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There Is No Vending Machine For Marketing Qualified Leads

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If you talk to a publisher or lead generation firm, it would seem leads have become a commodity. Nearly every B2B publisher offers lead generation under a broader heading of demand generation.

Here is a hypothetical, yet very realistic, snippet of a conversation with a publisher:

Marketer: We are looking for demand generation opportunities that will deliver leads for sales.
Publisher: Sure, we have a number of programs that will do that! What is your target audience?
Marketer: Rattles off target industry, role and seniority. Oh, and we have two new white papers we can use in this program.
Publisher: No problem, we can do that. How many leads do you need and when do you need them by?
Marketer: 500 by the end of the quarter.
Publisher: Shouldn’t be a problem, I will confirm inventory and get back to you tomorrow.

[Read more…]

B2B Lead Generation vs B2B Advertising: What You Need to Know

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Caution signAmong paid media and advertising tactics, lead generation programs are a key source of leads for B2B marketers, especially in the enterprise technology space. Tell a B2B publisher that you are interested in lead generation and the majority will point to some form of white paper syndication program they offer.

For the sake of this post, lead generation programs refer to publisher programs that promote your content and capture registration. These are contacts or inquiries, not sales leads, but in keeping with the terminology publishers use, we will refer to this as lead generation here.

In enterprise technology, publishers like IDG, Information Week and TechTarget have nearly turned these programs into a science, with guaranteed leads volume and a myriad of filtering and qualification options driven largely by email and newsletter promotions. [Read more…]

10 Ways to Kickstart Your Inbound Marketing Program

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You are creating great content and your website delivers a great experience with a strong conversion rate. Your initial inbound marketing results are promising, but you need more.

Inbound marketing represents a major investment for B2B marketers. Not only do you still need to create content to capture leads, nurture prospects and support sales, you need to create sharable and discoverable content also and then patiently wait before you see the return on this new investment.

Traditional B2B marketers face a challenge. You have a proven marketing formula that includes investments in acquiring new contacts (or lead generation) and in nurturing those contacts. You want to change, but investing in inbound ahead of significant results throws a wrench in your budgeting and planning. [Read more…]

Inbound Marketing for B2B: Discussion Recap

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Join #B2BChat on Twitter every Thursday at 8:00 PM EasternInbound marketing is a clear trend in B2B marketing. In fact, Sirius Decisions, a research firm focused on B2B markets, predicts more than 75% of leads will be sourced through inbound channels by 2015.

What are the key challenges to B2B inbound marketing, how does inbound marketing change the type of content B2B marketers need to create and what tools are critical to inbound marketing?

These are some of the questions discussed during #B2Bchat on March 15, and I had the privilege of moderating. Here are my key takeaways from the discussion. [Read more…]

5 Key Elements of Modern Inbound Marketing

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Last week, I made the case for a new definition of inbound marketing, or as Michael Brenner (@brennermichael) called it in the comments, a “call to arms” for inbound marketers.

The new inbound marketing definition: Be found through the recommendation of others and delight everyone that finds you.

As inbound marketing evolves, the components also need to change. Traditionally, inbound marketing has been functionally defined as the combination of search, social and content. However, these components are not enough for inbound marketers to excel in today’s environment.

This is what modern inbound marketing looks like: [Read more…]

A New Definition for Inbound Marketing

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Inbound marketing is a hot topic in B2B marketing. However, as more B2B marketers grab the inbound marketing flag, many will miss the two keys to making inbound marketing effective:

  • Be found through the recommendation of others.
  • Delight those that find you.

According to Hubspot, a leader in inbound marketing, the definition of inbound marketing is “marketing focused on getting found by your customers.” The most common functional definition of inbound marketing is the combination of search, social and content. [Read more…]

Lead Generation is Crippling Demand Generation

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Conflict (Chess II)Lead generation and demand generation, although related, are at odds with each other. When many B2B marketers say demand generation, they mean lead generation, and the program will be measured on leads and the value of those leads.

The problem is, one is focused on changing the audience’s perspective, the other is focused on capturing their information. [Read more…]

Corporate Websites for Demand Generation: B2B Discussion Highlights

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Join #B2BChat on Twitter every Thursday at 8:00 PM EasternThe latest #B2Bchat discussion focused on the relationship (or lack thereof) between corporate websites and demand generation.

Can corporate websites support demand generation and lead capture? Or do marketers need to build microsites to support demand generation effectively?

These are some of the questions we tackled on B2Bchat on February 8, 2012, and I had the privledge of moderating the discussion on Twitter.

As always, there were some great insights shared during the chat. Here are my key takeaways from the discussion. [Read more…]

Google+ for SEO? Don’t Focus on Your Brand Page!

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Google, Plus Your World was rolled out just over a week ago, and the online world has adopted the rallying call to get onto Google+ for the SEO benefits.

Multiple articles point to brand pages as the solution. Publications from mainstream (Mashable wrote “get your Google+ brand page into as many influential people’s circles as possible“) to niche (HelloBloggerz.com wrote “brands need to invest more time into promoting their Google Plus brand pages“) are misleading marketers.

The problem is, Google+ Brand Pages are not the ticket to SEO success. In fact, if you focus your Google+ efforts on your new brand page, you will miss the most important search benefits of Google+. [Read more…]

Buying B2B Email Marketing Lists: Challenges and Recommendations

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Email email emailBuying email marketing lists. It makes many think of the spam emails selling a database of millions of top executives.

The challenge with buying email marketing lists is you cannot easily judge quality until after you buy and few marketers understand the email list market.

This makes selling email marketing lists in particular fertile ground for scammers and many marketers have been burned by bad email lists. Telling the difference between good and bad providers can sometimes be difficult, as Welcome to the Murky World of Email List Sales outlined now more than three years ago. [Read more…]