A TRADITIONAL EDUCATION CAN HELP YOU MAKE A LIVING… OUR DIGITAL EDUCATION WILL HELP YOU LIVE THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS.

There are four levels of training Silver, Gold, Platinum and Black.

The objective of this training program is to make YOU totally self sufficient in terms of being able to operate a Digital Marketing System from anywhere in the world with essentially, a laptop and an Internet Connection.

Once you have been through this training program you will have the skills for life – like learning to swim or ride a bike.

A TRADITIONAL EDUCATION CAN HELP YOU MAKE A LIVING… OUR DIGITAL EDUCATION WILL HELP YOU LIVE THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS.

There are four levels of training Silver, Gold, Platinum and Black.

The objective of this training program is to make YOU totally self sufficient in terms of being able to operate a Digital Marketing System from anywhere in the world with essentially, a laptop and an Internet Connection.

Once you have been through this training program you will have the skills for life – like learning to swim or ride a bike.

Today sees the start of HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Conference in the Congress Centre in Central London. In January 2013 HubSpot will open it’s first European offices in Dublin – a location which I recommended to HubSpot.

HubSpot was founded in 2006 to address a problem that the founders saw as follows ” That traditional marketing was broken and that the tools needed to do inbound marketing were too complex and disconnected ” .

HubSpot’s name has become synonymous with ” Inbound Marketing ” which is a ” meme ” that it is credited with starting.

I am a massive fan of HubSpot’s but I am actually more of a fan of what HubSpot seeks to achieve for it’s clients. ( HubSpot’s revenue from it’s clients was about $28.5 Million in 2011 ). HubSpot has a ” mantra ” which is ” Get FOUND ” ( for relevant words and phrases in Google and other search engines ) , CONVERT ( traffic and website visitors to leads and customers ) and ANALYSE how you did it.

If you are, like me, a former salesperson ( are we ever former ?? ) sales manager and sales director these three words make it look possible that you can apply offline sales and sales management techniques to online ( digital ) marketing and sales.

In an offline world ( the old world ?? ) success for a salesperson is about building up a prospect list and then nurturing and qualifying that list – through the sales funnel – from prospect to qualified opportunity. Many of us use a percentage qualification system to show the difference between a vague prospect ( 5-10% ) and an increasingly qualified opportunity ( 40% might mean we have visited, 60% – we have put in a proposal that meets the needs, 80 % – we are pretty sure that we are going to get the order, 100% we got it and the money is in the bank ).

We can predict for our Board the amount of orders and revenue that we, as a Sales team are going to bring in. Order Value times Percentage Likelihood equals Actual Order Amount that will be realised. We can also monitor the progress of our sales team and look at sales campaigns that worked and ones that didn’t. We can try and learn from these and do it the way that works going forward.

How did we get our prospects in the first place ?? Actually, we create lists. We know what we have to sell. We know the people that are likely to buy and we find them, contact them ( in some way ) and then nurture them until they buy from us. We sort and prioritise these lists. We put the ones that look like they are likely to buy at the top of the list and we concentrate on closing those deals first.

When HubSpot said that traditional Marketing was broken it actually meant that traditional Marketing and Sales was broken. They were building on the idea that ” PUSH marketing ” ( Advertising, Cold Calling, Mailshots etc ) was failing and that ” PULL marketing ” ( Being found in Google, having your White Paper downloaded, giving training in a webinar etc )  was the way forward.

In sales this is very similar to the idea that you don’t sell ( successfully ) by the ” Hard sell ” you sell more effectively by understanding what people’s needs are and meeting those needs in an empathetic way. ( Telling is NOT selling ).

HubSpot was also correct that the tools required to do ” Inbound Marketing ” ( Predominantly Internet based marketing ) were too complex and disconnected.

Actually in 2007 Stuart Ross ( Founder of the Six Figure Mentors ) was following an Internet Marketing strategy put forward by Jay Kubassek ( Founder of PRO U ) in around 2004. Stuart often describes his Internet Marketing Strategy as basically ” Build a LIST, sell something and then sell something else “. 

Sound too simple ???

Well it is spookily like the ” old, traditional way of selling ” isn’t it ??

Except that it has been adapted for the Internet.

Building on what Jay had started Stuart created a system that was even simpler and more connected than HubSpot’s.

Between them Stuart and Jay will drive more revenue than HubSpot with a system that is more suitable for solopreneurs ( Home based entrepreneurs ) and Small and Medium Sized businesses.

If you would like to find out more about Stuart and Jay’s system please go

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> HERE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Where you will be able to access a FREE 7 DAY ONLINE MARKETING BOOTCAMP.

