Here are 5 essential take-aways from the eConsultancy Funnel Marketing conference.

A range of inspiring case studies and platform-vendor perspectives structured around the themes of 'Attract, Engage, Nurture and Convert' gave the audience a high level appreciation of the changing world of lead generation and management.

Here are five things you need to know factor into your web marketing strategies.

The funnel is important. You are wasting your time if you do not understand the stages of the 'buyer journey' through your funnel and have appropriate content and automation to optimise each stage. If you have a direct sales force, you need to realise that Marketing and Sales share a funnel, and the objectives need to be aligned to financial performance.

PPC is a short term tactic. If you know your customer and your product you can optimise PPC lead generation, but don't expect it to keep growing. Instead complement it with a longer term content based strategy, complemented by SEO, Banners, social media and offline activities. Below Pascal Lendermann explains his optimised PPC strategy.

Map your user/buyer persona. Understanding the pathways (and dead-ends) that users follow when they interact with your organisation means you can use marketing automation and focused 'content nurturing' to aid the decision-making process or qualify them out quickly. Buyers prioritise content that is specific to their industry, then their role, then their company size.

The funnel doesn't end at the sale. Deliver strategies to satisfy and nurture existing customers. Ensuring satisfaction means more referral, cross- and up sell opportunities. This will feed a long term social media strategy that utilises content and credibility of 'Surfaced Experts' within and without your organisation.

Your content strategy should deliver insights.Help buyers understand, establish trust, speak to the emotions they associate with the problem they are trying to solve. Use keywords such as 'analysis, review' that frames your solution in terms of the problem.

To finish, here are some thought-provoking quotes from the day:

"We're no longer B2B or B2C, we're now in the H2H (Human-to-human) era." @DelphineRB from IBM

"81% of ALL buyers require five sales calls before they buy" - @aaronstead from Infusionsoft

"People still do offline?!?!" Various speakers when asked 'How does offline activity feature in funnel and marketing automation?'

See #funnelmarketing for more nuggets.

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I've been serving on Addiction NI's 'Executive Committee' for the last two years, mainly helping to rebrand the charity (formerly known as NICAS), and initiate fundraising activities.

You might not realise it, but lots of older people (55+) struggle with addiction problems, due to chronic misuse, loneliness, depression and myriad other reasons. Over the past decade the number of older people reporting with addiction problems has almost doubled, and recent figures show that over 40% of people attending Addiction NI were female. Every day in the UK over 700 people celebrate their 65th birthday.

Addiction problems in older people are largely hidden. We don't see shock-tactic billboards and TV ads with Grannies and Grandads blitzed on a Saturday night session, its all focused on alcopop-guzzling young people. Older people tend to avoid participating in drink fueled fist fights and abusing A&E staff of an evening. Instead, they drink alone, at home. Friends and families dwindle as the years roll on, and there's no one left to care in many cases. What's more astonishing, is that NI Health Services make no special provision for treatment of substance abuse in older people. None. Too late to save?

The Addiction NI event saw two courageous 'service users' get up in front of a packed audience to describe how they found themselves to be addicted to alcohol. One had suffered several traumatic life events including retirement, and found himself drinking more and more in an effort to soften the blows. The other had been a serious drinker since his 20s. Both men, with the help of Addiction NI, had overcome their addiction problems, and overcome their personal shame and regret to tell us 'civilians' about their challenging journeys. Neither man professed to be 'cured' but rather in a place of insight and understanding of their own mind-state and predicament. They found a way to change, unfortunately my Dad's friend never had the chance.

I'm proud to help Addiction NI battle the stigma of alcohol and drug addiction, to give more people a chance. Visit http://addictionni.com/help/older-persons-service/ for more info about Addiction NI's service, which also provides help for friends and family affected by substance misuse.

