How Marketing Automation Transitioned Marketing from Cost Center to Revenue Generation Unit

By Jody Spencer
Director of Marketing
Snowbound Software

The evolution of marketing tactics has shifted monumentally in the past decade.  The tools now at our disposal as marketers are helping shed the cost center perception while elevating the function to a seat at the executive table where marketing can drive business decisions and provide counsel on strategic initiatives. Most importantly, we can do this with confidence and proven intelligence. 

Marketing Back In The Day

When variable print capabilities and PURLs (personalized URLs) first appeared, marketers were finally able to speak to prospects and customers as individuals. We offered them promotions we thought they would be interested in based on our understanding of the needs of their personas.  Unfortunately, it was all conjecture and pseudo-science. We didn’t really understand the individual’s interests or needs and we certainly didn’t understand what it would take for them to make the next step in the buyer’s journey, at least not with any amount of certainty.

We were still performing traditional marketing efforts, but with a personalized twist such as inserting their name or an industry-specific image. We were still making a lot of assumptions and blindly testing theories in the hopes of increasing click-through or download statistics. Always the bridesmaid, we were the “other” department that was trying to earn respect from sales and, more times than not, not winning the age-old marketing vs. sales war.

Marketing Today

As we look at the current state of affairs in 2015, times have changed. Marketing can now gather information on the individual in real-time and begin a conversation based on what they are doing on a website, how they interact socially, what materials they find interesting, and how they interact with emails.  We are able to gather all of this information about a person without them ever picking up a phone or engaging on chat. The Marketing Automation system gathers all of this information behind the scenes and enables us to send relevant communications at the right time to these individuals. These capabilities accelerate the buying process for the sales team, making them more efficient as well. 

With these advancements in automation, we have finally reached a point where sales and marketing can work together in harmony.  Marketing is now able to arm sales with information that is critical to their sales process and has earned respect within the organizations with tangible results.  Sales teams can now close deals faster and even increase the size of the deal by leveraging intelligence that can also assists their cross sell efforts. 

Revenue Generation Tomorrow

Marketing Automation solutions are the catalyst for this evolution. Measurement and automation tools in particular have transitioned marketing from a perceived cost center to a revenue generation unit in its own right. By providing valuable intelligence on prospects that was impossible not so long ago, marketing has also earned a coveted seat at the executive table and the ability to have a significant influence in conversations about who the organization targets, how it should be selling, and how it can shorten the sales cycle. 

Marketing is no longer just a department that spends money to create awareness for a brand and generate leads.  It is now the central intelligence unit that helps sales close more deals faster and best of all, they have the numbers to prove it.

Jody Spencer has over 15 years of marketing, communications and business development experience. As Director of Marketing for Snowbound Software she is responsible for developing, executing and analyzing programs to increase sales and generate brand awareness.  In addition to marketing, Jody also manages inside sales, business development and the Partner program at Snowbound.   Her expertise spans marketing automation, branding, messaging, social media, SEO, PR and business development.

The Power of Content Marketing

By Victor Cho
Chief Executive Officer
Evite

From Evite's Luau Party Guide

The smart marketer knows that the best way to drive engagement and loyalty -- and ultimately, profits -- is to integrate your brand into content customers would want to consume anyway.

Help users solve problems, deliver real value and make them smile, and they'll reward you with positive word of mouth and remember you when they're ready to buy. Enter content marketing: an opportunity to reach users with your brand messaging seamlessly integrated into content they actually seek out.

And companies are catching on. Fifty-nine percent plan to increase their content marketing spend in 2015, according to the Content Marketing Institute.

Only a year old, Evite’s content marketing program has already helped deliver millions of dollars in incremental sales. Our network of blogger experts distributes our sponsored content, offering tremendous (and scalable) reach. For example, a Coke content marketing campaign that ran for two weeks in January racked up 12 million page views from blogger content distribution on top of the 200,000 from Evite alone.

Over the past 12 months, we've learned what really works for our users and our advertisers. Our top three content marketing musts:

1. Custom-tailor the content to what works for your audience and serves the client's brand and target. If you want your content marketing program to succeed, focus on pursuing advertisers that naturally align with your own brand and target. That way, you can simply create the content you’re planning to produce anyway; then all you have to do is mention and link to the advertiser where appropriate.
2. Create visually beautiful content that’s highly shareable on social channels and by bloggers. In order to get the greatest reach, prioritize visuals as well as copy. For Evite, this means shooting our own pictures rather than relying on stock photos or advertiser images..
3. Make the brand messaging organic. Instead of hitting users over the head with content that feels too much like an ad, keep users interested by keeping it subtle.

Want to reach an audience that wants to hear from you to build engagement, brand loyalty and sales? Done well, content marketing does it all.  

