A recent study by Accenture revealed that 4 out of 10 chief marketing officers believe that they are unprepared to meet their marketing goals. They stated not having the right tools as one of their chief challenges in not being able to achieve their marketing goals.
Perhaps it’s time to revisit your marketing tools and find out if it will help you attain your marketing goals. While you are at that, here are a few things you should consider:
Ease-of-use
Often, companies invest in marketing tools to find out they never really use them. Reasons range from the tools being too complicated to too time consuming. Find out if the intended users are actually using your marketing tool. If not, ask questions as to why it is not being used…sometimes, a simple training session may be all you need to get them started!
Up-to-date
Are you still using a primitive e-mail marketing tool? Or is your marketing tool in tune with the latest marketing trends? Today, marketing tools have to be multi-dimensional. It is not just about doing e-mail blasts. Look for a marketing tool that has an all round approach to marketing and offers a variety of media options including print, social media, PPCs, web marketing etc.
Prospect insight
This is one of the key areas that your marketing tool should be good at. Check if your marketing tool offers you great prospect insight. An effective marketing tool is able to combine prospect behavior across various touch points to give you a complete picture of your leads.
Sales alignment
If you thought your marketing tool was none of sales’ business…think again. With Marketing 2.0, the boundaries between marketing and sales are really blurring. What marketers really need today is a tool that will bring them and the sales people on the same page.
MindMatrix’s next generation marketing automation platform does all of the above and more! Please visit www.mindmatrix.net to know more.
MindMatrix Offers Channel Marketing Automation to Support Channel Marketers
Pittsburgh based marketing automation software company; MindMatrix announced the release of its marketing automation solution for the channel marketing industry. MindMatrix recognizes the need of a cohesive marketing automation tool for channel marketers and presents it to them through their marketing automation offering.
According to Danielle Fisher, Head—Channel Sales Development, at MindMatrix, “As a part of product development, we at MindMatrix, got in touch with hundreds of channel marketers and veterans of channel marketing. That helped us understand the key issues bothering the channel marketing industry and now, MindMatrix resolves each of these challenges effectively with its marketing automation tool that is attuned to every need of a channel marketer.”
Brand management, marketing ROI measurement and lead management are some of the core areas where MindMatrix’s marketing automation solution focuses. MindMatrix’s offering comes with automated lead nurturing tools that enable channel partners and independent reps to stay in touch with their prospects and engage in one-to-one personalized marketing on-demand, without depending on external marketing teams. It also provides them with superior lead generation and lead tracking abilities that cut across multiple marketing channels including print, web and social media.
MindMatrix’s latest channel marketing offering gives channel marketers the ability to engage in smarter & more effective marketing by providing them with the tools they need to have more result-producing conversations during the sales process—all on a single unified platform.
According to Danielle Fisher, Head—Channel Sales Development, at MindMatrix, “As a part of product development, we at MindMatrix, got in touch with hundreds of channel marketers and veterans of channel marketing. That helped us understand the key issues bothering the channel marketing industry and now, MindMatrix resolves each of these challenges effectively with its marketing automation tool that is attuned to every need of a channel marketer.”
Brand management, marketing ROI measurement and lead management are some of the core areas where MindMatrix’s marketing automation solution focuses. MindMatrix’s offering comes with automated lead nurturing tools that enable channel partners and independent reps to stay in touch with their prospects and engage in one-to-one personalized marketing on-demand, without depending on external marketing teams. It also provides them with superior lead generation and lead tracking abilities that cut across multiple marketing channels including print, web and social media.
MindMatrix’s latest channel marketing offering gives channel marketers the ability to engage in smarter & more effective marketing by providing them with the tools they need to have more result-producing conversations during the sales process—all on a single unified platform.
MindMatrix Upgrades its Marketing Automation Software to include Exciting New Features
Harbinder Khera, CEO of, MindMatrix, announced that the company has enhanced its marketing automation software with a view to improve user experience. While MindMatrix has bundled over 7 enhancements in this release, the key ones include the upgraded media editor, A/B testing for all web collateral, Gmail Plug-in, reverse DNS tracking and integration of the marketing automation software with the popular CRM system, SageACT2013.
