Home > Blog

The Next Marketing Frontier: Real-Time Lead Nurturing

by on May 2012

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this week about middle of the funnel marketing challenges. As technology marketers, we’ve learned the lessons about how to get found on the internet, convert web site visitors and analyze the results.

We’ve spent time and money on implementing marketing automation systems to help us score, prioritize and nurture the leads we generate. And, we’ve discovered that the fuel to feed this marketing engine is content. Free, compelling, content. And lots of it.

So, what’s the problem?
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Content Marketing, Lead Management, Lead Nurturing, Marketing Automation

Stop Procrastinating!! Get Your Blogging Groove On

by on May 2012

There is nothing worse than staring at a blank piece of paper. I speak from experience. As I’ve been trying to get in the groove of blogging regularly, the angst of getting started causes me to procrastinate and put off what I know I should do.

Blogging is particularly challenging for start-up companies. You’re wearing 20 different hats, and putting out a blog post seems like the last thing you should be doing.

As I work with small technology companies, I preach the value of blogging. How it’s a great way to develop content and thought leadership. How it helps your SEO efforts. How it’s the hub of your inbound marketing efforts. Yet, even I struggle to practice what I preach.

I decided to approach this as if I were my client. What would I tell myself to do?
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Content Marketing, SEO, Social Media

3 Key Outcomes for B2B Marketers of Marketo’s Crowd Factory Acquisition

by on April 2012

There’s been a lot written over the last week about Marketo’s acquisition of Crowd Factory. Much of the commentary is a simple rehash of the announcement itself. Some of it implies that the move is an attempt by Marketo to “help it expand out of its core B2B customer base to embrace more consumer-focused brand owners.” Does this mean that Marketo is abandoning its B2B roots?

On the surface it may well appear that way. The B2B Marketing Automation space is highly competitive and in the midst of consolidation. The winners and losers are emerging. And while we B2B tech marketers understand the value proposition of these systems, the overall adoption rate in 2010 was only 7-10% for a segment that has been in existence for about 10 years. If you consider that Marketo has taken about $107.5M in funding, playing in a space with historically relatively slow growth, they may be looking to appease investors by entering a new market (in this case B2C).
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Social Media

Creative Jolt at the House of Genius

by on April 2012

As a budding entrepreneur, sometimes you need a little reality check to assure yourself that you didn’t just do something totally crazy by quitting your job and starting your own consulting business. I have to thank my friend Amar Rama for securing me an invite to the latest House of Genius meeting in Austin last week. What an intriguing group and premise!

House of Genius brings together entrepreneurs and a diverse mix of business leaders from the community for an evening each month of disruptive thinking, supportive input, and creative new ideas. Three presenters take turns sharing a bit about their business and a key problem they are trying to solve. Then, each attendee offers questions, insights, suggestions, or introductions that may assist the presenter. The collective “group think” delivers some really unique input and solutions.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Marketing Automation

Using Beta Testers to Generate Marketing Content

by on March 2012

Savvy start-ups know that the most efficient way for them to acquire customers is through inbound marketing. Getting eyeballs to your web site and presenting compelling content for prospects to engage with is a sure fire way to build pipeline. But, while we intellectually know this is true, it’s frequently challenging to generate enough content to feed the demand gen beast.

So, what’s a savvy start-up to do? Leverage your beta testers to build the content for you.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Content Marketing

How Social Do You Need To Be?

by on February 2012

Last quarter we began to create our social media presence. We decided to keep it simple and only focus on the Big 3 — Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn — and re-commit to our corporate blog. Seems easy enough, right? But, how do you keep things manageable when you’re a small marketing team at a start-up company?

It’s easy to get sucked down this rat hole. Shucks, it doesn’t cost anything to set up a Twitter account, Facebook fan page or LinkedIn profile. The rub is that you need time and content — and lots of it — to feed the social media beast.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Content Marketing, Social Media

It’s That Time Again — Quarterly ROI Reporting

by on January 2012

Our sales guys stress the last 2 weeks of the quarter. My stress starts the first day after the end of the quarter. Ah the joys of marketing ROI reporting!

While I may weakly fuss about the work, I secretly enjoy it. Digging into program and web site data is one of my favorite things.

Over the last 5 quarters, we’ve really refined our marketing KPIs (key performance indicators) and use these ROI reports to make smart decisions about how we run our business. Case in point, while performing the 4Q08 analysis in January, I discovered that our white paper leads had dismal conversion into meetings/opportunities/deals compared to our webinar and web site leads.

We use a 2-tier direct sales model where nearly all leads get directed to an inside sales team for qualification. Their mission in life is to set appointments for the outside reps. We were just about to roll-out lead nurturing, so we decided to improve ISR productivity by funneling white paper leads straight to nurturing, bypassing the ISRs.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Marketing Reporting, Marketing ROI, Salesforce.com
« Previous Page