The Marketing Automation Alert

Easy reading day today: soak it in on this fine Spring day (or Fall day, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere).  The one that we absolutely, positively want to point out to you is today’s featured article on SlideShare: we don’t know what we have to do to convince you that this is the #1 content marketing vehicle for B2B. We’ve included a couple of marketing automation primer scoops, a revealing experiment in color testing for landing pages, and a few excellent infographics. Have a wonderful weekend my marketing siblings (go ahead, wish us a wonderful weekend right back)!

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Featured Marketing Automation Article

Slideshare Is The Biggest Opportunity In B2B Content Marketing - B2B Marketing Insider

http://sco.lt/99hFXl

From www.b2bmarketinginsider.com - Today, 8:41 AM

Excerpt...

In a recent conference, I was asked my opinion on what is the biggest opportunity in B2B Content Marketing? Without hesitation, I answered “Slideshare.”

With more than 50 Million visitors per month and more than 100 million pageviews, slideshare is one of the top websites in the world and should be a key focus of any B2B content marketing program.

According to Comscore, Slideshare is used by business owners and business executives at a rate 5 times any other social network! The top categories in Slideshare are Business and Technology, followed by Education, Travel and Health.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Dang it, what do we have to do to convince you that SlideShare is a MUST?? DO WE HAVE TO SCREAM?????? The power of SlideShare and LinkedIn combined is so great that it's a must social media channel for B2B. Look: the VP of Global Marketing for SAP is telling you this!!

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What You Need to Know About Marketing Automation - Search Engine Watch

http://sco.lt/5g7jOr

From searchenginewatch.com - Today, 8:33 AM

For any successful organization that relies on the Internet for leads and sales, marketing automation stands to increase efficiencies and revenues. Here's a look at marketing automation: the primary elements, core benefits, and opportunities.

Key excerpt...

The 10 primary elements of marketing automation include:

1. Email Marketing: Initial and scheduled delivery based on buyer interests, roles, personas and actions.
2. Landing Pages and Forms: For each campaign.
3. Campaign Management: Includes development or repurposing of content (creative, video, short and long-form.
4. Marketing Programs: Associated offers and content to support sales.
5. Lead Generation: Associated advertising, social media, word of mouth and search engine visibility to drive participation in the system.
6. Lead Nurturing / Lead Scoring/ Lifecycle Management: Includes prioritization of customer types based on fit and likelihood to buy, in addition to the filtering of leads by engagement and interest. Assumes existing customers are always leads, and keeps them in a system that continuously delivers relevant content.
7. CRM Integration: Transfer of leads to sales opportunities and follow-up. This includes technical integration of platforms like Salesforce.com.
8. Social Marketing Capabilities: Includes integration of social media platforms such as Hootsuite to achieve better tracking and attribution of social to sales.
9. Resource management: Includes consultative services.
10. Marketing Analytics: Includes measurement of the revenue contribution of each campaign and associated program element.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Again, another primer for the newbie. And the author refers you back to Jon Miller!

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Marketing Automation Tools: How To Find The Best Match For Your Business - 38Pitches

http://sco.lt/73HOQD

From 38pitches.com - Today, 8:29 AM

Key excerpt...

First, there is the basic question — Does our company in fact need marketing automation tools? To answer that question properly, one needs to self-assess needs, staff abilities, level of management support, and budget.

These questions can guide one to answering that fundamental question:

- What exact toolset is required to meet our business’ unique needs? There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution on the market.

- What specific goals are there? The identification of goals requires that the right stakeholders be consulted.

- Does management support exist? A C-level executive should sign-on to support the endeavor.

- Does our organization have the required internal skill set? Maximizing ROI is fully dependent upon a willingness to adopt a new platform and to engage in the necessary training.

- How will success be measured? The better one understands the reasons for pursuing a marketing automation
platform, the easier it will be to set appropriate benchmarks.

- Has cost been properly established? The marketplace offers both all-inclusive tools and others that resort to a wide array of add-ones that can dramatically increase costs.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

A nice, easy article for the MA newbie. If you are, click through to read, then come back here and search the tag "marketing automation". Plenty of excellent information to assist you. BTW: Jon Miller has written some excellent articles on MA selection, and you'll want to refer to his posts (again, scooped here).

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Landing Page Optimization: Color emphasis change increases clickthrough 81% | MarketingExperiments

http://sco.lt/85qaPp

From www.marketingexperiments.com - Today, 8:24 AM

Summary...

