Qual è il servizio giusto per te?

Fai il questionario
SCOPRILO QUI

Author: Paolo Tacconi

The “as a service” sales marketing service is launched ValueSales for accelerated growth of scale-up tech and B2B service companies
7 March 2022 , Paolo Tacconi

The “as a service” sales marketing service is launched ValueSales for accelerated growth of scale-up tech and B2B service companies

Milan, Italy Valuelead announces the launch of the Marketing and Sales As a Service ValueSales service, the innovative outsourcing service that allows all B2B companies to use the best digital resources to increase their effectiveness on the market. Using content marketing, advertising, digital programming and the exclusive YourWOO software in “as a service” mode, all companies of any size can dedicate their internal resources to corporate strategic development and drastically reduce marketing and sales costs. “Thanks to ValueSales, finally, even small and medium-sized B2B companies have the best technologies, the most effective contents and the most efficient processes available to them easily and at reduced costs, to sell more and better” said Paolo Tacconi, founder and CEO of Valuelead. “We have thought of those innovative and growing companies that need to reach a widespread and highly contested corporate audience such as that of Italian and European SMEs: ValueSales is the missing promotional and sales tool at flexible costs and predictable results. Among the main advantages. • Complete outsourcing of digital sales & marketing activities, without resorting to dedicated internal resources• Transparent and monthly subscription cost to reduce the financial risk of marketing activities• Program entirely designed for small and medium-sized high-growth service companies that want to reach their customers in the SME world• A team always available to the customer to direct the activity towards the most effective channel• Activation times under two weeks to start receiving and managing quality B2B leads using digital The ValueSales service is already available at this URL: https://www.valuelead.com/en/valuesale-eng/ Who is Valuelead: Valuelead is an innovative digital service provider for the marketing and sales of small and medium-sized service companies. Born in 2019, its mission is simplification and transparency in the provision of digital services for companies. Using the best technologies and resources available, it provides outsourced and “as a service” solutions, revolutionizing the customer-supplier relationship in marketing.It has served dozens of small and medium-sized Italian and European companies, generating thousands of qualified B2B leads for companies in the fields of software, artificial intelligence, security, cloud and legal services and corporate security.

Continue Reading

Relevance: The First Rule Of B2B Communication
28 February 2022 , Paolo Tacconi

Relevance: The First Rule Of B2B Communication

In one day we receive much more information than a person received a hundred years ago in his entire life. A lifetime would not be enough to read all these contents. Legitimate defenseBy force of circumstances we have to defend ourselves. We have all become expert information selectors. In a fraction of a second we decide whether it is worth opening or scrolling that email, that article, that post on a social media. On what basis does this selection take place? One would say “I choose the most important”. But it is an imprecise explanation. If that were the case, we would all have followed closely the Indian elections (1 billion voters, the largest democracy in the world) or the evolution of global warming. No, the importance … is not important. Neither is the ‘freshness’ of the information. or the authority of the source. What really makes us decide whether to read content is its relevance: how much does this content matter to me reading it. “I read this content”, we say to ourselves, “because it talks about me, because it is ‘made especially for me’. The first rule of communicationBeing relevant is therefore the first rule of communication, especially in a B2B context. The center of communication is the recipient, not the issuer. If you read this text it is probably because it is about you. If it were just about us, you probably wouldn’t have gotten to this line. To be relevant upstream of the communication there must be drastic choices. I cannot be relevant to everyone: I have to get a precise picture of the recipient of my communication. I need to know precisely ‘for whom’ I am writing. The ‘buyer persona’We at Valuelead encourage our customers not only to select their interlocutor but to paint him with a wealth of details. We are not talking about the target (male, 30-50 years old, high school education, manager, lives in a big city) but about ‘buyer persona’. We urge the customer to draw a portrait as defined as possible of his ideal interlocutor (and therefore potential customer): What car does he drive, what kind of house he lives in, what sport he does or would like to do…. The paradox of verisimilitudeBy doing so, do we not risk reducing the effectiveness of the message by narrowing the goal? No. A novelist dedicates pages and pages to outline the protagonist with a thousand unique details. Yet despite this, indeed precisely for this reason, we identify with him. This paradox was analyzed by Daniel Kahneman, the ‘father’ of behavioral economics and Nobel laureate in Economics. Kahneman and Tverski in Thoughts slow and fast, reported an experiment that we propose again with some modifications: Based on this description “Linda, thirty-one years old, she is single, very intelligent and outspoken. She graduated in philosophy. As a student she was very interested in the problems of discrimination and social justice, and she also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations “; having to indicate the most probable alternative among the following: 1) Linda is a militant of a feminist movement, 2) Linda is a teacher, 3) Linda is a teacher and militant in a feminist movement, most of the subjects chose the third without hesitation. Yet the number of female teachers and militants is a fraction of the number of female teachers (perhaps less than 1% one might think). You ‘sound’ to us ‘more likely’ simply because it is plausible. A woman could identify with this character even if she does not teach or even if she is not a feminist or has no degree in philosophy. There is no relevance without ‘buyer persona’In practice, having a precise image of the recipient of the communication, what we at Valuelead call ‘buyer persona’, helps immensely in the selection of themes and their treatment and extends instead of restricting it, the number of people who ‘find themselves’ in the communication. . But it’s not just this. We dare to say that without investing time in defining the buyer persona (its attributes must not be chosen at random: they must be as relevant as possible … relevant to the purposes of what we want to offer or sell) it is not likely that our communication will be considered relevant .

