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Foremost Media Boosts Customer Revenue 30% With CallidusCloud

Foremost MediaCallidusCloud, a B2B web development and search marketing agency, has seen a 30% growth in revenues from its existing customer base in the year since it first deployed CallidusCloud Marketing Automation from Callidus Software.

CallidusCloud Marketing Automation has also enabled Foremost Media to reduce customer churn and discover new potential customers from among its website visitors.

"We needed a marketing automation solution for customer retention, because many times we'd inadvertently fail to communicate with customers after the completion of a project until they were ready for a re-design," said Jon Ballard, Foremost Media's CEO. "Sometimes they'd move to a competitor simply because we'd lost touch with them."

Foremost selected CallidusCloud Marketing Automation to set up drip campaigns to existing customers. "We found that, not only did it keep customers engaged until their next major redesign, but the regular messages often spurred customers to call about additional work — sometimes as early as 30 or 60 days following the initial project," said Ballard.

CallidusCloud Marketing Automation also contributed directly to new customers for Foremost Media. "CallidusCloud is unique in its website visitor tracking capabilities," said Ballard. "Most visitors to our website never fill out a form, but CallidusCloud allows us to figure out who they are, what company they're with, how big the company is and what industry they're in."

Evergage Offers Multivariate Testing To Improve Personalization

EvergageEvergage, a real-time web personalization solution, announced new multivariate testing capabilities designed to help B2B marketers maximize their personalization initiatives.

The new testing features provide digital marketers with a means to test the impact of changes to websites and apps. Users can compare multiple combinations of content, design, message types and forms to identify which options resonate with prospects.

As with the A/B testing feature, marketers can deploy Evergage multivariate tests to specific audience segments – such as people showing a strong affinity for a particular category of content or products but have not yet converted – or broad segments such as all first-time visitors.

“Marketers’ digital properties are the primary channels to engage prospects and customers today, and there is great power in being able to simultaneously test various section changes as you personalize content,” said Karl Wirth, Co-founder and CEO of Evergage. “Testing and measurement help marketers have more confidence in knowing they’ve optimized their website for achieving specific objectives, and raise the bar for personalizing digital experiences and engagement in real time.”

6sense And Bombora Partner On Predictive Tool For Real-Time Ad Targeting

6sense Bombora placeit6sense announced a partnership with Bombora intended to provide an integrated predictive solution for account-based marketing and real-time targeting of digital display ads.

The integrated solution uses purchasing signals and predictive data to segment prospects by buying stage and display relevant ads.

As buyers interact with campaigns or websites, those behaviors are shared with the predictive intelligence platform. This feature intends to make messaging cohesive and update in real time based on buyers’ needs.

"By integrating predictively scored companies, and key contacts within those companies into campaigns as a single solution, we help our customers reach the right prospects with relevant content, at scale, with no extra work on their part," said Amanda Kahlow, CEO and Founder of 6sense.

Influitive Raises $30.5M For Product Development, Global Expansion

Influitive screenshotInfluitive, an advocate marketing platform provider, has raised $30.5M in a Series B round of funding. The company will use the investment to expand its AdvocateHub platform, develop new products and broaden its global reach.

The company recently signed its 250th customer, hired its 100th employee and has more 20,000 active advocates per month using its platform.

Georgian Partners, which led the investment round, was joined by OurCrowd, Atlas Venture, Docomo Capital, BDC Capital IT Venture Fund. Previous investors Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Illuminate Ventures, Resolute Ventures, Relay Ventures and First Round Capital also participated. 

“I’m gratified by the enthusiastic response we’ve received from investors that share our excitement for advocacy,” said Mark Organ, CEO and Founder of Influitive. “The team leading this round offers Influitive enormous value beyond the financing. I’m looking forward to tapping into their broad operational and analytical expertise as we scale our business.”

Hearsay Social's Predictive Social Solution

Hearsay social placeitHearsay Social is a social media marketing management platform designed to help users engage with targeted social audiences.

Features/Functions

The solution positions B2B marketers to manage their social media outreach and web presence from a consolidated dashboard.

