Here is a team I placed several times recently and want to share with you.

There are all manner of web development companies. There are the glamorous offshore teams in Argentina. There are the complicated ecommerce teams that know specialized platforms well. And there are many lower-cost teams of varying quality. This one is in the under 10k range, based in the NY metropolitan area and they know what they are doing.

Several of my clients have used this team. There is no hoopla. No jazz. And no fancy talk with these guys. They just know how to build websites. The company is called Echotam.

Echotam will recommend the technology that makes the most sense for the client, like Drupal or Wordpress. When you get a proposal from them you can tell they know what they are doing. The proposal includes detail such as a selection of extra options you might like on the site.

What is typically hard to find in this price range is good service. When I asked them if they could help with a very low cost website for a client of mine, this is what they said. “No project is too small for us…….. I will be happy to work with him and help him build a nice website. I promise his project will receive the same kind of attention and respect as any other project. Most companies, like our own, start small and with a lot of work and discipline they are able to achieve great things. We always try to give every client the same service despite their budget or company size.”

To see samples of their work click here.

Pricing depends on the features you select. The last project they quoted for my client was around 5k.

To get more information on Echotam I recommend you contact Anselmo at anselmo [at] echotam [dot] com.

About marketing team spotlight is all about sharing great marketing teams with you. Teams are selected based on proprietary criteria so you only hear about the great ones. I hope you find this useful. For unbiased information on any of the teams I track, contact me at rajiv [at] chaistrategy [dot] com.

To hear about teams as I discover them via twitter, please click here.

Here is another great team I would like to share with you.

Last spotlight we were off to San Francisco and now we are back to Brooklyn spotlighting a digital strategy agency called The JAR Group that was named to the 2010 Inc 500 list of fast growing companies.

What is different about The JAR Group? They are young. They are competent. They are entrepreneurial. You see this reflected in their culture. “We have the expected benefits, but we also have an on staff DJ, a growing bicycle gang, bagel Thursdays, beer Fridays…and a great team.”

The JAR Group is headed-up by A.J. Lawrence. He is a 19 year veteran digital guy. He is an advisor and angel investor in early stage online community services. And he plays rugby. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with A.J. and Melissa Koehler and they were both very helpful.

The sweet spot for The JAR Group is companies that would like to map out how to grow their revenue using a good mix of online channels. They serve large enterprises and a substantial portion of their client roster is startups as well. Click here to see their client web page. After an extensive discovery process, they develop strategies to reach the potential market – then execute SEO, PPC, affiliate management, Social Media, and eMail engagements to drive revenue. And they ensure that analytics are in place to provide a feedback loop.

Pricing Most engagements are retainer-based and The JAR Group will work on a project-basis as well.

To get more information on The JAR Group I recommend you contact Melissa at melissa.koehler [at] thejargroup [dot] com.

About marketing team spotlight is all about sharing great marketing teams with you. Teams are selected based on proprietary criteria so you only hear about the great ones. I hope you find this useful. For unbiased information on any of the teams I track, contact me at rajiv [at] chaistrategy [dot] com.

To follow me on twitter, please click here.

This is a follow-on post to “Going Further With Marketing Automation” written by Carlos Hidalgo for Marketing Automation Software Guide.” Click here to see the post.

I see a lot of confusion related to marketing automation.  Carlos mentions this quote from Adam Needles’ blog stating that “Less than 25% of organizations that have implemented a [marketing automation platform] fully currently utilize its potential.” Carlos goes on to say that this research indicates that process, not technology, is the surest way to alignment. I take another conclusion from this as well – that these companies need to take a step back and look at process – and take another step back and look at strategy.

Strategy drives process and process drives technology. If you take the “going further with marketing automation” discussion strategically up one notch then companies will have much more broad questions to answer. Companies that have a good sized database to nurture and / or a significant amount of existing lead activity, will likely find that lead management makes sense. If building that database is the challenge or generating lead activity, the field opens up to additional possible activities that a company can pursue to generate demand for their products or services. And with all the decisions that need to be made in this case the starting point becomes strategy – not process – and certainly not technology.

