#B2BTech 1: How LinkedIn Supports B2B Enterprise Tech Solutions w/ Jason Carriere

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:09.509 Hey everybody, it's logan with sweet fish. In today's episode we're going to 2 00:00:09.550 --> 00:00:13.869 share an interview from B Tob Tech Talk from our friends over at Ingram micro. 3 00:00:14.349 --> 00:00:18.230 Be Tob tech talk with Ingram micro is a podcast that shares news about 4 00:00:18.230 --> 00:00:23.539 emerging tech before it becomes mainstream. Maybe you're a sales or marketing professional with 5 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:27.019 an aptitude for new tech, or you just like to nerd out a bit 6 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:29.620 on some of this stuff from time to time, I know I do. 7 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:35.140 Or maybe you know an it pro, a CIO and investor in tech companies 8 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:39.369 that might find this episode useful. In this new series be tob tech, 9 00:00:39.530 --> 00:00:44.850 you'll hear conversations with tech leaders as they explore topics like Iot, cloud evolution, 10 00:00:45.049 --> 00:00:48.250 the future of AI and more. If you are a friend would like 11 00:00:48.289 --> 00:00:51.640 to go deeper on these topics, just search be tob tech talk in apple 12 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:56.200 podcasts, or be on the lookout for Hashtag be tob tech in the headlines 13 00:00:56.280 --> 00:01:07.310 here on BB growth. All right, let's get into the show. You're 14 00:01:07.390 --> 00:01:10.989 listening to. Be Tob tech talk with angram micro the place to learn about 15 00:01:10.989 --> 00:01:17.269 new technology and technological advances before they become mainstream. This special edition one episode 16 00:01:17.590 --> 00:01:21.900 is sponsored by Cisco, taking your business a level up. Let's get into 17 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:25.859 it. Welcome back to Beb Tech Talk. My name is James Carberry with 18 00:01:25.900 --> 00:01:29.819 sweetish media and I will be the guest host for this episode. We're recording 19 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:34.290 on site in Denver, Colorado at the Ingram micro one event and and this 20 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:38.730 episode I'll be talking to Jason carrier. He is the IT channel sales leader 21 00:01:40.010 --> 00:01:42.329 at Linkedin. Jason, how you doing today? I am doing great. 22 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:44.609 It's great to be with you as well. I'm excited to chat with you, 23 00:01:44.650 --> 00:01:48.120 Jason. I'm a huge advocate for the linkedin platform, so I'm really 24 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:52.519 excited for this conversation. Savor. So, Jason, you're known for designing 25 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:59.480 and implementing best practices within the overall it BTB channel on Linkedin. What do 26 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:05.430 you think the IT BB industry struggles with the most when it comes to social 27 00:02:05.469 --> 00:02:08.590 media marketing? I would say just the newness of it. The channel specifically, 28 00:02:08.590 --> 00:02:13.389 as far as it channels, very used to traditional programs. They're very 29 00:02:13.669 --> 00:02:19.219 heavy on events in terms of marketing sporting events, whether it be dinners social 30 00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:22.939 events. While those are good, they have a very limited reach and they 31 00:02:22.979 --> 00:02:25.780 can't scale. Having been in the channel myself for many years. I've done 32 00:02:25.819 --> 00:02:29.979 those. I've sponsored them myself with my own MDF when I used to work 33 00:02:30.009 --> 00:02:32.689 companies like amd as an example, and while there's a lot of high value 34 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:38.129 there, the scalability and efficiency in terms of really reaching a large number of 35 00:02:38.169 --> 00:02:42.650 people with the messages is tough and I'd say that the newness of social and 36 00:02:42.729 --> 00:02:45.800 digital has been someone of the challenge in terms of from the adoption standpoint. 37 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:50.599 In every industry there's a maturity curve that clients and all of us kind of 38 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:53.960 progress on and within, and I think at the maturity curve now is a 39 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.360 great time for the channel in terms of to really look at social and digital 40 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:00.870 from a long term perspective. I've described what we do at linked in particular 41 00:03:01.069 --> 00:03:05.669 in terms of with the channel clients, as it's really a marathon on a 42 00:03:05.710 --> 00:03:09.750 sprint. Yeah, and the channel could be very transactional at times because there 43 00:03:09.789 --> 00:03:15.780 are monthly, weekly and daily sales goals that we all have, but at 44 00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:17.780 the end of the day, playing the long term game and having a long 45 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:23.659 term vision around social and digital as a platform and not being necessarily too concerned 46 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:28.969 about the short term game at times is going to benefit the channel over the 47 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:32.490 next couple of years for sure. So you're speaking twice at this event, 48 00:03:32.650 --> 00:03:38.050 Jason. One of the things that you're talking about is how social can drive 49 00:03:38.810 --> 00:03:44.520 return on investment, which I just being at this event for the last day, 50 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:46.840 I've heard a lot of talk around that. Everyone wants to talk about 51 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:53.360 our I, Yep, obviously give us some some tips for how our listeners 52 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:58.389 can get Roi from linkedin. So everything that we do within the context of 53 00:03:58.629 --> 00:04:01.469 this event and particular, is through and grow micro. So we work with 54 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:06.389 the digital and social teams very closely. The beauty of Linkedin is the platform 55 00:04:06.430 --> 