Revenue Systems Archives

Account Based Marketing and the Closed Loop Marketing Architecture

The focus on Account Based Marketing and it’s requirements has ignited a range of discussions and specialized B2B and ABM technologies and processes. For companies that are selling to accounts, the strategies associated with ABM are well understood, yet the technologies are still evolving. At first blush, you might think that a closed-loop marketing architecture doesn’t apply to B2B and account-based marketing. Closed Loop Marketing is data and insight-driven. It clearly works for B2C and high-volume campaigns. Yet, how does CLM apply to a highly relationship-centric account-based marketing focus?

Actually, closed-loop marketing is a core foundation for effective Account Based Marketing / ABM.

December 8, 2015/0 Comments/by John Stone

Align Marketing and Sales to End 2015 Strong

B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Marketing, Revenue Programs, Revenue Strategy, Revenue Systems, Sales Excellence

It’s the middle of Q4 and the end of the year is fast-approaching. For many, it is a time to slow down from work and spend time with family. For sales people, it’s can be a frantic time, as many B2B companies must close sales opportunities to achieve revenue goals.

So, what can the marketing team do to help the sales team and ring in the New Year on a positive note? Here are a few tips to align marketing and sales and help ease the December frenzy and drive some upward momentum into the New Year.

November 6, 2015/0 Comments/by nhill

Beyond Inbound… Long Live Closed Loop Marketing

Account-Based Marketing, Closed-loop Marketing, Content Marketing, CRM, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation, Measurement and Analytics, Newsletter, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Marketing, Revenue Programs, Revenue Systems, Technology & Websites

Inbound is great, but it has had it’s day…. and even with inbound strategies, the bulk of activity and spend is actually outbound. The reality? Businesses need both inbound and outbound. For B2B and Account Based Marketing, this should be managed across a single revenue (marketing-sales) value chain. We call this integrated program approach a Closed Loop Marketing Architecture … and it works!

November 1, 2015/0 Comments/by John Stone

6 Marketing Automation Myths

B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation, Revenue Growth, Revenue Systems

Marketing Automation has been around since the 1990s. Back then, the focus was on automating email marketing— managing the development and delivery of emails to target lists at scheduled times. Over the decades, software developers expanded the capabilities of Marketing Automation to meet the requirements of a variety of marketing functions and users.

Today, Marketing Automation refers to a broad range software technology for marketing and it is an important element of closed loop marketing. Its evolution has raised many questions about what it is, what it does, and whom it benefits.

October 25, 2015/0 Comments/by nhill

Revenue Architecture for Closed Loop Marketing and Sales

B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Content Marketing, CRM, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Programs, Revenue Strategy, Revenue Systems

July 21, 2015/0 Comments/by John Stone

Example Closed-loop Marketing Design Principles

Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Marketing, Revenue Strategy, Revenue Systems

Closed-loop marketing represents an evolving challenge for many organizations. While the promise of closed-loop marketing has been with us for over a decade, effective implementation can still be elusive – particularly for larger enterprises that have data and organizational complexities that can impact a smooth implementation.

As part of the architecture for a closed-loop system, it can be very helpful to agree a set of Closed-Loop Marketing Design Principles that can serve to guide decision making around applications, data, technology and processes. We often develop and facilitate agreement of a set of principles across marketing, sales, technology and finance teams. Below are a few examples of Design Principles that can serve as a starting point. These need to be refined and tailored to your organization through a cross-functional facilitation process.

April 1, 2015/0 Comments/by John Stone

Align Sales and Marketing with a Revenue Systems Blueprint

Closed-loop Marketing, Content Marketing, CRM, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Systems

When implementing CRM and Marketing Automation, first align marketing and sales with a Revenue Systems Blueprint.

For 20 years, CRM (and now Marketing Automation) has promised to help organizations capture customer value. Businesses that attract, sell, service and retain the best customers see positive effects on growth and profitability. By delivering relevant experiences, customers engage more deeply, become more loyal, and act as advocates. As sales and win rates go up, cost of acquisition goes down, satisfaction increases. The longer the relationship, the more opportunities there are to cross sell additional products and services and build lifetime value.

