On a recent Delta flight to St. Louis, I couldn’t help but notice John Slattery and Christina Hendricks staring at me. OK, so maybe it was from the cover of a magazine, but either way I was hooked. The “Mad Men” duo was featured on the cover of this month’s Delta SKY Magazine for a story entitled “The Mad, Mad World of Advertising.” I held in my hands 19 pages of pure advertising genius. Obviously, the entire thing was a very creative and well-thought out spread, but it was a small article that ran on the bottom of five pages that caught my eye. This article, “Advertising Goes Ambient,” showcases some of the more creative marketing outlets that are just being tapped into. It's been said that the average human has an attention span of 15 seconds, and with all the distractions saturating our day, marketers have to work harder than ever to catch (and keep) our attention. Kudos to the following savvy marketers who are proving to be as creative as ever.
Gas Station TV
So you’re pumping gas, which means your car and radio are off. If you don’t have enough phone apps to get you through those 3 excruciating minutes, just look up! According to the article, Gas Station TV reaches more than 20 million viewers a month.
LED Boats
We already see advertisements on just about everything that moves: cars, trucks, airplanes, etc. It was only natural that these efforts would eventually move to the water. In Shanghai, boats are becoming the new billboards. Check them out the next time you hop over the Pacific.
Methacrylate Box
Now THIS is cool. To promote new Vodafone products and services, Waskman inserted themselves into the ad by temporarily moving their offices to a cozy methacrylate box, 33 feet above the ground in Bilbao and Madrid.
Segway Ads
This marketing effort kills two birds with one stone. Not only does the Segway give you decent real estate for an ad, you also have a live human who’s ready to interact with customers. KFC used this tactic to promote its Chicken & Biscuit Bowl and to pass out coupons.
Golf Hole Ads
This new marketing outlet will have you sprinting for the beverage cart. Heineken recently bought ad space inside golf holes. GENIUS.
Interactive Ads
In busy areas like malls and airports, ads line every inch of wall space, so what will make people pay attention to yours? If you can’t answer that question, you have bigger problems. But for the time being, invest in interactive advertising. These ads invite passers-by to physically participate in entertainment and games.
For more on how the world of advertising is changing (and how it’s not), check out the July 2010 issue of Delta SKY magazine. And don’t forget to check out the “Mad Men” season premiere this Sunday, July 25, at 10PM ET on AMC.
Elizabeth Reaves is an account coordinator for MLT Creative, an Atlanta advertising agency which specializes in B2B marketing.
Think Outside the Inbox is a great reference for all things marketing automation, a subject about which there is so much information floating around right now that it tends to be overwhelming. Thankfully, Adam Blitzer and David Cummings were able to take some of the most useful information (specifically regarding B2B) and round it up into one handy guide.
By covering the high points right away, the authors have made sure that every bit of this 155-page handbook is relevant to B2B marketers. The guide provides a lot of useful information, but not to the point of overload or redundancy. And unlike many other resources out there on the subject, this book explains how to apply marketing automation to every step of your online processes. From customer relationship management to bid management software, the authors cover them all.
Examples of current marketing automation efforts can become repetitive, but Think Outside the Box includes engaging examples that make you even more willing to read on. In Chapter 1, the authors introduce you to the FBM (Fuller Brush Man) and his old-school American approach to sales; and in Chapter 4, Blitzer and Cummings draw you in by relating lead generation to the ways people go about finding love in all the wrong (and right) places, from dive bars to Match.com. I'm also a huge fan of Ardath Albee and her approach to marketing automation, so I was thrilled to see her mentioned various times throughout the guide.
Think Outside the Inbox is a must-have for any B2B marketer's library. The industry is constantly shifting, and without a basic knowledge of marketing automation under your belt, you will quickly be left in the dust. Way to go, David Cummings and Adam Blitzer, on creating a great tool for B2B marketers!
Elizabeth Reaves is an account coordinator for MLT Creative, an Atlanta advertising agency which specializes in B2B marketing.
As I look back on my first blog series, I must say: I picked quite the subject to tackle. This deep dive into marketing automation has been almost as fun as it has been informational. I still have a lot to learn, and there are definitely more vendors out there that I haven't touched on, but I think I've finally gotten my head around the basics. I hope this series has been as helpful to you as it has to me. Until next time, here are five more marketing automation vendors:
Loop Fuse
Loop Fuse's secret weapon is OneView, the only on-demand sales and marketing automation solution for companies that brings sales and marketing together to form one giant team. OneView also 
answers the industry's need for a system that's easy to use; Loop Fuse can have it up and running for you in minutes, with set-up and CRM integration at no charge. Completely scalable, Loop Fuse is a great resource for companies of all sizes.
