As the CEO of a B2B marketing outsource provider, you would think that I would always suggest outsourcing as the best way to handle your marketing.  However, as with much else in life, the answer to the question of Should I outsource my marketing or do it myself ? is “it depends.”. But what exactly does it depend on?  For one thing, you may not be able to find the right expertise to do an effective do it yourself (DIY) model.  For example, the person who leads your marketing department may lack critical skills that could be supplemented by a marketing outsource supplier.  MORE >>

If you ask a dozen marketers and sales people for their definition of a qualified lead, you might hear answers ranging from “anyone that’s breathing” to “someone ready to buy today.”  Obviously, there is a wide gulf between these two extremes, especially if the definitions come from people working at the same company.  This issue often comes to a head when the marketing manager brags about all the qualified leads and the sales manager says something like, “Yes, there a bunch of leads coming in but they stink” (often expressed in more colorful terms). Let prospects qualify themselves.  MORE >>

Marketing is a serious subject at most companies. After all, the marketing department is only one step removed from the sales department and revenue generation—the lifeblood of all businesses. As one of my favorite CEO’s was fond of saying, “Revenue covers a lot of other sins, but a lack of revenue causes all sins to be exposed.” I’ve noticed that you see a lot more people laughing and smiling when revenue numbers are good and frowns when revenue results are mediocre. Prospects can just call or email us if they want to learn more about what we do.”  A: Anti-social. MORE >>

'Earlier in my career, I was VP of marketing for a mid-size software company in the content management space.  There were a couple of very large competitors, who we termed “gorillas” in the marketplace.  The VP of sales used to say something to the effect of: “When we get invited to the dance, we can beat our large competitor, but too often, we don’t get invited because they don’t know who we are.”. In this case, the big companies got the business not because they had better products and services, but because they were better in another respect: name recognition.  Press releases. Articles. MORE >>

'Your Two Minute B2B Marketing Assessment. All of you hard-driven and numbers-focused marketers understand the importance of the quantitative side of B2B marketing. If you don’t understand this, you will face the displeasure of your CEO and/or CFO. You measure the number of inquiries, cost per inquiry, number of opportunities, specific media performance, and many other details. Assuming you don’t try to run your business strictly by spreadsheet, all these types of measurements can be valuable. But they never tell the whole story. Is your lead handoff process well-documented? Carpe Occasio. MORE >>