Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

The first rule in content marketing is to distribute content where your target audience is. Many B2B marketing leaders have resisted Facebook and other social media platforms, believing that they can’t be successful in getting leads there. We still do it, because we know we need to have a presence. Well, that’s changed too.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation Facebook Lead Ranking Lead Scoring 120

Sales Engine

JULY 29, 2016

Sales reps need leads, and it’s marketing’s job to get at least some of them—a majority would be nice. As much as I hate the term “lead generation,” I don’t know a better one, so let’s start by defining what it is not. (If you still have your head in the sand about this, it’s time to face reality.) Easier said than done, I know.

Buyer Personas 120

Buyer Personas Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel Leads 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 5, 2016

Sales reps need leads, and it’s marketing’s job to get at least some of them—a majority would be nice. As much as I hate the term “ lead generation ,” I don’t know a better one, so let’s start by defining what it is not. (If you still have your head in the sand about this, it’s time to face reality.) Hire more sales people?

Buyer Personas 120

Buyer Personas Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel Leads 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 1, 2016

But when should the Marketing department's 2017 quota start? If your company has a 90 day sales cycle, Marketing had better be focused on the 2017 plan October 1st 2016! That's 25 leads per quarter. But, a 90-day sales cycle means a lead generated by Marketing in Q4 '17 likely won't close until Q1 '18.

Planning 179

Planning Sales Cycle Sales Qualified Leads Paid Search Agency 179

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 1, 2016

But when should the Marketing department's 2017 quota start? If your company has a 90 day sales cycle, Marketing had better be focused on the 2017 plan October 1st 2016! That's 25 leads per quarter. But, a 90-day sales cycle means a lead generated by Marketing in Q4 '17 likely won't close until Q1 '18.

Planning 120

Planning Sales Cycle Sales Qualified Leads Paid Search Agency 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 14, 2018

But there are two major problems with that model today: Quota-carrying, outside sales reps are an expensive resource to be putting on the phones to follow up on marketing qualified leads. A middle reliever is needed to connect the marketing produced lead and the sales closer. (If When it works that way, it’s great!

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Paid Search Agency Content Marketing 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 13, 2015

In this episode Paul went over modern marketing, lead generation, and how important storytelling is for the buyer's journey. Below are a few highlights from our conversation: TechnologyAdvice: What does a modern marketing program look like these days? Paul Rafferty: There's a lot to a modern marketing program.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Storytelling Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 28, 2016

Marketing, on the other hand, often has a different definition of a qualified lead. In fact, according to Gleanster , 30 to 50 percent of leads in a pipeline are not ready to buy. What is a marketing-qualified lead (MQL)? What is a sales-accepted lead (SAL)? What is a sales-qualified lead (SQL)?

Marketing Qualified Leads 136

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads MQL 136

Sales Engine

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Several years ago, we made some significant investments in marketing after we’d purchased a marketing automation system, and the idea was to gain as much market traction as possible. But how much of that exposure translated into leads and sales? Marketing works in tandem with sales on an ongoing basis.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead Conversion Paid Search Agency 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 18, 2016

Specifically, are dollars best spent on sales or marketing? And when taking a deep look at marketing results, we were a bit surprised that the data actually helped to diagnose asales problem. While we were pleased with the lead generation effort, the sales resulting from those leads were disappointingly low.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Cost per Lead 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 1, 2015

But what about the B2B marketer? If the sales team has a cycle time of 90 days from opportunity create date to close, then they'd better be getting leads from marketing TODAY to impact Q1 of 2016. Do you know how much marketing your team will need in 2016? When does their quota start?

Paid Search Agency 120

Paid Search Agency B2B Sales Organic Leads Marketing 120

Sales Engine

JULY 7, 2016

But there are two major problems with that model today: Quota-carrying, outside sales reps are an expensive resource to be putting on the phones to follow up on marketing qualified leads. A middle reliever is needed to connect the marketing produced lead and the sales closer. (If When it works that way, it’s great!