The framework we use is called the Strategic Marketing Framework.

Strategic Discovery – To put this in perspective compared to lead management, this would be like a lead management audit but looking at a more broad portfolio of potential activities, vs. looking at the lead management process. The goal of strategic discovery is to identify strategic options.
Strategic Feedback – In strategic feedback mode the focus is more on ranking different activities to identify top priorities for the organization. In this phase we synthesize all the ideas coming back from the different experts and start to evaluate the strategic options that came out of discovery.
Strategic Selection – This step is all about selecting strategic options to pursue and selecting the right teams to execute if needed.
Execution – The teams you select execute the strategy that addresses your challenges. The end result might be to implement lead management, demand generation or some other strategy.

Bringing it all back to “Going Further With Marketing Automation,” lead management process should clearly drive marketing automation and not technology. And  the Lead Management Framework put fourth by Carlos makes a lot of sense for lead management. And if you are considering lead management vs. other marketing activities, then the Strategic Marketing Framework can be a useful model for important marketing decisions.

Here is another great team I would like to share with you.

I recently asked a vendor partner of mine to recommend a few great teams from among their partner community. One of the teams mentioned was Spear Marketing Group.

Spear (www.spearmarketing.com) is a small (24-person), fast-growing West Coast agency, with clients nationwide, that specializes in demand generation, email marketing, and lead management.  They are a leading agency partner of Marketo and their clients include Google, VMware and Netsuite.

Spear is headed-up by a guy named Howard Sewell. Howard is a B2B marketing veteran with 20+ years in direct marketing and demand generation experience. When I took a look at Howard’s LinkedIn and Focus.com activity I was impressed by 2 things. He is active on LinkedIn answers and many of his answers have been rated as best answers. On Focus.com I found additional companies recommending Howard’s team which reinforces the vendor reference I received. Howard writes a blog called “The Point” on best practices in B2B demand generation. Click here to visit his blog.

One of Howard’s assets is that he does not subscribe to marketing dogma. B2B marketing is going through a tremendous shift which means a whole lot of activities people are pursuing are not working any more. Read his blog post “Call Every New Sales Lead 6 Times? Sorry, that’s Crazy.” And you will see what I mean.

According to Howard “The ideal engagement for Spear, and where I think we add the most value, is one in which the client is looking for more than just someone to help execute a pre-defined campaign.  Our most successful client engagements are initiatives in which we function as a strategic partner, providing expert counsel on program mix, offer content, messaging, and overall strategy, whether the project is a single campaign or an entire demand generation plan.”

Pricing Most engagements are project-based and range from $10,000 to $100,000.

Howard was kind enough to answer additional questions about Spear. Please click here to see the special Q&A page. To contact Howard, please email him at howard [at] spearmarketing [dot] com.

About marketing team spotlight is all about sharing great marketing teams with you. Teams are selected based on proprietary criteria so you only hear about the great ones. I hope you find this useful. If you would like the inside scoop on any of the teams I track, please let me know.

Here is another great team I would like to share with you.

Presentations at conferences can be really boring. I was at a marketing conference experiencing just this when an agency called Bourne hit the stage with the words “we are Bourne.” The Bourne team proceeded to shock us and awe us with a digital strategy arsenal as they walked us through the work they did for one of their clients – and it was very impressive. I had never seen a standing ovation at a conference until that day.

Bourne has offices in New York, London and Glasgow. The NY office is headed-up by a woman named Lisa Cooper. Lisa holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Mathematics from University College Dublin, Ireland and a Honours BA in Marketing and French from Portobello College Dublin, Ireland. This is just the sort of person you want thinking about your digital strategy.

So what is Bourne all about? They plan. They ideate. And they create all the digital assets you will need to run exciting marketing campaigns. They then create digital solutions that make your customers sit up and take notice, whoever, wherever. If you saw the movie Inception you know that the most powerful weapon is a well placed idea. If you didn’t see Inception then think if ideas as the weapons of choice for a guy like Gandhi.

