Posted by: Gloria Dutton, Senior Marketing Coordinator

When discussing the goals of lead programs with sales teams, we often get one message – volume volume volume. The ‘volume’ mentality has an obvious attraction: at least some of the many leads that come in the door will close. However, when we dig deeper, we all become convinced that volume is less important than delivering quality, closeable leads to sales.

So, what is the process for identifying quality leads before sending them to sales? Lead nurturing programs. They help qualify and guide prospects through the buying cycle by analyzing what offers they are interested in and the specific actions these prospects take. Through learning about prospects, we’re able to target marketing initiatives to be focused on their needs as they gather information and research, evaluate their options and ultimately make a purchase decision.

How do we identify when a lead needs to be nurtured and when they are ready for sales? Start by segmenting by preference. Provide multiple offers on your site requiring registration – everything from white papers and research studies, to pricing sheets and sales contact information.

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This week, 90octane’s Jim Grinney, Sam Eidson and Brooke Caesar attended the Integrated Marketing Summit in Denver. Sam was a featured speaker on the topic of marketing automation and lead management, and we co-sponsored the event with Eloqua.

We took advantage of the many knowledge-sharing opportunities among top marketers to put together this quick list of hot topics and key learnings from IMS:

1. Marketing plans should start with the desired outcome for the organization. Once that’s established, you can outline the marketing objectives, strategy, programs and tactics (in that order).
2. Keep asking “why” throughout the course of your marketing programs. Asking why specific objectives are being set, for example, provides insight into bigger business goals.
3. Think performance management, not just campaign optimization, to demonstrate how you’re guiding your marketing programs to greater success.
4. Communicate how your marketing success is making a business impact to the C-Suite. They’re interested in customer acquisition, retention and growth, so change marketing reports from being tactically focused (CTR, open rate, impressions, etc.) to speaking the C-Suite language (market share, customer value, category growth rates, etc.).
5. Remember that, these days, consumers control your brand. From brand experiences to social media, viral content can help grow your company. Use these channels to your benefit. read more »

Posted by: Kerry Houchin, Project Manager

There are two ways to generate BtoB leads using Linkedin: the expensive way and the free way. For advertisers who are willing to spend $25,000 or more, the site offers the “Linkedin Advertising Sales” option, which includes a variety of highly-targeted display ads, polling questions and more. For those with budgets smaller than $25,000, Linkedin offers a DirectAds text ad option that works on a highly-targeted pay-per-click or pay-per-impression model. While both of these options may have a place in your lead generation strategy, you may be wondering how to effectively generate leads without spending part of your precious media budget.

Linkedin is a social network where business professionals go to look for advice and make connections, not a venue where they look to be sold on a product or service. The key to generating leads on Linkedin is to first gain people’s attention and trust, and then become a thought leader in your area of expertise. Make sure to join Linkedin under your own name instead of a company identity. Next, use the search function to find the most active (not necessarily the largest) group in your area of knowledge. Then, join the conversation and, where appropriate, use collateral such as white papers or specially created social media landing pages to add value to the topic.

Remember that it can take time to gain a following on Linkedin and that leads may not be of the same quality that you’re used to seeing from other conversion-driven tactics, but with diligence and patience, Linkedin could become a great lead generator for your business.

Posted by: Erin Wilson, Marketing Coordinator

Although social media is an extremely popular marketing tool for B2C companies, many B2B companies have been hesitant to jump on board. Recently, however, more and more B2B companies are adding social media tactics to their marketing plans. In fact, spending forecasts predict that they will continue to increase their marketing budgets to include social media.

Some B2B companies may still doubt the efficacy of social media, but a recent study featured in eMarketer found that “at least once a week, 33% of active Twitter users share opinions about companies or products, while 32% make recommendations and 30% ask for them.”  In other words, companies are being talked about whether or not they have a social media presence.  By joining and guiding the conversation, B2B companies can more effectively position their brands and generate leads.

This Wednesday, June 23^rd, 90octane will participate in the Denver Online Marketing Summit (OMS). OMS brings together hundreds of marketers for educational sessions on social media and content marketing, email, demand generation, analytics and more. The OMS 2010 23-City Tour offers attendees the opportunity to learn strategies and tactics from leading authors, academics, brand marketers and online pioneers in an environment free from exhibit booths and sales pitches.

90octane will partner with Eloqua, a leading company in the marketing automation and automated demand generation space, to host lead generation workshops. 90octane will guide attendees through individualized, 15-minute labs assessing their lead generation programs and offering recommendations for improvement.

In addition, 90octane Account Manager Brook Caesar has been selected to speak at the event, discussing strategies for social media integration. Caesar’s presentation will cover social media best practices to help businesses foster strong relationships with prospects and customers.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post about key learnings from the event.

