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Merlin Francis

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Director of Communications, LeadFormix

40 points

I have been a journalist, an entrepreneur and a PR professional in my past life. Currently I work in the online marketing space.

WEB: Corporate Blog

Aug. 18, 2011

Merlin Francis recommends this answer by Andy Roy

What is the difference between Demand Generation and Lead Generation?

Demand generation is creating awareness and interest in your offerings. Lead generation is creating consideration with a call to action that can be followed up directly by sales. Demand gen is pure marketing. Lead gen is the handoff from marketing to sales. more

Demand Generation

July 20, 2011

Merlin Francis recommends this answer by Srihari Kumar

What is the next big thing in Marketing Automation?

Matthias,
All the above observations are interesting and make a valid point, especially Carlos and Jeff.
However, I personally feel the next big trends in Marketing Automation would be:
1. Replacing Traditional Email Marketing with the More Sophisticated Marketing Automation: Marketers big and small are maturing ... more

July 18, 2011

Merlin Francis is now following Craig Rosenberg and 1 other person

June 29, 2011

Merlin Francis recommends this answer by Justin Gray

What is the most common pitfall of marketing automation that you've seen?

Viewing Marketing Automation as anything other than software.

Lead Management

Marketing Automation

June 15, 2011

Merlin Francis recommends this answer by Shreesha Ramdas

Are webinars an inbound or outbound marketing technique? Or both?

I would say, both. Webinars are increasingly being used as effective B2B marketing tools because they enable you to effectively engage with your prospect.
When you use an ‘outbound’ marketing vehicle, like an e-mailer or social media tools to announce a webinar and invite people to ... more

Event Marketing

June 2, 2011

Merlin Francis and 5 other people answered this question

How important is it to have a distinct lead nurturing flow for each lead type/buyer persona?

I think, it is almost critical to the success of your Lead nurturing program. If your lead nurturing content and flow is not in sync with the Lead you are reaching out, it is no different from a regular email marketing activity.
Lead nurturing becomes effective, ... more

Lead Management

June 2, 2011

Merlin Francis and 10 other people answered this question

In your marketing process, do you recommend doing lead nurturing first, or lead scoring?

In today's marketing scenario, nurturing starts even before a potential buyer becomes a Lead. Marketers today, create their buyer personas and then create content that would be relevant to these buyers, which is then populated across various media channels.
You have started the process of ... more

Lead Management

May 11, 2011

Merlin Francis and 7 other people answered this question

Do you have examples that demonstrate real results from your social media marketing?

Robbin, I do not have a documented Case study to share with you at this point of time, but at LeadFormix, we have seen some very good leads coming in from LinkedIn, which even converted to clients.
We are a B2B Marketing Automation company and ... more

Jan. 20, 2011

Merlin Francis and 1 other person answered this question

What are some good custom web analytic tools?

Hi Bryan,
If yours is a B2B website, then you can probably check out www.leadformix.com.
LeadFormix is actually a marketing automation platform, which also provides superior quality information on website visitors (web analytics).
It goes beyond Google to find the identity and also the intent of a ... more

Dec. 29, 2010

Merlin Francis recommends this answer by Shreesha Ramdas

B2B Lead Generation Trends: What are the top B2B lead generation trends to watch for in 2011?

Some B2B Lead Generation trends marketers can watch out for in 2011 are..
+ Critical Mass: Marketing Automation will reach critical mass and have the mindshare of all B2B marketers. Just as email marketing has become ubiquitous in marketing departments, we will see the foundations of ... more

Dec. 14, 2010

Merlin Francis recommends this answer by Srihari Kumar

What's the difference between marketing automation companies that try to sell to me??