In the treatment, the team simplified and sequenced the pricing, and used a color design to emphasize the value of the offer. By strengthening the communication of the offer’s value through color, copy and layout changes, the treatment increased clickthrough by 81%.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

What's the value in taking information and providing a much better visual presentation? In this case, CTs almost doubled. TEST!!!

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DocuSign's targeted LinkedIn InMail strategy creates 3 large pipeline opportunities | MarketingSherpa

http://sco.lt/5yQrI1

From article - Today, 8:15 AM

Summary...

The topic for this B2B social media case study is familiar: LinkedIn. The overall strategy and goal are also familiar: Use third-party validation from customers for thought leadership and brand awareness, and build an online community around a specific target audience.

The twist comes in the actual channel used to execute this campaign. DocuSign took what might have been a pretty standard email effort, and instead of using its email database, it utilized LinkedIn to send a series of sponsored InMails from its webinar speakers. Read on to learn the results of this marketing effort.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

A different approach to using email marketing to drive registrants. What we don't know from the article's results is if it compares favorably to other webinar registration drives, i.e., this one drove 3.5% conversions, but what were past registration rates? May be worthy of testing.

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All Eyes on Native Advertising, Despite Uncertainties - eMarketer

http://sco.lt/4ocLNh

From www.emarketer.com - Today, 8:06 AM

Seeing digital advertising integrated into the content experience on social networks, news sites and streaming services is a somewhat new phenomenon, but it has taken off quickly.

Excerpt...

Social networks, news sites, digital content aggregators and streaming media services are rife with ads that are integrated into the content experience. According to a new eMarketer report, “Native Advertising: An Emerging Consensus for a New Kind of Ad,” these so-called “native ads” are providing new ways for marketers to reach target audiences and new avenues of monetization for content sites that are under intense revenue pressure.

Although business prospects for native advertising are positive, the medium has its detractors. Some media executives and marketers are wary of the blurring of lines between content and advertising that occurs with native ads, particularly in the context of news sites. Others question the return on investment of these ads, arguing that native ads cannot scale for multiple placements.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

As banner ad performance shrinks to as close to zero as you can get, there's a grasp for something different, and that different is native advertising. We've been keeping an eye on this, and find it as a better alternative to display...for now. Watching for backlash.

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Silverpop Launches Universal Behaviors, Creating Real-Time Individualized Campaigns

http://sco.lt/4llWvx

From www.silverpop.com - Today, 7:43 AM

SilverpopTM, the only digital marketing technology provider that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile and social, today announced at its Amplify 2013 customer conference, the launch of Universal Behaviors. Now for the first time, marketers will have access to a live stream of real-time behaviors that they can easily understand and instantly integrate into highly relevant individualized campaigns.

“Marketers are being bombarded with a tremendous amount of data about their customers, which often seems like noise,” said Bryan Brown, director of product strategy for Silverpop. “To deliver highly relevant campaigns that convert, marketers have to not only hear everything, but act on what they learn. Now they can extract individual conversations and engage each person in real time. Universal Behaviors removes any remaining barriers to the vision of delivering true one-to-one communications to limitless numbers of customers via behavioral marketing automation.”

iNeoMarketing's insight:

We normally do not scoop product or company announcements, but we are doing so today with two. This is one from Silverpop, which caught our eye inasmuch as we find it intriguing that they are offering a service that catches behavior from across a variety of different vendors. See the release for details.

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[INFOGRAPHIC] Marketing Automation with a CRM System - Workbooks

http://sco.lt/9APFMv

From blog.workbooks.com - Today, 7:30 AM

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When Did Social Media Lose Its Way? [Infographic] - Profs

http://sco.lt/5bdixF

From www.marketingprofs.com - Today, 7:27 AM

Social Media - In the early days of social media, users interacted like real people do. However, in time, social networks evolved into pits of broadcast messages. Here's how companies lost their way ...

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 [INFOGRAPHIC] 2013 Sales Performance Optimization | DocuSign

From visual.ly - Today, 7:26 AM

2013 sales performance results across multiple industries and company sizes.

