How to Tackle an SME Interview
It’s finally going to happen—you’ve secured a block of time with a company’s CEO, Chief Innovator, or Inventor. You can do this! But before you dive in, do your homework, create a plan, have contingency questions at the ready, and rehearse.
People have complexities, and so should your story.
No accomplished individual got there by magic. There were trials, failures, aha moments, and long nights that made that person who they are. They had mentors, family support, or varied experiences that contributed to their rise. While all these factors were likely unplanned, they were far from a given. Experts are typically creative, open to new ideas, and willing to take measured risks. Many technical experts that I’ve interviewed over the years have honed some skill that’s unique to them and difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate—like being able to hear if a gear needs grease. They, many times, are great teachers and like to give their customers (or any audience) a good explanation of what went wrong and how they fixed it. In addition, they are willing to be ambassadors for their company. Some are just great problem solvers—able to zoom out and see the big picture as well as organize a complex and detailed system of remedies. They are all naturally curious people.
Fun? Yes! It’s time to prepare for your interview.
Everyone Has a Boss
Over the past decade, the lingo has changed. We’re now all colleagues, associates, and team players—seemingly equals; however, the truth is that everyone has a boss. This distinction is more apparent at this time of year, when we’re all responsible for budgeting, planning, and basically proving our worth to the organization, now, and in the coming year.
Who is YOUR boss? If you’re a marketing contributor, it’s likely the VP of Sales, VP of Operations, and perhaps the President of your company. If you’re a sales executive, you likely report to the CEO; however, you have many bosses, including the customers who heavily rely on your company for essentials. If you’re a CEO, your customers are your boss, your employees are as well, and if you’re part of a distributor organization, you have the manufacturers who supply you with products and technologies as your boss—demanding more than ever from you. It’s the way of the business world—constantly striving to the next level.
All these demands could have a negative impact and take you on a path toward futility, but I suggest that you turn your attention to some very effective tactics that can help realign you with your professional goals and put you in a more positive frame of mind. Let’s start with the most important one.
The Art and Science of Creating Great Videos
In today’s competitive landscape, there’s no better way to get your message across, memorably, than with video content. According to recent statistics, 84% of people say they have purchased products and services after watching a brand’s video. Over the past 5 years, we at Markitects have been working diligently with our clients to incorporate video into their marketing toolboxes—with great success. Let’s explore the art and science behind making a great video, tapping into the brain’s left (language and speech) and right (attention and problem-solving) hemispheres no matter which is dominant for you.
It May Be Time to Give LinkedIn Some Serious Consideration
First, a confession: back in 2019, we were exactly where you may be. We didn’t think social media could be an overly successful channel for B2B marketing. Fast forward to 2020 when the pandemic hit. Our clients were actively looking for ways to reach their customers digitally, since in-person visits were no longer an option. People were being inundated with email marketing, so we turned to LinkedIn, the social media platform of choice for professionals. LinkedIn not only got the job done; it was amazingly effective and has since become part of most of our clients’ customer outreach programs.
The Unique LinkedIn Algorithm & Why It’s Beneficial to You
LinkedIn is similar to other social channels, but its amplification method is very different. While typically in B2B marketing, we focus on the Company Page, Individual Pages hold the power. Why? First, people follow people on LinkedIn; they’d much rather connect to a person than follow a company. Second, when a person posts on their profile, that post is shared with their Connections. When their Connections ‘Like’ the post, the post is further amplified and shared to additional Connections, etc. Thus, the magic of our B2B LinkedIn success comes from employee advocacy—using company employee profiles to broadcast company content to their connections and amplify that content exponentially.
To Begin Your LinkedIn Journey, Ask Yourself These Questions:
Who’s My Audience and Am I Connected to Them?
