Cold emails, cold calls, and cold messaging are dead. How many times have you heard it? If you believe these channels are indeed dead, then all marketing channels are. The real problem is how cold outreach works today. Scrape the contacts. Set up automation. Spam them all. Pray that somebody will reply. Rinse and repeat.

Let’s be clear: this is not an outreach; it’s spam. And this approach is dead. To have success with cold outreach, you should:

• Be very clear who your ideal customer profile (ICP) is, the buying committee structure, and how they typically buy products like yours
• Warm-up and engage the entire buying committee
• Leverage intent data to seize the moment and reach out at the right time to the right people
• Master social selling
• Personalise your outreach

In this article, I’ll skip the ICP part assuming you have it, and share with you practical examples of warming-up programmes, social selling and personalised outreach.

Start with warming up a buying committee before the outreach

People buy from people they know, like, and trust. When I discuss this inevitable law of marketing with my clients’ marketers or SDRs, they always nod their heads in agreement. My next question usually makes them numb:

If you know and accept this, why don’t you warm up and build a relationship with your target accounts before reaching out to them?

Here is a step by step guide:

Connect on LinkedIn with the entire buying committee (or on another channel they hang out), engage with their content, and start conversations

First, connect with the champion, and give a “value-add,” not just a generic connection. Try to set up a call to learn more and see how you can help them. Help deliver more value and build a real relationship, don’t just sell them.

When the relationship is built, connect with the decision-maker. Here is an example. Now the key persons inside your target organisation are aware of you and your product. You built trust and relationship, and once there is a need, you’ll be the first company they look to. Of course, like any relationship, this one needs to be nurtured.

Also Read: 5 email outreach tips to aid your startup marketing efforts

Invite your prospects for an interview (podcast, YouTube, or use their quotes in a blog post)

On this step you kill two birds with one stone. Here’s why:

You deliver value up front by giving a PR to your target account.
You build a relationship and learn more about the goals and needs of your target job role.

You analyse if there is a match between your product and their needs. You introduce your product and ask your prospect if they know anybody in their network who might be interested so you can get priceless intros. I learned the process from James Carbary.

Warm up your target accounts with targeted ads on Facebook and LinkedIn

If you have a spare budget, add your target accounts to one of your custom audiences on LinkedIn and Facebook, and retarget them with your best top-of-funnel (TOFU) content and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) content

Involve target accounts into discussions on social media.

If you regularly post content on LinkedIn, tag your accounts in the posts that might be relevant to them or dm them with a link to the post asking for their opinion.

Host a warm up virtual event

Before making an outreach, try to run an event where you can introduce (not pitch) your product and make your audience aware of the way you solve their challenges. You can manually invite your target accounts. Here is how.

Leverage intent data to reach out at the right moment

To significantly improve your outreach campaigns’ positive reply rate, you need to leverage intent data and set up outreach triggers.

Here are the three most efficient ways to use the intent data:

IP-identification

IP-identification software (like Albacross or Leadfeeder) demonstrates to you what web pages your target accounts viewed, how much time they spent on your website and on what stage of the buying journey they are.

By knowing this, you can adopt outreach strategy with the right CTA:

• Share case studies or articles for those that are at the awareness stage, and ask if that is helpful. Try to establish a relationship, and ask: why were you searching for this article or product?
• Share comparison reports, webinars, market research, or case studies for those who are considering alternatives.
• Share case studies and suggest a free consultation to those on the decision-making stage. Usually, these are the people who visited your product/service page several times and spent some decent time on it.

Here’s an example of an outreach trigger you can set up:

If a company visited your product page several times and spent 30 minutes on your website, it is a good signal they are doing research and might be interested in chatting with you.

Also Read: How to increase at least 15 per cent ROI by running a successful email outreach campaign

When the criteria are met, you can connect with a target job role on LinkedIn or another channel, and follow-up by email. Here is a practical example.

Manual research

Intent data is not limited to just website visitors. Multiple vendors (like Bombora) can help you identify what topics your target accounts are looking for. You can also perform manual research.

