Digital B2B Marketing

AUGUST 23, 2012

Until B2B marketers begin talking about personas and lead scoring together they are missing an simple way to identify missed sales opportunities. Lead Scoring B2B marketing uses lead scoring to determine what prospects should be sent to sales and when. Company characteristics, including company size, industry and structure.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Peer-to-peer Leads 100

Digital B2B Marketing

AUGUST 20, 2013

Even though reporting shows you are becoming a better marketer, it doesn’t show how marketing, overall, is progressively improving your company’s position. Is Your Sales Process Working. Marketing contributed at least some of the current sales opportunities. Here are the five metrics you should be tracking.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads B2B Marketing Sales Qualified Leads 100

Digital B2B Marketing

MAY 17, 2012

Here is a hypothetical, yet very realistic, snippet of a conversation with a publisher: Marketer: We are looking for demand generation opportunities that will deliver leads for sales. At best, the resulting program is a list of relatively targeted contacts, not leads that are qualified and appropriate to pass to a sales team as leads.

Marketing Qualified Leads 100

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead 100

Digital B2B Marketing

MAY 8, 2014

LinkedIn has become a powerhouse media company for B2B marketers , from opportunities for direct engagement (it does still have a few social media trappings) to publishing, content promotion and advertising. If you are targeting IT buyers at large companies, you are using the company size, job function and seniority.

Linkedin 100

Linkedin Campaigns Social Media Advertisements 100

Digital B2B Marketing

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Content marketing provides the information buyers need to determine the type of solution they need, develop internal support for a change, create a short list of providers and address objections , all while positioning your company as a trusted resource. is the length of the sales cycle. Wow, that sounds amazing.

Buy 100

Buy B2B Marketing Work Management Content Marketing 100

Digital B2B Marketing

APRIL 2, 2013

It is called a complex sale for a reason, but B2B marketers keep trying to fit it into a simplistic measurement framework: where did we get that lead? As a results, B2B acquisition marketing often devolves into one of two places: Just getting a lead (really just some contact details, but I digress) into the marketing and sales machine.

Top of Funnel 100

Top of Funnel Peer-to-peer B2B Work Management 100

Digital B2B Marketing

AUGUST 30, 2011

With complex buying processes, multiple stakeholders, and a high touch sales process, how important is a brand? The perception your audience has of your company is the reality of your brand. Yes, the perception of your company and offering is critical to closing deals. And what does that have to do with a woozle?

B2B Marketing 100

B2B Marketing Peer-to-peer B2B Touchpoints 100

Digital B2B Marketing

OCTOBER 29, 2013

One of the challenges with relying on research, particularly research companies use in their own marketing, is that the statistics used have been tortured. When you see a sales pitch full of statistics, how do you differentiate the real story from the spin? Sales enablement. Turn Stats Upside Down. Brand awareness.

Statistics 100

Statistics Banner Ads Stats Sample 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JANUARY 10, 2012

There are many reputable email data providers, however telling the difference can sometimes be difficult, as Welcome to the Murky World of Email List Sales outlined now more than three years ago. I would rather see a company build their list organically over time, creating a list of people that have opted in specifically to hear from them.

Buy 100

Buy Email Marketing B2B Marketing Jigsaw 100

Digital B2B Marketing

MAY 17, 2011

A buyer, educating themselves, resulted in a two day sale for a company with a 90 day average sales cycle. More companies will listen in social media, responding to individuals with tailored information. Avaya’s widely cited case of a $250,000 sale via Twitter is a great example. Conversational Social Media.

Lead Generation 100

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Generation Leads 100

Digital B2B Marketing

MAY 29, 2012

Scenario 1: Growing an Account Without Intros You work with one division of a Fortune 50 company and are looking to grow the account into other divisions. Your solution is delivering significant process improvements for large insurance companies. How do you get high-level sales meetings?

Work Management 100

Work Management B2B Marketing Marketing Management B2B 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JUNE 11, 2014

The problem starts when you begin measuring your programs based on the companies or individuals you reached and what they did. When you report this as a sale driven by marketing, you are taking credit for a sale even though marketing didn’t cause it. No wonder 8 in 10 CEOs don’t trust the work marketing is doing.