00:04:10.900 itself is fully scalable. It's very efficient. When someone creates an account on 56 00:04:10.979 --> 00:04:15.340 linked in or works with thiner micro as an example, from a reseller standpoint 57 00:04:15.379 --> 00:04:17.980 or of our standpoint, or even like an Om, like a them or 58 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:23.300 an HP or Cisco, they can get real time data. And what we 59 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:28.129 give to our clients as the ability to clog into a portal that they literally 60 00:04:28.170 --> 00:04:31.089 can build a marketing campaign or program within twelve to fifteen minutes. They can 61 00:04:31.250 --> 00:04:34.370 select the content that they want to have, they can set the audience again, 62 00:04:34.370 --> 00:04:39.279 stelect the budget and they can selockt Kepis. Yeah, and while there's 63 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:43.360 a lot of power in being able to do this on their own and develop 64 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:47.000 some sort of Roi Mechanism, the really great thing about Linkedin is the ability 65 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:53.189 to actually choose that for themselves. And so I've worked at past companies whereby 66 00:04:53.269 --> 00:04:56.750 we had large account management teams that had to do everything for the clients and 67 00:04:56.870 --> 00:05:00.750 the clients often times wouldn't have nursly of best interest in doing those things themselves. 68 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:03.069 So now that we really put the power in the hands of an ingram 69 00:05:03.110 --> 00:05:09.420 micro to work with US collaboratively around specific programs and solutions, I think the 70 00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:13.860 big Roy questions really come back to are retargeting the right individuals? Do we 71 00:05:13.899 --> 00:05:15.740 have the right campaign material? Is there a good follow up in place? 72 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:20.689 What is Ingram micro doing to drive specific within that category or solution? And 73 00:05:21.529 --> 00:05:27.610 let's be honest, a lot of the leads that folks get today at different 74 00:05:27.689 --> 00:05:32.689 companies for solutions, Solution Cell Cycles are twelve or fifteen months right, and 75 00:05:32.850 --> 00:05:38.519 I think as Ingram as a key partner with Ingram, Ingram sees the value 76 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:44.000 in the long term capabilities that linkedin brings in terms of from an investment standpoint 77 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:47.720 to build not just loyal followers but help them penetrate new markets based upon our 78 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:50.949 first party data in terms of targeting. Yeah, and that's been the big 79 00:05:51.069 --> 00:05:56.829 driver for us with the younger micro marketing and digital teams has been to really 80 00:05:56.870 --> 00:06:00.189 drive that message home through the vendor community. So the Roy conversation goes from 81 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:04.300 point programs to what's the broader solution set that they have? How can we 82 00:06:04.339 --> 00:06:10.259 best target based upon personas within Linkedin and what value can they drive to the 83 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:15.220 partner to actually give them some specific metrics back based upon their Kepis? Yeah, 84 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:17.220 can you dive a little bit deeper into the targeting piece of that? 85 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:20.009 That's sure. Things Super Fascinating to me end, and you guys are sitting 86 00:06:20.050 --> 00:06:24.889 on an enormous amount of data. We are. It's it's your user. 87 00:06:25.050 --> 00:06:28.089 Yeah, and quite frankly, it's really what differentiates us from every other B 88 00:06:28.209 --> 00:06:30.850 tob social platform. So that's Day it is when you look at the first 89 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:34.839 party data, sort of the exchange that someone has when they come to Linkedin 90 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:40.079 and create a profile is that we now have the ability to target them in 91 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:44.120 a very mature, sophisticated and mindful manner. Yeah, and when I say 92 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:47.149 target, I mean to market to them ultimately, and that first party data 93 00:06:47.589 --> 00:06:51.029 gives us the ability to target not just by where they work or by the 94 00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:56.470 GEO, but by skills, by experience, by a whole host of things 95 00:06:56.470 --> 00:07:00.509 that appear on a linkedin profile that allow us to serve very target relevant media 96 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:05.100 at a specific time in their own sort of investigative journey around different technology and 97 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:12.579 technologies and solutions and having worked at companies that are somewhat similar are to us, 98 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:16.410 they in within this MARTEC, you know, industry. They primarily use 99 00:07:16.490 --> 00:07:20.529 their party data, although they will use cost centers off shore. Yeah, 100 00:07:20.610 --> 00:07:25.050 and, quite frankly, you know, the model is now changed and developed 101 00:07:25.089 --> 00:07:27.730 a such a way, in such a way that Linkedin, you can actually 102 00:07:27.730 --> 00:07:30.759 build a relationship with myself or you, James, or anyone else at this 103 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:35.439 summit event. And the really cool thing about coming out of these presentations that 104 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:39.959 we just did is the fact that folks now are sending me their Linkedin, 105 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:44.040 you know, connection requests. Yeah, right, because I'm not anonymous. 