Comments for Funnel Focus | Insights on B2B Marketing

Comment on Inspiration for Compelling Content Found in the Simplest of Places by Best of B2B Marketing Zone for February 1, 2012 « Sales and Marketing Jobs

Best of B2B Marketing Zone for February 1, 2012 « Sales and Marketing Jobs — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:10:42 +0000

[...] Inspiration for Compelling Content Found in the Simplest of Places FUNNEL FOCUS | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012 [...]

Comment on Sales-driven Lead Nurturing: Moving Leads through the 3 Buying Phases by Johnna Wyland

Johnna Wyland — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:07:11 +0000

Good read, thanks a lot for the blog post.

Comment on In the B2B Funnel, Is There a Clean Sales Handoff? by Brian Hansford

Brian Hansford — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 20:47:07 +0000

Excellent entry. In the Sales 2.0 / Buyer 2.0 world, especially with marketing automation, there is less of a pure hand-off of leads to sales and more complementary collaboration. Yes, sales will still need to engage directly with the opportunity and "close the deal" and marketing will work on the 1:many aspect of driving demand generation. However marketing efforts should and can support the sales process more closely than ever thanks to the powerful support of marketing automation. By providing the right content at the right time, the buying cycle is supported all the way from general education through the purchase decision and ongoing loyalty. Gone are the days of throwing leads over the wall with the hope sales will actually follow up, prospect, and close without marketing engagement.

Brian Hansford
Zephyr 47
http://www.Zephyr47.com

Comment on Thought Leadership Interview: Sue Hay and Cari Baldwin Expand on Their Demand Generation Trifecta by will the marketing tools guy

will the marketing tools guy — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:00:12 +0000

I support the article, especially the point that "automation is not a panacea." I find it amusing that even with a plethora of automation & productivity tools on the market, that it still comes down to human interaction. I remember a $600M company getting results with less automation because the VPs of Marketing and of Sales had good rapport and could craft a deal supporting the company goals rather than their respective functional goals. I reflect back on the $300M firm with heavy-duty automation had a major campaign derailed because of friction between sales & marketing.
Thx
will

Comment on Managing Unhappy Customers on Twitter by Seth Vanderveen

Seth Vanderveen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:00:58 +0000

Really good article. Pretty good info for anyone who's interested in social networking.

Comment on Managing Unhappy Customers on Twitter by Janis Batkin

Janis Batkin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:44:35 +0000

It's good to see an interesting post about Twitter plus social networking every once in a while. Thanks for a great read!

Comment on Thought Leadership Interview: Craig Rosenberg Offers 3 Tips for Marketing Automation Success by Otimo

Otimo — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:00:30 +0000

This is a great post. Marketing Automation is not as simple though as investing in and implementing a technology solution. The point made here regarding having a designated employee assigned to run the system is great...but limited. Marketing Automation is more about domain expertise than it is about bells and whistles. Building Proper Drip campaigns broken down by specific audience criteria and then automated requires a level of expertise and experience that goes beyond system functionality. There are folks that believe an Batch and Blast and those that believe in Effective Communications. What works has nothing to do with the system...it has everything to do with the message. Something as simple as a Subject Line can make or break your effort. Experts know how to get through. Experts know how to segment. Experts know how to avoid being classified as SPAM. The Services you buy are as important if not more important that the technology that goes with them. Don't make the mistake of investing in a car you dont know how to drive.

Comment on Spotlight: Sue Hay and Cari Baldwin Help You Supercharge Your Demand Generation Programs by Brian Hansford

Brian Hansford — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:22:51 +0000

This is an excellent guide with 8 practical steps to help an organization succeed with marketing automation! Well done!

Cheers,
Brian
http://www.Zephyr47.com
Redmond, WA

Comment on How the Human Touch Impacts Marketing Performance – 5 Questions for Brian Carroll by Aravinda Billavara

Aravinda Billavara — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:48:53 +0000

Marketing automation system is just a tool for lead qualification process and not the magic bullet. As the prospect is a human being, many attributes are uncovered via strategic human reach. Too much reliance on automation tends to works backwards in high value sale B2B scenario. The automation tool in many instances creates a quasi-sales ready lead and if not carefully caliberated and creates issues in lead management process. A mix of automation and human touch brings the best sales ready leads.

Comment on Spotlight: Jep Castelein Shows Marketers How to Avoid Follow-up Failure by Tweets that mention Spotlight: Jep Castelein Shows Marketers How to Avoid Follow-up Failure | Funnel Focus | Insights on B2B Marketing -- Topsy.com

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:51:41 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kurt Weisenberger and Emily Mayfield, Manticore Technology. Manticore Technology said: Great article by @jepc on how #b2b marketers can use #marketing automation to avoid follow-up failure. http://bit.ly/aUEc9M [...]