The Sales Growth Hub welcomes Forest Cassidy, founder and CEO of Leadferret.com, who will discuss a very high-level strategy for how you should think about social media and use it to prepare for the future, not just capitalize on the present. Whether you have fully bought into it or not, social media is here to stay. And throughout the social networks lies extremely valuable data. Are you capturing this data and leveraging it in your sales and marketing efforts? If you don’t know, this is one webinar you cannot afford to miss.

1. The Future of Data-Driven
Sales and Marketing
Forest Cassidy
Co-Founder and CEO
LeadFerret.com

2. In this Webinar…
• Refresher on the history of data-driven marketing
• History repeats itself
• Smart companies learn from history
• Social media is the future?
• Social media is the new email (learn from email history)
• Social media = Bigdata
• Who should get into the business of Bigdata?
• How to get started today
• A plan
• 5 years from now

3. History of data-driven marketing
• Direct mail:
– Initially only list rentals (3rd party bonded mailing houses)
– Initially direct mail is a process, not an asset
– Smart companies build their own databases
– Smart companies start to use CRM solutions
• Email:
– Initially only list rentals (no data asset)
– Initially email is a process, not an asset
– Smart companies collect emails, build email databases
– Not so smart companies have to play catchup later
– Today a database without emails is almost useless
• Marketing automation:
– Automate many marketing steps and even some sales steps
– Email is the primary connection point
– Social media has some integration, but still more of a process than
an asset

4. History repeats itself
• Early:
– Marketing is a process, not an asset
– Rentals, 3rd parties control assets
– Not seen as core competency, better to outsource
– Lack of control
– Expensive cost per connection
– Valuable data assets not built in-house
• Middle:
– Smart companies collect data
– Smart companies make investments in building data assets
– Smart companies see marketing as more than just a process
– Not so smart companies fall behind
• Late:
– Smart companies are ahead of the game, leaders in their industry
– Not so smart companies finally take action
• When a new medium emerges, repeat.

5. Smart companies learn from history
• Marketing should build an asset, not just be a process
• Collect data early, even if you are not ready to put it to use
• Make investments in building data assets
– Even when it seems to make more sense to outsource
• Always think about how you will communicate with the next
generation of clients and prospects
• What can you do now to prepare to communicate with clients in
5-10 years?

6. Is social media the future?
• Will social media replace email to the extent that email has
replaced direct mail?
• Yes!
• This does not mean email will go away (direct mail has not)
• Marketing automation will be the key to email
• If social media is the new email, what can we learn about how
email replaced direct mail?

7. What can the history of email teach
us about social media?
• Don’t just think of social media as a process, but as an
opportunity to build an asset
– Even if you are not ready to use the data, collect it
• Invest in building and managing your own data, even if it seems
to make sense to outsource

8. Social media = Bigdata
• Average person has 3 social media profiles
• Social media profiles are rich in information
• Daily posts, pins, tweets, updates, etc.

9. Who should get into the business of
Bigdata?
• You!
• Eventually we will all be in the business of Bigdata
• The only difference will be that some companies will be ahead
of the game while others are playing catchup

10. What can I do to get started today?
• Don’t just ask for email, ask for social profile links and
connections
• Store this information in your CRM
• Use social log ins

11. A Plan to stay ahead
• Collect social profile handles/links/IDs and store in your CRM
• Prepare to store and manage Bigdata
• Prepare to use social profiles for proactive communications
• Prepare to collect data from social profiles + posts and use to
trigger and improve marketing, marketing automation, and
sales

12. 5 years from now
• Companies that started collecting and storing social data
early will be ahead of the game
• Companies that have embraced Bigdata as “their business”,
not something that other companies do will be ahead of the
game
• Other companies will be playing catchup
• Data not linked to social profiles will have almost no value
• The concept of collecting information in forms and not tying
it to a social profile will be laughable