Marketing & Demand Automation

Marketers are the happiest and hardest workers

2012-01-27T02:26:00.000-08:00

Research conduct byMars Drinks UK shows marketers are the happiest workers within an organisation.

As reported on MarketingWeek, the study included the responses of 2000 office workers from variousdepartments including, marketing, creative, finance, IT and legal. 60% of themarketers questioned said they were happy where they worked – more than anyother office sector.

Trade marketingmanager for Marks Drink UK, Jenni Morgan, who commissioned the research, said:“Our results also show that we are working longer hours than ever before butthis has not dented our enjoyment of the job.”

Happiness at workfor marketers, whether consumer or B2B, is vital for good results. A happymarketer makes for a good marketer.

The combination ofdedication and job satisfaction is good news for business owners but the productivityof B2B marketing can be increased with the support of marketing automationsoftware. Marketers can optimise their entire online strategy throughintegrated, targetedemail marketing. The increased level of communication by automated emailsbuilds a rapport with prospects and enhances lead generation - creating morequalified leads and appointments, and highlighting a clearer ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing

Marketers Plan to Spend More this Year Compared with 2011

2012-01-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

Thelatest quarterly IPA Bellwether report shows marketing budgets rose for thesecond consecutive time in the last quarter of 2011, as reported in TheDaily Telegraph.

Althoughthere is concern for the year ahead, 20% of the 300 marketers questionedincreased their spend between October and December last year and this lookslikely to continue as the majority of marketers plan to spend more in 2012.

Itis apparent that businesses are also looking for more efficient marketingmethods in order to maintain their exposure while managing costs. The reportindicates a shift in investment from traditional media towards digitalchannels.

Profunneloffers a solution that conducts various marketing techniques from a singleplatform. Through demandgeneration technology, intelligent forensics allows visitor behaviour onyour site to be monitored. Specific movements such as length of visits andproduct interest trigger the delivery of automated, personalised emails. Thenurture campaign increasingly engages prospects, with interests beingtransferred into a lead score in your CRM. This information enables sales andmarketers to connect with the warmest prospects at the point they are ready tobuy.

VisitProfunnel for more information on demand generation.

It’s all in the Measure

2012-01-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

The latest surveyby the ContentMarketing Institute has highlighted prominent trends for the year ahead.

As reported on thenextweb.com,60% of respondents have said they plan to increase their spend on contentmarketing over the next 12 months. The report also indicates that more than aquarter of B2B marketers are planning to dedicate their total budgets tocontent marketing activities. These results show how B2B marketers arerealising the potential of content marketing to benefit lead generation.

When incorporatingcontent marketing into a strategy, it is essential to measure its level ofsuccess in order to invest more resources in the channels which are mostproductive.

Profunnel offers a marketing automationplatform which encompasses content marketing products and tools to measuresuccess. The software offers a range of templates to allow you to create targeted email marketing.Producing more relevant emails for prospects and existing customers allows webconversion rates to increase as warm visitors are directed back to your site.By tagging and tracking these visitors, the lead generation softwarewill only alert sales with warm leads to approach, meaning businesses canclearly identify their ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on marketing automation.

2012 – The Year to Get Ahead in Marketing

2012-01-06T04:13:00.000-08:00

As the clock struck12 on New Year’s Eve, reports of a struggling economy for the year ahead wereready and waiting to fill the newspapers.

According to thefounding editor of B2BMarketing, Joel Harrison, marketers need to adopt new ways of working inorder to stay ahead in their industry and the economy. With the technologicalrevolution, marketers have been increasingly pressured with more demands andless time to deliver results for their clients and their company. Harrisonsuggests an interest in new tools and methods is essential as marketingcontinues to change. Marketers must be in tune with technology – analytics,automation and social media monitoring. Not only are these tools necessary fortoday’s marketing processes but they also assist marketers with their work.

Email marketing softwaresuch as Profunnel’s can offer a personalised and flexible solution to youremail marketing campaigns. In contrast to the known ineffectiveness of “emailblasting”, the platform allows prospects to receive highly relevant emailsbased on their activity on your site. This level of automation means campaignscan be executed more efficiently, with less time spent but greater results.

Visit Profunnel for more information on targeted email marketing.

Keeping the Customers Happy in 2012

2011-12-23T01:58:00.000-08:00

As 2011 draws to aclose businesses are reflecting on the year’s achievements and downfalls toplan for a fruitful year ahead. To be successful a business primarily requiresgrowth in some form of sales. But in conjunction with sales it is also crucialto retain current customers and their loyalty to the business.

As reported by MyCustomer.com,businesses find that engaging and retaining customers is one of their greatestchallenges. Loyalty 360, the US LoyaltyMarketing Association, has outlined top loyalty trends to be aware of and acton in 2012, which the added support of lead generation softwarefrom Profunnel can help to accomplish.

Customer engagementis paramount to marketing and sales and a deeper level of engagement is neededto maintain customer loyalty into the next competitive year. Businesses shouldensure they deliver a quality customer experience from an initial website visitright through to the final purchase and this is often achieved through apersonal approach. Profunnel can track and monitor visitor activity to findinterests in your business. This information provides marketers with a valuableinsight to easily engage with a prospect. Current customers can receive targeted email marketingmessages with new information about products or services they have previouslypurchased.

With the relevantdata and preliminary contact established via email campaigns, sales teams havethe tools and information to confidently approach a prospect while maintaininga high level of engagement with current customers.

Visit Profunnel for more information on leadgeneration and other online marketing solutions.

Marketing Merged with Sales to Improve Business

2011-12-16T02:17:00.000-08:00

The charteredInstitute of Marketing (CIM) has published a report suggesting marketing andsales should be merged in order to protect the future of marketing.

As reported by MarketingWeek, the Sales and Marketing Fusion report from the CIM believes a tighterbond combining the two departments within a company is necessary to stop therelegation of marketing which has become apparent during the recession. Thereport continues to suggest that by working in unison, efficiency improvementscan be achieved through a mutual view of company objectives and customer satisfaction.

The report hassparked both negative and positive views from marketers across the industry,with some claiming this is an unnecessary move. However there is a commonagreement that marketing and sales departments do need to work together moreclosely.

Profunnel realisesthe importance of a streamlined sales and marketing strategy – our demandgeneration platform can help you to improve company productivity through itsvarious tools. Intelligent web forensics will identify warm leads to target bytracking visitor behaviour on a company’s website. This allows marketers tosend emails tailored to particular interests via the available email marketingtemplates. The focus on warm leads develops B2B lead generationwhile relationships with high-value prospects allows sales to engage moreeffectively and build on their customer base.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation marketing.

Read our whitepaperTheSales and Marketing Coalition for more information.

Marketers Not Making The Most Of Lead Generation

2011-12-09T06:11:00.000-08:00

Research by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has highlighted a lack of understanding surrounding lead generation within the marketing sector, as reported by The Drum.

The poll has found many of the 125 marketers questioned to lack a thorough understanding of lead generation and how it can be employed most effectively – 52% believe they are not taking full advantage of the marketing tool.

Chair of the Lead Generation Council, Trine Buus, identifies that “online lead generation is proven yet misunderstood”. He also suggests that the relationship between lead quality, conversion rates and ROI needs to be clearer.

Integrating a B2B lead generation platform such as Profunnel can assist in eradicating the current misunderstanding amongst marketers and focus on a successful campaign. The tool can track known and anonymous visitors on your website, monitor their actions and feed this information in real-time to marketers. The detail in this data allows marketers to send targeted emails to prospects, creating greater potential for new customers. Additionally, the lead generation software can be tailored for individual business requirements, providing a clearer ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on online lead generation.

How to grow your business in a slow recovering economy

2011-11-30T06:12:00.000-08:00

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published the latest figures for UK economic growth, confirming a growth rate of just 0.5% during the Q3 period, July to September.

According to BBC Business News online, a Treasury spokesman said the UK economy was “not immune to the turbulence in the Eurozone and its impact on British businesses”, which has become clear from the slow economic recovery that we are experiencing.

With such an uninspiring financial forecast, businesses must now focus more effort on what they can do to drive their business through these difficult financial times, and understand what they should be doing in order to accomplish this. Many companies will already be using marketing and other promotional activities to support their business, but they may not be as efficient, or effective, as they would hope.

Profunnel looks within these activities and focuses on the smaller details, to help businesses tailor their approaches in order to see effective results for their efforts. Online marketing for example, is fast becoming the preferred approach for companies due to the advanced functionality and clearer ROI delivered by activities such as personalised email marketing, social media tracking and online lead generation. However, this can be time consuming and costly when using multiple software applications.

Profunnel offers all of these services and more from just one platform, allowing companies to economically optimise targeted email marketing solutions and online marketing activity through the latest demand generation technology.

For more information on marketing for business growth, contact Profunnel.

Have you got the balance right?

2011-11-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

Companies. Customers. There is a fine line between delivering what suits the company and what customers actually want from a product or service.

After speaking with various marketers, editor of Marketing Week, Mark Choueke, reports on how to ensure customers remain loyal in a competitive market. He concludes that businesses need to re-think what they say to customers and what they can provide to make life easier for them; the more effort asked of customers, the less likely they are to remain loyal. Marketing needs to feel beneficial to the customer without appearing too promotional.

