It’s important for marketers to keep abreast of the new innovations in our field. Marketing automation software is one of them, and as we explore how to apply it to our marketing activities, it’s critical to understand how it works and the true value that it provides. Below is part two of the Software Advice website’s two-part…Read More
B2B marketers don’t own the quarterly revenue target. That responsibility belongs to the VP of Sales. Most of us B2B marketers are focused on generating leads, leads and more leads. As long as we produce our lead targets, we’ve done our job, right? It’s the sales team’s responsibility to reap the harvest from the seeds…Read More
On the surface, it sounds like these terms refer to the same thing, right? Not true. While many organizations use these terms interchangeably, they refer to different elements of the revenue generation process. The Software Advice website recently published a two-part whiteboard session with Carlos Hidalgo, CEO of Annuitas Group and Executive Director of the Marketing Automation…Read More
Marketing automation requires more than just software; it requires people to interact with leads as they’re nurtured through the revenue generation process. But who should interact with them? Marketers? Expensive sales reps? In this final segment of Software Advice’s 3-part educational whiteboard session, Jon Miller, VP of Marketing at Marketo, talks about their Sales Development…Read More
If you’re a B2B marketer, the main focus of your job is probably generating leads for your sales team. It’s common for B2B marketers of small to mid-size companies struggle to produce qualified sales leads because they don’t have a strong understanding of the nuances of selling B2B products and services. The more complex of…Read More
How much time do you think your sales reps spend actively selling? 80% of their time? 60% of their time? Actually, average sales reps spend only about 23% of their time actively selling — 10.3 hrs/week.* Here’s what they’re doing the rest of the time: Writing proposals Strategizing internally Traveling Creating sales reports Attending sales…Read More
What’s a good way to understand how marketing automation works? Have a company explain how it successfully uses marketing automation software in its revenue generation process. Better yet, how about hearing it directly from a leading marketing automation vendor? Marketo does exactly that – explaining in the embedded video below how they use their own…Read More
The Internet has fundamentally changed sales and marketing, transferring power from sellers to buyers. We’ve all felt this obvious change, and our jobs are quite different than they were in 1994. Since buyers nowadays almost always research solutions prior to purchase, it’s imperative for marketers to make sure that they’re easily found on the web….Read More
If you’re a marketing manager, you’re probably swamped with this year’s planning and budgeting process. Hopefully you find it exciting to create a marketing plan filled with new programs and campaigns to build your business in the year ahead. (If not, it may be time for a new job!) And as you know, it can…Read More
Marketing campaigns are investments. And like any smart investment, they need to be measured, monitored and compared to other investments to ensure you’re spending your money wisely. Return on investment (ROI) is a measure of the profit earned from each investment. Like the return you earn on your portfolio or bank account, it’s calculated as…Read More
If you’re revamping your website or launching a SEM campaign, the quality of your keyword list will play a significant role in your overall success. It’s only logical, right? When you optimize and advertise using popular keywords and phrases that are a good fit for your site, you increase your chances of obtaining traffic and…Read More
Even though all the hype has been around social media and digital marketing for the last few years, print advertising is still effective and an important part of most B2B and B2C marketing campaigns. If you’re planning a campaign in a trade publication this summer or fall, here are a few tips to increase your…Read More
Recently HubSpot reported their results from analyzing the marketing activity of over 2,500 businesses over the last two years. HubSpot offers a nice internet marketing application that allows companies to easily improve their search engine visibility through organic search, paid search and social media. I’ve embedded their presentation below. Things that stood out: Costs per…Read More
In my previous article, How to get the most from a print ad, I pointed out the importance of not inundating your sales force with unqualified leads. When you run a campaign, focus on driving profitable revenue, not just a long list of names for your database. It’s ROI, not just the response rate that…Read More
The Internet has made B2B telemarketing nearly obsolete. Most marketers in this digital age don’t even consider using it in a campaign. Often that’s a mistake; phone calls can still be a very useful component in most B2B marketing campaigns. In the telemarketing hey days of the eighties and nineties (i.e., before email), many companies…Read More
Whether it’s the beginning of a new month, quarter or calendar year, it’s always a good time to review which marketing campaigns are working well and generate ideas for new campaigns. For those small to midsize B2B companies that typically use only a single medium for marketing campaigns (or, worse yet, use only their sales team),…Read More
Technology moves quickly. It’s time-consuming to stay on the front edge of the wave, and tricky to figure out creative ways to use it to improve corporate marketing results. I Tweet, but do I generate leads? How come the fans on my Facebook page never buy? It can be frustrating, and it can feel like…Read More
“A 5% improvement in customer retention rates will yield between a 20 to 100% increase in profits across a wide range of industries.” (Reichheld, Fred. The Loyalty Effect.) Loyal customers are an indicator of great businesses, but many good businesses could become great by focusing more effort on serving and retaining their existing customer base….Read More