Victor Cho

CEO Evite

An Interview with Michael Williams, Chief Marketing Officer, Grand Prix of America, Formula 1

Frost & Sullivan recently spoke with Michael Williams, Chief Marketing Officer, Grand Prix of America, Formula 1, about some of today’s top marketing challenges, including the evolving definition of content marketing, the distinction between a brand and a commodity, and some notable “worst practices” today’s marketers should avoid.

Frost & Sullivan: Tell us about the challenges and opportunities involved in bringing an F1 event (a classically European sport) to the United States.

Michael Williams: The population and affluent demographics of the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area lend themselves very favorably to Formula One (F1) racing. NY is an epicenter and it’s demographic and lifestyle makes good sense as a destination for F1. Sports, entertainment and business are the trifecta you are looking for and you find that in the NY and NJ metro area.

Frost & Sullivan: How is sports marketing different than other forms of marketing? How is it similar?

Michael Williams: There is really no such thing as sports marketing–it’s just that the product you are marketing happens to be sports. However, the key difference is that with sports you can not control the final outcome as you can with, say a beverage, apparel or food brand.  With those products, you can control pricing, quality, and, to large extent, the customer experience…and you can deliver the brand promise. In sports marketing, the team doesn’t always cooperate!

Frost & Sullivan: It sounds like a form of experiential marketing…
 
Michael Williams: It is. In addition, you will find different kinds of fans (and experiences) in a stadium. There are the fanatical fans but also entertainment seekers, and those who attend for a business aspect, not to mention those who attend because it’s the ‘thing to do.’ My role as a marketer is to create personalized brand messages that speak to these different fan groups and to feed into an overarching brand message. It’s a hierarchy of marketing.

Frost & Sullivan:  At MARKETING WORLD 2014: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange, you noted the distinction between a “commodity” and a “brand.” Can you explain the distinction and why you think it is important to marketers?

Michael Williams: A brand has emotional attributes, and is intangible. A commodity recognizes itself as a service based product. An example I often use is coffee. Time and again it’s been shown that McDonald’s coffee tastes better than Starbucks coffee, but McDonald’s coffee is marketed as a commodity. For example, I have seen McDonalds coffee of any-and all-sizes sold for $1. Conversely, as Williams stated emphatically:  At no point is the Starbucks brand about coffee. They are a destination…. Starbucks offers a brand experience and speaks to you as an individual.

Frost & Sullivan: In the session that you led at MARKETING WORLD 2014: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange, you talked about “Worst Practices.” Can you cite a few worst marketing practices you’ve seen and explain how marketers can avoid them?

Michael Williams:  I can share two generic worst marketing practices: The first is the ongoing tendency of marketers to create messages that are attractive to themselves, but not necessarily to their target audience. I have been a part of presentations where a creative concept was presented and positioned to a group of marketing decision makers.  There was a lot of strategy and analysis behind the presentation. But the executives didn’t like it, in part, because it didn’t appeal to them—they were a much older demographic. As it turned out, the team realized they were not the target audience, reconsidered…and the campaign did extremely well.

Williams’ take-away: Be careful how you go-to-market with your message and creative-it may not be to your taste but may be appropriate for the audience you are trying to reach.

A second example of worst practices Williams’ referenced involves social and digital platforms. Too often, he stated, marketers latch onto the latest and greatest social platform-believing they have to be there, rather than taking the time to determine whether it is the right platform for their audience, or investigating whether their audience is even using the platform.

He reminded marketers to remember that you need a two-way conversation, and to expect that your customer will want a response. When it comes to digital marketing, he believes that it is often more important to do a few things really well, not a lot of campaigns in a scattered way. A particular channel may or may not be the right one for your particular product. Marketers need to have a disciplined approach.

Frost & Sullivan: How do you marry digital media in all its forms with more traditional marketing practices? And, as marketing becomes increasingly customer-centric, how does today’s marketing executive continue to “own” the relationship?  The message?

Michael Williams: It’s old news that marketing is no longer a push mentality. It’s a two-way conversation. We (marketers) are no longer talking to you, we are talking with you. Williams believes it is critically important to be thoughtful, strategic and purposeful in your marketing and the channels you utilize to do so.

He elaborated further: When it comes to customer-centric marketing, there is no way to (fully) own the message anymore. You can help steer the message. Especially as it applies to social marketing, marketers need to be transparent and genuine. They need to engage the consumer appropriately. They do not necessarily need a presence in all social media channels, just for the sake of being  there.

Frost & Sullivan: Some say content marketing is the present...and the future. Your thoughts?

Michael Williams: Content marketing is still being defined…and redefined. Content engagement, or engaging the consumer through meaningful and relevant content, is a core responsibility of marketers today. The end goal is to create brand ambassadors. Create experiential opportunities wherever possible.

