Comments on: Having a blast with B2B email? http://www.directimpactnow.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/24/having-a-blast-with-b2b-email/ A B2B Lead Generation Blog Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:40:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: Ardath Albee http://www.directimpactnow.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/24/having-a-blast-with-b2b-email/comment-page-1/#comment-810 Ardath Albee Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:46:44 +0000 http://www.directimpactnow.com/blog/?p=37#comment-810 Hi Robert,<br /><br />Good post and I agree with you wholeheartedly that marketing automation far outweighs basic email suites.<br /><br />The thing you get with marketing automation that you don't get with email suites is visibility into activity that extends beyond the call to action in your email.<br /><br />And that can, at times, be more critical in identifying interest levels than the call to action. For example, if your call to action is a link to an article, but you also have a series of articles on the topic at your website.<br /><br />Which is more helpful? To know that they clicked the link in the email or to know they read 4 of 5 articles in the series?<br /><br />Email is only one tactic of an integrated marketing/sales approach. And, I agree with Jon, that companies won't cobble together solutions, nor should they, when systems like Marketo, Genius, Manticore Technology and others exist at affordable rates.<br /><br />In my opinion, Batch & Blast should be banished. The other great thing about marketing automation systems is the ability to easily segment your database to increase relevancy during nurturing. With Batch & Blast, all you're doing is irritating a large percentage of your audience who doesn't care about that specific message.<br /><br />But, truly, the upshot of why marketing automation systems are pretty much a requirement of embracing e-marketing strategies is to increase the quality of the leads marketing hands off to sales. There are simply too many variables today to monitor all of the behavior manually. <br /><br />If marketing really wants to become partners with sales, they have to provide value. Marketing Automation is one of the best enablers of that - plus helping marketing prove their contribution to downstream revenues. Hi Robert,

Good post and I agree with you wholeheartedly that marketing automation far outweighs basic email suites.

The thing you get with marketing automation that you don't get with email suites is visibility into activity that extends beyond the call to action in your email.

And that can, at times, be more critical in identifying interest levels than the call to action. For example, if your call to action is a link to an article, but you also have a series of articles on the topic at your website.

Which is more helpful? To know that they clicked the link in the email or to know they read 4 of 5 articles in the series?

Email is only one tactic of an integrated marketing/sales approach. And, I agree with Jon, that companies won't cobble together solutions, nor should they, when systems like Marketo, Genius, Manticore Technology and others exist at affordable rates.

In my opinion, Batch & Blast should be banished. The other great thing about marketing automation systems is the ability to easily segment your database to increase relevancy during nurturing. With Batch & Blast, all you're doing is irritating a large percentage of your audience who doesn't care about that specific message.

But, truly, the upshot of why marketing automation systems are pretty much a requirement of embracing e-marketing strategies is to increase the quality of the leads marketing hands off to sales. There are simply too many variables today to monitor all of the behavior manually.

If marketing really wants to become partners with sales, they have to provide value. Marketing Automation is one of the best enablers of that – plus helping marketing prove their contribution to downstream revenues.

]]> By: Felicity Wohltman http://www.directimpactnow.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/24/having-a-blast-with-b2b-email/comment-page-1/#comment-811 Felicity Wohltman Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:59:23 +0000 http://www.directimpactnow.com/blog/?p=37#comment-811 Great post, Robert, and I totally agree with your comments about the importance of both sales emails and trigger emails for customer acquisition and lead nurturing. We use email as one of the ways we connect Sales to interested prospects, at the point the prospect is ready to engage. As you note, Genius’ product focus has always been on delivering unique, real-time sales enablement capabilities, and so Genius’ marketing capabilities continue to give Sales complete visibility to the results of lead nurturing (trigger) email campaigns, as well as to response tracking for emails sent on behalf of Sales. It’s all about fostering a conversation with your prospective customers in whatever way they want to engage – via email, webinars,social networking, live chat or a phone call – and making sure that marketing has the tools to work hand-in-hand with Sales to provide the right level of attention to each prospect at the right time. <br />Felicity Wohltman, wwww.genius.com Great post, Robert, and I totally agree with your comments about the importance of both sales emails and trigger emails for customer acquisition and lead nurturing. We use email as one of the ways we connect Sales to interested prospects, at the point the prospect is ready to engage. As you note, Genius’ product focus has always been on delivering unique, real-time sales enablement capabilities, and so Genius’ marketing capabilities continue to give Sales complete visibility to the results of lead nurturing (trigger) email campaigns, as well as to response tracking for emails sent on behalf of Sales. It’s all about fostering a conversation with your prospective customers in whatever way they want to engage – via email, webinars,social networking, live chat or a phone call – and making sure that marketing has the tools to work hand-in-hand with Sales to provide the right level of attention to each prospect at the right time.
Felicity Wohltman, wwww.genius.com

]]> By: Mac http://www.directimpactnow.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/24/having-a-blast-with-b2b-email/comment-page-1/#comment-812 Mac Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:37:03 +0000 http://www.directimpactnow.com/blog/?p=37#comment-812 Robert, <br /><br />Two thoughts come to mind while reading your post:<br /><br />1. My only complaint about multi-function email systems is that they are for email. Email is just one of the media available to a B2B marketing professional and needs to be part of an integrated marketing communications approach.<br /><br />2. Batch and blast is not, and never has been, an appropriate use of email. That's spamming. <br /><br />Mac McIntosh<br />www.sales-lead-experts.com Robert,

Two thoughts come to mind while reading your post:

1. My only complaint about multi-function email systems is that they are for email. Email is just one of the media available to a B2B marketing professional and needs to be part of an integrated marketing communications approach.

2. Batch and blast is not, and never has been, an appropriate use of email. That's spamming.

Mac McIntosh
http://www.sales-lead-experts.com

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