We should care more about lead management automation in B2B marketing. That’s why lead management automation is important. It’s too difficult to track that relationship and know when someone is ready to do more than just read your white papers unless you have a process for lead management and can automate it. What is stopping your company from creating an automated lead management process? Tags: Lead Management Marketing Automation Automation B2B marketing Forbes Google ITSMA marketing Sales Social Media No, there’s something bigger going on here. MORE >>

The pressures on the guard dogs lead to a lot of problems: The emphasis is on risk avoidance. For example, if the agency-managed interview leads to bad press, the guard dogs can show that they are managing risk for the company by blaming and firing the agency (agencies are used to this and work with many different companies in order to manage the ever-present risk of getting fired). Among the many interesting ideas thrown around at ITSMA’s annual conference this week was that the era of PR is over. As in dead. Don’t do it anymore. a journalist) and the customer’s customer (i.e., MORE >>

But most marketing organizations don’t measure relevance; they measure output—whether it’s in leads or downloads. This cartoon making the rounds online captures the frustration journalists have with their online plight--and reveals the opportunity B2B marketers have to fill the content gap. Marketers always struggle with what to do next. There so many channels out there and so little time. But if you step back and think about where the real opportunity is for B2B marketers, it is idea marketing. Start with a good idea and the channel questions will resolve themselves. Try all of them. MORE >>

Use ideas to attract and nurture leads. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I’m constantly beating the drum of integrating content with an automated lead management process. lead management process gives you the ability to get the right content to the right people at the time they need it. I’m looking forward to our annual ITSMA spring road trip. This time, I’ll be speaking about how to tie thought leadership to revenue, starting in Santa Clara, CA next Wednesday, and in New York and Newton, MA the following week. Hope you can join us. Tweet This Post. MORE >>

Every time we talk about it, we have an endless argument that leads nowhere.”. Recently, I was preparing a workshop on social media for an ITSMA client. The marketer in charge of the company’s social media effort gave me a clear edict: “Look, I don’t want you focusing on Facebook, okay? We don’t see the value of it for B2B and we want it off the table. Seemed a bit harsh, but I had to admit that I had been harboring my own doubts about the value of Facebook for B2B for a long time. m not saying that B2B companies shouldn’t be on Facebook. think every company should be on Facebook. MORE >>