FIR B2B #5: The Truth about Leads with Dan McDade

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

News & Trends

The latest CMO Survey finds that CMOs expect social media spend to grow from 7.4% of budgets to 10.1% in the next 12 months. In five years, they expect social to make up 18% of total marketing spend. Despite this trend, 49.2% of marketing executives say they haven’t been able to show the impact of social yet, and an additional 34.8% have only a qualitative sense of its effectiveness. Is ROI really that important or is learning how to use social media simply a requirement for doing business today.

Yesmail recently reported that half of all B2B emails are now opened on a mobile device, yet a BtoB magazine study released about a year ago indicated that only a pitiful 10 percent of B2B marketers had used mobile platforms in the past year. But B2B marketers are catching up. A recent Advertising Age report found that 38.6% of B2B marketers said they currently use mobile in their strategies and of those respondents, 47.3% use apps. Ihat’s up from 21% in 2012. This special report on FierceCMO looks at how mobile is impacting B2B marketing. That doesn’t mean everyone should go all in on mobile, but you should at least be aware of what devices your customers are using.

In related news, LinkedIn announced it is expanding its mobile advertising opportunities. Now B2B marketers will be able to directly reach customers and prospects via email on mobile devices by sponsoring the company’s InMail. LinkedIn continues to find new ways to monetize its more than 270 million members.

A survey Of 175 B2B buyers reveals what they want to see on vendor websites. The top choices are detailed contact information, case studies, white papers and articles. Nearly half see blogs as impacting their decisions. Further evidence that blogging is an imperative for B2B companies.

A fascinating chart from Experian shows the role of different media channels in customer decision-making process. Search is the top “greeter” while a website is the top “closer.”

Michael Procopio was one of the first group of LinkedIn members to get access to the new publishing features. He shares a comment about his experience.

Guest: Dan McDade

Our guest this week is Dan McDade, founder of PointClear, a firm that helps B2B companies with complex sales processes drive more revenue through effective prospect development. Dan is the author of The Truth About Leads, a book that sheds light on the little-known secrets that help focus B2B lead-generation efforts and get sales and marketing in alignment. Dan shares a horror story about the cost of poorly qualified leads and we launch into a discussion of the most common myths and mistakes about prospecting.

Closing rant

The future of your business is digital...or you’ll be…extinct. That’s the rather doom and gloom opening sentence from a recent Forrester report. With all due respect to Forrester, Allan disagrees.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

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FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 03/18 at 09:28 AM

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