106 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:46.949 Yeah, I'm actually flesh and blood and so are they. And they had 107 00:07:46.029 --> 00:07:49.750 great questions and they asked and some questions we were lanced on the spot and 108 00:07:49.790 --> 00:07:54.470 a some others that we're going to follow up with. But those folks in 109 00:07:54.629 --> 00:07:58.980 the audience, they that heard the presentation can now build a relationship with me 110 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:03.860 virtually or follow me or me learned from them and what they're doing in their 111 00:08:03.860 --> 00:08:07.579 businesses, and that's really the differentire between what we do and everyone else. 112 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:13.529 Yeah, I love it. So obviously you're dealing a lot with enabling these 113 00:08:13.649 --> 00:08:18.370 companies to be able to do, to run specific campaigns with the incredible targeting 114 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:22.689 that they have at their fingertips. But one thing that I've found is there's 115 00:08:22.689 --> 00:08:26.680 actually an enormous opportunity just for organic reach on the platform link there is really, 116 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:31.279 because, I mean, it's it's become a content platform and they don't 117 00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:35.440 think that a lot of business owners and Laite and business leaders understand the power 118 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:41.669 of right. How much I mean obviously spending spending money to target your advertising 119 00:08:41.710 --> 00:08:45.710 it to the exact people that you want to reach. That's right. Should 120 00:08:45.710 --> 00:08:48.990 be done. Let's every you should be doing that. But there's also I 121 00:08:48.070 --> 00:08:52.190 mean my contract cut, my content on Linkedin has been viewed millions of times 122 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:56.259 completely organically. That's right, because it's a content platform. Can you speak 123 00:08:56.259 --> 00:09:01.340 to that? And and shore. You see where you see the opportunity there. 124 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:03.779 So I see the opportunity there. And these are some of the questions 125 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:05.659 that we had from the new audience. Stay is, how do you differentiate 126 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:09.700 between the company brand and your brand? Yeah, and you know, once 127 00:09:09.740 --> 00:09:13.289 again, we are as individuals. We want a name and we want to 128 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:16.129 face to a name. We want to build relationships with individuals. Honestly, 129 00:09:16.250 --> 00:09:20.970 companies per se. People work for companies and that represents a certain type of 130 00:09:20.049 --> 00:09:24.440 brand. But the organic piece is huge and the primary way that Linkedin it 131 00:09:24.519 --> 00:09:30.960 grew was through recruiting, right, and that now is transition and morphed into 132 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:35.039 linkedin marketing solutions, which the division I'm in enterprice tech, and you have 133 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:37.990 learning solutions and then you also have, you know, sales solutions like sales 134 00:09:37.990 --> 00:09:43.909 navigator, and the organic capability for folks to publish their own content for either 135 00:09:43.950 --> 00:09:48.549 themselves or on behalf of their company, for instance, on the platform and 136 00:09:48.629 --> 00:09:52.509 for that to be shared, is incredible because what it does is it brings 137 00:09:52.549 --> 00:09:56.299 a high degree of relevancy to specific set of connections that you have in your 138 00:09:56.340 --> 00:10:00.500 own network that then you're able to share out with and you have no idea. 139 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:05.019 How many folks are going to actually interact or share with that specific to 140 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:07.289 and get real value from it? Yep, and that's the cool thing about 141 00:10:07.289 --> 00:10:11.370 linked in. The majority of our content, the majority of what we do 142 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:13.929 on the platform today, by a factor of almost fifteen to one, is 143 00:10:15.289 --> 00:10:18.250 content versus jobs. Yes, so the law is not surprising. Yeah, 144 00:10:18.250 --> 00:10:22.799 well, town solution is still of main business for us. The marketing solution 145 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.480 side of the House has grown rapidly and we'll continue to do so because of 146 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:28.840 things like that. Yeah, one one quick tip that I've that I've noticed 147 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:33.919 just by being by trying to produce as much content as I can on the 148 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:39.070 platform, is not just posting and leaving, but posting a status update and 149 00:10:39.149 --> 00:10:43.830 then actually engaging in the comments. That's right close. So your you have 150 00:10:43.990 --> 00:10:46.230 this incredible opportunity, because of the people that are on Linkedin that's right, 151 00:10:46.269 --> 00:10:50.860 to to a to address them and when they chime in and they comment, 152 00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:54.779 actually going and engage with it. Replies Right, reply to it as right. 153 00:10:56.019 --> 00:10:58.620 It doesn't have to be anything fancy. You don't need to spend I 154 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:00.820 hear a lot of people say, you know, I don't have time for 155 00:11:00.899 --> 00:11:03.779 that. Out of time for that it to I mean take ten minutes at 156 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:05.610 the you know, at the end of the day you post it, to 157 00:11:05.809 --> 00:11:07.970 go back a few hours later and and just go and reply to those comments. 158 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:11.690 And it's exact age with the community that you're building there, right, 159 00:11:11.889 --> 00:11:15.929 because the linkedin platform gives you an incredible opportunity. Yeah, do you just 160 00:11:16.129 --> 00:11:18.679 that right? So, and thank you said. It's all organic, it's 161 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:22.639 all user generated. contactly, exactly, real quick before we jump straight back 162 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:28.240 into the episode today, we want to tell you about Ingram micro financial solutions 163 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:31.950 and how you can maximize your buying power and get t yes with your customers 164 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:37.029 faster. For the last nine years, Ingram micro has been channel pros reader's 165 00:11:37.070 --> 00:11:43.309 choice for best financing options. Put The power of our credit and leasing options 166 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:48.740 to work for you. You can easily contact financial solutions at Ingram microcom. 