According to Harbinder, this was one of the major releases since the launch of the marketing automation platform and most of the enhancements were based on the requests that came in from customers already using MindMatrix’s platform. “Of course, there were some enhancements like the Reverse DNS based tracking system which was the brainchild of the development team here at MindMatrix", he says. "And…that is one of the highlights of this release. Our software can now tell you which industry or company the prospect belongs to…even if they don’t fill a form on your website or landing page”
Apart from the Reverse DNS technology, the marketing automation software now boasts of a new media editor that has a more easy and user-friendly feel to it. Also, now all web collateral generated using Mindmatrix’s marketing automation platform can now undergo A/B testing to test the various possible landing/web designs to arrive at the ones that produce optimum results. Another key feature enhancement allows users with Gmail accounts to send template-based emails that are stored in the platform, through their Gmail account, using the Chrome plug-in for Gmail.
“The response we have received from our customers has been great”, says Harbinder, who has another release slated soon. “To be truly classified as the next-generation marketing automation provider, we know we need to be constantly innovating and providing our customers with something extra, which is what we will aim for with every news release."
According to Harbinder, this was one of the major releases since the launch of the marketing automation platform and most of the enhancements were based on the requests that came in from customers already using MindMatrix’s platform. “Of course, there were some enhancements like the Reverse DNS based tracking system which was the brainchild of the development team here at MindMatrix", he says. "And…that is one of the highlights of this release. Our software can now tell you which industry or company the prospect belongs to…even if they don’t fill a form on your website or landing page”
Apart from the Reverse DNS technology, the marketing automation software now boasts of a new media editor that has a more easy and user-friendly feel to it. Also, now all web collateral generated using Mindmatrix’s marketing automation platform can now undergo A/B testing to test the various possible landing/web designs to arrive at the ones that produce optimum results. Another key feature enhancement allows users with Gmail accounts to send template-based emails that are stored in the platform, through their Gmail account, using the Chrome plug-in for Gmail.
“The response we have received from our customers has been great”, says Harbinder, who has another release slated soon. “To be truly classified as the next-generation marketing automation provider, we know we need to be constantly innovating and providing our customers with something extra, which is what we will aim for with every news release."
Resolving the 3 major challenges of Channel Marketing with marketing automation
The 3 key challenges that businesses with channel partners usually face involve enabling the channel partners to market their brand without distortion, the inability to measure the effectiveness of the marketing investment made on or by their channel marketers and the inability to get their messages out on time and to a wide audience.
Here's how marketing automation can help in these challenging areas:
Brand management
Good marketing automation software programs come with brand management capabilities that will allow businesses to enable their channel marketing partners to engage in marketing their products and services, without worrying about branding inconsistencies. A marketing automation software that's strong on the brand management side will allow you to limit the access and permissions of your channel partners, thus allowing them to edit only those portions of your marketing message that you'd want them to. That means, not having to micro-manage every e-mail marketing campaign or check every landing page, because you know the scope for misrepresentation of your brand or its message is considerably reduced.
Spreading the word
Having a strong channel partner network is great, but that alone is not enough to get your brand the attention it deserves. What you also need is a way for your channel partners to get your marketing message out to their prospects through all possible media channels. And, this is where a marketing automation software with multichannel collateral creation capabilities can be of great use. However, make sure you choose a marketing automation program that adopts a template-driven approach to marketing and sales collateral creation. The benefit: you get to sketch out the key elements such as template design, layout and core content, while your channel partners can use them to create localized versions of your marketing campaign that relates best to their target market. While you are at it, remember that a marketing automation software that offers social sharing features would be an added bonus.
Measuring the marketing investment
With multiple channel partners, putting concrete figures on your marketing returns can become challenging. You end up grappling with questions like—how to quantify the marketing efforts of your channel partners or How to justify your marketing investment in them. Well, with a marketing automation software in tow, you wouldn't have to worry about these questions. Your marketing automation software should be able to help you put a number onto your marketing figures. Get answers to questions like how many e-mails your channel partners sent out, how many prospects opened them, which marketing media elicits maximum response and so on.
To know more about how you can make your channel partners more effective, please contact us today...
