13 Sep |
Avoid Meaningless Metrics – Monitor Quality Leads Instead |
After my post last week, I got some comments from my knowledgeable friends holding very senior corporate positions – apparently they felt I was undermining the value of metrics and reporting in sales in marketing. So let me explain that I am NOT against reporting and I DO realize that tracking revenue contribution by marketing is important. As a matter of fact, I have strongly advocated monitoring and measurement in previous blog posts too. What I AM against is the use of meaningless metrics that B2B companies spend so much time, effort and money to put together. Even more time is wasted
Read more...Published Date: 13 Sep 2011
Category: Demand Generation, Lead Generation
Tags: B2B companies, customer revenue, demand generation strategies, Lead Generation, metrics, metrics measurement, ROI, sales acceptance, sales conversion rates, sales reporting
08 Sep |
“1 in 3 B2B marketers worldwide report financial contribution metrics to senior management” |
…But Why Blame Marketing for this? Marketing has traditionally been the first to be blamed when things don’t quite work the way they should. Not much has changed in that respect over the years. What has changed, however, is the shrinking marketing budget across industries, across B2B organizations of all sizes, everywhere. With bigger targets to chase, tighter budgets and fewer resources to deploy, marketers are struggling to implement successful marketing programs. Even more challenging is the ability to track performance and report financial contributions to the bottom line. So it’s
Read more...Published Date: 08 Sep 2011
Category: Leadership
Tags: B2B marketers, b2b marketing, company revenues, financial metrics, Lead Generation, marketing programs, marketing-generated company revenue, revenue metrics, ROI, sales
01 Sep |
Ways to Leverage Video Marketing for B2B |
A Guest Blog Post by Internet Marketing and Social Media Expert, Liana Ling I hope you enjoyed reading my guest post last week, the first in a short series on Internet marketing and social media. This week I’d like to draw your attention to a medium that has always been considered extremely powerful and yet, possibly the most under-utilized by marketers. Video marketing has yet to be explored to its full potential and definitely has a long way to go in the B2B marketing space. And yet, statistics clearly show the steadily increasing numbers as far as video viewing and penetration is
Read more...Published Date: 01 Sep 2011
Category: Demand Generation, Inbound Marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, SEO, Social Media
Tags: b2b marketing, Internet marketing, Lead Generation, lead generation campaign, lead generation strategy, marketing communication, sales cycle, video marketing, video marketing for B2B
25 Aug |
SEO Fundamentals – Separating Jargon from What Really Works! |
A Guest Blog Post by Internet Marketing and Social Media Expert, Liana Ling Louis invited me to be a guest blogger for a short series to share some insights into Internet marketing and social media. Although many people have written about it, I wanted to start this series off with some SEO basics (search engine optimization). With all the information (and mis-information!) available out there, we continue to see business owners who are not up to speed with SEO fundamentals and B2B marketing departments that have not invested adequate resources or strategic thought into optimizing their
Read more...Published Date: 25 Aug 2011
Category: Demand Generation, Lead Generation, SEO
Tags: b2b marketing, conversion, demand generation strategy, Internet marketing, Lead Generation, qualified leads, search engine optimization, SEO 101, SEO basics, SEO for B2B, SEO fundamentals, Social Media
09 Aug |
Who’s Running Your Marketing? |
It’s not uncommon to see newbie, tech-savvy, social marketers display their impatience with the “grey brigade”. It’s equally common to see experienced, mature heads shaking disapprovingly at Generation Y who are “still green behind their ears”. The challenge in many B2B marketing situations is that it’s either the ‘grey’ or the ‘green’ in a position of power and calling the shots. Now ideally, the two should blend well so that new age technologies can be optimally leveraged with the valuable mingling of experience. Corporate America is seeing the increasing surge of
Read more...Published Date: 09 Aug 2011
Category: Demand Generation, Lead Generation, Marketing Automation, Social Media
Tags: b2b marketing, B2B marketing processes, conversion, lead generation results, marketing automation, marketing department, marketing strategies, sales, social marketers, Social Media
03 Aug |
Vanilla Marketing Vs. Geo-targeting – What’s the “Scoop” |
In a recent report, the CMO Council identifies the top 10 ways to create marketing ecosystem value. For sure, everything looks good on paper, but in my opinion, it doesn’t take into account local markets and ground realities. How can you replicate the same strategies for different marketplaces? In a typical scenario, the CMO yields the power of marketing policy. The pendulum has swung way too far on that end. I reiterate what I said before – about finding middle ground. I marvel sometimes at the timeless, ageless wisdom of ancient sayings. Many of them may sound clichéd but there’s
Read more...Published Date: 03 Aug 2011
Category: Lead Nurturing
Tags: demand generation, geo-targeting, go-to-market strategy, lead generation results, localizing B2B marketing, marketing ecosystem, marketing policy, vanilla marketing
26 Jul |
Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing for B2B – The Debate Rages On |
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
Read more...Published Date: 26 Jul 2011
Category: Demand Generation, Inbound Marketing, Lead Funnel, Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, Lists, Market Segmentation, Sales Funnel, Sales Leads, Social Media
Tags: b2b marketing, B2B social networking, deman generation strategy, Lead Generation, leads, ROI, sales, social media marketing
19 Jul |
Comparing Centralized vs. Decentralized Marketing – Finding Middle Ground |
My post last week drew some crossfire between my friends in the C Suite and their senior marketing managers. I raised the question about whether the bean counters were stifling marketing creativity and it looks like I may have ruffled some feathers! No problem with that – a debate is always good. However, I thought I’d take the opportunity this week to compare a Centralized vs. a Decentralized marketing set-up. I believe that both have their merits and an organization that finds middle ground will be the most successful overall – with lead generation, marketing programs and
Read more...Published Date: 19 Jul 2011
Category: Demand Generation, Lead Generation, Sales Leads
Tags: branding, Lead Generation, leads, marketing programs and promotions, sales
12 Jul |
Are Your Bean Counters Stifling Marketing Creativity? |
A few months ago I posted on this blog about how and why small companies can think big. It’s like the small, fast cars on the race track. Smaller players can act fast because they are nimble enough and have a streamlined decision making process. Unlike most large organizations and IT giants that frequently or sometimes even chronically suffer “analysis-paralysis”, small and medium companies have the ability to move faster. They have the potential to get ahead of their bigger competition. I was just reading Car Guys Versus Bean Counters: the Battle for the Soul of American Business, by
Read more...Published Date: 12 Jul 2011
Category: Lead Nurturing
Tags:
05 Jul |
How to Build a ‘Fast and Furious’ Demand Generation Process |
The Honda Indy is coming up in Toronto at the end of this week (July 8-10, 2011); celebrating 25 years I believe. When it comes to Indy car racing, there is no denying the S Factor*. Now most people would consider the S Factor to be “Speed” and some others may take cognizance of “Skill”. In my opinion, there are 2 more critical ones – “Strategy” and the “Squad” (the folks with the fuel, jacks and grease in the pit stop). The speed and skill of the person in the driving seat would be of little use without a sound strategy and a team to offer the right support. Let’s apply
Read more...Published Date: 05 Jul 2011
Category: Demand Generation, Lead Generation
Tags: B2B business, demand generation process, Lead Generation