To create the balance between getting your message across while offering worthy information to current customers and prospects, a subtle approach with the help of marketing automation software could be the answer.

The latest solution from Profunnel can assist marketers with their entire marketing activity from a single platform. By capturing data from website visitors and feeding this back to your team in real-time, marketers can approach prospects with information suited to their interests. This can be conducted by way of targeted email marketing created by the various email templates offered by the solution. Therefore news on your company is being delivered while customers receive personalised, relevant messages – keeping the balance just right.

Visit Profunnel for more information on marketing automation.

Tension Over Customer Data Reclaim

2011-11-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

The new government scheme to be introduced at the beginning of 2012 will allow customers to access their personal information held by companies.

Midata is proposing to generate new services and to help customers make informed decisions, creating a two-way trust for businesses and their customers, with the hope of leading to growth in the economy.

As reported in Marketing Week, there could be doubt in this scheme from businesses as many companies find that data is a fundamental aspect in making their business successful and gives them an advantage over their competitors. Many businesses use the information as a marketing strategy – targeting products and services relevantly to customer interest. This is a useful and successful way to build trust with customers.

Profunnel’s B2B lead generation solution allows marketers to identify customer interest by monitoring their website activity. The technology will track which pages known and anonymous customers visit, how long for and how often. As real-time alerts are fed to sales and marketing, online lead generation is increased as the warmest leads are being highlighted. With email marketing solutions, sales people can send targeted messages containing information relevant to the prospects’ interests. The personalisation can increase engagement and trust with the recipient, leading to more sales and a clearer ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on lead generation

Growing Concerns Over Personal Data Security

2011-11-04T05:22:00.000-07:00

UK consumers are increasingly worried about data protection, according to new research.

A survey conducted by OnePoll reveals 80 per cent of respondents have reservations over organisations protecting their information. When compared to a similar survey produced last year, there has been a 17% increase in consumer worries in 2011.

Data security is a major issue for organisations and their sales and marketing teams. If they are to retain customer loyalty, while building trust with prospects, businesses must be certain that the data they use to target customers is from a bonafide source while also ensuring they are contacting people who would be interested in their services.

Profunnel’s marketing solutions provide businesses with a means to engage with customers and to build that all-important trust needed to ultimately secure a sale. The demand generation platform assists sales and marketing people with their online and email marketing. Through intelligent web forensics visitors to your site can be monitored and tracked while the lead scoring system alerts sales and marketing of warm leads, improving B2B lead generation. Having such information means companies can be confident they are focussing on relevant customers and in turn these customers are more willing to engage with the brand.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation

Marketing Budgets Increase for Q3 of 2011

2011-10-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

For the first time since the second quarter of 2007, there has been a rise in marketing budgets across all sectors, according to the latest IPA Bellwether Report.

Although overall business optimism is at a low, the latest predictions for the third quarter of 2011 for marketing spending have ended a three-quarter episode of decline. 21% of the companies surveyed have reported an upward revision of their marketing budgets.

The largest increase at 16.6% has been accounted for online spending while sales promotion has also seen a rise – the first time in nearly four years.

The results show that businesses are attempting to override the negative financial period and realise that those companies who exert the greatest spend on their marketing, will be in a much stronger position than their competitors.

An investment in B2B lead generation and marketing automation can provide the winning formula for staying ahead in your industry - Profunnel offers a solution to strengthen marketing and sales productivity. The technology can track and monitor visitors on your website and focuses sales people on the warmest leads through real-time alerts, with the data integrated into the CRM. With the alerts regarding prospects’ interests, conversion rates and sales improve as sales people can react quickly to the information and approach prospects or current clients about their last website visit. Overall, the lead generation software streamlines marketing and sales activity and allows you to clearly identify your marketing ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on lead generation

Information Is Just As Important As The Technology

2011-10-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

Business leaders need to receive more information about technology in order to understand the benefits for their company, according to the Financial Times.

A spokesperson for Gartner believes leaders need to ensure they are aware of how technology can be implemented in their business. Awareness of technological influences within the industry is important for businesses to stay ahead, Gartner says.

Although technology is an integral part of any business in the modern world, information on how technology can be useful and why, clearly remains an issue.

In sales and marketing, demand generation technology is proven to provide real advantages to businesses. Profunnel’s solution provides intelligent forensics for your website, tagging visitors and monitoring their activity. The system creates real-time alerts for marketers, illustrating the most interested prospects, developing your B2B lead generation. The platform also allows you to create targeted email marketing messages, tailored to the prospects’ interests. Receiving relevant information is more likely to increase their interest rather then a generic email. While the prospect builds a relationship with the brand and businesses are able to view the main appeal of their services, sale opportunities improve.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation

Trusting Customers On The Rise

2011-10-14T06:02:00.000-07:00

As reported on The Drum, this year’s Email Tracking Study by the Direct Marketing Association has revealed the level of customer trust in brands has increased, as a result of improved email marketing.

The DMA research recognises two key reasons for this rise – better email segmentation and improved targeted content. From 1,800 UK respondents, the study found more than half of consumers said the emails they have received in the last year have been of interest to them. Last year just 1 in 10 participants said this was the case, while the figure this year has jumped to 30%.

The results of this study bring positive news for brands that have focussed their email marketing campaigns to provide more tailored information to customers and prospects. For those businesses still looking to better their customer engagement, improving email marketing through integrated solutions could be the answer.

The latest email marketing solutions from Profunnel enable marketers to tailor their messages through various templates, ensuring customers receive information relevant to their interests. To find out such interests, Profunnel’s B2B lead generation software can track and monitor website visitor activity, capturing data such as which website pages are visited and how often. The intelligent lead scoring system alerts marketers of the hottest leads, allowing them to target these prospects with relevant information, which is proven to be successful in retaining interest in a company.

Visit Profunnel for more information on targeted email marketing.

Number of Marketing Jobs Higher Now than Pre-Recession

2011-10-07T02:14:00.000-07:00

As reported on Marketing Week there has been a 20% increase in the number of marketing jobs created even when compared to before the recession hit in 2008.

A study complied by marketing recruiter EMR in conjunction with data from the Office of National Statistics, illustrates that 94,000 new marketing positions have been generated since 2007, signifying the 20% increase.

EMR suggests the report’s findings are a result of popularity in digital marketing, with 1 in 3 marketing roles now being digital-based compared to 1 in 6 in 2009. Social media is a key-contributing factor to the increase in the demand for digital marketers.

Businesses evidently see the potential of digital marketing but the extra marketing channels can make viewing a ROI more difficult. In addition, with more avenues for customers to connect with the company, more effort is required to engage with the customers.

Profunnel provides demand generation solutions that allow your company to adapt and grow in the digital marketing arena. Our social media software enables you to track inbound traffic from a multitude of social media applications while also giving the option of creating your blog within the system. This means you can closely analyse the impact of website traffic, so engagement with customers is more immediate and effective. From the same solution, the Multichannel Marketing Module facilitates the management of your campaigns, from the first click through to the final purchase, creating a clearer understanding of your ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation

Get in Shape for the New B2B Season

2011-09-30T04:23:00.000-07:00

It’s never too early to start planning for the turn of the year. Organisations need to consider all their options in order to optimise the time and effort spent on generating new business.

Many companies are aware that their website is the best source for new leads. However there are key areas where improvements through integrated marketing solutions can create major success for the new business process.

The latest white paper from Profunnel offers practical advice on preparing for the new selling season, which includes:

Website Content – ensuring your website contains the right keywords to increase SEO and drive traffic to your site
CRM Database – an up-to-date CRM is essential for the start of the sales process and a large amount of data is required to maximise the results of emails and e-shots sent out
Awareness of Digital Conversation – digital conversations will already be taking place between prospects and your services. By implementing social media tools you can tag and track online conversations, allowing you to view and understand positive and negative conversions
Targeted Email Marketing– segmented email campaigns for different sectors and audiences are more beneficial for gaining interest and achieving positive responses than generic ‘email blasting’
Marketing Automation System – the engine can provide email templates to assist with the design of your targeted campaigns while the system will check and test emails to assure you that they won’t be received as spam

Download the full version of the white paper here

Visit Profunnel for more information on the products and services available.

Email Marketing is Evolving

2011-09-23T06:51:00.001-07:00

The results from the annual Marketing Week ‘Email Attitudes Research’ survey indicate that email marketing remains a favoured method of communication for businesses. 70% of respondents said they sent more emails over the last 12 months than the previous year and 45% have seen greater click-through rates.

Consumers surveyed in 2010 found one of the biggest issues with email to be ‘information overload’, whereas this year consumers are more willing to receive email messages due to better targeting. Although for many marketers ‘targeting’ is still considered a big challenge, finding difficulties in obtaining data.

Email appears to be retaining its status as a preferred form of marketing as businesses begin to see the potential of integrating email with other marketing channels. 45% indicate they have seen traffic from other channels increase when integrated with email campaigns. However there is still concern from marketers over data capture, which would allow them to create more tailored emails.