STOP PRESS !!! January 2013 – The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( mentioned below ) has now been incorporated into Centripetal Network Consultings’ Digital Marketing Ecosystem. Watch this video >>>> HERE <<<< to see how a system that provides all of the functionality of a HubSpot system at a much lower cost has evolved over the last couple of years.

The Silicon Crossroads Technopolis based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England has helped Inbound Marketing Megastars HubSpot decide on Dublin,Ireland as the location for their European Headquarters. The official announcement from Hubspot is here. Chris Windley, Managing Partner of the Silicon Crossroads Technopolis and of the Silicon Crossroads V.C.T. ( Just voted #100 of 1000 Tech. Investors globally by PeekIndex – full story here ) said ” Some time ago HubSpot asked our opinion on where they should base their European Headquarters – we highlighted as possibilities London, Lichfield itself  and Dublin, Ireland.”

The story of that early conversation with HubSpot is here . ” Whilst we would have been proud to welcome HubSpot to Lichfield and perhaps even the Technopolis itself, we are delighted that HubSpot decided on one of our recommendations. ” Chris said.

As highlighted in our early conversation above there are some compelling reasons why U.S. companies should base themselves in Dublin, Ireland . In all likelihood this will be followed by sales offices in Benelux and London. This is a well worn path that e.g. Google, Twitter and Facebook have followed.

You have to admire the Irish and Irish ( Inward Development Agency ) I.D.A. for the way that they have positioned ” brand Ireland ” and for the way that they handled this opportunity. There are many places where HubSpot could have based it’s European Headquarters but it chose Dublin, Ireland.

Chris said ” I have contacts within the Irish I.D.A. and they have a Boston office which has been communicating with HubSpot for a number of years . The Boston team of the Irish I.D.A. obviously did a good job in presenting the case to HubSpot “.

To me this just emphasises what we have said elsewhere – there is an unstoppable flow of fully funded companies coming from the U.S. to Europe and other countries. This is particularly true of High Tech and software companies.

4 years ago HubSpot was a small Boston based software startup. Today it is one of the fastest growing SaaS companies in the world. Probably second only to Salesforce.com.

When HubSpot received further funding earlier on in the year and investment from e.g. Google and Salesforce it was almost inevitable that they would open a European Headquarters soon. Around 300 companies in Europe are HubSpot customers but this is not enough. HubSpot needed a European base to compete against WordPress based competitors and new startup – The Six Figure Mentors – which is rapidly expanding across the globe from the U.K.

FREE 7 Day Digital Marketing Bootcamp at http://www.chriswindley.com

STOP PRESS !!! January 2013 – The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( mentioned below ) has now been incorporated into Centripetal Network Consultings’ Digital Marketing Ecosystem. Watch this video >>>> HERE <<<< to see how a system that provides all of the functionality of a HubSpot system at a much lower cost has evolved over the last couple of years.

The Silicon Crossroads Technopolis is a private High Tech. facility that supports Silicon Crossroads VCT investee companies globally. It also supports companies advised by M & A Rainmaker and the Silicon Crossroads VCT.

The Technopolis is currently supporting companies in ( for example ) London, San Francisco, Israel, New York, Costa Rica and India. the list is continually changing and evolving so this is just a sample of cities and countries supported.

The Silicon Crossroads VCT does not invest in all the companies it supports, it may simply provide advice and guidance. It is particularly interested in assisting startup and growth companies who want to expand from the U.K. to, for example, the U.S.A. and vice versa and also from other countries around the world into the U.K. and Europe. It is one of very few companies in the U.K. to provide these sort of services.

Lichfield Cathedral at night across Stowe Pool.

Managing Partner, Chris Windley, has established global networks via social media networks like Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook and Chris is regarded as one of the most influential people in the world by Internet Influence measurement companies like Klout, Kred and Peer Index. These companies operate mainly from e.g. London, New York and San Francisco. Since his days at Optical Fibre Network company Fibernet, Chris noted that U.S. companies tended to lead the European market by between 6 and 18 months and therefore it is vital to maintain contacts with High Tech. industry leaders there; especially the West Coast ( Silicon Valley etc. ) which remains the frontrunner when it comes to angel and venture capital support.

It is no surprise that some of the most important High Tech. companies in the world have emerged from the Silicon Valley/San Francisco area.

Chris maintains contact with Angels, Venture Capitalists and Founders via Internet networks like Linkedin, Google + and AngelList.

When it comes to dominating the search results for Internet Marketing Strategy Lichfield the Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( IME ) is clearly working really well. A search on ” Internet Marketing Strategy Lichfield ” today shows that we have FREE ( natural ) listings for 5 of the results on the first page.