Users of the solution can:

  • Receive recommended content to share though their social channels that is relevant to high-value prospects;
  • Schedule content and marketing campaigns to be posted throughout the week; and
  • Monitor posts and activity across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ in real time.

Compatibility

Hearsay Social is compatible with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Google +.

Pricing

Click here to request a quote.

Competitive Positioning

Hearsay makes it easier for marketers to communicate and engage with prospects. The platform provides tools and analytics to drive relevant conversations to boost buyers' brand experiences.

Contact Information

Hearsay Social
41 E. 11th Street
Suite 64, 10th floor
New York, NY 10003
415-692-6230

 

 

Lead LifeCycle Series Preview: Buyer Insights Enhance Full-Funnel Marketing Initiatives

LLS15 0615 General BannerBuyer centricity has become crucial to B2B marketing success, prompting progressive organizations to learn more about the buyer’s path to purchase and provide personalized content to help further engagement. To achieve these goals, B2B marketers are adding tools and tactics such as predictive analytics and account-based marketing to their marketing stack.

These are just some of the topics being covered at the second annual Lead LifeCycle Series, a 12-part webinar event taking place July 20-24 that will provide insight into the B2B buying landscape to enhance marketing and sales initiatives.

The importance of Big Data will also be a consistent talking point throughout the week-long series. Without insights that go beyond demographic and firmographic information, B2B marketers are unable to provide the relevant, personalized experience to help move prospects further along the buying funnel.

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SalesPredict, for example, will host a session covering how predictive analytics — combined with data from CRM, marketing automation system, the web and third-party sources — can help boost marketing results by identifying which prospects are most likely to buy and which customers are at risk of churning. This insight helps marketing and sales focus their time and resources on prospects and clients that are anticipated to have the biggest impact on the bottom line.

A comprehensive data management strategy is essential to predictive analytics success. A session hosted by Dun & Bradstreet NetProspex will highlight the role of data management in driving mid- and late-stage engagement. Key takeaways will include strategies for acquiring key information for net-new leads, including company name and revenue, as well as data that can help personalize content throughout the buyer's journey.

A healthy mix of data can benefit all areas of a company's marketing initiatives, but it is especially important for creating targeted content. A session from Content4Demand will highlight methods for enhancing content marketing strategies for each stage of the buyer's journey, including how to conduct persona research to identify what triggers will help move prospective buyers closer to a buying decision.

Predictive Analytics Play A Role At All Stages Of The Buyer’s Journey

While predictive marketing can have a positive impact on the entire buying funnel, it is particularly beneficial for marketers looking to gain a better understanding of their ideal customer. Predictive insights can also help identify new segments and revenue opportunities.

In a session hosted by Radius, attendees will learn how predictive marketing can boost market expansion by uncovering new market segments that are more likely to convert into customers.

Marketers need to right tools to put these predictive insights into practice. Act-On Software will host a session highlighting various elements of an effective marketing stack. This webinar will look at marketing automation’s role in tracking and measuring marketing's impact throughout the buyer's journey and how data integration is crucial for measuring success.

Engagement metrics are another data set that can boost the impact of content marketing campaigns. This session will examine how prospects engage with a company's content and how marketers can use that data to help identify what messaging is working and highlights gaps.

In a session hosted by Vidyard, attendees will learn of several use cases where companies leveraged video content and analytics boost engagement and conversion rates for content marketing programs.

These insights can also be leveraged to boost personalization and increase event responsiveness. Another session, hosted by ON24, will highlight tips and best practices for driving webinar registration through social media and email marketing campaigns.

Predictive analytics not only help B2B marketers identify net-new prospects, but also position them to identify new opportunities with current clients. This type of insight can help increase a customer's lifetime value, while also reducing churn with a great customer experience.

Lattice Engines will host a session on July 23, attendees will learn how predictive analytics can help B2B organizations identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities with current customers — increasing customer lifetime value and overall revenue.