Here's how marketing automation can help in these challenging areas:
Brand management
Good marketing automation software programs come with brand management capabilities that will allow businesses to enable their channel marketing partners to engage in marketing their products and services, without worrying about branding inconsistencies. A marketing automation software that's strong on the brand management side will allow you to limit the access and permissions of your channel partners, thus allowing them to edit only those portions of your marketing message that you'd want them to. That means, not having to micro-manage every e-mail marketing campaign or check every landing page, because you know the scope for misrepresentation of your brand or its message is considerably reduced.
Spreading the word
Having a strong channel partner network is great, but that alone is not enough to get your brand the attention it deserves. What you also need is a way for your channel partners to get your marketing message out to their prospects through all possible media channels. And, this is where a marketing automation software with multichannel collateral creation capabilities can be of great use. However, make sure you choose a marketing automation program that adopts a template-driven approach to marketing and sales collateral creation. The benefit: you get to sketch out the key elements such as template design, layout and core content, while your channel partners can use them to create localized versions of your marketing campaign that relates best to their target market. While you are at it, remember that a marketing automation software that offers social sharing features would be an added bonus.
Measuring the marketing investment
With multiple channel partners, putting concrete figures on your marketing returns can become challenging. You end up grappling with questions like—how to quantify the marketing efforts of your channel partners or How to justify your marketing investment in them. Well, with a marketing automation software in tow, you wouldn't have to worry about these questions. Your marketing automation software should be able to help you put a number onto your marketing figures. Get answers to questions like how many e-mails your channel partners sent out, how many prospects opened them, which marketing media elicits maximum response and so on.
To know more about how you can make your channel partners more effective, please contact us today...
7 Ways to determine if Your Marketing Automation Software is Truly Next-Generation
With Marketing 2.0, there has been a rise in the number of vendors who offer "Next-Gen Marketing Automation Solutions," and businesses are wrestling with questions like: How to find the right Marketing Automation Software? How to determine if the Marketing Automation Software is truly next generation? What are the key areas that should be looked into when buying Marketing Automation Software? This post addresses the critical areas you should consider before investing in Marketing Automation Software.
Ease-of-Use
Most Marketing Automation System vendors will talk of their system's "ease-of-use." Take the time to use and evaluate the system to judge if that is true. Don't rely solely on their claims.
Sales Integration
Find out the extent to which your new Marketing Automation Software can integrate with your sales processes. How much autonomy does it provide to your sales team? A truly next-generation Marketing Automation Software should integrate seamlessly with your sales processes, making them more efficient.
Next-Generation Marketing Avenues
New marketing and sales channels are evolving rapidly. First it was Blogs, now it's Facebook and Twitter. Find out if your new Marketing Automation Software caters to the next-generation marketing channels, and whether your Marketing Automation Software provider keeps track of new trends and technologies in marketing and offers upgrades. Your new Marketing Automation Software should be able to answer questions like which campaigns are yielding results and which ones are eliciting lukewarm response, which leads are ready to buy and which ones need to be nurtured etc.
Search Engine Optimization
More than 90% of people research online before making a purchase. So, it is important to ensure that all relevant marketing and sales materials are search engine optimized. But, you can't expect your marketing/salespeople to spend precious time putting in the right HTML codes. A truly Next-Generation Marketing Automation Software should automatically search engine optimize its sales and marketing outputs
Lead Tracking & Marketing Analytic's Across Multiple Platforms
Your new Marketing Automation Software should be able to provide date to identify which campaigns are yielding results and which ones are eliciting lukewarm response, which leads are ready to buy, and which ones need to be nurtured.
Advanced Lead Nurturing
Does the Marketing Automation Software that you are considering have advanced lead nurturing capabilities? The buyer today has too many distractions and too many choices. A Next-Generation Marketing Automation Software is dynamic, understands buyer behavior and responds appropriately.
Accessibility
How accessible is your new Marketing Automation Software Platform? When considering a new platform, you need to remember that it will be also used by a sales staff that may be constantly on the move. How does the new platform cater to their needs? Does it have a mobile application? Or perhaps a notification system that would alert your salespersons when they have to respond to leads?
To put it simply, a truly Next-Generation Marketing Automation program is one that increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the sales and marketing processes and brings about total integration of the two key functions--across multiple channels, giving the business a holistic view of its prospects, customers and sales and marketing efforts.
