[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

According to Gartner, by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationships without talking to a human.  Given trends in social media, you can bet a significant portion of these interactions will move away from the inbox.

The July 2012 “State of Lead-To-Revenue Management” report from Forrester Research highlighted this trend stating “B2B tech marketers have adopted lead nurturing as a best practice. However, very few we speak with claim to be using advanced lead-nurturing tactics. Many marketers are looking to advance from their current state of play: a single nurturing stream for all target audiences; touches that are about the company or its products; engagement primarily through email…”

In a B2B context, businesses don’t make purchase decisions, people do; and people are inherently multi-channel and perpetually connected these days.  Marketers that are relying on email alone to nurture potential customers aren’t optimizing their communications or maximizing the potential for revenue and market share.

This post will spotlight three different channels (outside of email) that can and should be incorporated into your lead nurturing programs.

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[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

Huge music fans, members of the Neolane marketing team frequently convene in Soundrop, a free Spotify app, to listen to music.  This collective listening experience offers more than just a playlist; it broadens our musical horizons while bringing us closer as a team.  And best of all, it’s a whole lot of fun.

It seemed only natural to open this experience to the broader marketing community.  With that said, we’re thrilled to announce The Marketing Mix, a new series where marketers can gather in Soundrop to listen, share, and connect.

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[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

Today is April Fools’ Day.  While countless pranks will be played today—some perhaps by technology vendors—I want to focus on an issue that’s no joke for marketers: their inability to bombard consumers with a relentless barrage of generic marketing messages.

For years, the traditional advertising industry has held the upper hand over marketers.  Their methods for reaching the widest possible audience with the most generic message at the highest possible cost were virtually foolproof.  And what did we marketers have?  Just the opposite: tools for delivering increasingly targeted and personalized messages across digital channels.  Phooey!  (As an aside, who in the year 2013 still buys into this whole “digital” phenomenon?)

Well, all that changes today with the launch of NeoBlaster, a revolutionary new monologue mass marketing solution.  I won’t rehash each and every feature; the press release below does a great job explaining them.  But I will say this: if you think NeoBlaster is just another fluffy, hype-ladened product launch, then you’re the April Fool!

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[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

At times, it might seem like marketing moves at the speed of light.  Just when you think it’s safe to stop and take a breath, you realize you’re actually behind in 10 other areas.  It’s easy to set things on the back burner and rely on “the way it’s always been”.  But, as marketers, we have a responsibility to look for ways to improve and optimize our internal processes and campaign results.  You know you should probably focus a little bit more effort on lead management processes, yet, many marketers struggle to find the time.  According to MarketingSherpa, 68% of B2B organizations have not taken the time to document and identify their funnel.  65% of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing and 79% of B2B marketers have not established lead scoring.

Perhaps it’s not just a matter of finding the time, but rather finding the right questions to ask.  Questions that translate into a healthier pipeline and a more efficient lead management process.  Here are five different areas of lead management that every organization should be thinking about and a handful key questions that may help your organization identify some quick wins in lead management success.

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“Life in the Neolane” is a blog series designed to provide a glimpse into our company culture and the people behind our growth and success.  Each post focuses on a specific employee, highlighting their role at Neolane and what makes them tick on a professional and personal level.

Today, we feature Michael Henry, a Senior Project Manager on Neolane’s professional services team.  A software developer turned technical business analyst turned project manager, Michael possesses a unique blend of experience that helps drive successful Neolane implementations for our customers.  Other responsibilities include ensuring timely and accurate billing; assisting the Neolane Support and Customer Success teams to maintain client satisfaction; and supporting the sales team with consultative insight.  Michael has also taken on the self-appointed role of Neolane baker and provides his colleagues with a near-endless supply of delicious, homemade cookies.

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[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

Over the last decade, adoption of lead management technologies has blossomed across a wide variety of industries including Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), and Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C).    Historically, the high-tech and software industries saw considerable early adoption growth in lead management.  But more and more companies across a wide array of industries are starting to realize lead management can deliver unprecedented automation, cross-channel communication, and ROI.   In industries like Financial Services, Healthcare, Sports & Entertainment, and Education, organizations are engaging lead management to help automate the cadence of communications, segment target audiences, and generally manage cross-channel customer engagement across digital channels more effectively than any siloed best-of-breed technology could.

Here are a few examples of industries that have showed a marked increase in lead management adoption over the last few years.  This trend is likely to continue given validation of return on investment in lead management from the world’s most recognized brands in non-tech industries.

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[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

Engaging customers and prospects across a variety of marketing channels isn’t necessarily difficult.  But without methodically thinking through how customer interactions (regardless of channel) collectively educate, influence, and drive prospects to action, your lead management process may be doing more harm than good.  And how do new and emerging channels like social media fit into the mix?

According to research from the Social Media Examiner (April 2012, n=3800) 93% of B2B marketers used social media to market their business.  In fact, in a growing trend, over half of B2B respondents reported using social media for demand generation efforts.

In a complex sales cycle, social media gives buyers access to customer reviews, peers, colleagues, and competitors like never before.  It’s ultimately made buyers very savvy and, at times, maybe even more knowledgeable than your own sales reps.  But, social media also provides 24×7 access to real-time engagement with your brand – engagement that is highly relevant and timely given the specific needs of the prospect.  The trick is, learning to tap into the benefits of social media within your lead management processes.

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[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

We live in an era of unprecedented individualization.  Across even the most established industries and categories, products are now available in formats that cater to individual tastes and preferences, while offering extraordinary selection on demand.

The music industry is a prime example.  Thanks to the rise of the MP3 and digital distribution services, consumers no longer need to purchase an entire album to enjoy a single song.  They can instantly download or stream individual tracks of their choice.  And with catalogs vastly superior to traditional brick-and mortar stores, online services can satisfy even the most eclectic tastes.

While this trend has been driven largely by digital disruption, the shift towards individualized products has reached physical goods as well.  Coffee brewer Keurig pioneered the individual coffee serving with the K-Cup.  In households where individual tastes and habits vary, the K-Cup is a godsend because it allows each coffee drinker to brew just the right amount of their preferred flavor precisely when they want it.

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[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

Last summer at the Neolane Customer Forum, my colleague Matt Rawding gave a great presentation on workflow, which included numerous examples of the communications and processes that can be automated.  One of the challenges we encountered while creating the presentation was how to effectively categorize those examples.  The reason was that no matter which categories we used, each example didn’t fit neatly into one bucket.

Several months later, the perfect visual framework came to me: a subway map.  Each subway line could represent a different category of automation, with the stops being specific examples.  More importantly, given our challenge, the stops where the subway lines intersect would represent the workflow examples spanning multiple categories.

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[Posted by Ed Hadley, Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

Last week, Neolane and Return Path hosted a great webinar entitled, “7 Practical Email Deliverability Resolutions You Can Stick to in 2013.”  The premise was that setting email deliverability goals can be a lot like making New Year’s resolutions: if they are too vague or too daunting, they are more likely to be abandoned.  For this reason, the presenters outlined practical resolutions that email marketers can actually keep in order to improve deliverability and email marketing ROI.

To avoid costly lapses, these (and any) resolutions must constantly be kept top of mind.   To help, we took the list and created a one-pager that email marketers can hang in their office or cube.  We hope it serves as a friendly reminder throughout the year of the best practices needed to keep emails reaching the inbox—and brand reaching their marketing goals.

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