Continue Reading

Word-Of-Mouth: Two Rules And A ‘Miracle’
15 February 2022 , Paolo Tacconi

Word-Of-Mouth: Two Rules And A ‘Miracle’

Needless to call it word-of-mouth. ‘Spread the word’ is fine. It is one of the best marketing tools, even if it is the oldest and the least expensive. But are we sure it always works? Yesterday I was stopped by a person. The battery in his car had run out and he asked me if I knew a nearby electrician. None of them came to mind. Continuing, not even 200 meters away, I saw the sign of an auto electrician to which I had also turned to even a year before! Maybe it happened to you too. I forgot it. Yet I had been happy with his work; it wasn’t too expensive either! Having a satisfied customer is not enough to trigger word of mouth. It is necessary to impress yourself in his mind in order to be remembered and therefore advised. Reflecting on my experience as a customer – and as a supplier – I started a list of ‘successful word of mouth principles’. Obviously it’s just a start and I hope you help me complete it. 1) Satisfying the customer is not enough, you have to amaze him!Today, as a customer, we expect absolutely error-free, fast and comprehensive service. Therefore, meeting the customer’s expectations fully is not enough to be remembered. We need to give something more. And this ‘more’ is not always the good price: it is something unexpected and personal. Let’s think about our travel experiences for example. What do we remember of a vacation or a stay in a hotel? Was the bed comfortable? Was the bathroom clean? No. We remember that personal and unexpected touch. That ‘something more’! 2) A flow of communication to stay in the customer’s radar.Why hadn’t the electrician come to mind when answering the unfortunate driver? Simply because… in life hardly one thinks of auto electricians. And vice versa, auto electricians hardly think about their former customers. To stay on the customer’s radar, on the other hand, you must always be present in his mind, with a constant flow of communications. Constant but not pressing. In my opinion, a continuous stream of unmissable, limited and exclusive ‘special offers’ makes you nervous. Better a flow of communications that are pleasant to read, with no or almost no overtly commercial connotations and consistent with the type of customer. 3) The miracle of the Prospect-2-prospect.In my opinion, doing so opens up the ‘miraculous’ possibility of being recommended by a non-customer! Like auto electricians, I sell services that are not of continuous use. It may be that my prospect has not yet had the opportunity to become my client but has nevertheless appreciated my way of contacting him. If I was able to give life to a narrative, I created a relationship, let’s say ‘platonic’ with the prospect and it is perfectly possible that this will lead him to recommend me to another potential client.

Continue Reading

Marketing-As-A-Service. Why not?
15 January 2022 Paolo Tacconi

Marketing-As-A-Service. Why not?

If I can, I’ll go to the gym tonight. I have a subscription, one of the many subscriptions that I find every month on my credit card statement: Netflix, Spotify, the PC antivirus … I go to the gym because there I can choose from the latest equipment, I find expert staff, I meet other people and … I can unsubscribe whenever I want! Excuse me, do you have a light?And so I too became part of the subscription economy, that era of access that the futurologist Jeremy Rifkin wrote about (back in 2001). Why on earth buy goods (paying fixed costs, losing the advantages of technological updating, giving up advice) when you can rent them and always have the best? Years ago, I must admit, I built my own gym, in a corner of the rumpus room. What happened? What was the leading edge of technology in just a few months had become scrap metal. I was bored just seeing those tools, let alone using them. And you, after how many months did you get bored? Me after three. We have been using software-as-a-service in the company for years now, the cars are serviced leasing, as are the copiers / printers. Many of our businesses could take on an as-a-service mode. Oh no, marketing is not possible!As-a-service mode also for marketing, or at least a part of it. Thing? Marketing? No, that is not. For charity! Marketing is an office, a box in the organization chart, a team of valiant collaborators. You can’t even think about it! Or maybe yes. After all, HR has always been outsourced to a ‘payroll and contributions’ study. The passive and active cycle has been online since the invoices are dematerialized. Let’s not talk about the logistics. Why couldn’t marketing be done as-a-service? Perhaps it is a ‘pre-digital’ mentality that makes us see marketing as something untouchable. Once upon a time, small and large companies decided if and when to appear. They launched the ‘campaign’ and then re-dived like submarines. When you are on the market, you can no longer hideFor some time now, a company has no longer been able to hide. And it doesn’t have to. Like parties, businesses are also ‘in the electoral campaign’ 365 days a year. The company must communicate on a regular and continuous basis as the heart must beat and the lungs inhale and exhale. I don’t stop breathing because I’m focused on driving. In the same way I do not stop being present (for example on social networks) because I have focused the best resources of my marketing on a campaign or an event. Digital marketing and ‘active’ marketing. The two must travel in parallel, without hindering each other, without overlapping their deadlines and priorities. Experts to do, measure, improveMarketing-as-a-service does not mean giving out (let alone doing away with) the marketing of a company. It means having digital marketing managed by experts (like the coach in the gym) who makes available the most modern technologies and approaches, with which you can agree and measure trends and objectives. It means giving consistency, aligning it to the highest level, keeping the pace of a company’s breath, thus freeing up resources to concentrate on campaigns, innovations, added value without distracting resources from your desire, from your need to change.

