The Point

JANUARY 11, 2024

Most of these pitches inevitably revolve around the functionality of the product or solution in question and the benefits to be gained by our clients. leverages content that is not just painted-over product collateral, but instead is information specifically crafted to speak to a prospective partner’s needs, pain points, and motivators.

Advertising Agencies 173

Advertising Agencies Demand Generation Agencies Campaigns Paid Search Agency 173

The Point

JULY 17, 2017

Here are just some of the key findings, along with what I believe these trends mean for demand generation marketers: FINDING : 59% of respondents say they now have formal buying groups or buying committees in place to review purchases. But that’s exactly the kind of information buyers want.

Paid Search Agency 241

Paid Search Agency Demand Marketing Automation Services Peer-to-peer 241

The Point

JUNE 24, 2022

The sudden, wholesale transition to remote work and virtual teams has only accelerated trends that were evident pre-COVID, led by younger generations of digital consumers who brought their buying preferences to the office (even if that office is now their living room). Key Finding 3: Use of free trials is skyrocketing.

Top of Funnel 130

Top of Funnel Cold Calling B2B Demand Generation 130

The Point

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Engagement programs can also be paused at any time for more tactical batch sends (ex: Webinars, product announcements) but otherwise should run indefinitely. Again, the purpose of an engagement program isn’t about convincing someone within a fixed period of time to talk to sales or to buy your product.

Sales Qualified Leads 227

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 227

The Point

MARCH 18, 2020

Here’s a summary of what we’re telling them: * If you’re putting any kind of marketing messages in market, it’s critical to avoid – at any cost – the appearance of promoting your service or product as a quick solution to current problems. Provide (as many are) free versions of your product, or premium features, or extended licenses.

Demand 243

Demand Demand Generation Agencies Top of Funnel Account Based Marketing 243

The Point

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Buyers want information of value that isn’t just a list of reasons to buy your product. What content strategies are successful B2B companies leveraging to create standout campaigns that promote further brand interaction? More than ever, marketers need to think of themselves as publishers.

Marketing Report 246

Marketing Report Email Marketing Co-Registration Privacy 246

The Point

MAY 19, 2020

A “mid-stage” (MOFU) nurture track, stream, or program, of finite length, triggered by pre-defined actions, specific behavior, lead score threshold, or third party intent data (ex: Bombora ) that suggest increased buying interest. . Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash.

Lead Nurturing 299

Lead Nurturing Class Budget Programs Lead Scoring 299

The Point

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

But don’t equate “staying in touch” – or lead nurturing success – with simply asking the prospect over and over whether he or she is ready to buy. Are you ready to buy yet? Why #leadnurturing success means not asking for the sale via @spearmktg. Click To Tweet.

Lead Nurturing 224

Lead Nurturing Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 224

The Point

APRIL 22, 2020

However, as much as it has a reputation as a way to generate “guaranteed” leads, content syndication is not a cure-all, and indeed, more than most demand generation channels, is likely to generate sales leads that gravitate towards the early stages of the buying cycle. A Nurture Strategy for Content Syndication Leads Click To Tweet.

Lead Scoring 162

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking CPL Cost per Lead 162

The Point

MARCH 8, 2018

Sure, they’re expensive to license, but they’re instant fodder for all sorts of content marketing, they bring credibility and name recognition to a campaign, and – bonus – they say nice things about your product. The information value of an analyst report – no matter how complimentary – is not that it says nice things about your product.

Marketing Report 216

Marketing Report Planning Gartner Demand Generation Agencies 216

The Point

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

Sometimes great people, a great product, or pure market demand can cover up all sorts of marketing sins, but more often the clients who succeed consistently at demand generation are those who have their act together. But targeting the right audience is more than simply defining a target account list, or key industries, or buying personas.

Demand Generation Agencies 182

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Generation 182

The Point

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

Depending on your audience, product category, and level of brand awareness, maybe what you really need is a search campaign. Don’t buy hundreds of leads if you don’t have the BDR team or a nurture program to maximize their value. But “easy” doesn’t always equate to the best choice. Or an ad on LinkedIn.

