Resources

• Lead management software becoming a hot topic
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Apr 07, 2008
  What do you do with leads or inquires once you generate them? This basic question is overlooked by so many and yet it’s the leading cause of failure in what would otherwise be effective lead generation programs. The common-sense answer...

• Personalized Email Pays Off
  Marketing Automation Best Practices | Mar 27, 2008
  According to eMarketer, email with personalized subject lines and messages have higher open rates than email that is not personalized.This is just another datapoint that shows the importance of humanized communications in increasing email marketing performance metrics. More importantly, these tactics helps to build a better customer experience.

• Podcast: A new role for sales as expert content filters
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Mar 26, 2008
  I just had a great interview with Robin Carey, co-founder of the Customer Collective. Salespeople have become the second choice for information among buyers who'd rather just go to the Internet. This trend actually creates an opportunity for those who...

• Fear not! Think like a savvy investor with lead generation
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Mar 13, 2008
  This morning I was talking to a marketing leader about his 2008 strategy and he brought up some concerns he had about the economy and its potential impact on him and others. Can you blame him? In years past, marketing...

• Why cost-per-lead budgets fail and fewer leads are better
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Mar 05, 2008
  A reader asked me to explain why fewer leads are better and why “cost-per-lead” budgets fail. These are two great questions that have the same fundamental answer: quality first then quantity. The truth is that sales people care very little...

• B2B 2.0 marketing expo by MarketingProfs
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Mar 03, 2008
  The gang at MarketingProfs put together conference that's worth checking out. Now here's the best part... no conference travel required. The B2B 2.0 Marketing Expo is March 5, 2008 and you can register here.

• Lead Nurturing is about Relationships, not e-mails
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Feb 28, 2008
  Carrying on the theme of my recent post on lead nurturing as trusted advisors with the human touch, I came across Mike Volpe's post over the HubSpot Marketing Blog. I thought he did a nice job of showing the human...

• The Pros and Cons of Link Building
  Marketing Automation Best Practices | Feb 26, 2008
  Joshua Palau does a great job exposing the advantages of link building for search engine optimization in his article entitled, The Schizophrenia of Link Building.I enjoyed his simplistic explanation of this common SEO practice..."In order for a site to rank well for a topic or specific keyword, it needs to have quality links pointing to it from other quality sites, preferably using the targeted keyword in the link. The concept is very much at the center of how Google ranks pages and finds grounding in the educational principle of authoritative references.If an author publishes a book on quantum physics and cites several other physics books, people in the field will likely believe the cited books are experts on the subject matter and worth reading. This concept was transferred to the web and evolved further as social media exploded.I'm a TV junkie. So when asked about the latest celebrity dalliance, my opinion may count for more than someone else's who can't tell the difference between Mary-Kate and Ashley. This idea holds sway in the world of link building as well. If I told you that The Superficial is a great site for celebrity gossip you would trust that site because it came from me.For a time, all was good in the kingdom of search as the world of link karma worked in a very "wiki" way. Sites that had content about Caribbean vacations would link to Starwood's Caribbean hotels because it was in the best interest of their users. Links were swapped, given away and even paid for because there was no harm. For the most part, users got links to good partners and sites received a boost in Google.Then, the concepts behind link development spawned several search result jokes like Miserable Failure, French Military Victories and others. It stands to reason that as the Google team got wise to such Googlebombing, it recognized how easily the company could be manipulated through the use of links. People could buy enough links to gain high rankings as long as their site was somewhat on topic. The ripple effect on Google would be significant because the quality of its results would go down; users would visit less, and there would be less clicks on those paid listings."

• Where's The Beef?
  Marketing Automation Best Practices | Feb 25, 2008
  I spent the weekend in a class the certifies me as a "CBJ" (Certified Barbeque Judge), which is mostly a matter of paying a fee and learning a few rules about barbeque contest. The substance of the class consited of eating a lot (about 2 pounds, total) of barbequed meat to practice judging, then compare notes with others in the class and with practiced judges.The weekend before, I spent at The ADDYs (formerly OMNIs) show watching a ton of winning ads from Kansas City agencies . . . and I've got to tell you, though there were several exceptions, for the most part, there was way more "beef" at the BBQ judging class than at the ADDYs.Don't get me wrong--there was a lot of beautiful, eye-catching, and clever artwork, film, and photography . . . many georgeous ads that could attract attention from across a room crowded with other ads--a lot of good stuff to learn from. But for most of the winners, even after a closer look at the posted ads and watching them live during the show--it was difficult to tell exactly what they were selling or what the ad was trying to say about the product or service (other than--oh, look how arty/clever/design-y the agency we hired is). Overall, they lacked the beef of any ad--the message.So really, all I'm saying is please, please, please, start your ad from the premise that you have something to say--listen to your clients first, find out what's great about their product and service, then say it loud and proud in the ad you create for them. Too many ads looked like they started from the premise, "Hey, let's make a cool ad that'll win an ADDY" instead.

