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Brian Hansford

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President, Zephyr 47

160 points

20 years of B2B marketing, sales and Microsoft alliance management. Passionate about helping organizations gain and retain customers with marketing automation strategies, implementation, training and administration.

WEB: http://www.zephyr47.com/blog

Nov. 10, 2011

Brian Hansford recommends this answer by Alex Shootman

What objections do sales executives typically have against marketing automation? (or are they typically uninterested?)

Craig, I could give you the politically correct answer that might sound something like, "They are not sure that the investment is worth the trade-off of spending money on sales people"
But, I think it is deeper than this...effective use of MA starts to change the ... more

Lead Management

Marketing Automation

July 27, 2011

Brian Hansford is now following Carlos Hidalgo and 6 other people

July 12, 2011

Brian Hansford and 8 other people answered this question at this roundtable

How to Set Up an Effective Marketing Organization [7/11 @ 1 pm]

How many people should a marketing organization allocate to support a marketing automation system?

There's no correct quantity to answer this question. The answer depends on the business processes for demand generation and data management. Each organization runs their marketing operations differently and some do better than others, obviously.
Some individual power users of MA platforms in one company ... more

B2B Marketing Week

Content Marketing

April 25, 2011

Brian Hansford recommends this answer by Steve Gershik

Is Marketing Automation in 2011 living up to the predictions and forecast?

Ah, a great reminder to check in on the Big List of Marketing Predictions we put together at the end of last year at http://www.theinnovativemarketer.com/2011/01/the-big-list-of-2011-marketing-p...
Let's take a look at some of them:
1. Quality becomes the new quantity in Marketing Automation (Ann Hadley of MarketingProfs).
I read ... more

Feb. 18, 2011

Brian Hansford recommends this answer by Howard Sewell

What are the top benefits of adopting marketing automation?

First, a quibble: in my view (and with all due respect to Craig), a company does not “adopt” marketing automation any more than one “adopts” CRM. Marketing automation is a technology, so one might “implement” it, but adopt: not so much. Companies implementing marketing automation ... more

Marketing Automation

Feb. 10, 2011

Brian Hansford recommends this answer by Mac McConnell

What steps must be taken to ensure a successful marketing automation implementation?

So far, great information. One thing we see is companies (like people) get excited about their new toy. This exuberance to get building, scoring, sending, nurturing, profiling and analyzing can lead to unexpected issues down the line. I am the biggest proponent of speeding the ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Solution

Feb. 3, 2011

Brian Hansford recommends this answer by Prugh Roeser

Is Marketing Automation "Floundering"?

As Adam points out, it’s not the marketing automation market that’s floundering, but marketers’ skills. In a more historical context, marketing automation seems to be reaching a point that happens in many technology markets; namely, the technology has currently outstripped the abilities of its intended ... more

Feb. 2, 2011

Brian Hansford and 8 other people answered this question

What are the top reasons companies swap out marketing automation systems?

Great question Carlos. It's a trend I'm seeing more, at least in conversations with several active engagements. I tab this up to several factors.
First, the land grab by vendors over the last two years has sometimes put more focus on competitors than the customers. This ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Best Practices

Jan. 27, 2011

Brian Hansford recommends this answer by Debbie Qaqish

Lead scoring best practices: what are your 3 tips for successful lead scoring?

1. Sales Collaboration
---Sales has the best intuitive and practical understanding to what online behavior means
---If you involve sales from the beginning, they become invested in the outcome and are more willing to work with marketing to make lead scoring a success
---It gives ... more

General Management

Jan. 26, 2011

Brian Hansford published a brief

Evaluating Marketing Automation Vendors - Look Past Features and Functionality

Demand Generation

Marketing Accountability

Jan. 19, 2011

Brian Hansford and 8 other people answered this question

Does marketing automation work if I only have a cold list of records?

I concur with Justin.
I strongly believe a marketing automation system is perfect for managing a "cold list" and beginning a hygiene and nurturing process with the unknown quantity of those contacts.
If you are beginning with a marketing automation initiative and have a cold list ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Best Practices

Marketing Automation Campaign

Jan. 18, 2011

Brian Hansford recommends this answer by Marcus Tewksbury

What are/will be the biggest impediments to the marketing automation market reaching its potential?

Brian +1 on the functional existence. Firmly agree that marketer's need to rediscover how to sell, not just push paper. It's about outcomes, not "activity". In a B2B world there is no excuse for not having revenue drive marketing. Get's a little trickier in B2C, ... more

Jan. 14, 2011

Brian Hansford and 1 other person answered this question

Should your marketing department be the owner of your marketing automation efforts?

Absolutely. The caveat being if the marketing "department" operates in the 20th century model of activity-based marketing communications, they won't have the leadership, credibility or capability to "own" marketing automation. Marketing is strategic to an organization and when an automation platform and demand generation strategy ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Campaigns

Marketing Department

Jan. 14, 2011

Brian Hansford answered this question

What is the one piece of advice that you would give to a new marketing automation user?

There are a whole series of steps to follow and mistakes to avoid. But if there was ONE piece of advice...my recommendation would be to map the lead management process as much as possible. (Shoot for an 80/20 approach) A process map identifies all the ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Software

Jan. 13, 2011

Brian Hansford and 2 other people answered this question

Why do you think that companies are still seeing such a low adoption rate for marketing automation?

Hi Lauren,
I believe adoption is growing but utilization is very low. Marketing and lead management processes are difficult especially when trying to enable the workflow with a marketing automation platform. This challenge is compounded with the fact that some marketing automation platforms are not easy ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Software

Jan. 12, 2011

Brian Hansford and 2 other people answered this question

Why should I hire a consultant when purchasing and implementing marketing automation software?

Hi Brooklyn,
Like Thor, I too am a MA consultant. Full disclosure we service existing Eloqua customers and we are a services partner with Manticore. Additionally I am a former Eloqua customer from my past corporate life.
The primary value in working with a consultant is ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Software

Jan. 12, 2011

Brian Hansford recommends this answer by Steve Gershik

I fear we are not being critical enough of MA platforms. What are barriers MA vendors can control?

There is a lot of value locked away in MA system vendor's offerings. What I mean by that is that customers can reduce sales and marketing costs, close more deals more efficiently, and provide better overall customer experiences by taking full advantage of the capabilities ... more

Lead Management

Marketing Automation

Jan. 12, 2011

Brian Hansford and 1 other person answered this question

What else needs to happen for marketing automation to reach it's full potential?

Hi Karen,
Great question for an exciting space. There are a few "events" I believe will eventually happen for the marketing automation segment to reach full potential as it moves from the early adopter to pragmatic stage. Some may disagree but I don't believe Marketing Automation ... more

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