The Funnelholic

At Sherpa last week, I met one of my readers. She said in essence: “I love your blog, but lately you have been bumming me out.”  She’s probably right. I am trying to make the blog reflect what I feel and am thinking at a given time.  Looking over my posts, you can see I’ve gone from irreverent, cocky, and sometimes funny to gloomy, dark, and fear-inducing in a fairly short span of time.  For me, the most important thing is that, as sales and marketers, we deal with REALITY and be as proactive in our adjustments as we can. If I write about sunshine and roses, how is that going to help us get through this?

Speaking of getting through this, when times get tough you have two choices; Lay down or fight.  I have seen a couple marketing departments “lay down” recently and I am really disappointed.  Yes, the world is going to hell, but guess what, your job is to survive and advance.  I look forward to watching which organizations make the adjustments necessary to come out on top in the next couple years.  I especially like those organizations that view negative times as opportunity.  Organizations see blood on the street, and go for the jugular.

Here is a fighter: Netsuite.  Let’s be honest, we know of Netsuite because of Larry Ellison’s early association and because they went  public.  We have NOT seen them putting themsleves out there and aggressively marketing.  Guess what, now they are coming hard, and it’s exciting.  I got the email below from them and while you may see a promotional email, I saw a company sending the proverbial first shot over the bow.  And guess what, they are taking on a Goliath — Salesforce.com.

This is what we need, we don’t need technology companies riding their installed bases, instead we need companies engaging in true hand-to-hand combat.  This is the American way.  A CRM war is just what the doctor ordered, and I hope more and more categories start to play.  (P.S. my boy Chris Bucholtz from InsideCRM has got to be excited about this).  I see more and more of Netsuite out there, and I like it.

So, you wanted something positive?  I am absolutely positive that the real winners of this crisis are the ones who dig their heel in and battle.

Traffic on The Funnelholic has started rising dramatically since I declared my comeback a couple of months ago. The boost the site has received due to the recent wiki articles has been awesome.

Blogging is an important part of B2B (business-to-business) demand generation. I have learned a ton from The Funnelholic experience, and will continue to do so. Below are some of the things I have done since the blog’s relaunch that have contributed to its recent success. In the meantime, I am constantly trying new ideas and am humbly reaching out to get other opinions.

Over the last couple of months, I have done the following;

1. Created compelling content consistently: I have been writing two posts a week — something I definitely didn’t believe I was going to be able to pull off. But I’ve stuck to it so far, knock on wood. …

2. Created a style and a voice: I write what’s on mind, both professionally and personally. The posts are usually a real-time reaction to what’s going on in my world. That’s why some are more technical and professional-oriented, and some come in the form of musings. What you need to know is that in the world of B2B lead generation, people typically don’t want to hear what you have to say. Anecdotal stories have to go on my blog — it’s my way of finally expressing myself.

3. Stayed humble (sort of) and asked for opinions: The blog isn’t for me, it’s for the readers. I have gotten feedback along the way and I have tried to make changes accordingly. Also, you all know that I’m a Linkedin wonk … so I’ve been posting questions on LinkedIn’s blogging section and getting tips.

4. Done my research: I used to do this anyway, but with the relaunch I’ve read some other blogs and Web sites front to back. I literally spent six hours on MarketingSherpa the other day. I also have been down with copyblogger and others. The fact is I need to be on top of everything as part of my job, so the time suck still has a lot of value.

5. Used online social networking:

• LinkedIn: Of course I have a personal profile … come on. I also created a LinkedIn group called Friends of the Funnel. New members sign up every day. If you haven’t signed up yet, you should.
• Twitter: My first reaction to Twitter wasn’t good. Then I saw that the few people I have following me clicked through when I “tweeted” them regarding a new post. So the problem for me there is volume, but I see the potential. Sign up to “tweet” with me if you dare.
• Plurk: I’ve gotten no traction on Plurk. My social media friends prefer the Plurk interface but still, no results. If you Plurk, you can check me out.
• Facebook: I stayed off Facebook initially. If someone asked me for a recommendation, I would tell them: “Choose one and do it well.” But The Funnelholic isn’t just a blog — it’s a way for me to experiment with what does and doesn’t work. So I’ve created a personal profile, as well as a Facebook group called Friends of the Funnel (Facebook version). Despite the time suck, you gotta do Facebook.

6. Used social bookmarking: It took me awhile to offer the social-bookmarking sites like Bloglines, Techorati and StumbleUpon. So far, I’ve gotten a ton of hits from Reddit and some from Stumble. I will probably still create a section of the sidebar with social-bookmarking sites, but we’ll see.

7. Started a newsletter-like subscription: I’ve finally joined the blogosphere with my FeedBurner email-follower widget … so click here to follow me via email.

It’s great to be back. I’m always out there looking for tips, so send them along. And keep your eyes on The Funnelholic as it continues rise.

Just how easy it is to edit Wikipedia:

A real wiki-expert jumps in the fray. The wiki-gate scandal has brought me from blogger into journalism. Just to re-cap:
1. Wrote a blog post: the How-to guide to getting jacked by Wikipedia
2. Got a lot of traffic from it as well as comments and personal emails. Job well done
3. Wrote a follow up post “interview” with Anvil Media, the marketing agency whose clients got “jacked” by Wikipedia.
4. Now, got approached by Gregory Kohs who has been following the Anvil Media saga AND is an expert on Wikipedia.
5.Interview done…see below

Continue Reading »

I can’t get off the linkedin.com tip…sorry. So, what I have done is create a linkedin group, Friends of the Funnelholic. Click here to sign up. I hope to use it as a way to reach out to friends and other fans of B2B lead generation.

Ill update everyone as I continue to build not only the membership base but when I figure out what to do with it. (: Continue Reading »