Marketing automation success requires more than just software. It takes strategy, creative, and the right team. Whether you are new to marketing automation or have a platform in place, here are sample questions and a worksheet for organizations that have marketing bottlenecks. Tips to Create Quality Personas to Increase Marketing ROI Persona Questionnaire Created through … Continue reading »
Marketing Automation Implementation Guide — Tips, Tricks, Worksheets, etc. (Part 1 of 5)
Marketing automation success requires more than just software. It takes strategy, creative, and the right team. Whether you are new to marketing automation or have a platform in place, here are sample questions and a worksheet for organizations that have marketing bottlenecks. Marketing Bottlenecks Questionnaire What areas of your marketing funnel are consistently lacking volume, quality, … Continue reading »
How to Get Better Quality Leads and Increase Revenue with Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is a crucial element of most marketers’ overall strategies. It streamlines lead generation, automates lead nurturing, improves personalization, accelerates sales, and replaces guesswork with analytics. “Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost.” — Forrester Research Addressing Business Needs As more businesses embrace marketing automation, vendors … Continue reading »
How to Leverage Marketing Automation to Improve Engagement, Retention, and Revenue (Part 3 of 3)
“Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost.” — Forrester Research Today’s customers are always on and connected across every channel – both online and offline. Reaching potential and existing customers across these ever-changing touchpoints can feel challenging and overwhelming. The good news…the right Marketing Automation strategy, platform, … Continue reading »
How to Leverage Marketing Automation to Improve Engagement, Retention, and Revenue (Part 2 of 3)
“Businesses that use Marketing Automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads”. — The Annuitas Group Today’s customers are always on and connected across every channel – both online and offline. Reaching potential and existing customers across these ever-changing touchpoints can feel challenging and overwhelming. The good news…the right Marketing Automation strategy, … Continue reading »
How to Leverage Marketing Automation to Improve Engagement, Retention, and Revenue (Part 1 of 3)
“78% of successful industry professionals cite Marketing Automation as being most responsible for improving revenue contribution.” — The Lenskold and Pedowitz Group Today’s customers are always on and connected across every channel – both online and offline. Reaching potential and existing customers across these ever-changing touchpoints can feel challenging and overwhelming. The good news…the right Marketing … Continue reading »
Email Marketing – How to Ensure Email Deliverability
After putting in countless hours creating the strategy, designing the graphics, writing the copy, programming, and segmenting your target audiences, you’ll definitely want to make sure the intended recipients receive your email. Unfortunately, we’ve all experienced less than 100% deliverability. Most are due to soft bounces, hard bounces, unsubscribes and spam filters, etc. Email bounces … Continue reading »
Digital Content Marketing Usage
In 2018, 84.0% of US companies with at least 100 employees and that distribute nonpromotional content for marketing purposes will utilize digital content marketing. Adoption of digital content marketing hasn’t changed much in recent years, as illustrated in the infographic below. Among business-to-business (B2B) companies, adoption of digital content marketing in 2018 is slightly higher … Continue reading »
Most Important Email Marketing Capabilities to Meet Marketing Goals
Email marketing should be the “launch point” to customer obsession, according to a report from Adobe and Forrester Consulting. Yet most marketers aren’t using email for this purpose, instead they’re relying on promotions and measuring performance through engagement metrics rather than customer satisfaction and innovation. In comparing those companies assessed to be “customer obsessed” with … Continue reading »
Email is Still #1 [Survey]
Email continues to thrives a channel to reach prospects and customers, even as other messaging platforms continue to emerge. Nine in 10 marketers in North America say they use email to engage their audience, according to a September 2016 survey by Winterberry Group and the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), email is the most commonly … Continue reading »
Data-Driven Marketing = More Revenue [Research]
According to research, marketers put more dollars behind their data-driven marketing efforts, and saw revenue gains, between Q1 and Q2 2016 in the US. And this upward trend is expected to continue into Q3. In July 2016, Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Winterberry Group found that 40.9% of marketing professionals surveyed said their organizations’ revenues … Continue reading »
Why Marketing Technology Flexibility is Key for Small Businesses [Survey]
When it comes to marketing technology, many small business (SMB) marketers value flexibility as they try to select the right group of tools to help them thrive in a rapidly evolving business environment. This focus on flexibility means that many SMB marketers are building their own “stack” of technology tools and services selected from a … Continue reading »
What Tech Tools Do Marketers Use for Personalization?