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 [INFOGRAPHIC] The Anatomy of Content Marketing | ContentPlus

http://sco.lt/68DTBB

From visual.ly - Today, 7:24 AM

Quality content is at the heart of any successful marketing strategy. Just like the heart powers the body, quality content drives marketing strategies

Before a quick summary of today’s collection, here’s a recommendation on how to use The Marketing Automation Alert: scan for those articles that interest you the most, and delve into it. This collection of curated content comes from our scan of 600+ posts each day where we select the best to summarize and present to you. Take what you need, and leave the rest. Our analytics show that’s what most readers do: scan, focus on a few, build your gray matter, and move on.

Heavy duty content today, with a mix of strategic and tactical. We’ve included another Scott Brinker post, an article on why MA should never move into the CRM space, and a take on why MA is not what it’s all cracked up to be. In addition, some pointers on Google+, visuals, and landing pages. Lastly, take a look at the summary on in-house video, something you should seriously consider NOT doing.

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:

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Featured Marketing Automation Article

Everyone in marketing should be a marketer scientist - Chief Marketing Technologist

http://sco.lt/6ZEN0b

From chiefmartec.com - Today, 9:44 AM

Digest...

Let’s consider eight characteristics of a marketer scientist — four that emphasize the “marketer” half and four that emphasize the “scientist” half:

The marketer half of this hybrid combines:

• Storyteller
• Brand champion
• Experience designer
• Change agent

The scientist half of this hybrid combines:

• Data analyst
• Experimentalist
• Technologist
• Systems thinker

Rest assured that not every marketer needs to be an expert in each of these eight characteristics. But every marketer should have a little piece of each of these integrated into their thinking. One marketer might be an expert storyteller, but only modestly proficient as using data to help tell those stories and measure which ones resonate best. Another marketer might be an expert technologist, but mostly embrace the role of brand champion in the context of making sure that their technical implementations fulfill brand promises.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Yet another wonderful post from Scott Brinker.

You can't just hang a billboard around your neck declaring yourself a marketing technologist and thus you are one. You need knowledge of the market, knowledge of technologies, knowledge of how to approach analysis, and a systemic method of applying techniques to drive better decisions. It's not rocket science, but it's not that far away from it either.

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Sorry, the CRM Niche Is Full at the Moment | CRM Buyer

http://sco.lt/6NEolN

From www.crmbuyer.com - Today, 9:36 AM

There are two questions that emerging companies in the CRM space hear when they face the analysts: When are you going public? Why don't you build out a full CRM capability?

Key excerpt...

I think any marketing automation company that tries to build out CRM functionality would also be a fast follower. They'd trade in what they're very good at to regress to the mean, the middle of the pack.

Instead, here's a question that they could profitably answer: How are economic and demographic changes affecting how people and companies buy, and how does marketing fit into that changed environment?

People and companies have become comfortable and adept at shopping online and making decisions without the assistance of traditional sales people. At a minimum, this suggests a winnowing role for traditional SFA. But it also suggests a rising opportunity for marketing automation defined as nurturing customers on their buying journeys.

It also suggests an expanding role for the call center, which might get smaller in the next decade while changing at least part of its mission. I don't think today's marketing automation has yet tapped all the possibilities inherent in that one observation, nor do I think that the incumbent CRM vendors have embraced the idea.

So, when I hear talk about new companies entering the CRM market, I cringe. CRM is robust and thriving, but it is also consolidating. There won't be five major CRM vendors ten years from now. The availability of good, fast, standards-based integration is high, and products are getting better all the time.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Building out CRM from the MA base is the easy observation, almost knee-jerk. So why would anyone want to go in a compete against SFDC, MS, Oracle, SAP? If you're an MA user, don't expect this incorporated functionality anytime soon. Rather, look for MA to envelope other functions now dispersed and stovepiped (see the LUMAscapge for ideas). That's where MA will grow.

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Why Marketing Automation Sucks ‹ Postwire Blog

http://sco.lt/4prb3h

From blog.postwire.com - Today, 9:29 AM

Key excerpt...

Savvy marketers are probably saying “Marketing Automation is how we educate the market. How else are we supposed to send them the right content with the right calls to action at scale without Marketing Automation?” The problem with marketing automation is that marketers of all companies are lusting after the latest recommendation tricks that Amazon, Google and Netflix are using to see if they can apply them to their business. The problem with this is that it sucks for your prospects if you are selling something that is disruptive. Prospects don’t want to hear about some generic eBook that you are offerring them because they match some characteristics. They want to talk to somebody. They want to learn and understand how it your solution can work for them. This is why innovative and disruptive companies typically have an army of customer facing folks on their team. Instead of making that army spend a large part of their day entering data so marketers can do more targeted campaigns, they need to embrace the power of the customer facing army. This army can do a way better job targeting, educating, and nurturing than any automated campaign could ever do.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

We'll scoop all views and thoughts here, including this one. And we disagree, as you probably do as well. Look: MA is a tool and not the only tool. It's role is to bring parties through the qualification pipeline, and use content to drive interest. Could you throw sales bodies at the market? Of course, although it would probably bust your business model. Have something disruptive? MA is one tool of many to drive opportunities, not THE tool.