• Alltop a single page blog dashboard of sorts
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Feb 22, 2008
  If you don’t have time to search though multiple blogs I recommend you check out Alltop. The site was launched by marketing wiz, blogger, author, entrepreneur & venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki. What's different about Alltop? It’s really a selection of...

• How to make B2B marketing messages more memorable
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Feb 13, 2008
  In B2B marketing, when you have many potential buyers who are involved in the buying process, how do you connect with these people in a memorable way? If you look at most lead generation messages, they often contain industry jargon...

• Forrester Calls for 'Connected Agency'
  Marketing Automation Best Practices | Feb 08, 2008
  In yet another rebuke of traditional advertising agencies, Forrester Research believes today's ad agencies are not well-structured to take on tomorrow's marketing challenges, needing to move from making messages to establishing community connections. In a new report, the research firm paints a grim view of the current state of advertising, which it believes is in "a world of hurt" because consumers are tuning out the messages the industry is predicated on producing.Instead, it believes shops need to be organized around communities, not disciplines. What it is calling "the connected agency" would not only know certain communities but also be active members of these groups. Pushing messages would give way to encouraging voluntary engagement, and ongoing conversations would replace time-based campaigns.In Forrester's view, most people rely on advice from friends and others in their various communities to make product decisions, while using tech tools to tune out ad messages they deem irrelevant. On top of that, consumer media choice has made the notion of a "captive audience," other than during some sporting events, a thing of the past.Forrester sees agencies made up of community members -- moms, for instance, helping Procter & Gamble play a constructive role in communities of other mothers.Savy marketers have long known that building a digital profile customers can lead to a high ROI. This new reocmmendation is an interesting idea to help traditional advertising agencies evolve in a Web 2.0 world.

• Lead nurturing thoughts
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Jan 28, 2008
  It’s surprising how many marketers now say they do “lead nurturing” but in reality they are just sending monthly email campaigns or monthly newsletters with some call to action. If all you do is send generic email marketing messages to...

• Lead Nurturing as trusted advisors with the Human Touch
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Jan 04, 2008
  In today’s commoditized business climate I think what sets companies apart with a complex sale is how well they build and cultivate relationships. Over the years, I’ve observed a truth; and this truth will requires many sales people to reconsider...

• Lesson’s learned from Podcasting
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Nov 16, 2007
  If you plan on entering the world of podcasting or want to make yours better, you can read what I’ve learned in my MarketingProfs article, "Lessons Learned from Podcasting." Similar to blogging, podcasting is a medium that B2B marketers remain...

• Social Media and Marketing Automation
  Marketing Automation Best Practices | Nov 10, 2007
  Social media or social networks means the gathering of people within a community (whether that's an actual online community or simply a section on a Web site dedicated to giving consumers a voice to actively participate in the creation of new and/or the management of existing content). Users have the ability to post their own photos or videos, rate and review products, create tags for content, write or respond to blogs, or change existing content (like wikis), and more.Social media has allowed consumers to take charge of their Web experiences and marketing automation programs can take advantage of this new tool to increase sales and build a relationship with consumers.Here a couple of ideas on how to integrate social media into your email marketing or marketing automation efforts...Reviews -- The key with reviews is participation -- the more coverage your products have, the more effective the reviews will be.Ratings -- Ratings include stars, thumbs up and down, "paws," and a myriad of other forms. Consumers register their level of approval, and the product's rating becomes based on some form of average of responses. This type of consumer feedback is incredibly useful for optimization because it is easily rankable. Have on-site search? Why not rank results by popularity? This is a fabulous way of providing relevance through ranking.Digg -- Social sites provide a clearinghouse for user responses. The most well- known, Digg, allows sites to put up an icon on articles that lets the reader "Digg" the content.

• InTouch Acquired by MECLABS Group, Parent Company of MarketingSherpa and MarketingExperiments
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Nov 07, 2007
  When I started the B2B Lead Generation blog back in 2003, my purpose was to have this blog be a launch pad for practical ideas, not commercials. So that’s why many of you probably don’t know what I do in...

• Personalized Email Increases Open Rates
  Marketing Automation Best Practices | Nov 06, 2007
  Personalized e-mails boost open rates, according to a MailerMailer study. The e-mail service provider found that personalized "subject" lines in particular increased the number of times recipients opened their mailings.The "subject" line is so important that, even when marketers have recipients' permission, the wrong line can still mean trouble. The MailerMailer study also found that open rates have continued to decline, as they have since 2004, as more people started using e-mail programs that disable the “automatic image downloading" setting.Even though open rates have gone down, click rates remain steady, suggesting that people are still reading their e-mail despite the lower-reported open rates.

• Three Simple Ways to Humanize Your Email Marketing
  Marketing Automation Best Practices | Nov 03, 2007
  I am always surprised at the number of emails I receive from companies that have clearly been written without any effort being to connect with me as an individual. This lost opportunity is most evident when I provide my email address to a company for the very first time.Maybe I sign up for a newsletter, maybe I register for some kind of service, maybe I buy a product. Almost without exception, the automated emails I receive to confirm the action I have just taken are uniformly drab and impersonal.When a customer first gives you his or her email address, you have a small window of opportunity. Customers are expecting a confirmation email from you. They are waiting for it. And when it arrives, almost 100% of people will open it. In other words, this is your first and best chance to make a great impression. Do you or your company take full advantage of that opportunity?Marketing automation is one answer and here are three simple things you can do to "humanize" any email communication.1. Communicate as a person, not as a businessPeople don't want to hear from a computer. They want to hear from you.So include some elements in your email that are one-to-one—from one human being to another. A photo or video of sales rep on a landing page is a powerful way to connect on a human level.2. Add a real name at the end of each emailMany emails are signed by "The Domainname.com Team" or something like that.Well, if the head of that team is called John Frost, sign the emails with the name "John Frost."Make it from a person. There is no power in sending an email and signing it as a corporation or a team. There is no connection there. When you do that, every opportunity to take advantage of this most personal of online media is lost.3. Add your real address and other contact informationWhen I receive an email that closes with the complete mailing address of the sender, it immediately boosts my feelings of trust and confidence in that company. When "John Frost" also adds his own email address and phone number, then the connection I feel with that company rises immeasurably.

• Think more, do less
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Oct 23, 2007
  Are you too busy to think? Many of us feel that way at times. As simple as it seems, finding time to think effectively is vital to developing a solid sales, marketing and lead generation strategy. Without question, our mindsets...

• Where's the passion in B2B marketing?
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Oct 16, 2007
  I spoke yesterday at MarketingSherpa's Demand Generation Summit and I felt led to go off topic for a bit to address why I do, what I do. Personally, I've been pondering the idea of passion and what role it plays...

• Lead reengagement gives you more out of your investment
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Oct 10, 2007
  The year-end push is on and I know you may be wondering what else can I do to drive more revenue with little or no remaining budget? I've found the best way is to focus on the leads you already...

• B2B Lead management is far from an easy task
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Sep 18, 2007
  Companies that adopt effective lead management processes generate more revenue from their lead generation investment and have overall higher close rates on marketing generated leads than those that do not. But I've encountered very few companies that really do lead...

• Practical Strategies for Generating Quality Leads Teleclass
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Sep 17, 2007
  I'm doing a bunch of live and in-person speaking events this fall. If you can't make any of them, I'll be a guest of Michael Stelzner as part of his monthly teleclass series. Michael is author of Writing White Papers...

• On Alignment between Marketing and Finance
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Sep 12, 2007
  Many marketers are quickly approaching their favorite time of year. Okay, not really. I'm of course talking about budget time. When I see the challenge that marketers face when it comes to getting their budgets approved, I wonder why it...

• MarketingSherpa Demand Generation Summit 2007
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Sep 04, 2007
  Click here now to buy a ticket to the Demand Gen Summit and get a copy of my new book: "Lead Generation for the Complex Sale" Register by 9/28 For a $100 Discount You're invited to join me at MarketingSherpa’s...

• The One Piece Of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Aug 30, 2007
  The staff at Raintoday approached a group of B2B lead generation experts with the following question: "What is the one piece of advice you simply cannot generate leads without?" The result was a special 36-page report with 10 all-new articles...

• B2B Marketing and lead generation via Social networking
  B2B Lead Generation Blog | Aug 29, 2007
  Have you dipped your toe in the water of social networking yet? And if not, should you start? That's a question I know a lot of very busy B2B marketers ask themselves which is why I found Tessa Wegert's ClickZ...

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