Doubleclick 100

Doubleclick Search Marketing Marketing Report Paid Search Agency 100

Digital B2B Marketing

OCTOBER 11, 2012

What companies do you want to work with? As you help potential buyers through the process, they will become more familiar with you and your solutions as well, leading to an opportunity to make a sale. Some companies are just companies. The ones that would make your day, even if they didn’t make your wallet?

B2B 100

B2B B2B Sales Advertising Agencies B2B Marketing 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JANUARY 9, 2014

I’m sick of crappy content, fluffy sales claims and advice that ignores the real issue. The now common refrain says every company is a media company and every individual is a publisher. Companies, and many individuals, are now vying for your attention (but be honest, that was always the case). I’ve had it!

Marketing Report 100

Marketing Report Social Media Email Marketing Traffic 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JULY 31, 2012

Sales cycles are long, measurement can be convoluted, and segmentation, lead scoring and sales and marketing alignment take traditional marketers into uncomfortable spaces. Until your marketing efforts create a level of demand, you are not setting your sales team up to succeed. B2B marketing is complex.

B2B Marketing 100

B2B Marketing Planning B2B Demand Generation 100

Digital B2B Marketing

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Here are a couple examples of how B2B target audiences are generalized for advertising: Juniper targets companies with large data centers. However, before that can be turned into a broad advertising plan, it is generalized as large companies or specific industries likely to have large data centers. Measure traffic by company.

Demand Generation 100

Demand Generation DemandBase Advertisements Advertising 100

Digital B2B Marketing

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

So your sales consultant can contact me? The marketing automation machine lives on a diet of email and your sales process is built on the telephone. According to research, buyers only engage with companies directly during the last 40% of their research process. “Why do you want my email and phone number again?

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Marketing Automation Services PR Social Media 100

Digital B2B Marketing

NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Every company is looking to differentiate by meeting specific business needs. I sat next to a gentleman on a flight who sells a commodity manufactured product to trucking companies. This company’s marketing consists of a catalog. This is why every company needs to own their own strategy.

Inbound Marketing 100

Inbound Marketing Paid Search Agency Differentiation Marketing & Strategy 100

Digital B2B Marketing

NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Every company is looking to differentiate by meeting specific business needs. I sat next to a gentleman on a flight who sells a commodity manufactured product to trucking companies. This company’s marketing consists of a catalog. This is why every company needs to own their own strategy.

Inbound Marketing 100

Inbound Marketing Paid Search Agency Differentiation Marketing & Strategy 100

Digital B2B Marketing

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Media sales representatives perpetuate the problem, comparing reach to their competitors. You can target by company size, functional role, industry, seniority, or even individual companies and group memberships. Companies like Retargeter and Bizo offer this solution. Company targeting. Do they watch the Super Bowl?

Advertisements 100

Advertisements Advertising DemandBase CRM 100

Digital B2B Marketing

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

So your sales consultant can contact me? The marketing automation machine lives on a diet of email and your sales process is built on the telephone. According to research, buyers only engage with companies directly during the last 40% of their research process. “Why do you want my email and phone number again?

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Marketing Automation Services PR Demand Generation 100

Digital B2B Marketing

APRIL 22, 2011

In the spring, she grows more than 100 tomato varieties alone for sale as starts at their small farm and local farmers markets. It sounds easy, but most companies have been delivering for so long that they don’t even know what they are passionate about. Look across your marketplace, not just within your company, for stories.

Process 100

Process Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Paid Search Agency 100

Digital B2B Marketing

MAY 19, 2011

A strong brand opens doors for sales. It puts your company on the short list. No demo, trial or consultative sales process can change this. These impressions of your brand are far more powerful than a traditional advertising campaign and they happen before your prospect ever connects with sales. Ahh, brand. Not in B2B.

Advertising Agencies 100

Advertising Agencies Advertisements Advertising Brand Identity 100

Digital B2B Marketing

MAY 20, 2014

For many marketers, this minimum can be as simple as name, email and company. Progressive profiling can then be used to capture additional nice-to-have information, from location to current purchase plans to preferences and attitudes that can shape the following communications from both sales and marketing.