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How to Network Using LinkedIn Groups | Social Media Examiner

http://sco.lt/9J7IMD

From www.socialmediaexaminer.com - Today, 9:22 AM

LinkedIn Groups: how to find relevant groups, build credibility and make new connections that can ultimately help grow your business.

Summary...

Below are 5 tips for maximizing your LinkedIn Groups experience.

#1: Use LinkedIn Search to Find Relevant Groups to Join

#2: Review the “Groups You May Like” Suggestions From LinkedIn

#3: Evaluate the Quality of a LinkedIn Group

#4: Consider Joining Corporate-Sponsored Groups

#5: Adhere to LinkedIn Group Participation Best Practices

iNeoMarketing's insight:

A tad of a misnomer: the article is more about finding and selecting appropriate LinkedIn Groups than anything else. Group participation best practices is covered in #5. If you need to select LinkedIn Groups that make the most sense, dive into this post.

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7 Ways to Build Authority on Google+ - Website Magazine

http://sco.lt/7WUPSb

From www.websitemagazine.com - Today, 9:00 AM

As the looming Penguin update (version 2.0) hovers overhead, search professionals are left wondering how the unknown changes to Google’s search algorithm will impact their company’s digital visibility.

Overview...

So in the case that Google+ does indeed become a factor in determining authority, one question remains – How can a brand build authority on Google+?

1. Grow Your Circles
2. Post Fabulous Content
3. Leverage Communities and Hangouts
4. Interact with Your Audience
5. Network with Other Brands
6. Use the Google+ Page Badge
7. Take Advantage of Authorship

iNeoMarketing's insight:

As Google+ gains prominence, you'll want to leverage it for everything it has (esp. in light of SEO). Please click through for greater understanding to each tip: good stuff.

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Equipping Your Business for Professional Videos - Marketing Technology Blog

http://sco.lt/6GHv7p

From www.marketingtechblog.com - Today, 9:18 AM

We've been working the last few months on getting some video equipment for DK New Media.

Key excerpt...

Here’s a breakdown of the list of equipment and approximate prices:

• Camera – Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Zoom Lens & EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens + 10pc Bundle 16GB Deluxe Accessory Kit. Cost is about $550.
• Microphones – Sennheiser EW 112P G3-A omni-directional EW system. By far, this was where most of the attention was with our videographers and they warned us not to skimp. Cost for each is $630! Ouch.
• Recorder – Zoom H2n Handy Handheld Digital Multitrack Recorder Bundle. This also has a very good set of built-in stereo microphones in the event you need them. Cost is $200.
• Lighting – CowboyStudio 2275 Watt Digital Video Continuous Softbox Lighting Kit/Boom Set. While LED lighting provide much more granularity and don’t take up as much space, they’re incredibly expensive (about $1,600). This cowboy studio kit has to be well-taken care of but will provide the lighting you need to get good videos off the ground. Cost is $220

iNeoMarketing's insight:

What's the point of scooping this? It's not the cost of the gear, but (1) identifying an in-house videographer; (2) storing the gear; (3) setting up for shoots; (4) the software and knowing how to use the software; (5) someone acting as the Director; (6) and lord knows what else. If you're going to commit to in-house video, think it all the way through. In the meantime, we'll wait for simple to use, high quality, all-in-one solutions.

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The Power of Visual Content and Brand Visuals in Action - TopRank

http://sco.lt/6NWgwT

From www.toprankblog.com - Today, 8:46 AM

Marketers see greater success in visual content marketing by aligning their customers' information needs with an understanding of how they retain information.

Key excerpt...

The majority of people are visual learners, either primarily or in combination with other styles. You’ll see a range of stats on the percentage of learners in each group, though 30% visual, 25% auditory, 15% kinesthetic and 30% mixed learning styles is a commonly accepted figure. These are the three major learning styles and though one person may use a combination of styles to take in information, we all lean towards one primary preference.

