Tactics

Six steps to building a content roadmap for years of killer content

Want to receive more content like this? Subscribe to our monthly B2B marketing blog! Get your copy of our 2014 Sales and Marketing Alignment Report Building great blog content scares many away from content marketing. They'll say something like "I don't have that much to say about it (the topic)." Others blog regularly, but their topics are chosen randomly and don't build any kind of brand or slowly sway opinion. The purpose of any blog should be to remain positioned with your market, and to subtly concept-condition them. That is, if your blogs do their job, you'll enjoy inbound leads READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

How to build a marketing message that creates opportunities that only you can win

Want to receive more content like this? Subscribe to our monthly B2B marketing blog! We're all somewhat in love with the products and services that we take to market. And we can all tell good stories about why that product or service is fantastic. A couple of challenges to that. Firstly, what if the buyers that you're communicating with aren't really looking for a solution like that just right now? So certainly, to deal with that first issue, certainly, we need to create messages that talk about the challenges and the needs that the buyers have to stimulate that READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

B2B Marketing tactics with high closure rates

Want to receive more blogs like this? Subscribe to our twice weekly B2B marketing insights! In B2B marketing, Marketing tactics early in the journey have more effect on closure rates than sales tactics later in the journey (which is why search beats social, blogging beats traditional, and it doesn’t matter what tactics the sales team uses). What affect do various tactics have on closure rates at each stage of the buyer's journey? If you have listened to some of my recent blogs, you know that in 2005 we published the first of our landmark reports into alignment. READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy, Tactics|

Demand beats Brand (but only to a point)

Get your copy of our 2014 Sales and Marketing Alignment Report In B2B marketing, demand is more important than brand, but only to a point. So, can you have too much demand? If you have listened to some of my recent blogs, you know that in 2005 we published the first of our landmark reports into alignment. What we learned then has shaped much of the debate on the topic of alignment ever since. In 2014 we published the 2013 refresh of the landmark alignment research. What we learned about training, process, automation, structure, tactics, demand generation, READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy, Tactics, Velocity|

B2B Marketing Definition

I've not typically been big on the necessity for definitions, but became frustrated recently when a senior marekter threw terms like strategy, tactics around as if they were interchangable. It is not hard to understand what B2B marketing is, nor how it is different from consumer, or B2C marketing. Let's start at the top: B2B marketing can be defined as the planning, execution and measurement of the strategy and the tactics needed to sell a product or service to a business. In this blog, I'll unpack that just a little, argue why the four P's is READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Sales, Tactics|

5 Ways to Align Your Sales and Marketing Teams

Alignment between Sales and Marketing has been a challenge for organisations through the ages. Now, fundamental changes in your buyer's behaviour are increasingly creating misalignment between these two functional areas. Misalignment breeds inefficiency. Propose to close rates fall, the quality of leads fall - cost of acquisition increases. The buyer - your target customer - is fundamentally changing the way they buy. They are researching the problems they have differently, they are operating independently, forming opinions of their needs and the solutions they require before dealing with a selling organisation directly. Their buying journey has effectively changed, and Sales READ MORE ›

By Chris Fell|Tactics, Velocity|

Inbound marketing B2B and the role of long tail search

Inbound marketing for B2B requires the same skills as for B2C, plus a few. In B2B, the inbound marketing lead is often not a lead at all, but a nurture opportunity. So we need inbound marketing tactics for both early-stage and late-stage buyers. I've just found a great new b2b marketing tool I'd like to share with you. Think about your own use of search. Sometimes, you are looking for a 'thing', a solution. You have already worked out that something needs to change, and you have an idea about what the solution might involve, and so READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

Marketing automation delivers scale, but not confidence

Want to receive more blogs like this? Subscribe to our twice weekly B2B marketing insights! Get your copy of our 2014 Sales and Marketing Alignment Report Is Marketing automation really worth the effort and expense? In this week's blog, Hugh delves into findings from the 2013 Sales and Alignment report to show how marketing automation delivers scale, but not always confidence. Even firms just planning to automate marketing have improved efficiencies in marketing's contribution to revenue and customer retention. That's got to be something to consider.

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy, Tactics, Velocity|

6 Steps on how to close a deal properly

Want to receive more content like this? Subscribe to our monthly B2B marketing blog! Get your copy of our 2014 Sales and Marketing Alignment Report It's hard enough to get a buyer to commit to a sale. Now try to imagine a buyer who doesn't even know what they're buying from you. Do you think you could close that deal? With any deal, including the situation above, your focus should shift away from closing and to opening. If you open a deal correctly, your buyer will know exactly what you're selling them and why they need it. Closing the READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

How to nurture leaked buyers back into your funnel

Want to receive more content like this? Subscribe to our monthly B2B marketing blog! It’s inevitable that prospects will leak from your funnel. But just because they aren’t ready to buy from you now, doesn’t rule out the possibility they will buy from you in the future. The success of your funnel is not shaped by your wins, but how you handle your losses. In this week’s blog, Hugh shows you how to build a robust recycling program. Staying positioned with leaked buyers is crucial so that when the time comes to talk to them again, they are perfectly READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|