Share what you know with millions of people

What kinds of programs do you need to run?
How many segments will you be addressing?
How long and complex is the buying process?
How much IT expertise or support do you have in house?
Do you intend for salespeople to use it?
Do you need to include social media in your content marketing programs?
How much budget do you have to spend?
Etc.

There are a lot of marketing automation systems with a variety of features. I'd say that there are so many options and price levels that it's absolutely inconceivable to me that every company doesn't have a system. (Yes, I'm biased in favor of technology)

My clients use a variety of systems including Eloqua, Marketo, Genius, Manticore, Unica, HubSpot and others. All of them are great to work with. Then again, there are a number of other players I haven't worked with on client projects that are interesting to me, including Neolane, LeadLife, LoopFuse, Genoo, Nurture and Silverpop.

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Peter Johnston

Director (CEO), Intelligent Prospecting

Posted on July 19, 2011

I'm not going to answer your direct question on favourites as I work closely with one vendor. But there are some basic principles.

The most important feature of the internet is that it is 2-way - you can read, but you can also put forward your ideas, have a discussion, and ask questions. That's a more intuitive way of learning and researching for most people - just ask yourself did you learn more in your practical or your theory classes at school?

But the internet suffers from old fashioned thinking being applied to it by people who grew up in a different era - one where you broadcast things to lots of people and didn't expect a response. Think of advertising. Magazines. Direct mail.

You can see this all around you. Joe Pulizzi, who has fathered the whole idea of content marketing is an ex publisher. Even the excellent Hubspot nods only a token to interactivity with "What do you think" at the bottom of blogs.

Indeed, once you know what to look for you see it everywhere. People who think that content marketing is sending out a buyers guide, then a white paper, then a case study, without wanting to know anything back, other than that you opened it.

But think of yourself when you are buying.
Once you trust a vendor, you are happy to give them some information which helps them to find the product which suits you. The size of your room, how many people are in your family, what you like to do.

B2B buyers are no different. They'll tell you who else is in the buying decision and what sort of person they are. They'll tell you how many they're thinking of or how big. they'll even share their concerns.

So every piece of content gives you an opportunity to gain intelligence on your buyer. You can phrase it more inclusively. Ask questions linked to an FAQ. Include a calculator. Run an exit survey from a webinar. Follow up a white paper with a "what people learned", then a survey.

This intelligence gives you an edge in matching buyer to seller. If you know that the COO makes the final decision, you can include him in your nurturing. If you know that the biggest hurdle will be convincing the CEO on price, you can set your strategy accordingly.

It also helps you build a relationship with your prospect. prospects who tell you stuff have a much closer bond than those who simply receive. They treat you as a trusted partner and advisor, not just a vendor. So you're not just scoring them for a sales call - before you know it they're inviting you in. Price is less of an issue. And your competitors have fallen by the wayside.

So you need better content. But you also need a better Technology solution. One which captures that information, finds links within it and helps you see buyer intent from it.

Now you know what to look for, you'll see the hallmarks of old fashioned "talk at" thinking all over the design of the major MA solutions. You'll find no-one has got it right yet. But I'll give you a clue. Web 2.0 meant it was interactive. So look for 2.0 in your marketing automation solution.