• Kinesthetic learners best retain information they discover through touching, feeling and experiencing material. You might think there is no real “touch” in digital information, yet this is where interactive games and touchscreens are an important tool.
• Auditory learners consume and retain information best by listening, often through repetitive information. Podcasting is a good way to connect with auditory learners.
• Visual learners, the largest portion, want you to “Show me so I can understand.” You might accomplish this through charts, infographics, video demonstrations, comics, visual e-books, photos, or even animation… the point is, you are acknowledging this unique learning style and tailoring information for best consumption and comprehension.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

In case you needed a reminder. This doesn't mean you fill your content pipeline with infographics. It does mean, however, that you need to be cognizant on how to deliver each piece of content.

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The Mathematics of Revenue Cycle Strategy - Marketo

http://sco.lt/8mlIZt

From blog.marketo.com - Today, 8:51 AM

Learn how to think of your revenue mathematically with marketing automation, measure variables, and benchmark your measurements and drive them to improve.

Summary...

I usually think of the revenue cycle like a factory line. Raw materials come in (“names”). They are processed (“revenue cycle stages”). And then the product comes out (“revenue”). If you think of it that way there are clear variables that will impact the product being produced.

The key revenue variables are the following:

•     Number of names in Engaged status = A
•     Number of names added to Engaged status = B
•     Quantity of Engagement = C
•     Quality of Engagement = D
•     Product quality = E

What is the formula you might ask?

((A*weight 1) + (B*weight 2) + (C*weight 3) + (D*weight 4) + (E*weight)) = P*

Notes:

• P = your revenue cycle momentum
• If P increases you will generate more revenue
• Each variable has a weighting adjustment to equalize their impact on your final number – therefore any variable change will impact P at the right magnitude

iNeoMarketing's insight:

We had to think hard about this one, and quickly realized that it is a relatively simple formula that has the potential to reveal gaps and opportunities. Not as clean as you may want, as it relies on your weighting, but a nice approach.

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A Designer’s View: Landing Page Design for Conversion - Search Mojo

http://sco.lt/8oStMH

From blog.search-mojo.com - Today, 8:35 AM

Key excerpt...

Here are 3 simple tests to perform before launching your landing page:

The 4 Second Test

Ask a colleague to look at your landing page for 4 seconds, then look away. Do they remember what the landing page is about? What is your call to action, the value proposition? If they can’t recall, you may not have given the most important information enough emphasis or even included it “above the fold” (visible without scrolling). It’s standard practice to include your dominant visuals like headline and call-to-action above the fold. Things like trust symbols, privacy policies, third-party meatballs also affect conversion and should be tested above and below the fold.

The Eye Squint Test

Can you squint your eyes and still tell where to click to convert? This is all about the contrast and clickable appearance of your call-to-action or button(s). You will need to test the button size, color, shape and placement. To start, your button should have enough breathing room to not blend in with surrounding text when squinting. Also consider choosing a highly contrasting color that is only used on the button and no where else on the page.

The 6 Foot Test

Get up from your desk and walk 6 feet away. Can you still tell what your landing page is about? Is your text as clear and legible as it can be? Forcing a visitor to read small, low contrast text or long blocks of low-legibility display type is a sure path to the low-conversion rates. The majority of highly successful landing pages don’t have that much text on them. And the text that is there is a minimum of 12px in size, with well-proportioned line spacing to make it easy to ingest. The images you chose should also support and direct people to the conversion action.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

We're scooping this as we found this non-quantitative testing "protocol" to be very cool. Takes a few seconds, and makes a lot of sense.

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Even paid social marketing needs custom content to fuel results - Brafton

http://sco.lt/8yy3Af

From www.brafton.com - Today, 8:39 AM

Brands may be pleased with their paid social efforts, but they still need content marketers to create compelling copy for the web.

Excerpt...

Marketers still need editorial and creative teams to develop and publish compelling paid social media content. Simply pushing an article or short ad copy to the top of social networks won’t generate leads, clicks or purchases. In fact, this action might annoy prospects more than anything, further distancing brands from their target audiences.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Lest you get sidetracked, it's about communicating knowledge, facts, guidance, tidbits, and solving curiosity. Surprise your audience, and ensure that the backend of that click delivers on the surprise.

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Four Foundational Elements of Marketing Analytics Success - Profs

http://sco.lt/7XOHaL

From www.marketingprofs.com - Today, 7:29 AM

Key excerpt...

