The Point

MARCH 18, 2020

Provide (as many are) free versions of your product, or premium features, or extended licenses. 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.

Demand 243

Demand Demand Generation Agencies Top of Funnel Account Based Marketing 243

The Point

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Equally striking, the percentage of respondents who reported that their usage was only “basic” – defined as not using many of the available features – was unchanged from a prior 2016 survey, at a mere 28%. Why does marketing automation as a whole continue to suffer from gross underutilization?

Marketing Automation Services 147

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management Marketing Automation Automation 147

The Point

DECEMBER 28, 2017

The guide features insights, projections, and opinions on current challenges, opportunities, and trends from 19 B2B marketing experts and practitioners, including leading executives from Marketo, Oracle, SiriusDecisions, and Forrester Research.

Marketing Report 176

Marketing Report Marketing Automation Automation Demand Generation Agencies 176

The Point

MAY 16, 2018

How about: * a white paper on “10 Most Popular PBX Features (& Top 10 Pet Peeves)”. * a “Business Phone System User Satisfaction Survey” (with a free gift card for responding). * a product comparison matrix or third party report comparing leading phone systems (“How Does Your Current System Rank?”). No thank you. Again, I do not.

Campaigns 191

Campaigns Tips Demand Generation Agencies Lead Scoring 191

The Point

FEBRUARY 27, 2018

Use features like workspaces and partitions if applicable to your business – for example, if data is shared amongst different regions or business units. Establish strict and formal “roles” within the software to limit access for individuals who don’t need full, admin-type permissions.

Privacy Policies 231

Privacy Policies Marketing Automation Services B2B Marketing Marketing Management 231

The Point

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

Nowhere in this invitation do I read what I’ll learn by attending the demo, how long the demo takes, what features/functionality I’ll see demonstrated, etc. What specific features, functionality, and capabilities will he/she hear described, and how will those features benefit his/her business?

Promotion 100

Promotion Product Tips Webinar Metrics 100

The Point

OCTOBER 12, 2011

Thou shalt use benefits, not features. Marketing 101: features mean nothing without the reader understanding how those features benefit him/her specifically. Don’t mention any product feature without a corresponding benefit. Thou shalt drive action at every opportunity.

Copywriting 100

Copywriting Paper Webinar Metrics Marketing Management 100

The Point

MAY 20, 2014

More problematic, in my view, is copy that does little to communicate the value of the actual event, and instead resorts to a litany of product features and limp generalities about that product’s value proposition. Register for this exclusive event today and learn how …”) and then launches into a laundry list of product features.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Webinar Metrics Design Paid Search Agency 100

The Point

JUNE 17, 2016

It means that they’re not going to be as bogged down in features and brochure-speak. An outside firm brings fresh thinking, free of internal politics or historical baggage. The fact that they know the product that much less may even be a good thing.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Paid Search Agency Advertising Agencies Copywriting 100

The Point

AUGUST 16, 2016

The microsite features different marketing campaigns each week, spotlights the brands driving the most engagement on social media, and provides articles, blog posts, and other content that showcases top performing campaigns.

Microsite 100

Microsite Campaigns Demand Generation Agencies Brand Identity 100

The Point

APRIL 21, 2010

Here are some key features worth noting: * Prominent Subscription Options : visitors can choose to subscribe via email (a monthly compilation of new posts), RSS, or through Twitter. So far, this feature is amongst the most-read content on the blog.). The blog has resulted in one casualty: the Navicure email newsletter.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Sales Leads Paid Search Agency Work Management 100

The Point

MARCH 16, 2011

The #1 feature your blog needs to generate real, measurable ROI. In less than 8 minutes, you’ll learn: • How to incorporate blogs into your overall lead generation strategy. • Why one, all-encompassing corporate blog may not be enough. • Listen to the podcast now or download it to your favorite mobile device.

