Expert insights. Personalized for you.
Are you a B2B marketer that is responsible for lead generation? If so, you won’t want to miss this complimentary, half-day B2B marketing seminar on April 7, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Cabaña Hotel in Palo Alto, CA. This all-new-for-2010 B2B Marketing University is focused on helping you stay ahead of the curve and excel in the changing B2B marketing environment. MORE
Success in paid search (PPC) is often defined as generating quality clicks and conversions at the lowest possible cost. But just as often, a successful search campaign depends as much on avoiding bad clicks as it does on generating good ones. In fact, any experienced search marketer will tell you that many of the quickest ways to improve PPC campaign performance fall into the category of eliminating wasteful spending. MORE
Today I’m at the Sales 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. I write about Marketing Automation, so why am I at a sales conference? I’m here because I believe Sales & Marketing should be on the same team. Marketing Automation can help both Marketing and Sales, but it requires intense collaboration: that’s what Sales 2.0 is all about. Chatter and Marketing Automation. This morning we saw a demo of Salesforce.com Chatter , a collaboration tools integrated with Salesforce.com. MORE
How’s this for a definition of B2B marketing automation? The use of technology to generate, nurture, score and qualify leads, and drive sales, using customized, multi-touch marketing communications tailored for each contact’s profile, level of interest, behavior or place in the buying process. Unfortunately it’s a mouthful, isn’t it? MORE
With the tidal wave of how-to articles , jargon and self-proclaimed “social media experts&# hitting the online world, it’s easy for marketers and business executives to view social media as something akin to the unexplored regions of the earth as presented on medieval maps—&# here be dragons.&# Potentially fascinating, but dangerous, mysterious and scary. Social Media Demystified. In reality, social media marketing is simpler than you’ve probably been led to believe. MORE
Join us for a complimentary afternoon seminar and take your business-to-business marketing and lead generation to the next level. MORE
I want to roll the clock back a few weeks to the announcement of an initiative by Facebook called – Project Titan. At the time that I saw it and tweeted about it (of course) it really hadn’t hit me just how important this could be to any business. What seemed like a pretty basic message about an upgrade message of their current email system which is rather archaic (you know, the one that makes you delete messages one by one!) MORE
I’ve written a number of times in this space about how to maximize response from email Webinar invitations. The campaign below from Parallels , a Swiss-based software company, provides a handy illustration of those techniques by displaying what key mistakes to avoid. For example: 1. Sell the offer, not the product. MORE
Tweet. One marketing tool to use in determining which marketing strategies and inbound marketing tactics will be most effective in B2B marketing planning is your product or service lifecycle stage. Over the lifetime of a product or service, you go through different stages of introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Here are some examples of marketing strategies and inbound marketing tactics that are best suited to each stage. Introduction Stage of Marketing Product Lifecycle. MORE
You’ve seen the eye-popping statistics: Facebook now has more than 350 million active users. If it were a country, it would be the third most-populous on earth , behind only China and India. TechCrunch predicts that “by this summer (2010) well over half of all Internet users will likely visit Facebook each month.&# It’s now the second most-visited site on the web , behind only Google. MORE
I think some of the information being touted by companies that have a stake in inbound marketing can be misleading. What I am talking about is the categorizing of all inbound inquiries as “leads.&#. Ask any salesperson if all inbound inquires are leads, and when he or she stops laughing, you will probably get an earful about how inquiries, unless they have been prequalified, are a waste of salespeople’s time. MORE
GUEST POST: this is a guest post by Saad Hameed ( @KaizenSaad ), an experienced marketing operations manager and founder of the Marketing Automation Association LinkedIn Group. The CEO/CFO of your organization may be asking you to measure Marketing Campaign ROI to determine marketing’s contribution to revenue. The question is straight forward, yet what you may have already discovered is that the answer on what to measure and how to measure is not simple. MORE
In the last post we covered how to create a Social Media Lead Flow. And once you have identified the conversations where you think a sales opportunity may be occurring you need to feed that into your listening platform so you can flag those opportunities when they come in. But what if you don’t have a listening platform? MORE
Image by HubSpot via Flickr. I want to do something ambitious and I’m hoping you’ll help. I’d like to create a guide for how to use social media in B2B that does not involve talking about the specific tools—as least not in the top line. I think it’s important to try to do this if we’re going to get social media integrated with the rest of marketing. It’s also important if we’re going to stop talking so much about the tools and start talking more about what to do with them. MORE