Profiling 100

Profiling Marketing Automation Services Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation 100

Digital B2B Marketing

DECEMBER 20, 2011

However, companies frequently expect the same content marketing program to capture contacts or leads as well. Requiring registration limits distribution and recognition of the content that is supposed to position your company as a thought leader. The problem is, registration and thought leadership are at odds with each other.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership Lead Generation Webcast 100

Digital B2B Marketing

OCTOBER 15, 2013

For consumable, spreadable content without a strong sales or company spin, start with this list. Try typing job titles, industries, affiliations or companies in the self-serve platform, you may be surprised by what is available. Of course you can (anything is for sale in the publishing world these days). Promoted Tweets.

Paid Content 100

Paid Content Distribution Advertising Agencies B2B Marketing 100

Digital B2B Marketing

APRIL 11, 2013

Your organization was on board when it was cheap, when you could drive results with thoughtless blog posts slammed out in 10 minutes or created by an offshore SEO company. Content was part of SEO, social or a crazy skunkworks company blog experiment. It supported your sales team. Content was a supporting element only.

B2B Marketing 100

B2B Marketing Content Marketing B2B Paid Search Agency 100

Digital B2B Marketing

DECEMBER 2, 2013

More robust platforms (including nearly any marketing automation program) will let you include conditional and branching logic and integrate with your sales or telemarketing systems. What if they are already well into the sales process, this just happens to be the first piece of content they downloaded from you?

Lead Generation 100

Lead Generation Budget Programs Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JUNE 14, 2012

Your content supports the sales process and effectively communicates the value of your solutions to prospects. Now, you are ready to use content marketing to raise the profile of your company overall. Content that drives overall visibility for your company is different.

Content Marketing 100

Content Marketing Planning Eloqua Marketing Automation Services 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JULY 16, 2012

Content is King No, increasing profit, free cash flow or the value of your company is king. Social media can benefit many businesses, but so can your sales team, advertising, product, customer service or supply chain management. I recently spoke with an executive that sells to trucking companies. It isn’t likely.

B2B Marketing 100

B2B Marketing B2B Marketing Management Social Media 100

Digital B2B Marketing

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

In the last couple weeks, two companies have emailed or called me because I follow influential sales and marketing accounts on Twitter. Here is a better way, along with actual results, that companies can use to drive leads through social media. There is nothing social about this!

Lead Generation 100

Lead Generation Twitter CPL Cost per Lead 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JULY 3, 2012

Turning Attention into Marketing Success The top three content marketing objectives according a recent survey by Curata (notably, a company that offers a solution for content curation), are driving leads/sales, thought leadership and brand awareness. The attention you earn is the key to delivering against your real objectives.

Curation 100

Curation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Thought Leadership 100

Digital B2B Marketing

MARCH 25, 2011

Look for opportunities to seed with people that already look to your company. Media companies always curated content to appeal to an audience. Like the media companies of old, these marketers will find curation isn’t only sharing content. Long time clients. Personal connections. What content will you begin curating?

Curation 100

Curation Activities Media B2B Thought Leadership 100

Digital B2B Marketing

AUGUST 22, 2013

Talk to potential prospects that have not engaged with sales in order to understand prospects your marketing needs to reach. Don’t just focus the discussion on views of your category or company. The solution: Don’t rely on salespeople and executives for insight, or even on customers. The Title Persona.

B2B Marketing 100

B2B Marketing Work Management Marketing Management B2B 100

Digital B2B Marketing

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

No one buys from a company they distrust or pays a premium for a solution they see as a low cost provider. Focusing on Linear Results Measurement Marketing measurement starts when a contact is captured and continues as contacts move into and through the sales pipeline. Here are the issues that may be blinding you today.

B2B Marketing 100

B2B Marketing Bundling B2B Marketing Proposals 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JUNE 4, 2013

If you are a B2B marketer, particularly one focused on making a complex sale in a large enterprise, the answer is almost certainly a resounding yes. Although inbound has the longest rampup time, it is increasingly the first choice for smaller companies and startups and a quickly growing focus for larger marketers. Search marketing.

Paid Content 100

Paid Content Lead Generation Tactics Paid Search Agency 100

Digital B2B Marketing

JUNE 23, 2011

Through the sales and negotiation dance, the cards were slowly revealed one at a time, with you and your prospect jockeying for advantage through the entire process. Your content was designed to benefit your audience and position your company favorably. This change has turned demand creation upside down. Develop Your Own Audience.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Planning Mobile Marketing Budget Programs 100