167 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:54.100 All right, let's get back to the show. My next question for you, 168 00:11:54.419 --> 00:11:58.820 Jason. You talked in your session up all about brand building. Yep, 169 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:01.690 talk to us about the importance of companies building a brand. So the 170 00:12:01.769 --> 00:12:07.690 research and surveys that we've done a historically reinforce the core belief and I think 171 00:12:07.730 --> 00:12:09.529 everyone has this set there in their gut, so to speak, but you 172 00:12:09.610 --> 00:12:13.289 know, is now being sort of teased out through the data. The companies 173 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:18.879 that invest in their brand, invest in their brand wisely and efficiently, have 174 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:22.799 a greater opportunity to grow in scale. They have a higher asp average selling 175 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:26.840 price of the products, they can maintain pair of profit margins but, more 176 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:31.429 importantly, they have a larger community of audience members that they can target. 177 00:12:31.470 --> 00:12:35.190 Yeah, and the brand piece is somewhat challenge, I think, for smaller 178 00:12:35.269 --> 00:12:37.669 companies in terms of with in tech, because they look at the shareff voice 179 00:12:37.669 --> 00:12:41.990 of some of the larger companies. So even if you're not a fifteen billion 180 00:12:43.029 --> 00:12:46.980 or, or, you know, five hundred million dollar partner today, whether 181 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:50.899 that's oem or whether that's on the oar side, you can still build your 182 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:54.659 brand starting today. All right. You know, I always go back to 183 00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:58.419 the story of Michael Krasny and the founder of cdw. He's hold a PC 184 00:12:58.539 --> 00:13:01.529 to the Chicago Tribune in one thousand nine hundred and eighty four, I believe 185 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:05.809 it was, and that company take is a fifteen billion dollar powerhouse. So 186 00:13:05.929 --> 00:13:07.889 you have to start somewhere. Yeah, and he started with the medium that 187 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:13.120 was in vogue back then. which was newspaper newsprint and it was just a 188 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:16.559 simple sale that led to this massive organization and their stories like that across tech 189 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:20.639 and that's just one story. But utilize what you have in front of you, 190 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:24.919 and Linkedin is a great platform to start that with. And even if 191 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:26.710 you're just original small player in terms of that, you just might be in 192 00:13:26.750 --> 00:13:30.710 the Midwest or the Chicagoland area, or you might have, you know, 193 00:13:30.710 --> 00:13:33.190 a certain segment like healthcare of public sector. You know, don't discount the 194 00:13:33.230 --> 00:13:35.830 fact that you can start today. You don't have to be an expert of 195 00:13:35.909 --> 00:13:39.909 it. You're going to find that you're going to be able to kind of 196 00:13:39.909 --> 00:13:41.899 jump in the shallow in the pool and gradually get yourself to the deep end. 197 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:45.220 Yeah, it's going to take time, you're going to take a lot 198 00:13:45.259 --> 00:13:50.100 of patients, but ultimately you need to have that long term view around starting 199 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:54.940 someplace and just kind of forcing yourself up that sort of maturity curve to the 200 00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:58.649 point where you can be more selfsufficient. Right, there's plenty of resources out 201 00:13:58.649 --> 00:14:01.250 there. You can even work like with in your Micros Agency and utilizing their 202 00:14:01.289 --> 00:14:05.289 marketing services, and that's a key you know, different here that we provide 203 00:14:05.409 --> 00:14:09.440 is. You know, we're here to impower Ingram's partners and their clients to 204 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:15.679 really thrive, and the expertise that ingram brings to the table is significant because 205 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:18.759 we work with them on such a regular basis that we have reinforce what we 206 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:24.080 do, but reinforce it through their their cellars. Yeah, Hey, every 207 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:26.350 body, logan with sweet fish here. If you've been listening to the show 208 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:31.590 for a while, you know we're big proponents of putting out original, organic 209 00:14:31.750 --> 00:14:35.110 content on linked in, but one thing that's always been a struggle for a 210 00:14:35.230 --> 00:14:39.659 team like ours is to easily track the reach of that linkedin content. That's 211 00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:43.019 why I was really excited when I heard about shield the other day from a 212 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:46.100 connection on, you guessed it, linked in. Since our team started using 213 00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:50.860 shield, I've loved how it's let us easily track and analyze the performance of 214 00:14:50.940 --> 00:14:56.730 our linkedin content without having to manually log it ourselves. It automatically creates reports 215 00:14:56.809 --> 00:15:01.490 and generates some dashboards that are incredibly useful to see things like what content has 216 00:15:01.570 --> 00:15:05.649 been performing the best and what days of the week are we getting the most 217 00:15:05.690 --> 00:15:09.720 engagement and our average views proposed. I'd highly suggest you guys check out this 218 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.159 tool if you're putting out content on Linkedin, and if you're not, you 219 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:16.279 should be. It's been a game changer for us. If you go to 220 00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:20.629 shield APP DOT AI and check out the ten day free trial, you can 221 00:15:20.750 --> 00:15:24.870 even use our promo code be to be growth to get a twenty five percent 222 00:15:24.990 --> 00:15:31.110 discount. Again, that's shield APP DOT AI and that Promo Code is be 223 00:15:31.470 --> 00:15:35.429 the number to be growth. All one word. All right, let's get 224 00:15:35.470 --> 00:15:41.580 back to the show. What is your thought? You alluded to it earlier. 