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5 Biggest Lead Management Blunders

by on June 2014

One of the nice things about consulting is that you get to help people. It’s very satisfying to spend a day checking out someone’s Salesforce.com implementation and give them a set of recommendations for how they can build/fix/improve their processes and use of technology to give them the data they need to make better marketing decisions.

I’ve been working on a couple of lead management projects that caused me to wonder — how did they get here? By here, I mean to this state where they’re bringing in a consultant to help them figure this out. Not that I’m complaining as I’m the one who gets to help, but how does an organization end up needing lead management consulting? Are there any lessons to be learned by the rest of us on how not to end up in that place?
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Filed Under: Lead Management, Marketing Automation, Salesforce.com

The Importance of Building the Right Marketing Infrastructure

by on March 2014

I know you’ve heard it before, but in order to be a successful marketer, you must have the right marketing infrastructure in place. What is it about the infrastructure that can make you or break you as a marketer? It really boils down to your ability to understand what is going on in your sales and marketing funnel. Let me paint you a picture of two disparate infrastructures to illustrate the point.
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Filed Under: Marketing Automation, Pardot, Salesforce.com

It’s a New Year: Time to Get Your Pardot Implementation in Shape

by on January 2014

It’s a new year and everyone is busy making resolutions. If you’ve been putting off addressing the growing pains in your Pardot system, now’s the time to take action.

If you’ve been a long-time Pardot user, you may find yourself with hundreds of email templates, landing pages, forms, lists, drip programs, custom re-directs and automation rules. It can be overwhelming slogging through pages of content to find the list or automation rule you’re looking for. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Marketing Automation, Pardot, Salesforce.com

Thoughts on Pardot Content at the ExactTarget Connections Conference

by on September 2013

The ExactTarget Connections conference is wrapping up today, and kudos to the ET team for putting on a first-rate conference experience. No branding detail was missed from the orange ET messages on the stair risers in the convention center to the ET conference staff in their bright orange t-shirts to the orange soap and orange gerber daisies in the ladies restrooms at the JW Marriott. Did I mention there was a lot of orange at the conference?

But I didn’t attend the conference for an “orange” experience, I was looking for training on the Pardot product, networking, and a product roadmap. Although ExactTarget acquired Pardot last October, and then Salesforce.com acquired ExactTarget in June of this year, the conference did not present a clear vision of how and where Pardot fits into the picture.
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Filed Under: Marketing Automation, Pardot, Salesforce.com

Pardot Training at ExactTarget Connections 2013

by on September 2013

Next week Pardot hosts its user conference. It will be significantly different this year as they are being rolled into ExactTarget’s user conference, Connections 2013, in Indianapolis.

I attended two previous Pardot Elevate conferences and found them to be chock full of useful sessions, knowledgeable experts and access to Pardot employees and partners. It was held in Atlanta – a location much easier to get to than Indianapolis – and with a registration fee that included 2 nights of hotel plus meals, it was excellent value.
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Filed Under: Marketing Automation, Pardot

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

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.
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Filed Under: Marketing Automation