Confession: as a died-in-the-wool direct marketer, I am a branding cynic. My general attitude towards branding is summed up in the old maxim: “Branding is what your agency calls your campaign when they can’t measure it.” Now that’s not to say that a brand isn’t real,...
I’ve made the case previously in this space how one of the easiest way to gain a quick return from any investment in marketing automation is to apply the technology towards more efficient and systematic follow-up to inbound leads. And yet, I’m finding in the course of...
In a phone call this week I was swapping war stories with a well-known sales and marketing consultant, who, like us, works with B2B companies to improve their return on marketing automation. Interestingly, our experiences in the rapidly evolving marketing automation...
The demise of email newsletters as an effective B2B marketing tactic has been, to paraphrase Mr. Twain, grossly exaggerated. In fact, email newsletters can be a critical part of an ongoing lead nurturing strategy. At minimum, a well-crafted newsletter serves to break...
I only recently came across the results of research published late last year by Leads360, a leading provider of hosted (SaaS) solutions for managing sales leads. In their August 2010 report, “Building the Optimal Inquiry Response Strategy,” Leads360 use the data...
In B2B circles, Q4 is historically a time of year when marketing spend picks up. Sales teams need the push to meet year-end numbers, whilst at other companies, spending marketing dollars in Q4 is simply a matter of “use it or lose it.” Even with the recession now...