Also, if you're in Belfast next Friday 30th September, please consider bringing some friends to our fundraising pub quiz and disco, at The Errigle Inn, starting at 7.30. (more info on our facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110426222388956)

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I was struggling to ensure that I had communicated the strategy and goals for the next 3 months and was talking this through with David Kirk, my mentor and now non-executive Director of Planzai. David gave me an excellent suggestion - "why not write a press release for the future? Pick a date that you know represents an important milestone, and write the press release describing the success your plan has created at that point in the future."

I love this idea. I'm a visual thinker, so I could immediately see what I wanted a press release to look like in three months time. From there it was easy to set about writing it, describing our targets, the outcome of our activities and a quote from one of our future, happy customers. I then attributed quotes from team members describing how their input contributed to the outcome. This was important because a lot of our startup pains are derived from understanding how our team works and how our roles and individual goals impact on achieving our vision.

This technique is powerful because it captures the excitement and anticipation that we feel now, and sort of forward-engineers it into how we want to feel when we've delivered our plan. It gives context to our financial and user acquisition targets, and as we continue on our voyage into the unknown, we can refer back to see if we're heading in the right direction.

That leads me to the second part of the title of this blog post: I think that mentoring is one of the most important interventions I've had in the last 12 months.

Mentoring is a strange mix of experience and perspective. It's about shining a light on things you haven't thought of before, words that spark inspiration, and occasionally a good old-fashioned 'wise up!'. Without regular ideas and perspectives from David, as well as several other close friends and advisors, I doubt we'd be where we are today.

One of the many fascinating findings of the Startup Genome Project has measured the impact of mentors in relation to success. "Founders that learn are more successful: Startups that have helpful mentors, track metrics effectively, and learn from startup thought leaders raise 7x more money and have 3.5x better user growth". If you're starting a business, you need mentors.

Experienced mentors are hard to find, but I've found that friends who care about you and recognise your passion are a good start and can also make introductions. (I've had my share of time-wasters. A simple rule: avoid anyone who believes their own hype.) Genuine mentors do it because they can, and because they're putting something back.

Please jump into the comments - I'd love to hear about other folks' experiences of mentoring and those little suggestions that make a big difference.

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A recurring theme in the recent Assembly election was the potential reduction in Northern Ireland's Corporation Tax rate. On the surface this seems like a great idea, but Danny Moore's recent post about the 'GrowNI' campaign to lower corporation tax made me realise that I mightn't understand all the details. A decrease in tax has obvious benefits, but what are the implications, and what could I contribute to a government consultation on the subject?

Having read the HM Treasury consultation paper, I feel better enlightened about what a rate reduction means for Northern Ireland. In his post, Danny challenges our leaders - describing devolved Corporation Tax  as a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity for NI, however it isn't a political no-brainer. There are risks to consider, and brave decisions to be made.

A Corporation Tax rate reduction should lead to greater investment in our private sector, but will mean that we have to balance the risk of losing tax income from the NI 'block grant' with the potential that more investment can bring for increased employment, sustainability and growth, not to mention consequential improvements in social and education/skills standards. In the long term, the loss of tax income should therefore be offset by greater income tax receipts, more VAT as people spend more, and lower welfare costs as disadvantaged people gain access to jobs and learning.

In addition, a drop in corporation tax could help Northern Ireland finally 'do it's bit' in rebalancing the UK economy. Instead of being a drain on the economy, our ability to contribute positively is strengthened. Its really worth reading the document to understand how the supporting framework for a drop in Corporation tax could transform our attitude towards entrepreneurship and innovation.

These are all good reasons for anyone to participate in the consultation process and lend their support to the campaign. Here are two personal perspectives.

Firstly, I am proud to be Northern Irish and I want to create and build businesses here. We have the building blocks of a thriving startup ecosystem, with no shortage of ideas and bright, skilled people. This can be the turning point that makes market failure a thing of the past, and allows creative, talented risk-takers to stay in Northern Ireland whilst making their mark on the world.

