29 Nov |
Social Media for B2B and B2C—A Carnival of Grasshoppers? |
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Many years ago I watched a TV show called Kung Fu where the blind Kung Fu master calls his young student a “grasshopper” as a term of endearment for one who still has a lot to learn. A quick Google search led me to a scene I remember and I’d like to share it with you. Take a look— Now I’m not claiming to be like Master Po—mainly because I am neither blind nor old! But I was struck at the time by the old man who could see and hear things that others (including the young “grasshopper” boy) could not. My reason for bringing this up here on my blog is because I see a lot of
Read more...24 Nov |
Blogging – the LEADing Numbers |
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I thought we would focus on blogging this week as it continues to be a staple in corporate social and online strategies. From my perspective, there has been explosion of bad B2B blogs because they are blatantly self-promotional or simply repeating the same content over and over. I continue my treasure hunt for quality, informative B2B blogs and hope to share my list with you. In the meantime, if your company has a blog or you are considering starting a blog (if you do not have one – you are very behind!), here are some numbers to consider: 1. Who Is Blogging? two thirds of bloggers
Read more...22 Nov |
The Challenges that B2B Marketers Find the Most Difficult to Overcome |
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In my post last week, I promised to share some interesting “sound bytes” from the MarketingSherpa 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report. These are comments from B2B marketers about the barriers they find the most difficult to overcome. I picked a few that are very commonly experienced by B2B marketing companies. The Challenges for B2B Marketers “Lack of ability to stop executing and think strategically is the biggest barrier.” I find that typical of B2B marketing organizations that get so caught up in tactical plays and spike marketing. In the absence of a defined strategy
Read more...17 Nov |
LEADing Numbers: Connecting |
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According to Wikipedia, there are 205 active social networking sites. When it comes time for your business to be involved in social media – which site do you choose? Who is using the site and which sites are your prospects using so you can try to get engaged in the conversation? If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I am still challenging B2B marketers on how to effectively monetize social media for B2B Demand Generation but I thought it would be interesting to list some statistics about connecting with people over social media as a starting point. 1.
Read more...15 Nov |
Barriers to B2B Marketing |
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Continuing on my commentary on the MarketingSherpa 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report, I’d like to draw your attention to what organizations consider the top barriers in their effort to overcome marketing challenges. Lack of resources in staffing, budgeting or time appears to be the #1 barrier. I wonder what the C Suite and Bean Counters would say about that. The same powers that hold Marketing accountable for reporting revenue contribution metrics are stifling marketing creativity by pulling back resources. My advice to marketers is to focus on lead quality and not worry about the
Read more...10 Nov |
Lead Conversion—the Biggest Challenge in the Marketing-Sales Funnel |
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A couple of weeks ago we purchased the comprehensive, 200 page MarketingSherpa 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report. This veritable source of marketing insights is a reminder of the B2B marketing industry’s key challenges and ways in which organizations are struggling to overcome them. Over the next few posts on my blog, I thought it may be worthwhile to focus on certain aspects of this report and how marketers can apply this intelligence to enhance lead generation strategies and processes. The study analyses how B2B organizations plan, execute and measure business activities such as lead
Read more...08 Nov |
LEADing Numbers: Featuring Marketing Priorities |
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Continuing our weekly feature of LEADing Numbers: 1. Top Three Priorites for US Marketers in 2011 are: improving segmentation and targeting, integrating into social channels, leveraging social data and increasing relevancy via dynamic content. 2. According to the SageFrog survey, the top sources of lead generation are, in order from most leads to the least leads: referrals trade shows and events online marketing email marketing public relations advertising direct mail telemarketing I think the question should have been which area is the most effective at delivering sales ready leads,
Read more...02 Nov |
The Many Faces of “Lead Generation” – Trick or Treat? |
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Halloween has come and gone again and each year one marvels at the ingenuity and creativity of costumes, masks and disguises. The trick-or-treaters come around no matter what the weather with their bags open and outstretched for candy. Not to forget the adults who dress up and grab their share of fun at work or with friends and family. For some players in the lead generation industry, Halloween is gradually becoming a year-round event. You can see all kinds of tools, techniques and tactics disguised as “lead generation strategies” to fool indiscriminate marketers. Just like those
Read more...01 Nov |
LEADing Numbers |
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I thought we would start some regular features on this blog, starting with a weekly round up of interesting statistics and numbers: 1. 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted-in to. (source: Hubspot). People whether consumers or executives only want to receive information and news relevant and interesting to them. What are you doing to prevent this attrition rate on your email list? 2. 41% of B2B companies and 67% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through Facebook (source Hubspot). Really? This still does not convince me that B2B demand
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