Marketing & Sales Innovators: Zoom Info

By now, you have probably joined Linkedin, Plaxo, Facebook or the myriad of other business networking sites that have emerged in recent years.  These are generally useful tools to keep track of friends and business associates.  The best part is that their information is updates (by them) when they changes jobs, etc. 

But now there is zoominfo.  ZoomInfo scans the web and develops a profile of you (and over 38 million other professionals) based on web information.  It is a great site to find out fast, and mostly accurate, information on potential employees and business partners. Since the people on the site often do not know that they are listed, and the information comes from the web, the data can often be incorrect or incomplete.  But I still find it a great source to use when I want to get a quick profile of someone. It is much easier to access than Linkedin and much easier to find who you are looking for.  Think of it as a wikipedia for people's backgrounds, although like wikipedia, use the information with care.

So why are they a marketing & sales innovator?  Check out your own profile.  I'll bet anything it is incorrect or incomplete since you did not enter the data.  Your impulse will be so sign up for the "free" service and correct your information.  Then, of course, you will be bombarded with newsletters, offers,etc. which you can easily opt out of on the web site. And do not forget the ads every time you log onto the site to check out another professional. But they have you as a "customer" whether you like it or not.  And you will need to update the information somewhat frequently as they keep going to the web to find more stuff out about you.  Pretty good business model in my book and much more clever that the others.  We will see if becomes a dominant player long term, but they have my early bet to be a survivor.

Comments

[steven davies]

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