Williams referenced a recent GoPro case study. (GoPro is essentially a camera that can attach to a helmet or surf board or other sports equipment) GoPro was noted in the study as most of the marketing of the product consisted of content created by users themselves. As Williams noted, User-generated content used by GoPro is a prime example of content creation and content distribution for marketing purposes.

Marketers need to be aware of this. Marketers need to accept that conversations about (and experiences with) their product will be happening in the digital space. And, in many cases, marketers are no longer driving the brand.

Closing Thoughts
In perhaps a harbinger of trends to come, we discussed how Starbucks and Nike are now starting to refer to themselves as “tech” companies. Both companies present vivid examples of how marketing continues to evolve at warp speed and how the brand is so interconnected to the experience. 

Williams summed up with this closing thought: There are 2.4 billion brand conversations taking place around the world every single day. How do marketers get involved in that conversation? How do they create influence about their brand?  That is a question every marketer should be asking themselves.

Four Inbound Marketing Tips to Generate Leads for Your Sales Team

By Jeanne Hopkins, 
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Continuum

There’s one word to describe the biggest trend in inbound marketing: customer. While this isn’t exactly a cutting-edge trend – it’s been building for some time – everything you do in business today has to focus on your customer. Consumers and B2B buyers are more demanding than ever, and their top concern – not surprisingly – is themselves, not you or your company.

The beauty of using inbound marketing to generate leads is that it’s neither intrusive nor irrelevant. You start with warm leads, and that jump-starts your qualifying process. Generating inbound leads is a logical progression that combines search engine optimization (SEO), blogging and social media to reach the broadest audience – your audience.

1. Leverage your SEO.

To get the ball rolling, online searchers must be able to easily find you. Search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo use complex algorithms to determine which content to display in response to a search.

Your web address, page titles, header tags, alt tags for photos and other images and the text of your content all affect how search engines “see” you. Consistency and freshness produce better results, so focus on a single keyword for each web page or blog article and publish new blog articles and social media posts frequently.  It’s about cadence and consistency. 

2. Contribute to your blog. 

A blog that’s integrated with your website is vital for generating inbound links. It boosts your SEO, and every article is an opportunity to present new content your prospects are searching for. The topics you write about can be varied to address the individual interests of various audience segments, so you’re simultaneously working to attract and engage with prospects at every stage of the buying process.

It’s easy to generate leads directly from your blog, by ending each post with an offer of additional related information called “premium” or “gated” content. To open the gate and redeem your offer, your prospect has to provide some contact information. Now you can start the sales follow-up process.  

3. Create buzz with social media.

Focus on the social sites that are most relevant for your audience, and be sure the content you post on each site fits that culture – lots of visuals and less formality for Facebook, businesslike content for LinkedIn. These posts help you reach a broader audience to build your brand and uncover more leads, and they can improve your SEO.

4. Utilize marketing technology tools.

Because consistency and frequency are so important and you’re producing content for several delivery channels, you’ll want to use a quality marketing management software product to automate the workflow and integrate with your CRM tools.

It will be much easier to track and rate leads and  continue to engage them with content that is relevant and meaningful for them, individually. The ability to provide highly detailed analytics ensures you can accurately measure the performance of your marketing.

Here’s how inbound lead generation works: 

• Step 1: Your prospect initiates contact by clicking on your web address, blog article or other content that appears when they search for a particular keyword or phrase. You’ve attracted them as a visitor.  That’s the magnet part of inbound lead generation.
• Step 2: To convert them into a lead, you need some information about them – at least their name and email address. So you make them an offer – you’ll give them an informative e-book, a discount coupon, something they perceive as valuable enough to part with their contact information.  This is the equitable exchange component of inbound lead generation.
• Step 3: You present your offer on a landing page – a web page designed solely to “sell” your offer, provide a contact form for your visitor to fill out and a “call to action” they click to close the deal – download your e-book, redeem your coupon, etc. The less information you ask for initially, the higher your conversion rate will be but the less valuable the lead may be to your sales team.  This is the part of inbound lead generation that requires balance and regular experimentation.
• Step 4: Now that you have their contact information, you can follow up and begin to build and personalize your relationship – the lead nurturing process. As you further qualify your lead and their level of interest grows, you can use additional offers and forms to obtain more detailed information about their company, buying needs and so on.  This is the nurturing part of inbound lead generation.

Inbound techniques in particular are ideal for providing prospects and existing customers with exactly what they want, when they want it and in the format they prefer. The more you do to tailor your inbound marketing programs to the buyer’s journey – targeting not just audience segments but individuals - the more you can increase lead generation for your sales team and revenue for your company.

Jeanne Hopkins is Senior Vice President & CMO at Continuum Managed IT Services. She has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience and is renowned in data-driven, high-velocity demand creation marketing programs for high-growth SaaS companies. She is co-author of a No. 1 best-selling mobile marketing book on Amazon.com, Go Mobile. Follow her on Twitter @jeannehopkins.