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Marketing Interactions

B2B marketing strategist Ardath Albee works with clients to create customer-focused e Marketing Strategies, content platforms and lead nurturing plans that are compelling, highly leveraged and most importantly designed with the customer in mind.

How effectively are you using B2B data?January 6

Last week, I wrote a post, Lift Revenues 70% By Cleaning Up Dirty B2B Data. Vaibhav Domkundwar from Ready Contacts posted a comment which included this statement:

"Every SFDC customer who adopted web-based CRM over the last 1-5 years is at a point where they are realizing how out-of-control their data is and how critical it is for them to get it in order."

His comment inspired me to think about not just the cleanliness of data, but how effectively we're using what we collect in our sales and marketing efforts. 

Given the growth in the amount of data we can collect—and how "out of control" it's getting—we need to start thinking about which of it is most important to the outcomes it can help us achieve. We only have so much time and we're being charged to do more than ever with our marketing and sales efforts.

Data is pretty much the holy grail for e-marketing where how well you're able to  monitor behavior and read between the clicks and dialogue of online interactions plays an increasingly important role in the success of your marketing efforts. How we pass those insights on to sales and circle back to learn what they've done impacts what marketing actually contributes to company objectives.

Funnily, this process has

Lift Revenues 70% By Cleaning Up Dirty B2B DataJanuary 2

Yep. It's true. Based on data quality improvements alone, an organization that pays constant vigilance to the accuracy and quality of their database information can gain a huge upside. And, in this market, you need every advantage you can get...right?

Sirius Decisions released the results of a recent study where they "found that from 10 to 25 percent of b-to-b marketing database contacts contain critical errors—ranging from incorrect demographic data to lack of information concerning current status in the buying cycle."

The problem seems to be that dirty data is easier to sweep under the rug than to clean up. It's not sexy, it's not social and—most of all—it's not cheap. But it's one of those tasks companies need to roll up their sleeves and address. Especially if one of this year's goals is to get conversational and increase relevance to aid in shortening sales cycles.

Read this again, just to stay focused:

"...a strong organization will realize nearly 70 percent more revenue than an average organization purely based on data quality."

And, just in case you want to start pointing fingers and slough this task off to another department, consider that impacts were found across the buying journey. This means that the organization as a whole needs to take this on, but at a minimum, it makes the case for better alignment and feedback

You could be Losing 50% of Your Potential SalesDecember 29 2008

A recent IDG survey of 600 IT buyers discovered that they're only finding content relevant to their needs and their stage in the buying cycle only 42% of the time.

Let me say it again >> only 42% of the time!

You know what happens when they don't find what they need, right? They leave. They go elsewhere and your company is eliminated from consideration. And, although this survey was conducted with IT buyers, it's my hunch that it pretty much sums up the state of marketing content for the complex sale.

Here are a few reasons why it's important to have a content strategy:

• There are multiple people involved in a complex sale. Each with a different perspective and investment in project outcomes.
• Buyers have different content needs at different times. For example, the research found that buyers in early stages preferred documents like articles and white papers, but wanted webcasts in mid-stages. Demos, documents and tutorials were most valuable at late stages and customer success stories and scenarios were important for a longer stretch of the buying process once the business case had been made.
• People learn in different ways and have preferences about how they consume their information. This is why podcasts, video and written content options can be a boon to increasing a buyer's perception of relevance.
• Peer reviews, recommendations and referrals

Marketing and Sales eBooksDecember 23 2008

In the spirit of the season, I thought you might like a couple of great eBooks to set yourselves up for thinking about all the possibilities of the coming new year.

Go download them, and have a very Happy Holiday!

Keep Your Sales Up in a Down Economy 

Sales SheBang ShEO Jill Konrath asked us to answer one question:

What's the ONE thing sellers should focus on in today's uncertain economy?

[psst...my article is on page 7]

Find out how 19 sales experts answered...Download the eBook now.

Oh, and while you're there, sign up for the Sales SheBang Newsletter. It comes out twice a month with expert insights sellers can put to use immediately.

Winners and Losers in a Troubled Economy

Use customer engagement to turn hard times to your advantage. This eBook is one that all marketers will gain insights from. It's put out by cScape and the Customer Engagement Unit and also includes highlights from the 2008 Annual Online Customer Engagement Survey.

Table of Contents includes:

Marketing Vision 2009 expanded - Part 4: StorytellingDecember 21 2008

This expansion post is related to this excerpt of my marketing vision 2009 post:

"In 2009, marketers will step up to the plate to make sure the buyer is engaged from the beginning of their buying journey through to their purchase decision because that path will become as smooth as silk without a knotted mess at the hand off to sales."

Stories are often thought of as customer testimonials, case studies or one-time events by marketing. In this new age of storytelling, marketing needs to consider stories as they apply to buyer scenarios and introduce an overarching story theme from lead generation through customer conversion.

A marketing campaign story won’t be effective if it is disconnected from the company’s overall story. Stories are not just used in the way articles are written to inspire dialogue, but serve as the thread that pulls a buyer from interest through consideration to purchase.

Using a story theme helps provide consistency and continuity in your marketing programs. Likewise, buyers don’t care if that (for you) their status changes when they begin to interact with your salespeople. They will, however, noti