The Point

OCTOBER 26, 2010

As part of a team that works regularly with companies who are either actively considering marketing automation, or have just invested in the technology, we get a first-hand view into what drives people to take the leap. Here are a couple of other factors that often figure prominently: Desire for Marketing Efficiency. The email blast is dead.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Budget 100

The Point

MAY 17, 2021

That’s not simply because prospective customers will engage more readily with content that better aligns with whether they’re researching best practices, actively evaluating potential vendors, or somewhere in between. Use of very short-term metrics will almost certainly devalue those leads and the perceived ROI from the program.

Marketing Management 207

Marketing Management Paid Search Agency Buying Cycle Demand Generation Agencies 207

The Point

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Few companies have 100% clean data or anywhere close to it, so any attempt at personalization is likely to be rife with errors. 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.

Marketing Report 246

Marketing Report Email Marketing Co-Registration Privacy 246

The Point

JANUARY 23, 2018

Tech companies have short-term horizons for a number of reasons: * Many are private and depend on short term results to prove viability and therefore ensure their ongoing funding. Technology changes rapidly, and tech companies often have windows of opportunity to realize revenue from products or services before they become obsolete. .

Sales Management 253

Sales Management Sales Qualified Leads Demand Generation Agencies Lead Scoring 253

The Point

JANUARY 31, 2011

What does a software company do when their paid search program is working well but just not generating enough leads? Here are just some of the changes that Spear made to Navicure’s campaign: Broadened the campaign to attract prospects earlier in the sales cycle. Added branded terms to the campaign.

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Demand Generation Agencies Sales Qualified Leads PPC 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Now, not only was I not ready, I barely remember what his company does. That’s because I haven’t had any communication from him or his company in the last 6 months that wasn’t a direct solicitation to do business with the firm. then only the most highly motivated prospects will ever respond. Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash.

Lead Nurturing 224

Lead Nurturing Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 224

The Point

APRIL 21, 2010

How do you reinvent a company blog in a way that does more than simply provide a platform for thought leadership? Like many companies, Navicure’s corporate blog had evolved organically over time, and the marketing team was looking to leverage social media for more than just PR value. The results have been startling.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Sales Leads Paid Search Agency Work Management 100

The Point

APRIL 16, 2019

Because costs per click in B2B search campaigns can often be extremely high when companies compete the for same keywords, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for B2B advertisers offers its own very unique challenges. Yet, many B2B companies don’t take the time to compute these numbers, or even basic funnel metrics. Some will be, well: junk.

Cost per Acquisition 235

Cost per Acquisition Paid Search Agency Campaigns Cost Per Click 235

The Point

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

This functionality not only generates additional insights for marketers as to just how much of their content prospects are actually reading, but also enables more sophisticated lead qualification methods, for example: granting higher lead scores when an individual prospect reads more than say, 80 percent of a white paper.

Paper 193

Paper Demand Generation Agencies Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 193

The Point

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Yahoo has yet to define their rules in detail, but Google’s are published here and summarized as follows: The new Google rules affect companies sending 5,000+ emails per day to any Google users, including Gmail accounts but also (crucially) Google Workspace domains. That may be a challenge, however, for all but the smallest companies.

Deliverability 162

Deliverability Rules Purchase Marketing Automation Services 162

The Point

OCTOBER 8, 2020

For more companies than not, marketing success is rarely about convincing a given individual, on a given day, to buy what it is you’re selling. Rather, it’s a question of being the company that the buyer finds, or thinks of first, when the relevant need occurs. You can quibble with the percentage, but, overall, she had a point.

Demand Generation Agencies 173

Demand Generation Agencies Paid Search Agency Advertising Agencies Marketing Agencies 1 173

The Point

AUGUST 29, 2017

What is the level of prior engagement (cold, warm, hot) and how aware is the audience of our brand, company, solution? If nothing else, including a mix of different channels diversifies your risk and increases the chances of engaging with prospects who may each have individual communication preferences. Email to prospect.

Touchpoints 228

Touchpoints Account Based Marketing ABM Ideal Customer Profiles 228

The Point

DECEMBER 15, 2020

I’ve written elsewhere in this space that marketing is often an accident of timing , and so, as long as you’re adhering to data privacy rules and providing information of value, it may be months or sometimes years before a prospect has a genuine need and engages with your campaign and your brand in a meaningful way.