Generation 100

Generation Leads Lead Marketing Qualified Leads 100

The Point

JULY 14, 2015

In the fulfillment email, deliver the link as promised, and include the same, “secondary” offers that were featured on the thank you page. I discuss other compelling reasons to fulfill content via email in this earlier post.

Sales Qualified Leads 100

Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Top of Funnel 100

The Point

DECEMBER 3, 2013

In a similar vein, the three bullet points under “What You’ll Learn” are a grab-bag of product features (and mixed tenses, just for good measure.) I’m seeing a lot of buzzwords but nothing that’s different or compelling.

Webcast 100

Webcast Eloqua B2B Thought Leadership Webinar Metrics 100

The Point

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Which leads me to wonder: if indeed this becomes more than a trend, and develops into a standard feature of B2B display advertising, can Google, or even Yahoo/Bing, be far behind in offering their own version of demographic targeting?

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Demographics Display DemandBase 100

The Point

JUNE 11, 2010

Note: I’ll also be presenting on the same topic at 1:30 PM PST on Tuesday, June 29 as part of the Focus Interactive Summit: Mastering Lead Management, an online event featuring B2B thought leaders like Ardath Albee, Mac McIntosh, and David Raab. Download your copy of the white paper here.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Paper Marketing Automation Services Tips 100

The Point

APRIL 23, 2013

Feature an image of the offer to make it more tangible. And lastly, I’d add a text link (“Download your copy now”) in the very last paragraph for the same reason – with images turned off, there is no visible call to action for the reader to click. Using email to promote content? Remember these tips: 1.

Email Campaigns 100

Email Campaigns Campaigns Copywriting Demand Generation 100

The Point

OCTOBER 30, 2013

If you choose not to employ landing pages in your nurturing campaign, you’ll miss the opportunity to employ “progressive profiling,” a feature common to most marketing automation systems by which you can serve up additional questions incrementally to a prospect as he/she engages with your campaign.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Landing Pages 100

The Point

MAY 12, 2010

The park will feature a 2-1/2 hour guided tour that includes a dramatic spiral staircase, sky bridges, and ziplines – some hundreds of feet off the ground and more than 1,000 feet long. Sonoma Canopy Tours will be one of the largest zipline tours in the nation when it opens in Sonoma County, California later this year.

Tagging 100

Tagging Planning Twitter Design 100

The Point

MARCH 29, 2012

One of the most effective ways to generate blog leads is to feature downloadable content – white papers, case studies, analyst reports – in your sidebar, and gate that content behind registration forms. Now the challenge is to convert those casual visitors into inquiries and opportunities.

RSS 100

RSS Paper Case Study Case Studies 100

The Point

JUNE 14, 2011

Visual image of the offer is featured prominently. Yet altogether, it’s a terrific campaign, and one that delivers its message with a remarkable efficiency that many marketers would do well to emulate. Header communicates both the topic and offer front and center. Sub-head is a clear, concise business benefit.

Marketo 100

Marketo Email Campaigns Campaigns Advertising Agencies 100

The Point

MARCH 3, 2015

This isn’t exactly new but what once seemed like a niche strategy now looks more like a standard approach.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Enterprise Management Paid Search Agency Advertising Agencies 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

This month, Google released a new feature called Priority Inbox , designed to help Gmail users better cope with email overload by automatically determining which emails are most important to you.

Lead Generation 100

Lead Generation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Generation 100

The Point

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

You can download a free copy of the ebook – 100 pages on everything you need to know about marketing automation – what it is, how it’s different from CRM, common features, keys to success, and more – by clicking here. Recently I was asked to contribute some thoughts to Marketo’s new ebook, “ The Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation.”

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Marketing Management Automation 100

The Point

JULY 13, 2012

Over at Marketo, Jon Miller wrote a fascinating post recently on “ The 4-1-1 Rule for Lead Nurturing ” in which he posits (and here I’m paraphrasing) that lead nurturing campaigns don’t always need to feature the latest white paper, Webinar, or video, and that these kinds of offers or promotions are best interspersed with what Jon refers to as “educational (..)