As the results highlight, targeted email marketing is the underlying success factor for marketers and consumers. Profunnel provides integrated email marketing solutions to strengthen tailored campaigns for better results. Through web forensics, website visitor behaviour is captured and warm leads are selected and sent through to marketers, developing B2B lead generation. With this information, email messages can be composed with relevant content for individual prospects. Recipients are more likely to open these messages which will consequently create greater opportunity to generate new business.

Please visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing

Social Media Week – Is Your Business on Board?

2011-09-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Social media is never out of the spotlight and next week sees Social Media Week taking place around the world from 19^th-23^rd September. Social Media Week was established back in 2009 in New York. Now the event will be marked by 12 cities around the world, including Glasgow for the UK, with thousands of attendees – highlighting the surge in importance, popularity and usability of social media across all industries.

Clearly social media is now an integral factor in most businesses, particularly in terms of marketing. Although it’s easy to adopt this tool, it’s essential to use social media correctly and to ensure the applications are relevant to business identity in order to produce effective results.

Profunnel can provide social media marketing solutions to enhance your company’s productivity when using the applications. By integrating our demand generation platform, you can track your social media activities giving you a better understanding of your ROI. The solution also allows you to monitor inbound traffic from various social media sites, increasing your lead generation. These leads will be tracked through the sales cycle to illustrate the financial impact social media integration is achieving for your company.

Please visit Profunnel for more information on social media tracking

Solutions Required for Better Knowledge of Information

2011-09-09T04:26:00.000-07:00

A recent Q&A conducted by Marketing Week with national and global brands, including Telefonica/o2, AXA Insurance and Toyota, shows how organisations are getting closer to their customers but marketers are still facing issues when obtaining information.

The heads of research and marketing discuss innovative research techniques which have impressed them, the majority of which are often related to online and digital methods.

These specialists are also concerned with hold-ups in the information retrieval process and how this is frustrating in terms of being able to deliver results. Issues for a number of the brands include targeting the right people and problems with measuring research and the data obtained. The problems highlighted here are apparent for both the B2C and B2B industries.

Profunnel’s marketing software can be integrated to assist marketers with numerous processes, overall contributing to better results. From the demand generation platform, marketers are able to track and monitor website visitors and their activity via web forensics. B2B lead generation is improved as automated personalised emails, created from valuable information, are sent relating to visitor interest. Such targeted email marketing will allow the sales team to build their engagement with prospects and increase interest in the company. Both these factors are crucial for turning prospects into customers.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation

CRM at the Forefront of Business Recovery

2011-09-02T03:39:00.000-07:00

As reported on Computing, a recent survey conducted by analyst group Gartner has revealed customer relationship management (CRM) is anticipated to see the largest investment of all the application software markets worldwide in 2011.

31% of respondents say they expect a rise in spending on CRM software. This result reflects Gartner’s prediction that as buyer confidence returns and businesses begin to refocus their attention on increasing revenue rather than reducing costs, the CRM market will start to recover.

For marketers CRM software is a vital component for successful customer retention and is necessary to enhance customer experience. Another key benefit is that marketing activity can be more accurately targeted.

Profunnel offers the only marketing automation solution which is built on a CRM database. This allows marketers to simply and affordably integrate their demand generation activity with the CRM. From the integrated platform, businesses can view client movements on the website incorporated with CRM and into the individual client profile. As a result, sales people can respond to visitor activity which will improve conversion rates and generated sales. Sales representatives are able to build stronger relationships with clients as they are aware of their interests – where and when they visit the website. Overall a streamlined marketing strategy can be implemented – facilitating lead management and ROI tracking.

Visit Profunnel for more information on CRM Integration

Strategy + Skills + Software = B2B Success

2011-08-26T03:35:00.000-07:00

As reported on The Drum, a recent study conducted by ReThink Recruitment shows digital and social media specialists have seen their pay rise by up to 70% over the last three years.

The pay rise in this sector covers all levels but has mostly occurred at more senior positions - with job vacancies now offering salaries of up to £75,000 which is up from an average of £45,000 three years ago.

Mark Geraghty, head of ReThink Executive, comments on the findings, highlighting how the results are not surprising - as companies are continually increasing their online marketing budgets, it is logical to match this effort by investing in good marketing skills.

As these results indicate, investment in marketing professionals and strategy is important. However, assisting these two elements with the latest marketing automation technology can create a winning formula for business success

The demand generation platform from Profunnel offers solutions to the entire B2B lead generation process of a company. The marketing software incorporates web analytics which will monitor visitor activity to the website. Visitors are tracked and tagged so sales and marketing specialists can be informed of just warm leads, which eliminates the issue of wasting time on uninterested visitors. Through this lead scoring system and with crucial information relating to product interest, businesses can be confident that their efforts are being focussed on good, new business prospects and ultimately improve their ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation

‘Loyalty’ and ‘Engagement’ found to be Key factors to Increase ROI

2011-08-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

The Guardian Media Group (GMG) has recognised the potential of growth for its online publications and is aiming to become a digital-first company. The group already has the Guardian website in place, however it intends to shift its main focus from print newspapers to a web-based news service.

This strategic decision to drive the Guardian website forward comes from the media group’s desire for a ‘mutualised, collaborative and networked’ form of journalism. To achieve commercial success, GMG is aware that it needs to capture its digital audience and create an individual relationship with the Guardian reader, in order to retain their loyalty. The group intends to deliver customised content, tailored to specific reader interests, via new technology as part of an increased marketing campaign.

Loyalty and engagement are key requirements when building any business relationship. In B2B, companies must connect with prospects on a personal level to increase the chance of securing an affiliation, while current customers require communication and information following their purchase if they are to remain loyal to the company.

Profunnel offers intelligent marketing automation solutions conducted via a single platform – bringing financial benefits to organisations as the issue of implementing various software applications with limited functionality is eradicated, resulting in an improved ROI. The solution increases B2B lead generation and provides marketers with lead nurturing technology to take website visitors from their initial visit through the buying cycle to the final purchase. Additionally businesses can optimise their entire online marketing campaign by integrating email marketing solutions whereby messages can be modified to provide relevant information and increase customer engagement.

Visit Profunnel for more information on marketing automation

Businesses Focus More on the Customer Journey

2011-08-12T02:19:00.001-07:00

As reported in Marketing Week, major businesses have discussed their drive to focus on the path customers take from initial research of a product through to the final purchase.

Global brands such as Kraft and O2 have implemented new marketing strategies to understand their customer buying process and their interaction with products. This allows the organisations to analyse the most effective point to develop investment. Making this a business focal point is hugely beneficial to companies wherever there is a product or service to market – whether in B2C or B2B.

Investing in a customer journey tool will radically improve awareness of website activity and ensure businesses optimise their resources for the most interested prospects. Profunnel offers demand generation marketing software which can track and continually monitor visitor activity on a website – providing information on the trails they take and the products they’re interested in. The technology also combines a lead scoring system, ranking the most frequent visitors and sending this information to the sales and marketing team – increasing online lead generation.

With the relevant data and warmest leads to hand, sales representatives can create targeted email marketing messages to approach customers with significant information regarding their interests – allowing companies to build their client body and increase their ROI.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation

Spend, Spend, Spend on New Technology

2011-08-05T04:27:00.000-07:00

As reported on Fresh Business Thinking, a recent survey conducted by Netgear shows small businesses are planning to spend more money on innovative IT over the next 12 months.

The survey questioned 300 business owners and IT managers from SMEs and found 35% of the respondents plan to ‘make more strategic IT investments’ in comparison to last year.

Investing in new technology is crucial to businesses that want to remain current in their industry while making the company more time and cost efficient.

For businesses looking to improve the technology in their sales and marketing departments, Profunnel offers the latest lead generation software to maximise the production of new business opportunities. Profunnel’s demand generation solution integrates and automates the lead management process, meaning visitors to the website will be tracked and tagged. Sales and marketing teams are then provided with information on warm leads generated by the intelligent lead scoring system. The teams can then approach these warm leads through targeted email marketing – capitalising on the relationships they have started to build and increasing the new business brought into the company.

Visit Profunnel for more information on lead generation.

Businesses opt for B2B Email Marketing

2011-07-29T04:26:00.000-07:00

Research conducted by Econsultancy has found that the chosen method for companies to communicate with their customers is through email marketing.

The findings indicate a wide range of areas for which email marketing is preferred for customer engagement. 86% of the businesses questioned choose this channel for corresponding offers, 80% for product and service news, 76% opt for email marketing when requesting feedback and 60% prefer this channel when offering customer service.

As illustrated by these statistics, the majority of companies consider email marketing to be most valuable. However it’s important to implement the correct strategy in order to generate successful communication and build relationships with customers.

By integrating email marketing solutions into their campaign, businesses can increase the effectiveness of their messages. From a single demand generation platform, Profunnel offers solutions which incorporate automatic tracking of visitors to the website and real-time alerts highlighting the interests of these visitors to the sales and marketing team. This process improves online lead generation as only warm leads are referred to the sales team. The information retrieved through Profunnel’s demand generation software can assist sales in creating tailored email messages to achieve successful engagement with customers.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing.