225 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:45.899 People are thinking, do I start with the company brand or do I 226 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:48.580 start with my personal brand? What do you do? How do you typically 227 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:52.850 advise folks when you I'm asking that question. So I gave the linkedin answer. 228 00:15:52.929 --> 00:15:54.649 I also give my own personal answer in the breakout session. Ultimately, 229 00:15:56.009 --> 00:15:58.929 and you know, our job at linked in, our goal is to empower 230 00:15:58.090 --> 00:16:03.409 the global workforce right for economic development and to exceed in, you know, 231 00:16:03.570 --> 00:16:07.159 reach their goals. And the way I look at this is the we're all 232 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:10.399 going to change jobs at a certain point in time. Right. I'd mentioned 233 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:12.759 that, you know, having the twenty five or thirty year you know, 234 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:17.600 run at a company. While that's admirable and I would love to do that 235 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:21.470 myself. This is the seventh company I work for, twenty five years intact, 236 00:16:21.990 --> 00:16:23.389 and that's just the nature of the business. Yeah, so I think 237 00:16:23.429 --> 00:16:26.269 you need both. You need to be smart about your own personal brand and 238 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:30.870 how you develop that from a relevant standpoint with and within a platform like linkedin. 239 00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:33.539 So, quite frankly, you could take care of yourself and your family 240 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:37.580 economically. And then, as you work for companies, you want to be 241 00:16:37.620 --> 00:16:41.220 a good reflection of the values and what they currently stand for in the environment 242 00:16:41.620 --> 00:16:45.940 today in terms of work environment, what they're doing socially and helping others in 243 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:49.330 terms of to solve their own business needs and problems. So you really have 244 00:16:49.370 --> 00:16:52.129 to look at as two fold. You want to promote what your organizations doing, 245 00:16:52.250 --> 00:16:56.490 but the most specific are the most amount of value. I think that 246 00:16:56.570 --> 00:17:00.519 companies are get from their employees isn't necessarily being a cheerleader just about their brand 247 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:03.559 all the time, but it's to kind of mix the cheerleading in with their 248 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.599 own personal perspectives and we then the narratives around how they see the market place 249 00:17:08.599 --> 00:17:12.480 as an individual and how they're trying to help the market place thrive. Yeah, 250 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:17.309 and Excel or solve some sort of problem or become better at what they 251 00:17:17.309 --> 00:17:18.869 do in some way. And that's what we do at linked in, the 252 00:17:19.069 --> 00:17:23.589 marking Solutions Group, is our job is to help our clients reach a greater 253 00:17:25.109 --> 00:17:27.150 you know, set up prospects or go deeper and miter existing accounts, like 254 00:17:27.509 --> 00:17:33.099 count pats marketing. But ultimately it's to give the the tools and the resources 255 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:36.980 to companies so that they can grow economically so we can all live in a 256 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:41.579 much better society. Yeah, no, I I wholeheartedly agree with that. 257 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.849 I know that when I am scrolling through my feet on the on the linkedin 258 00:17:45.890 --> 00:17:49.890 APP, it's the personal accounts that I tend to resonate that's right the most 259 00:17:51.009 --> 00:17:53.569 and it's there their stories. It's not a it's not a sales pitch. 260 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:56.730 Fits our you know what their value prop of their company is. It's, 261 00:17:56.970 --> 00:18:00.400 man, I was talking to a customer today and they were really struggling with 262 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:03.279 this right and after a thirty minute conversation, here's here's where we landed. 263 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:07.079 It's I think that data da exactly. There's so many opportunities, I think, 264 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.400 to start building your brand. Well, you know, to that point, 265 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.190 like I took a picture in front of the saw that. Yeah, 266 00:18:15.230 --> 00:18:18.230 the Dell Technology Tree, I guess. Yep, lack of better term, 267 00:18:18.349 --> 00:18:22.950 but with an old former CO worker mine at amd from years ago. I 268 00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:26.150 had not seen Linda and probably a decade now, and so she saw me, 269 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:27.420 see stopped works at Dallas like hey, take a picture over there. 270 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:32.259 You know, it's a couple hashtags on your linked in profile and we're going 271 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:36.339 to plant a tree for every photo we get on the weight in platform. 