The Point

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

In uncertain economic times, Market Development Funds (MDF) can be a precious resource for channel partners (resellers, distributors, ISVs) looking for budget to fund sales and marketing activity. Yet industry surveys report that as much as 60 percent of available MDF funds go unused. By some measures, that may add up to $15 billion of unspent marketing budget every year in the US alone.

Demand Generation Agencies 147

Demand Generation Agencies Advertising Agencies CMS Development Work Management 147

The Point

JANUARY 12, 2023

Each year, it seems there’s one topic that dominates marketing conversation, and 2023 is no exception. In recent weeks, AI technology, and in particular tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney , have forward-thinking marketers devising entirely new approaches to their role, and others wondering if their job is about to be replaced by a machine. When I asked my agency colleagues for their B2B predictions for 2023, no prizes for guessing which topic cropped up most often.

Demand Generation Agencies 246

Demand Generation Agencies B2B Account Based Marketing Ideal Customer Profiles 246

The Point

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

A client asks: “What’s the best way to market to purchased lists like ZoomInfo ? We have a debate between our marketing and sales teams on whether the best approach is marketing emails, sales outreach, or something else. Curious as to your opinion?”. First, let’s dispense with the inevitable question of whether so-called “cold” lists even have a role to play in today’s marketing mix.

Purchase 162

Purchase Paid Search Agency Paid Social Agency Outreach 162

The Point

SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

Public relations pros have been using the PESO Model for years by integrating Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned media strategies into a single campaign, to better establish authority, amplify reach, and improve results. Can PESO do the same for demand generation ? Gini Dietrich originally introduced the PESO Model in her 2014 book, Spin Sucks. Her approach showed how an integrated campaign combining four types of media channels creates a combined effect greater than the sum of its parts: * Paid Me

Demand Generation Agencies 130

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Webinar Metrics 130

The Point

JUNE 24, 2022

Just when you thought B2B buyer habits couldn’t change more dramatically, along comes the COVID pandemic. The sudden, wholesale transition to remote work and virtual teams has only accelerated trends that were evident pre-COVID, led by younger generations of digital consumers who brought their buying preferences to the office (even if that office is now their living room).

Top of Funnel 130

Top of Funnel Cold Calling B2B Demand Generation 130

The Point

FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Just as too much time on Instagram fawning after the photoshopped lives of internet influencers can create an unhealthy self-image, marketers too can fall victim to unrealistic standards and FOMO created by the marketing blogosphere and the breathy propaganda of martech vendors. Trust me: not all marketing campaigns perform at the level showcased on LinkedIn.

Class 243

Class Marketing Attribution Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency 243

The Point

JANUARY 27, 2022

When companies look to get started in Account-Based Marketing (ABM) , the first step is very often a pilot campaign. On paper, the logic makes sense: * pick a handful of key accounts * execute an ABM campaign against those accounts * measure results * determine whether ABM is “worth the investment” on a larger scale. Unfortunately, the pilot approach to ABM is inherently risky, and, as a result, many companies may fail to achieve anywhere close to the desired results and/or end up dismissing ABM

Account Based Marketing 204

Account Based Marketing ABM Campaigns Demand Generation Agencies 204

The Point

DECEMBER 21, 2021

What trends will dominate the demand generation landscape in 2022? We asked the experts at Spear Marketing Group to chime in: “ Digital fatigue is real. B2B marketers need to rethink digital-first strategies to better engage audiences who not only demand new experiences, but also may be tiring of overused tactics. Direct mail is still an incredibly successful channel: open rates and response rates can be 3X email and other digital media.

Demand Generation Agencies 147

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Trends 147

The Point

OCTOBER 29, 2021

If you ask most B2B marketers how they use chat platforms like Drift , the immediate answer would most likely be: converting Web visitors. And indeed, increasing Web engagement and Web conversion rates is still a primary use case for chatbots in a B2B context. However, chat is also a powerful tool that can integrate into virtually any type of B2B demand generation program, campaign or initiative.