The Death of Cold Calling OR The Advent of Perfect Timing - Profunnel's latest webinars

2011-07-28T01:27:00.000-07:00

Profunnel's latest webinars

The Death of Cold Calling OR The Advent of Perfect Timing webinar featuring our guest speaker, Kevin Miller - VP of Sales & Marketing at SalesFusion.

To be successful in sales, perfect timing is absolutely key. We typically hear sales leaders and sales people across the country suggest that when in front of the right people they are successful but find the task of getting in front of the right people at the right time extremely difficult.

Our webinar will address the most difficult element of selling, that of getting in front of the right people at the right time. Joined by our guest speaker – Kevin Miller – VP Sales & Marketing at SalesFusion – we will look at shifting trends in the market place, how to adopt new approaches to lead generation and how to ensure you get your timing absolutely right.

Here is the agenda:
• The importance of timing
• The statistical failure of cold calling – in its traditional sense
• Where leads originate from in 2011 and beyond
• Generating sales ready leads
• Adapting your company to succeed in the modern day
• How to leverage technology to drive the new paradigm

Hurry, places for this exclusive webinar are limited. please visit http://www.profunnel.co.uk/webinars.php

Boost to Direct Marketing Spending

2011-07-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

According to the latest Bellwether report, direct marketing budgets have grown. In keeping with Profunnel’s beliefs, it’s refreshing to see companies investing more in their marketing strategies.

As reported in Marketing Week, the second quarterly report from Bellwether shows that companies have increased their investment in direct marketing, including email marketing, which is one of only three channels to see a rise in spending. From April to the end of June, budgets have jumped by 2.5 per cent, compared with 1.8 per cent in the first quarter.

Mel Cruickshank, chairman of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s direct marketing group, says companies are “turning to direct marketing to provide return on investment against marketing spend”.

In order to be a good investment, successful direct marketing depends greatly on forward planning, accurate targeting and up-to-date data. Integrating intelligent marketing technology can ensure companies receive this good return on investment, which Profunnel has proven time and time again.

The latest email marketing solutions from Profunnel, allow sales and marketing professionals to tailor their messages – offering a personal approach to engage their visitors – making them more attractive to potential customers. Profunnel’s targeted email marketing software incorporates a level of personalisation and flexibility derived from the results of lead scoring, which are generated by visitor activity. Based on these findings messages will be sent containing relevant information to prospects, which improves email lead generation, directing warm leads into a company’s sales inbox.

Visit Profunnel for more information on email marketing.

What is the Key to Business Success?

2011-07-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

The current economic climate has created some issues for businesses. However in recent financial findings, some organisations are making real progress. In the latest financial year businesses such as Sports Direct have reported a significant rise in profits – so the question arises as to why some companies are prospering despite others failing. In retail, the crucial factor is to deliver the right product, while in B2B the simple answer is ‘timing’ – targeting prospects and current customers at the right time and with the right information.

In order to get the timing right, it is important for organisations to research and gather data about customer activity on their website. Often perceived as time consuming, with the right technology in place, marketing and sales teams can benefit greatly, leading to an overall improved revenue for the company.

You can read more about this here

By integrating Profunnel’s intelligent software, businesses can track visitor activity on their website – from the initial visit right through to their final purchase click – tracking when and where they access the site. The system will also improve your lead generation with real-time email alerts being sent to the sales team enabling them to spend their time on warm leads. From here, the sales team can create and deliver personally targeted email marketing campaigns – confidently aware that the prospect will receive relevant information, which is more likely to attract them to the company and keep them coming back.

Visit Profunnel to find out more information about Web Forensics.

Businesses Must Build Trust with Customers for Successful Marketing

2011-07-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

As reported on Fourth Source, a recent study by the Direct Marketing Association, (DMA), shows how there has been a significant drop in the number of consumers willing to offer personal details about themselves when interacting with online businesses.

The poll of over 1,000 consumers found that more than 1 in 3 are choosing to withhold identifying information, resulting in real problems for marketers and consumer data capture.

For example, in the last six months there has been a drop by approximately one third in the number of people prepared to give out their name, address or email.

Executive Director of the DMA, Chris Combemale, suggests that marketers must find alternatives in their methods to capture consumer data. 54% of the respondents believed trust in a company is paramount in deciding to disclose personal details, therefore marketers need to build trust with the customer first before proceeding to contact them for further information.

Profunnel has developed intelligent marketing software to aid marketers with trust and engagement with customers. Our demand generation software will help you to easily track and analyse visitor activity from a single platform. The tracking device will follow your visitors, highlight their interests and alert you of when and where they access your site – improving your lead generation. This information will allow you to tailor email marketing campaigns to suit these interests, forming a trusting relationship which can ultimately turn visitors into customers.

For more information on demand generation, visit Profunnel.

Rise in Sales and Marketing Recruitment

2011-07-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

As reported in The Drum, recent research conducted by Financial News shows more companies are planning recruitment in sales and marketing than any other area.

The survey found that 83% of company chief executives are prioritising hiring sales and marketing professionals for their businesses over any other profession. Interestingly, this figure is up by 69% in comparison to the same survey carried out last year.

However, it’s one thing to ensure your company has a strong, effective sales and marketing team, but another to implement the right tools to drive business success.

The assistance of tailored online marketing solutions can make a real difference to generating new business and maintaining current customers. Profunnel’s demand generation software can enable your team to manage a range of marketing techniques from a single platform. The technology allows you to easily integrate all of your marketing and sales efforts into your CRM. Additionally it can improve your lead generation by tracking visitor activity on your site and alerting the sales team with relevant information regarding their interests in order to maximise new business generation.

For more information on demand generation, please visit Profunnel.

Companies See the Social Side to Generating New Business

2011-06-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

As reported in The Telegraph, a study by Regus shows an increasing number of UK businesses are attracting more customers since adopting social media marketing.

The research based on responses from 17,000 managers from around the world, including 4,000 from the UK, illustrates how more than one third of companies in the UK are successfully generating new customers since incorporating social media into their business strategy.

The study highlighted a significant rise with the overall figure increasing from 33% of UK companies in 2010, to 41% this year as more and more companies employ social media as a creative way to interact with their customers. 66% of the respondents agreed that their marketing plans would not be successful without social media.

While these results underline the benefits of integrating social media into your marketing activity, it is essential to use the right strategy, in order to maximise the customer interest you receive. We have addressed this and developed intelligent B2B marketing software to assist your social media campaign.

Our social media tracking platform allows you to direct all inbound traffic from the various social media sites to one single dashboard – the system will support your lead generation by tracking any warm leads from the sites and delivering their interests to your sales team. You can also create blogs within the software, which will enable you to observe their effectiveness and help you to tailor the blogs to your target market.

Find out more about our social media services and how we can help your organisation.

More Focus on Targeted Marketing with Inflation Rates Remaining High

2011-06-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

It has been reported in The Telegraph that inflation rates for May have remained at a two-year high of 4.5 pc.

As the economy remains highly competitive, a strong focus should be placed on maintaining the customers you have as well as bringing in new business in order to drive your company forward. To achieve this you need to understand those you are selling to and establish the most effective way of communicating with them.

For marketing and sales this is a key aspect of the role– being able to identify customers’ interests and target prospects with relevant information. Our demand generation software enables visitor activity to your website to be monitored – delivering a valuable insight into what attracts your customers and indicates when and where they visit. The behaviour of visitors activates personalised email marketing – only sending out information relevant to your customers, ultimately improving your lead generation.

Visit Profunnel to find out more about demand generation

Relevant Email Marketing is Central to Success

2011-06-10T04:30:00.001-07:00

In an ever-changing online world, a recent report has discovered B2B email marketing still has a dominating presence, despite social media playing a major part in many companies’ campaigns.

The report analysed over seven billion email messages and found email open rates to reach 23.3% in the first quarter of 2011, as a result of the email messages being more relevant to the recipient.

Successful email marketing relies heavily on ‘relevance’. Profunnel offers intelligent email marketing solutions to ensure businesses offer tailored and relevant communications with potential customers. Our solutions are conducted from one platform that manages your campaign from start to finish. Our lead generation software will track the behaviour of visitors to your site and pinpoint warm leads, allowing you to approach such prospects at the optimum time, with supporting, relevant information to maximise your company’s productivity.

Visit Profunnel’s website to find out more about email lead generation.

Time is of the Essence for SME’s

2011-06-02T04:17:00.001-07:00

It has been suggested by knowthenet.org.uk that small businesses must re-evaluate their communication strategies with prospects in order to maximise engagement.

The internet advice site believes that integrated email and social marketing is paramount to interacting with prospective clients, and has highlighted that ‘timing’ is a crucial element to encourage and retain loyalty to the company. Online marketing is vital for small businesses, but it is all too easy to go unrecognised on the web - losing out to larger organisations - if online marketing is not fully-integrated. Additionally, acting on client activity at the right time is greatly beneficial to small companies but can often be viewed as being too time consuming.

Profunnel offers a wide range of intelligent online marketing services available from just one platform. Our tailored B2B lead generation products, incorporating email marketing and social media, will follow your website visitors from their first visit - keeping track of how often they visit and the course of their time spent on the site. The information will allow you to engage with warm leads on a deeper level and, as a result, will optimise your demand generation and increase your company’s productivity.