To do this, analyse your target account’s product roadmap, check their press releases, or read/listen to their executives’ interviews about strategic goals and initiatives.

Once you see the match between their goals and your product, it’s an excellent time to reach out with a personalized proposal.

Engagement with your team’s or company’s updates

This last one is my favourite.

When the buying committee members of your target accounts engage with your updates on LinkedIn or other social media, this is a perfect trigger to open a conversation, define the challenges, current state, and find a match.

The good news is you don’t need a big network, hundreds of likes and comments, or thousands of views of your posts to generate leads. All you need is creating a simple document and map out all the questions your target accounts have at different stages of the customer journey.

Also Read: These 6 actionable lead management tips can accelerate your ROI

The next steps are straightforward:

• Connect with the entire buying committee
• Engage with their updates by commenting and sending private messages
• Post answers to their questions as posts, tag them in the comments, and share your posts via private messages asking their opinion

When they engage with your content, you have endless opportunities to start the conversation.

Here is a typical process we use with our clients:

One caveat: don’t focus on the vanity metrics such as likes, views, or comments. Your key metrics are:
# of sales conversations your teams started
# of inbound inquiries

The outreach based on intent data shouldn’t be a straightforward pitch. Your goal is to open a conversation. Otherwise, your outreach continues to be a “game of numbers.”

In conclusion

Cold outreach is not dead. What is dead is how many B2B companies are doing it: spamming or cold calling anyone who could be interested in your product.

To get maximum results from the outreach campaigns, you need to:

• Create your ideal customer profile, understand their buying journey from the research to team consideration, figure out the questions, concerns, and doubts they have at different stages
• Warm up your target accounts before the outreach
• Leverage intent data to do a timely and highly personalised outreach. Your call to action should be aligned with the buyer’s journey stage of your prospect.

Your goal is starting the conversation and learning more about your target account needs, and if there’s a match, suggest a call to talk about possible collaboration.

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It has been a whirlwind week for those in Myanmar.

After weeks of worsening political tensions, the Burmese military staged a coup on Monday with the detention of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and key government officials from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) in an early morning raid.

Soldiers occupied roads in the capital Nay Pyi Taw and economic centre Yangon. International and domestic broadcasting channels, including the state broadcaster, went off air as the military tightened its rein on any potential fallout from the coup.

For a moment, the Burmese population was disconnected from the world as internet and phone lines were cut off. The military moved swiftly to “shuffle the cabinet” by Monday night, announcing the removal of 24 ministers and deputies across portfolios including finance, health and foreign affairs.

Despite the sensational nature of the takeover, there has been no major violence reported.

“This coup brought back old memories of the same situation that happened in 1988 where there was a lot of riots, violence and bloodshed. One good thing this time is that people on the ground are adopting a more peaceful approach to the situation,” Nay Min Thu, Managing Director of property portal iMyanmar, told e27.

Also Read: How did emerging markets in Southeast Asia fare in 2020?

Thu shared businesses have been affected and many, including iMyanmar, had to temporarily close their offices. For companies who have continued to adopt remote working practises, the impact on their businesses was less severe.

Justin Sway, CEO of digital classifieds platform ShweProperty (run by MMOne Group), shared his businesses have not experienced an impact to operations thus far as they have remained under COVID-19 business continuity plans.

Hoping for the best

Despite the varying impact on Myanmarnese businesses, one thing remains clear. A peaceful transition of power (either to a military or the NLD-led government) would represent the best solution.

“The business community is hoping that the military will maintain power for one year, hold another election and return the power to the elected civilian government,” Thu said.

“We hope this does not hinder the continued successful growth and GDP that Myanmar has been experiencing in recent years,” added Sway.

Financial data firm Fitch Solutions told BBC Asia that prior to the coup, strong economic growth of six per cent was expected for the next financial year. However, it now expects the growth to be cut in half due to impending economic sanctions resulting from the coup.