Account-Based, Multichannel Approaches Tied To Lead Nurturing Success

As account-based marketing (ABM) continues to be more widely adopted, B2B organizations are finding that this form of marketing — paired with detailed analytics — is effective for nurturing prospects.

Demandbase will host a session early in the week that will discuss how ABM is an effective strategy for nurturing all of the individuals within an organization that impact the buying decision. The session will also highlight how data impacts ABM strategy, ultimately helping B2B marketers enhance their initiatives by offering prospects relevant and contextual content.

While targeting every decision maker within a key account is important, it is also crucial to identify which channels these prospects use for research. During a session hosted by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, attendees will learn how a multichannel lead nurturing approach can help engage leads through the buying funnel, leading to more conversions thanks to relevant and timely engagement.

Other metrics that are crucial to marketing success include campaign performance metrics, which can help B2B marketers identify which campaigns are having the biggest impact on buying decisions.

Full Circle CRM will highlight how B2B companies are measuring and reporting campaign performance in a session on July 23. The session will also highlight how to effectively track conversion rates from stage to stage, as well as how to enhance marketing and sales alignment to increase campaign effectiveness.

Once leads have been qualified for sales engagement, organizations must have the right tools and content in place to enable sales teams to have relevant conversations with prospective buyers at the right time.

In a session hosted by Genwi, attendees will learn about the growing role mobile plays in enabling sales teams with the content they need to have relevant, engaging conversations with prospective buyers — enabling sales teams to focus on converting prospects rather than searching for relevant content.

Click here to sign up for The Lead LifeCycle Series and improve your marketing strategy now.

Twitter Adds Persona Targeting, Segmentation Features

Twitter Personas imageTwitter added several new features to its Audience Insights dashboard, positioning marketers to leverage persona targeting and segmentation capabilities to help increase the response rate to Twitter ad campaigns.

Twitter personas are designed to help marketers discover relevant groups for their messages using aggregated data from Twitter and its partners. Marketers can further refine their audiences using additional targeting metrics.

Some of the pre-built personas include:

  • Baby boomers;
  • Millennials; and
  • People earning more than $100,000 annually.

The enhancements also enable users to compare engaged prospects with the overall audience for a specific campaign. This insight is intended to help marketers identify the key traits of potential buyers who are most likely to interact with the brand.

"These aggregated insights, provided by Twitter data and Twitter Official Partners Datalogix and Acxiom, offer valuable information about user demographics, interests, purchasing behavior and more," said Andrew Bragdon, Product Manager for Twitter, in a recent blog post. "They allow marketers to pinpoint and target new audiences on Twitter while keeping user information private."

6 Reasons Why Technology Won’t Kill B2B Salespeople

Eliot Burdett Peak Sales RecruitingDeath Of A B2B Salesman, a recent report from Forrester Research, predicts that one million U.S. B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service e-Commerce by 2020. 

Fear over technology displacing sales jobs is nothing new. The same concerns arose following the advent of the phone and the Internet. Salespeople didn’t die then — they adapted.

In addition, according to a multitude of recent studies, the sales industry is evolving and actually entering a period of expansion. The U.S. Department of Labor projects employment for sales managers will increase by 8% through 2022, while employment of sales engineers, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives is expected to grow by 9%. 

In addition, the 2015 CareerBuilder.com U.S. Job Forecast Study cites sales jobs as the No. 1 job employers are currently looking to fill, ranking 10% higher than technical positions. This is a significant increase from even the previous year, when sales positions also ranked No. 1.

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Amidst fear and speculation, the facts demonstrate that B2B businesses across North America are staffing their sales departments with high-achieving, technologically savvy salespeople to bridge the gap between buyers and sellers that technology alone cannot fill. 

There is positively no doubt that digital marketing and e-Commerce are dramatically changing the way we do business. However, the businesses that adapt and incorporate new technologies across their organizations will beat out their competitors.

Below are six reasons why technology will not represent the death of the B2B salesperson:

1) Studies Show B2B Buyers Want Sales Involved Earlier In The Process. New research from the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA), shows that 70% of B2B buyers want to engage with salespeople early in the sales process. ITSMA polled nearly 300 senior executives who were buying complex solutions valued at more than $500,000.