Visit Profunnel’s website for more information on B2B lead generation and the importance of timing.

The Right Sales Team – Essential To Success

2011-05-27T01:25:00.000-07:00

Profunnel have recently expanded the business with two new additions to the sales team. The new members will help to support the growing sales force, taking on responsibility for new business across the UK.

Generating new business is crucial for any organisation and having the right sales team is key in supporting this growth. It is also important to integrate a system whereby the sales team can work alongside the marketing department to optimise potential opportunities.

Profunnel offers B2B lead generation technology that minimises the challenges of cold calling while enabling companies to improve the quality and increase the amount of warm leads. The intelligent email marketing solutions are implemented to target potential customers by identifying and alerting the sales team of their specific interests when visiting a company’s website. This then provides companies with the ability to focus resources on the most attractive prospects, significantly increasing business growth and ROI.

Please visit Profunnel’s website for more information on email marketing and lead generation.

Email Marketing a Must

2011-05-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Centre for Economic and Business Research (cebr) has discovered how small businesses are failing to realise the potential of email marketing.

The study illustrates how online channels generate just 2.4 per cent of small organisations’ turnover, suggesting that they are not taking advantage of the web and need to integrate email marketing more readily into their marketing strategies.

According to cebr, companies with fifty employees or less together shared a total Internet revenue of £36 billion in 2010. Comparatively, companies with 250 employees or more turned over a cumulative online income of £394 billion. The figures conclude that larger organisations are more conscious of online benefits including email marketing.

Presence on the web is paramount to maximising your company’s possibilities of profit. Profunnel offer email marketing solutions, tailored to your specific requirements - ensuring that you capitalise on your investment. Our software will increase your B2B lead generation by directing more people into your sales inbox. Additionally our demand generation solution will allow you to conduct your marketing processes simply via a single platform, increasing the efficiency of your business and your ROI.

Find out more about our targeted email marketing services and how we can help your organisation.

Turning Data Into Business

2011-05-13T01:52:00.000-07:00

The recent “The state of Marketing 2011” survey by IBM has highlighted how the marketing industry needs better analytics to turn data into business.

Representing 300 online and direct marketing organisations, the key priority for marketers appears to be a call for more in-depth analytical tools to help increase results. Although they acknowledge that social and mobile marketing are growing – the popularity does not match business productivity.

Additionally, almost 90% of respondents showed interest in integrating technology into their marketing strategy, believing that it is a vital factor in establishing a successful output.

We at Profunnel deliver services that identify and target these issues through our lead generation software. Offering the latest products in demand generation, you can efficiently track online visitor activity allowing your sales people to focus on warm leads. By this, they can observe the interests of potential customers and tailor communication through effective targeted email marketing.

More information on our demand generation software can be found at www.profunnel.co.uk

Social Media Leads the Way

2011-05-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

It is no revelation that social media networking has become a major ingredient in business marketing. The development of various networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, are now usually incorporated in any business strategy – creating opportunity to seek online lead generation and to generate prospects.

However, social media marketing must be carried out in the correct way in order to be effective. It is crucial to interact and engage with social networkers – tailoring your approach by providing expert knowledge that is relevant to the target audience. People will value this knowledge, forming respect, which will effectively generate positive interest, build connections and aid your lead generation.

Having developed a unique ‘Social Media Tracking’ software package, Profunnel can support your business, offering a helpful link between monitoring your B2B lead generation and identifying your ROI with the latest marketing software.

Why not find out more about the demand generation services Profunnel offers.

Email Marketing – Lost in Cyber-Space?

2011-04-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

A recent study by GI Insight has revealed how over half of the UK public believe the emails they receive from companies are irrelevant.

Although having previously been customers to the companies and signing up to their email lists, 53% of the 2,000 consumers surveyed declared that the missives they now receive are unrelated to their interests. This new information highlights how email marketing is not necessarily being used to its greatest potential – indicating that some companies are still not devoting enough resources to ‘personalisation’ within their marketing strategy.

Email marketing holds great value for companies in terms of communication with customers and it is crucial to use email marketing correctly in order to produce maximum lead generation.

Profunnel provides a system which tailors your company’s needs offering a flexible and personalised approach to your email marketing solutions. The software enables you to easily track customers’ activity on your site, which can be adapted to create more precise, directed emails, ultimately delivering greater results.

Why not find out more about the importance of tailored email marketing and how the technology can help grow your business by downloading our latest white paper - Email Marketing is Dead... Unless it's Intelligent.

Online Marketing Prospers

2011-04-21T03:07:00.001-07:00

The latest report by IPA/BDO Bellweather has shown a significant increase in companies turning to internet marketing and predicts a 2.9 per cent boost in online advertising and social media spending.

Online marketing is fast becoming the preferred approach for companies due to the advanced functionality and clearer ROI delivered by activities such as email marketing, social media tracking and online lead generation. However, this can be time consuming and costly when using multiple software applications. Profunnel offers all of these services and more from just one platform, allowing companies to economically optimise targeted email marketing solutions and online marketing activity through the latest demand generation technology.

For more information on B2B lead generation from Profunnel, please click here

LinkedIn Favourite Social Media Channel For Marketers

2011-04-14T07:07:00.001-07:00

According to a recent research report by BtoB, LinkedIn is the favourite social media channel among marketers.

The study revealed that out of all of the social media channels 26% of respondents preferred LinkedIn, followed by Facebook with 20%, blogging (19%) and customer communities (14%). Surprisingly, Twitter was favoured by only 13% of marketers.

Whatever the channel, social media has become an integral part of B2B marketing and is most effective when used in collaboration with other marketing activities. Social media tracking is an effective method for companies to employ to ensure they get the most out of social media activity.

Profunnel offers a social media marketing package, which incorporates various systems to optimise your use of Social Media channels. The software offers services on; creating marketing campaigns, tracking the impact of blogs and building pages to track and capture incoming traffic.

For more information on the technology available click here.

Online Journey – Key to Marketing Success

2011-04-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

Web forensics enables marketers to track the activity of individuals and companies that visit their web site and to direct them to information that relates to their area of interest. The technology monitors visitors, collating information that builds knowledge on customer interests.

These details are essential for online marketing, but what turns a visit into a sale is the identification and recording of the customers’ online journey - not just the information required to hit a person’s mailbox.

With lead generation technology, businesses are able to understand their customers’ behaviour and respond with targeted actions. Companies can create campaigns and nurture leads, building relationships and developing trust with potential buyers, which in turn leads to more successful outcomes.

For more information on the technology available click here.

Growth of Online Advertising Highlights Importance of Internet to Business

2011-03-31T03:31:00.003-07:00

According to the BBC, online advertising has broken through the £4bn barrier– growing by 12.8% in 2010.

The Internet now accounts for a quarter of all advertising spending in the UK, according to figures, highlighting the importance of the Internet for both consumers and business alike.

But for businesses in both the B2B and B2C sectors it is building increased understanding of customers that is becoming key – this is what will help not just plan advertising, but it will also drive lead generation and improve conversion rates. Your website is key to this customer insight – who is visiting your website, where they have come from, what they are interested in on your site, where they are in the buying cycle and more – to give you the knowledge you need to maximise sales and marketing performance.

For companies to achieve this, lead generation software through Profunnel can help you nurture for the future, allowing companies to really understand potential business, communicate more effectively with individuals, and manage relationships.

Click here for more information on our marketing automation technology.

Growth of Online Advertising Highlights Importance of Internet to Business

2011-03-31T03:31:00.002-07:00

According to the BBC, online advertising has broken through the £4bn barrier– growing by 12.8% in 2010.

The Internet now accounts for a quarter of all advertising spending in the UK, according to figures, highlighting the importance of the Internet for both consumers and business alike.

For more information on the technology available click here.

Planning for the Future

2011-03-25T06:14:00.002-07:00

The confidence of business was restored a little this week with George Osborne’s budget - the Telegraph reported that the new measures will encourage investment and boost the amount of funds for companies keen to capitalise on growth opportunities.

This boost should pave the way for further development and success, and for sales and marketing it means making the most of the opportunities being opened up.

By integrating lead generation technology into your plans, business can not only improve the understanding it has about the behaviour of its customers, but it can also quickly respond to their needs. This information allows organisations to improve their targeting, conversions, and ultimately ROI.

As the days of Labour rule have vanished so has email blasting. Sales and marketing needs to understand its online customer is vital to the company’s sustained growth - from responses to e-letters and social media activity, businesses can develop a digital fingerprint to tailor its communication and focus on hot prospects.

Find out how lead generation technology needs to be on every company’s budget this financial year.

The Development of IT Has Changed the Face of Marketing

2011-03-18T07:38:00.001-07:00

According to the Financial Times, the development of IT has changed and evolved the role of marketing and sales in business.

The article highlighted that the development of software such as CRM has become a key tool to improve efficiency in business, resulting directly in greater success.

However, the development of technology has moved on from simply employing CRM software – it now enables business to integrate a range of different approaches such as email marketing, social media and CRM systems. Only by bringing everything together and gaining insight into what works and when, can each channel be developed to reinforce the others, improving the success of the overall marketing and sales activity.