Account Based Marketing 350

Account Based Marketing B2B Marketing Automation Services Demand Generation Agencies 350

The Point

OCTOBER 1, 2021

Should you allow prospects to enter a personal email address when they fill out lead gen forms? B2B marketers seem divided on the question. In a recent LinkedIn poll , almost half of the respondents (46%) indicated they’d rather force prospects to enter business emails on forms, even if it resulted in higher abandonment rates. Historically, the attitude towards personal emails in B2B marketing has been that they betray a lower level of intent.

Lead Gen 297

Lead Gen Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads 297

The Point

OCTOBER 11, 2021

ABM may be revolutionizing B2B marketing but it won't solve every challenge. Learn the ABM realities marketers face when planning their first initiative.

Account Based Marketing 417

Account Based Marketing ABM Planning B2B Marketing 417

The Point

MAY 17, 2021

Whatever demand gen channels you use to generate marketing leads, there’s value in always promoting a mix of content and other offers that span the entire buying cycle: early-stage, mid-stage, and late-stage. That’s not simply because prospective customers will engage more readily with content that better aligns with whether they’re researching best practices, actively evaluating potential vendors, or somewhere in between.

Marketing Management 207

Marketing Management Paid Search Agency Buying Cycle Demand Generation Agencies 207

The Point

MARCH 24, 2021

A recent report by LinkedIn and research agency System1 found that the bulk of B2B advertising is ineffective. I’ve written elsewhere in this space about the sorry state of B2B creative in general, so the headline came as no surprise. What was surprising, however, was the criteria by which the two firms rendered the advertising in question as unsuccessful.

Advertising Agencies 312

Advertising Agencies Advertisements Advertising Paid Search Agency 312

The Point

OCTOBER 10, 2021

The humble email newsletter is still a key marketing channel for many B2B companies. Discover 9 tips for newsletter success.

Newsletter 350

Newsletter Tips Effectiveness B2B Marketing 350

The Point

JANUARY 19, 2021

2020 was a year of change for marketers worldwide, much of it not for the best of reasons. Will B2B marketing, and demand generation in particular, revert to “normal” once the pandemic subsides and economic recovery kicks in, or are recent trends destined to become staple tactics in the months and years to come? We asked our colleagues at Spear Marketing Group to identify their best demand generation predictions for 2021 and the trends they believe are most likely to have staying power.

Demand Generation Agencies 147

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Lead Ranking 147

The Point

OCTOBER 22, 2020

A client asks: “I know the answer is probably “it depends” but curious if you think there’s a best practice for how many follow-up nurture emails to send TOFU content syndication leads before you stop due to non-engagement?”. My response: We typically design nurture programs for inbound leads like content syndication in 2 stages, as follows: 1) quickly determining if the person has an immediate need or otherwise merits sales follow-up; and then. 2) staying in touch with that in

Sales Qualified Leads 227

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 227

The Point

OCTOBER 8, 2020

An old boss once commented: “75% of marketing is just being in the right place at the right time.”. You can quibble with the percentage, but, overall, she had a point. For more companies than not, marketing success is rarely about convincing a given individual, on a given day, to buy what it is you’re selling. Rather, it’s a question of being the company that the buyer finds, or thinks of first, when the relevant need occurs.

Demand Generation Agencies 173

Demand Generation Agencies Paid Search Agency Advertising Agencies Marketing Agencies 1 173

The Point

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Given the business case on which most Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies are founded – namely, that ABM increases opportunities and revenue from high-value accounts – the temptation for marketers is to measure the success of those programs on similar, high-value criteria: namely, opportunities, revenue, and average deal size. However, relying exclusively, or even primarily, on late-stage KPIs can be problematic, particularly because ABM is most typically employed by companies marketing com

Account Based Marketing 290

Account Based Marketing ABM Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads 290

The Point

AUGUST 25, 2020

Not every Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy starts from the same place. For some, it might be defining Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), buying personas and associated messages. For others, it’s identifying a target account list. Just us every journey starts with the first step, however, it’s generally a good idea in ABM planning to first conduct an honest assessment of where you are, what you need, and who does what.

Ideal Customer Profiles 147

Ideal Customer Profiles Account Based Marketing ABM Lead Ranking 147

The Point

JULY 30, 2020

Even as demand generation activity begins to pick up, most marketing budgets right now remain tight, and so B2B companies are looking for creative, low-cost ways to drive demand. One of the areas we recommend consistently to our clients is to do more with the corporate blog. Blogs are historically the province of the PR team, and so they’re not often looked at as a vehicle for driving leads, sales engagement, and revenue.