Hi Aletha,
Here are the various approaches that marketing automation players are taking in the market.
+ SMB vs. Enterprise Solution Approach: Marketing Automation players have segmented themselves into an Enterprise solution vs. an SMB solution. The SMB solutions are 60% cheaper and may have less ... more

Marketing Automation

Nov. 22, 2010

Merlin Francis and 12 other people answered this question

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

I agree with Justin, when he says that quantifying buyer behavior is one of the greatest contributions that the marketing automation platforms have given us, it definitely helps both marketing and sales to sort out their priorities and be more productive.
My Lead Scoring tips would ... more

General Management

Nov. 8, 2010

Merlin Francis and 6 other people answered this question

Do you require engineering support for your marketing automation solution?

Jamie, it completely depends on the marketing automation solution you plan to use.
From a technical point, I don' think you need engineering support, but yes you will need access to the person who administrates your company website, also setting the Marketing Automation platform for ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Best Practices

Marketing Automation Solution

Oct. 29, 2010

Merlin Francis and 3 other people answered this question

What is 'linkbait?'

Brianna,
A Link bait has a dual role to play, it attracts traffic to your website or a particular landing page and also ensures you get backlinks for the same.
So the contents of a Link bait are very important, they have to have mass appeal or ... more

Online Marketing

Online Marketing Tools

Oct. 27, 2010

Merlin Francis and 30 other people answered this question

Are the "lines" that separate marketing and sales becoming increasingly blurred?

Hi John,
We are not yet there, but like you said many companies are blurring the line by having personnels who are responsible for both. The trend is more prevalent in smaller companies and start-ups where playing multiple roles to keep the ball rolling is a ... more

Oct. 20, 2010

Merlin Francis and 1 other person answered this question

Do you use social media marketing for your B2B business and if so how?

We are a B2B Company and we have successfully used social media to create brand awareness and to generate leads.
We are present on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin and are quite consistent and quick to respond to any queries etc.
I have always believed to achieve success ... more

Oct. 17, 2010

Merlin Francis and 5 other people answered this question

What's the next big trend in email marketing going to be?

I tend to agree with Kevin & George that behavioral data would play a big role in the kind of marketing emails we receive in our inboxes. Today there are many marketing tools available in the market which help companies decipher the intent and preferences ... more

Email Marketing Applications

Email Marketing Strategies

Oct. 10, 2010

Merlin Francis and 7 other people answered this question

What is the biggest mistake you often see businesses make concerning social media?

I think the biggest mistakes companies make include -
1. They forget about being social and stick to being promotional.
2. They have mis-matched expectations from the medium, it is very unlike your other traditional marketing channels and hence requires a different kind of understanding, approach ... more

Focus Interactive Summit

Oct. 8, 2010

Merlin Francis and 3 other people answered this question

Can You Justify an Investment in Social Media Without a Proven ROI?

There is some ground work that is required before a company gets into social media marketing. It should not be on a whim and in a bid to follow the fad.
Measurement becomes difficult when you have no clear objective in sight, because success in ... more

Sept. 28, 2010

Merlin Francis and 11 other people answered this question

I've heard that Eloqua is losing market share to Marketo- is that true?

Hi Adam,
It is really great to see how different companies competing in the Marketing Automation space are having a healthy discussion, putting forward their points in a very matter of fact manner.
But I feel we are missing a very important point in this discussion.
Many small ... more

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation Campaigns

Aug. 5, 2010

Merlin Francis recommends this answer by Merlin Francis

What are the main causes for marketing automation implementation failures?

Enterprises opt for marketing automation solutions, because they want to get rid of multi-level processes.
I feel most MA solution become Shelf-ware, because they are not intuitive enough. Also, there is ambiguity on what the Lead actually wants.
Also, the lead qualification processes used require, ... more

Lead Management

Marketing Automation

July 20, 2010

Merlin Francis recommends this answer by Merlin Francis

Who are the top Marketing Automation Vendors?

Dear Sarah,
Agree with Steve, it completely depends on the criteria you set for top vendors. Size of the company, number of clients, service offerings,technology advancements etc.
Sorry for the biased view - but my personal experience as a marketer using LeadForce1 is great. The kind ... more

Marketing Automation

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