Ease-of-Use
Most Marketing Automation System vendors will talk of their system's "ease-of-use." Take the time to use and evaluate the system to judge if that is true. Don't rely solely on their claims.
Sales Integration
Find out the extent to which your new Marketing Automation Software can integrate with your sales processes. How much autonomy does it provide to your sales team? A truly next-generation Marketing Automation Software should integrate seamlessly with your sales processes, making them more efficient.
Next-Generation Marketing Avenues
New marketing and sales channels are evolving rapidly. First it was Blogs, now it's Facebook and Twitter. Find out if your new Marketing Automation Software caters to the next-generation marketing channels, and whether your Marketing Automation Software provider keeps track of new trends and technologies in marketing and offers upgrades. Your new Marketing Automation Software should be able to answer questions like which campaigns are yielding results and which ones are eliciting lukewarm response, which leads are ready to buy and which ones need to be nurtured etc.
Search Engine Optimization
More than 90% of people research online before making a purchase. So, it is important to ensure that all relevant marketing and sales materials are search engine optimized. But, you can't expect your marketing/salespeople to spend precious time putting in the right HTML codes. A truly Next-Generation Marketing Automation Software should automatically search engine optimize its sales and marketing outputs
Lead Tracking & Marketing Analytic's Across Multiple Platforms
Your new Marketing Automation Software should be able to provide date to identify which campaigns are yielding results and which ones are eliciting lukewarm response, which leads are ready to buy, and which ones need to be nurtured.
Advanced Lead Nurturing
Does the Marketing Automation Software that you are considering have advanced lead nurturing capabilities? The buyer today has too many distractions and too many choices. A Next-Generation Marketing Automation Software is dynamic, understands buyer behavior and responds appropriately.
Accessibility
How accessible is your new Marketing Automation Software Platform? When considering a new platform, you need to remember that it will be also used by a sales staff that may be constantly on the move. How does the new platform cater to their needs? Does it have a mobile application? Or perhaps a notification system that would alert your salespersons when they have to respond to leads?
To put it simply, a truly Next-Generation Marketing Automation program is one that increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the sales and marketing processes and brings about total integration of the two key functions--across multiple channels, giving the business a holistic view of its prospects, customers and sales and marketing efforts.
Is your Marketing Deliverable being Trashed by Sales?
A research by Sirius Decisions concludes that 90% of the marketing deliverables remain unused by sales. So what can you do to ensure your marketing materials are actually used? Here are 4 sure-fire ways to make that happen…
Power to sales
Who creates the collateral? Your marketing team…who uses them? Your sales team…so, doesn’t it make sense to give sales some power over the deliverables? Why not allow them to tweak the deliverables as they want…it’s better to change a few words here and there instead of having the entire brochure trashed, right? Bottom-line: Give your salespeople a way to effectively make changes to your marketing output—a way that’s easy, fun and quick!
Get the sales team to speak up!
We know your salespersons are not cut out to generate very creative flyers or landing pages and that even the most creative salespersons don’t have the time…but they still know what the prospects really want because they talk to them and meet them day-in…and day out. So call for a meeting and put your marketing and sales on the same page with respect to what they expect. And see the results for yourself!
Consistency despite multiple channels
Each salesperson finds a way that works best for them. Also, every prospect is different. That means if Joe responds best to print flyers, Jane might be more receptive to e-mails, or Bob would be actively engaging with your sales team on Facebook. So, it makes sense for you to arm your salespersons with deliverables that cut-across multiple prospect touch-points.
Personalization anyone?
There’s nothing a salesperson loves more than being able to build a personal connection with their prospects. So, why not help them do it. What if you could help them establish their personal brand through your deliverables…or provide them a flyer personalized for that important prospect? Deliverables that help them close deals faster wouldn’t end up in the trash can!
MindMatrix’s Marketing Automation Software can help you do all of the above…and more. Please visit www.mindmatrix.net today to know more.
Power to sales
Who creates the collateral? Your marketing team…who uses them? Your sales team…so, doesn’t it make sense to give sales some power over the deliverables? Why not allow them to tweak the deliverables as they want…it’s better to change a few words here and there instead of having the entire brochure trashed, right? Bottom-line: Give your salespeople a way to effectively make changes to your marketing output—a way that’s easy, fun and quick!
