Aprimo Inc. and The Pedowitz Group recently announced a software/services alliance. Under the new partnership, The Pedowitz Group will provide BtoB strategy, program design, implementation, integration, creative services and outsourced demand generation for Aprimo Marketing Studio On Demand, Aprimo's cloud-based solution for Demand Generation and Marketing Operations.

"The Pedowitz Group has established world-class best practices and techniques that allow BtoB marketing and sales organizations to quickly align and rapidly gain ROI from their investments," said Jeff Chamberlain, VP of BtoB Solutions at Aprimo. "This alliance combines the powerful on-demand marketing automation capabilities in Aprimo Marketing Studio with The Pedowitz Group's leading demand generation agency expertise, providing more implementation options for Aprimo's growing BtoB customer base."

In an era of “conversational marketing,” many marketers are challenged to demonstrate value by understanding a prospect’s needs, objectives and business goals. The financial services sector, however, demands that marketers are more focused on the product rather than tailoring messaging to individual needs.

In our first “Vertical Deep Dive” DemandGen Report took a targeted look at how marketers in the financial services sector can optimize tools and tactics to efficiently market to prospects. DemandGen Report interviewed several vendors and industry insiders to profile the key automation features that can help financial services marketers address the complex nature of the buying process and nurture prospect across their entire lifecycle.

Jenny Vance, President, LeadJen

Managers of lead generation teams usually chart their success by looking at traditional metrics, such as number of attempts, number of connects and time spent on the phone. If the metrics are favorable, they probably feel pretty good about the job their team is doing.

However, these traditional metrics, while important, only justify that work is being done. They don’t show if you’re working effectively.

Jenny Vance, President, LeadJen

Managers of lead generation teams usually chart their success by looking at traditional metrics, such as number of attempts, number of connects and time spent on the phone. If the metrics are favorable, they probably feel pretty good about the job their team is doing.

However, these traditional metrics, while important, only justify that work is being done. They don’t show if you’re working effectively.

Constant Contact, Inc. announced the acquisition of Bantam Live, a contact management and social CRM provider owned and operated by privately held Bantam Networks, LLC. Under the terms of the deal, which closed on February 15, 2011, Constant Contact acquired substantially all of the assets and assumed certain liabilities of Bantam Networks for a cash purchase price of $15 million, subject to certain post-closing adjustments.

New York-based Bantam Live will provide Constant Contact a social CRM platform built on a Ruby on Rails® platform. Bantam Live's social CRM technology is focused on offering a unified repository of data across all channels, including clicks, email opens, survey responses, event participation and social media interactions. It will play a crucial role in how data is captured, reported and analyzed for Constant Contact's more than 400,000 small business customers, helping them better track, measure and increase customer engagement, according to a company release.

By Josiane Feigon, Founder & CEO, Telesmart Communications

Watch out — the Sales Sniper Pilots have landed. Inside sales organizations continue to grow at least 30% faster than their field counterparts. It’s no longer about having the best Salesforce — In 2011, it’s the lead development pilots who are revving up the sales engine.

By Josiane Feigon, Founder & CEO, Telesmart Communications

Watch out — the Sales Sniper Pilots have landed. Inside sales organizations continue to grow at least 30% faster than their field counterparts. It’s no longer about having the best Salesforce — In 2011, it’s the lead development pilots who are revving up the sales engine.

Lead management has been a hot discussion in marketing circles during the early part of 2011. However, while the attention to the handling and care of leads is a welcome priority, there is still a lot of confusion as to a real definition and guidelines for lead management.

DemandGen Report had the opportunity to catch up with Carlos Hidalgo, CEO of The Annuitas Group, to talk more about how the company is applying its own Lead Management Framework^SM successfully with clients across a number of different verticals. The Grand Rapids, MI-based consultancy recently expanded its staff by more than 50% and increased its client roster by 50%.

New leads are often the most coveted prize, but repeat business and cross-selling to existing clients are often an overlooked source of revenue. Hexaware, a rapidly expanding IT and Process outsourcing services company, was generating most of its repeat business from strong service and delivery referrals, but struggled to manage those referrals without a centralized database or CRM system.

Quickly progressing from “non-existent” marketing to implementing automation software from Eloqua in 2007, Hexaware centralized its database to efficiently integrate with a CRM system. The company went from having little to no market intelligence to having the ability to record and track all online (web and email) and offline (events) touch points.

By Cari Baldwin, Co-Founder & Partner, BlueBird Strategies

Marketing departments today are under pressure to justify the effectiveness of their spending and demonstrate that their programs contribute to revenue growth. Estimates of campaign results and the relation of marketing-generated leads to actual sales won’t satisfy executives who want proof of returns on their large investments in marketing.

Analytics can help marketers with these challenges. Applied to information gathered from related relevant systems, analytics reveal patterns and enable organizations to measure their performance continually, comparing past to present and forecasting the future. They are the key to constructing metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that guide improvement in individuals and groups, and show them where to deploy resources for the best ROI.