Book Review: Michael Brito Goes for Broke in “Smart Business, Social Business”

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Book Review: Michael Brito Goes for Broke in “Smart Business, Social Business” Posted: 25 May 2012 06:30 AM PDT by Joe Chernov | Tweet this Maybe it’s his upbringing or perhaps it’s his extensive training as a marine, but wow does social media heartthrob Michael Brito do his homework. Smart Business, Social Business (Que) might just be the most thoroughly researched book on the larger topic of social marketing. Hell, had Smart Business, Social Business not been bound with cardboard and filled with parchment, I wouldn't even have known what to call it, because Brito's first book felt more like transcribed consulting services than it did a business title. There has to be couple hundred grand worth of consulting fees captured in this three-sitting, 230-pager. The concept of "zooming in" and "zooming out, popularized in Jim Collins' Great by Choice, has become the jargon du jour at Eloqua. When someone is too close to an issue, he's urged to "zoom out" and consider it from a broader perspective; conversely, there are also times when we urge one another to "zoom in" and wrestle with the details. Every chapter in Smart Business, Social Business is a study in zooming out – then zooming in so fast year ears pop. Chapters open with a heady but succinct overview of a particular aspect of social business, then fasten your seatbelts for rapid descent. The rest of the chapter dives deeply into from-the-trenches tips, tools and techniques for how to incorporate the practice into your organization. While many business books identify a concept, then share best practices and highlight examples – few, if any, do it as relentlessly as Smart Business, Social Business. To read it is to gorge on information. You see, Brito doesn't merely point out what to look for in a social media partner, he also supplies questions to ask during the selection process. Rather than just tossing out names of trendy tools, he writes beefy sections detailing the functionality of each technology. Whereas some social media writers breeze over KPIs, not Brito. He shares actual formulas. Instead of simply suggesting you develop a social media policy, Brito delivers an actual template.  The author's "go for broke" mojo can also be felt in his willingness to address pebble-in-your-shoe nuisances like personal profiles vs. professional profiles with the same zeal as massive topics, such as detailing the state of social business in various countries and detangling the bird's nest called social CRM. This isn't to suggest Smart Business, Social Business isn't without its shortcomings. It has its flaws. Cisco, Intel and Dell – the trinity of tech companies that "get" social business – are over-represented. Because smaller, non-tech companies may struggle to identify with many of the examples in the book, the lessons may be perceived as similarly out of reach, which would be a shame because they are largely untethered to company size or industry. Brito also demonstrated a peculiar knack for knowing what his reader is thinking. It seemed that every time I felt anxiety that I am not doing enough in my own role, a reminder that social business is a journey soon followed, assuaging, at least momentarily, my slacker fears. Similarly, there were times when I'd find myself thinking, "If only he'd write about X (e.g., how to convince executives to fund social business initiatives, or a chapter on content marketing), this book would really be great." Then: boom! There it was, almost as if he anticipated the percolating question. Smart Business, Social Business isn't the first book on social media, and it certainly won't be the last. But it feels more honest than many of the titles I've read. It's as if the author wanted to guarantee he'd never write a second book, because he put everything he had into his first. And you have to admire a guy who goes for broke like that. Even if he could kick your butt and steal your girlfriend.   Book Review: Michael Brito Goes for Broke in “Smart Business, Social Business” is from Eloqua's It's All About Revenue, a Blog Covering Business To Business Marketing This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Why Marketing Automation Vendors are Talking “Inbound Marketing” and “Content Marketing” [Chartapalooza] Posted: 24 May 2012 06:35 AM PDT by Joe Chernov | Tweet this The terms "inbound marketing" and "content marketing" have been popping up in the blog posts, press releases, eBooks, infographics and social media feeds of every marketing automation company lately. While the differences between the practices may be nuanced, the surge in use of these terms is anything but subtle. The question is, Why? For one, there is a "modern marketing" element to the terms. The marketing automation category has existed for several years, and newer practices like inbound marketing, content marketing and even social media marketing are adjacent, if not overlapping, specialties. Marketers love the next new thing. We can’t help ourselves. There's also a follow-the-leader dynamic. HubSpot founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah wrote a super book called Inbound Marketing. Others drafted off of their success. At Eloqua, we're proud our content marketing program has earned more awards than anyone else in our category. Again, others follow. But in the end, it's demand that drives terminology. Using search volume as a proxy for demand, it's easy to discern which concepts have captured the public's attention. This Google Insights chart illustrates the relative worldwide search volume for Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing vs. Marketing Automation. Interestingly, if we restrict the geography to a tech-savvy hotbed like the Bay Area, the data is a little less lopsided, suggesting that the shift to more modern terminology is designed to attract a less sophisticated audience. So then which is it? To which term – content marketing or inbound marketing – should marketing automation vendors hitch their messaging wagon? Google Insights would suggest content marketing is preferable for two reasons. First is volume: Second is opportunity. Content marketing, it would appear, is up for grabs: … whereas inbound marketing is closely associated with a single vendor: Regardless of which modern marketing concept vendors embrace, each is considerably more popular than the product-centric terminology (like lead nurturing, lead scoring and sales enablement) that historically informed the industry's content creation and search strategies. What do you think? Does the increased use of terms like content marketing and inbound marketing suggest an evolution of the marketing automation industry? Or do you feel it's an SEO ploy? Of course if you are interested in content marketing, check out our trendsetting “From Content to Customer” presentation. It illustrates how to overlay content on top of the buyer’s journey. Why Marketing Automation Vendors are Talking "Inbound Marketing" and "Content Marketing" [Chartapalooza] is from Eloqua's It's All About Revenue, a Blog Covering Business To Business Marketing This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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