B2b marketers and PR pros know that getting coverage in an industry-specific blog is highly beneficial. Blog links are valuable for SEO. Relevant blogs can drive targeted direct traffic from the blogger’s social media sphere of influence. And coverage from independent bloggers enhances a company’s reputation and credibility. Numerous bloggers have written about how to pitch blogs, such as B.L. Ochman , Christina Kerley , Cece Salomon-Lee and Laura Moncur. MORE
Does your company produce a product that it uses internally? If so, have you written your own case study? Some of the largest technology companies are certainly users of their own products. And many have produced case studies, white papers, and other resources about the implementations, the value gained, and the lessons learned. The idea behind this content: Sharing realistic experience and advice that can be beneficial to customers. MORE
In an ideal world, you would use a professional writer for every marketing or public relations document produced by your company. But limited budgets likely mean you can assign only the most high-value projects to a freelance copywriter. How can you justify the expense of a professional writer for other projects? These 10 signals can help build your case for budget approval: . MORE
The purpose of B2B marketing and lead generation is to help the sales team sell; hpwever marketers can often get so wrapped up in driving campaign activity they seem to forget it's about driving sales conversion and helping the sales team achieve better results. MORE
Last week I started an email design gallery containing a series of HTML emails I received. This post is another installment of the “gallery” concept so that you have more designs to review and use in your own creative process MORE
This is a very belated review of a book that has been in my reading pile since December 09. But I’m glad I found the time. Published by the folks at marketing automation software company Genius.com , and authored by respected consultant, author, and blogger Ardath Albee , this is a valuable primer that would serve as a useful resource to anyone just getting started with a marketing automation system. The book is available via free download (registration required) on the Genius.com site. MORE
Social media is raising the bar on customer intimacy. Though it has become a generic term, customer intimacy was first coined by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema who worked at CSC/Index back in the 90s when I was a thought leadership marketer there. Rooted in Michael Porter’s timeless work in business strategy, Treacy and Wiersema took it a step further with their three “value disciplines.”. The theory is that every company competes in three disciplines: Customer intimacy. MORE
One of the biggest challenges for B2B social media marketers isn’t creating content, it’s helping others create content. Marketing is the default head of social media management in most companies. And while marketers can create some social media content, they can (and should) rely on their subject matter experts (SMEs) to create most of the stuff that’s going to build trust and relationships with customers. MORE
In a recent article (member access only), Marketing Sherpa offers up some intriguing research into how prospective tech buyers view email offer content, and how those views can differ dramatically from common assumptions held by marketers. The conclusions drawn in the article hold particular relevance for marketers engaged in lead nurturing, especially when those nurturing programs are constrained by a perceived lack of relevant offers. MORE
The Point
MARCH 11, 2010
I’ve written a number of times in this space about how to maximize response from email Webinar invitations. The campaign below from Parallels , a Swiss-based software company, provides a handy illustration of those techniques by displaying what key mistakes to avoid. For example: 1. Sell the offer, not the product.
Sales Lead Insights
MARCH 3, 2010
I think some of the information being touted by companies that have a stake in inbound marketing can be misleading. What I am talking about is the categorizing of all inbound inquiries as “leads.&#. Ask any salesperson if all inbound inquires are leads, and when he or she stops laughing, you will probably get an earful about how inquiries, unless they have been prequalified, are a waste of salespeople’s time.
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Chris Koch
MARCH 26, 2010
One of the biggest challenges for B2B social media marketers isn’t creating content, it’s helping others create content. Marketing is the default head of social media management in most companies. And while marketers can create some social media content, they can (and should) rely on their subject matter experts (SMEs) to create most of the stuff that’s going to build trust and relationships with customers.
WriteSpark
MARCH 2, 2010
Does your company produce a product that it uses internally? If so, have you written your own case study? Some of the largest technology companies are certainly users of their own products. And many have produced case studies, white papers, and other resources about the implementations, the value gained, and the lessons learned. The idea behind this content: Sharing realistic experience and advice that can be beneficial to customers.