Lead Scoring 162

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads Lead 162

The Point

MARCH 8, 2018

However, in my experience, most tech companies don’t know how to market them. By which I mean that most analyst reports – Gartner Magic Quadrants, Forrester Wave Reports, and the like – are marketed as press announcements vs. information of value that might attract prospects actively evaluating your type of solution. See what I mean?

Marketing Report 216

Marketing Report Planning Gartner Demand Generation Agencies 216

The Point

APRIL 19, 2023

If you’re aiming at the wrong companies, not even the best content or creative will save you. Most marketers accept this axiom implicitly, and yet B2B companies routinely define their target audience with more attention to logos and aspiration than actual fit. Exegraphic data helps you understand how a company executes its mission.

Ideal Customer Profiles 130

Ideal Customer Profiles Marketing AI Marketing Analytics Tools B2B Marketing 130

The Point

JUNE 24, 2022

How should companies adapt their demand generation playbook to better serve the needs of the self-serve buyer? As in the consumer space, B2B buyers use a variety of content to research prospective purchases: social media, Google search, review sites. Key Finding 1: Buyers have all but replaced vendor-provided content.

Top of Funnel 130

Top of Funnel Cold Calling B2B Demand Generation 130

The Point

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

In other words, would you only ever want marketing leads from prospects pre-determined to be actively researching your category, solution, use case, etc.? Hunting those prospects “ready to buy,” sure, but also sowing the seeds that will yield a larger pool of opportunities in the long term. My argument: no, you wouldn’t. .

Intent Data 149

Intent Data Demand Generation Agencies Intent Paid Social Agency 149

The Point

OCTOBER 15, 2019

may not be doing enough to educate the prospect , “warm up” the lead, or drive additional engagement, or. 3) you could be generating the wrong types of leads altogether, namely either people that simply aren’t ready to engage with sales, or perhaps the wrong titles at the wrong companies. 2) lead nurturing. Conversational Marketing.

Sales Qualified Leads 138

Sales Qualified Leads Work Management Marketing Management Account Based Marketing 138

The Point

APRIL 22, 2020

Indeed, much of the success that companies see with content syndication has more to do with what happens with leads AFTER they’re generated – i.e. how those leads are responded to, nurtured, and ultimately converted. Remember, thought leadership content will typically drive more leads, but leads that convert more slowly.

Lead Scoring 162

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking CPL Cost per Lead 162

The Point

APRIL 19, 2017

The best demand generation campaigns start with content that your prospects want. Does the topic help to qualify the prospect as someone suffering from a problem or pain point your product/service can solve? After all, it’s the title that drives the prospect to click on your ad or fill out the registration form.

Top of Funnel 214

Top of Funnel Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Paper 214

The Point

JULY 1, 2019

programs and hand off leads to sales at the first opportunity, but there are more incremental steps that companies can take to ensure – if buyers are indeed ready to engage earlier in the process – that they have the opportunity to do so. How well does your current lead scoring program identify prospects exhibiting signs of buyer intent?

B2B Sales 124

B2B Sales Demand Generation Agencies Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 124

The Point

DECEMBER 6, 2022

In many cases, the weak point in these funnel-based models is when companies have a too-generous MQL threshold, resulting in a scenario where marketing hits their MQL goals, but pipeline and closed-won numbers don’t keep pace. Greater effectiveness at the top of the funnel can have an out-sized impact.

Budget Programs 162

Budget Programs Lead Ranking Demand Marketing Qualified Leads 162

The Point

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

Weaving that story into content, ads, and other campaign assets will help your company stand out. What actions do you want your prospects to take? What is the value-add that makes you distinct from other partners in a way that customers would want to work with you? Many will even help write the proposal to apply for funds.

Demand Generation Agencies 147

Demand Generation Agencies Advertising Agencies CMS Development Work Management 147

The Point

JANUARY 19, 2021

“Continuing a pandemically-caused shift in brand voice and design, more and more B2B brands will begin proactively displaying (maybe even discovering) their “softer,” human side to better empathize with prospects and customers, much in the same way that B2C brands did in the wake of the 2008 housing crash. – Ben, Creative Director. “I

Demand Generation Agencies 147

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Lead Ranking 147

The Point

AUGUST 27, 2019

As native advertising, and as different from Google (where a prospect only sees your ad if he/she is searching on a relevant topic), LinkedIn ads have a finite shelf life. Poor Company Page. Expect that some percentage of people who view your Sponsored Content will opt to click through to your company page. Stale Creative.

