May 6th, 2011 by Mark Galloway

 It seems today that every B2B marketer is rushing in to implement their “Social Media Strategy.”  Sadly, many companies are simply using these Social Media channels as a new self-promotion PR tactic.  I don’t know about you, but when a company pushes out self-proclaiming promotions via FaceBook, I get turned off.  That is a common reaction among many who I speak with.  Jeff Ernst of Read More

August 17th, 2010 by Mark Galloway

CSO Insights invests a great deal of time surveying the sales profession across a wide range of organizations globally.  One of the areas they drill down on is Lead Generation.  Their latest 2010 Lead Generation Study finds: Over 49% of marketers report that 25% or less of the deals closed resulted from marketing-generated leads. 49% of marketers said that sales would say the quality of Read More

August 4th, 2010 by Laura Monn Ginsburg

According to the “2010 Lead Generation Optimization Key Trends Analysis” from CSO Insights, more than 91% of companies worldwide reported increasing new customer acquisition was one of their top strategic marketing objectives for 2010. Sure sounds like rounding a corner to me. However, expectations and outcomes from lead management programs are changing. Based on the quantity and quality of leads generated, companies said email was Read More

April 20th, 2010 by Mark Galloway

In this economically challenged time, every boss wants to know what they are getting for the marketing dollars invested.  It has become a routine to try and justify the tactics by any means of activity available.  This hurts a B2B marketer’s reputation with their sales colleagues and with their boss.  The most egregious stretch in justifying marketing tactics is the “Cost per Lead” metric.  When Read More

March 9th, 2010 by Mark Galloway

I saw this in a recent Sirius Decisions Blog post and thought it was worthy of posting on our blog. “…Too many marketers still treat a “response” like it’s a lead. The simple act of responding to a marketing offer is just that: a response. An inquiry. In and of itself, the act of responding does not signal readiness to move into an active buying Read More

December 4th, 2009 by Laura Monn Ginsburg

What I love about traveling is the chance to spend time in a culture different than your own and getting to know people with a different experience and point of view. It is also interesting to guess and discuss what others do for a living. I was recently traveling in Prague in the Czech Republic, a city with a deep history and heritage hundreds of Read More

November 24th, 2009 by Laura Monn Ginsburg

Just a  quick post this morning regarding marketing and lead generation. If you’re like me, you’re on a lot of lists from thought leaders and experts who send out weekly or monthly newsletters. I have noticed a lot of these from marketing experts wind up in my SPAM filter or my junk inbox. Another solid example of Measure Twice, Cut Once. Good selling.

November 23rd, 2009 by Laura Monn Ginsburg

Measure twice, cut once. It’s a cardinal rule in construction. It should be a cardinal rule in email marketing as well. Lead generation, lead nurturing and the ability to create demand is both an art and a science (heavy on the science). The same is true in construction – designing a project is both art and science. You should always treat your marketing campaigns the Read More

October 8th, 2009 by Mark Galloway

I recently had a chance to ride in the car with a colleague “up north” where we passed the drive time solving most of the world’s problems and then some.  One of the interesting problems we discussed was how often sales people will rush to complain about marketing’s lead generation efforts.  It usually starts with the typical sales pipeline review between sales rep and sales Read More

July 9th, 2009 by Mark Galloway

What makes a customer for life? It starts with a great product that meets the needs of the customer but that alone is not enough. It also takes great customer service after the sale when things go wrong and no matter how great the product is – it enevitably will.