Demand 221

Demand Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Marketing Budget 221

The Point

JUNE 23, 2020

B2B marketing has seen a dramatic change in the last decade, driven by radical advances in marketing technology and the emergence of new channels. Even if you acknowledge that change as fact, however, it’s easy to become cynical (as I have) when vendors and thought leaders are constantly proclaiming the “death” of the old ways. If we’re to believe the experts, the following is true: * Email is dead. * Cold-calling is dead. * Content marketing is dead. * The MQL is dead.

Lead Ranking 264

Lead Ranking Enterprise Management Marketing Qualified Leads Account Based Marketing 264

The Point

MAY 19, 2020

It wasn’t that long ago, when marketing automation first burst on the scene, that the height of lead nurture sophistication was the simple, automated sending of multiple, sequential emails. Today, advances in marketing technology make such “automation” seem laughably basic. Modern, best-in-class lead nurture programs focus less on automation, and more on leveraging intent data, AI, social engagement, Web behavior and a host of other variables in order to deliver their messages – through a vari

Lead Nurturing 299

Lead Nurturing Class Budget Programs Lead Scoring 299

The Point

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

Earlier this month I presented a standing-room only session at the B2BMX Conference in Scottsdale on key principles of B2B email creative. Part of that presentation was a “B2B Email Pre-Flight Checklist” – a list of questions an email marketer should ask, prior to pressing “send,” to ensure that a campaign aligns with current best practices and therefore stands the best chance of success.

B2B 243

B2B Landing Pages Webinar Metrics Paper 243

The Point

JANUARY 7, 2020

Q4 is over, and with it, the inevitable rush to execute and scale marketing programs designed to somehow, magically, help a company makes its Q4 and year-end numbers. Spoiler alert: no amount of Q4 spend – not even with intent data, ABM, conversational marketing (chat), content experience and any other bells and whistles you might have at your disposal – will enable you to suddenly make up for leads and opportunities that should have been developed weeks and months ago.

Account Based Marketing 130

Account Based Marketing Top of Funnel Demand Generation Agencies Paid Search Agency 130

The Point

DECEMBER 13, 2019

The rate of change in B2B marketing and marketing technology continues to accelerate, and 2020 promises to be no different. I asked the best subject matter experts I know, my colleagues at Spear Marketing Group , what trends they think will highlight the next 12 months in B2B demand generation. Here’s what they had to say: “I fully expect to see continued buzz around AI, but I think the real heavy lifting next year is going to be around tech stack management.

Demand 222

Demand Ideal Customer Profiles Demand Generation Agencies Account Based Marketing 222

The Point

DECEMBER 10, 2019

When the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) takes effect on January 1, 2020, it will only be the latest (and not the last) in a wave of data privacy regulation to hit B2B marketers. It’s easy to become numb to the torrent of news, tips, and warnings about CCPA on social media and elsewhere, but make no mistake: these regulations are very real, and few marketers – no matter how small – are immune from risk if not adequately prepared.

Privacy 130

Privacy CAN-SPAM Opt-out Opt-in 130

The Point

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

If you could layer third-party intent data into every lead gen program you run, would you do it? In other words, would you only ever want marketing leads from prospects pre-determined to be actively researching your category, solution, use case, etc.? My argument: no, you wouldn’t. . I was part of a client conversation recently about the merits of different demand generation channels (paid social, content syndication , email, search, etc.) and this particular marketing exec was quick to reject

Intent Data 149

Intent Data Demand Generation Agencies Intent Paid Social Agency 149

The Point

OCTOBER 22, 2019

Congratulations: your last email campaign generated a really high click-through rate. Or did it? It’s an issue that B2B marketers are experiencing with increasing frequency: open rates and click-through rates that don’t quite match up, typically in the form of an abnormally high “click to open” (CTO) rate. The culprit? Email bots. Acting as a spam filter, email bots prevent malicious emails from infiltrating mail servers by auto-clicking the links in incoming emails.