272 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:38.099 I love that. So once again, I mean it wasn't hard for me 273 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:41.690 take a couple minutes out of my day to take the photo put up on 274 00:18:41.849 --> 00:18:45.970 Linkedin. And you know already I have something in the neighborhood of you know, 275 00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:49.049 of three or four hundred views of that specific and then people commenting. 276 00:18:49.089 --> 00:18:52.730 Yep, and the cool things. Other people are here. They'll see that, 277 00:18:52.809 --> 00:18:55.329 will come up to me, but more importantly, they'll go back over 278 00:18:55.410 --> 00:18:57.359 to the Dell area and they'll take a picture of the tree and you know, 279 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:00.319 once again, if Dell's planning a tree, I mean how can you 280 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:02.680 not like just take a couple minutes to do that? That's a that's a 281 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:04.519 really, really smart kind of hanging for a smart way to do way to 282 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:08.000 extually that that's interesting, it's great. So a big challenge that I'm sure 283 00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:11.549 you hear a lot. I know how I hear a lot is time and 284 00:19:11.630 --> 00:19:14.309 resources. There's not enough that we never have enough time and never have enough 285 00:19:14.349 --> 00:19:19.750 resources. How can companies be more resourceful and efficient with their marketing strategy? 286 00:19:19.789 --> 00:19:23.460 From your protective I think they have to set very specific goals from themselves. 287 00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:27.859 Don't give themselves layups necessarily, but have sort of a crawl, walk run 288 00:19:27.940 --> 00:19:32.380 approach to you know, be willing to start someplace, make some mistakes, 289 00:19:32.660 --> 00:19:36.819 sort of you know, iterate on those mistakes, learned from them and sort 290 00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:37.769 of, you know, build from there. No one's going to run a 291 00:19:37.809 --> 00:19:42.450 perfect campaign every single time. It's impossible. You know, our team does 292 00:19:42.490 --> 00:19:47.369 a lot in terms of helping clients really maximize and optimize their campaign dollars, 293 00:19:47.809 --> 00:19:49.250 but at the end of the day, any good markers, honest will say 294 00:19:49.250 --> 00:19:52.000 you have had a quite a few duds in my career, maybe more duds 295 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:56.519 at times than home runs. Yep, right. And and I think companies 296 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:00.720 have to set some realistic goals from themselves so they know where the start weren't 297 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:03.039 where they're going to be mid level and then where they going to kind of 298 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.200 look towards in terms of from the next three to five years out? Got 299 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:11.190 It? Can you walk us through and of what maybe maybe the anatomy of 300 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:15.950 a campaign or a successful campaign is that look like giving away some sort of 301 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:21.390 free resource on the front end and then nurturing that opportunity via email or through 302 00:20:21.430 --> 00:20:25.500 other ads on Linkedin? Walk US through? So I would say the biggest 303 00:20:25.500 --> 00:20:30.380 challenge is immediately going for a specific type of lead, as getting leads and 304 00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:36.410 the channels highly transactional. We're all prone and bent in that direction. I've 305 00:20:36.410 --> 00:20:38.410 been in the channel since one thousand nine hundred and ninety five, so I 306 00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:42.569 know what it's like to face, you know, daily, monthly, weekly, 307 00:20:42.609 --> 00:20:47.369 quarterly, annual sales goals and we all want to get the lead that 308 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:52.240 converts into, you know, the million dollar opportunity. And the challenge is 309 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:55.839 is that, you know, you first have to kind of speak to the 310 00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:59.839 audience. What we'd talked about a lit is warming the audience up and giving 311 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:03.990 them specific content and giving them specific things to think about on their own sort 312 00:21:03.990 --> 00:21:10.109 of investigatory journey as they move towards, you know, buying a specific solution. 313 00:21:10.750 --> 00:21:15.190 You know, only fifteen percent, probably of everyone in tech any given 314 00:21:15.269 --> 00:21:19.220 time is is exploring like an immediate opportunity. The majority of folks are, 315 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:23.579 you know, out there sort of learning about what's in the market. You 316 00:21:23.660 --> 00:21:27.099 know, is this Microsoft program or solution? Is this the right one for 317 00:21:27.180 --> 00:21:30.900 me today? Whereas it where's the road map going? Do I talk to 318 00:21:30.940 --> 00:21:34.490 someone at Ingram Micro about, you know, the technology stack that I'm using 319 00:21:34.529 --> 00:21:38.089 today? How can I better integrate it? And I think the big challenge 320 00:21:38.210 --> 00:21:41.890 is is that you know from a successful campaign you want to have something that 321 00:21:42.089 --> 00:21:45.329 warms up the audience, that speaks to the audience at first and then you 322 00:21:45.410 --> 00:21:49.359 start kind of leading into some of that funnel, bottom funnel demand, gend 323 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:53.039 programs. So six to eight weeks of kind of warming up an audience and 324 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:56.200 then taking those last, you know, four weeks, let's say, and 325 00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:00.990 actually doing some sort of hand raising opportunity. We have legend forms that we 326 00:22:02.069 --> 00:22:04.349 offer a linked at Linkedin. It's ideal. You don't have to go to 327 00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:07.950 landing page and grow micro, as an example, can run legend forms with 328 00:22:07.990 --> 00:22:11.150 the in the platform. You'Llar just click on a button and all the profile 329 00:22:11.190 --> 00:22:15.099 day that you have goes into a formum, Yep, but it's optimized from 330 00:22:15.099 --> 00:22:22.059 mobile. So it starts, Jason, with the first warming up that audience. 