Technology such as Profunnel’s demand generation platform delivers incredible visibility over campaigns, together with the ability to enhance both tactical and strategic marketing activity. By integrating with the CRM system it means companies can create, control and manage campaigns across key media, while giving insight into why, when and how your customers are most likely to buy.

Click here for more information on the demand generation technology available.

The Key to Customer Engagement – Your Website

2011-03-10T03:40:00.000-08:00

In a competitive B2B world, first impressions of your website are essential in turning prospects into customers. A successful website must engage its audience from the outset.

Information such as white papers and a regularly updated blog provide added value and give a reason for customers to keep visiting the site. But while content attracts visitors, businesses need to understand how to turn this website traffic into new customers.

The key to this is following your website visitors from their first visit through their whole journey - how often a lead visits your site, how long they spend there and what they look at gives companies an incredible insight and understanding of potential customers.

It’s here that using a quality forensics solution to understand visitor actions comes into its own, giving your team the information it needs to improve communications and ultimately sales. The latest technology goes far beyond just the basic analytics, delivering knowledge that can enhance business performance and put you ahead of the competition.

Tailored Communication - The Future of Sales and Marketing

2011-03-02T07:15:00.000-08:00

Sales and marketing are both now realising that having detailed customer information allows them to decrease the time spent in the sales cycle and focus their resources more effectively for more positive results. To achieve this, a more productive process is needed both in terms of capturing and understanding customer insight, and then tailoring communication.

Lead generation technology enables both sales and marketing to engage potential customers by gaining valuable information about their prospect’s key interest and buying behaviour. As a result, communication can be carefully targeted and highly relevant, with a tailored approach ensuring that potential customers are not turned off by irrelevant messages. With the focus now directed on improving communication, this allows companies to stand out from competitors. Get it right and you’ll give your sales team opportunities that they can really work with and put an end to chasing cold leads.

For more information on the tailored approach to communication visit www.profunnel.co.uk.

The Social Side To Lead Generation

2011-02-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

With sales and marketing having to squeeze more results from constrained budgets, the companies that have enjoyed most success are the ones who have taken up the challenge and done something new, embracing new technology and opportunities. Key to success in this field is the ability to co-ordinate sales and marketing activity – increasingly influential in this is lead generation technology, providing a far greater insight into customer behaviour, sales patterns and communication.

While some companies have just got their heads around the Internet, the incredible rise of social media has changed the playing field once again and it is now integral to the online strategies of many companies.

With its growth, organisations are recognising that social media cannot be ignored – but they need technology that will incorporate social media tagging and tracking solutions if they are to truly understand and act on the full potential sites such as Twitter and Facebook offer. Today’s lead generation technology brings this value, enabling companies to identify, track and nurture customers through the full range of sales and marketing channels, building stronger relationships and maximising new opportunities– click here for more information.

Search Engines No Longer the Only Priority For Online Business

2011-02-18T06:52:00.000-08:00

It has been reported recently that Bing powered searches may be taking market share from Google. Irrespective of the search engine, companies need to change their focus from how visitors get to their website to what visitors are doing when they arrive at their site. This is the most valuable data for companies to gather and understand if they are to turn website visitors into new customers.

Recognising potential customers’ interests while on a website provides companies with a winning edge over competitors. The ability to tag and track website visitors opens up a new world of opportunity, providing insight into prospects’ buying motivations and behaviour throughout the sales cycle. Building knowledge of who wants to buy and when is crucial to sales success, and this is only possible by understanding and driving customer actions on your website.

With the latest lead generation technology companies can build invaluable insight into customer behaviour and use this to successfully nurture prospects. Click here for more information on how to improve your sales through the effective use of your website with Demand Generation.

What Can White Papers Do for Lead Generation?

2011-02-10T02:02:00.001-08:00

The answer is a lot. Many companies underestimate the importance of white papers and what they can do for your company, but their content is key in establishing new leads.

White papers play a role at the beginning of the buying process – they help establish you as an expert in your market, while offering a great introduction or reminder of the services/products you offer. They work successfully as part of an email marketing campaign, generating warm leads from people keen to find out more about what you offer. The result is increased conversion rates for sales, while those leads that are not yet ready to buy can be nurtured over time.

Effective email marketing with white papers is all about generating solid leads for your business. Communication can now be carefully targeted and highly relevant, with a content rich approach that potential customers find useful. Get this right and you’ll give your sales team opportunities that they can really work with.

The leads are out there and white papers can help. For more information on white papers visit Profunnel the learn about demand generation

How To Get Involved in Demand Generation?

2011-01-28T03:55:00.001-08:00

With more channels now available for marketers and the targeting of key decision makers becoming more difficult, there is a need for marketers to reassess their activity to ensure it is up-to-date in today’s business environment.

The B2B market has changed dramatically - buyers now have access to your company and your competitors at the click of a button. So how do you stand out from the crowd? It’s all about having the necessary information available – who is your potential buyer, what are their interests and where are they in the buying process.

Lead generation technology provides the intelligence in the new world of B2B marketing. By providing the information about potential customers, their interests and where they are in the buying cycle, it allows marketing and sales to work together to drive forward new business.

Why is it more successful? The importance of relationship building cannot be undervalued. By creating campaigns and nurturing leads, users are able to build relationships and develop trust with potential buyers, which in turn leads to more successful outcomes.

Take a look at the latest lead generation technology - it can achieve far more than you may ever expect.

The Alternative Shift in B2B Marketing

2011-01-19T04:19:00.000-08:00

The rapid rise of smartphones is changing the face of B2B marketing. No longer do businesses market to other businesses – instead they market to individuals, as the mix of work and social life coincides.

This change has made personalisation in business key, and knowledge of potential customers essential to winning new business. So how do companies develop this knowledge and is it difficult?

With more potential customers now online, you need to interact with them and nurture them from the start to help win their business - and this is where the latest lead generation technology can really help. Incorporating social media tagging and tracking solutions, together with powerful insights into customer reaction and behaviour over time, you can now build understanding of individuals and communicate far more effectively through email, Twitter, blogs and more, responding quickly to potential interest.

It’s a shift in approach that can work wonders. Tell us your experiences of the changing B2B market…

An Irritating Advert? Surely not…

2011-01-12T07:45:00.001-08:00

Marketing magazine’s poll of the most irritating adverts of 2010 is out. Revealed as the most annoying is the GoCompare advert, with other companies in the top 20 including Webuyanycar and Injurylawyers4U.

Depending on the different marketing strategies, companies may see this as a positive - they’ve achieved the brand awareness they crave. It’s all about tailoring the communication to achieve ROI – but be wary of turning off potential customers.

While advertising can be a very effective tool, there are now many different channels to reach your customer in both B2C and B2B marketing – depending on what you want to achieve, and most importantly your budget.

Knowing your customer and what they are interested in is paramount to sales success, having that knowledge will ultimately win companies more business. A marketing automation technology will be able to identify, track and nurture customers, building stronger relationships and strengthening the brand.

Why not tell us which is your most annoying advert?

Positive Signs for Stock Market

2011-01-07T01:31:00.000-08:00

With the stock market showing positive signs coming into the New Year, how are companies to excel in the competitive yet still recovering economy?

Maintaining the customers you have is as essential as bringing in new business, and to achieve both you need to really understand those you are selling to and communicate more effectively with them.

For marketing and sales this means using customer knowledge to target the right people, at the right time, to win new business and keep existing clients. This is where demand generation technology comes in; delivering a valuable insight into what motivates your customers, when and how. Building a more in-depth understanding of each customer is key – from their response to e-letters, social media activity and more you can develop a digital fingerprint that enables you to tailor your communication and focus on hot prospects.

Why not find out more about how lead generation technology can help grow your business?

It may be cold outside, but don’t rest on your laurels…

2010-12-21T03:17:00.000-08:00

In today’s Telegraph the Centre for Economics and Business Research has suggested that the snow disruption will cost Britain's economy £1 billion for every day that the icy conditions disrupt travel and business operations such as retail.

With the cold weather continuing, many have decided to write off this period and look ahead to the New Year, but in terms of sales it’s worth being proactive. Despite the impact the snow has had on business operations, many people are still in the office planning and budgeting for 2011, so take advantage of what may be a quiet time to follow up warm leads and start building opportunities for the new year.

The leads are out there, and marketing automation software through Profunnel can help you nurture them for the future, so don’t rest on your laurels while the cold continues to bite – make the most of this time so you’re in a prime position for 2011.

2011 – Make It A Year of Growth

2010-12-15T04:38:00.001-08:00

According to a survey by Deloitte more than 90% of businesses in the UK have predicted growth in revenue in the New Year.

Deloitte’s annual Entrepreneurship UK report revealed that over 50% of business leaders that were surveyed forecast that there will be at least 10% revenue growth in 2011. This figure highlights the positive shift in UK business compared with 2009, when 20% of entrepreneurs predicted declining revenues in the oncoming year.

With more companies predicting growth this is a great opportunity for businesses to boost their sales effort and increase revenue. There are many different ways to achieve this, from implementing new approaches to lead generation, more effective online strategies, next generation email marketing and social media campaigns, to strengthening customer relationships through more targeted communications.

