There’s a new marketing term that I’m hearing more and more often - “the Content Chasm”. It refers to the ascendance of content marketing (especially in B-to-B), and the differential between the current inventory of quality content that most B-to-B companies have, and the amount they need to have to market effectively. Changing buyer behaviors require B2B marketers to communicate with prospects and customers in new ways. Buying marketing automation and then only using it for batch-and-blast emails is a waste of time and money. MORE >>

I’m probably biased, but I believe the primary objective of business-to-business marketing is driving sales of the company’s products and services. Of course branding and awareness are also roles that can be played effectively by B2B marketing, but from my point of view these are only supporting roles—secondary to the primary objective of helping drive sales. I’m sad to say I’m not seeing anything beyond anecdotal results, either from my own extensive social marketing efforts, or from those of my clients. about a survey they recently conducted. MORE >>

Also often called the Sales & Marketing Database or Customer & Prospect Database. Inquirer: A contact who has responded to our company’s marketing (Website, direct marketing, exhibits, advertising, etc.). Inquiry: A response to our company’s marketing (website, direct marketing, exhibits, advertising, etc.). Marketing Qualified Lead: An inquirer, responder or prospect at a particular company and facility who has been "qualified" as meeting the minimum definition of what represents a sales-ready opportunity. A lead is a lead. Or is it? MORE >>

This is the latest in our ongoing series of tips from some of the experts who provide our sales lead management consulting and training services and our marketing automation and lead-generation agency services. If you'd like to learn more, please use my Contact Form , call me directly at 1-800-944-5553 or +1-401-294-7730, or check out the marketing consulting or speaking and training pages on my website. B2B Lead Generation B2B copywriting B2B email B2B lead nurturing B2B marketing Sales lead generationMeet Meryl Evans , one of our email copywriting experts. MORE >>

One of my favorite marketing magazines, BtoB , featured an article in its November 8, 2010 edition which posed some questions to Brian Halligan, CEO of marketing software company HubSpot. One of the questions was "How can b2b marketers improve their lead-nurturing efforts?" What he is suggesting as a strategy is what B-to-B marketers used to use in the last century. In other words, shifting some of your marketing investments from lead generation to lead nurturing generates a higher ROI for B-to-B marketers every time. MORE >>