Tag Archives: Demand Creation
SLA: Cumulative MQLs Delivered to Sales
- 23rd May 2013
Service-level agreements (SLAs) between marketing and sales are sometimes perceived by sales as one-sided. It may appear as if sales must commit to a timeframe for leads to be accepted and processed and must follow rules for engaging leads (e.g. number of outreach attempts within a particular time period) while marketing doesn’t make any commitments or have any obligations – except making sure sales does what it committed to. Right? Wrong!
Continue Reading....Getting Back to the Basics
- 15th May 2013
Sometimes we need to step back from the complexities of our b-to-b marketing day jobs to make a simple decision: what type of demand we are trying to create. The demand type of a product or service drives a number of fundamental marketing decisions – messaging, targeting, the offers you create, the tactics you use and more. Yet seemingly agreeable colleagues often disagree on which demand type matches their products or services. This disparity is dangerous to your ability to market effectively as a team. SiriusDecisions has identified three demand type categories.
Continue Reading....Summit 2013 Highlights: Has Your Demand Waterfall Evolved?
- 9th May 2013
Are organizations taking full advantage of the new phases and stages offered by the revised Demand Waterfall? Instant poll results at Summit 2013, which is currently underway at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, revealed that 43 percent of respondents have implemented or are in the process of implementing the rearchitected version of the Demand Waterfall, while another 31 percent are planning to make the switch in the future.
Continue Reading....SiriusDecisions Summit 2013, Day 1 Recap
- 8th May 2013
Today SiriusDecisions kicked off its eighth annual Summit, which drew a sell-out crowd of attendees eager to focus on b-to-b marketing, sales and product issues and best practices, at the San Diego’s Manchester Grand Hyatt. Today’s highlights included:
Continue Reading....The Most Common Misconception About Lead Nurturing
- 14th March 2013
My discussions with b-to-b marketers who want to implement a lead nurture program or enhance existing programs almost always begin with one major misconception about the true meaning of lead nurturing. Many marketers describe lead nurturing as a process that involves an automated response to a broad set of targets, followed by a series of emails offering potential buyers a wide variety of assets. That sounds a lot like a drip marketing program! And drip marketing isn’t the same as a true lead nurturing effort. Here are some tips to help you make this distinction and guide the development of a focused, effective approach to lead nurturing.
Continue Reading....
The AQL: A Missed Opportunity With Lead Scoring?
- 12th March 2013
SiriusDecisions recently launched the Demand Waterfall Conversion study, a new survey that focuses on conversion rates of leads as they progress through stages of the demand waterfall. The objective is to determine what best-in-class performance looks like for different types of b-to-b businesses. This is the second in a series of posts focusing on the questions the survey is designed to help answer. Today’s topic is the automation qualified lead (AQL) in the marketing qualification phase of the demand waterfall.
Continue Reading....Guidelines for Using Fake-Forward Emails
- 8th March 2013
In my last blog, "Fake-Forward Emails: The Pros and Cons", I discussed “fake forward” emails and how perspectives on this marketing tactic vary. Some marketers view fake-forward emails as an unsavory marketing tactic, while others consider them a creative way of breaking through email clutter. In response to the feedback I’ve received, today’s post discusses guidelines to follow when using fake-forward emails.
Continue Reading....Field Marketing: The Last or First Mile?
- 5th March 2013
When we talk about field marketers who sit in different countries, it is not unusual to refer to them as the “last mile” to indicate that they represent the execution muscle of an organization’s marketing strategies and programs. But when we refer to field marketers as the “last mile,” is there an implicit assumption that strategies, programs and decisions are “coming down” to them? This may be true especially for the old type of field marketing that focused on executing events and providing sales support.
Continue Reading....Demand Conversion, But at What Price?
- 27th February 2013
When SiriusDecisions introduced its rearchitected Demand Waterfall in May 2012, a significant – but often overlooked – change was made to the sales qualified lead and close stages. Those who see life in Technicolor may have noticed that the bars signifying each stage are now comprised of three colors vs. only one. This was done to reflect the emerging best practice of tracking the progression of demand created by three critical sources: sales, marketing and teleprospecting. But why?
Continue Reading....
Inbound vs. Outbound: Are You Asking the Right Question?
- 26th February 2013
SiriusDecisions recently launched, with support from marketing automation vendors Marketo, Eloqua and Pardot, a new survey to measure conversion rates as leads progress through stages of the demand waterfall. The objective is to determine what best-in-class performance looks like for different types of b-to-b businesses. This is the first in a series of posts focusing on the questions the survey is designed to help answer. Today's focus is the inquiry phase of the demand waterfall.
Continue Reading....