Speaker: Matthew Hawk, President of B2bTrainers
The term “sales enablement” applies to a dizzying array of best practices and technologies. In addition, there is tremendous competitive pressure not to fall behind. No matter where you are in your current sales enablement strategy, one thing is key: success ultimately rides on the habits of your sales managers & marketers. In this webinar, Matthew Hawk will lay out an in-depth schematic for your next-level sales coaching, demonstrate the key activities that comprise success, and walk you through several examples of sales coaching cadences that apply to all salesforce sizes.
B2B Marketing Traction
MARCH 12, 2010
Tweet. One marketing tool to use in determining which marketing strategies and inbound marketing tactics will be most effective in B2B marketing planning is your product or service lifecycle stage. Over the lifetime of a product or service, you go through different stages of introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Here are some examples of marketing strategies and inbound marketing tactics that are best suited to each stage. Introduction Stage of Marketing Product Lifecycle.
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B2B Marketing Zone brings together the best content for marketers in the B2B industry from the widest variety of thought leaders.
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The Point
MARCH 16, 2010
Success in paid search (PPC) is often defined as generating quality clicks and conversions at the lowest possible cost. But just as often, a successful search campaign depends as much on avoiding bad clicks as it does on generating good ones. In fact, any experienced search marketer will tell you that many of the quickest ways to improve PPC campaign performance fall into the category of eliminating wasteful spending.
Sales Lead Insights
MARCH 8, 2010
How’s this for a definition of B2B marketing automation? The use of technology to generate, nurture, score and qualify leads, and drive sales, using customized, multi-touch marketing communications tailored for each contact’s profile, level of interest, behavior or place in the buying process. Unfortunately it’s a mouthful, isn’t it?
Chris Koch
MARCH 19, 2010
Image by HubSpot via Flickr. I want to do something ambitious and I’m hoping you’ll help. I’d like to create a guide for how to use social media in B2B that does not involve talking about the specific tools—as least not in the top line. I think it’s important to try to do this if we’re going to get social media integrated with the rest of marketing. It’s also important if we’re going to stop talking so much about the tools and start talking more about what to do with them.
WriteSpark
MARCH 16, 2010
In an ideal world, you would use a professional writer for every marketing or public relations document produced by your company. But limited budgets likely mean you can assign only the most high-value projects to a freelance copywriter. How can you justify the expense of a professional writer for other projects? These 10 signals can help build your case for budget approval: .
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
Every sales forecasting model has a different strength and predictability method. It’s recommended to test out which one is best for your team. This way, you’ll be able to further enhance – and optimize – your newly-developed pipeline. Your future sales forecast? Sunny skies (and success) are just ahead!
Webbiquity
MARCH 9, 2010
You’ve seen the eye-popping statistics: Facebook now has more than 350 million active users. If it were a country, it would be the third most-populous on earth , behind only China and India. TechCrunch predicts that “by this summer (2010) well over half of all Internet users will likely visit Facebook each month.&# It’s now the second most-visited site on the web , behind only Google.
The Point
MARCH 3, 2010
In a recent article (member access only), Marketing Sherpa offers up some intriguing research into how prospective tech buyers view email offer content, and how those views can differ dramatically from common assumptions held by marketers. The conclusions drawn in the article hold particular relevance for marketers engaged in lead nurturing, especially when those nurturing programs are constrained by a perceived lack of relevant offers.
Sales Lead Insights
MARCH 24, 2010
Are you a B2B marketer that is responsible for lead generation? If so, you won’t want to miss this complimentary, half-day B2B marketing seminar on April 7, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Cabaña Hotel in Palo Alto, CA. This all-new-for-2010 B2B Marketing University is focused on helping you stay ahead of the curve and excel in the changing B2B marketing environment.
Speaker: Christopher Ryan, Founder and CEO of Fusion Marketing Partners
Sales & Marketing departments that work together guarantee higher acquisition, better nurturing, and more effective sales. Join Christopher Ryan for this insightful webinar, presenting the wide funnel lead nurturing model. Don't miss out on this opportunity to get your teams working together and your revenue performance optimized.
Buzz Marketing for Technology
MARCH 18, 2010
In the last post we covered how to create a Social Media Lead Flow. And once you have identified the conversations where you think a sales opportunity may be occurring you need to feed that into your listening platform so you can flag those opportunities when they come in. But what if you don’t have a listening platform?