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Paid Search Agency Content Marketing 120

Sales Engine

JULY 13, 2016

As a marketer, you’re no doubt familiar with this ubiquitous image: contacts fall into the top and by some kind of magic become leads, then qualified leads, then sales-ready leads, and eventually, (you hope) closed sales. Prospects expect you to be a publisher , not a marketer. Ah, the sales funnel.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Conversion Marketing Automation Services Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

JULY 13, 2016

As a marketer, you’re no doubt familiar with this ubiquitous image: contacts fall into the top and by some kind of magic become leads, then qualified leads, then sales-ready leads, and eventually, (you hope) closed sales. Prospects expect you to be a publisher , not a marketer. Ah, the sales funnel.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Conversion Marketing Automation Services Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 30, 2016

One of the biggest failure points in content marketing is not actually in marketing—It’s the handoff from marketing to sales. That’s because most sales and marketing organizations are not properly aligned. Does this sound familiar? MQLs are good prospects.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Allocation Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking 120

Sales Engine

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

Many companies that have embraced content marketing are still using it as a branding and positioning function of their marketing department. It’s not that this approach is wrong, but it’s not the main reason that most successful companies have embraced content marketing.

Content Marketing 120

Content Marketing Cold Calling Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 16, 2015

The answer is critical for anyone in B2B marketing today. Content marketing uses the same skills and tactics as publishing a magazine—only the distribution methods, audience-building techniques, and analysis tools are different. So what can we learn from magazine publishers about content marketing? #1 Of course there are!

Content Marketing 120

Content Marketing Lead Ranking Content Marketing & Strategy 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 27, 2015

What’s the right way to follow up on content to turn leads into sales conversations? Before we get into best practices on content marketing follow-up, Marketing and Sales must be on the same page regarding their lead definitions. Once a conversation has been agreed to, you have a Sales Accepted Lead (SAL).

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Buy 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 2, 2015

But what about the B2B marketer? If the sales team has a cycle time of 90 days from opportunity create date to close, then they'd better be getting leads from marketing TODAY to impact Q1 of 2016. Do you know how marketing is going to accomplish that mission? Marketing’s new role is to generate leads for salespeople.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Paper Fulfillment B2B Marketing 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 11, 2017

As a marketing leader, have you been tasked with building a demand generation program designed to funnel leads to salespeople? Most companies start with buying marketing automation without a solid strategy and underestimate the amount of content they require. Sounds good, right? So What Should It Look Like?

Demand Generation Agencies 136

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Budget Programs Demand 136

Sales Engine

MAY 11, 2016

Mike Vannoy, co-founder and COO of Sales Engine talks about how this has happened in the marketing automation industry. For over ten years now, there’s been a gold rush in marketing automation technology with some fantastic features that make it a must-have for any B2B company engaged in content marketing.

Webinar Metrics 149

Webinar Metrics Sales Qualified Leads Demand Generation Agencies Marketing Automation Services 149

Sales Engine

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Savvy B2B marketers are recognizing the limits of today’s email marketing and web analytics applications for generating qualified sales leads and are switching to a demand generation solution to ensure a continuous stream of qualified leads. Execute a marketing campaign—does the system work as promised?

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies Marketing Budget Demand Generation Demand 120

Sales Engine

MAY 24, 2016

With directives from above to grow revenue through sales, groups as varied as marketing, products, human resources, and even sales itself will rally to find ways to support the sales team. The obvious takeaway here is that sellers need to understand their buyers better, and they need to tailor their marketing approach to the individual buyer.

Conversion 136

Conversion Forrester Lead Ranking Lead Scoring 136

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 23, 2015

They based their findings on overall number of page views, leads generated through form conversions, and new subscribers to their blog. We talk often that content marketers must have the mindset of publishers , and the frequency and types of content is certainly a big component. percent) in the overall sessions.

