Tactics

DemandCon: World’s best B2B marketer all in one place

B2B marketers worship the Funnel. They spend their waking hours trying to design, control and influence its ability progress buyers but how many of us actually know the best to way manage it? The DemandCon conference in London will see B2B marketers from across the globe converge for two days for a hard-hitting education in all things Funnel. Featuring thought leaders and expert B2B practitioners, it is the world’s first conference dedicated to managing the complete sales funnel, top to bottom. Delegates will be trained in the latest techniques and best practices for accelerating revenue growth which READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

DemandCon: Hugh Macfarlane’s Funnel Plan Workshop

April 16, 2012, Melbourne, Australia – align.me Founder and CEO, Hugh Macfarlane, will present his trademark “Funnel Logic” in a training workshop at DemandCon in London this May. The workshop will be held on May 29th 2012, and will help participants bring together all that they learn during the conference into a highly actionable plan for revenue generation. Uniquely designed to be of high value for both executives and individual contributors involved with lead and revenue generation, the certified training program reveals advanced techniques and best practices for increasing funnel volume and velocity by using align.me’s proven sales READ MORE ›

By Intern|News, Tactics|

What revenue performance management can do for you

If you are at all familiar with marketing automation, you will have heard the term "Revenue Performance Management" floating around quite a bit. But what exactly is it and why is it relevant to you? Revenue performance management is a deeper level of marketing automation that provides more insight into the funnel, and therefore helps marketers better understand the buyer's journey. Additionally, it provides a deeper set of analytics, making it possible for marketers to better measure the effectiveness of campaigns, as well as the overall ROI that marketing provides. For an area of the company READ MORE ›

By Lauren Carlson|Strategy, Tactics|

3 Reasons Why Australian B2B Marketers Are Going Inbound

Inbound marketing isn't a well-known phrase to Australian marketers (yet!), but 2012 sees B2B marketers quickly catching on to the inbound marketing revolution. Inbound marketing refers to the art & increasingly the science of attracting buyers to your site, (getting found) converting them to leads (nurturing) and figuring out what is and isn't working (analytics). Better known phrases are website marketing, digital marketing or online marketing, but inbound marketing is a more comprehensive, inclusive discipline than these phrases suggest. Here are the top three reasons why we are beginning to make the switch: #1 It's Budget-Friendly (And READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Strategy, Tactics, Velocity|

Social media: from B2C to B2B

Although B2C companies were first to jump on the social media bandwagon, B2B companies are starting to recognise that social media can also work in a B2B context. But, as a B2B marketer, where do you start? We hosted a Funnel Masters dinner (alumni of Funnel Academy and other funnel zealots) recently, and this is what they concluded: 1. Start with the basics, and decide where social media can add value (if at all). The first rule of thumb is – don’t do it just because it feels like everyone else is. Social media may make no READ MORE ›

By Annelies Huls|Strategy, Tactics|

How B2B firms use LinkedIn for effective lead generation

When I ask Australian B2B firms if social media and LinkedIn in particular has a place in their communications and marketing strategy I generally get a look that could best be described as worried or hesitant and occasionally dismissive. If I go on to ask them if they think LinkedIn can generate real leads for their business, that worried look disappears and is replaced with looks of disbelief and guffaws of (usually) well meaning laugher. Many B2B firms are struggling with what to do with social media. They know they need to do something, that they should READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Tactics|

Align to Buyer’s Journey then Flip the Switch for Marketing Automation

I recently read another great post on the Marketing Automation Software Guide. The article entitled, Close the Gaps to Close More Sales with Marketing Automation, was written by Sharon Drew Morgan who has written and spoken passionately about the need for new sales models and processes. The central theme to Sharon Drew’s article is that marketing automation systems (when used properly) enable companies to align their marketing and sales efforts to the buyer’s journey. This in turn improves conversion rates and sales effectiveness. Ms. Morgan made another insightful point that I want to comment on later. But READ MORE ›

By Chuck Besondy|Tactics, Velocity|

Hugh Macfarlane & Jim Lenskold present Funnel Forum

align.me’s Funnel Forum webinar ‘Turn Leads to Revenue’ is now available for download. Funnel Master, Hugh Macfarlane, has teamed up again with his friend and Marketing ROI guru, Jim Lenskold, to deliver crisp new insights into global best practice on turning leads into revenue. As recognized leaders in marketing best practice, Jim and Hugh have shared the virtual stage many times before; having presented webinars to enthralled audiences and delivered a series of popular joint white papers via MarketingProfs. The 45-minute webinar, which has already been accessed by hundreds of viewers around the world, provides business owners READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

B2B marketers should be sadists

Are you a sadist B2B marketer? You should be...and here's why! You should want your targeted buyer to be in pain, real pain. Pain, in business terms, is the impact of severe problems that are without a solution. Your buyers should be in so much pain that they are desperate to stop the agony. If your targeted buyer has a problem in their business that is causing the business to suffer, then they will make a decision, they will take action to stop the pain...and they probably won't be asking for a discount! As sellers you want READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Tactics|

Looking for SEO keyword researcher / analytics guru

We are a highly developed user of SEO, but the CEO is the main creator / resident geek re key word research, page optimisation, and analytics, and that is poor leverage of his skills. We're looking for an SEO analyst who is very efficient in researching key phrases (quantitative and qualitative assessment of competition for phrases, volume and trends) on-site and off-site optimisation, and analytics / optimsation tests. You will be 'on tap' for any of our consultants to do key phrase selection and analytics work, and be able to turn requests around within 1 day. There READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|