Social media marketing has led to the demise of traditional madmen (read my previous posts about this, From Subliminal Madmen to Lead Nurturers and Bye, Bye, Madmen; Hello, Lead Nurturers! )- we no longer need so many crafty creatives designing messages in their ivory towers and charging companies big bucks for their work. There are two major developments for B2B marketers I’m thankful for. Citizen Marketing and Social Media. In 2007 Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba wrote the book, Citizen Marketing. Measuring Marketing Results is More Accurate. ” What say you? MORE >>

It’s sad for someone who has to follow and not lead. I manage marketing and social media for some of my clients, and imagine my surprise when I found that a marketing services vendor in my network was following not one, not two, but many of my clients or customers on Twitter. I’m on my Friday morning marketing soapbox to say that this is not only creepy, it’s sad, and it can happen to you! It’s sad for the marketer who doesn’t have enough customers and connections to build a social network organically like I did. Be original, organic and true. MORE >>

Up until as late as 2005, I did think a valid strategy for a company with no presence on the web was to jump start online lead generation with PPC. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a waste of marketing dollars. It’s expensive, and it’s so ten years ago. think the only reason Pay-Per-Click advertising still exists is because there are so many certified PPC re-sellers who convince businesses it works. Go ahead – do a search – such as “Does PPC work?” ” Most of the answers you will find are from the service-providers who make money on PPC. Or con? MORE >>

There are 3 personalities, however, that I’ve realized are not always productive for improving marketing, generating more leads, and increasing sales revenues! In over 15 years as a marketing consultant, I’ve worked with a lot of great clients. Marketing Personalities You Need to Manage. 1.Myopic Marketer. This marketer can’t see the forest for the trees. If you ask, “Why do you market this way?” ” you may hear, “We’ve always done it this way.” Marketing Micromanager. This marketing personality can’t let go. Pinterest! MORE >>

B2B marketers need to track lead quality as well as lead quantity. It is important to track the quality of your leads. One way to measure this is by tracking the conversion rate of leads by source. Capture each marketing activity, its cost, leads generated, number of sales and sales revenue generated. Calculate your conversion rate as the ratio of sales to leads. Then, create a comparative graph that shows cost per lead compared to conversion rate. Marketing is a numbers game, right? Fill up that pipeline and increase sales! Not exactly. MORE >>