salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM), so why do I need marketing automation ”? Salesforce recently rebranded their social marketing application as the Marketing Cloud, and their website says you can use their solutions to “optimize campaigns from lead to close, on every channel”. Similarly, Architecture of Marketing Automation versus CRM. CRM systems are designed and optimized for a very different purpose, which is what creates the whitespace for marketing automation vendors (like Marketo). Marketing Automation. Marketing Automation. Pricing. MORE >>

B2B marketing automation, if done right, is an efficient and cost-effective tactic for engaging your prospects and helping them move forward in their buying process; ultimately generating more of the qualified, sales-ready leads that your salespeople and channel partners need to meet your company’s sales, revenue and growth goals. The bad news is that when it comes it comes to implementing marketing automation for generating, nurturing and qualifying leads, many B2B marketers are daunted by the perceived complexity. WALK: Integrate Campaigning. MORE >>

discussed the top seven ways to utilize marketing automation to generate more sales revenue. Nurture your leads to get 3 out of 4 sales opportunities that come from prospects with longer-term needs. This means you need to create and leverage your lead nurturing strategy using multi-touch, multi offer lead nurturing campaigns to build sales-winning relationships with your prospects as they move from stage to stage throughout the buying cycle. Use outbound marketing to follow up, nurture and qualify your inbound leads. MORE >>

by Dayna Rothman What is the difference between email marketing and marketing automation? We all know how powerful and important email marketing is to your marketing toolbox, but implementing marketing automation can dramatically increase the effectiveness of the email marketing strategy you already have in place. There are many differences between an email marketing and a marketing automation application. With marketing automation you can start to take out the manual work of crafting individual emails. Your Sales Teams Don’t Know What Leads to Follow Up With. MORE >>

Multiple touches. Proverbial marketing wisdom says at least seven touches are needed in order to convert a cold lead into a sale.  Whether or not this is the correct number, the principle conveys an element of truth: every marketer knows it takes multiple touches to create a customer.  This fact makes it difficult to allocate revenue to any specific touch. According to The Lenskold Group / eMedia Lead Generation Marketing ROI Study, almost 2/3 of companies use either no tracking or basic single attribution. Single Attribution (First Touch / Last Touch). MORE >>