Paid Content 241

Paid Content Advertising Agencies Linkedin Advertisements 241

The Point

OCTOBER 25, 2018

The analysts at Demand Gen Report just published their “ 2018 Lead Nurturing & Acceleration Survey Report ” and one conclusion is no surprise: many B2B companies are still really bad at lead nurturing. For those companies, it makes no difference whether they nurture leads or not. Think about that. That’s just depressing. (The

Lead Nurturing 178

Lead Nurturing Marketing Report Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 178

The Point

MAY 9, 2017

HS) Where do most B2B companies trip up when it comes to executing on ABM? (SP) SP) I believe branding is making a comeback because marketers are finally realizing that deploying martech tools to automate the delivery of undifferentiated messages isn’t enough to engage and convert prospects. SP) It’s critically important.

Account Based Marketing 206

Account Based Marketing ABM Marketing Automation Services Lead Scoring 206

The Point

JULY 27, 2016

A prospective client asks: “What are the best demand generation strategies for finding people who are ready to buy our product?”. My response: Finding highly-qualified, late-stage prospects has less to do with demand generation channels or tactics, and much more to do with content. No it doesn’t. appeared first on The Point.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Buy Product Demand Generation 100

The Point

MAY 23, 2017

Whereas typically, content syndication has meant acquiring leads, at a fixed cost, that are filtered by criteria such as job title, geography, and company size, now many publishers and other lead generation companies are adding the option of BANT criteria such as purchase timeframe. Question: is this a smart choice for marketers?

Sales Qualified Leads 110

Sales Qualified Leads Cost per Lead High Quality Lead CPL 110

The Point

JANUARY 17, 2019

At this particular company, all leads flowed first to a team of Sales Development Reps (SDRs), and were required to be contacted and qualified by that team before proceeding further along the funnel. During the audit, it became quickly apparent that one of the major issues was at the very front end of the lead qualification process.

Sales Qualified Leads 168

Sales Qualified Leads Tips Lead Nurturing Multi-Channel 168

The Point

JULY 30, 2019

Yes, many companies are seeing lower returns from traditional demand gen. I would also allow that many of those same companies could benefit greatly from integrating ABM into their overall demand gen mix. The real answer to that question, I would argue, is more nuanced. More broadly, it’s not that demand generation has stopped working.

Demand Generation Agencies 140

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Account Based Marketing ABM 140

The Point

OCTOBER 25, 2017

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) , Predictive Analytics) that now allow us to 1) find prospective customers with a higher propensity to buy, and 2) target those prospects, at scale, in a tightly orchestrated fashion, it would be a mistake to rely exclusively on outbound tactics. Click To Tweet.

Account Based Marketing 127

Account Based Marketing Demand Generation Agencies ABM Paid Social Agency 127

The Point

FEBRUARY 27, 2018

Of these, GDPR is the most far-reaching in that it not only impacts email communication (the focus of CAN-SPAM and CASL) but also the way companies gather, store, protect, share, and utilize personal data. GDPR requires that companies who collect and manage personal data protect that data from any potential misuse and exploitation.

Privacy Policies 231

Privacy Policies Marketing Automation Services B2B Marketing Marketing Management 231

The Point

MAY 28, 2019

Like so many other trends that first take root in the consumer realm, B2B companies are starting to take note, to the point where chatbots – programs designed to simulate (and stimulate) conversation with online users – are being heralded as the “next big thing” in B2B marketing. They’re a complementary technology.

Demand Generation Agencies 127

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Top of Funnel 127

The Point

OCTOBER 8, 2015

Unfortunately the budget for the campaign got cancelled, so I emailed the rep, told her the bad news, and that I would continue to keep her company and product in mind for future needs. I meet the demographic criteria, I’m aware of the company, but I don’t have immediate needs (though I may in the future.) It’s [Name] from [Company].

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 100

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

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Earlier this week, San Francisco-based Demandbase announced its “ Company Targeted Advertising ,” a new platform that allows B2B marketers to target online display advertising either to specific companies (by name) or those that meet specific corporate attributes (company size for example, or vertical industries).

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Demographics Display DemandBase 100