B2B Lead Generation Results, By Source

Visits and conversions by source for www.b2bcommunications.com Sept 7 to Oct 6 2009

By Rebekah E. Donaldson

Here is a screenshot showing the sources of our website traffic that converted to leads over the last month. Looking at the chart, I answer:

• What does this chart tell you about lead sources?
• How much did you invest to get the site working this way?
• We need to generate leads – what’s the best way?

2010 Marketing Planning – Facts From MarketingSherpa

By Rebekah E. Donaldson

Everyone is supposed to be nailing down their plans for 2010 marketing efforts. What will go in your 2010 marketing plan?

As I write this, MarketingSherpa’s 6th Annual B2B Marketing Summit 2009 in San Francisco is winding down. And I don’t want it to be over. Every session, every speaker, and every piece of content was focused on helping attendees conquer the challenges of B2B marketing.

Here are links to get some of the facts you need for smart 2010 marketing planning.

Picking a Marketing Consultant: Get What You Pay For

By Rebekah E. Donaldson

We’ve all heard the phrase, “You get what you pay for.” The truth is, sometimes you get a lot less than you pay for.

This is the first in a seven-part series of articles to help you get what you pay for when you choose a marketing agency. I’ll start today with a decision tree that shows the five key decision points. As the series progresses, I’ll show you a framework that CEOs can use to sort out the answers.  In later articles I touch on the various types of marketers in the industry. You’ll also find 11 questions to ask an agency – with an example of what counts as a good answer (“pass”), and what counts as baloney (“fail”), for each. And in my seventh article in this series I’ll give five warnings, each of which begins, “Why to watch out if you hear…“

B2B marketing ROI of a blog – with traffic and leads chart

By Rebekah E. Donaldson

I talked with Sacramento Business Journal senior reporter Kathy Robertson this week about the return on investment from the Red On Marketing Blog. Her questions got me thinking about why I do it, and this post is the result. 

To ground things in real world and tangible results, you’ll see a screenshot showing where our website traffic and leads came from this week.

Six marketing gotchas CEOs can avoid

By Rebekah E. Donaldson

In a normal year, alot of missed opportunities can hurt sales. This year, they can kill a company. So it’s time to get deadly serious about avoiding marketing mistakes.

Are there patterns in the marketing mistakes small to midsize companies make? I think so. In particular, I’ve noticed at least six ”gotchas” when it comes to CEO-led decisions about marketing. In a new ebook called Six Marketing Mistakes that CEOs Can Avoid and a series of blog posts here, I’ll describe each one’s telltale symptom… and outline a better way.

B2C versus B2B – do B2B buyers feel more risk?

As featured in web marketing and e-commerce portal WebMarketCentral.com

Whether you’re marketing to consumers or business decision makers, you’re still marketing to a human being – right?

Yes — but decision makers may feel more risk when it comes to the average buying decision.

B2B lead generation: Bye bye, list biz?

When a local list broker asked me for career advice last month, I realized that a human element is often missing from discussions about marketing trends and forecasting.

I realized too that inbound marketers can learn from the performance of companies like Harte Hanks — a company that essentially wholesales data to channel partners like list brokers (in addition to selling directly to its client base).

Using social media: copying others doesn’t work

It’s no secret that social media have become part of the mainstream culture: blogs, YouTube, online forums, networking sites and so on. We’ve been writing about the topic for a while, such as the impact of social media on B2B marketing and tipping points for business participation.

The secret is how to master these new tools for B2B marketing. There are few success stories out there, and copying others doesn’t work, according to Forrester Research Inc.

B2B marketing services pricing – an elephant in the room

Today we rolled out fixed-price marketing services packages — and have been asked by a number of colleagues why in the world we’d show our hand this way. Here’s my two cents.

Discuss The New Rules of Outsourcing B2B Marketing 2009 e-book and checklist

Today Cris Rominger and I published a free B2B marketing e-book (550KB PDF) called The New Rules of Outsourcing B2B Marketing: What Marketing Directors need in a B2B marketing consultant today.