Get the sales team to speak up!
We know your salespersons are not cut out to generate very creative flyers or landing pages and that even the most creative salespersons don’t have the time…but they still know what the prospects really want because they talk to them and meet them day-in…and day out. So call for a meeting and put your marketing and sales on the same page with respect to what they expect. And see the results for yourself!
Consistency despite multiple channels
Each salesperson finds a way that works best for them. Also, every prospect is different. That means if Joe responds best to print flyers, Jane might be more receptive to e-mails, or Bob would be actively engaging with your sales team on Facebook. So, it makes sense for you to arm your salespersons with deliverables that cut-across multiple prospect touch-points.
Personalization anyone?
There’s nothing a salesperson loves more than being able to build a personal connection with their prospects. So, why not help them do it. What if you could help them establish their personal brand through your deliverables…or provide them a flyer personalized for that important prospect? Deliverables that help them close deals faster wouldn’t end up in the trash can!
MindMatrix’s Marketing Automation Software can help you do all of the above…and more. Please visit www.mindmatrix.net today to know more.
Completing the Demand Generation Puzzle
A demand generation campaign is often treated like an unsolved puzzle by marketers. We demystify the demand gen puzzle in this blog post by telling you the 5 key ingredients that will help you serve the perfect Demand Generation campaign…
Staying connected to prospects and customers
Repeat after us… “Demand generation campaigns are not a one-time thing”. Stay in touch with your prospects consistently and don’t forget them after that first e-mail blast. Follow-up mails, phone-calls, monthly newsletters etc, are great ideas.
Adopting multiple marketing avenues
Your prospects are everywhere—on the web, on Facebook, out there in the real world! So, why should your demand generation strategies be limited to e-mail campaigns? Rope in use of Print media, social media, PPCs and even trade shows to announce your presence.
Personalizing your marketing
People respond better to messages directed to them rather than random advertising. Why not add a personal touch to your demand generation campaigns by doing simple things like addressing the reader by their name, or providing relevant offers…
Updated marketing database
Your demand generation campaigns will be more effective if you target the right prospects—that means ensuring your prospect database has the latest information about the contacts. Why waste money on a print flyer or brochure to someone who no longer lives at that address?
Tracking buyer behavior
Going back to point#1…demand generation is not a one-time effort and it involves constant follow-ups. But, to have effective follow-ups, you need to know prospect history. Having answers to questions like how the prospect responded to your marketing message…did they open the last e-mail…how much time they spent on your website, etc. can help you do effective follow ups.
Staying connected to prospects and customers
Repeat after us… “Demand generation campaigns are not a one-time thing”. Stay in touch with your prospects consistently and don’t forget them after that first e-mail blast. Follow-up mails, phone-calls, monthly newsletters etc, are great ideas.
Adopting multiple marketing avenues
Your prospects are everywhere—on the web, on Facebook, out there in the real world! So, why should your demand generation strategies be limited to e-mail campaigns? Rope in use of Print media, social media, PPCs and even trade shows to announce your presence.
Personalizing your marketing
People respond better to messages directed to them rather than random advertising. Why not add a personal touch to your demand generation campaigns by doing simple things like addressing the reader by their name, or providing relevant offers…
Updated marketing database
Your demand generation campaigns will be more effective if you target the right prospects—that means ensuring your prospect database has the latest information about the contacts. Why waste money on a print flyer or brochure to someone who no longer lives at that address?
Tracking buyer behavior
Going back to point#1…demand generation is not a one-time effort and it involves constant follow-ups. But, to have effective follow-ups, you need to know prospect history. Having answers to questions like how the prospect responded to your marketing message…did they open the last e-mail…how much time they spent on your website, etc. can help you do effective follow ups.
The Marketing Automation Software Quiz. Take this quiz to find out how effective your marketing automation is…
Has your sales cycle shortened?
A good marketing automation software will help your business enjoy a shorter sales cycle thanks to better lead focus and quality lead generation
Are your conversion rates heading up?
Smart marketing automation software will help your conversion rates head north by automatically nurturing your cold/not-so-warm leads until they are sales ready. That means, your sales team gets well nurtured leads that are ready to make a purchase—that means better conversion rates.
