What is lead nurturing? Lead nurturing is all about having consistent and meaningful communication with viable prospects. John Miller mentions different nurturing lead activities in his marketing blog. He speaks about the importance of marketing to set up programs and activities that provide information on topics of interest to your target and that focus on the value of your solution. At TechTarget we have seen that by re-messaging to your lead through email, you increase the value of the lead. It allows you to gain face time with the most interested prospects. What nurturing tactics have you found to be affective?

In one of my recent posts, I spoke of a shift in control within the IT purchasing relationship from vendor to buyer and that successful marketing involves acknowledging this and aligning your marketing efforts to support this shift. New research released this week from MarketingSherpa suggests that if you have not yet acknowledged this, you better start soon or risk falling far behind. Findings showed that 80% of decision-makers who made a technology purchase believe that they found the vendor as opposed to the other way around. This is an absolutely imperative statistic to understand when evaluating current and future ROI on marketing efforts. To learn more about how the internet is driving the technology purchasing dynamic and key tactics that marketers need to consider in order to align marketing efforts to the buying process, check out this great post from Modern B2B Marketing Blog.

What is most marketer’s major focus when they invest in search engine optimization or search engine marketing? I would argue that 9 out of 10 would say Google - with the majority focusing all their efforts primarily on Google. But is this such a good idea? The short answer is yes. No marketer is going to get fired for investing in Google. And, frankly, it is hard to argue with the current US search engine rankings. With the majority of searches coming from Google, why consider Yahoo, MSN, or Ask?

New marketing research released this week by Dogpile and Infosearch suggests that you may be missing an opportunity if you aren’t expanding your search engine efforts and considering options outside of Google. According to the study, there is only a 1% overlap in organic first-page search findings on major search engines and only 3.6% of number one ranked search results were the same across all 4 major search engines. Furthermore, for direct marketing spend on sponsored results or keyword buys, there is only a 4.6% overlap on Yahoo and Google for any given search.

This was certainly eye-opening for me. We would love to hear more insight from you on your current search efforts.

Findings from a marketing study released yesterday by MarketingSherpa and KnowledgeStorm say that IT buyers are twice as likely to give vendors a valid email address than a valid phone number. Working with client demand generation programs in the IT market, these findings came as no surprise to me. It is a trend we have been seeing for quite some time, but these numbers do validate what has become a reality for many marketers – you are no longer in control of the IT Purchasing relationship. IT Buyers have more sources of information at their fingertips than ever before to perform research and educate themselves regarding your product – without ever speaking to a representative from the company. Armed with the information they need, IT Pros can afford to pick and choose when and in what format they want to engage with you – and by all reports its not via phone. If you have ever asked a question on a registration form that asks if you want to be contacted by a sales representative, you already know this.

So what are the new rules of engagement within a changed dynamic? There are many, but here are a few thoughts to start:

1. Understanding that the user is in control of the engagement dictates that content and marketing efforts be designed with utility in mind.
2. During initial follow-up to online responses, it is best to “stay within the medium.” Downstream lead nurturing should also be conducted online until you are able to build trust with your prospect. Again, utility is key to building trust throughout the nurturing process.
3. If at all possible, avoid blanket telequalification. There are certain “hot” leads that require immediate phone follow-up but as the study suggests, these are a smaller percentage of your leads. Putting all leads through telequalifying runs the risk of turning away many potential buyers downstream.

If you have any information or insight to share about marketing within this new buying framework, we would love to hear your thoughts.

Melissa recently spoke about the importance of a specialist focused on email marketing. Forrester Research survey found that 83% of marketers used e-mail — more than those who used search, behavioral targeting, rich media display ads or any other interactive format. Over and over again, we see that email marketing is a cost-effective way to acquire new customers and retain and build brand loyalty. Email marketing can create a relationship between the reader and your company. At TechTarget, we have seen that by segmenting email messages to a target audience; you will receive a higher return on investment. Doubleclick’s 2004 Consumer Email Study states that segmentation delivers on average a 7x increase in open rate and a 14x increase in click through rate.
How is your company effectively using email?