24 Jan |
Let’s Put Social Media in Its “Place”…Remember that it cannot “Replace” Sales |
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At a recent business networking event, an excited senior executive was telling me all about his B2B organization’s brand new social media marketing strategy. I was curious to know what kind of results the company is expecting to see. With much enthusiasm and palpable optimism, the executive told me they were planning to increase market share by 20% over the last year. Not a bad target I thought, although I did not ask for details on numbers. Yet, when I probed further to ask what other sales and marketing initiatives were being put in place to achieve that goal the answer shocked, but
Read more...22 Dec |
LEADing Numbers: Holiday Edition |
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Since we are in the midst of the holiday season, we found some holiday statistics to share with you. For those of you thinking – how is this relevant to B2B lead generation – successful lead generation does not exist in a vacuum. Knowing events and other factors that affect your prospects and customer base is an important part of building a successful lead generation campaign. I also challenge you to think about how you can use this information to incorporate into your playbook. 1. First, even though it is the holidays – keep blogging and posting outstanding
Read more...13 Dec |
Is Your CRM Wish List for the New Year Missing Something(one)? |
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Holiday shopping until a few years ago was actually an event I used to look forward to. There was much excitement around everyone’s wish list for holiday gifts. Bringing home the treasures was another adventure; sneak ‘em in and hide them well until it’s time to hand them out. Or place them discreetly where your loved ones will run eagerly to look for them on the big day. Surprises came in bigger packages; bigger the better. In recent years, the Internet has changed all that. Shoppers can sit bleary-eyed at some insane hour of the night and order gadgets, gizmos and geek delights
Read more...06 Dec |
Why Aren’t Your Sales People Following Up on Leads Provided by Marketing? |
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It’s true isn’t it? That’s a fairly common situation in the B2B market. When the numbers are down and falling short of target, the blame game is at its best. Marketing tries to prove its contribution to the bottom line and insists that there are enough new B2B leads being poured into the sales funnel. The sales department isn’t able to close enough deals and a sense of doom and gloom just percolates company-wide. So what seems to be the problem here? Why aren’t your sales people following up on the leads provided by marketing? There could be a few reasons for this and they are
Read more...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...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...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...11 Oct |
The Ongoing Debate Over Cost Per Lead – Louis Foong’s Perspective |
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In a recent brainstorm about lead generation services and processes, my team mates brought up a few questions about average cost per lead. This is an ongoing debate and a quick search on Google will show you that the range of opinions is fairly wide. The range of actual cost estimates is even bigger. The reason for this is mainly because individuals and organizations have diverse definitions of a lead. With the varying criteria that exist out there, it’s inevitable that the comparison is apples to oranges rather than apples to apples. [caption id="attachment_1041" align="alignleft"
Read more...26 Jul |
Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing for B2B – The Debate Rages On |
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Popularity is a strange thing – whether it is a high visibility brand, a car, a pop star – as the popularity charts go up the numbers on the opposite side start to grow too. It’s true, die-hard fans will always have a community that looks down on them (their taste). Same is the case with Social Media Marketing (SMM). You can love it, hate it, but you can’t ignore it. And so it continues to be a topic of debate in the world of business. How effective really is it? Is it only the racehorse for the consumer market or can B2B marketers gain significant ROI from social media marketing? I
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