Best-in-Class Marketing Analytics: Four Foundational Elements

So what does a best-in-class marketing organization look like vis-à-vis analytics? What are the key areas it needs to get right?

As with many failed technology implementations of the past, a lot of marketing organizations today think that they are on the path to greater insight because they now have analytics technology.

The reality is that it takes a significant investment in four foundational areas to ensure analytics success:

1. A superior analytics strategy that is well connected to the business strategy
2. Investment in the people that drive and use analytics
3. The alignment of processes and standards across Marketing and Sales
4. The use of world-class technology

iNeoMarketing's insight:

And this scoop goes hand in hand with the adjacent scoop. Data and analytics: think like a marketing scientist, act like one with a strong foundation. You'll want to click through for the details behind each of these four elements.

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What's Your Landing Page Score? - Website Magazine

http://sco.lt/8nJfgv

From www.websitemagazine.com - Today, 7:35 AM

WorldData today launched LandingPageScore.com, a free tool to help marketers check the design and marketing effectiveness of landing pages in relation to established best practices - and hopefully improve their response rates along the way. Over 200 rules are tested through the platform and could give marketers a solid understanding (or at least some general insights) of what might practices could result in better performance.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

FWIW. An absolute evaluation has little consequence vis-a-vis A/B or MVT. Regardless, perhaps you can use this tool as a drinking game during your next happy hour.

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Six ways you can fail at data driven marketing - Econsultancy

http://sco.lt/6qtLl3

From econsultancy.com - Today, 7:26 AM

Data driven marketing is not as much easy as we think.

Summary...

1. You confuse metrics with goals

2. You don’t measure during project management: Every marketing project is an opportunity to learn something new about how to optimize future projects. This goes beyond analyzing the finished product itself. The more you understand about the process of project management, the more you understand about how to tweak it for optimal results.

3. You don’t care about statistical significance

4. You confuse science with rigidity

5. You don’t measure and test relevancy

6. You don’t design testable models

iNeoMarketing's insight:

It's a different mindset, one that takes into consideration all those principles you learned in Stat 101. You want to take on the characteristics of a marketing scientist? Got to start to think like one.

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Demand Generation Vs Lead Generation: Tell Them Apart | Leadformix

http://sco.lt/8gMV0L

From www.leadformix.com - Today, 7:16 AM

Excerpt...

Distinct Features of Demand Generation

Definition: Demand generation covers all marketing activities that create awareness about your product, company and industry. It includes a mix of inbound and outbound marketing.

Goal: Brand awareness, positioning. Create interest and change perspectives.

• It is a marketing-centric activity.
• Demand generation not only focusses on your offering but also on your industry.
• There are dedicated personnel for demand generation with titles such as demand generation manager and VP demand generation.

Distinct Features of Lead Generation

Definition: Lead Generation is the process of collecting leads through form fills or website tracking software to add to your database of leads.

Goal: Collecting leads to follow up with.

• It is a sales-centric activity.
• Lead generation is a subset of demand generation.
• There are no specialized personnel just for lead generation; the demand generation manager usually takes care of lead generation as well.

iNeoMarketing's insight:

Demand generation needs to build an inflow of inquiries, not create awareness. If it were awareness, then it would be called Awareness Generation.

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[INFOGRAPHIC] Small Business Social Media | Sage

http://sco.lt/68kj21

From visual.ly - Today, 7:10 AM

Social media continues to grow but if you're running a small business it can be hard to know where to start.

There are two questions that emerging companies in the CRM space hear when they face the analysts: When are you going public? Why don't you build out a full CRM capability?

Key excerpt...

I think any marketing automation company that tries to build out CRM functionality would also be a fast follower. They'd trade in what they're very good at to regress to the mean, the middle of the pack.

Instead, here's a question that they could profitably answer: How are economic and demographic changes affecting how people and companies buy, and how does marketing fit into that changed environment?

People and companies have become comfortable and adept at shopping online and making decisions without the assistance of traditional sales people. At a minimum, this suggests a winnowing role for traditional SFA. But it also suggests a rising opportunity for marketing automation defined as nurturing customers on their buying journeys.

It also suggests an expanding role for the call center, which might get smaller in the next decade while changing at least part of its mission. I don't think today's marketing automation has yet tapped all the possibilities inherent in that one observation, nor do I think that the incumbent CRM vendors have embraced the idea.