Getting Company Page Followers is challenging, but what about your salespeople’s LinkedIn networks? Are they actively connecting to their customers and prospects? While you’d expect the answer to be a resounding ‘yes’, often the answer is ‘no’. They’ll need a push, but you can help guide your sales teams in expanding their LinkedIn Connections by focusing on:
- Current customer contacts
- Prospects you are looking to do business with
- Partners
Sales and Marketing: A Formidable Alliance
Historically, sales and marketing teams are not always on the same page. For salespeople, their objective is to get their products/services/solutions into the hands of their customers. Marketers, on the other hand, want to get the ‘idea’ of using or adopting the product into the minds of potential customers. You don’t always see these functions working together because their end goals are different; however, when sales and marketing organizations put aside their differences and collaborate, the results can be staggering. Experts report that aligning these functions can result in a 50% bump in your win rate.
To reap the benefits of an ideal Sales/Marketing partnership, you need to agree on some key elements:
The Target Audience and How They Purchase
Agree on who you are targeting and ‘how’ the customer decides to purchase your solution, known as their buying journey. The best way to determine your ideal customer is to map out ideal buyer characteristics. When related to the company, they are known as firmographics and for individuals, personas. Once this is determined, it will make it much easier to target your desired customers—whether they are current customers who could potentially buy more from you, or completely new customers. If your audience is technical, scientific, or engineering inclined, then they likely have some buying behaviors that have moved to the digital realm, while others may still desire a personal touch.
5 Key Metrics to Track When Raising Awareness of a Company’s CEO on LinkedIn
By Amanda Plavner, Digital Marketing Manager, Markitects, Inc.
Note: for most of the items below, you need login access to your CEO’s LinkedIn account.
1. CONNECTIONS AND FOLLOWERS:
Connections are by default also Followers. It’s important to note how many Connections/Followers your CEO has at the start of your campaign and then on an ongoing basis while your campaign runs.
From a metrics standpoint, the number of Connections you have is only visible when logged into the CEO’s LinkedIn account; other users cannot see the exact number of Connections he or she has. The Follower metric is visible from anyone’s account that is connected to the CEO. There is not a historical record of this from a Personal LinkedIn page; instead, you should manually track this metric weekly.
If the CEO becomes a “LinkedIn Influencer,” people may start following the CEO’s page without connecting with them. However, Connections should still increase.
Important questions to ask: Is the CEO’s LinkedIn audience growing? Are we reaching more people? Are more people asking to connect with the CEO because of this campaign?
5 Ways to Amplify the Reach of Your CEO’s (or Other Executive’s) LinkedIn Posts
By Amanda Plavner, Digital Marketing Manager, Markitects, Inc.
How It Works: When a Connection ‘Likes’ a post, then that post appears in their Connections’ news feeds, thus amplifying reach. Since everyone has their own unique Connection network on LinkedIn, the more ‘Likes’ your posts receive, the more amplified it becomes.
1. ENCOURAGE YOUR CEO TO CONNECT WITH INTERNAL COMPANY EMPLOYEES, CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS (AT ALL LEVELS), PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS, AND OTHER TYPES OF CLIENTS:
When you post on LinkedIn, your post will automatically display in all of your Connections’ news feeds. It’s best to connect with people that will:
- Be interested in the topics you post
- Engage with your LinkedIn posts
- Act as a referral network to spread your message even further
10 Ways B2B Marketers Can Improve Relationships With Sales Teams
Integration of Teams…
In business-to-business (B2B) organizations, sales and marketing departments are traditionally at odds with each other—competing for time, resources and accolades. It doesn’t have to be this way.
At Markitects, we’ve had tremendous success integrating our work with the goals and objectives of our clients’ sales organizations. In fact, we consider it to be a top priority and use it to gauge our overall program success. So much so, that we present our marketing program metrics to sales teams on a monthly basis at their pipeline meetings. At those meetings, we also gain valuable feedback to adjust our programs, and we use that venue to ask for participation in videos and customer stories.
King of Content: The Customer Story
Our Best Tips Revealed…
One of the most effective marketing tools happens to be one of the most fun and rewarding to create—that being customer stories. Don’t frown; it’s true. Having developed several hundred of these over the course of two decades, I believe I can modestly state that I have the knack for them. That’s why I’d like to share some tips and guidelines for developing effective and interesting stories about your customers, partners, and even employees—whether as material for a sales presentation, newsletter, blog, or for internal consumption.