Author: Ellis Murrow

Best Practices: Inbound Marketing Strategies for B2B

Estimated 3 min. read

Inbound marketing strategies for B2B business’s best practices include:

Recreate Existing Content and Try New Mediums

According to the Huffington Post, B2B companies who blog attract 67% more leads than those who don’t. This can give your company quite the competitive edge so if you haven’t already started blogging, try and recreate your previous posts into new formats to get more results for your time. Also try various mediums when releasing content, like videos. You never know which content medium match speaks most to your audience without testing them so find a way to place your content in new formats to generate more web traffic & leads!

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10 Reasons to Use Marketing Automation

Estimated 2 min. read

marketing automation

1. Enhanced Accountability of Marketing and Sales: Accountability is a word that carries heavy meaning and without concrete proof, it can be easy to point the finger at someone else when you are the one that should be held accountable. With marketing automation, you know exactly what processes are being executed and all reports are easy to access. If certain marketing campaigns aren’t working because leads aren’t being nurtured, the marketing team will receive feedback, without the blame being put on sales (and vice-versa). This reduces stress in the office and allows sales and marketing to open up wider forms of communication.

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6 Marketing Tips for New Entrepreneurs!

Estimated 2 min. read

Are you a new entrepreneur with no clue where to start with your marketing strategy? Here are 6 tips to get you started!

Recognize what you want to accomplish with your Marketing Plan

Is your organization B2B? B2C? Recognizing this and your goals before moving forward gives you maximum clarity in the quest for what marketing methods you know will work best.

Bring out the value proposition!

Find it. Write it. Use it. This is what your product or service is all about and how it separates you from everyone else out there! Focus on how your product is different and evidently better than others out there. (Keep in mind this is different from your slogan)

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Overcoming the 3 Common Barriers to Successful Marketing Automation

Estimated < 1 min. read
1. LACK OF EFFECTIVE MARKETING AUTOMATION STRATEGY

Without an effective strategy, automating your marketing is almost impossible. 58% of the survey respondents from the Marketing Automation Trends for Success report, find this as their toughest barrier.

Whether you are already using marketing automation or not, rethinking your strategies is never a bad idea. Pardot created a Marketing Automation Success Plan Template that you can download and personalize to help map out your plan for success. If you need help setting this up, please visit our Salesforce Marketing Cloud page to learn more.

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10 Ways to Increase Sales and Lead Generation

Estimated 2 min. read

Lead generation is important to every business, but sometimes companies can get in a sales rut. We have compiled a list of the top 10 ways your company can supercharge your sales and increase lead generation!

1. Make Calls-to-Action Matter 

Place your CTA where your viewer won’t have to scroll to see it. Don’t let it be generic either, make it specific to what you are offering.

2. Make your Call-to-Action Stand Out with Images Rather than Text

This is a given, pictures are worth a thousand words (and are a thousand times less boring). Try using colors in the picture that contrast with the main colors on your site so that it doesn’t blend in.

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Sales and Marketing Automation…Let’s Work Together

Estimated 1 min. read

marketing automation

You’ve heard it many times before and we’ll say it again now, Sales and Marketing need to be on the same page. Marketing automation makes the connection simple because both departments have a shared common database where marketing insight is provided to the Sales team. Thus, making it easier for them to coexist efficiently. This will then allow them focus on more important tasks, like prospect conversion, instead of each other. Sales isn’t worried about unqualified leads because the marketing automation system is only handing them off when they are qualified.

Tracking data through marketing automation has never been easier. With that data you can determine the strengths and weaknesses in your sales funnel, allowing you to make any necessary changes for the better.  You can also track team member efforts within the sales and marketing departments…(hello incentive to do better).

The data you’ve collected (email clicks, content downloads, website visits) gives you insight into what the prospect/customer is thinking and ultimately what interests them. Knowing what they like and dislike gives you the upper hand to customize everything to them, creating a superior experience. In most cases, a customers mind sees experience > price.

With that being said, marketing automation helps sales by bringing them only qualified prospects and marketing will be able to attract new prospects. Win-Win for both departments. If you would like to learn more about marketing automation, please visit our Salesforce page.