Behavior-based data is critical for customized marketing content. Marketing technology can be useful for marketers looking to strengthen their digital personalization efforts. According to June research, well over half of senior business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers globally rely on web analytics software, customer relationship management (CRM) and content management systems to ramp up their digital personalization efforts. … Continue reading »
Optimize Leads with Marketing Automation [Survey]
B2B marketers have found lead nurturing programs, created and managed through marketing automation tools, can generate greater volumes of leads. The benefits include an increase in the volume of warm leads, better prospect segmentation and improved targeting efforts to reach them. Marketing automation tools are beneficial, but prior to implementing any lead nurturing program it’s … Continue reading »
How to Scale B2B Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Account-based marketing (ABM) is the strategic approach marketers use to support a defined universe of accounts, including strategic accounts and named accounts. It also includes support for the post-sale customer lifecycle using marketing’s toolkit to contribute to the overall customer experience. ABM provides guidance on how to deliver the insights, goal setting, strategy and planning, … Continue reading »
How B2B Marketers Attract and Retain Customers
B2B Firms Turn to Marketing Technology to Court Buyers CRM and Marketing Automation See Wide Adoption Business to business (B2B) marketers are doubling down on various marketing technology tools in 2016 as they look for new ways to attract increasingly savvy customers. According to research from B2B content platform Kapost, mid- and senior-level marketers from … Continue reading »
Biggest B2B Marketing Challenges [Survey]
The need for better quality leads is a greater challenge than the need for more leads, according to a Salesfusion survey of nearly 700 B2B marketers from companies with less than $100 million in annual revenues. The results align with previous research from Demand Gen Report, in which B2B marketers said that their top priority … Continue reading »
What Top Performing Marketers Are Doing [Report]
Top-performing marketing teams commit to the customer journey and the customer experience, collaborate with other business units and enjoy buy-in from their executive leadership, according to Salesforce’s latest annual “State of Marketing” report that surveyed almost 4,000 marketing leaders across various countries. 18% of respondents are “extremely satisfied” with the current outcomes realized as a … Continue reading »
Demand Generation Priorities for B2B Marketing [Report]
Approximately two-thirds of B2B marketers expect to increase their demand generation budgets this year, according to Demand Gen Report’s annual Demand Generation Benchmark Report. Based on a survey of 131 marketers from a variety of industries, the study finds that the most important priority is a focus on lead quality over lead quantity. That focus … Continue reading »
B2B Marketing Challenges and Trends [reports]
Digital marketing is taking on more importance at B2B organizations, although offline marketing channels continue to occupy the largest share of budgets, according to new reports from Regalix and DemandWave. The studies find that revenue and sales increases are the top marketing objectives for B2B companies, with quality and quantity of leads the leading goals … Continue reading »
Most Popular Types of Video in B2B Marketing
Corporate videos (76%) and product demos (64%) are the most popular video formats used by B2B marketers, according to a recent Regalix survey of 364 senior B2B marketing executives and business leaders from around the world. In looking at how video formats perform at different stages of the buying cycle, respondents indicated that testimonials and … Continue reading »
Automation Will Change Content Marketing [study]
Content marketing and native advertising are each set to see strong gains in the near future, as April 2015 research from PulsePoint and Digiday found that the growth rates for both would outpace other formats in the next two years. But first, marketers will have to deal with hurdles involving efficiency, measurement and targeting, which … Continue reading »
Have you adapted your marketing automation and emails for mobile?