Atlas Copco Construction Mining Technique USA was looking for a new channel to sell pre-owned water well drill rigs. They turned to us, 90octane, a Denver-based, conversion-driven marketing agency, for help.

90octane built a custom lead generation microsite to showcase the rigs, which typically carry six-figure price tags, and crafted an associated paid search marketing campaign to drive visitors to the site.

Joanna Canton, Atlas Copco marketing communications director, is pleased with the hundreds of highly qualified leads generated. For the paid search program, “The average cost-per-lead is $28, compared with hundreds of dollars apiece for leads from trade shows and print ads,” she noted.

Because the program has resulted in high-dollar sales, Atlas Copco CMT USA already has plans to expand it.

Read the full Atlas Copco paid search story from a February issue of BtoB Magazine.

Posted by: Kristi Jackson, Marketing Coordinator

As Social media continues to grow and become an important factor within the B2B industry, companies are beginning to realize the importance of claiming their space through tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in order to reach their consumers. However, most companies are not utilizing these tools to their full potential.

Companies often forget the lead generating opportunities that social media tools like Facebook have to offer. One things that B2B companies should keep in mind to increase lead generation on Facebook is to be sure to have links to the company resources that they already have such as email subscriptions, newsletters, white papers, brochures, etc. on their fan page. By placing registration behind these links, companies can start generating leads from their Facebook consumers. Additionally, tracking URL’s can be placed on these links to easily measure leads generated from Facebook.

Because we know that consumers who are coming to a company’s Facebook fan page are typically already interested in the company’s offerings and are looking for more information, it is important to include content that is unique to Facebook and will give these users a reason to continue to come back. One way that this can be done is by providing a special offer to these consumers that they cannot get by going to your corporate website.

Utilizing these ideas for a B2B Facebook page will not only benefit companies by creating another channel for lead generation, but it will also continue to enhance their users experience on Facebook.

Posted by: Sean Voorhies, Project Manager

Increasing response is the goal of any lead nurturing program, but it’s easy to get locked into a campaign that isn’t flexible once it launches. Here are three quick insights to use before you go live:

Leverage Learnings from Existing Site Analytics
If you have existing site data that speaks to your user’s behavior, whether it’s product offer preferences, patterns of site navigation or usability or communication frequency, make sure those are leveraged in building out a nurturing campaign. There can be a strong correlation between how users respond to similar offerings or information on your site and how they will initially respond during a lead nurturing campaign.

Use Prospect Profiling
Identifying prospect profiles and tailoring your lead nurturing program to specific user characteristics not only gives your campaign more flexibility from the get go, but it also allows you to provide a better experience for the prospects because it meets their unique needs. An easy starting point could be an existing product user profile and a new user profile.

Consider Progressive Registration
If your offers solicit a clear difference in user desire and intent then consider using progressive registration. By beginning the registration with standard fields and then progressively asking more detailed questions as the offer involvement grows, you’re able to capture a larger amount of leads up front and qualify your prospects further down the funnel with more detailed criteria.

Posted by: Chelsea Maxwell, Marketing Coordinator

Testing and optimizing your landing page is a critical part of creating a successful online marketing presence.  However, even when you do not have time to test your landing pages you can still easily eliminate common mistakes and increase your conversion rates. The following approaches to raise conversions will work across a variety of industries:

1. Keep it Simple. Your landing page should be focused on the desired conversion.  Make the action you want the consumer to take clear. Let them know you are looking to generate a sale, download or email sign-up.  Remove additional clutter on the page by limiting other clickable links and choices.
2. Trim the Fat. Studies have shown that less text on a webpage leads to higher conversion rates. Consider reducing your content down to simple headlines, bulleted lists and prominent buttons.
3. Deliver Value. Visitors come to your site with an expectation before they ever landed on your page. Ensure that the message delivering traffic to your site matches the content of your landing page. read more »

Posted by: Rosemary Riley, Storyteller/Senior Copywriter

Inc. magazine today ranked conversion-driven marketing agency 90octane no. 1,682 on its third annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies reporting at least $2 million in 2008 revenue. The agency also ranked 43rd for the Denver-Aurora, CO metro region. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy – America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs.

The Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2005 through 2008. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2005. Additionally, they have to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent – not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies – as of December 31, 2008. Revenue in 2005 must have been at least $200,000, and revenue in 2008 at least $2 million. 90octane achieved 190.1% revenue growth over the three-year period.

Founded in 2000, 90octane is a pioneer in response-based interactive marketing tactics. The agency creates custom lead generation, lead nurturing and search engine marketing programs for its clients in the B2B, B2C and nonprofit fields. View 90octane’s Inc. 5000 Company Profile.