The Point

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Today, the decision of whether to rent or buy an email list isn’t quite so clear-cut. Say you’re marketing a new product, and inbound marketing alone (content syndication, search, social media) won’t cut it. That was then. Let’s consider your options: List Rental.

De-duping 100

De-duping Buy InsideView Broadcasting 100

The Point

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Having a customer or user or prospect follow you or your company on LinkedIn, for example, and the ongoing communication and brand awareness that permits, can be just as effective as opt-in email. Buyers want information of value that isn’t just a list of reasons to buy your product.

Marketing Report 246

Marketing Report Email Marketing Co-Registration Privacy 246

The Point

OCTOBER 26, 2010

By increasing marketing efficiency, marketing automation lessens the demand for expensive marketing initiatives designed to bring in net new prospects. Today’s sophisticated buyers want different information at different times: educational content in the early research stages, then more product-specific content later on. The reason?

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Budget 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

As a sales professional or as a marketer, if you engage with a qualified prospect and that prospect doesn’t convert immediately to an opportunity, there’s every reason to stay in touch with that individual over time. then only the most highly motivated prospects will ever respond. Are you ready to buy yet? Click To Tweet.

Lead Nurturing 224

Lead Nurturing Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 224

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

MARCH 3, 2010

In a recent article (member access only), Marketing Sherpa offers up some intriguing research into how prospective tech buyers view email offer content, and how those views can differ dramatically from common assumptions held by marketers. It’s the working assumption of B2B marketers that prospects don’t want to be sold to.

Lead Scoring 100

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Lead Nurturing Webcast 100

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

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

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. How well does your current lead scoring program identify prospects exhibiting signs of buyer intent? For example: * Lead Scoring.

B2B Sales 124

B2B Sales Demand Generation Agencies Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 124

The Point

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

What actions do you want your prospects to take? 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. Or an ad on LinkedIn.

Demand Generation Agencies 147

Demand Generation Agencies Advertising Agencies CMS Development Work Management 147

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. They may not know that such solutions exist.

SEM 100

SEM Paid Search Agency Marketing & Strategy Sales Qualified Leads 100

The Point

JULY 27, 2018

The bar in either case is the level of time, effort, and commitment required of the prospect or person registering for said offer. So, for example, on a spectrum from low to high: * a white paper is a low bar offer (very little asked of the prospect). * I wrote about how to get prospects to say “yes” to a meeting in this earlier post.

Account Based Marketing 100

Account Based Marketing Campaigns Multi-Channel Demand Generation Agencies 100

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

AUGUST 11, 2015

At any given time, you do not know where a given prospect is on that journey. But that does that mean that every buyer, for every product, conducts 67 percent of his/her research online? Secondly, do you really know where a specific prospect is in the buyer’s journey? No two customer journeys are the same. Sorry, but no.

Sales Cycle 100

Sales Cycle Demand Generation Lead Nurturing Aggregators 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

On a recent conference call with a prospective client, the Vice President of Sales chimed in with a question: “How many touches do you think it takes before someone becomes a lead?”. They engage with sales people later in the buying process. Today’s reality is a different world entirely. If not, there’s little hope for recovery.”.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Validation Demand Generation Rules 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

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

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

The Point

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

In early 2014, Sungard AS hired B2B demand generation agency Spear Marketing Group to audit their current lead nurturing programs and to recommend improvements, with two main objectives: • Increase the rate at which new leads and existing prospects convert to Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs). Spear is a Marketo agency partner.) “A

Conversion Rate 100

Conversion Rate Marketing Qualified Leads Demand Generation Agencies Lead Ranking 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

MARCH 13, 2013

In most cases, the goal of an effective autoresponder program isn’t to convince the prospect to buy your product, or even to persuade him or her to request contact from sales. A good autoresponder simply generates response, any response, and gives the prospect another opportunity to request additional information.

Autoresponders 100

Autoresponders Effectiveness Trade Show Bandwidth 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

OCTOBER 14, 2010

The clients we work with are concerned with more basic, day-to-day issues: enhancing sales productivity, converting more inquiries to sales-ready leads (or trial users to paying customers), better leveraging their marketing database, and increasing demand generation ROI. I’m just not sure the rest of us are quite there yet.

Marketo 100

Marketo Impressions Demand Generation Agencies Lead Nurturing 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Lead nurturing programs designed to convert trial users tend to focus, as they should, on the very front end of the trial period, when it’s critical to make sure the user is fully engaged with the product being tested. Another option is to send a brief survey as the final communication asking why he/she didn’t buy.

Telemarketing 100

Telemarketing Marketing Automation Services Lead Nurturing Work Management 100

The Point

OCTOBER 29, 2014

For example: Which of my prospects should I call first? Who is most likely to buy? They can know by applying new technology to all the data that is discoverable about their prospects. (HS) To a layman, how would you describe the power of predictive analytics solutions? What else can I sell to my current customers?

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Analytics Lead Scoring Conversion 100

The Point

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

Increased sales productivity due to better identification of sales-ready leads. Without marketing automation, most salespeople chase new, hot leads, ignore the rest, and then wait for the next marketing program to generate a fresh new batch of “ready to buy” prospects.

Marketing Automation 100

Marketing Automation Automation Bandwidth Cost per Lead 100

The Point

MARCH 29, 2017

Heck, you can pick up the phone and buy hundreds of leads on a Cost Per Lead basis. If the BDRs can’t reach the prospects, the lead goes no further. The ideal nurture program is a mix of early and late stage offers that appeals to a mix of prospects. Maybe demand generation isn’t broken. The reason? The solution?

Sales Qualified Leads 50

Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel High Quality Lead Marketing Qualified Leads 50

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

MAY 6, 2010

How efficiently do raw sales inquiries convert into qualified prospects? What percentage of sales time is spent pursuing, and engaging with, prospects that ultimately aren’t worth the time? How much do sales leads know about your company, your product, your category when they first engage with your company? From new leads?

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Marketing Management Automation 100

The Point

DECEMBER 21, 2021

However, unlike their IT counterparts, the job of the Marketing Data Analyst will be to tell stories: how the suspect became a prospect, how the prospect became a lead, and when the lead became a customer. B2B buyers have increasing leverage and power throughout the buying process. – Alan, Manager, Paid Media Strategy.

Demand Generation Agencies 147

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Trends 147

The Point

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

One of my favorite lead generation mantras is this (repeat after me): Sell the Offer, Not the Product. In the Symantec campaign, the value of the white paper is (apparently) learning why you need to buy their product, Norton Shopping Guarantee. I may as well be asked to download a product brochure.

Email Campaigns 100

Email Campaigns Campaigns Paper Merchandising 100

The Point

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

One of the first questions I ask any prospective technology client is the following: “Imagine your product on a spectrum. At one end of that spectrum are commodity products – CRM, for example – people know these products exist, they understand the problem that the products solve, and they recognize when they have that problem.

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Demand Generation Inbound Marketing Lead Gen 100

The Point

JANUARY 30, 2018

In “ The Startup’s Guide to Demand Generation: From Your First 10 Customers to Your Next 1,000 ,” the two authors cover everything from when to make the first marketing hire, to what marketing technologies to buy first, to how best to leverage marketing data. But a “brand” for a much smaller company is immaterial, I would argue.

Demand Generation Agencies 168

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Generation 168