But, as the diagram below illustrates, marketing technologies are expanding rapidly and cut across every dimension of the marketing, sales and PR ecosystem. It is not as simple as selecting a CRM or a Marketing Automation solution. Successful implementation requires alignment across different business areas, especially marketing and sales.

February 21, 2015/0 Comments/by John Stone

WordPress Security and WPEngine

Newsletter, Revenue Growth, Revenue Systems, Technology & Websites

What do Playstation, U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM), Target, Home Depot, Apple iCloud, Snapsave, and Evernote all have in common?

They each have been hacked within the past year resulting in a treasure trove of sensitive information being released.

Society now lives in two worlds; the physical world and a digital one. The information we put online has given hackers the ability to cultivate information over time, chip-away at your digital-self, and execute an attack that spans into both. New viruses combined with new technologies have changed how we must protect our businesses and online investments. DDoS attacks, otherwise known as Distributed Denial of Service attacks, Trojan Horses, BadUSB, as well as malicious codes like SoakSoak and ShellShock (Bash), all effect WordPress websites.

“74,652,825 sites out there are depending on good ol’ WordPress. That’s one site per person in Turkey. Around 50% of this figure (close to 37 million) is hosted on the free WordPress.com. In the realm of self-hosted sites, WordPress accounts for 18.9% of all websites,” as of last year according to an article by ManageWP.

January 21, 2015/0 Comments/by John Nielsen

A 5 Stage Sales Pipeline Management Model

B2B Marketing and Sales, Inbound Marketing, Revenue Growth, Revenue Systems, Sales Excellence

Effective sales pipeline management is vital to your business. Align your teams around a ‘lingua franca’ to better manage deal qualification, forecasting and the sales process.

We know the B2B sales pipeline is changing. Inbound marketing and emerging marketplaces (like 99designs, Thumbtack and BlurGroup among others) manage elements of prospecting and the lead generation cycle outside of direct sales. Marketing plays a bigger role to drive inbound leads into the sales pipeline and marketplaces can replace some elements of sales outbound prospecting.

In complex or considered sales, the professional management of the sales process from working lead to committed remains vital. It is important to get the sales team on the same page and using the same sales process. Quite often, we see companies that are not using a common language for the sales pipeline. Forecasting is much more difficult when we are unclear about the status of each deal and the stage in the process. Firms often over-invest in some deals and under-invest in others while colleagues who support the sales effort become frustrated when time is wasted.

December 15, 2014/0 Comments/by John Stone

SharpSpring Review

B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Content Marketing, CRM, Inbound Marketing, Measurement and Analytics, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Marketing, Revenue Systems, Sales Excellence, Technology & Websites

If you’re looking for a marketing automation platform that offers many of the same functionality as the more expensive options, give this SharpSpring review a look! Sharpspring works primarily with agency partners (like Revenue Architects) and is well suited for mid-sized businesses and high end professional sales teams. As an agency, we work with Sharpspring along with other platforms including Eloqua, Hubspot, Pardot and Marketo. We find SharpSpring is an excellent fit for businesses that value inbound marketing. email marketing and integrated CRM. Depending on the solution architecture in your organization, including the existing infrastructure of CRM and Office, SharpSpring may be a fit.

This post highlights features found in marketing automation platforms as well as a few lesser-known features found in SharpSpring. Let’s begin with the most common functions of a marketing automation platform:

December 1, 2014/0 Comments/by John Nielsen

Account Based Marketing and the Closed Loop Marketing Architecture

Align Marketing and Sales to End 2015 Strong

Beyond Inbound… Long Live Closed Loop Marketing

6 Marketing Automation Myths

Revenue Architecture for Closed Loop Marketing and Sales

Example Closed-loop Marketing Design Principles

Align Sales and Marketing with a Revenue Systems Blueprint

WordPress Security and WPEngine

A 5 Stage Sales Pipeline Management Model

Effective sales pipeline management is vital to your business. Align your teams around a ‘lingua franca’ to better manage deal qualification, forecasting and the sales process.

SharpSpring Review

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