Also Read: How understanding culture can drive the digitalisation of payments in Myanmar

The country cannot afford an economic slowdown. With poverty rates at an all-time high of 27 per cent, economic sanctions could wreak havoc and bring about unnecessary social unrest.

iMyanmar’s Thu further said the coup could set off a domino effect, with those residing in the low-income tier suffering the most. “The economy has already suffered because of the pandemic, and we are hoping that the current situation is not adding fuel to the fire.”

With the political certainty of Myanmar shrouded in uncertainty and the situation remains volatile, it is anyone’s guess on how the situation will pan out.

Optimistic

However, startups e27 spoke to remain optimistic about their business. Thu opined that iMyanmar remained profitable and cash flow positive despite the lockdown last year and had experienced strong sales in January 2021.

“The real estate sector remains one of the fastest-growing sectors here. Hence, I strongly believe we will emerge stronger for the current situation as well,” he shared.

Meanwhile, Sway is going ahead with his business continuity plans set during the pandemic. He added MMOne is looking to invest in new products and services to better serve customers and gain an advantage over their competitors. This would allow the group to better position itself to rebound stronger post-coup, he noted.

Despite reports that foreign investment into Myanmar has slowed, Foodpanda recently announced it was moving ahead with its Myanmar expansion, as per a Reuters report. However, the food delivery giant noted that it was monitoring the situation and would assess that before committing to a number of stores.

Zero-sum game

Nonetheless, we should not be deceived by the seemingly positive outlook shared. It is likely startups in Myanmar would be negatively affected by the impending sanctions and decreased foreign investment into the country.

Also Read: Ascent Capital closes its debut Myanmar-focused fund at US$88M

The effect of decreased foreign investment would have a greater impact on startups than traditional corporations, given the increased reliance on the venture capital by these early-stage companies.

It is certainly a pity the military had to resort to such ways to express its disdain at the elections. Myanmar was just beginning to see a beacon of hope with the economy growing at over seven per cent y-o-y since the country’s opening in 2011. In the same time, poverty almost halved to 25 per cent in 2017, as per the World Bank data.

All we can do now is hold our breath and hope the situation would play out peacefully, with the military returning control of the government to the civilian leaders after a year – as what Nay had hoped.

Until then, it seems the military is playing a zero-sum game with the economy and livelihoods of 54 million at stake.

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The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) announced today it has awarded MYR6.2 million (US$1.5 million) worth of grants to 66 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and service sector companies.

The grants were awarded under the government’s Pelan Jana Semula Ekonomi Negara 2020 Smart Automation Grant (SAG) initiative, as per a Digital News Asia report.

The 66 local recipients hailed from a wide range of sectors, including wholesale and retail trade, tourism and education.

Released in July 2020, the SAG was launched to encourage companies in the service sector to adopt digitalisation processes and automate their business.

The grant is part of the larger Penjana initiative aiming to encourage the implementation of digital tools in SMEs. The initiative is key to MDEC’s mission to assist SMEs and mid-tier companies to digitalise and thrive in the fourth industrial revolution, where digital processes are set to be the norm.

Also Read: MDEC joins hands with 11 ECF platforms to provide funding to Malaysia’s micro companies with cash-flow problems

“The outcome-based matching grant will assist these companies to accelerate automation and achieve productive results, such as increased revenues; savings in business costs; reduction of the process time cycle and man-hours spent; and creating new sources of growth,” said Raymond Siva, CMO and Head of Digital Investments and Brand at MDEC.

Covering a 4-month duration, successful applicants are allocated up to half of their total project cost, subject to a limit of MYR200,000 (US$49,300). The remaining amount will be distributed based on the fulfilment of agreed key deliverables.

“The socio-economic impact of the global pandemic had forced businesses to put on their digital thinking hat and bring forward their digitalisation plans. To support them, the government, through MDEC, developed this specific matching grant for SMEs and mid-tier companies to provide them with the ability to build their digital capabilities and capacities,” said Surina Shukri, CEO, MDEC.

“The goal is to ensure they are ready to make that leap into the digital era, as this is part of MDEC’s efforts to realise the vision of Malaysia 5.0 and open up the digital economy for the many,” she added.