If not, you are way overdue! Did you know, today over 50 percent of emails are opened on mobile devices? That means mobile is your most important marketing channel. How to adapt your marketing programs for mobile. It’s not just about making your emails look good on mobile devices, you need to think in terms … Continue reading »
B2B Marketers Using Email Automation [report]
Business-to-business (B2B) marketers have email automation work to do, based on March 2015 research by Spear Marketing Group. US B2B marketing executives surveyed were most likely to report that fewer than 25% of their current email campaigns were triggered, limiting them from responding automatically to recipient actions, such as website visits or event registrations, in … Continue reading »
Why Use The Buyer’s Journey Instead of Campaigns
The campaign has been the workhorse of marketing for decades. These short-term, one-way promotional initiatives from a brand to customers have typically been brand-focused versus customer-focused. Campaigns can successfully drive sales — at least in the short term. They also are relatively easy to measure in terms of ROI. But in the last 15 years … Continue reading »
How to Optimize Marketing Automation
We hear a lot about marketing technology and automation. Most marketers are familiar with platforms and software, but many aren’t aware of all of their components and how to use these platforms to build intelligent, automated and effective marketing programs. Here are the definitions to some common terms: Marketing automation typically refers to the automation … Continue reading »
Marketers Put Money Towards Visual Content
Lack of time and resources are the biggest challenges to creating effective visuals. Marketers have turned to visual assets to catch the eyes of their prospects.Digiday, in association with Chute, polled more than 200 US marketers and found that respondents planned to spend 30.5% of their budgets on creating, producing and publishing visual content and … Continue reading »
CRM’s Top Benefits
Today’s competitive environment requires companies better manage customer relationships to win business. That’s why adoption of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems like Salesforce, NetSuite and SugarCRM has skyrocketed in recent years, even amongst SMBs that may lack the resources to adopt enterprise-style technologies. If you are unsure about CRM, consider the following benefits: Efficiency CRM … Continue reading »
Marketing Automation Growth Opportunities
Few businesses are maximizing marketing automation opportunities. Marketing automation will only get bigger in the coming years as marketers grow more comfortable with the technology. The adoption and usage has a way to go. A December 2014 study by Ascend2, indicates 24% of marketing professionals worldwide reported using marketing automation extensively. 35% had a limited … Continue reading »
Most Valuable Marketing Automation Features [study]
Lead nurturing (52%) and analytics and reporting (51%) are the most valuable features of a marketing automation system, according to survey results from Ascend2 and its Research Partners. Previous research has found those to also be the most-requested features by buyers, although lead scoring, another highly-requested feature, was cited by few respondents as valuable to … Continue reading »
The Benefits of Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is still new and complex enough that even vendors of automation systems face challenges running their own marketing operations on their own platforms. Despite the complexity, adoption has been fairly rapid and widespread, and there is still potential for further uptake, according to a new eMarketer report, “Marketing Automation: Examining Users and Usage, … Continue reading »
Future Trends Impacting Marketers [study]
Business owners will increasingly treat marketing as a revenue driver and marketers will be more apt to use technology to engage customers in an ongoing conversation to build advocacy and trust. Those are just a couple of the changes envisioned in the next 3-5 years by the 478 CMOs and senior marketing executives surveyed by … Continue reading »
Over 50% of Marketers to Increase Email Budget – 2015
Budget trends are going upward, says StrongView Director of Marketing Communications Jason Klein. The cross-channel solutions provider’s 2015 Marketing Trends Survey released this week reports that 54% of marketers expect to see bigger budgets in the coming year (versus 46% last year), and that one third of them are counting on increases of 10% or … Continue reading »
The Benefits of Marketing Automation
According to a Forrester report, as of December 2013, 58% of all top performing companies were using marketing automation. That percentage has increased substantially since then. For brands to provide relevant and unique journeys for their prospects and customers, marketing automation is necessary. Actually, customers have come to expect personalized and unique experiences. If marketers don’t … Continue reading »
Marketers Media Mix and How It’s Changing
Digital channels are beginning to rank among the top-budgeted areas of marketers’ program spend, finds the CMO Council in its latest State of Marketing report [download page]. Indeed, websites, microsites and communities now rival trade shows and conferences in share of planned program spend, outweighing TV advertising as well as lead generation and thought leadership (including … Continue reading »
Cross Channel Marketing – Traditional to Digital [infographic]
This infographic illustrates the results from a survey of 1,000 digital marketers and ecommerce professionals conducted by Econsulting and Oracle Marketing Cloud. The findings include: marketing integration activities, mobile marketing, and balancing acquisition versus retention . How are your marketing activities integrated and measured? To learn more – call 877.447.0134.