Social Media 120

Social Media Media Long Tail Marketing Hubspot 120

Sales Engine

MARCH 31, 2016

As technology and connectivity advances, marketers have had to move away from mass media targeting campaigns towards producing more real-time, contextual content that creates one-to-one interaction with potential buyers. This turns out to be a real challenge for digital marketers. Marketing is based on trust.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Process B2B Marketing Automation Services 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 25, 2016

How to Dominate Your Market With Content from SalesEngine 1. Most of us understand that the world of marketing has changed—B2B has gone digital. As marketers tried to get the most out of this new digital world they re-discovered the importance of content. So what does this have to do with content marketing?

Enterprise Management 120

Enterprise Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

APRIL 24, 2018

3 Reasons to add pay-per-lead white paper syndication to your digital marketing plan There are three challenges every B2B marketer faces as they try to build a lead generating engine to feed their sales team: 1. Content marketing can be a long, expensive, and uncertain journey. NOT ANY MORE!

Paper 159

Paper Planning Marketing Plans Marketing Automation Services 159

Sales Engine

AUGUST 22, 2016

We’re uniquely positioned because of our diversity in product offerings, but we compete with large firms that have more resources available to their marketing and sales team. Quick Results Validate the Strategy Strong content engagement and increased website traffic is a welcomed result from First Rate’s new marketing initiative. “In

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Generation 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 22, 2016

We’re uniquely positioned because of our diversity in product offerings, but we compete with large firms that have more resources available to their marketing and sales team. Quick Results Validate the Strategy Strong content engagement and increased website traffic is a welcomed result from First Rate’s new marketing initiative. “In

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Generation 120

Sales Engine

MARCH 28, 2016

Many companies have focused on increasing their inbound traffic for new leads to combat tighter spam regulations and more concentrated email filters. But increasing web traffic without a thorough conversion strategy is just branding and awareness— that won’t supply enough leads to salespeople to hit your revenue growth targets.

Marketing & Strategy 120

Marketing & Strategy A/B testing Broadcasting Content 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 7, 2016

By now, you have no doubt heard that content marketing is the future of demand generation. All the cool kids are doing it, and all those other marketing methods are useless and old-fashioned in comparison. The creator gains increased brand awareness and (ideally) action on behalf of the consumer that will lead to a sales conversation.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Content Demand Generation Agencies Barriers 120

Sales Engine

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

Even as a CEO of a content marketing agency , I still get this pressure from my board and colleagues—and they all know how buyers have more control these days, buying on their own time frames, not ours. But now, the internet is crushing a sales reps ability to generate their own leads. They reduce the scope. Need a Sales Hunter?

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Thought Leadership Demand Generation Agencies 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 7, 2016

If you thought that coffee was for closers, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it’s for content marketers too. So how can you use content to generate more leads at the top of the funnel? Tell them that you need leads and what they should be talking about to get your prospect’s attention.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Features B2B Thought Leadership Digital Marketing Funnels 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 13, 2016

If you plan to join your competitors and the leaders of your industry in the move toward content marketing , there is something you should know. You’re not Coca-Cola; no one expects you to hire the world’s best creative minds or to spend billions on marketing. a traditional marketing background. it’s not going to be cheap.

Allocation 120

Allocation Content Demand Generation Agencies Work Management 120

Sales Engine

APRIL 20, 2016

They need marketing. If marketing does not step in to fill this void digitally and engage these anonymous buyers, sales reps are going to miss out on deals that they never knew existed in the marketplace. Digital marketing depends upon content. They need help getting in the door. Content is the new currency and it builds trust.

Lead Ranking 218

Lead Ranking Lead Gen Lead Scoring Leads 218

Sales Engine

DECEMBER 21, 2015

Most companies realize that their best opportunity for growth is to commit to content marketing. Although this is a great place to start if you’re just getting your feet wet with content marketing, looking at how much content you need to produce is putting the focus in the wrong place. Do you see it? So How Much Does All This Cost?

Budget Programs 120

Budget Programs Work Management Marketing Management Allocation 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 24, 2015

Everyone’s talking about content marketing , and companies are investing big dollars to jump on the bandwagon—but most are still thinking about it from yesterday’s marketing perspective where marketing’s primary role is branding and positioning. Consider for a moment what that means—people are talking about your market 24/7.

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies RFP Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency 120