Secondly, such a bold move by our political leaders will be inspirational, something I feel is sadly lacking at present. Decisive action on Corporation Tax can demonstrate tangible evidence of a new vision for a Northern Ireland that has left its tribal roots in the past, a place with a new excitement and ambition.

This is not a time for prevarication, posturing, or repeats of previous miserable failures (think Review of Public Administration, Replacing 11+) - our leaders need to embrace the risk, devise a plan, and commit now to making this work.

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In the absence of any useful information on their website, here are the opening times for their Castlereagh, Belfast branch. (It turns out they don't open on Saturday mornings.)

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Over the course of the last 18 months I feel i've had my fair share of new memory-creating pathway-inducing experiences. Between getting married, building Crafty Devil, developing Planzai, recording, releasing and performing with Escape Act, putting drainage in the garden, being a best man, learning new recipes, and... the list goes on, i've been a fairly busy bunny.

So why does it feel like 2010 passed it the blink of an eye? Am out of of disk space or something?

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Since we started accepting private beta users onto planzai.com, momentum has been building, and with it the number of interesting conversations, diverging thought processes, disagreements and collective epiphanies. This last week has been particularly hectic. 

As you do, i was in the shower this morning reflecting on the things i've heard myself saying and other things people have said to me.... validation, if any were needed of how much fun founding a new app can be... ;-)

We need seed money to prove the concept. / We can fund this out of revenue.

We need to get to revenue before investment. / We have revenue!

This isn't a good investment opportunity. / Your opportunity has significant potential.

That breaks our model. / That validates our model. / That's a completely new model.

It needs to happen today. / Ok, Friday is fine.

Go for the revenue. / That deal is too small.

No, it isn't a project management system. / Well, yeah you could manage your own projects.

Good idea, we hadn't thought of that. / Good idea, that's already in our roadmap.

He just didn't get it. / He completely got it!

We need to focus. / Our focus is too narrow.

This will never work. / We can do this!

Anyone else out there have a similar experience?

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Ok, so when we started making our new Escape Act album, i vowed to get stuck into the old video blogging to help tell the story of what we were at. It didn't work out that way, but i finally summoned the stuff needed to talk about the new album packaging.

Necessity is the mother of invention you say? Yes, it would be great to sell some of these suckers now that they are out. But really, they are such lovely objects, pictures wouldn't do 'em justice....

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(This is a response to the email below, which was also CC'd with three other recipients.)

Hi Colin,

Firstly, thanks for sharing my email address with three complete strangers. I'm sure your Data Protection officer (if you have one) would just love that. Kinda reinforces the travesty of the whole Digital Economy Act affair.

Secondly, your non-reply confirms how damaging the double-job culture is for constituents' needs. I will be voting tomorrow for sure - and i'll be picking a candidate that will devote all their time to Westminster affairs.

Regards

Rich Dale

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There are some very enlightened comments on this article calling for us UK citizens to get the finger out. http://boingboing.net/2010/03/02/brits-tell-the-libde.html

An important point was raised that simply copying and pasting forms letters and popping them off to MPs by the bucket load isn't going to gain any traction. However one commenter suggested that his letter might inspire the rest of us: http://penllawen.tumblr.com/post/452280362/digital-economy-bill

So thanks to Richard Gaywood for enabling me to understand some of the key issues and develop this missive to my own MP.

Dear Mr Robinson,

I am an internet consultant and partner in a fledgling music business.
I strongly believe the Digital Economy Bill requires a full
Parliamentary debate before it should be passed into law and I would
like to know your views on the subject.

I have concerns about several aspects of this Bill, namely:

Privacy
This Bill aims to turn our ISPs into listening stations monitoring
every transmissions of every internet user on the off chance they might
be breaking the law. This is beyond the pale in our
innocent-until-proven-guilty society. Controls regarding wire-tapping
phone calls and physical bugging require stringent judicial review and
consent, yet the DEB simply proposes to open the floodgates to
litigious copyright holders.