Marketing Automation Services 127

Marketing Automation Services CAN-SPAM Click Rate Trigger Marketing 127

The Point

OCTOBER 15, 2019

If your organization is generating plenty of leads but those initial inquiries aren’t converting to sales qualified leads, meetings, or pipeline, a myriad of things could be at fault: 1) sales follow-up may be sub-standard in either cadence, frequency, or message. 2) lead nurturing. may not be doing enough to educate the prospect , “warm up” the lead, or drive additional engagement, or. 3) you could be generating the wrong types of leads altogether, namely either people that simply aren’t ready

Sales Qualified Leads 138

Sales Qualified Leads Work Management Marketing Management Account Based Marketing 138

The Point

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Another new year approaches and, with it, another major data privacy regulation takes effect. This time, it’s the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which becomes law on January 1, 2020. Don’t be fooled into thinking that only California companies need pay attention. Even if you’ve already established more stringent data collection and privacy measures as a result of GDPR. and other recent regulations (CAN-SPAM, CASL), CCPA is something that every B2B marketer needs to understand and prepar

B2B Marketing 220

B2B Marketing Advertising Agencies Privacy Policies B2B 220

The Point

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

While there’s little debate about the value of a well-planned, well-executed Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy, where many B2B companies struggle – and where ABM initiatives tend to stall – is in that phase between planning and execution, where strategy and account planning meet tactics, plays and content. As a tool to help companies execute and operationalize ABM, Spear Marketing Group developed the Opportunity-Based Marketing Framework, a proprietary model based on the SiriusDecisions Dem

Account Based Marketing 170

Account Based Marketing ABM Planning Lead Ranking 170

The Point

AUGUST 27, 2019

In a remarkably short time, LinkedIn has grown to become a major player in B2B advertising (at about 20% of total industry spend, according to industry watchers ), quickly rivaling search advertising on Google. LinkedIn’s big advantage over its key competitor – and the reason it’s now cannibalizing so many marketing budgets previously reserved exclusively for paid search (SEM). – is its ability to target specific audience demographics: job title, industry, etc.

Paid Content 241

Paid Content Advertising Agencies Linkedin Advertisements 241

The Point

JULY 30, 2019

Much has been made of the argument that Account-Based Marketing (ABM) gained traction so quickly in B2B marketing primarily because traditional, funnel-based demand generation has stopped working. A recent video making the rounds on LinkedIn asked: “ Is Demand Generation Losing its Effectiveness ?” (The answer provided was: yes.). The real answer to that question, I would argue, is more nuanced.

Demand Generation Agencies 140

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Account Based Marketing ABM 140

The Point

JULY 1, 2019

For the last decade or more, it’s been an accepted principle – almost a key tenet – of B2B demand generation that business buyers don’t want to talk to a sales rep until the last possible moment. It’s why, for example, we marketers have assumed control for more and more of the lead funnel. There was once a time when we would generate a lead and our job would be done.

B2B Sales 124

B2B Sales Demand Generation Agencies Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 124

The Point

JUNE 18, 2019

1. What, Why, How. There are three things your email recipient should see almost immediately, and those are: WHAT the offer is, WHY it’s of value, and HOW to get it. Don’t make the reader hunt or scroll to learn what exactly you want him or her to do, and why. 2. Sell the Offer, Not the Product. The goal of any email is to generate engagement. You generate engagement by convincing the reader of the value of the information on offer, whether that information is a white paper, a Webinar, or a demo

Creativity 164

Creativity B2B Webinar Metrics Email Marketing 164

The Point

MAY 28, 2019

If you’ve ever received a notice of package delivery via Facebook Messenger, or resolved a technical issue with your cell phone via online chat, you’ll know that messaging, chat, and real-time communication are already huge trends in the way that B2C companies communicate with customers, and, in turn, the way that consumers prefer to communicate with brands.

Demand Generation Agencies 127

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Top of Funnel 127

The Point

MAY 16, 2019

One of the real-life campaigns I included in my presentation last week – A Crash Course in B2B Email Creative – at SiriusDecisions Summit in Austin, was this Webinar invitation from Marin Software. I’ve written often about the dismal state of B2B creative , so it’s good to see at least one B2B company get it right. . Here’s what I think makes this an effective campaign: * The offer is front and center.

Webinar Metrics 100

Webinar Metrics Creativity Paid Search Agency B2B Sales 100