Jude Fischer's blog

A lot has been written about social media this year.  In fact, so much has been written it would seem that anyone who isn’t tweeting 20 times a day is in danger of becoming fossilized before year end.  And yet, if you are like a lot of other B2B marketers, you are still trying to figure out exactly where social media fits within your overall marketing communications mix.  Well the answer to this question depends a lot upon what your company sells, what channels you use to sell, who you sell to and the informational needs and habits of your customers.  But one area where

We all read blogs. Business blogs. Political blogs. Entertainment blogs. Sports blogs.  But how many of us leave comments for the author? And if we do, how often? If you’re like me, not nearly often enough. And yet, there are a lot of tangible benefits to blog commenting, and not just for the author.  In fact, most of the benefits are for you.  Here are just five of the many reasons you should make a habit of blog commenting.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I’ve been participating in a few discussions on LinkedIn and elsewhere on ways we can improve the relationship between Marketing and Sales.  A lot of good ideas have been passed around, most focusing on improving the dialogue between the groups so they work in unison toward the ultimate goal of selling more stuff to more people.  Rocket science, I know.

I’ve been involved in a couple of LinkedIn B2B Lead Generation Roundtable Group discussions over the past week, both centered in one way or another around the importance of balancing lead generation programs – and budgeting – with lead nurturing activities.  The first discussion has centered on ways in which companies can improve the alignment between sales and marketing, a topic we’ve covered in

We’ve all experienced those awkward moments when a friend shares a little more information than we really want to know, but can a marketing message do the same?  Is it possible to provide your audience with too much information, even if you are marketing a technical product?  Well, it depends on your objectives.  If lead generation is your goal, too much information absolutely can diminish your results.

In a new study released last week by Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), e-media spending in the B2B sector is expected to finally surpass print by 2013.  Titled “Communications Industry Forecast 2004-2014,” the VSS report projects print spending will drop another 11.2% to $7.22 billion this year, and will continue to drop at a compounded annual rate of 4.8%.  By 2014, B2B print spending is expected to be just $6.36 billion, down a whopping 38.5% from 2004’s $10.3

Last month I attended the Business Marketing Association’s 2010 Annual Conference.  Titled “Engage,” the conference presented innovative ways B2B marketers are engaging not only with customers and prospects, but also with employees, sales forced, and channel partners.

More and more B2B marketers are using technology to automate their lead nurturing process and enhance their demand generation efforts. Automated campaigns control and streamline prospect interactions, strategically offering relevant content and positioning your firm as a trusted resource until the target customer is ready to buy.

According to a new study released by GlobalSpec, the use of social media among engineering and technical professionals across manufacturing and industrial markets is showing some signs of growth, but overall, participation remains low.

In a study just released by Marketing Sherpa, lead-related issues continue to dominate the minds of B2B marketers.  Nearly 70% of all respondents indicated that generating high-quality sales leads is one of their greatest challenges; 35% are also challenged to generate higher volumes of leads.  Part of this need to push more numbers through the sales funnel may be a reflection of a lengthening life cycle.  Nearly 40% of all respondents indicated marketing, or nurturing, targets along this cyc