The MarketOne team has been following the Eloqua ‘Road to Revenue’ Tour’s progress around the globe and on a grey and cold winter’s day a couple of weeks ago we were pleased to join their event at ETC Prospero House in London. It’s the time of year when the business world is given constant reminders that the year is coming to a rapid conclusion and that there are deadlines to be completed, projects to be finalized and networking opportunities (and festive drinks) not to be missed. For Sales and Marketing teams this translates into an increased pressure to reach targets and measure and report on the results.
‘Road to Revenue’ revisited several familiar themes for modern marketers to keep in mind as they enter 2014.
Oracle’s Yorick Astier presented research showing that while 76% of companies stated that they knew what their customers wanted, only 34% have actually asked them. Yorick encouraged marketers to engage with their clients and build knowledge through the insights that flow from real dialogue.
According to Yorick, statistics also show that fewer than 4% of ‘leads’ generated by Marketing are ultimately closed by Sales. This is a familiar issue faced by companies worldwide, best addressed by introducing an important additional step in the qualification process: using a Teleservices team to confirm that leads generated by Marketing are substantial enough for Sales to take them over. You can read more about this in the SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall, which we published recently.
Peter Kilinc, from Thermo Fisher – European Markie Winners 2013, presented on their use of Appcloud and Eloqua to generate leads. This integrated solution is delivering the greatest proportion of all Sales Qualified Leads via Thermo Fisher’s ongoing webinar program, as well as enabling them to track leads without manual delays and errors. Peter described the results of this investment in automation as: time saved, better content delivered, and improved customer relationships.
2013 could be described as the year of ‘Content Marketing’ and so it’s maybe not surprising that the backlash has begun. We first heard at the recent SiriusDecisions European Summit, that a majority of the content created by companies (as much as 72%) is going to waste. James Paden from Oracle shared some great advice on how to avoid this. Echoing Yorick’s sentiment, James suggested that it’s ultimately about knowing what your customers want and focusing on quality content, not quantity. Start by identifying the business challenges and opportunities your products and services address, and then ensure you have a meaningful and ideally provocative position on those topics, only introducing product messages once you know a prospect is engaged and actively seeking a solution.
Modern marketers are continuously exposed to a raft of possibilities with a multitude of marketing tools at their disposal. They barely have enough time to fulfill daily responsibilities, let alone investigate what platforms to select, or which strategic initiatives to prioritize. But there are “easy fish” to catch if you know where to cast your line. Before you head into 2014, take a moment to consider: Have you asked your customers what they actually want? Are you passing only truly qualified leads to sales? And can you create better content, by creating less? Just three simple steps to make sure you’re on the Road to Revenue in 2014.