Market Bright
Market Bright enables companies to execute campaigns on their own, with automated lead scoring and closed-loop marketing analytics. Market Bright also provides full document storage and asset management. With their eMarketing Enterprise Manager, you can launch new email and web campaigns quickly by pulling data from multiple sources and tracking information through various channels. This allows for more dynamic, faster-paced marketing that can be adjusted on the fly, based on what does or doesn't work. Lead scoring is based on keyword search, regions and partner preferences.
Neolane
Used by more than 170 of the world's leading companies, Neolane is the only enterprise marketing automation software designed to manage, automate and optimize programs across traditional and emerging channels (direct mail, email and mobile). It allows you to manage campaigns, resources, customer data and analytics, all from a single platform. Neolane's software includes: campaign management software, MRM, interaction and message center. It can be easily integrated with all CRM and SFA systems, including Salesforce.com. Neolane is successful because it links three important functions: demand generation, lead management and measurement.
Pardot
Home of the industry-leading marketing automation suite, Prospect Insight, Pardot's feature set, ease of use and flexibility has made it the choice for more than 275 companies. Prospect Insight is an on-demand marketing automation solution that gives you the ability to show your sales team, in real time, where they should focus their energy in order to maximize ROI. With LeadDeck, you can receive alerts in real time, and Pardot also offers Prospect Insight reports as an iPhone app.
Silverpop
Silverpop is comprised of two segments: Silverpop Engage and Silverpop Engage B2B. It's the leading on-demand marketing automation solution for B2B marketers, and the first to be fully integrated with social networking. With just one click, you can post to Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, MySpace or LinkedIn. Silverpop is also the only source for fully-integrated engagement marketing solutions. You can integrate your email with landing pages and surveys, as well as lead scoring and management. Be sure to check out Silverpop's B2B Marketing University, which teaches B2B marketers the full potential of this new technology.
Elizabeth Reaves is an account coordinator for MLT Creative, an Atlanta advertising agency which specializes in B2B marketing.
Once you've grasped the whole marketing automation concept, you're going to need a vendor to help you follow through. Over my next two blogs, I'll highlight different marketing automation vendors, and what they do that sets them apart. Information is interpreted differently by everyone, so if you see something that looks out of whack, be sure to comment. This is your chance to set the record straight!
Eloqua
Eloqua provides you with contact management, campaign management, lead management and marketing measurement, all in one platform. It's the only vendor that can guarantee customer success, and its customers range from small organizations to large corporations. Eloqua can work with a company that's just getting started, or improve the sophistication of existing marketing efforts.
Genius
Genius is the only marketing automation system that facilitates both lead-nurturing work flows and real-time prospect qualification alerts. It is broken up into two products: Genius Pro and Genius Enterprise. Pro supports all aspects of demand generation and one-to-one communication between sales and their prospects. Enterprise includes everything from Genius Pro, but adds automated lead nurturing, real-time lead conversions and lead scoring. They emphasize their ability to provide real-time alerts, and were rated #1 in Marketing Automation by Appexchange in 2009.
Marketo
Marketo is made up of two sections: Marketo Lead Management and Marketo Sales Insight. They provide solutions for both sales and marketing, and pride themselves on their ability to provide the functionality marketers need to generate more high-quality sales leads. Marketo offers a free trial, as well as no charges for set-up, integration or training. They can have you up and running with their products in just one day. Marketo is a 100% native force.com application, meaning it works inside Salesforce CRM, and it just received a 2010 Codie Award for Best Marketing Solution.
Sage
Sage North America's sole focus is providing business management software and services to small and mid-sized companies. They offer a variety of product support plans to facilitate both customer and partner training, and have the capabilities to fulfill customers' needs in customer management, financial management, inventory management, people management and more. You can specify what types of products are best fit for you by filtering through business need, industry or company size.
SAS
SAS is the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market, as well as the leader in business analytics software and services. They provide the technology and analytics applications to help you thrive both today and tomorrow. They work with large corporations and small companies alike, and their client list includes 92 of the top 100 companies on the 2009 FORTUNE Global 500 List. They were also named by FORTUNE as the #1 company to work for in America.
Stay tuned next week for information on more marketing automation vendors. In the meantime, share your thoughts!
Elizabeth Reaves is an account coordinator for MLT Creative, an Atlanta advertising agency which specializes in B2B marketing.