Chris Koch
MARCH 12, 2010
Social media is raising the bar on customer intimacy. Though it has become a generic term, customer intimacy was first coined by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema who worked at CSC/Index back in the 90s when I was a thought leadership marketer there. Rooted in Michael Porter’s timeless work in business strategy, Treacy and Wiersema took it a step further with their three “value disciplines.”. The theory is that every company competes in three disciplines: Customer intimacy.
Webbiquity
MARCH 29, 2010
With the tidal wave of how-to articles , jargon and self-proclaimed “social media experts&# hitting the online world, it’s easy for marketers and business executives to view social media as something akin to the unexplored regions of the earth as presented on medieval maps—&# here be dragons.&# Potentially fascinating, but dangerous, mysterious and scary. Social Media Demystified. In reality, social media marketing is simpler than you’ve probably been led to believe.
Speaker: Jay McBain, Principal Analyst – Channels, Partnerships & Ecosystems
We are in the middle of a major transformation of how companies go to market – in fact, 76% of global CEOs feel that their current business models will be unrecognizable in the next 3 years. Join Jay McBain from Forrester as he unpacks these future trends.
The Point
MARCH 26, 2010
This is a very belated review of a book that has been in my reading pile since December 09. But I’m glad I found the time. Published by the folks at marketing automation software company Genius.com , and authored by respected consultant, author, and blogger Ardath Albee , this is a valuable primer that would serve as a useful resource to anyone just getting started with a marketing automation system. The book is available via free download (registration required) on the Genius.com site.
Sales Lead Insights
MARCH 1, 2010
Join us for a complimentary afternoon seminar and take your business-to-business marketing and lead generation to the next level.
Buzz Marketing for Technology
MARCH 4, 2010
I want to roll the clock back a few weeks to the announcement of an initiative by Facebook called – Project Titan. At the time that I saw it and tweeted about it (of course) it really hadn’t hit me just how important this could be to any business. What seemed like a pretty basic message about an upgrade message of their current email system which is rather archaic (you know, the one that makes you delete messages one by one!)
LeadSloth
MARCH 24, 2010
GUEST POST: this is a guest post by Saad Hameed ( @KaizenSaad ), an experienced marketing operations manager and founder of the Marketing Automation Association LinkedIn Group. The CEO/CFO of your organization may be asking you to measure Marketing Campaign ROI to determine marketing’s contribution to revenue. The question is straight forward, yet what you may have already discovered is that the answer on what to measure and how to measure is not simple.
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
Sales enablement is the strategic process of providing sales teams with the content, guidance, and mentorship needed to engage targeted buyers. It’s all about equipping sales professionals with the tools they need to put their best-selling foot forward. And if sales teams want to continuously sell better -- and faster -- their sales enablement process must have a game-winning strategy. It's time for you to start selling smarter - and hitting your sales number - with the best B2B database in the market. Get started today.
Webbiquity
MARCH 22, 2010
B2b marketers and PR pros know that getting coverage in an industry-specific blog is highly beneficial. Blog links are valuable for SEO. Relevant blogs can drive targeted direct traffic from the blogger’s social media sphere of influence. And coverage from independent bloggers enhances a company’s reputation and credibility. Numerous bloggers have written about how to pitch blogs, such as B.L. Ochman , Christina Kerley , Cece Salomon-Lee and Laura Moncur.
The Effective Marketer
MARCH 17, 2010
Last week I started an email design gallery containing a series of HTML emails I received. This post is another installment of the “gallery” concept so that you have more designs to review and use in your own creative process
B2B Lead Generation
MARCH 30, 2010
The purpose of B2B marketing and lead generation is to help the sales team sell; hpwever marketers can often get so wrapped up in driving campaign activity they seem to forget it's about driving sales conversion and helping the sales team achieve better results.
Speaker: Ruth Stevens, President of eMarketing Strategy
In a pandemic, it’s more important than ever to focus on retaining and expanding current customers. So, how can sales and marketing support the retention effort? Join Ruth Stevens as she dives into this fast-paced session and reviews the 7 key strategies for current customer marketing, to enable sales and expand customer value.
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