People are gathering information from all kinds of sources. Drive readers back to a landing page or specific content on your website where you can collect their contact information, track where they’re coming from, and add them to an email list,” advises Marx. They don’t have a lot of time, and they don’t want information that’s not relevant to what they’re doing,” says Marx. Provide the writer useful information to help develop a good story that applies to his or her beat. Tom Becktold, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Business Wire. At right is an example. MORE >>

Here, customers can click to find more information, whether it’s pricing, research, terms and conditions, or competitive analyses. When you get enough information, you can make observations like, ‘When we use demos, our win rate is really high, and when we don’t, it crashes,’” says Dickie. Prospects are searching the Web intensely, and they’re well informed about what they want when they’re ready to speak to a sales representative. Tweet CSO Insights , which interviews thousands of chief sales officers to benchmark B2B sales best practices, has tracked an alarming trend. MORE >>

I instantly felt comfortable and willing to give my contact information,” she said. Then I thought, ‘Wow, that’s interesting, I’m always getting asked to give my contact information. 'Tweet Regardless of whether you’re selling to people who are purchasing something for their workplace or themselves, you’re still selling to people – especially when it comes to digital marketing. Consider the words of Shawn Burns , Global Vice President of Digital Marketing, SAP: “The B2B space has the same opportunities as the B2C space when it comes to digital marketing. d love to hear about them. MORE >>

However, appropriate contact means providing customers information they want — not trying to sell them something. Here’s the lead-nurturing litmus test : Can prospects benefit from the information you provide regardless of whether they buy from you? This will help you target the right information to the right people; it will help you identify what information is most relevant to them and how they want to consume it. What sort of information informs your buying decisions? Email this information to them at regular intervals, every three to six weeks. MORE >>

She’s also witnessed how this information has supported sales leaders who have come to the conference room table again and again with a customer issue that the C-level dismisses. So this method can be used both to refute single-customer, anecdotal information (which can be misleading), and to reinforce the valid, multiple-customer observations of the sales force. Have you ever spoken directly with customers to inform your marketing efforts? So it is with marketing. Too many marketers think they can lead the pack by leveraging the hottest channels, software and platforms. MORE >>