How To Focus On Your Marketing Plan
I started writing this article a month ago but became sidetracked when I realized that marketing plans were as unavoidable (and as important) as Death and Taxes. And while we all try to avoid these topics, the best way to deal with them is straight on. The best approach to dealing with uncertainty is to be prepared and to have a plan.
If you haven’t started, you’re already late. It’s that time of year for creating your marketing plan. Having crafted a few myself, I am writing this article to share my experiences and tips on what has worked and what didn’t.
Enjoy A Demand Funnel Cocktail
I was recently asked by the good folks over at Focus to participate in an exciting project and the first edition of the “Book of Funnels“. The challenge was this: put all your thoughts on the marketing and sales funnel into one page and use a picture to tell your story.
I have to admit that this project was a lot of fun. At the time, I was leading a large online demand generation program and had some thoughts about the state of the marketing and sales funnel. And I agree with Craig Rosenberg at Focus, that “every organization should make the effort to depict its revenue funnel on one page. It serves as the basis for your sales and marketing strategy.”
Why Is Search…So…Darn…Hard?!
If you’re in digital marketing, you know what I mean just reading the title. You’re sitting at your desk and the email lands in your inbox with a thud: someone important in your company just did a search in a major search engine on a keyword they thought was important and your paid search ad didn’t show up.
You’ve explained it all before, maybe even 100 times. But the bottom line: search is really hard. Hard to explain. Hard to execute effectively without blowing through your whole marketing budget. So I am copying below the response I have cut and pasted into more emails than I can count. The answers are more relevant to paid search (Pay-Per-Click or PPC) but the keyword points can apply to organic (Search Engine Optimization or SEO) search as well.
The New Marketing Accountability
The most popular posts on B2B Marketing Insider over the last few weeks have a common theme: accountability and The Role of B2B Marketing . You can review both How To Align Marketing With Sales and Marketing Leads: Quality Vs. Quantity for more detail on the emerging need for marketing to drive real sales and to quantify efforts.
Late last week, I responded to a post by my new friend Adam Needles, VP Marketing of Left Brain Marketing. In “Revising Our Demand Generation Definition as B2B Marketers” Adam does an excellent job of thoroughly putting a call to action out to all marketers that demand generation needs to be end-to-end. He also asks us to be accountable to results. I told him that I almost stood up and clapped. I was so excited, I thought I should recount my response here.
The Role of B2B Marketing
Marketing Leads: Quality Vs. Quantity
Last night I had the pleasure of dining with one of our media partners. We discussed the great lead quality vs. lead quantity debate. And the conversation went way later than the restaurant manager and our wonderful server wanted it to.
While we all want to be considered purveyors of nothing but the highest quality stuff, sometimes higher volume is the way to go. And when quality is required, you need to be able to deliver leads that convert.
Holy Cow! That Is A Lot Of Time Spent Online Using Social Media
Yes, that was my reaction to this online consumption study by the good folks at Nielsen. (Disclosure: I am a former employee of the Nielsen Company). To me this was the biggest news of the week. Bigger than Lindsay Lohan. Bigger than “The Bachelorette” finale. And bigger than the Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston breakup (I know, crazy right?).
Americans spend a ton of time on social networks and the growth is a bit startling. What we do online is changing. But what does this mean for the B2B Marketer?
How to Nurture The Great Unknown Leads
In a previous post on Paid Search, I reviewed a study by TechTarget and Google that highlighted one of the main challenges in demand generation for the B2B Marketer: inaccurate contact details. But there is tremendous value in these contacts as they are telling you exactly what you need to know, when you need to know it – if only you will listen.
In this post, I will explain how you can use your best content to nurture these early stage leads to the point where they are ready to take the next step in their buying journey – and to take it with your company.
How To Use Paid Search To Target Buyers By Stage
For 2 years running now TechTarget and Google have combined to produce a behavioral research study for B2B Marketers on the search behavior of IT Buyers. The study shows that there are specific keyword combinations used dependent upon the buying stage of the person searching on Google.
While this study was focused on IT Buyers, the implications for the B2B Marketer should be relevant across the prospect universe no matter which industries you serve. In this post, I will provide an overview of the study and summarize the key actions you should take as a B2B Marketer responsible for driving leads for your business.
Lead Generation Programs That Work
On July 13th, 2010 I presented on a webinar sponsored by Focus entitled “True Lead Generation Stories” moderated by Craig Rosenberg and co-presented by an esteemed colleague Chris Waldo who runs Demand Generation for Ingersoll Rand.
During my presentation titled Lead Generation Programs That Work I walked through the 5 Steps to Achieve Lead Generation ROI. I defined the top tactics for driving leads in today’s environment and listed those that aren’t working as well as they used to. I concluded with a discussion of the tactics to consider in future demand generation efforts.