2) Large B2B Purchases Require A Human Touch. In companies where the transaction value or complexity is above a certain threshold, the sales team needs to get involved early to help shape and develop opportunities. Ultimately, for high-dollar B2B purchases buyers want to deal directly with human beings to develop relationships, perhaps negotiate and to get certain assurances.

3) Buyers Increasingly Expect Customized Solutions. In the age of solution sales, buyers expect offerings to be customized to meet their unique requirements. Since buyers are more informed about their needs, they insist on an informed seller who can add value beyond that supplied by online marketing materials. A salesperson is needed to accommodate a more complex buying environment. Direct one-to-one interaction and conversations are still absolutely critical and necessary.

4) Outbound Sales Teams Are Needed To Drive New Business. While digital marketing departments are equipped to handle inbound inquiries, companies need aggressive and effective outbound sales teams to achieve growth. Outbound salespeople are the critical drivers of new business opportunities.

5) Sales Automation And Digital Marketing Are Significant Investments. Senior executives who are determined to replace their sales division to save money should understand that the cost of leveraging sales automation and digital marketing technology is actually very high. In addition, this approach requires a number of core competencies that many companies are still lacking.

6) Technology Enhances Relationships, It Doesn’t Replace Them. Thanks to social media and Big Data, the amount of information marketers have about their clients has never been greater. As a result, selling is more scientific and structured than ever before. The top salespeople are technologically adept and inclined to use every tool and piece of data available to them to win business. The ability to know more about the purchasing habits of consumers provides sales teams with an unprecedented ability to foster strong relationships.

Eliot Burdett is the Co-Founder and CEO of Peak Sales Recruiting, a B2B sales recruiting company launched in 2006. The company works with a wide range of clients, including boutique, mid-size and world-class companies such as P&G, Gartner, Deloitte, Merck and Western Union. He also co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast.

Appboy Partners With Cheil To Improve Analytics, Personalization

Appboy Cheil placeitAppboy, a CRM solution for mobile marketers, announced a partnership with Cheil Worldwide, a South Korea-based marketing solutions company. The alliance will extend Appboy’s mobile marketing automation and CRM platform to Cheil clients as well as provide Appboy users with advanced analytics capabilities.

The partnership positions mobile marketers with personalization features designed to help strengthen customer relationships as well as increase engagement and ROI.

The announcement follows Appboy’s move to provide customer support for Android push notifications in China through Baidu Cloud Push. In addition, Appboy’s platform can translate messages into more than 1,000 languages to support global campaigns.

"More than ever, it’s important to consistently engage mobile app users through various marketing campaigns and we strive to offer best-in-class services and technologies to help our clients achieve their goals," said Peter Kim, Chief Digital Officer for Cheil Worldwide. "This partnership is going to enable our clients to seamlessly connect with consumers across all digital media."

PulsePoint Launches Programmatic Content Marketing Platform

PulsePoint DashboardPulsePoint released its programmatic content marketing platform, positioning marketers to target, distribute and optimize branded articles and videos to audiences.

The platform taps into PulsePoint’s global programmatic technology stack to enable users to process real-time contextual, audience, editorial and page-level behavioral data. This is designed to help marketers optimize cross-device campaign delivery across social, native and display inventory. PulsePoint is part of the company's programmatic suite, which includes direct and open real-time bidding solutions.

Key features of PulsePoint’s content marketing platform include:

  • Automated, data-driven targeting for delivery to relevant audiences;
  • Distribution across social media channels, native platforms and premium websites;
  • Optimization technology designed to adjust campaign configurations to eliminate under-performing content, channels and devices;
  • Unified metrics and reporting for performance and engagement metrics at the creative, audience and page-level across each channel and format; and
  • Custom content creation and strategy services are available for brands seeking support in developing original stories and videos.

“Marketers are starting to shift the definition of success away from ‘getting that click’ towards creating a continuous value exchange between their brand and their audience,” said Sloan Gaon, CEO of PulsePoint.

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