Demand Generation Agencies 147

Demand Generation Agencies Advertising Agencies CMS Development Work Management 147

The Point

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Is ABM a fit for our company, our product, and our audience? ABM is typically best-suited for companies selling complex solutions to buying committees at large enterprises. Ignoring the buying cycle. The hype around ABM has subsided. How can ABM best coexist with a more traditional funnel-based demand generation model?

Account Based Marketing 157

Account Based Marketing ABM Ideal Customer Profiles Enterprise Management 157

The Point

MAY 16, 2018

Their flagship product is being end-of-lifed. No matter how much someone might hate their current product/solution/vendor, bringing in a replacement can be a painful process, particularly for anything involving technology. But telling the customer that he/she bought the wrong product will almost always backfire. Big mistake.

Campaigns 191

Campaigns Tips Demand Generation Agencies Lead Scoring 191

The Point

DECEMBER 21, 2018

Apparently (and this was all news to me), when a product is heavily advertised or advertised in an innately expensive way, consumers believe either 1) the quality of the product must be high, or 2) the company advertising has already persuaded lots of people to buy its product, presumably to justify the investment.

Advertising Agencies 113

Advertising Agencies Advertisements Advertising Paid Search Agency 113

The Point

JANUARY 23, 2018

Technology changes rapidly, and tech companies often have windows of opportunity to realize revenue from products or services before they become obsolete. Here’s why: * Many tech products are first of breed solutions and/or of a complexity that demands a more long-term, consultative selling process.

Sales Management 253

Sales Management Sales Qualified Leads Demand Generation Agencies Lead Scoring 253

The Point

JANUARY 13, 2017

In an era when the average business buyer only contacts a brand when he/she is 67 percent through the buying process , there’s every reason to make sure that you’re reaching prospective customers at every stage of their research, not just when they’re ready to buy. Conversely, early-stage prospects may be far from evaluating solutions.

SEM 100

SEM Paid Search Agency Marketing & Strategy Sales Qualified Leads 100

The Point

JULY 1, 2019

Well, that very basic assumption, that business buyers prefer to be anonymous and self-directed, and uninterested in engaging with sales until they’re absolutely ready to buy, may be in question. Now that lead has to be nurtured, educated, scored, enriched, appended and qualified before we would dare hand it off to sales.

B2B Sales 124

B2B Sales Demand Generation Agencies Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 124

The Point

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

It’s a large corporation where you’ll learn the difference between product marketing, field marketing, and corporate marketing, between branding and demand generation. At bare minimum, you’ll be a better marketer for learning why customers buy. You’ll wear more hats. You’ll learn how to sell (see #4, below.) I’m a better listener.

Demand Generation Agencies 165

Demand Generation Agencies Paid Search Agency Advertising Agencies Work Management 165

The Point

JUNE 5, 2018

However, what’s often overlooked is that buyers don’t stop being self-directed digital consumers when they buy a product or service. When sales and marketing calibrate their respective efforts to the customer – to helping the customer through a buying process or to a desired outcome – then they’ve discovered the basis for alignment.

Lead Ranking 194

Lead Ranking Forrester Lead Scoring Paid Search Agency 194

The Point

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

The result is fewer unqualified leads from people who would never buy your product. The creative requirements for sponsored updates are simple – a few lines of text and a custom image.

Paid Search Agency 187

Paid Search Agency Linkedin Demand Generation Agencies Ads 187

The Point

MAY 23, 2017

For the publishers, I can see the appeal: the opportunity to diversify their product portfolio, add another revenue stream, and charge higher CPLs. 3 reasons why buying pre-qualified sales leads may not be the smart choice for #B2B marketers via @spearmktg. Don’t just assume that buying pre-qualified leads is more efficient.

Sales Qualified Leads 110

Sales Qualified Leads Cost per Lead High Quality Lead CPL 110

The Point

JULY 18, 2014

In particular, she notes that “… 80% of the companies were primarily focused on themselves, with information on products and features but little in regard to the issues their customers might be facing.”. Companies pay lip service to this reality, but then in practice pump out content that is mostly product collateral in sheep’s clothing.

Forrester 100

Forrester Work Management Content Marketing Demand Generation Agencies 100

The Point

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Dave Brock wrote an excellent post recently (“ I’ve Never Ever Sold a Computer or Piece of Software ”) on what technology buyers really buy. His point (crudely distilled) is that while most of us believe that customers are buying our products and services, in fact what they’re really buying is more immediate and personal.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Personalization 100

The Point

MAY 27, 2014

” In theory, asking such questions is an effective (if aggressive) method of bypassing the awkward “do you want to buy” question by, in effect, assuming the prospect has already decided to buy, and simply asking him or her to clarify that decision. ” “Can I deliver that to you this Friday?”