With the business outlook for 2011 looking more positive, why not find out more about how new approaches to lead generation can help grow your business and increase your revenue?

How will the ‘digital hub’ affect business?

2010-12-09T03:59:00.001-08:00

As the Government unveils its plans to create a ‘digital hub’ in every community in the country, as part of an £830 million strategy to make sure the UK has the best broadband network in Europe by 2015, the new plans are set to have a huge impact on business.

Faster broadband will mean increased Internet usage for both consumers and business, enabling people to more easily research their options, make an informed choice and buy online. As a result, it is even more important for businesses in both the B2B and B2C sectors to build their customer understanding and use online marketing to maximum effect.

With more potential customers surfing the web, you need to interact with them and nurture them from the start to help win their business - and this is where the latest marketing technology can really help such as marketing automation. The boost in broadband is set to help us all, but as a business you need to capitalise early on the opportunities out there.

Visit the BBC article for more information on the Government’s broadband plans.

SEO is Only the Beginning

2010-12-03T01:32:00.001-08:00

Web activity and maximising online visibility through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become a critical component in lead generation for businesses in all sectors. But strong SEO is only the beginning for companies.

While SEO is an important marketing tool, it cannot be solely relied upon to increase sales. Attracting visitors to your website is the first step of the new business chain – but once they are there, how do you make sure they keep on returning and ultimately purchase your product or service? The key to this is building understanding of these visitors – where they have come from, what they are interested in on your website, where they are in the buying cycle and more.

So how can you achieve this? Next generation web forensics (tagging & tracking individual activity) enables companies to really understand potential business, nurture it, communicate more effectively with individuals, and manage those relationships. Not all web forensics offers this ability, so now’s the time to get ahead of the competition, find out more about improving your Lead Generation

Getting to Grips with Multi-Channel Marketing

2010-11-26T02:52:00.000-08:00

The number of marketing channels continues to grow, meaning marketers have to become adept at co-ordinating, and juggling, a mix of activities - from direct marketing to pay-per-click, social media, email and more.

Companies big and small are quickly moving to a multi-channel approach, but those that are seeing a real improvement in their ROI are using the latest technology to co-ordinate their campaigns and maximise the impact of the work they do. Only by brining everything together and gaining insight into what works and when, can each channel be developed to reinforce the others, improving the success of the overall marketing activity.

For more information on multi-channel marketing click here

‘Digital Finger Printing’ Now Core for Sales Success

2010-11-17T03:57:00.001-08:00

Over the last decade the growth of the Internet has seen the customer buying process change dramatically. Now businesses that fail to capture, tag and track vital information about the many elusive visitors to their website are unlikely to survive.

Understanding who these visitors are, what motivates them, where they are in the buying cycle and more – the technology,such as demand generation, is now available to build this into an in-depth profile of your prospects – their ‘digital finger prints’ – that gives sales people the edge they need to win the business.

This ability to tag and track website visitors opens up a new world of opportunity, providing insight into prospects’ buying motivations and behaviour throughout the sales cycle. Rather than giving just an overview of the website’s performance, it builds knowledge of who wants to buy and when – creating the digital fingerprint, or DNA, that is crucial to sales success.

For more information the Profunnel White Paper on the importance of digital fingerprinting is available for free download here.

Taking Advantage of Social Media

2010-11-10T02:41:00.000-08:00

The growth of social media in recent years has been phenomenal, not only for individuals but also for companies and brands. So how can companies take full advantage of this opportunity to develop their business?

Firstly plan your social media activity as part of the overall company marketing strategy, taking in appropriate channels such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Once you become actively involved in social media you’ll need to track and respond to numerous tweets and posts. This can be very time consuming for companies, but it’s vital to maximise the impact. Fortunately there are now social media tagging and tracking solutions that make the process a lot easier.

By allowing these software solutions to analyse your social media activity, companies can quickly respond to potential interest, helping develop business and increase sales. Any leads generated can be tracked and monitored, creating demonstrable ROI on your social media activities and supporting future planning.

Click here for more information on social media tracking

Email Marketing Continues to Grow

2010-11-05T05:03:00.000-07:00

According to new research by Econsultancy, the email marketing industry has increased by 15 per cent year-on-year. The research revealed that email marketing is worth £336 million to date this year.

There are many reasons for this increase in email marketing, but one of the most fundamental is that companies are now finding that email marketing can be successfully, easily and cost-effectively integrated into their overall marketing activity. From big business to SMEs, companies are embracing email to support both tactical and strategic marketing campaigns.

Add to this the latest tracking and tagging technology, which allows companies to monitor customer response and action on every element of an e-shot, and now we are seeing email marketing becoming far more targeted and personalised. The result is increased lead generation for companies and improved ROI – elements no company should turn their back on.

Click here for more information on email marketing software

UK Economic Growth Positive for Business

2010-10-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

This week’s news that the UK economy has grown at 0.8% between July and September, faster than expected by analysts, is a welcome boost for business of all size. Positive news such as this gives us all a feel good factor.

But no one can sit back and expect this announcement to mean new business will simply land in their laps. If a company is going to grow and flourish, you need to be targeting new opportunities and taking advantage of the boost this economic announcement offers.

For marketing and sales this means taking advantage of the customer knowledge they have -targeting the right people, at the right time, to win business. Building a more in-depth understanding of each customer is key – from their reactions to e-letters, social media activity, historical data and more. This is where lead generation technology comes into its own, delivering a more powerful insight into what motivates your customers and achieving far higher conversion rates.

With a more positive feeling about the economy, why not find out more about how marketing automation technology can help grow your business?

How to move forward when the B2B sales environment changes

2010-10-21T01:53:00.000-07:00

The B2B sales environment has changed drastically in recent years and marketing teams are now seeking out new ways to generate business in difficult economic times.

When money is tight, people are less inclined to buy, which can result in companies finding it difficult to reach potential prospects. Many organisations are now altering their sales and marketing tactics to reflect this change and many are choosing to integrate marketing automation systems into their strategy.

How can marketing automation help your business? By addressing situations such as decreased sales engagement, the lead generation technology allows marketing to turn cold prospects into warm prospects before passing these to sales - ensuring a more efficient and intelligent solution.

Why is it more successful? The importance of relationship building is not to be undervalued. By creating campaigns and nurturing leads, users are able to build relationships and develop trust with potential buyers, which in turn leads to more successful outcomes.

Marketing automation takes e-marketing to the next level and helps companies to adjust to the new sales environment. For more information on marketing automation solutions and how they can help your business visit www.profunnel.co.uk.

CRM and Social Media

2010-10-15T03:10:00.000-07:00

With the rapid rise of social media, technology has been developed to help use this to a competitive advantage. Social media is now integral to nurturing customer relationships, and gaining a competitive edge to win sales.

The technology has developed to allow users to maximise the potential of social media and integrate with their CRM activity, providing a far greater insight and understanding into their customers’ activities, motivations and touchpoints. The results allow sales and marketing to deliver a more co-ordinated communication programme to generate sales, which in today’s competitive market can be crucial in winning business.

For example, many of our customers, through our system, now create social site-specific links (tracking URLs) back to homepages or landing pages with in-depth tracking and reporting capabilities. This means clients can now publish content on social networking sites through our system, while tracking and monitoring responses, which enables better understanding of potential business and drives enhanced future marketing from the best performing social media sources.

Predicted Increase Of Digital Marketing For 2011

2010-10-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

Over two thirds of marketers believe that there will be an increase in digital marketing budgets in 2011 (according to research by LinkShare), resulting in greater scope for more targeted, creative and measured campaigns in the coming year.

Add to this the growth of the Internet and social media and it means that there are a growing number of options available for maximising your business potential online. The speed at which the online arena is developing is incredible, giving sales people the ability to target and highly personalise communication to achieve a demonstrable return on their investment. With marketing automation technology companies will be able to identify, track and nurture customers, building stronger relationships and strengthening the brand.

With online marketing playing an increasing role in business success, take a look at the latest lead generation technology - it can achieve far more than you may ever expect.

Natural Selection – Survival of the Fittest

2010-09-30T01:51:00.000-07:00

Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection highlights the importance of survival of the fittest – this iconic theory can also be applied to the world of business.

Businesses that do not constantly evolve and adapt to changing external environments cannot excel and with a variety of competitors snapping at their heels survival is unlikely. The need for new and innovative sales and marketing techniques is vital for organisational success.

Organisations need to stay ahead of the competition, bringing in new business and building customer relationships for the long term. Gone are the days when cold calling was the only option for sales, the landscape has now changed and decision makers are looking for new sales and marketing techniques to drive forward new business.

So how do companies flourish in competitive times?

Why not download our latest white paper - Natural Selection – Survival of the Fittest

There's no business like new business

2010-09-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Bank of England has reported that business lending contracted for the fifth month running in July - so how can organisations help themselves grow in the current economic climate? The key lies in generating a strong stream of new business.

In a tough market it’s not enough for companies to rely on existing clients - bringing in new business and revenue streams is essential to success. But how do you do this effectively and achieve a positive return on your sales investment?