So, when I hear talk about new companies entering the CRM market, I cringe. CRM is robust and thriving, but it is also consolidating. There won't be five major CRM vendors ten years from now. The availability of good, fast, standards-based integration is high, and products are getting better all the time.

As the looming Penguin update (version 2.0) hovers overhead, search professionals are left wondering how the unknown changes to Google’s search algorithm will impact their company’s digital visibility.

Overview...

So in the case that Google+ does indeed become a factor in determining authority, one question remains – How can a brand build authority on Google+?

1. Grow Your Circles
2. Post Fabulous Content
3. Leverage Communities and Hangouts
4. Interact with Your Audience
5. Network with Other Brands
6. Use the Google+ Page Badge
7. Take Advantage of Authorship

Key excerpt...

Here are 3 simple tests to perform before launching your landing page:

The 4 Second Test

Ask a colleague to look at your landing page for 4 seconds, then look away. Do they remember what the landing page is about? What is your call to action, the value proposition? If they can’t recall, you may not have given the most important information enough emphasis or even included it “above the fold” (visible without scrolling). It’s standard practice to include your dominant visuals like headline and call-to-action above the fold. Things like trust symbols, privacy policies, third-party meatballs also affect conversion and should be tested above and below the fold.

The Eye Squint Test

Can you squint your eyes and still tell where to click to convert? This is all about the contrast and clickable appearance of your call-to-action or button(s). You will need to test the button size, color, shape and placement. To start, your button should have enough breathing room to not blend in with surrounding text when squinting. Also consider choosing a highly contrasting color that is only used on the button and no where else on the page.

The 6 Foot Test

Get up from your desk and walk 6 feet away. Can you still tell what your landing page is about? Is your text as clear and legible as it can be? Forcing a visitor to read small, low contrast text or long blocks of low-legibility display type is a sure path to the low-conversion rates. The majority of highly successful landing pages don’t have that much text on them. And the text that is there is a minimum of 12px in size, with well-proportioned line spacing to make it easy to ingest. The images you chose should also support and direct people to the conversion action.

Summary...

The topic for this B2B social media case study is familiar: LinkedIn. The overall strategy and goal are also familiar: Use third-party validation from customers for thought leadership and brand awareness, and build an online community around a specific target audience.

The twist comes in the actual channel used to execute this campaign. DocuSign took what might have been a pretty standard email effort, and instead of using its email database, it utilized LinkedIn to send a series of sponsored InMails from its webinar speakers. Read on to learn the results of this marketing effort.

SilverpopTM, the only digital marketing technology provider that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile and social, today announced at its Amplify 2013 customer conference, the launch of Universal Behaviors. Now for the first time, marketers will have access to a live stream of real-time behaviors that they can easily understand and instantly integrate into highly relevant individualized campaigns.

“Marketers are being bombarded with a tremendous amount of data about their customers, which often seems like noise,” said Bryan Brown, director of product strategy for Silverpop. “To deliver highly relevant campaigns that convert, marketers have to not only hear everything, but act on what they learn. Now they can extract individual conversations and engage each person in real time. Universal Behaviors removes any remaining barriers to the vision of delivering true one-to-one communications to limitless numbers of customers via behavioral marketing automation.”

We've been working the last few months on getting some video equipment for DK New Media.

Key excerpt...

Here’s a breakdown of the list of equipment and approximate prices:

• Camera – Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Zoom Lens & EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens + 10pc Bundle 16GB Deluxe Accessory Kit. Cost is about $550.
• Microphones – Sennheiser EW 112P G3-A omni-directional EW system. By far, this was where most of the attention was with our videographers and they warned us not to skimp. Cost for each is $630! Ouch.
• Recorder – Zoom H2n Handy Handheld Digital Multitrack Recorder Bundle. This also has a very good set of built-in stereo microphones in the event you need them. Cost is $200.
• Lighting – CowboyStudio 2275 Watt Digital Video Continuous Softbox Lighting Kit/Boom Set. While LED lighting provide much more granularity and don’t take up as much space, they’re incredibly expensive (about $1,600). This cowboy studio kit has to be well-taken care of but will provide the lighting you need to get good videos off the ground. Cost is $220

WorldData today launched LandingPageScore.com, a free tool to help marketers check the design and marketing effectiveness of landing pages in relation to established best practices - and hopefully improve their response rates along the way. Over 200 rules are tested through the platform and could give marketers a solid understanding (or at least some general insights) of what might practices could result in better performance.