Copywriting 100

Copywriting B2B Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation 100

The Point

JULY 25, 2014

Now, I have no issue with “self-assessment” offers, and indeed I’ve seen them used very successfully for other high-tech products. But here, any perceived value is obliterated because I’m told that the primary reason to take the survey is to learn why I should buy Symantec’s product. This campaign is a perfect example.

Email Campaigns 100

Email Campaigns Design Campaigns Demand Generation 100

The Point

JULY 23, 2012

In an ideal world, all B2B sales leads would be pre-qualified and ready to buy. Some of the main reasons are these: • It’s difficult if not impossible to target a message exclusively to those prospects that are ready to buy. but “budgeted to buy (insert your product or service here)” – not so much.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

The Rule of Seven harkens back to a day when the salesperson was in control, when buyers did little to no research before talking to vendors, and when marketing was simply a string of pitches extolling the virtues of a company’s product. They engage with sales people later in the buying process. Or it could take months.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Validation Demand Generation Rules 100

The Point

APRIL 30, 2013

They’re not, and here’s the simple reason why: Demand generation, by definition, generates measurable demand for your product. At the wide top of the funnel is demand generation – raising awareness about a product and engendering the brand to a customer. Well, OK, it might do those things, but that’s not its purpose. Wait, what?

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Top of Funnel 100

The Point

AUGUST 11, 2015

But that does that mean that every buyer, for every product, conducts 67 percent of his/her research online? Yes, we can segment our message and our offer content based on what we assume to be that prospect’s buying role and level of interest. No it doesn’t, and nor would SiriusDecisions claim it does. But it’s still an educated guess.

Sales Cycle 100

Sales Cycle Demand Generation Lead Nurturing Aggregators 100

The Point

DECEMBER 17, 2010

Most B2B companies will readily acknowledge how much the Web has transformed the way they market their product or service, most visibly in the form of vehicles like search, content marketing, social media, and lead management. They engage with sales people later in the buying process. They often know more than sales people.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management B2B 100

The Point

JULY 27, 2018

It’s ironic then, that in an Age of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and Intent Data and IP-based Advertising, when B2B marketers are looking for any short cut possible to find, meet, engage, and close the prospect who is ready to buy, that high bar offers are more and more popular.

Account Based Marketing 100

Account Based Marketing Campaigns Multi-Channel Demand Generation Agencies 100

The Point

MAY 18, 2011

Now that most marketing departments are tasked with also being content publishers, is it too much to ask that marketing content also persuade customers to buy? When you think about it like this, what you discover is that customer messaging breaks down into categories such as company, solution, product, and sales messaging.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Conversion Paid Search Agency Deliverability 100

The Point

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Increase productivity” is a throwaway – every software product ever developed can make the same claim. Yet the last line of the email is “Sign up now to start saving” which sounds to my ear like an invitation to buy the product. If you want me to buy the product, tell me why I should buy the product.

Email Campaigns 100

Email Campaigns Demand Generation Agencies Campaigns Demand Generation 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Spear identified incremental changes to make in the company’s creative approach, but focused most of their recommendations on segmenting the existing nurturing effort into a program that was more tailored to where a prospect was in the buying process, and to that individual’s specific role or job function.

Conversion Rate 100

Conversion Rate Marketing Qualified Leads Demand Generation Agencies Lead Ranking 100

The Point

OCTOBER 14, 2009

He/she could be anywhere on the buying spectrum – from initial research and education, to final, I-want-to-buy-one-of-these-today evaluation. We work with a lot of SaaS (Software as a Service) clients, and the inclination for those companies is to offer a free trial or download of their product.

Landing Pages 100

Landing Pages PPC Paid Search Agency Webcast 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

Prospects may simply not be ready to buy a solution because either 1) they don’t know such a solution exists, or 2) they may not even be aware they have the relevant problem in the first place; • focusing on only the most qualified prospects leaves many potential (albeit, more long term) deals on the table.

Sales Qualified Leads 100

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 100