Peter Caputa IV of HubSpot: Differentiate and Articulate – Emphatically
The importance of differentiated agency positioning comes through from yet another of the 2016 RSW/US Thought Leader Survey panelists, Peter Caputa IV.
Peter is a Vice President of Sales at HubSpot, where he oversaw HubSpot’s global agency partner program from inception in 2009 to 40% of HubSpot’s new business and 2900 agency partners by the end of 2015.
While the emphasis on how important it is for agencies to establish clear, distinctive, differentiated positioning is a mandate stressed by several of our Thought Leaders panelists, Peter has added some dimension to this by:
- Counseling how vital it is for agencies to also set a strong communication strategy that broadcasts and builds awareness around their point of difference.
- Advising a fine-tuned balance of Inbound and Outbound strategies that will optimize the impact of new business development programs.
Peter’s reflections about “information ubiquity” creating a new playing field for buyers and sellers underscores the shift that has occurred, with the internet empowering buyers with more access to research, case studies and statistics about potential agency partners than ever before. This shift has driven opportunity behind inbound selling.
Peter’s blog post, The 6 Principles of Inbound Selling also describes the need for Outbound, with some interesting tactics described in Principle 3: Time and Place Your Attempts.
So, Inbound and Outbound – they are the Yin and Yang of agency new business.
For successful new business growth, agencies do need to differentiate and articulate their positioning. And the articulation needs to be proactive and consistent, with promotion through outbound activity.
This naturally leads to a supplemental resource, our recent Webinar, Proactive Prospecting + Inbound = Agency New Business Success.
This webinar was developed off a presentation I gave at HubSpot’s Inbound conference in the fall. It just runs 30 minutes, so works well for a “lunch-n-learn” for your new business team!
Read more from our Thought Leaders Survey panelists and consider how their recommendations can benefit your agency new business program:
Mark O’Brien: No Silver Bullets
Blair Enns: The Only New Business Indicator That Matters
Jay Baer: Account-Based Marketing – What’s in it for Agency New Business?
Michael Gass: Fish Away from the Boat
Mark Sneider
Mark is a 30-year veteran of the consumer packaged goods, advertising, and marketing service industry. Mark started his career at DDB Needham in Chicago prior to earning his MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Business School at Northwestern where he majored in Marketing and Economics. Prior to starting RSW/US in 2005, Mark was General Manager for AcuPOLL, a global research consultancy. Sneider worked in Marketing for S.C. Johnson and KAO Brands. Sneider has been invited to speak at numerous Agency events and network conferences domestically and internationally including the 4A’s, Magnet, NAMA, TAAN, and MCAN. Sneider has been featured in prominent industry publications including Adweek, Media Post, e-Marketer, and Forbes. When not working (which often seems like not often), Mark likes to run miles, go to church, and just chill with a hard copy issue of Fast Company.