331 00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:26.900 It does by providing really valuable content. Right, and what's what's fascinating 332 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:33.289 to me about this space. Whether you're an OEM, whether you're Var your 333 00:22:33.369 --> 00:22:36.250 entire team is made up of very, very smart people. You're not in 334 00:22:36.369 --> 00:22:40.410 this space right if you don't have an enormous amount of intelligence on your team. 335 00:22:40.730 --> 00:22:45.680 And so thinking about bottling up that intelligence and turning it into really valuable, 336 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.960 actionable insights and content that can be used at the top of your funnel. 337 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.640 That's right to actually get people to want to engage with you. And 338 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:56.079 No, it's not going to turn into an opportunity right out of the gate, 339 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.950 but I love that you talked about the importance of doing that on the 340 00:22:59.990 --> 00:23:03.109 front end and playing that long game. To what you were mentioned tinting you 341 00:23:03.190 --> 00:23:04.750 earlier. That's exactly right. And even in my, you know, ten 342 00:23:04.789 --> 00:23:10.470 months here at Linkedin Alive Ben Tech Sales and enterprice sales for a long time, 343 00:23:11.349 --> 00:23:15.539 there are always processes and other things that you have to sort of get 344 00:23:15.619 --> 00:23:18.460 through and you have to make the best of and success doesn't come overnight. 345 00:23:18.579 --> 00:23:22.500 I mean you could have minor wins here and there, but ultimately it's about 346 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:26.569 driving towards a specific vision. I've on the personal I've told my management team 347 00:23:26.569 --> 00:23:30.529 I'm here. I have a three to five year vision for what we want 348 00:23:30.569 --> 00:23:34.490 to build collectively within the IT Channel at Linkedin for marketing solutions and how we 349 00:23:34.569 --> 00:23:38.410 can empower clients like in your micro to get more market share, to develop 350 00:23:38.450 --> 00:23:44.440 better contacts, to have a greater presence within a platform like linkedin. So 351 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:47.720 there could be a high degree of relevancy and ultimately that's going to long term. 352 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:49.680 It's going to drive lour cost per Leeds for Ingram, Yep. It's 353 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:53.759 going to drive better skills which for the digital marketers and they're going to have 354 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:59.190 a better grasp on their audience around who specifically is buying certain solutions, given 355 00:23:59.230 --> 00:24:00.589 the fact that we have so much data that we can't give to them and 356 00:24:00.630 --> 00:24:03.789 we can also help them interpret. Yeah, Jason, do you have any 357 00:24:03.829 --> 00:24:08.750 specific success stories of IT companies that you've seen when really big on Linkedin? 358 00:24:10.619 --> 00:24:15.819 I would say what we've done in particular is traditionally Linkedin has worked a lot 359 00:24:15.980 --> 00:24:21.460 with the brand directs of the world. The Cisco is the Microsoft's hps Lenovo's. 360 00:24:22.140 --> 00:24:25.970 What we've been able to do with Linkedin on the channel side is really 361 00:24:26.130 --> 00:24:30.529 help our channel clients, empower them to be, you know, really good 362 00:24:30.609 --> 00:24:34.130 marketers, mean to understand digital and social in such a way where potentially we're 363 00:24:34.170 --> 00:24:38.680 possibly they hadn't had that exposure to a linkedin because there wasn't a dedicated team 364 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:41.279 like we have today. And so I'd say a lot of the winds that 365 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:45.799 we've had over the last, you know, ten months or so that I've 366 00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:48.440 been here as literally been what we called light bulb moments, and these are 367 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:52.869 qualitative moments where we'll go into a client, will have a round table like 368 00:24:52.990 --> 00:24:56.069 an Ingrid Micro, will have twelve people at the table and we're literally will 369 00:24:56.109 --> 00:25:00.430 do a training and then they can take that information, what we just given 370 00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:02.869 them. They could bring that out to our clients and they can sort of 371 00:25:02.910 --> 00:25:06.509 uplicate it around best practices and how they go to market and what they do. 372 00:25:07.299 --> 00:25:10.660 The traditional campaign components aren't going to change much right. It's still going 373 00:25:10.660 --> 00:25:12.819 to be warming up the audience. It can engage them with content and video 374 00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:18.619 game to think differently about certain product or solution and then getting them to raise 375 00:25:18.660 --> 00:25:22.009 their hands. So they now become sort of the you know, a prospect 376 00:25:22.009 --> 00:25:25.690 that's highly nurtured. Yeah, so I'd say the big thing for us has 377 00:25:25.730 --> 00:25:29.369 been really giving our channel partners the ability to view us in a much more 378 00:25:29.809 --> 00:25:33.730 specific light and then helping them, you know, drive down cpls or helping 379 00:25:33.809 --> 00:25:38.039 them fill their pipeline in terms of from a revenue standpoint. And why. 380 00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:41.640 I can't give away individual details. We are working across you know, Ingram, 381 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:48.039 microstop tech partners are also ours. So we work with the channels divisions 382 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:51.230 of all those organizations, like the ciscos and the hps and the Novo's the 383 00:25:51.269 --> 00:25:53.869 world, to help them also better understand how to use linkedin from a channel 384 00:25:55.109 --> 00:25:57.509 for bact up as a platform. Yeah, I love it. So this 385 00:25:57.589 --> 00:26:00.710 is our last question, Jason, and it's one that I love asking. 