Marketingsherpa Newsletter

B2C Content Marketing: How employee content drove 200 leads per day at Guitar Center

The most valuable content for consumer marketers is often user-generated -- reviews, Facebook conversations, Tweets, Pinterest boards and more. One content resource consumer marketers might overlook, but many B2B marketers utilize, is the knowledge shared by company employees. This article first ran February 23, 2012, in the MarketingSherpa Inbound Marketing newsletter. Read on to see how retailer Guitar Center generates leads by tapping into the expertise of its sales team. And learn how the company improved homepage traffic by featuring "store experts" in its display ads, and encouraged 66% of employees to create online profiles on the company website.

Brand-side Marketing How-to: 6 content marketing lessons learned from a B2B IT company

As a B2B marketer, you have likely read about the importance of content marketing countless times over the last few years. And, MarketingSherpa has been no exception, having published a wealth of articles highlighting effective content marketing efforts. In this article, Softchoice, a B2B IT company, offers six content marketing lessons it has learned after placing a stronger focus on content strategy over the last three years. Read on to see why the company puts the customer at the forefront of its content efforts; how it utilizes internal sources to create successful content; and how it measures content's effect.

Marketing Automation: 416% higher customer lifetime value from auto-email strategy

Online retailers and consumer marketers might turn a deaf ear to automation and lead scoring, but these tactics apply beyond B2B. In this article, a complex-sales strategy earned great results for one consumer-facing company. See how the company's system of 170 automated emails earned a 416% increase in average customer lifetime value, alongside the tactics that make the automated sends more personal and effective.

Marketing Research Chart: Improper metrics set-up presents challenge to tracking key optimization metrics

Data is the grounding force in website optimization, and the benefits of comprehensive data review cannot be overstated. Optimizers use this language to evaluate the ROI of their online strategies as well as to communicate success of these strategies to their C-suite. We wanted to know if marketers were fully utilizing their analytics platform to track this valuable information. In this week's chart, we asked more than 2,600 marketers if there were any metrics they do not track because they were improperly set up.

Free Inbound Marketing Handbook Excerpt

Download your complimentary excerpt from our first-ever Inbound Marketing Handbook. There's no form to fill out. You can learn more about this powerful and emerging strategy with a simple click.

B2B Lead Generation: 6 social media tactics from 7 experts

Making social media part of the B2B marketing strategy can be a challenge. One notable use of this channel is lead generation, which can be done effectively when connecting social media with an overall content marketing strategy. For this article, we reached out to seven social media experts who provided a range of tactics for generating leads through social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Quora.

Webinar Replay -- How to Improve the Value of Your Email List

Many marketers are trying to get their email lists to perform better, while also working with fewer resources and more hurdles. And, for some, list growth and maintenance don't seem to give a good ROI for all the time spent in the trenches. In this 60-minute webinar replay, marketing experts W. Jeffrey Rice and Meghan Lockwood cover key strategies for greatly increasing the value of your email subscriber list. They even share with you a case study on how one company cut its list by 95% and effectively doubled its sales.

B2B Lead Generation: 300% ROI from email and teleprospecting combo to house list

Many companies rent lists and reach prospects who have never heard of them, even if it's not a best practice. The marketers in this article, however, earned great results by shifting gears to focus campaigns only on prospects who had prior contact with the company. See how two emails and six phone calls generate an average 4-to-1 ROI for this healthcare IT company's lead generation. We include the team's contact schedule and show how the emails prime prospects for conversion.

Marketing Research Chart: Larger firms provide more structure for marketing talent

Do the members of your marketing team know what success means for their roles? For most marketers, having a clear understanding of roles, responsibilities, and a formal channel for advancement are critical to success in their jobs. We asked more than 1,600 marketers about their organizations' practices regarding job descriptions and advancement procedures. See this week's chart for their answers.

Landing Page Optimization: Radical redesign leads to 3,566% increase in conversion

Testing and optimization can be done incrementally, by testing details on a webpage or email. Or, the approach can be more radical, by creating a distinct treatment from scratch. This case study offers both, but centers on a product landing page with a dismal conversion rate. The testing team completely rethought the site design and pitted the two pages head-to-head. Find out how this process led to a 400% increase in sales over one year, and a 90% lift in cart conversion. Steve Parker, VP, Direct Marketing Division, firstSTREET, will present at the upcoming Optimization Summit 2012 in Denver, June 11-14.

Marketing Automation Vendor Selection: B2B marketer reduces unqualified leads 341%

With an abundance of available marketing automation vendors, there is likely an automation solution that fits into your budget, marketing needs, and existing software (such as CRM). This case study covers a global ERP software company that employed a marketing automation system which no longer fit its business needs. Learn the process the company used to evaluate 15 marketing automation vendors -- from assembling a team, selecting a new automation solution, and then implementing the software. Also, see how this company increased deliverability from 81% to 99.6%, and open rate from 11% to 18%, while reducing unqualified leads by 341%.

Email Marketing: 208% higher conversion rate for targeted emails over batch-and-blast

Over time, sending general emails to an entire database can erode results. However, many marketers continue to do this, because they're unsure of how to move beyond "batch and blast" practices to a more targeted approach. Yet, this change can be easier than you might expect. See how a marketing team from one e-commerce company selected a high-value segment, sent a targeted offer, and saw conversion rates jump by 208%. You will also learn which segment the marketers chose, and how they crafted a strong offer.