Have you established a personal relationship with your contacts?
Best marketing automation software programs help you establish a personal relationship with your contacts. They help you engage in personalized marketing and sales strategies with ease.
How good is your marketing support?
Great marketing automation software programs are those which put an end to the sales-marketing disconnect by aligning sales and marketing functions seamlessly. Some signs of seamless sales marketing alignment include—good marketing support for sales across all prospect touch-points, having the sales collateral ready on time, getting quality leads and even having complete prospect data that allows the marketing team to pitch the right products/services—cross-selling and up-selling based on past purchases and post-sales behavior.
Having your sales is on the road is no impediment to client communications
A next-generation marketing automation software will provide you with the tools you need to communicate with prospects and customers, even your sales team is on the move. It can be an iPhone app or an android application that helps your sales team stay in touch with their prospects, or a simple desktop alert that helps you understand key prospect reactions and behavior.
If the answer to all these questions is “YES”, then your marketing automation software is doing its job…
A good marketing automation software will help your business enjoy a shorter sales cycle thanks to better lead focus and quality lead generation
Are your conversion rates heading up?
Smart marketing automation software will help your conversion rates head north by automatically nurturing your cold/not-so-warm leads until they are sales ready. That means, your sales team gets well nurtured leads that are ready to make a purchase—that means better conversion rates.
Have you established a personal relationship with your contacts?
Best marketing automation software programs help you establish a personal relationship with your contacts. They help you engage in personalized marketing and sales strategies with ease.
How good is your marketing support?
Great marketing automation software programs are those which put an end to the sales-marketing disconnect by aligning sales and marketing functions seamlessly. Some signs of seamless sales marketing alignment include—good marketing support for sales across all prospect touch-points, having the sales collateral ready on time, getting quality leads and even having complete prospect data that allows the marketing team to pitch the right products/services—cross-selling and up-selling based on past purchases and post-sales behavior.
Having your sales is on the road is no impediment to client communications
A next-generation marketing automation software will provide you with the tools you need to communicate with prospects and customers, even your sales team is on the move. It can be an iPhone app or an android application that helps your sales team stay in touch with their prospects, or a simple desktop alert that helps you understand key prospect reactions and behavior.
If the answer to all these questions is “YES”, then your marketing automation software is doing its job…
Five Quick Fixes to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking
In an age when most of business happens online, not showing up on Google can really hurt you. While there’s no real short cut to showing up consistently on web searches, there are a few quick fixes to get your site up on search engine results…
HTML tags
Important HTML tags include the title tag, meta description and meta keywords. Make sure each page of your website has appropriate HTML tags. The title tag of each page should be unique and relevant to that particular page.
Alternative text images
Ensure that most of the images on your website have alternative text tags. Alt tags are basically descriptions for images. By adding relevant alternative tags to images, you are allowing search engines to recognize them.
File hierarchy
How good is your HTML file hierarchy? Check if your website’s pages are logically situated and avoid too many unnecessary folders. For example—NFL=>Teams=>PittsburghSteelers is a better folder structure than NFL=>Teams=>NFCEast=>PittsburghSteelers, because here NFCEast is redundant and only serves to push the Steelers page deeper down the order.
Sitemap
A sitemap acts as a navigational guide for your visitors as well as search engines. Does your website have one? If not, then it’s time to put up a site map on your website.
Content quality
Glance over your content quickly to determine its quality. Is your content written for search engines or actual visitors? Is it stuffed with keywords? Does it truly add value to your audience, or is simply there to fill up the page? Answer these questions and make quick fixes to your content accordingly.
HTML tags
Important HTML tags include the title tag, meta description and meta keywords. Make sure each page of your website has appropriate HTML tags. The title tag of each page should be unique and relevant to that particular page.
Alternative text images
Ensure that most of the images on your website have alternative text tags. Alt tags are basically descriptions for images. By adding relevant alternative tags to images, you are allowing search engines to recognize them.
File hierarchy
How good is your HTML file hierarchy? Check if your website’s pages are logically situated and avoid too many unnecessary folders. For example—NFL=>Teams=>PittsburghSteelers is a better folder structure than NFL=>Teams=>NFCEast=>PittsburghSteelers, because here NFCEast is redundant and only serves to push the Steelers page deeper down the order.