So what do I like about this company? First of all they come recommended by other great teams. This means a lot. It means they are doing good work. And it means their clients are happy with the work. Their client roster includes companies like Dell, Ricoh, Microsoft, Symantec, MetLife, McAfee, Royal Caribbean, Adidas and Intel. Click here to see their clients web page. The other great thing about them is that they also work with a wide variety of US based SMB companies and love to work on smaller projects so you don’t need to be Dell to work with them.

Pricing depends on the nature of the project. Projects can range in price from as low as $3,000 to $50,000+ depending on complexity.

In my opinion Bourne is an up-and-coming digital agency in the USA and now is the time to work with them before they get too popular. To contact Lisa Cooper, please email her at lcooper [at] wearebourne [dot] com or call +1-201-208-7321.

About me Rajiv’s team spotlight is all about sharing great teams with you. Teams are selected based on proprietary criteria so you only hear about the great ones. I hope you find this useful. If you would like the inside scoop on any of the teams I track, just call me at (914) 886-8167.

Here is another great team I would like to share with you.

A talented acquaintance of mine recommended I speak to Debra Fisher. Debra founded a marketing capability & alignment consultancy called Marketing Drivers. They have been successful for a number of years in the UK and are now transferring their expertise to the US.

Debra and I recently met in Hoboken (in the New York metropolitan area) for Cuban food providing me with an opportunity to get to know her a bit better. Debra strikes me as a very direct person – the type that tells it like it is.

What does Marketing Drivers specialize in?
Marketing Drivers is dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Marketing Functions and Agencies.  Their specific expertise is in developing and aligning people, processes and tools to a vision or strategy. This includes designing optimal organizational structures and best practice ways of working.

An example of a project that would be a fit for Marketing Drivers is improving the client-agency relationship to achieve better results.

For more information on Marketing Drivers I recommend you click here to download their fact sheet.

Clients and client satisfaction
Marketing Drivers clients include Vodafone, BSkyB, Ernst & Young, WPP Group, JWT, RMG Connect, Mercedes-Benz, Braun, 141 Worldwide, FutureBrand, and BBDO – a who’s who of top agencies and fortune 500 corporations.

And importantly their customers are satisfied. Click here to see a healthy dose of flattering customer testimonials on their site.

Pricing
Pricing can be fixed fee project-based, based on deliverables or can be a daily rate. Their experience is more with mid-size and larger companies, however they will work with smaller companies if there is a good fit.

How to get in touch
To contact Debra, please call her at (732) 354 – 6013 or email her at dfisher [at] marketingdrivers [dot] net.

Here is another great team I would like to share with you.

Two years ago I was introduced to the Hidalgo brothers, Carlos and Jay. To me the Hidalgo brothers sound like characters in some shoot-em-up Western. In actuality their world is all about lead management and they are pretty darn good at it.

Most businesses today are focused on generating leads or maybe even nurturing them, but how many can honestly say they’ve taken a closer look at their lead management process?  Well if you haven’t, you may want to seriously reconsider as a good lead management process will pay for itself and provide handsome dividends in return.  Why?  Unlike generation or nurturing, lead management addresses the life of a lead throughout the entire buying cycle (easier said than done).

The Annuitas Group was founded over five years ago by Jay and Carlos Hidalgo and specializes in helping B2B companies develop a process-based approach to lead management.

I am a big fan of The Annuitas Group for several reasons 1. They only do lead management and they do it well. If your challenge is not in their area of expertise, they are upfront in saying so; 2.  They have crafted a proprietary Lead Management Framework^TM that addresses all the critical components of lead management; and 3. Their experience and great attitude shines through whenever I see them present at marketing automation events.

The Annuitas Group works primarily with B2B companies and their clients are typically in the $100 million – $1 billion revenue range and include some pretty big names. Click here to see a list of clients.

Pricing The Annuitas Group has several pre-defined service offerings that address specific needs of clients depending on the maturity of their lead management process, as well as their marketing automation environment.  Services pricing is specific to each individual client and can start with something as simple as a one and a half day lead management audit workshop to monthly advisory services.