Economy
At a time when the economy is still in a most fragile state, it is not
sensible to impose the wholesale monitoring that the bill proposes. The
huge cost associated with this will likely be passed on by the ISPs to
their customers.

"Government research as part of the Digital Britain programme
(http://www.ipa.co.uk/Content/Digital-Britain-broadband-initiative-could-boost-British-e-commerce-by-%C2%A314-billion)
has suggested that the British economy would be £1.4 billion better off
if the target of 100% broadband access by 2012 is achieved. Making it
more expensive for businesses and consumers isn’t going to help that
goal."

Liability
By making account holders liable for transmissions the DEB will naively
open an entirely different can of worms. The vast majority of
law-abiding residential internet users would be appalled to know their
their home wireless security can easily be exploited by determined
hackers - something they can do little to prevent without incurring
huge expense. They will be even more appalled when they are held
responsible for the actions of malicious hackers.

Similarly, public access in libraries, hotels, cafes, which had enabled
internet culture to become embedded in our way of life and helped many
close to the poverty line to get online, is equally vulnerable. Few
people have finances to truly secure their network in such as way as to
avoid third-party liability, nevermind the IT know-how to do it
themselves. The DEB has the potential to wipe out this vital aspect of
internet culture.

The DEB does not reflect the reality of how the internet works and how
quickly technology and usage practices have evolved in the last ten
years. It is attempting to protect the unprotectable. Sites like Google
are now lynchpins of the global economy, yet the DEB would make
provision for taking them down simply because they index links to
alleged infringers. It is fair to say that the DEB will be used as a
weapon to penalise the smaller and defenseless whilst overlooking those
with the legal and financial power to make a stand.

It is telling that Google, BT, the British Library and many others
oppose the DEB.

I have been a website designer consultant since 1997 and I have worked
all my life in the digital sector. As such, I feel qualified to
understand some of the issues around this Bill, and I feel strongly
that it is overly broad and overly vague.

I am also involved in the grass-root music sector, producing new music
for 20 years and helping young people understand how the music industry
has evolved. The DEB does not represent my interests as a musician or
copyright holder. The internet has enabled me and many like me to
develop sustainable creative businesses, something that was formerly
impossible without the distribution offered by the internet. The DEB
will stifle this new wave of creative businesses by applying the rules
of the 'old' and dying music industry.

That old industry, represented by the BPI has a right to protect its
own interests, but not at the expense of my privacy, right of access,
free speech or creativity. It is frightening that in a recent official
memo, the BPI gladly anticipates that the DEB to be slipped through
Parliament before the election without a proper debate.

In the new internet era it is true that the core issues of privacy,
piracy and copyright need new legislation. However it is not necessary
to effectively criminalise the many for the financial gain of the few.

As a constituent I am writing to you today to ask you, please: do all
you can to ensure the Government doesn’t rush the bill through without
granting us our democratic right to scrutiny and debate.

Please contact me if you require further information.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Dale

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in addition to my persistent carrot problem the vegetable man has now
taken to concealing a few sweet potatoes in my weekly delivery. on the
off chance i thought that the internet might help me deplete a few of
my sweet new friends alongside some rainbow trout. low and behold...

http://www.essortment.com/all/troutbakereci_rwrj.htm

*****************
This healthy, fast and easy to make stuffed fish bake recipe makes a
great main course for a family meal
or dinner party. This meal is ready in less than 30 minutes. This
recipe serves 4.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cloves elephant garlic, finely crushed

4 oz. sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

4 oz. Spanish onions,

4 oz. trout, skinned, deboned and diced

2 oz. butter, melted

3 oz. all-purpose flour, sifted

1 oz. regular oats

3 oz. Cheddar cheese, grated

seasoning, according to taste

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). Using a bowl, combine garlic, sweet
potatoes, Spanish onions and trout. Season according to taste.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats and half the Cheddar cheese.
Spoon sweet potato mixture into an ovenproof dish. Top with the flour
mixture and sprinkle on remaining cheese. Bake for 25 minutes until
golden. Serve hot with garlic bread and a light salad for a quick
family dinner.

