Integrating Social Media Proves Powerful For Customer Engagement

A report by Virgin Media Business highlights how more companies are realising the success they can achieve through the use of social media for customer engagement.

Reported by Computer Business Review, the study, which surveyed over 5,000 companies, reveals that businesses are focussing on just one or two social media channels – selecting the tools which work best for their strategy. British businesses are becoming more aware of the benefits of social media to engage customers with 43% of the respondents reporting they use this form of communication, an 8% increase on last year.

Incorporating social media into a marketing strategy is certainly proving to be a beneficial tool for businesses, however integrating this with traditional methods, such as targeted email marketing, means the overall marketing activity can be more effective. Profunnel offers a platform which includes various marketing solutions, such as social media tracking, to assist sales and marketing teams in building relationships with prospects, and to generate more sales.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation

Over Half of Businesses Plan to Increase Marketing Spend

The latest survey by research group Mindmetre shows a growth in confidence from businesses when planning their marketing budget for 2012.

As reported by the BBC, 57.1% of the 2,000 firms questioned said they are looking to invest more in marketing while only 18.6% plan to make cuts. By comparison, the same survey in 2011 showed only 41% of companies wanting to increase their marketing budget and 42% had to prepare to cut back. Although there are worries over the UK being hit with another recession, these figures reflect how business owners understand the importance of spending in the right areas to encourage company growth.

One way to improve marketing productivity while seeing a clear return on investment is by integrating demand generation technology. A platform such as Profunnel’s will assist marketing and sales teams with their B2B lead generation, by increasing lead quantity, quality and conversion rates. Sales people are alerted of the activity and interests of warm allowing them target prospects with automated emails, tailored to suit their interests in specific services and products. This level of communication allows sales people to engage with leads who are at the final stages in the buying cycle - creating a greater rate for securing sales.

Visit Profunnel for more information on demand generation.

Growing Concerns Over Personal Data Security

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.

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Information Is Just As Important As The Technology

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

Number of Marketing Jobs Higher Now than Pre-Recession

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.

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Social Media Week – Is Your Business on Board?

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

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

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

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

Businesses Focus More on the Customer Journey

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

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

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.

What is the Key to Business Success?

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.

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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

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

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

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

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

Time is of the Essence for SME’s

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

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

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.