Sitemap
A sitemap acts as a navigational guide for your visitors as well as search engines. Does your website have one? If not, then it’s time to put up a site map on your website.
Content quality
Glance over your content quickly to determine its quality. Is your content written for search engines or actual visitors? Is it stuffed with keywords? Does it truly add value to your audience, or is simply there to fill up the page? Answer these questions and make quick fixes to your content accordingly.
Are you Omnipresent?
A recent infographic at marketingprofs.com, talks of omnichannel loyalty—meaning an enterprise level initiative to track customer loyalty across multiple marketing and sales channels. Today’s customer has multiple ways to stay in touch with the business. Whether it’s through her smartphones, laptops, calling up customer care divisions or by directly visiting the brick and mortar locations of the business. The challenge faced by businesses is to aggregate all of these touch points to get a clear picture of customer experience across each of these. Thus, cross-channel customer intelligence is what businesses should be aiming for.
However, how many businesses are actually able to attain this or better still utilize it to the fullest? Turns out, not many…As per the infographic, only 10% of such real-time useful customer data is actually leveraged for further interaction. That means, 90% of the times, customer data is untapped or unused.
This is where good marketing automation software platforms can come into the picture. A good marketing automation software aligns sales and marketing aspects of the business and unifies customer data across multiple channels, effectively. This data is then leveraged to offer relevant, personalized marketing and sales communications to the customer that truly adds value to them.
However, how many businesses are actually able to attain this or better still utilize it to the fullest? Turns out, not many…As per the infographic, only 10% of such real-time useful customer data is actually leveraged for further interaction. That means, 90% of the times, customer data is untapped or unused.
This is where good marketing automation software platforms can come into the picture. A good marketing automation software aligns sales and marketing aspects of the business and unifies customer data across multiple channels, effectively. This data is then leveraged to offer relevant, personalized marketing and sales communications to the customer that truly adds value to them.
Smarketing can help you make the most of your marketing dollar
My last post was all about how Smarketing can help you close deals faster. Today we’ll see how smarketing can help you stretch your marketing dollar.
Well, for starters, it gives you a complete 360 degree view of your prospect, so your marketing team knows exactly what’s going on in the prospect’s mind. You are aware of their every behavior, every attribute and will be able to predict their next step in the sales cycle.
Not just that, when you are aware of your prospect’s digital footprint to this extent, it becomes very easy for you to personalize your marketing approach towards them. And…personalized, well-targeted marketing campaigns always fare better than random ones.
In short, smarketing empowers you with a thorough understanding of your prospects which makes your marketing more effective—you spend less time and money pursuing your leads…and that leaves you with more resources and energy to pursue more leads. Doesn’t that stretch your marketing dollar, now?
Well, for starters, it gives you a complete 360 degree view of your prospect, so your marketing team knows exactly what’s going on in the prospect’s mind. You are aware of their every behavior, every attribute and will be able to predict their next step in the sales cycle.
Not just that, when you are aware of your prospect’s digital footprint to this extent, it becomes very easy for you to personalize your marketing approach towards them. And…personalized, well-targeted marketing campaigns always fare better than random ones.
In short, smarketing empowers you with a thorough understanding of your prospects which makes your marketing more effective—you spend less time and money pursuing your leads…and that leaves you with more resources and energy to pursue more leads. Doesn’t that stretch your marketing dollar, now?
What modern day B2B marketing has in common with a rom com? The guy with SMARKETING gets the girl…
I’m sure you’ve watched one of those love triangles or rom coms in which the unlikely guy ends up getting the girl. I bet you never thought it could apply to B2B marketing. But, here’s how it works…
Our unlikely hero is just always around. Silently observing, supporting and just being there for the girl whenever she needs him…and voila! when it’s time to pick one of the guys, suddenly it all starts to make sense to her. How he knew everything about her and fulfilled her every wish even before she knew what she wanted! This is exactly what smarketing allows your business to do and here’s how it helps you get the lead….
