Chris Fell, Author at align.me

Content marketing for lead generation: New research!

Content marketing's star continues to rise in its role as a key tactic for lead generation. B2B businesses need to address the increasing importance of content marketing according to just-released research from well respected MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute. Further insight has made it increasingly clear that "random acts of content marketing" simply don't work. Firms need a planned approach to systematically drive quality leads. Some key takeaways: Content marketing usage rates are up from last year. Marketers with a documented content strategy are having the greatest success. For those firms who describe themselves as effective READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Tactics|

The 7 things every business leader needs to know about their website design

We are well and truly in the era of the online buyer. Every business needs to understand how buyers commence their buying journey and how to exert influence over that journey each step of the way. Your website plays a crucial role in hooking and reeling in interested buyers.This means your business needs to provide a compelling reason for buyers who are searching online to come to your site. What is it about your website that is compelling, relevant, authoritative and well, just downright helpful? What do you mean your website content is all about your world READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Tactics|

Refresh your marketing with a website lead gen engine

Is your business trying to make sense of all this new fangled {insert your chosen word - inbound/digital/online/website/internet} marketing? Are you unclear exactly how spending your precious time and money on social media, blogging, search engine optimisation, landing pages and so on, is actually going to generate any new leads - let alone new business? Don't worry you are not alone! Many medium and small businesses are in the same boat. But the evidence is now very strong that the inbound marketing (our preferred phrase) tail is wagging the marketing dog! It's time for a fundamental refresh for your approach READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Tactics|

How much money to use for your business on Marketing

B2B Marketing's core role is to generate leads that convert to revenue. Therefore, it's self evident that investing in marketing is important to your business growth. Well quite. But exactly how much is enough? Business leaders are struggling to understand: In what type of marketing should you invest? Should you switch to digital tactics? if so, how? How do you measure marketing? Here are some key statistics from a survey on marketing spending from a new Gartner offering called "Gartner for Marketing leaders." The data is revealing. More money is being spent on marketing to attract and acquire new customers. READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Velocity|

6 Key Skillsets B2B Marketing Managers Need in Their Team

With the shift to inbound or pull marketing well underway, there is also a shift in the marketing skillsets required to get the job done. B2B Marketing Managers are struggling to manage their team's skills transition. At the same time marketing agencies (a traditional source of specific skills) are also undergoing a massive change towards hybrid digital-centric agencies. The old days of $5k per month PR retainers are rapidly disappearing in favour of agencies who can provide services across the spectrum. (Marketing Services is no less immune to disintermediation than other sectors). So what is the laundry list of READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Velocity|

80% Marketers Use Analytics…and Why This Sucks!

jjkkAlmostAlmost 80% of Almost 80%Almost 80%Almost 80% of marketers have some form of marketing analytics. In fact, almost 40% claim to have vast or significant quantities of marketing data, according to MarketingSherpa in their publication, The 2013 Marketing Analytics Benchmarking Report. But...and it's a huge but...only just over a third of marketers are able to use all this beautiful, juicy data to gain any insight into the effectiveness of their marketing and a further 46% of respondents claim they only get occasional insights from their marketing analytics. What a waste! This really sucks! Genuine insight into marketing READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Velocity|

How to build the case for an inbound marketing budget

Even though inbound marketing is now an essential part of most company’s marketing strategy, one question still persists in the minds of many business owners and executives: How much does it cost? It’s a valid question because inbound marketing is as much a change in process as it is an investment in digital marketing. What's the right level of spending? A recent Gartner survey showed that, on average, US companies spend 2.5 percent of their revenue purely on digital marketing activities and its expected to grow by 9% in 2013. So if your company generates, say, $5 million READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy, Tactics|

B2B Marketer’s guide: Building buyer personas that work

Content marketing is rightly undergoing a renaissance. It's seen as the key to engaging with your target audience when your buyers are (almost) all going online to commence their buying journey (over 80% of B2B buyers according to Forrester.) But here's the bad news. Most B2B Marketers just don't understand their target buyer's world and particularly their purchasing journey. How can B2B marketers generate effective content if they don't undertand the world of their reader, listener or viewer? How do you build messaging for your website, for your emails and newsletter? The key word here is READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Tactics|

Is Outbound or Inbound Marketing Best for B2B Marketer

This blog doesn't answer this question... simply because it's the wrong question to be asking in the first place. Let's just be clear from the start. We LOVE inbound marketing, we are passionate about it, we preach it, we teach it, we blog about it, we write about it... oh, yes, and we execute inbound marketing campaigns for our clients for many hours every single day. So why aren't we raging against outbound marketing as old fashioned, outmoded and expensive? Because outbound marketing works like a dream - when used correctly at the right stage of the READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy|

Top 5 locations for CTA Buttons for lead generation

Converting site visitors to leads is a fundamental early step in making your site a lead generation machine. Call to action buttons are a key tool. This blog shares some ideas and experiences of what works. You can add your calls to action anywhere you like, however, there are five places that you cannot afford to ignore. Pretty much every page on your site is an opportunity to convert a visitor to a lead. 1. Bottom of a blog post The bottom of your blog posts is the ideal location to add a relevant call to READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy, Tactics|

About Chris Fell