Last week I explored the process of lead scoring, and today I'll focus on the next step of the marketing automation process: lead nurturing. Once your lead has been appropriately scored and has permitted you to communicate with them, the nurturing process begins. Without a proper lead nurturing program, any lead scoring efforts will prove worthless. In Brian Carroll's article Lead Nurturing - Ripening the Ripe Bananas, he says that up to 80% of marketing expenditures on lead generation are wasted due to lack of commitment and discipline. Try to put yourself in your leads' shoes. 
What kind of attention and information would you want from a prospective vendor? Many buyers look for qualities like trust and credibility. Be sure to provide valuable information that will validate you as a credible source. Make it apparent that you are the best solution to their problem by giving them valuable, accurate information.
Leads don't typically visit a website and decide to buy right away. Actually, longer-term leads represent 77% of potential sales, and are often ignored by salespeople. The average duration of today's complex buying process is about nine months. During this process, leads need to be continuously nurtured, but not driven off. Be sure the messages you send your leads are focused on them and their needs, not about your company and what all you can offer.
Let your leads know you are paying attention to each move they make. If they take any missteps during the buying process (stepping back or jumping forward), it's probably time to take a look at your campaigns and make sure your information is being presented correctly. Lead nurturing programs typically include emails, case studies, white papers and articles.
Ardath Albee suggests drip campaigns as a vital lead nurturing tool. Drip campaigns are automated campaigns that nurture your leads for you. Remember, one size does not fit all. It's important to vary the content at each stage of the drip campaign. For more information on how to maximize your drip campaigning efforts, check out Ardath Albee's Essential Marketing Automation Handbook. As with lead scoring, it's important to constantly audit your efforts and tailor them to fit the needs of your leads. Be sure to nurture not only your leads, but your nurturing programs as well.
Next week, I will begin the first of two blogs focused on marketing automation vendors, and what they can offer you and your business.
Elizabeth Reaves is the account coordinator with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing.
I came to
MLT Creative with a degree in Communications and a minor in Sports Management. Needless to say, my head was spinning when right away I started hearing a whole new language around the office. One term that kept popping up was "marketing automation," which was almost always followed by a discussion of leads and CRMs. Since I was the new girl without a marketing-specific background, I assumed I was alone in my confusion. Turns out just about everyone at the office was uncertain about what marketing automation really is.
Craig Lindberg assigned me the task of researching every aspect of marketing automation. For once, I have the opportunity to write a research paper that will be put to use! I looked into various sources for the answer: Twitter, LinkedIn, B2B marketing professionals and some of the top marketing automation providers. One great source I was able to get my hands on was Ardath Albee's The Essential Marketing Automation Handbook. Albee says that marketing automation is your lead toolbox, because it wouldn't exist without leads, and vice versa. So, in order to understand marketing automation, we have to understand leads.
Over the course of the next few blogs, I will look into different aspects of marketing automation, including lead scoring and lead nurturing, as well as top providers like Eloqua, Genius and Silverpop. For this first entry, I'll stick to the basics of lead scoring.
A lead is a sales opportunity, but in order for you to take advantage of all the information they can offer you, marketing and sales must agree on a definition. It's hard to score a quality lead if sales and marketing don't have the same perception of "quality." Once you have the definition down, you can start the lead scoring process.
According to Barbra Gago, lead scoring is a way to rank prospective customers numerically based on their level of interest. This way, your sales department can identify when leads are sales ready. Scoring is made up of two equally important parts: implicit and explicit information. Implicit data is more telling of your prospects' digital body language, and explicit information illustrates whether your product is right for the prospect.
Leads don't score themselves; it's up to you to figure out what scoring method will tell you the most. Each part of the score should reflect at which level of engagement a lead is, so that your sales team can walk into the relationship knowing what to discuss with the prospect, instead of being redundant. Be sure and audit your leads so you don't waste time trying to discover information that you may already know. Leads should be scored based on every move they make, whether it is clicking through your website, signing up for a webinar or commenting on a blog.
It's important to remember that everything should have a different scoring process, and each action a lead makes will change their score. For example: they will be scored differently if they visit one page rather than multiple pages, they will be scored higher if they visit your product page rather than your employment page, and the highest score a lead can obtain is if they participate in a phone call with sales.
Don't forget that leads can and should be scored negatively when appropriate. Reasons for a reduction in score include inactivity (of at least a month), titles such as "student" or "assistant," and if a lead returns to the nurturing stage after being in sales. Remember, you must continually assess and refine your lead scoring approach to keep up with your constantly changing leads. Once you can track every move your lead is making, you can better understand their needs and decide whether or not they are right for you and your product.
Next week, I'll discuss the process of lead nurturing, but until then be sure to comment and critique!
Elizabeth Reaves is the account coordinator with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing.