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Advertising Analytics 2.0

Advertising Analytics 2.0 | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From hbr.org - May 24, 11:37 AM

"Today’s consumers are exposed to an expanding, fragmented array of marketing touch points across media and sales channels. Imagine that while viewing a TV spot for a Toyota Camry, a consumer uses her mobile device to Google “sedans.” Up pops a paid search link for Camry, as well as car reviews. She clicks through to Car and Driver’s website to read some reviews, and while perusing, she notices a display ad from a local dealership but doesn’t click on it. One review contains a link to YouTube videos people have made about their Camrys. On YouTube she also watches Toyota’s clever “Camry Reinvented” Super Bowl ad from eight months earlier. During her commute to work that week she sees a Toyota billboard she hadn’t noticed before and then receives a direct-mail piece from the company offering a time-limited deal. She visits local dealerships’ websites, including those promoted on Car and Driver and in the direct-mail piece, and at last heads to a dealer, where she test-drives the car and buys it.

 

Toyota’s chief marketing officer should ask two questions: How did this combination of ad exposures interact to influence this consumer? Is Toyota investing the right amounts at the right points in the customer-decision journey to spark her to action?"

mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Sometimes we have the data but we don't analyze it properly in order to get the best information - and that can impact our ability to make the best decisions.  This is a great article about how some firms are analyzing the impact of campaigns on each other...so they can invest more wisely and generate better results with the same resources.

 

If this isn't an option for your business, there are still some things you can do that can help.

 

Look at the average buying cycle (time) and the length of time a lead is in each stage - is that time decreasing?  

 

Talk to your leads and ask them what they have seen, what influenced them and what didn't influence them.  

 

Set up some tests where some content/campaigns go to a group of leads,,,and some content doesn't go to a group of leads.  Is there a difference in their behavior?

 

What are you doing to understand the influence of your campaigns on each other?

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Four Outside-the-Box Ideas to Better Understand Customer Experience

Four Outside-the-Box Ideas to Better Understand Customer Experience | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.marketingprofs.com - May 21, 11:26 AM
Customer Relationships - In the show Undercover Boss, senior execs go undercover as frontline employees to see how the company is really doing and what customers experience. CMOs should try that, too—with these ...
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Fantastic post with 4 simple things to do that can drive incredible improvements.  I especially love #3 because all too often the focus is on generating a lead or a sale...and it really needs to be bigger than that.  

 

Instead, ask "How do you create a long-term, highly profitable advocate for your business?"  Then work back from there.

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Modern Marketing for Industry: Lost Art of the 4 Ps

Modern Marketing for Industry: Lost Art of the 4 Ps | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From marketingbymcduffee.blogspot.com - May 18, 8:26 AM

"Remember the 4 P's that make up the marketing mix;  Product, Price, Place, Promotion?  The theme of this blog is to look at fundamentals and cut through all the marketing stuff we hear about day in and day out.  Is anyone able to keep up with it all?  Not me.  So, my fellow Modern Marketers, let's look at the fundamental ingredients of the marketing mix.  I propose that marketing strategy and tactics built around the 4 P's is a lost art and should be brought to the surface"

mcgrawmarketing's insight:

I teach marketing to college students and whenever we get to the 4 P's, someone will bring up the 4 C's and the 5 C's and the 3 A's.  So we go through them and at the end, they realize that the 4 P's does what they need.  

 

And then they ask "Why would people create alternatives to the 4 P's?"

 

So I point them to the chapter that addresses 'differentiation' and we have a discussion about how some people like to rename a known, proven solution in order to differentiate.

 

We usually have a good laugh...

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Is Your Lead Generation Off-Target? « iMediaConnection Blog

Is Your Lead Generation Off-Target? « iMediaConnection Blog | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From blogs.imediaconnection.com - May 14, 6:53 AM

"A problem facing organizations today is generating more leads.  Making this issue even more challenging is changes in buying behavior.  Depending on which study to reference, buyers are performing different activities for up to 70% of their buying evaluation before sales intervention."

mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Some scary statistics in this piece - and the one that grabs my attention is "only 20% of organizations understood their buyer's buying process."

 

And the author's own research found '...6 out of every 10 organizations - a different buyer was identified than the organization had been targeting."

 

Of the four steps proposed, lead research really needs to be part of your every day life.  And I wouldn't limit it to leads...I would strongly suggest it cover your audience.  Because things change - and that will include your customer base as well as primary, secondary and tertiary segments within your audience.  Research can help you identify developing changes in your audience so you can be proactive rather than reactive.

 

The second step is Personas - and since this is popping up more and more often, I want to toss out a word of caution.  Personas will be constantly changing and evolving over time - they are never finished.  There may be periods of slow/no change but don't view this as a project with a firm end date.

 

Buyer-centered design is what your entire business should be built around.  When you hear someone in a staff meeting say anything close to "...we need to do it this way....", please respond immediately with "how does it help our customers enjoy a more unique, valuable experience?"

 

As a matter of fact, be proactive and ask your Telcom team that question in regard to the phone tree they designed.

 

Finally, the last point, conversation enablement training, might make many of you stop, shake your head and ask "Whaaaa?"  But think of it this way - marketing rarely speaks with the audience so they are most comfortable with pushing out one side of the conversation and then failing to hear, listen and respond accordingly.

 

Sales, service, support, accounts payable are no better.  It's all too common to hire people and train them on processes but let them figure out how to speak with the customer.  And few of us are comfortable with asking probing questions that will uncover more information so that the right person at the organization can respond appropriately.

 

Again, think of it this way, do you have a call center that is evaluated on talk time - specifically how quickly they solve the customer's issue and get them off the phone?  Well, guess what - in many instances, the customer doesn't always know what to ask so a caring customer service agent should be exploring, probing and finding out what they need to know in order to ensure a WOW experience.

 

What are your thoughts on this article?

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The Top 12 Marketing Technology Articles Curated Today, Thursday, 5/9/13 from The Marketing Automation Alert

The Top 12 Marketing Technology Articles Curated Today, Thursday, 5/9/13 from The Marketing Automation Alert | marketing tips | Scoop.it
- May 10, 4:01 AM

Over the past two weeks, we’ve seen a significant number of “CMO” oriented articles/posts, and you can read CMO as a metaphor for the whole marketing department. Today is no different: a variety of posts continue to focus on the transition to digital domain for the marketing function. More than a few practical, hands-on posts as well: from SEO tools used by a leading SEO expert to metrics to testing/optimization.

 

Receive a daily summary of The Marketing Automation Alert directly to your inbox. Subscribe here (your privacy is protected). If you find this valuable, please share by using the links below:

_____________________________________________________________

Featured Marketing Automation Article

 

Customer Experience Matrix: HubSpot Releases Social Inbox and Reveals So Much More

 

http://sco.lt/7kROrZ

From customerexperiencematrix.blogspot.com - Today, 9:33 AM

 

Key excerpt #1...

 

The most concrete news, Social Inbox, extends existing HubSpot features by more fully integrating social media monitoring and response with the HubSpot interface. The Social Inbox presents a list of Twiter posts by user-specified individuals or containing specified key words. Users can drill into each post to see a complete profile of the poster. The big deal in HubSpot’s eyes is the profiles include all information the HubSpot database about each person, and are even color-coded with the sales lead stage. The data includes Web and email behavior captured directly in HubSpot, data imported from Salesforce.com, and whatever else the system has available. Users can respond directly, forward a post to someone else, or add the poster to a HubSpot campaign. The system can automatically alert users to new Tweets as they happen or on a regular schedule.

 

Key excerpt #2...

 

Admittedly, I’ve been arguing this for a long time: the need for integrated customer treatments will eventually lead marketing automation, CRM, and Web content management to become a single system, or at least to share a common customer database. HubSpot’s current vision of highly personalized data-driven marketing is consistent with this. The current vision is also quite different from the original HubSpot vision of attracting traffic through huge volumes of great (but not personalized) content. But the new vision is a logical extension of the original: once you’ve attracted people and start to learn their preferences, the more you’re able to make targeted content recommendations. And, the more content you have available, the more you need those recommendations to point people at the right materials.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Theoretically, we agree that a common DB is inevitable. However, the working org is what keeps both parties happy: Sales has their preferences, and Marketing has theirs. We like the demarc.

 

_____________________________________________________________

In a Big Data World, Don't Forget Experimentation - HBR

 

http://sco.lt/51Twjh

From blogs.hbr.org - Today, 9:16 AM

 

This "old school" practice still has relevance today.

 

Excerpt...

 

Some may view experimentation as "old school," not up to the rigors of the unfolding data revolution. Quite the opposite — its fabled past is the best reason to employ it today! Experimentation has a rich and storied history in product development and market research. It has contributed to hundreds of thousands of improved products in nearly all sectors, from agriculture, to electronics, to medicine, and so on. And not just design — industrial experimentation has contributed to improvements in the technologies and processes needed to grow corn, assemble cars, find oil, and so forth. Industrial experimentation has a rich history in the service sector as well. Many Information Age companies, such as Google, already get this message.

 

It is critical that companies understand why experimentation works, so they will know where to apply it. In short, when used properly, experimentation brings the power of the scientific method to the problems companies face today. This means the attendant focus, sharp definition of the question, careful design, data you can trust, and in-depth analyses — just what is called for in many situations.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Wait a minute: how long has Scott Brinker been saying this?!?!?!?

 

_____________________________________________________________

SEO for Beginners: Improving Site Speed - Portent

 

http://sco.lt/5rGupN

From www.portent.com - Today, 9:02 AM

 

We write about a lot of fancy stuff on the Portent blog, such as server log analysis, advanced keyword research, and Tom Cruise. I want to address something that doesn’t have to be fancy: site speed.

 

Summarized:

Image Optimization

Plan and simple: the smaller the file, the less time it will take for the browser to download and present it to the user. Images can be huge, so optimizing them is an easy place to start.

Minification

Minifying a resource—be it a CSS, JavaScript, or HTML file—is simply the process of removing spaces, comments, tabs, and other unnecessary code in the file.

Compression

Compressing files also makes them smaller. Now that your site’s CSS, JS, and HTML are free of unnecessary code, compression is like putting them into a .zip folder. Most popular web servers have the ability to send the browser a compressed version of a file so it saves time loading the page.

Caching

Browsers are lazy and they don’t like to re-download files to render a site that it’s already seen before. So, it caches a lot of these files—images, CSS files, scripts—on the user’s hard drive in order to speed up the process of showing you a web page. Since files like your logo don’t change very often, you can instruct the browser to load the cached version so it doesn’t have to download the same image again from the server. We’ll do this by setting the expiration date for static resources up to a year in advance.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Smart techniques for the SEO newbie. The value of the article is the "how to implement" for each recommended tactic.

 

_____________________________________________________________

CMOs Must Fully Embrace New Technology, or Fail, And They Know It - AdAge

 

http://sco.lt/89ZAvJ

From adage.com - Today, 9:13 AM

 

Condensed...

 

A new study by Accenture Interactive, "Turbulence for the CMO," reveals that 70 percent of the CMOs of some of the world's largest enterprises think they have five years to fundamentally overhaul their companies' corporate marketing operating model to achieve competitive success. Based on the survey's key findings, there are four broad steps that marketers need to take if they hope to meet customer demands and grow market share:

Fundamentally Change the Marketing Experience. CMOs must drive a shift in organizational culture that makes consumer relevance at scale a key operating principle, shared by every department beyond marketing that affects the consumer experience -- R&D, sales, manufacturing, supply-chain management and services.Embrace a Digital Orientation. As digital technology plays an increasingly vital role in transforming the customer experience and enhancing corporate success, CMOs must lead the organization in embracing a digital orientation.Invest in Analytics and Talent. While CMOs do plan to invest more in their analytics capabilities, a major focus of that investment must also be on hiring, retraining and redeploying people to improve efficiency, agility and responsiveness of the organization. Marketing talent must be able to create consistent, multichannel experiences that meet customers' needs, expectations and demands for relevance.Pick a Partner. Agencies must help CMOs make sense of complexity in the marketplace by improving their levels of execution and delivery and providing a broader set of capabilities and deeper integration across the agency ecosystem.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

CMOs seriously have no other choice. You just cannot succumb to OMS*.

*Ostrich Management Syndrome

 

_____________________________________________________________

The New Kingmakers are a rising force in marketing too - Chief Marketing Technologist

 

http://sco.lt/6esJo9

From chiefmartec.com - Today, 8:06 AM

 

As the cover image on Stephen’s book suggests: software developers, who used to be pawns in the great game of business, are now the new kingmakers.

 

For marketers, it’s incredibly important to recognize this dynamic because:

The products we’re marketing are increasingly built under this new power structure.The marketing technology applications we’re adopting are products of this dynamic.Understanding this helps us grok the revolution underway in the IT department.We’re trying to hire, harness, and retain our own marketing technologist developers.This is indicative of a broader shift to bottom-up power in modern organizations.

 

That last point connects to the growth of agile marketing. It’s no coincidence that agile methodologies in software development have increased in popularity in conjunction with the shift of power to developers. With more power at the bottom of the organizational pyramid than ever before, the real competitive advantage will go to companies that are able to adapt their management and culture to take advantage of this bottom-up wellspring of capability.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Random thought: as marketing continues to embrace technology and technology processes, what eventually is the differentiation that marketing has from IT?

 

_____________________________________________________________

Optify | 5 LinkedIn Advertising Best Practices

 

http://sco.lt/7sORYP

From www.optify.net - Today, 8:50 AM

 

LinkedIn advertising has left a lot of digital marketers scratching their heads.

 

[Through] trial and error I’ve been able to determine some best practices for Linkedin advertising.

1. Test, test, and retest

2. Hyper-Targeting

Everyone wants to talk about hyper-targeting these days. It’s great for smaller businesses targeting their ideal customers, but it’ll result in low click volume and low performing ads that won’t be served. Remember, you’re not the only brand running ads targeting your ideal audience. Instead of being hyper-targeted, find a wider audience in the 50-500k range. This will result in your target audience actually being served regularly and it’ll also allow you to hit your goals.

3. Provide substance

Don’t just serve an ad, provide value and substance. Make your ad copy compelling enough that people actually want to click on it.

4. Price for goals, not for suggested range

Success on LinkedIn requires that the advertiser buy at the high end of a suggested range in order to gain visibility in competitive areas. Going in at the minimum results in seriously poor performance (much more than on other ad platforms). A higher spend combined with clicks will result in high frequency and will allow you to hit your goals.

5. Optimize your ads

BONUS TIP: Landing pages

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

The point: LinkedIn Advertising ain't AdWords. Click through for the details and learn from his experiences!

 

_____________________________________________________________

The ABCs Of A/B Testing - MarketingLand

 

http://sco.lt/78ksIT

From marketingland.com - Today, 7:21 AM

 

Excerpt...

 

Testing should be at the core of your email marketing program. Not only does it help you understand the impact you’re making, but it gives you a much fuller understanding about your customers’ behavior and preferences. It not only tells you where you’ve been, but where you should (and shouldn’t  go with your campaigns. A/B testing is the simplest, most straightforward testing method available. Most of you probably understand what A/B testing entails, but for those who don’t: A/B test is a process through which you provide different versions of an email to statistically significant groups of subscribers, and then measure their reactions to those versions in order to understand which is more effective at driving the behavior you prefer.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Wanted to include this post as it provides a primer on A/B testing for email marketing. If you haven't done this, then follow along with the author's recommendations.

 

_____________________________________________________________

Jill's SEO Tools and Extensions - High Rankings

 

http://sco.lt/5dHcZd

From www.highrankings.com - Today, 7:36 AM

 

Jill Whalen provides the online tools she uses every day as part of her SEO consulting business.

 

Summary...

 

Here are the tools I use regularly to help with my SEO consulting services:

Google AnalyticsGoogle Webmaster ToolsScreaming FrogRex Swain's HTTP Header ViewerAhrefsGoogle Keywords ToolGoogle DriveTooglChrome Extensions (Most if not all of these are likely available as Firefox extensions as well):NoFollowPageRank StatusTagAssistant (by Google)Awesome Screenshot (combined with Evernote)

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

It's like looking into Jill's bathroom cabinet. If you're in SEO, this is a MUST click through!

 

_____________________________________________________________

Three Powerful Ways to Measure the Impact of Your Email Marketing - Profs

 

http://sco.lt/7ftXjV

From www.marketingprofs.com - Today, 7:02 AM

 

Summarized...

 

Whether your purpose for email marketing is "soft," "hard," or a combination thereof, the following three types of email marketing analyses should become standard practice, because they're so powerfully effective in measuring the impact of your investment in this channel.

1. Responder Segmentation Analysis

The beauty of such "back-end" analysis is you don't have to divide your list into multiple segments before deploying a campaign. Provided your email database is searchable by those subscriber characteristics (and more), you could categorize responders post-campaign to begin developing a detailed profile of who they are. For this type of analysis, you could create responder profiles by different response actions (open, click, and conversion), but to keep it simple, define what your desired call to action is (the thing you most want people to do) and profile only those who completed that call to action (your "converters").

2. Email Subscriber Engagement Analysis

Having a performance report for each email message you deploy is great, but you'll also want to know how your entire list of subscribers behaves in response to your email over longer periods of time. This type of analysis relies on measuring cumulative actions by responder (opens, clicks, conversions) during defined time periods (usually quarterly or annually) both to uncover the best, most active responders and to uncover inactive list segments for re-activation or culling.

3. Channel Contribution Analysis

What's the bottom-line impact of email as a marketing channel on your business? This analysis seeks to determine economic impact. "Economic impact" doesn't have to mean direct sales revenue. It could, but it might instead be measured in increased site traffic, leads generated, new subscriptions attained, social media connections made, or gross brand impressions. Or, it could be measured in the cost savings and efficiency gains of email vs. more expensive marketing channels such as traditional direct mail.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

The post simplifies the path to measurement with these three techniques, and you'll want to click through to determine how to conduct the measurements. Note: you absolutely need MA to accomplish this!

 

_____________________________________________________________

Average CMO Tenure Keeps Trending Up

 

http://sco.lt/8mIs53

From www.marketingcharts.com - Today, 7:07 AM

 

The average tenure for CMOs of leading US consumer brand companies reached 45 months in 2012, continuing a steady rise from a low of 23.2 months in 2006, according to study results from Spencer Stuart. The researchers attribute the trend to CMOs having “come of age,” with the marketing function taking a greater role in enterprise growth due to new technologies and digital marketing channels. Late last year, The CMO Council pronounced 2013 “the year of the marketer,” with survey results demonstrating that senior marketers are enjoying budget growth, increased responsibilities, legitimacy, and compensation.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

This goes hand-in-hand with the 5/7 scoop from AdAge. Quick note about 2013 as the year of the marketer: quite myopic, as the transition to digital will make this the decade of the marketer.

 

_____________________________________________________________

[INFOGRAPHIC] Email This, Not That - Delivra

 

http://sco.lt/84nqOf

From www.delivra.com - Today, 6:51 AM

 

Best practices for sending email using email marketing software condensed into an awesome infographic

 

_____________________________________________________________

Mass Marketing Versus Personalization | Monetate [INFOGRAPHIC]

 

http://sco.lt/6M4fUP

From visual.ly - Today, 6:53 AM

 

Is now the time to finally shed the one-size-fits-all marketing strategy and focus on the individual consumer? Your customer thinks so!

 

The Top 12 Marketing Technology Articles Curated Today, Thursday, 5/9/13 from The Marketing Automation Alert

Over the past two weeks, we’ve seen a significant number of “CMO” oriented articles/posts, and you can read CMO as a metaphor for the whole marketing department. Today is no different: a variety of posts continue to focus on the transition to digital domain for the marketing function. More than a few practical, hands-on posts as well: from SEO tools used by a leading SEO expert to metrics to testing/optimization.

 

Receive a daily summary of The Marketing Automation Alert directly to your inbox. Subscribe here (your privacy is protected). If you find this valuable, please share by using the links below:

_____________________________________________________________

Featured Marketing Automation Article

 

Customer Experience Matrix: HubSpot Releases Social Inbox and Reveals So Much More

 

http://sco.lt/7kROrZ

From customerexperiencematrix.blogspot.com - Today, 9:33 AM

 

Key excerpt #1...

 

The most concrete news, Social Inbox, extends existing HubSpot features by more fully integrating social media monitoring and response with the HubSpot interface. The Social Inbox presents a list of Twiter posts by user-specified individuals or containing specified key words. Users can drill into each post to see a complete profile of the poster. The big deal in HubSpot’s eyes is the profiles include all information the HubSpot database about each person, and are even color-coded with the sales lead stage. The data includes Web and email behavior captured directly in HubSpot, data imported from Salesforce.com, and whatever else the system has available. Users can respond directly, forward a post to someone else, or add the poster to a HubSpot campaign. The system can automatically alert users to new Tweets as they happen or on a regular schedule.

 

Key excerpt #2...

 

Admittedly, I’ve been arguing this for a long time: the need for integrated customer treatments will eventually lead marketing automation, CRM, and Web content management to become a single system, or at least to share a common customer database. HubSpot’s current vision of highly personalized data-driven marketing is consistent with this. The current vision is also quite different from the original HubSpot vision of attracting traffic through huge volumes of great (but not personalized) content. But the new vision is a logical extension of the original: once you’ve attracted people and start to learn their preferences, the more you’re able to make targeted content recommendations. And, the more content you have available, the more you need those recommendations to point people at the right materials.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Theoretically, we agree that a common DB is inevitable. However, the working org is what keeps both parties happy: Sales has their preferences, and Marketing has theirs. We like the demarc.

 

_____________________________________________________________

In a Big Data World, Don't Forget Experimentation - HBR

 

http://sco.lt/51Twjh

From blogs.hbr.org - Today, 9:16 AM

 

This "old school" practice still has relevance today.

 

Excerpt...

 

Some may view experimentation as "old school," not up to the rigors of the unfolding data revolution. Quite the opposite — its fabled past is the best reason to employ it today! Experimentation has a rich and storied history in product development and market research. It has contributed to hundreds of thousands of improved products in nearly all sectors, from agriculture, to electronics, to medicine, and so on. And not just design — industrial experimentation has contributed to improvements in the technologies and processes needed to grow corn, assemble cars, find oil, and so forth. Industrial experimentation has a rich history in the service sector as well. Many Information Age companies, such as Google, already get this message.

 

It is critical that companies understand why experimentation works, so they will know where to apply it. In short, when used properly, experimentation brings the power of the scientific method to the problems companies face today. This means the attendant focus, sharp definition of the question, careful design, data you can trust, and in-depth analyses — just what is called for in many situations.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Wait a minute: how long has Scott Brinker been saying this?!?!?!?

 

_____________________________________________________________

SEO for Beginners: Improving Site Speed - Portent

 

http://sco.lt/5rGupN

From www.portent.com - Today, 9:02 AM

 

We write about a lot of fancy stuff on the Portent blog, such as server log analysis, advanced keyword research, and Tom Cruise. I want to address something that doesn’t have to be fancy: site speed.

 

Summarized:

Image Optimization

Plan and simple: the smaller the file, the less time it will take for the browser to download and present it to the user. Images can be huge, so optimizing them is an easy place to start.

Minification

Minifying a resource—be it a CSS, JavaScript, or HTML file—is simply the process of removing spaces, comments, tabs, and other unnecessary code in the file.

Compression

Compressing files also makes them smaller. Now that your site’s CSS, JS, and HTML are free of unnecessary code, compression is like putting them into a .zip folder. Most popular web servers have the ability to send the browser a compressed version of a file so it saves time loading the page.

Caching

Browsers are lazy and they don’t like to re-download files to render a site that it’s already seen before. So, it caches a lot of these files—images, CSS files, scripts—on the user’s hard drive in order to speed up the process of showing you a web page. Since files like your logo don’t change very often, you can instruct the browser to load the cached version so it doesn’t have to download the same image again from the server. We’ll do this by setting the expiration date for static resources up to a year in advance.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Smart techniques for the SEO newbie. The value of the article is the "how to implement" for each recommended tactic.

 

_____________________________________________________________

CMOs Must Fully Embrace New Technology, or Fail, And They Know It - AdAge

 

http://sco.lt/89ZAvJ

From adage.com - Today, 9:13 AM

 

Condensed...

 

A new study by Accenture Interactive, "Turbulence for the CMO," reveals that 70 percent of the CMOs of some of the world's largest enterprises think they have five years to fundamentally overhaul their companies' corporate marketing operating model to achieve competitive success. Based on the survey's key findings, there are four broad steps that marketers need to take if they hope to meet customer demands and grow market share:

Fundamentally Change the Marketing Experience. CMOs must drive a shift in organizational culture that makes consumer relevance at scale a key operating principle, shared by every department beyond marketing that affects the consumer experience -- R&D, sales, manufacturing, supply-chain management and services.Embrace a Digital Orientation. As digital technology plays an increasingly vital role in transforming the customer experience and enhancing corporate success, CMOs must lead the organization in embracing a digital orientation.Invest in Analytics and Talent. While CMOs do plan to invest more in their analytics capabilities, a major focus of that investment must also be on hiring, retraining and redeploying people to improve efficiency, agility and responsiveness of the organization. Marketing talent must be able to create consistent, multichannel experiences that meet customers' needs, expectations and demands for relevance.Pick a Partner. Agencies must help CMOs make sense of complexity in the marketplace by improving their levels of execution and delivery and providing a broader set of capabilities and deeper integration across the agency ecosystem.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

CMOs seriously have no other choice. You just cannot succumb to OMS*.

*Ostrich Management Syndrome

 

_____________________________________________________________

The New Kingmakers are a rising force in marketing too - Chief Marketing Technologist

 

http://sco.lt/6esJo9

From chiefmartec.com - Today, 8:06 AM

 

As the cover image on Stephen’s book suggests: software developers, who used to be pawns in the great game of business, are now the new kingmakers.

 

For marketers, it’s incredibly important to recognize this dynamic because:

The products we’re marketing are increasingly built under this new power structure.The marketing technology applications we’re adopting are products of this dynamic.Understanding this helps us grok the revolution underway in the IT department.We’re trying to hire, harness, and retain our own marketing technologist developers.This is indicative of a broader shift to bottom-up power in modern organizations.

 

That last point connects to the growth of agile marketing. It’s no coincidence that agile methodologies in software development have increased in popularity in conjunction with the shift of power to developers. With more power at the bottom of the organizational pyramid than ever before, the real competitive advantage will go to companies that are able to adapt their management and culture to take advantage of this bottom-up wellspring of capability.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Random thought: as marketing continues to embrace technology and technology processes, what eventually is the differentiation that marketing has from IT?

 

_____________________________________________________________

Optify | 5 LinkedIn Advertising Best Practices

 

http://sco.lt/7sORYP

From www.optify.net - Today, 8:50 AM

 

LinkedIn advertising has left a lot of digital marketers scratching their heads.

 

[Through] trial and error I’ve been able to determine some best practices for Linkedin advertising.

1. Test, test, and retest

2. Hyper-Targeting

Everyone wants to talk about hyper-targeting these days. It’s great for smaller businesses targeting their ideal customers, but it’ll result in low click volume and low performing ads that won’t be served. Remember, you’re not the only brand running ads targeting your ideal audience. Instead of being hyper-targeted, find a wider audience in the 50-500k range. This will result in your target audience actually being served regularly and it’ll also allow you to hit your goals.

3. Provide substance

Don’t just serve an ad, provide value and substance. Make your ad copy compelling enough that people actually want to click on it.

4. Price for goals, not for suggested range

Success on LinkedIn requires that the advertiser buy at the high end of a suggested range in order to gain visibility in competitive areas. Going in at the minimum results in seriously poor performance (much more than on other ad platforms). A higher spend combined with clicks will result in high frequency and will allow you to hit your goals.

5. Optimize your ads

BONUS TIP: Landing pages

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

The point: LinkedIn Advertising ain't AdWords. Click through for the details and learn from his experiences!

 

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The ABCs Of A/B Testing - MarketingLand

 

http://sco.lt/78ksIT

From marketingland.com - Today, 7:21 AM

 

Excerpt...

 

Testing should be at the core of your email marketing program. Not only does it help you understand the impact you’re making, but it gives you a much fuller understanding about your customers’ behavior and preferences. It not only tells you where you’ve been, but where you should (and shouldn’t  go with your campaigns. A/B testing is the simplest, most straightforward testing method available. Most of you probably understand what A/B testing entails, but for those who don’t: A/B test is a process through which you provide different versions of an email to statistically significant groups of subscribers, and then measure their reactions to those versions in order to understand which is more effective at driving the behavior you prefer.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Wanted to include this post as it provides a primer on A/B testing for email marketing. If you haven't done this, then follow along with the author's recommendations.

 

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Jill's SEO Tools and Extensions - High Rankings

 

http://sco.lt/5dHcZd

From www.highrankings.com - Today, 7:36 AM

 

Jill Whalen provides the online tools she uses every day as part of her SEO consulting business.

 

Summary...

 

Here are the tools I use regularly to help with my SEO consulting services:

Google AnalyticsGoogle Webmaster ToolsScreaming FrogRex Swain's HTTP Header ViewerAhrefsGoogle Keywords ToolGoogle DriveTooglChrome Extensions (Most if not all of these are likely available as Firefox extensions as well):NoFollowPageRank StatusTagAssistant (by Google)Awesome Screenshot (combined with Evernote)

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

It's like looking into Jill's bathroom cabinet. If you're in SEO, this is a MUST click through!

 

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Three Powerful Ways to Measure the Impact of Your Email Marketing - Profs

 

http://sco.lt/7ftXjV

From www.marketingprofs.com - Today, 7:02 AM

 

Summarized...

 

Whether your purpose for email marketing is "soft," "hard," or a combination thereof, the following three types of email marketing analyses should become standard practice, because they're so powerfully effective in measuring the impact of your investment in this channel.

1. Responder Segmentation Analysis

The beauty of such "back-end" analysis is you don't have to divide your list into multiple segments before deploying a campaign. Provided your email database is searchable by those subscriber characteristics (and more), you could categorize responders post-campaign to begin developing a detailed profile of who they are. For this type of analysis, you could create responder profiles by different response actions (open, click, and conversion), but to keep it simple, define what your desired call to action is (the thing you most want people to do) and profile only those who completed that call to action (your "converters").

2. Email Subscriber Engagement Analysis

Having a performance report for each email message you deploy is great, but you'll also want to know how your entire list of subscribers behaves in response to your email over longer periods of time. This type of analysis relies on measuring cumulative actions by responder (opens, clicks, conversions) during defined time periods (usually quarterly or annually) both to uncover the best, most active responders and to uncover inactive list segments for re-activation or culling.

3. Channel Contribution Analysis

What's the bottom-line impact of email as a marketing channel on your business? This analysis seeks to determine economic impact. "Economic impact" doesn't have to mean direct sales revenue. It could, but it might instead be measured in increased site traffic, leads generated, new subscriptions attained, social media connections made, or gross brand impressions. Or, it could be measured in the cost savings and efficiency gains of email vs. more expensive marketing channels such as traditional direct mail.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

The post simplifies the path to measurement with these three techniques, and you'll want to click through to determine how to conduct the measurements. Note: you absolutely need MA to accomplish this!

 

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Average CMO Tenure Keeps Trending Up

 

http://sco.lt/8mIs53

From www.marketingcharts.com - Today, 7:07 AM

 

The average tenure for CMOs of leading US consumer brand companies reached 45 months in 2012, continuing a steady rise from a low of 23.2 months in 2006, according to study results from Spencer Stuart. The researchers attribute the trend to CMOs having “come of age,” with the marketing function taking a greater role in enterprise growth due to new technologies and digital marketing channels. Late last year, The CMO Council pronounced 2013 “the year of the marketer,” with survey results demonstrating that senior marketers are enjoying budget growth, increased responsibilities, legitimacy, and compensation.

 

iNeoMarketing's insight:

This goes hand-in-hand with the 5/7 scoop from AdAge. Quick note about 2013 as the year of the marketer: quite myopic, as the transition to digital will make this the decade of the marketer.

 

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[INFOGRAPHIC] Email This, Not That - Delivra

 

http://sco.lt/84nqOf

From www.delivra.com - Today, 6:51 AM

 

Best practices for sending email using email marketing software condensed into an awesome infographic

 

_____________________________________________________________

Mass Marketing Versus Personalization | Monetate [INFOGRAPHIC]

 

http://sco.lt/6M4fUP

From visual.ly - Today, 6:53 AM

 

Is now the time to finally shed the one-size-fits-all marketing strategy and focus on the individual consumer? Your customer thinks so!

 


Via iNeoMarketing
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

this is packed with great content and insight...find a quiet place, get a good cup of coffee, make the time to read this.

iNeoMarketing's curator insight, May 9, 10:38 AM
  • Receive a daily summary of The Marketing Automation Alert directly to your inbox. Subscribe here (your privacy is protected).
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Burick Communication Design Blog

Burick Communication Design Blog | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.burick.com - May 8, 9:05 AM
A microsite project demonstrates how to help a CMO increase stakeholder buy-in, manage pushback and communicate.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

A scenario that I am sure we've all had the pleasure of experiencing - and 3 important things to do to turn a potentially unpleasant situation into a success.

 

I have found that reaching out across organizations to key stakeholders is key - always invite them to participate but have specific reasons so they understand what is expected of them.  Open invitations can cause others to say 'No' because they are trying to manage their time and priorities - so give them some details so they can make a more informed decision.

 

Have you encountered similar situations?  How have you worked your way through them?

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B2B Lead Blog » Social Media Marketing: Dell reveals how it turns thousands of brand detractors into fans

B2B Lead Blog » Social Media Marketing: Dell reveals how it turns thousands of brand detractors into fans | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From b2bleadblog.com - May 6, 8:22 AM
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Dell sure strikes me as a company worth emulating when it comes to their use of social media - and these metrics should serve as something for other businesses to aspire to in their use of social media for customer service.

 

"Every week, Dell’s Social Outreach Services team addresses approximately 3,000 issues. All but 3% of those issues come to some kind of resolution, and 40 to 50% – about 1,200 – of the people who initiated them end up speaking positively about Dell online."


How does your business use social media to serve your audience?  How are your monitoring online mentions?  What is your process for responding (or not respondng)?

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Facebook Losing Ground With American Teens - Technology News - redOrbit

Facebook Losing Ground With American Teens - Technology News - redOrbit | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.redorbit.com - May 5, 7:17 PM
The popularity of Facebook is declining with teens as more mobile-friendly methods to communicate with friends emerge, like Instagram and SnapChat.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Know your audience...and where they hang out.  But the next question is how do they use these new platforms?  Can you engage them on Instagram? Or SnapChat?  How?

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The Wrong Way to Set Business Goals

The Wrong Way to Set Business Goals | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.entrepreneur.com - May 5, 7:25 AM
Four tips on how to set goals for your business that will lead to more success and satisfaction.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Realistic goal setting - that's something that a lot of owners and leaders could benefit from because when you are unrealistic, you can do incredible damage to your business.  The GM example cited in the article is a good example, as is the story of the 40-year-old millionaire.

 

I've worked with companies that got locked into a revenue goal and counsoled them not to slash pricing as a way of hittin the goal - not only does this cost you profits in the near term but in the long term it sets a precedence with your market where they expect low pricing and the ability to ask for (and receive) lower pricing.

 

The author suggests the focus should be placed on process goals - generating quality leads rather than the revenue generated.  That's something I use in my own work and I find it makes work more fun because I enjoy meeting people that have a need I can help solve - so the more I meet, the more opportunities I have which means there is a demand for my expertise.  When I get caught up in the revenue generated, it leaves me a little colder...I guess you can say I am more of a people person so by focusing on quality leads, I have a more positive outlook.

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3 Ways to grow your business for pennies

3 Ways to grow your business for pennies | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From jimsmarketingblog.com - May 4, 9:46 AM
Here are 3 powerful ways to grow your business on a low (or no) budget.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Thinking back to my college days...lack of funds brought out incredible creativity in order to survive.  This article offers 3 simple, low-cost/no-cost ways to improve sales and marketing performance.

 

My favorite is #2 - it just requires us to step back and think outside the box.  Too often, we get caught up in 'getting things done' and our noses to the grindstone will push a lot of things out - but it's important to make the time to step back and see if there are better ways to achieve your goals.

 

What great ideas have you come up with that has helped your business outsmart the competition?

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Inbound or Outbound Marketing? Think Boundless Instead | Social Media Today

Inbound or Outbound Marketing? Think Boundless Instead | Social Media Today | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From socialmediatoday.com - May 3, 8:55 PM
Inbound and outbound marketing each have particular merits and should be used in concert to optimize your marketing ROI.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

It's not either/or - it's integrated marketing that allows you to use the right channels to deliver the right message and offer to the right people at the right time.

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Stop Hyping Big Data and Start Paying Attention to 'Long Data' | Wired Opinion | Wired.com

Stop Hyping Big Data and Start Paying Attention to 'Long Data' | Wired Opinion | Wired.com | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.wired.com - May 1, 12:45 PM
Our species can’t seem to escape big data. We have more data inputs, storage, and computing resources than ever, so Homo sapiens naturally does what it has always done when given new tools: it goes even bigger, higher, and bolder.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Big data.  Long data.  Let's just take a second and remember that data is, by definition, unorganized.  And let's remember that what we really need is information - which requires the analysis of data so that it can be turned into useful insight that drives informed decisions.

 

Anyone can capture and store data.  Few can turn that into actionable insight that drives decisions.

 

So instead of focusing on big/long/small data, maybe we should focus on:

 

What questions do we need answered?  What do we need to get those answers?  How do we capture the data in a safe, easy to access location so analysis can take place?  Can we afford all that data or can we get by with a little less without sacrificing anything?

 

Oh, and how do we keep it simple?

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Marketers Shift Focus From Traditional Tactics … But Not Direct Mail ...

Marketers Shift Focus From Traditional Tactics … But Not Direct Mail ... | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From workflowprepress.com - May 1, 7:47 AM
837 readersA recent survey by Target Marketing magazine indicates that B2B direct marketing budgets will grow only slowly in 2010. Over half (55%) of B2B marketers responding to the "Media Usage Forecast 2010" survey (conducted in ...

Via Frédéric Jadinon
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

"While print is taking a hit, in general, direct marketing is not an area that many marketers plan to shift focus away from — only 9% cite this tactic as an area of declining focus."


Speaking from experience, direct mail works when done well.  The challenge is, of course, how to do it well.  


Start with the audience.  Who are you targeting and why - what is their need vs. what do we want to tell them.


What is the right message and offer for this audience?


How can we cut through the clutter and grab their attention?

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Turning Big Data into Great Customer Experiences

Turning Big Data into Great Customer Experiences | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From socialmediatoday.com - May 22, 7:47 AM
The phenomenon of big data certainly comes with big promise. After all, having terabytes of data on customer history and behavior is certainly better than trying to extrapolate from just a few data points.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Data, regardless of size, can help your business drive greater success.  This post is the first I've seen to lay out 6 very practical concepts that will help you - and though the title is focused on the Big Data, the advice is for data.

 

There is no rush to get on the Big Data bandwagon so take the time up front to map out where you want to go with it and how you will get from where you are today to where you want to be in the future.  

 

Sell the plan internally - because you're going to need everyone's buy in and support in order to capture the right data in the right place so you can access it and analyze it later on. 

 

Create one team for data - big or small.  And make it cross-department so you get input from people that work in areas that can help - don't ignore finance or customer service or any customer facing unit that can help acquire data.

 

"Your own data is best - by far."  This one is critical and something you really need to think about right from the start when you are identifying what data you need and what source is the best one for your situation.  If you use third party sources and append data to your own data - be wary.  

 

For example, I have been using a reputable third-party source for data and have seen some errors that shocked me.  And I caught them while verifying the data myself with the business...

 

So, is this the type of information that you can take back to your business and start a healthy dialogue?  What else would you like to learn about data - big or small?

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Content Marketing from an Insider Perspective | Social Media Today

Content Marketing from an Insider Perspective | Social Media Today | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From socialmediatoday.com - May 19, 8:14 AM
Inbound Marketing is a salesperson’s dream. As long as you are willing to properly review the data analytics, it shortens the sales cycle timeline, allowing for more conversions and more success.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

This article made me squirm a number of times and I am going to chalk up my discomfort to what I hope was an overly simplistic presentation.

 

First, I agree - cold calling can suck, especially if you're just cold calling on anything with a pulse.  

 

I've done it.  I still do it.  But I focus on those that I strong believe could be an ideal client based on my research and I am reaching out to them because they haven't engaged with me through other efforts.  It's usually about 10-20% if my weekly schedule and it pays off. 

 

But back to the reasons for my squirm...data needs to be carefully analyzed in order for it to generate actionable insight.  And many times data can be misinterpreted so you need to carefully check your interpretation of the data.

 

And I have seen others do what the author of this article seems to be suggesting - and I have seen it waste a boat load of resources.

 

Here's the statement that got me squirming...

 

"I gather information during the entire sales cycle. By averaging data from all sales made, I can understand that it takes X site visits, Y clicks, and Z pieces of content before a visitor is ready to buy."


I would strongly suggest that this data is a piece of the puzzle but not the entire puzzle.  You still need to know if the individual has a budget, the authority to spend that budget and a real need for your offering.

 

And here's why...I have visited Marketo's and Hubspot's websites hundreds of times.  I have clicked on a wide variety of things ranging from product descriptions, pricing, case studies, white papers, video....

 

And I will never buy their products for my business because I lack the need and the budget.

 

So, if I take this article at face value, it seems as though we might have a misinterpretation of data driving actions and the investment of limited resources.

 

Am I overreacting?  Am I way off base?  Am I completely wrong?

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Why personas can be a bad idea for content marketing

Why personas can be a bad idea for content marketing | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.socialmediaexplorer.com - May 16, 8:53 AM

"As new disciplines emerge – like content marketing in the digital age – new jargon blossoms like wildflowers in a new meadow. Or sometimes like clods of cow shit.

 

Whichever category you put the term ‘Persona’ into (for me, it’s bovine-centric), you can’t deny that it’s won a permanent place in the B2B content marketing canon. “Don’t even think about doing content marketing without personas.” is Commandment Six last time I checked."

mcgrawmarketing's insight:

As you know, I think there is value in personas - but the author, Doug Kessler, is right when he writes:

 

"But ask yourself: “Why can’t everyone in and around marketing speak to real customers and prospects?” Isn’t it essential? At the very least, it’s critical for your writers and planners and strategists — the same people you write your persona documents for..."


Now, when he ends that paragraph with "...and the people who tend to ingore them because they're hollow", I would have to ask "If it's their job to speak for the customer within your organization, and they aren't reading the personas OR getting out to talk with your audience...WTF are they doing?  And why are you paying them?


Okay.  All that aside.  The point is this.  Data can be analyzed so that actionable information can be gleaned.  Personas are another step in the process.  But if you're not getting out and meeting with your audience...you're limiting your ability to improve.


In the past 3 to 4 months, I have been meeting with business owners and marketing executives for coffee and/or lunch at least 3 times a week.  I am attending some type of professional event at least once a week.  And I can say that it is helping me better understand their needs, wants, perceptions and expectations...and it is helping me develop stronger personal relationships.


So, gather the data.  Analyze it.  Generate some actionable insights that you can test.  But get out from behind your desk and meet the people, press the flesh.

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Build a Customer-Centric Marketing Automation Strategy

Build a Customer-Centric Marketing Automation Strategy | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.marketingprofs.com - May 11, 4:32 PM
Marketing Strategy - The if-then logic of the marketing automation process can lead to a snarl of over-communication, with only a loose relevance to the recipient's true interests and needs. It doesn't have ...
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Overall, I agree with concepts - but I am a little concerned that it's presented in a way that's a little too simplistic.  Gathering the type of information that is discussed will take some time because, for example, you won't have them on your email list.  

 

You might be able to select some of the data when renting a direct mail list - for example, marketing job title at software firms with revenues between $25 to $100 million located in the continental U.S.

 

And you could go out with the white paper offer as a way to introduce yourself and begin to establish your firm as a subject matter expert.  But those early offers of content will be more general/educational - so it's not going to have a 'buy now' offer attached.  It might have "those who like this content, liked this content" invitation to a webinar or event or a check list on how to pick the right solution provider etc.

 

Anyway...the key point here is linking the persona with the stage in the buying cycle and where they go to get the information (communication channes) they need at each stage of the buying process.  And that means you need an integrated multi-channel approach - and a process to capture offline with online communications.

 

Do you have the processes in place to capture codes for offline and online campaigns?  Does your marketing automation system let you capture all campaigns or is it set up primarily/exclusively for online?  Do you have the campaigns in place that take qualified buyers from those early stages through purchase?  Or are your campaigns a 'one size (better) fit all' where all leads get the same campaign?

 

Where do you think you could improve your demand generation and nurturing efforts so you get higher conversion rates with the same resources (financial, human and technological)?

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Five Ways to Target B2B Effectively

Five Ways to Target B2B Effectively | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.dmnews.com - May 9, 4:11 PM
Targeting is the domain of B2C marketers alone B2B targeting can help maximize campaign effectiveness.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

When I read "...45% of respondents state that they used company size when evaluating leads, while only 25% say they devote resources to targeting larger companies" I was reminded of a former client that was chasing the Fortune 100.

 

Then I spoke with the CFO and found out that they were generating higher profits with mid-sized firms because the Big Fish negotiated lower margin deals and tended to slow pay (so a lot of resources were invested in getting paid).

 

Lesson - take a look at your current customer base and figure out who is generating profitable revenue. If there are more of them out there...you might want to target them.

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Dull, Irrelevant Content Hampering B2B Lead Gen Success

Dull, Irrelevant Content Hampering B2B Lead Gen Success | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.marketingprofs.com - May 8, 8:15 AM
Sales - Only one in five B2B marketing and sales professionals (20%) say their demand generation campaigns are fully effective, whereas 80% say they are ineffective to semi-ineffective, according to a survey ...
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

This was originally posted back in Summer 2012 but it's still true (IMHO).  The reasons varies - or, to be more accurate, there are several reasons that this happens.

 

How do you cure this?

 

Sales and marketing need to do a better job of working together so that a shared vision, strategy and operational plans joins them together, better leverages 

 

Next, invest in understanding your audinece beyond basic demographics/firmographics.  What is the buying process?  What are the motivations for buying?  What are their greatest concerns?  What are their perceptions and expectations?  Where do they go to gather information that influences the buying process?  

 

Third, which is one that always surprises me when it comes up, is your messaging needs to be all about the customer's pain and what's in it for them - benefit rich.  It's just a waste of time, money, energy to push out feature rich content that fails to cut through the clutter, capture your audience's attention and engage them in a conversation.

 

What's your reaction to this?  How have you been able to bring sales and marketing together?  Share some examples of benefit-rich content that has worked for you!

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Online video ads have higher impact than TV ads [study]

Online video ads have higher impact than TV ads [study] | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.adweek.com - May 6, 8:06 AM

TV may still dominate the advertising market, but the audience for online video is soaring, with 58 percent of the U.S. population streaming, up from 38 percent five years ago.


Via John G Olson
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

For SMBs, video offers a great opportunity to grabbing your audience's attention, differentiating yourself from the competition and clearly presenting yourself in a clever way.  

 

But do your homework before going down the path.  Take a look at what's out there now - and talk with the folks that created it (client and vendor side).  Understand what they did and why the did it.

 

For many SMBs, video is a brand new world and you need to understand how to use the tool before trying to use it.  And what you want to avoid is creating the video and failing to leverage it so that results fall short of expectations.

 

Have you used video successfully?  How have you integrated video into you content marketing efforts?  What's worked and what hasn't?

 

Suggested Reading:

http://www.searchmarketingstandard.com/why-add-video-marketing-to-your-online-strategy-part-1

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The Importance of KPIs in Measuring Sales Success | Social Media Today

The Importance of KPIs in Measuring Sales Success | Social Media Today | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From socialmediatoday.com - May 5, 7:47 AM
As sales leaders, do you create leading indicators, tracking the behaviors required today for sales tomorrow? The answer: KPIs.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Great article - and I would make many of the leading indicators cited in this article the responsibility of sales AND marketing.

 

# of qualified leads in the pipeline (speaks to targeting, demand generation with a focus on quality over quantity)

 

Sales cycle length (because it speaks to nurturing and when a lead is handed from marketing to sales)

 

Does your business use any/all of these KPIs?  If so, how have they helped your business focus and improve?  If not, does this article give you some ideas for improving performance or are these metrics that you don't feel are important?

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Research Proves B2B Branding Pays Off | Branding Business with RiechesBaird

Research Proves B2B Branding Pays Off | Branding Business with RiechesBaird | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.brandingbusiness.com - May 4, 5:15 PM
A recent McKinsey report on brand strategy and practice proves that B2Bs that invest in a solid brand strategy achieve greater success. Get the facts around tha value associated with a B2B brand strategy and successful B2B branding tips.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Am currently involved in an interesting discussion about the importance of branding in B2B marketing over at LinkedIn Groups...and came across this report.

 

The discussion brought up the concern that branding is defined by some as logo, colors palette, fonts and imagery - rather than the sum experience of the customer with the organization and its offerings.  Which is why this excerpt from the McKinsey Report struck a chord with me...as did the paragraph on IBM and Smarter Planet.

 

"Many times B2B corporations put branding emphasis on marketing and the creative application instead of viewing it from a strategic orientation driving decisions."

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8 ways to incorporate customer feedback into your startup’s strategy

8 ways to incorporate customer feedback into your startup’s strategy | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From thenextweb.com - May 4, 9:41 AM
One of the worst things a successful young startup can do once it actually starts generating reliable revenue is to ignore the people who made that happen in the first place: its customers.

And ...
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Or, you can sit in your closed office with the curtains drawn and build the product of your dreams.  But when you finally bring your baby out into the world, don't be too surprised if others don't love it as much as you do.

 

Don't take feedback as negative - take it as positive because they are taking the time to share their thoughts with you.  That's not only positive - it's priceless.

 

Don't be defensive - listen, ask questions in order to make certain you understand what they are saying, and then explore ways to deliver the value they seek with the product you can develop.  (For example, the feedback is focused on an unmet need but to build that into the product, the retail price would be significantly increased so ask how much that solution is worth to them and if they don't want to pay as much as it takes, look for acceptable alternatives OR figure out how to make it happen for less.)

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Big Data's Promise and Limitations

Big Data's Promise and Limitations | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.newyorker.com - May 1, 12:48 PM
Five years ago, few people had heard the phrase “Big Data.” Now, it’s hard to go an hour without seeing it.
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

Let me just share the most important statement, in my opinion, from the article.

 

"In reality, most computational models of most things have, historically speaking, been wrong—or at least incomplete, effective in some circumstances, not all."


So, go big?  Or go simple?  I think the key to success is going into the process with a clear understanding of what you need - and don't need - in order to get what you need.  And sometimes, less is more.


What do you think?

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In B2B marketing and sales, how does your team overcome objections?

In B2B marketing and sales, how does your team overcome objections? | marketing tips | Scoop.it
From www.b2bbusinesscoach.com - May 1, 10:44 AM
In the B2B marketing video series, this is the 58th video. One of the biggest problems that B2B marketing and sales people have is overcoming objections. In particular, most sales people have troub...
mcgrawmarketing's insight:

A nice 6-step process for dealing with the ever popular "Your price is too high" objection.  Another similar approach would have you ask if there are any other objections and, if there are, address them because they might have an impact on your proposal and price.  But if they tell you that there aren't any other issues, focusing on the value and ROI of your proposal and price is where you need to focus.  

 

And if they tell you that they don't think they need everything you're offering, explain the impact in terms of ROI, their experience (what they will be able to do and what they won't be able to do) and the impact on price.  If you've done your work up front (meaning put together a logical pricing strategy) you will be showing them that saving $1 today means sacrificing much more in the near and long-term.

 

Remember, the sale is important but the goal is to delvier a great experience so they are more likely to become a long-term client as well as an advocate that refers - so you don't want to [ex] eliminate services in order to hit a price point when you risk retention.

 

Have you ever followed this process?  How has it worked for you?  Or do you follow a different approach that works?  

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