Strategy

Will B2B Marketer Be Obsolete with Online Marketplaces

Sometimes you simply don’t have the resources in house to get the job done, but that doesn’t mean the job can’t be done by somebody else. Outsourcing has become increasingly popular for B2B marketers, and for good reason. A recent blog by Chris Fell points out the significant advantages of outsourcing certain tasks, including: Access to a deeper pool of skilled resources than you can afford to employ yourself. Additional flexibility to your capacity, both in terms of skills and volume of activity. A full-time team means your costs remain fixed in quieter periods. Elimination of unexpected fluctuations READ MORE ›

By Andrew Swan|Strategy|

Transform Your SEO Strategy: B2B Marketers’ New Rule

I read a great article this morning by Dolly Howard promoting a webinar series on how to transform your SEO strategy and I thought I would share the key takeaways with you. The world of SEO has undergone a total transformation since its early days. Contrary to popular belief, successful B2B marketers need to create quality content targeted to real human visitors instead of keyword-rich content targeted to search engines. The good news is that SEO is evolving to encourage marketers to create the useful and remarkable content that our most qualified customers crave. The bad news READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy|

Four kinds of lead nurturing campaign for B2B marketers

How do you market to your B2B buyers in a way that won't scare them off, but instead nudge them down the funnel towards sales? For each campaign we are faced with this question. And each time, coming up with a good strategy takes much brainstorming and forethought. But that's the nature of this business: B2B marketing is challenging. Enter lead nurturing, as a way to stay on your buyer's radar without being overly pushy. Because sometimes, they want you to gain their trust before you hit them with a marketing message. Just like the beginning stages READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy|

How to ask for an appointment in an email cold call

I loved this blog so much I wanted to share it with you. Thanks to Jill Konrath for letting us share her insights. When I got the message below from Daniel McLellan, I had to share it with you. The way he "closes" his emails is much better than what I recommended in my new Ultimate Guide to Email Prospecting. Why is it better? The person on the other end feels like they're talking to a human being, not a salesperson. It reduces their defensive responses and opens them to actually talking with you - just like READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

Funnel Management is a momentum game

I'm working with an exciting professional services company that has earned an amazing reputation and a degree of success. The CEO - one of the smartest people you'll ever meet - wants to change that. There is no point having a brilliant brand if it's not translating into the revenue they deserve. So we're helping them to gain the momentum their service deserves. In our preliminary discussions, it occurred to me that they had a willing market, a worthy offering, and that this wasn't translating into the revenue they deserve because there was a focus on the strategy READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

How can sales people prevent premature elaboration?

It’s not a very edifying sight, but it happens way, way too often. A prospect gives the faintest acknowledgement of a potential issue, and the impatient (not to say desperate) sales person simply can’t wait to respond by presenting the features, advantages and benefits of their proposed solution in glorious detail. They may even offer to follow up with a costed proposal. All this before the poor bewildered prospect has even come to terms with whether they need to do anything at all. The sales person has pitched their product way too early. This uncomfortable condition is READ MORE ›

By Bob Apollo|Sales, Strategy|

What colleges should be teaching Marketing majors

Marketing, like most things in life, is completely different from what it was 10 years ago. We are moving to a more social and more personalized web, which means that customers desire a more customized, relevant experience. Unfortunately, most universities and colleges are still preaching ye olde marketing curriculum. Recently, Lauren Carlson, producer at CRMSoftware.TV, sat down with some current marketing gurus to discuss what skills are really needed for success today. Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot Eric Holmen, Silverpop Adam Steinberg, Silverpop The discussion was very interesting. One point that was brought up was in regards to success READ MORE ›

By Lauren Carlson|Skills, Strategy, Velocity|

Buyers’ Journey and reasonable attribution

I was recently asked about use of the term the Buyers' Journey'. I first coined the term in 2003 and it has since been popularised. I'm happy for this, but do get a little miffed when others claim it as their own. Please, therefore, forgive the following rant. I've also posted this in FunnelWiki so others can comment / evolve the dialogue if they wish. I took no registered trademarks, but the term is copyrighted and trade marked under common law. I am happy for anyone to use the term, but I also believe that accurate attribution READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy, Tactics|

Are you trying to solve too many problems?

I don’t know about you, but I’m always uneasy when a CEO describes his or her strategy and somewhere along the way you hear a variation on the “after all, how hard can it be to grab a small share of a big market” argument? Well, the answer is always “a lot harder than you think”. The only thing aiming for an overlarge target market does for you is to dilute your efforts to the point where even those modest ambitions are unlikely to ever be achieved. Actually, that’s wrong - that strategy brings with it a READ MORE ›

By Bob Apollo|Strategy|

Four steps to winning new business

Winning complex new business requires a disciplined strategy. By using a systematic approach, business developers can increase the flow of opportunities and identify which specific actions will close the deal. Long-term high-level performance in business development is not just about posting the easy wins. In complex situations, a disciplined, systematic approach is crucial to winning business, and to delivering ongoing success. Easy wins are usually the result of silver bullets like a market-beating competitive advantage or a very strong personal relationship with a powerful buying influencer. Of course, these are great strengths to have on your side READ MORE ›

By Eddie Smith|Strategy|