I think they are doing a great job and as a result of their hard work, they have realized tremendous growth over the past couple of years.

If you would like more information on The Annuitas Group, you can download their Lead Management Framework^TM Whitepaper or visit their website at http://annuitasgroup.com.

Webinar The Annuitas Group is also hosting a webinar on February 9 entitled “Four Steps to Align Sales and Marketing for Improved Lead Management.” Click here to register for the webinar.

To contact me call (914) 886 8167.

Here is another great team I would like to share with you.

My client wanted to create a completely new line of business. The client needed help to strategically determine what this new line of business could look like given their core competencies and which business models made the most sense.

After speaking to a few companies about what my client wanted to achieve, I was impressed with a company called GLP Partners. Carolyn LoGalbo, a partner at GLP Partners immediately knew what steps would be required to help my client succeed. The client agreed and opted to participate in a new business strategy process led by GLP Partners.

The client was very pleased with the outcome and walked away with a better understanding of potential business models and a progression of potential strategies to pursue that made sense for him.

Carolyn and her team were a pleasure to work with because they bring a ton of energy and very high standards to every interaction. Carolyn was once CMO of a 1.7 billion dollar business at Metlife and this experience shows. I believe their most valuable expertise is strategic, and her team is also well versed in Salesforce.com’s platform and select partners in the ecosystem around Salesforce.com.

Click here to download a GLP Partners company overview PDF to get the best information on GLP Partners. You can also visit their website at glppartners.com.

Give Carolyn a call and you will be in for a treat.

Pricing
GLP Partners pricing is reasonable for what you get. Pricing varies by project. As an example a strategy session that includes a few days preparation and 1-day onsite might cost approximately $10,000.

How to get in touch
If you are interested in speaking to Carolyn, please call her at (914) 961 – 4917 or email her at CLoGalbo [at] glppartners.com.
If you would like help finding the right team for your other marketing needs, please contact me at 914 886 8167.
Or email me at rajiv [at] chaistrategy.com

There are 960 teams in my database and I would like to share one with you today. I will spotlight a single partner that might interest you. I have done the research – and here is what I found out for you!

The year is 2010 and I am at a marketing automation conference sponsored by Silverpop. And this guy gets on stage right after lunch and says “no-one ever scored well in this time slot so Silverpop put me in to wake you up.” He then proceeded to launch into an engaging explanation of how you can generate more leads using marketing automation. His name is Mac McIntosh.

Mac specializes in lead generation using marketing automation. His expertise recently earned him the number one spot in the Sales Lead Management Association’s list of “Top 50 Most Influential People,” which gives you an idea that he has a following.

Mac is a partner along with Peter Dikeman at a company called AcquireB2B. Their website is at AcquireB2B.com. Their team can help you develop marketing programs in your marketing automation platform, or they can run them for you as an agency so you don’t need to buy the marketing automation software. They provide hands-on support for Marketo and Silverpop which I would consider two of the top marketing automation vendors.

One of the things I like about AcquireB2B is that they have a menu of turnkey programs you can select from. For example they have nurture campaign packages for $3,000, $5,000, $10,000 and $19,000 depending on complexity.

When I asked Mac about client satisfaction he provided a treasure trove of customer testimonials which he has compiled over 22 years as a consultant, including companies like Symantec, Microsoft, WebMD and Cisco Systems and lots of fast-growing small and mid-sized companies too.

Complimentary breakfast briefings
As luck would have it, AcquireB2B will sponsor 2 executive breakfast briefings aimed at senior B2B sales and marketing corporate executives – January 26 in Boson/Waltham and January 27 in New York City. These events are aimed at companies that spend or plan to spend $100,000 or more per year on lead generation. If you are interested in these events, click here for details. As our subscriber these events are complimentary for you to attend.

How to get in touch
If you are interested in AcquireB2B please contact them directly or register for their event.
If you would like help finding the right team for your other marketing needs, please contact me at 914 886 8167.

These Marketo webinars are usually good.

Topics include marketing automation, social media for business, and lead scoring and a bunch of others.

Click here for the Marketo webinar masters webinar series.