Outbound Marketing for Modern B2B Marketers

Inbound MarketingInbound marketing may be the hot topic for B2B marketers today, but today’s big B2B inbound marketers are all active outbound marketers as well.

So how do you pair your outbound marketing activity with your inbound marketing?

Here are six ways outbound marketing can support and scale your inbound marketing efforts and some of the channels that are appropriate for each one. [Read more…]

7 B2B Advertising Opportunities You Are Missing

B2B advertisers generally target smaller, harder to define audiences than consumer advertisers, which puts a major premium on effective targeting in B2B advertising.

However, many B2B marketing groups are continuing to use the same targeting options they mastered in print and direct mail, simply applied to newer digital marketing tactics.

Today, B2B marketers have many new options available. Below are 7 options and potential providers for each one. [Read more…]

Banners Don’t Drive Leads in B2B Marketing

Wrong WayIf your goal is to deliver leads that you can tie back directly to your marketing investment, do not make banners the core of your enterprise B2B marketing program. Period.

Lead generation is still one of the top objectives of enterprise B2B marketers and many B2B publishers continue to propose banners as a way to deliver leads.

Publishers that continue to do this are doing a disservice to marketers that don’t know better and are losing the respect of those that do.

Banners don’t drive leads. Remember that. [Read more…]

A New Way To Connect Twitter To Lead Generation

B2B marketers are so anxious to generate leads from social media they are turning Twitter into a list for cold calls and mass email blasts.

In the last couple weeks, two companies have emailed or called me because I follow influential sales and marketing accounts on Twitter.

There is nothing social about this! Marketers are just turning social into a source of email or telemarketing lists for mass outbound marketing.

Here is a better way, along with actual results, that companies can use to drive leads through social media. [Read more…]

CRM Retargeting: The Shiny New Advertising Tactic?

What if banner ads could become as targeted and relevant as emails?

One of the emerging trends in online advertising promises to make this possible.

Rather than targeting an audience based on various characteristics, CRM retargeting allows you to target segments of your CRM database with online ads. [Read more…]

The New Boundaries of Targeting for B2B Marketing

In B2B marketing, standing out from the crowd and getting your audience’s attention is absolutely critical. The investments you have made in building your marketing database, creating content, and developing a nurture program carefully mapped to the buyer’s journey does nothing if your communication doesn’t get through.

What if your message could get through to more of these individuals and companies?

Today, there are a number of new and emerging opportunities to do exactly that. Here are three of the opportunities I am watching. [Read more…]

7 Point Checklist for Retargeting Campaigns That AREN’T Creepy

Online Marketers are Creepy, but they don’t have to be! Last week, I shared the results of an informal survey about banner ads promoting a site or product you recently viewed. More than 90% of the people I spoke with had a distinctly negative view of these ads and the few that liked them were marketers.

However, retargeting does not need to make online marketers creepy. Here are 7 points to keep retargeting from turning you into a creepy marketer. [Read more…]

Online Marketers are Creepy

A creepy alligator has been stalking me. Yes, an alligator. Ads for HostGator, perpetually offering 20% off, have been on nearly every site I visit. Unfortunately for HostGator, I already chose a hosting provider, and now, I’m tired of HostGator’s advertising and their alligator mascot.

Retargeting ads are inexpensive and for online direct marketers, they usually perform very well on click rate, conversion rate and cost per conversion metrics. However, like companies that once used telemarketing during the dinner hour, some companies are focusing on measurement and forget about their audience. [Read more…]

Part Two: Marketing Measurement and Pissing People Off

What type of online marketing just pisses people off? In part one, I listed marketing activities that were effective on paper but upset people until they fought back, with technology and legislation. No marketer wants their targets’ ire aimed at their own marketing. Today many brands avoid pop-ups for just this reason.

So what are marketers doing today that lacks respect and upsets their audience? Where is the next revolt? Here are my top five marketing tactics that upset people, and predictions for what shape a revolt will take.  [Read more…]