The M&A Rainmaker ( WordPress ) blog – this one – heads the listings. Followed by a Pinterest listing, a Digg listing and a Twylah listing. The Pinterest and Twylah listings mirror their growth in the Alexa rankings ( just read this morning that Pinterest is now the No 3 social network ). Despite Digg’s problems it remains a solid way to get a Google ranking and in my estimation is a key component of the IME.

My IME is now benefiting from years of continuous content updating and posting. Remember that in the IME the WordPress website/blog and the Twylah page are the ” core ” of the IME. Often ( but not always ) content is generated via this WordPress blog and then posted to Facebook, Twitter ( which automatically generates posts to Twylah ) , Linkedin, Google + and Digg. Posts to Twylah can be re-posted to Facebook, Linkedin, Google + and Digg ( to name a few ) if required.

In addition to building our networks on each of these social networking platforms we are also creating links from e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Twylah, Pinterest, Linkedin, Google+ and Digg back to the M&A Rainmaker WordPress blogsite.

Each of these systems are powerful in their own right but when combined in the Internet Marketing Ecosystem they are virtually unbeatable – as the Google search results show.

Remember that some of the keys to a high ranking website ( one that gets found for the searches that you want it to be found for ) is that it has relevant, continuously updated content; that it has on page SEO and that it has authoritative links from websites that are regarded as having authority. All of these criteria have been completely satisfied. Mostly though we have to make sure that our posts talk about the subject that we want to be found for in an appropriate way. Google ALWAYS tries to give searchers the results that they want.

Talking about individual performance on specific networks there have been some wonderful comments on Twitter lately from friends in the U.S.A. ( you will remember that a key part of my success with the IME has been knowledge of systems like Twylah and Pinterest – which eminate from the U.S. ).

Here’s a comment from Mike Martino

LICHFIELD England – Many great philosophers have come from the City of Lichfield yet none have mastered the art of #social like Chris Windley.

who has been very kind and generous in his praise of my activity on Twitter.

Chris Windley is now a Six Figure Mentor. Find out how to get more traffic, visitors, leads, orders and CASH from your website. Turn your Internet presence from a liability into an ASSET !!! Click >>>>>>>>>>>>HERE <<<<<<<<<<<< for more information.

If you combine Staffordshire’s recent commitment to provide ” Superfast Broadband ” with it’s prowess in the use of social media then I think the seeds of achieving the label of ” Silicon Staffordshire ” are there.

What is most important is that at the highest level within Staffordshire County Council there is the belief that this CAN be achieved.

Staffordshire IS putting it’s money where it’s mouth is; walking the walk not just talking the talk – both in broadband and in social media.

Staffordshire Police’s ACTUAL use of social media to communicate with people is a great example:

http://www.staffordshire.police.uk/about_us/social_media/

Twitter ( particularly ), Facebook, YouTube and eBay ( to sell seized stolen goods !! ) are all being used to great effect.

When I visited Staffordshire County Council’s office’s recently I noticed the Cisco phones on the desks of the ( very smart looking ) receptionists.

As I happen to have spent much of my life working with Cisco I immediately realised that here was a Council that put the correct Information Technology Strategy above short term, price driven solutions.

A Google search revealed this article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2011/jul/18/councils-share-networks-infrastructure

on ” sharing networks ” – something I believe in passionately. CIO Sander Kristel said:

” Staffordshire county council is making good progress towards integration with health partners within a shared network infrastructure. Chief Information Officer Sander Kristel expects its emerging Public Service Network ( PSN ) to save the council £10m.

He believes true shared services may only be achieved through sharing a network infrastructure. “To provide better services to the public it is necessary for us to work much more closely with others,” he says. “To do that it is best to share network infrastructure where it is much easier to share data securely.”

Kristel describes the move to a shared network infrastructure as partly opportunistic. “Our current network contracts were up for renewal, our telephony systems needed replacing and some of the other partners in Staffordshire had similar timelines,” he says.

“We have taken a very pragmatic approach, as the requirements of the PSN were not available when we went ahead with it. However, our supplier Kcom is part of the national PSN group.” The contract is valued at £23m.

Working across multiple public sector agencies, the network has to comply with multiple standards including those for N3 and GCSx, but Kristel is confident that the PSN will be closely aligned to those standards.

Staffordshire is bundling the shared network core into BT exchanges at the moment. “Traditionally local authorities have put comms hubs into their own building, but for partners to trust the PSN we found it necessary to put it in BT exchanges.” At the network edge it is rolling out fibre and also quite a lot of copper, in a pragmatic attempt to create a flexible infrastructure.