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Campaigns 100

The Point

MARCH 7, 2014

If the nice folks at Disney read this, herewith is my feature request list for the “Official Disneyland Mobile App”: 1. I recognize that part of Disneyland’s charm is the careful maintenance of a certain 1950s aura, but does that require adherence to 1950s technology? Direction finder to any ride, restaurant, shop or attraction.

Mobile Advertising 100

Mobile Advertising Mobile Marketing Marketing & Strategy Paper 100

The Point

JANUARY 8, 2013

To Lavi’s credit, these are benefits and not features, and they’re bulleted in a way that makes them easy to read at a glance. In addition, the header itself is so large that it’s forcing selling copy down the page and below the fold. The entire body copy is all about the product. But so what?

Product 100

Product Email Marketing Cross-Selling Paper 100

The Point

MAY 14, 2012

The keys to marketing automation ROI lie not in features but in strategy, collaboration, metrics, and the development of more sophisticated, multi-touch, triggered campaigns. Forrester maintains that most marketers invest in marketing automation with the goal of increasing marketing efficiency – i.e. doing more with less.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Marketing Report Automation 100

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.”. Ramos’ insights about where marketers can improve their return from content marketing are mainly on point.

Forrester 100

Forrester Work Management Content Marketing Demand Generation Agencies 100

The Point

APRIL 19, 2012

I’m a huge proponent for featuring offer images in email campaigns (it makes the offer seem more real and tangible), but in this case, the image itself is so large that it’s forcing much of the main selling copy to appear below the fold. And here’s what I’d change: 4. Wow, that white paper image is ENORMOUS.

Lead Scoring 100

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Paper Verticals 100

The Point

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

The bigger question is: as a B2B marketer, and more specifically, a B2B email marketer, is any of this really critical to your day-to-day campaigns?

Deliverability 100

Deliverability CAN-SPAM Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 100

The Point

JUNE 24, 2010

That connection is integral – without it, for example if the landing page featured only the barest of an offer description and a registration form – the reader will fail to make the connection between what was promised on Twitter and the content that you’re offering.

Landing Pages 100

Landing Pages Paper Demand Generation Comparison 100

The Point

APRIL 18, 2011

key features in the new product release. Businesses that rely heavily on imagery – real estate is a prime example, travel and hospitality would be another – are ideal candidates, but with a little imagination, potential B2B applications abound: • customer welcome video. highlights of last year’s user conference.

Cost 100

Cost Video Marketing Effectiveness Microsite 100

The Point

JUNE 26, 2013

LinkedIn used to have an “events” feature but shut it down in 2012. If someone then elects to “join” that event, not only will you be promoting the event to that individual’s Facebook friends, those who join the event will see a reminder of the upcoming date every time they log into Facebook.

Webinar Metrics 100

Webinar Metrics B2B Thought Leadership Lead Nurturing Telemarketing 100

The Point

JULY 9, 2010

To be fair, the bullet points offer benefits (increase traffic, optimize campaigns) as well as mere features, but this laundry list approach begs the question: what are we selling? Instead, most of the body copy consists of a listing of product functionality. If you’re asking me to buy the product, fine.

Marketing Management 100

Marketing Management Vendors Web 2.0 Copywriting 100

The Point

MARCH 3, 2010

And here’s the good news for those of you for whom offer content is often a barrier to developing or expanding email programs: not every email in your nurturing stream needs to feature yet another new white paper or Webcast.

Lead Scoring 100

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Lead Nurturing Webcast 100

The Point

MAY 18, 2011

For example, most product messaging is a description of what the product does, how it works, and a listing of undifferentiated features and benefits. These messaging categories are typically descriptive. It’s the “what” and “how” content. Sales messaging, on the other hand, is persuasive. It’s the “why” content. Why should I meet with you?

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Conversion Paid Search Agency Deliverability 100