10 Jan |
Automation Tools—Friend or Foe (or do you even know?) |
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I’m not an avid shopper and I stay away from the malls as much as I can; most definitely during the holiday shopping frenzy. So it’s natural that I thought the crowds would have thinned somewhat now that everyone is back to work and school. I had not taken into account the fact that now is the time all the duplicate gifts are being exchanged, new ones are being purchased with the generous gift cards received and everything that does not work the way it should is being returned by dejected consumers who had pinned their hopes on to that most exciting gadget, electronic item or appliance.
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...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
Read more...18 Oct |
B2B Marketing and Lead Generation Challenges – “The Q Continuum” |
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One of my all-time favourite television shows was Star Trek – the whole gamut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager. For those of you who didn’t fancy it or can’t remember trivial details like I do (am not ashamed to admit it!), let me remind you about the Q Continuum – an extra-dimensional plane of existence inhabited by a race of extremely powerful, hyper-intelligent beings known as the Q. They typically display indifference to most non-Q beings but have a deep interest in the development and progress of humanity. The Q character,
Read more...04 Oct |
Lessons from Facebook Addicts |
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I’ve been seeing and hearing so much lately about how individuals can’t do without their daily (or is that hourly?) fix of Facebook that I decided to rock the boat a little bit. So I took an intended Facebook vacation last week. My “vacation” wasn’t as simple as just not logging into my account. I went as far as deactivating my account. Now did that rock the boat, and how! People were going crazy and asking me if I was okay or if they had done anything wrong. The reactions I got were so quick, so strong and so emphatic it was as though I had really done something unimaginable.
Read more...20 Sep |
Infographics – Why and How You Should Use Them |
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People love stories. But in these days of digital mania where time is more precious than it ever was before, they love to “hear” and “see” stories much more than they like to read them. So if your company has a great story about what’s happening in your industry, or something interesting that your target audience would benefit from knowing about, you’ve got to find a way to say it in a simple, appealing and quick manner. Remember the KISS rule? The recent popularity of Infographics reinforces the old adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. As the term suggests, an
Read more...08 Jun |
Will Your Prospective Customers Cool Off for the Summer? |
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- Or do you have plans to stay hot on their heels? It’s almost that time of the year when you hear the joyous cries of “school’s out”. Already, the backyards are scented with mixed aromas of fresh flowers and sizzling barbecues. Camping gear is being pulled out and dusted clean while golf becomes the most important item for many on the weekend agenda. Yes, that’s right, summer’s here. And for those of us in Canada, we’re saying, “Well, it’s about time!” For anyone observing the change in the business landscape this time of the year, the contrast between the B2B and B2C
Read more...27 Apr |
When it comes to Effective Lead Generation…Less is More |
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Remember the maze puzzles we did as kids? Or why go so far back – most of us use a GPS to navigate these days. I find the experience somewhat similar to cracking a maze. You know your starting point and you have a destination in mind. But getting there can be as simple or as complicated as you choose. It’s the same with lead generation. In a lot of instances we add several project components to lead generation, often resulting in complicating things and slowing down the whole process. I have seen many instances of complexity being added over time. In my opinion, there are three major
Read more...01 Mar |
A 10-Point Checklist for Achieving Marketing Leadership |
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As business owners and head honchos of organizations, no matter how big or small, we have the responsibility of demonstrating marketing leadership. A vital part of that is staying relevant and infusing into our organization ideas that are practical and realistic. Leveraging innovative marketing approaches like social media and integrating them into traditional, proven systems is the way to achieve marketing leadership. As good leaders then, we ultimately steer our companies to also become successful market leaders. But first, what’s a relevant leader? I think a relevant leader is one who
Read more...18 Jan |
My 2011 Lead Generation Wish List |
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I was asked recently by a media person to comment on the top lead generation trends in 2011. When I inquired what in her mind were these “top trends”, I didn’t hear anything new. I agree that in 2010, organizations were still struggling to recover from the recession and many companies did not fully explore lead generation. Many were challenged with customer retention and had no resources or time to focus on lead generation. So while some may argue that a fusion of inbound and outbound marketing, multi-touch lead generation, adopting new technologies for marketing and sales automation,
Read more...