It’s all about creating warm prospects, rather than cold calling to win business. Nurturing potential new clients – building your understanding of their motivations, touchpoints, timelines and more - so that you can communicate with them effectively at the right time, when they are ready to buy.

Marketing automation can achieve this, with technology that helps build customer relationships, and demonstrates clear ROI, helping companies grow through new business wins.

EU Forecasts Growth

2010-09-14T00:55:00.000-07:00

Amid all the talk of spending cuts, the latest news that the European Commission has raised its forecast for growth in the EU this year is a shot of positivity.

After what has been referred to as "particularly strong" growth in the second quarter, the Commission is now predicting growth in 2010 of 1.8% in the EU, up from an earlier estimate of 1%. For the UK it is now projecting expansion of 1.7%, up from 1.2%.

For British business this should boost optimism for the future, and encourage business to look for the sales opportunities – both in the UK and overseas – that exist. Having an effective lead generation system is crucial to support this, enabling companies to gain an enviable insight into the motivations of potential customers, and communicate with them when they are actually ready to buy.

With the future looking brighter, why not make the most of the latest lead generation technology and be part of the growth?

Cold calling becomes warm calling

2010-09-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

A study by Which? has found that British consumers receive an average of six cold calls a month, with three-quarters of people wanting cold calling to be banned for good.

B2B sales is a little different but while we’re advocates of picking up the phone and being proactive, why call 200 people a week who have no interest in your company or services when you can call 200 who are interested in what you offer?

Targeted marketing programs and increased understanding of customer motivations and requirements hold the key. This is where marketing automation comes into its own, enabling an organisation to optimise every visitor to its website, establishing who the visitor is, when they return to the website, where their interests lie and, crucially, when they are ready to buy.

The result gives sales people the knowledge to target their calls far more effectively, builds a complete picture of the customer journey and develops the relationship – resulting in higher conversions and improved ROI. What company wouldn’t want that?

Summer's Over....

2010-09-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

With the summer holidays coming to an end many businesses are ready to take decisions, make investments and implement new activity to support them through the coming months. Areas that seemed to be on hold can suddenly come to life as key decision makers return from the beach to the office.

It’s now that sales communication and knowledge is key – getting your message and credentials in front of the right people at the right time. Make sure your sales team plans their activity carefully – making use of the latest technology to understand what makes visitors to your website tick and alerts you to follow up those contacts who are coming up to a review.

As businesses swing back into the fast lane, it’s vital to be ready to take advantage of the opportunities, but you’ll only be able to do this if you know about them. Marketing automation technology can be the key to unlock this sales potential – for a demonstration of how it can help you click here.

Strong Turnout for Webinar as Businesses Look to Support Sales Activity

2010-08-23T17:15:00.000-07:00

Last week saw the running of Profunnel’s latest Webinar, hosted by MD Matthew Hall and Kevin Miller – a leading US authority on lead generation for businesses.

Over 120 business people took part, attracted by the opportunity to discover more about the latest technology and the support it offers for their sales and marketing activity.

Kevin spoke about his experience and how Profunnel’s approach can help nurture customer relationships, enabling a more personal, targeted approach for sales. Co-ordinating with CRM systems, sales calls, on and offline marketing activity and more, Profunnel’s technology offers a far stronger and more integrated process that is proven to build revenue streams.

The response from participants was extremely positive, with a Q&A session allowing them to find out more about how Profunnel can help their sales teams, particularly in the current market.

More Webinars are planned for the future, but if you’d like to register to find out more click here.

The Next Generation

2010-08-16T09:08:00.001-07:00

With A level results due this week, thousands of young people across the UK will be deciding on their next steps and future careers. For many, sales and marketing will be a popular choice - offering career progression and good earning potential.

Key to success in this field is the ability to co-ordinate sales and marketing activity, working with the latest on- and offline channels to maximise business potential. Increasingly influential is the marketing automation technology available, providing a far greater insight into customer behaviour, sales patterns and communication than ever before.

The next generation of sales professionals will benefit from the new approach of ‘nurturing’ customers – something that we are already seeing deliver results. The future will see customer contact, relationships and understanding develop even more, giving sales people a far greater influence in business operations and growth.

Free Profunnel Webinar on Latest Demand Generation Technology – 19th August at 1pm

2010-08-12T06:22:00.000-07:00

We’ll be joining forces with US e-marketing specialist SalesFUSION next week to host a free webinar to discuss the cutting edge technology now available to sales and marketing teams in the UK.

Set to take place on 19th August at 1pm, the webinar will see Profunnel’s Managing Director Matthew Hall host the event alongside Kevin Miller, Executive Vice President Marketing & Sales of SalesFUSION, with the 45 minute discussion set to be followed by a live Q&A session to enable further analysis of the topics covered.

Areas that will be covered during the free webinar include insight into the latest advancements in web forensics (tagging & tracking individual activity); marketing automation; social media and pay-per-click tracking; email marketing; and CRM integration, allowing companies to identify, track and nurture website visitors, while delivering more effective online marketing and clearer ROI.

To find out more about how demand generation technology can help boost your sales, register for your webinar free place here.

Big Brother Watching?

2010-08-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

It may seem a bit Orwellian, but the new era of web forensics can give you an incredible insight and understanding of your customers - and in the current market that knowledge may be just the edge you need to win business.

Web forensics is all about getting to grips with the ‘journey’ your customer makes through your website – how they are interacting and using the site to meet their requirements. It now goes way beyond the basics and instead allows you to tag individual visitors, tracking them through their activity and the sales process. This information is invaluable to sales people and marketeers, helping them understand individual motivations, target communication and increase conversion rates.

The key to success is to make sure your forensics solution gives the control and analysis your team needs to improve customer communication and sales – not just the basic analytics, but something much more powerful. You may feel like Big Brother watching visitors to your site, but the truth is that you will be able to deliver a better, more tailored service to each and every visitor.

The Email Conundrum

2010-08-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

Email is quick and cost-effective to marketeers, but with many of us receiving hundreds – if not thousands - of emails every week, is it really able to get results?

While email technology now offers incredible control, targeting and creativity, some companies stick their heads in the sand and continue with their email ‘blastings’ to all and sundry. Then they complain that e-marketing is getting no results. No surprises there. In the current market you need to be more targeted, more creative and more co-ordinated - it’s about nurturing contacts rather than bombarding them.

Effective email marketing is focused on improving communication, allowing powerful segmentation and generating solid leads for your business. Communication can now be carefully targeted and highly relevant, with a tailored approach completely missed by the poor mass mailings still used by many. Get it right and you’ll give your sales team opportunities that they can really work with.

The leads are out there, and the business can be yours for the taking, but don’t let poor email marketing hold you back and turn potential clients off.

The Sales and Marketing Coalition

2010-06-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

Be honest have you ever seen sales and marketing really working together? I am sure that you may have seen marketing sending marketing campaigns out only to blame sales for not following them up and then sales blaming marketing for sending poor leads.

Doesn't this sound like recent election debates where Cameron hits Brown with a "budget deficit" and Brown retorts with an "endangering the recovery." Meanwhile Clegg has a pop at both of them in the pre-coalition Punch and Judy show.

How funny now that we see the Consertives in bed with the Lib Dems. They are going to have to make it work if they want to make the difference we are all hoping.

So how do you bring sales and marketing together more closely? Could the advent of marketing automation software signal a similar shift in the politics of the sales and marketing departments?

Why not download our latest white paper - The Sales and Marketing Coalition

Catching Sparks and Lighting Fires

2010-06-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Website visitors are like those sparks you see when Ray Mears try's to light his fire in the wilderness, they come and they go. One minute they are there and the next they disappear. The key is to know how to catch these sparks and add them to fuel to create a roaring fire or in the case of a website a purchase or enquiry, marketing automation can help you with this.

Most website owners see huge amount of website visitors disappearing. Now is the time we need to catch more sparks learn how to do this with Profunnels new white paper - Catching Sparks and Lighting Fires

Hot Dates and Hot Prospects OR Blind Dates and Cold Calling - Your Call !!!

2010-06-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

Generating leads is like dating - you need interest, intelligence and rapport; marketing automation may not save your love life but it will grow your sales revenues. Profunnel has just launched its new white paper download it today.

Profunnel Launches

2010-05-29T00:13:00.000-07:00

We are delighted to announce that Profunnel has launched in the UK. Working alongside our key partner SalesFUSION our aim is to bring a new approach to generating business.

Most sales people, marketers, and business owners will recognise the need in a competitive market that new business and lead generation is essential to the growth or survival of a business.

Therefore understanding how, why, when and what your website traffic is doing on your site is essential. However much more more importantly is the ability to utilise all of this information to understand where your website traffic sits in terms of their buying cycle. Then to use a marketing system that will communicate to an audience when they are ready to be spoken to rather than simply cold calling or monthly newsletter blasts. This is where our marketing automation solution can help your business.

Profunnel online marketing automation solution offers the complete solution which enables improved lead generation and higher conversions for a very small cost.

This blog will be for those who want to join us on this new approach in the UK. It will be full of innovative and informative information, tips and thoughts on the world of marketing automation and lead generation for the online community.