*****************

Damn tasty and very easy for a single pan dinner.

Beady-eyed readers will notice that the melted butter listed above is
not in fact utilised in the method. I mixed the trout/potato mix with
a tablespoon of olive oil, then dotted a few knobs of butter
throughout the veg after placing them in the pan.

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So this week I once more find myself with an abundance of carrots. I also had a bowl of chickpeas soaking in the fridge alongside some lamb steaks.

Chickpeas + Carrots + Google = this amazing salad, which is taste-tastic. http://www.rexroof.com/6/chickpea-carrot-olive-salad/
It combines olives, lemon juice and a ton of spices into a great dish.

The lamb marinade followed a similar vein as per: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1182863

Also served with a boiled spud, grilled haloumi and some fresh organic lettuce.

I will be making this combo again. Soon.

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I love roast chicken, not least of all because you can make some lovely fresh stock with the carcass. Normally this would go into some soup or other but i decided to use the stock and the chicken in a dhal. Dhal is a curry made with lentils and i could eat it all day. Anyway I used a basic dhal recipe as the start point for this. I didn't use too many lentils as i didn't want the sauce getting too thick.

This assumes you've made some chicken stock, and have enough leftover chicken meat.

Chop a carrot into little cubes (little so they cook quickly).
Chop a big onion and soften in oil.
Meanwhile add a good handful of lentils to a pan containing at least a pint of warm stock and bring to the boil.
Simmer once the lentils are at the boil. Skim off any foam.
Thickly slice two cloves of garlic and add to the pan after the onions have started to soften.
Slice a courgette and add to the onion/garlic.
In a pestle and mortar, grind a teaspoon each of cumin, coriander and chili flakes, plus a pinch of salt.
When you're happy with the onions, clear a space and add the ground spices to the pan, allow them to warm through.
When they start to release their aroma, mix through the onions etc.
Back to the lentils... after about 10 mins, add a good teaspoon of garam masala and mix thru the lentils/carrots.
Slices a few tomatoes and add to the lentils.
Get your leftover chicken meat and add to the lentil pan to warm through.
Finally add the onion mixture to the lentil and mix through.
Check the seasoning.
If the sauce is too runny, simmer with the lid off till it reduces.

I served this with basmati rice.

I like to let my onions brown well, so they add a nice smokey flavour to the dish. You could also add a can of chickpeas to bulk it out.

This made a very rich and tasty curry. Not sure how faithful to the original, but hey.

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ok, so this was so damn tasty that i munched my way thru it before taking a picture, honest!

every pancake Tuesday i ring my mum for a reminder of the recipe for batter, which i prepare, then promptly forget. so it here it for posterity...

- sift 8oz of plain flour into a large bowl, and add a pinch of salt
- make a dent in the middle of the flour mound
- add two eggs into your dent and start to fold into the flour
- measure out just over half a pint of milk
- add the milk gradually
- melt a large knob of butter and stir this into the milk
- leave the batter to rest for as long as possible

according to my mum, you don't want to stir/mix the batter too much or it'll get tough. rather you want to fold it so that you introduce air as you milk, and mix as little as possible. also its worth testing the batter to make sure it spreads thinly on the pan - if not, fold in some more milk...

so while i left the batter to rest i made the filling:

- heat a pan with some oil and butter
- slice an onion and leek and add to the pan
- add a sliced clove of garlic and soften the whole lot for about 10 mins
- wash two skinless salmon fillets, season and coat with oil
- once the veg are soft push them to the side of the pan
- add the two salmon fillets and cook, turning after 5 mins
- add two tablespoon of creme fraiche and mix thru the onion/leeks
- add salt and plenty of black pepper and grate some parmesan into the pan
- next add a few glugs of hot water
- gently stir, breaking up the salmon into large chunks, combining the sauce
- cover and take off the heat while you make your pancakes

pancakes - fairly simple
- heat the pan
- add some butter (not needed if you have a non-stick)
- add a good ladle of batter and spread evenly
- wait until you see bubbles appear
- turn and cook until done

serve the filling rolled in the pancake with some steamed veg.