The council is also putting in Cisco telephony and contact centre technology, which it plans to share. “The idea is the customer should not really need to understand who does what and where,” Kristel says.

He already has an agreement with South Staffordshire Health that it will join the network, and says: “I understand from the Cabinet Office that we will be one of the first in England who will share with health partners We’re also having conversations with Staffordshire Police, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.”

He describes the process of setting up the shared network infrastructure as less complex than first expected: “We share the costs equally and the county council charges a very minimal administration fee to manage the contract.”

I have not met Sander but there are a number of key views expressed in the above article and in this one

http://www.cio.co.uk/article/3339374/cio-profile-sander-kristels-clear-vision-for-staffordshire-council/

that let me know that Staffordshire is on the right course. Just a few quotes from the above article:

” Integration is a term Kristel uses a great deal and it clearly describes the vision he and the authority have of how to ensure residents get the quality of service they deserve in return for being taxpayers.”

” Staffordshire is almost a pioneer of the public sector network model now being demanded by the Cabinet Office in Whitehall. “

“We have taken a pragmatic approach, opting for copper not fibre optic. Copper is easier to deploy at smaller sites and we will rationalise our estate again soon; why dig a trench into these buildings?” he asks.

“The network is step one. We can provide services almost like a cloud so that organisations can run their email or document management over it,” he says.

” The network is just one of a range of cost-saving projects Kristel has led at Staffordshire.

A move to Citrix thin client desktop applications on HP hardware gives the authority’s new HQ a desk-to-staff ratio of 7:10, making the building seem like a bank rather than a council office.

Voice over IP has been added and videoconferencing is on the way.

The authority is proud of its new HQ and screens at reception tell you it is saving the council £250,000 a year. Virtualisation has reduced Staffordshire’s datacentre fleet to two and each datacentre has just three racks in it.

Using the new PSN disaster recovery facilities via a reciprocal deal with a neighbouring authority is also being considered.”

” Influence of IT
While Kristel does not have a direct line to the CEO — “I report to the CFO. I used to report to the previous chief executive, but this very much depends on your chief executive” — he is on the wider leadership team and says IT is very much part of the big picture in Staffordshire.

“You have a lot more influence and early warning of what is going to change in the authority,” he says.

Early warning is the most important thing as the European procurement process can take up to a year. ”

I have italicised some of the key words and phrases that I believe should be taken forward into the next phase of broadband and social media development.

Becoming a ” Silicon Valley ” in the U.K. is not a simple process. This video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo

titled ” The Secret History of Silicon Valley ” explains some of the historical factors ( beginning in World War 2 ) that led to Silicon Valley becoming the start-up powerhouse that it is today.

That is not to say that it cannot be done though. It WILL require a number of challenging pieces of a jigsaw to be put in place.

At the end of this video interview with Marc Andreesson ( founder of Netscape and now a Silicon Valley VC ) he explains what he thinks needs to be put in place to recreate another Silicon Valley:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/05/andreessen-no-tech-bubble/

There are other articles that I have read that further help to understand the components required.

I think it’s time that we started calling Staffordshire ” Social Staffordshire ” ( although I always like to remind people that Social Media is being used for a lot of business applications ) alongside my other description of the A38/A5 crossroads area as
” Silicon Crossroads “. Why ?? well in my mind Staffordshire is one of the leading counties in the U.K. in terms of use of Social Media.

Staffordshire Police’s David Bailey presented at the Social Media World Forum earlier this year

http://www.socialmedia-forum.com/europe/agenda/speakers/626-david-bailey-communications-manager-staffordshire-police and they have to be one of the most pro-active police forces in the country in terms of using Social Media. Staffordshire Police has over 11,000 followers on Twitter. Find them:

( @StaffsPolice )

Staffordshire County Council

( @StaffordshireCC )

have over 3000 followers and Staffordshire Fire Brigade

( @StaffsFire )

has around 2,200 followers

Staffordshire University

( Staffordshire Uni

@StaffsUni

Official tweets from Staffordshire University run by Communications Manager Judy O’Brien

Staffordshire, England · http://www.staffs.ac.uk )

has nearly 6,000 followers.

It is not just on Twitter that Staffordshire is active either. Staffordshire C.C. has Facebook, YouTube and Flickr pages aswell. Staffordshire Police are very active users of YouTube e.g. :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9DxvtbEjPY&feature=relmfu

and have a Facebook account aswell.

When you combine this use of Social Media with recent announcements of the investment into ” Superfast Broadband ” it paints a picture of a very forward thinking Council.