In it we discuss how the shift to inbound marketing affects Marketing Directors; the 5 essential traits your B2B marketer needs and why each is important; 10 questions to ask a prospective B2B marketing consultant; how to cut ROI guesswork; what B2B buyers are looking for; and why B2B marketing differs from B2C.

We’re hoping to hear feedback. Please weigh in. (Tip: to comment, scroll down to the bottom of an article.)

B2B marketing consultant must-haves

To engage decision makers, B2B companies need to prove their value through a strong business case, build sites and other communications vehicles in a way that fosters trust, and pull in prospects rather than chase them. Helping companies get that done requires special skills.

B2B Twitter: how Johnny Cash would tweet

It’s standard practice for marketers to plan their companies’ newsletter communications using an editorial calendar. Marketers should back off that sort of approach when it comes to a company wading into Twitter. In fact, Johnny Cash is great inspiration if you’re thinking of using Twitter for business. He’s authentic – ugly, even, up close. And his revelations are anything but boring.

B2B marketing’s future: the impact of social media

There were dynamite questions to Laura Ramos and me on today’s Forrester teleconference about  B2B Marketing Obsolete, Really? (Part III). Let’s continue the conversation!

“Web Marketing in 2009″ – a SARTA seminar

 Cris Rominger and I will lead the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance (SARTA) Leadership Series seminar titled “How to Succeed at Web Marketing in 2009″ on Wednesday, October 15, 2008.

B2B marketing: when I grow up, I want to be a DMS

David Meerman Scott (aka DMS) had some great advice about B2B marketing in his March 24, 2008 article in BtoB magazine, “Quit Living in Yesterday’s World”.

Forrester: is B2B marketing going obsolete?

Some marketers I know sense, on a gut level, that the marketplace has experienced a significant shift in power. No longer are just vendors hunting prospects. Prospects, now, are experienced marksmen too.

What won’t fly in that 2009 marketing plan

Everyone is supposed to be nailing down their plans for 2009 marketing efforts. What should go in yours?

Study: B2B ad context matters

Enquiro recently wrapped up primary research, comissioned by Google, that shows business to business (B2B) ads ”relevant to their context” can be 30-40% more effective than those that aren’t.

Top B2B marketing advice: MarketingSherpa cool-aid proves nutritious

I think I bought my first MarketingSherpa handbook in 2004. I bet customer records at Sherpa show exactly when it was. But whatever the date, I recall being floored. I used up a sticky pad entering placeholders, and used up a highlighter marking key points. And when I’d absorbed it’s content, I started viewing some of my pre-Sherpa work with chagrin. 

Chart: Online resources critical in all phases of B2B purchasing

Enquiro’s most recent ”B2B Survey” whitepaper, based on responses from 1,000 B2B buyers, shows just how important it is to get it right when it comes to a company’s online presence.

Chart: top 6 reasons webinar attendees bail

Webinars are like seminars — a group convenes to learn from an expert — except that you join from your computer. They’re generally live, whereas webcasts are recorded content. 

Today MarketingSherpa has just released a new chart showing the top 6 reasons webinar attendees say they bail on a webinar.

When reports don’t match up

Has this ever happened to you: you’re tracking your email to see how many people open your message, how many click through to your website, etc. And parts of the report don’t match up?

Benefits of using an email service provider

As business to business sales cycles get longer, marketing requires cost-effective nurturing. And nothing is more cost-effective for nurturing, than email. You know this. So, taking the bull by the horns, you’ve gathered up all the contact information from prospects’ business cards and other sources. Now, should you send from your desktop or use an email service provider? 

Staying flexible about marketing plans

While reading B2B magazine’s Interactive Marketing Guide earlier this year, a cluster of graphics caught my eye. They had to do with expected marketing allocations for online video, podcasts and other technology through 2012.

Through 2012?!?

Chart: Search bears fruit

MarketingSherpa has just released a new chart showing how marketers perceive their ROI on organic search and pay per click.