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In my continuing battle to deplete my carrot stockpile I made a very pleasing Carrot and Lentil soup this week, as follows:

1. heat some oil in a large pan and boil the kettle
2. slice a leek, an onion and a clove of garlic
3. sweat the veg in the oil, keeping an eye so they don't stick
4. meanwhile roughly chop about 5 medium carrots
5. add a teaspoon of sage and another of thyme to the pan, and give everything a stir
6. add the chopped carrots, season and stir
7. after a minute add about two pints of good stock, i used chicken
8. add about a cup of lentils and stir
9. cook until the carrots are tender
10. allow to cool and then blend, leaving a few carrots for texture
11. add half a cap of red wine vinegar and stir through
12. eat immediately, or leave in the fridge for a day or two to let the flavours develop

result pictured. mmmmmm!

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For me the evening was extremely positive as it was clear early-on that there are basically two interest groups - service providers and other grass roots businesses, and, creators / promoters / exporters of IP a.k.a. music content. These groups actually have very different drivers and goals, although everyone contributes to the vision of a successful indigenous industry.

And what i realised on reflection is that we've been several steps ahead of ourselves. NIMIC was doomed from the start as it attempted to be all things to all people, when what we really needed was an understanding of the components of the industry, the level they were at, and what needed to be done with each individual sector to make it fit for purpose. We can never be greater than the sum of our parts, because the parts aren't fully formed!

As music businesses, we really need to understand our goals (and differences) and organise around them. If that means different groupings, then great! They're more likely to achieve more, and when necessary speak with a single voice.

On a personal level this has helped me reaffirm the intent behind my various activities. Escape Act's development, and my work with Open Music Media Belfast both focus broadly on export and development of brand and content. This is the area that I'm most passionate about, and if those with other passions can be equally clear, then perhaps we'll start to having the building blocks of an industry.

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Open Music Media Belfast is the new name for the NI Music Industry Meetups. Why? A couple of reasons. Firstly we’re keen to give our participants access to a wider network – Open Music Media was founded in London and there will be ‘OMM’ events happening worldwide. Secondly we like the focus, ambition and intent of Open Music Media.

It’s where music is going. The time for lamenting the death of the old regime is over, and OMM is forum for ideas and a meeting of minds that will help shape the future of the industry. Whilst it’ll ask the big questions that affect us all, it’ll also focus in on the new strategies that will help our music thrive and our music businesses prosper.

Yes, we’re all in business, and OMM Belfast will be the friendly, focused and inspiring place where we’re all pulling in the same direction.

The next OMM Belfast takes place at the Limelight on Friday December 4th, from 6-9pm.

We’ll be looking at the mix of music, media and social networks, with perspectives from BalconyTV.com founder Stephen O’Regan and Gawain Morrison, founder of Filmtrip, musician, promoter and pioneer of alternate uses of music in media.

Facebook event link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171257027313&ref=ts

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so on friday night i started a green curry but realising that my chicken was a bit wiffy, i opted for the safe option and ordered in from the excellent Jasmine in Ballyhackamore. not wanting to waste the already softened onions and garlic, i fired together a quick and surprisingly tasty broth as follows:

1. soften one small onion and a large clove of garlic in oil/butter
1.5 add chopped leek and soften too
2. add a chopped carrot or three
3. season
4. add some chopped chard (from the vegetable box)
5. add a vegetable stock cube
6. add a pint or so of stock
7. cook still the veg is tender

best served the next day with some bread and cheese

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