Collectively, the Malaysian government had allocated a total of MYR10 million (US$2.45 million) for MDEC under the Penjana initiative to spur the digitalisation efforts of local SMEs.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

 

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Goldbell, a Singapore-based transport and engineering group, has confirmed the acquisition of local electric car-sharing startup BlueSG.

The group expects the acquisition to be completed before this August, and claims it will help accelerate BlueSG’s development and expand its operations to other smart cities across the Asia Pacific region.

Earlier, The Straits Times reported that Goldbell was in advanced talks to buy BueSG.

Goldbell intends to expand BlueSG’s business and technical capabilities with investments north of S$70 million (US$52.3 million) over the next five years. This will include expanding its current fleet of more than 650 vehicles, establish an R&D centre and develop new mobility algorithms, analytics and technologies.

BlueSG will also serve as Goldbell’s global headquarters for car sharing.

As the acquisition is expected to be completed within the next six months, the daily operations will still be managed by the current parent, French transportation company Bolloré Group, until Goldbell officially takes over.

Existing electric vehicle charging infrastructure of carparks and chargers will be managed separately under the retained ownership of Bolloré.

Goldbell said the acquisition will have minimal impact on operations and employees of BlueSG.

Also Read: BlueSG: Is electric car sharing really cheaper than other alternatives like Grab and Uber?

Launched in 2017, BlueSG is Singapore’s first electric car-sharing services established as part of the Singapore Economic Development Board and Land Transport Authority’s national-level initiative. The company claims it has since processed over 1.7 million rentals with 100,000 subscriptions sold.

“Our investment in BlueSG is a result of a long-term focus on the future mobility space and reflects the Goldbell approach to insight-driven investing. We are committed to working closely together as a team to develop innovative technology solutions that will support Singapore’s car-lite and energy-powered mobility vision,” said Arthur Chua, CEO of Goldbell Group.

According to Goldbell, BlueSG’s acquisition is in line with its “Twin Engines for Disruptive Growth” strategy — which combines the company’s domain knowledge in the industrial vehicle leasing and distribution market with venture building and investing models to “accelerate innovation”.

Goldbell also runs a global accelerator programme aimed at incubating startups in the areas of mobility, transport and logistics. Termed Move.SG, the programme is supported by Enterprise Singapore and is the nation’s first mobility-themed accelerator.

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Image Credit: BlueSG

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Entrepreneur First (EF) has unveiled the six deep tech startups selected as part of its eighth cohort, the result of a programme that was held virtually for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the company, the startups received online guidance and training from EF’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and its team of venture partners.

EF is a talent invstor that backs individuals instead of fully formed startups. It claims to have helped over 2,000 individuals on its programme, who have gone on to build more than 200 companies with a total valuation exceeding US$1 billion.

This news also comes after EF showcased its seventh cohort of nine deeptech companies in July last year that solved problems across diverse industries such as biotech, fintech, and energy-tech.

Below is a brief description of the eight startups:

Airboxr

A no-code analytics tool for business users to consolidate and analyse data across multiple sources within their spreadsheets.

Nanofy

Leverages nanotechnology to create “self-disinfection” nanomaterials that kill microbes on contact through the absorption of visible light.

Also Read: New Antler-NUS initiative to nurture deeptech talents, to invest in 30 startups annually

Peakflo

A SaaS platform that improves cash flow liquidity for B2B SMEs through a B2B pay later solution, saving SMEs two to five per cent of their revenue. Peakflo has secured term sheets from lead investors and is looking to close their round with follow-on funding.

Project Nomi

Connects drivers with insurance companies to receive insurance risk analysis and premium pricing, delivering cost savings for drivers and improving road safety through smart coaching. Project Nomi has secured seed funding and has closed their round. The team is working on securing additional funding this year.

Sepsitron

A point-of-care and portable solution for on-the-spot diagnosis of infectious diseases.

Twurs

Empowers travel businesses with customizable and modular management software that assists with real-time bookings and reselling services.

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Image Credit: Entrepreneur First

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