Continue Reading

Networking? Yes please. But then?
15 December 2021 Paolo Tacconi

Networking? Yes please. But then?

I find them in the most unexpected places: in the pocket of the jacket I wore the last time at the Congress or in a pocket of the 24 hour with which I went to the Fair; they pop up dusty in a corner of the desk… These are the business cards I collected when, obeying the marketing manuals, I got involved in networking. Obviously none of these contacts have been useful or used. What happened? I probably ran into one of the 4 ‘post networking’ mistakes (or more than one!) Dying as a prospectCollecting ‘contacts’ indiscriminately is useless. Indeed it is counterproductive. You can’t be everything to everyone. Even regardless of the time it would take, if I want to interest ‘everyone a little,’ I end up not being relevant to anyone. I don’t know about you, but my profit depends 80% on a small number of good customers. So I don’t have to look for ‘customers’ but ‘good customers’. Potential good customers aren’t the ones with a big budget, nor the closest, nor the ones where I know the most people. They are the potential customers for whom I represent a potential good supplier. They are the prospects with respect to which I have a distinctive character. To each his own listA real list of contacts (customers and prospects) is a corporate asset, increasingly the main asset. It should be valued and depreciated like a server or machine tool. And it must be shared. Someone will invest in a CRM, someone else will just need an Excel spreadsheet but there cannot be a database of marketing customers and another of Sales. And it must be managed, updated, enriched. You can’t get to the day before the launch to find that half of the emails we sent went back because the address had changed. Stop & GoCommunicating once in a while is not only useless: it is counterproductive. The hallmark of good customers and good relationships is continuity. I must therefore also be continuous in communicating. Each company has its own rhythm and this rhythm must be maintained. Genius and recklessnessCreativity is fine but improvisation is not. The precise definition of the target (or targets: I can also start several parallel lines of communication) and the pace of communication are the pillars of a strategy. I have to decide which channels to use, define formal and content guidelines to ensure consistency and recognition of my messages. I have to provide procedures to be activated to react to feedback (whether positive or negative) with the timing dictated by the medium. It’s always late to start strategically dealing with your network of contacts. But postponing is even worse. A strategy allows you to be more effective by investing less time. And not to fill your pockets unnecessarily with business cards!

Continue Reading

The Way To Go, Together
12 November 2021 Paolo Tacconi

The Way To Go, Together

Our time is complicated, the challenges are many and for this reason it is time to commit to understanding the way to go. New techniques, new ways to live in the environment that surrounds us and that continues to change around us. Big companies are getting bigger and small and medium-sized companies have more and more energy and flexibility. But they can’t do it all by themselves. We know how to help you. How will we do itWe will offer you a revolutionary structure and a platform that will help you find new customers without effort. What we will do? It’s simple: we’ll talk to you.

Continue Reading

A Signature Strengthens The Brand, But …
28 October 2021 Paolo Tacconi

A Signature Strengthens The Brand, But …

‘I’: two letters next to each other on the keyboard. The monosyllable we pronounce most often. Yet many are afraid to use it in marketing communication. There has been no doubt since social media has existed: at the center there are people who communicate with people. The brand enters this conversation but on tiptoe and asking for permission. Doors open to ‘I’ so even if writing in first person risks slipping. Those who ‘put their face to it’ also run the risk of getting very hurt (and damaging the brand). Put your face (and a description)Rule number one. No false modesty! Whoever deals with a theme wants to be recognized as a point of reference on that theme. But on what basis? A brief self-description is therefore needed. Not a CV, for heaven’s sake! A few indications, perhaps written in a nice way, are enough. Autobiographical ideas? Yes if …It is possible to include some personal hints in the communication as long as it is relevant (related to the topic to be dealt with) and consistent with the buyer persona, that is, with the profile of the ideal interlocutor. The autobiographical cues serve to bring the reader closer to the author. So let’s avoid mentioning trekking in Tibet or super academic qualifications. Stay ‘warm’ and differentIf the relationship was opened on a ‘personal’ level, it cannot be closed. What would we think of a person who one day greets us with affection and the following days treats us coldly? Similarly, if you choose a personal tone, you need to distinguish yourself from other forms of corporate communication in terms of graphics (different layout, different use of photos and fonts) and content. We avoid using phrases or images that are also present in corporate communication. We live on storiesSharing stories is always better than proposing data. Our brain absorbs and metabolizes stories much better than any other source of information: it memorizes them, reacts to them by making them its own by sharing them and is led to modify its own behavior on this basis more than it would do in the face of logical reasoning.

Continue Reading