386 00:26:00.789 --> 00:26:04.900 Where do you see technology going in the next year? Oh boy, that's 387 00:26:06.339 --> 00:26:08.779 that might be a little bit above my pack. However, I could tell 388 00:26:08.819 --> 00:26:14.299 you, at least from our perspective and from an it channel Lens, we 389 00:26:14.539 --> 00:26:18.140 see a greater adoption of the marketing technology stack. I was asked today, 390 00:26:18.180 --> 00:26:21.170 as an example in the breakout session. Like you, know, help spot 391 00:26:21.329 --> 00:26:25.490 and par dot and Ellclan Marquetto and all these other great martech vendors like. 392 00:26:25.529 --> 00:26:26.930 Who Do we recommend? Well, at the end of the day, we 393 00:26:27.049 --> 00:26:32.450 could recommend any one of those. It really depends upon the customer needs. 394 00:26:32.490 --> 00:26:36.240 What's their budget, what's what can they what can they adapt to in terms 395 00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:38.759 of like integrate within their own platforms? How did they go to market? 396 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:42.759 Who Do they see themselves with longer term? It's not just about CR M 397 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:47.269 system today. I can tell you that one of the big reasons why I've 398 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:49.829 come to Linkedin from this standpoint has been the fact that, you know, 399 00:26:49.950 --> 00:26:55.069 we are Microsoft Own Company for the last, you know, nearly three years 400 00:26:55.190 --> 00:26:59.869 now, and we're only seeing greater and greater opportunity as Microsoft invest more within 401 00:26:59.990 --> 00:27:03.500 our platform. Ye gives us a lavautonomy to be who we are. But 402 00:27:03.579 --> 00:27:07.619 as they invest more in our platform with things like artificial intelligence and machine learning 403 00:27:07.140 --> 00:27:12.059 and the whole process in the back end of being able to bring more relevant 404 00:27:12.099 --> 00:27:17.490 ads and programs and solutions to our clients and also, more importantly, to 405 00:27:17.609 --> 00:27:21.329 our members on the platform, the more specific we can be, the less 406 00:27:21.490 --> 00:27:23.769 we can have to cluddup someone's feed with things that they're not interested in. 407 00:27:25.289 --> 00:27:30.519 Is really important. So I'm really excited about the artificial intelligence and machine learning, 408 00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:34.079 really the back end algorithms that really power the platform like Linkedin to make 409 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:37.240 it as relevant as possible from a BB standpoint. Some people can come here 410 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:41.920 on a continual basis and learn, not just from companies that want to advertise 411 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:45.190 them, but learn from their peers and others within the network. Yeah, 412 00:27:45.869 --> 00:27:47.750 Jason, I have a feeling I know how you're going to answer this, 413 00:27:47.869 --> 00:27:49.990 but how can listeners, how can listeners stay connected with you? So you 414 00:27:51.029 --> 00:27:55.190 can send me a linkedin invite to Jason Carrier, which is c a R 415 00:27:55.269 --> 00:28:00.539 R iere. I am on Linkedin, of course, based on the Chicago 416 00:28:00.619 --> 00:28:03.579 suburbs. So if you send me an invite, I promise I will especially 417 00:28:04.259 --> 00:28:10.299 if you're in technology. I promise I will accept and would love to also 418 00:28:10.299 --> 00:28:15.130 let you guys know to that linkedin marketing solutions has its own its own group 419 00:28:15.170 --> 00:28:18.250 on Linkedin as well. So if you sign up for Linkedin marketing solutions, 420 00:28:18.569 --> 00:28:21.569 you sign up for the content. will also be able to push you relevant 421 00:28:21.609 --> 00:28:25.410 content that's going to help you make a big view, a better marketer and, 422 00:28:25.529 --> 00:28:27.319 more importantly, give you sort of the tools and tips that you're going 423 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:30.359 to need to actually impress the folks that you work with. Wonderful Jason. 424 00:28:30.359 --> 00:28:33.519 Thank you so much for your time today. If you're listening to this and 425 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:37.440 you have not already subscribed to the podcast on spotify or apple podcast or wherever 426 00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:41.630 you listen to podcasts, make sure to subscribe and then stay connected with us 427 00:28:41.630 --> 00:28:47.230 by following us on twitter at Ingram Tech Sooul and then join the discussion. 428 00:28:47.430 --> 00:28:51.470 Use the Hashtag be to be tech talk and we are really excited to stay 429 00:28:51.470 --> 00:28:53.509 connected with you there. Thank you so much for listening. It's great. 430 00:28:53.549 --> 00:28:59.180 Thank you, James. I appreciate you've been listening to be tob tech talk 431 00:28:59.299 --> 00:29:03.539 with Ingram micro. This special edition one episode is sponsored by Cisco. Be 432 00:29:03.660 --> 00:29:07.500 Tob tech talk is a joint production by sweet fish media and Ingram micro. 433 00:29:07.819 --> 00:29:12.250 Ingram micro production handled by Laura Burton and Christine Fan. To not miss an 434 00:29:12.289 --> 00:29:22.769 episode, subscribe today in your favorite podcast player. All right, everybody, 435 00:29:22.930 --> 00:29:26.759 I hope you like that episode of the BB tech series with Ingram micro. 436 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:32.319 Again, you can find their full podcast feed by searching be tob tech talk 437 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:36.880 in apple podcasts or wherever you do your listening. As always, thank you 438 00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:41.990 so much for listening. STAY SAFE, everybody. I hate it when podcasts 439 00:29:42.109 --> 00:29:45.549 incessantly ask their listeners for reviews, but I get why they do it, 440 00:29:45.950 --> 00:29:51.069 because reviews are enormously helpful when you're trying to grow a podcast audience. 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