Last week I presented a session at Silverpop’s B2B Marketing University in Atlanta. In addition to Marketing Automation, there were two big topics: Social Media and CRM. will write about Social Media some other time, and focus on CRM in this post. Many attendees were confused by CRM vendors claiming to offer full marketing functionality. If that’s true, why would you still need Marketing Automation? So let’s dig in and find how Marketing Automation and CRM are different. Strong Features of CRM. For CRM, I focused on Salesforce.com. Opportunity creation. Forecasting. Sometimes. MORE >>

2009 was the year in which Marketing Automation really took off. See also her recent blog post Five B2B Marketing Surprises From 2009. Several new vendors appeared on the market, many existing vendors experienced rapid growth, and Marketing Automation as a term gained popularity among B2B marketers. In this post I want to focus on the trends in Marketing Automation for 2010. have asked many of the vendors, consultants and thought leaders to give their opinion. The response was overwhelming: see below for all 18 (!) predictions. Creation of buyer-centric content. The Contributors. MORE >>

Interview with Terry Whalen from CPC Search. To generate demand for your products, it’s not enough to nurture the existing leads in your database. You also need a steady stream of fresh leads coming in. There are many ways to find these new leads: inbound marketing, search advertising, tradeshows, lead programs, etc. They all have their pros and cons, and most companies use a combination of strategies. have written a lot about Inbound Marketing ( social media and search engine optimization ): it’s free, but takes a fair amount of time to set up. What is your take? MORE >>

Earlier this year I downloaded Silverpop’s lead management workbook , and I planned to write about it. Unfortunately, not enough time… Last week I received a copy of Marketo’s Lead Nurturing workbook. Similar books, but each with their unique approach and lots of smart advice. Both books show how you can increase sales by nurturing all leads, from inquiry to opportunity. Heck, why not nurture customers too? that is one of the great suggestions in Marketo’s book). Both books cover lead nurturing and ROI calculations, and Silverpop also explains lead scoring. Lead Scoring. MORE >>

As a response to my posts  7 Reasons Why Marketing Automation Projects Fail and Marketing Automation ROI , several people mentioned that the benefits of Marketing Automation are not just increased sales. They are also increased efficiency. That made me think: aren’t benefits either cost savings, or increased revenue? Marketing Automation Increases Revenue. The key marketing performance indicators suggested by SiriusDecisions are all related to revenue: Marketing sourced pipeline. Marketing influenced pipeline. Investment-to-pipeline. Investment-to-revenue. Is productivity improved? MORE >>