Smarketing means total alignment of sales and marketing. When your organization engages in smarketing, it means every gap between sales and marketing is plugged. End result—your marketing and sales team gets a clear, unified, 360 degree view of your prospects. For example—if marketing knows that prospect Jane has downloaded the pricing sheet, then this action triggers marketing to pass the leads on to sales. Once the lead is passed on to sales, the sales team has a complete account of Jane’s activities. The sales team would know details such as whether she opened the e-mail from the sales executive, if she clicked on the link to the online product demo or if she filled up a demo request form. Armed with this information, the sales team can approach Jane in the right manner…at all the right times.
Thus, smarketing allows sales to stay in touch with their prospects throughout the sales cycle—but more importantly, it allows the sales team to do so intelligently, thus enabling them to make the right moves in a timely manner and close the deal faster.
Up next: Smarketing can help you make the most of your marketing dollar
Sales+Marketing= Smarketing=Quality Leads Generation
In the last blog piece we told you what smarketing is, and how it can benefit you. In the next couple of blog pieces, we will dissect the benefits offered by smarketing. Did you know that Smarketing can help you generate quality leads? Here’s how it works…
In most businesses, the sales teams find about 80% of the leads passed to them from marketing to be of poor quality. Talk to the sales head and she will say, “Marketing has no idea what we and the prospect are looking for. Most of their leads are not a good match for us.” The marketing head will have a different story where the sales team is at fault for not pursuing the leads right. But, smarketing can resolve this issue by helping marketing generate QUALITY LEADS for sales.
In most businesses, the sales teams find about 80% of the leads passed to them from marketing to be of poor quality. Talk to the sales head and she will say, “Marketing has no idea what we and the prospect are looking for. Most of their leads are not a good match for us.” The marketing head will have a different story where the sales team is at fault for not pursuing the leads right. But, smarketing can resolve this issue by helping marketing generate QUALITY LEADS for sales.
Smarketing aligns your sales and marketing processes, putting both these important functions on the same page with respect to lead interest. That means both—the sales and marketing heads, get the same 360 degree view of the lead, thus ensuring there’s agreement between the two in terms of the lead’s willingness to buy.
Smarketing also allows marketing to nurture leads which are not ready to meet the sales team, thus ensuring that they are passed on to the sales team only when they are ready to make a purchase.
Net result: Only ripe leads (quality leads) are passed on to the sales team, while those with potential are groomed till they become sales-ready.
Net result: Only ripe leads (quality leads) are passed on to the sales team, while those with potential are groomed till they become sales-ready.
Up next: How Smarketing can help you close deals faster…
SMARKETING—old wine in a new bottle
Have you heard of Smarketing, the ‘new’ marketing buzzword? Smarketing basically means a union of sales and marketing processes—or what we, at MindMatrix have always advocated as sales-marketing alignment…and here’s why your business needs smarketing…
- Smarketing can help you generate quality leads
- Smarketing can help you close deals faster
- Smarketing makes your marketing more effective
- Smarketing makes you more efficient
- Smarketing helps you stay truly connected with your prospects and customers
Mobile Branding? Keeping the core of your visual branding
If you’ve heard that you need to scale back your website to make it smartphone friendly, you may have also discovered that paring down a webpage can be tricky. Most likely, much time and money was invested creating a website that conveys your messages and goals, and carefully reflects your brand, including colors and graphics.
Enter the smartphone with its small screen. This will mean making some tough decisions about cutting graphics, banners and other visuals you have considered key to your brand development.
There is no standard solution to what is ultimately a creative design issue, but keep the basics in mind. Keep the key visual “feel” of your brand. Consistency in the color scheme is a critical part maintaining your brand “feel.” Fonts are also, but test them out.
In short, this will be a great exercise in forcing you to define the core parts of your visual brand image, and discovering what can be jettisoned without damaging your brand identification. Hey, it might even cycle back to a profitable clean-up of your website!!
Enter the smartphone with its small screen. This will mean making some tough decisions about cutting graphics, banners and other visuals you have considered key to your brand development.
There is no standard solution to what is ultimately a creative design issue, but keep the basics in mind. Keep the key visual “feel” of your brand. Consistency in the color scheme is a critical part maintaining your brand “feel.” Fonts are also, but test them out.
In short, this will be a great exercise in forcing you to define the core parts of your visual brand image, and discovering what can be jettisoned without damaging your brand identification. Hey, it might even cycle back to a profitable clean-up of your website!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)