding the basics of continuous improvement will make you more knowledgeable about putting productivity into action.

A few lucky readers will have the opportunity to win free passes to this event—normally $35 per session or $100 for the full day! Just fill out the contact form at Slaughter Development for a chance to win.

See you at the Indianapolis Productivity Summit!

This afternoon I was invited to an incredible lunch and discussion with Indiana Business College Harrison College. Indiana is well-known for having some of the finest schools in the country, and in the world, but the folks at Harrison recognize that we’re in a rapidly changing world. They are making an aggressive push to ensure that they will stay ahead of the curve.

As we were talking, I realized that there is one glaring tool missing from the student curriculum nowadays. Simply put, it’s how to network (with and without technology). Most students are required to take classes such as Public Speaking by the time they graduate, but rarely are they educated on the importance and power of networking.

I have close friends of mine that express regret that they’ve not attended regional events and stayed connected with previous leaders they worked with. Years later, they’ve found that they disappeared from the spotlight and now need to ‘catch up’ to gain traction to get the job or opportunity they are looking for. You simply can’t get that time back!

The majority of my time spent outside my primary job is spent networking. Networking is definitely #2 on my list of how I invest my time (#1 is executing well on my current job!). Close at #3 is finding the time and opportunity to work on new ventures or side-jobs. That’s right – I actually put networking as a greater priority than making a second income!

The reason is simple – networking has resulted in me gaining my primary job as well as led to all of the secondary opportunities. Without the network, I wouldn’t be where I am – and wouldn’t have the opportunities opened to me to go where I’ll be next.

Networking is an Investment

Networking is an investment. On the surface, it may seem like you are spending time and energy supplying consulting, services or extending your network at no cost. However, through these relationships you are gaining peoples’ trust and building authority on the subject at hand.

Case in point, I took the day off of work today. I spent the day talking social networking strategies with Harrison College, consulting BioCrossroads on building their online presence, and attending an Indiana Entrepreneur Steering Committee meeting – all through my network relationships!

A Networking Curriculum

If a school is demanding public speaking as a required skill, educators must give networking the attention it deserves. Students must be educated on finding networking opportunities, how to tend and nurture their network relationships, cultivating an online presence – as well as how to capitalize on all of the above. If you can’t fill an accredited course on the topic, I look forward to seeing universities and colleges developing workshops on the topic.

If you’d like some assistance on this, feel free to contact me!

One of the benefits (some people think it’s a curse) of being technically addicted, er… savvy, is that everyone else is always asking you for assistance. My good friend and fellow Hoosier, Patric aka Mr. Noobie, is fully prepared to take this load off of your shoulders! Patric has had a growing website, Noobie, over the last year but it’s newly revamped layout and launch is incredible!

Noobie, Inc. has a glossary, audio and video podcasts, articles and even events. Ever wonder what the differences between an iPhone and an iPod Touch are? Noobie, Inc. has the answers!

Many years ago, I had a site called “Helping Hand” that I sold for a little chunk of change. They tossed the techy angle and it became a site to help you quit smoking. Noobie, Inc. is what I was hoping Helping Hand would become. Congratulations to Patric!

Before you leave this post – be sure to email your parents, brothers, sisters and co-workers a link to Noobie, Inc. You can also subscribe to the What’s Noo Blog!

Let Patric take care of the newbies in your life!