Better Experience = More Loyal Customers

4 Easy Marketing Strategies to Attract the Millennial Generation

Estimated < 1 min. read

millennial marketing

Millennial marketing is an art of its own. Have you been wondering how to market to the millennial generation? Here are our top 4 tips for creating an effective marketing strategy that attracts millennials!

1. Utilize the Social Network Dynamic

Millennials = digital generation. Millennials consume content across multiple channels; utilize this by putting your content on their most active platforms.

2. Make Them Feel Like an Individual

No one likes being labeled as #basic. Recognize your millennial customer for what makes them stand out! Repost their photos with your product and why it makes them stand out from the regular consumer.

3. Don’t Forget About Word-of-Mouth

 “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is—it is what consumers tell each other it is”– Scott Cook, the founder and CEO of Intuit.

If you trust someone, you will generally listen to them and the advice they give you. Create dialogue with market influencers because this will create more talk between them and potentially millennial customers.

4. Talk to Them!

Have you ever talked to a wall? It’s not fun. Don’t let those who want to engage with your brand talk to a wall, talk back to them! Interacting with millennials via social media about your content and their thoughts creates more trust, which gets you one step closer to a brand-loyal customer.

To learn more about marketing strategies, please visit our website.

5 Steps to Take Before your Salesforce Implementation

Estimated < 1 min. read

Not sure where to start when it comes to your Salesforce implementation? We have curated a list of the 5 most important steps to take before your Salesforce implementation.

1

Boost Implementation Support

Group projects are difficult when you’re doing it alone, get your organization on board with the implementation. Start at the top with the CEO, COO, etc. and work your way down. Once the top levels show enthusiasm and support, others will follow.

2

Acknowledge all Sectors in the Sales Cycle

The sales department is not the only division recognized in the Salesforce cycle. Make sure to identify all departments and know how to support them before and after the implementation.

3

Clean your Data before the Implementation

Cleansing your data prior to implementation will save you a lot of time and distress after the process is complete. Would your Sales team trust the system if the last two  contacts they called were the wrong number? Just imagine if the first name is incorrect…

4

Implement the System in Phases

“You can’t build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if you’re going to have a strong superstructure.” -Gordon B. Hinckley

Salesforce is not a pool you want to jump right into. With so many different capabilities to manage, it is easy for users to feel lost. Take on the implementation in phases so that you can build on a foundation and not get overwhelmed.

5

Get a Professional

Salesforce can do wonders for you, it just needs to be setup correctly. Ask for professional consultation from certified Salesforce partners who have been implementing the product for years. Implementing Salesforce should not be taken lightly, it needs to be done right. 

Use Pardot Dynamic Content to Boost ROI

Estimated < 1 min. read

Using Pardot Dynamic Content is one of the easiest ways to customize and personalize your prospect’s experience. Using what you know about your prospects,you can display to them relevant content based on their specific needs and criteria.

Say you want to send out a mass email but you want it to speak to all the recipients on a personal level. Easy. You have the ability to create different variations of the email’s content that will only be seen by prospects that fit within specified categories. For example, you can send one email to a list of 5,000 prospects and the content will be different based upon their Job title. Job title is only 1 of many criteria examples that you can use.

Now your prospect thinks you took the time to send them personal content when in reality all you did was click a few buttons. Just about 74% of people get flustered when content sent to them is irrelevant to their interests. Make it easy on your prospects by giving them exactly what they want thus making it easier for you to turn that prospect into a customer. If you need help setting this up, please visit our Salesforce page to learn more.

Paying customers = ROI

pardot dynamic content

^ Your prospect when they open their custom email ^

What Is Disturbing Your Marketing Content Workflow?

Estimated 2 min. read

You don’t collaborate

When all the pressure of content generation is put on one person, it is possible to publish topics unspecific to your customers’ needs. Eliminate these problems by collaborating on topics with every department, not just marketing. Regularly brainstorming new content allows all levels of the organization to be involved.

Don’t limit the creator or content within the workflow!

Your workflow isn’t  specific enough

Content workflow has many steps, be sure to specify all responsibilities to reduce the chance of content breaking up along the way. Having a well-documented marketing workflow with strict assignments not only helps with accountability but also reduces the creation of duplicate/irrelevant content.

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