Marketing Automation and B2B Lead Nurturing
Bizo recently released a survey that found lead nurturing is a critical tool for marketers, but at the same time, there is plenty of room for optimization, particularly when it comes to email. Some of the key findings of the survey “The State of B2B Lead Nurturing,” are included in the infographic below. Are you … Continue reading »
Marketing Automation Adoption Rates
According to The State of Marketing Automation 2014 report, Marketing Automation systems which were used primarily for email automation have now become sophisticated platforms capable of transforming organizations’ revenue generating capacity. It explores how Marketing Automation platforms are used by marketers today, including the challenges faced and the benefits reaped post-implementation. Level of B2B Marketing … Continue reading »
The Future of Marketing is Automation
Email is one of the most widely used and established platforms and has long been the cornerstone of many business-to-business (B2B) marketing plans. Even as new digital marketing and advertising platforms, formats, and channels draw companies’ attention and budgets, email remains vitally important and is arguably more valued by B2B marketers now more than ever … Continue reading »
Marketers Strategic Priorities [report]
Proving the value of marketing activities with financial outcomes is the most important of 7 strategic priorities ranked by client-side marketers, details a new report from Tealium and Econsultancy. That result isunsurprising in light of recent survey results suggesting that only 1 in 4 marketers can prove their impact on the business. Interestingly, conversion rate … Continue reading »
Which Marketers Are Using Marketing Automation [survey]
24% of marketers say they don’t use any tools to manage their email campaigns, according to a recently-released Marketo study. But that figure masks significant differences when sorting by company size, as small companies (0-50 employees) are almost twice as likely (43.5%) to eschew the use of email marketing tools. Among larger companies, by contrast, … Continue reading »
Why Personalize Your Website?
Over the last 10 years, marketers have gotten really good at personalizing emails. Retailers know your order history, style preferences, and sizes; airlines know your travel preferences and frequent destinations; and companies in all industries know what content you have downloaded and which events you have attended. Savvy marketers then use all this information to … Continue reading »
What Are Marketers Most Excited About in 2014?
What are marketers most excited about this year? That was one question posed by Econsultancy and Adobe in their latest quarterly intelligence briefing. That it depends on who’s asked. While a surprising area topped the list for in-house marketers, the responses differed significantly when respondents were split into various groups. According to the global survey, … Continue reading »
B2B Marketing Budgets Set to Rise 6% in 2014 [study]
Marketing budgets at B2B companies are set to rise 6% in 2014, according to a Forrester Research report released Tuesday. Despite that solid increase, spending will still trail pre-recession levels. The report, conducted in conjunction with the Business Marketing Association (BMA), found that marketing budgets will go back up to 4% of company revenue in … Continue reading »
How to Increase ROI with Marketing Automation
Automated campaigns deliver 200% higher conversion rates compared to other emails. How to achieve similar returns on your automated marketing initiatives: 1. Targeting Targeting is no longer a simple matter of demographics. Successful automation combines online behaviors with known information to create a complete picture of: A person’s roles and responsibilities. Specific business pains … Continue reading »
Increase in Online Presence a Priority For 2014 [study]
Next year, SMBs are planning to focus on building more of their businesses online. Research from j2 Global indicated that a general increase in online presence, including things as basic as setting up a website or online store, was the top priority for 2014 for nearly three in 10 SMB professionals surveyed. Automating marketing email … Continue reading »
Mobile and Email Small Business Marketer’s 2014 Wish List [infographic]
With 2014 quickly approaching, many business professionals are planning to change their marketing strategies. Below are the top marketing objectives of small and medium-sized businesses’ (SMBs). Source: Direct Marketing News According to the j2 Global Forecast Survey: • 28.16% of small business professionals say increasing their online presence, such as setting up a website or … Continue reading »
Mobile and Targeting Drive Up Email Opens
Mobile device adoption and the use of marketing automation to send more targeted emails are among the biggest impacts on email performance, according to a new eMarketer report, “Email Benchmarks: Key Metrics and Trends for 2013.” A February 2013 survey from enterprise email service provider BlueHornet showed that 71.8% of US email users ages 24 … Continue reading »