Category: All content

New data shows that while 81% of companies use insights in their marketing and sales efforts, the types that are deemed to be most successful are actually the ones least used by companies today and they are actually relying on ‘anecdotal’ instead of ‘visionary’ insights to create and deliver more effective lead generation assets and sales conversations.

The survey by Corporate Visions, Inc – a major marketing and sales messaging, tools and training company – polled 400 business-to-business (B2B) marketing and sales professionals worldwide regarding the use of ‘insights’ in their marketing and sales assets. Results revealed that the type of insight-based content created most frequently is believed to be the least effective in generating engagement and closing deals with prospective buyers.

Insights are defined as context-based facts specific to a prospect that companies use to shape their marketing messages and sales conversations, and differentiate from the competition. Overall, the survey found that 81 per cent of respondents use an insight-based approach as part of their marketing and sales strategy.

The four specific insight types include:

• Anecdotal insights – Content that is created in-house and focuses on more tactical day-to-day issues such as best practices, lessons learned and features and functionality.
• Authoritative insights – Content that leverages the work of respected third-parties, such as analysts and external subject matter experts, and is used to reinforce key company messages around trends, problems, challenges, risks, opportunities and requirements.
• Current insights – Content that centres around original research and surveys that are produced by the company as supporting facts for campaigns and selling messages.
• Visionary insights – Content that leverages in-house expertise but looks to the future of the industry and defines what is next. 

Respondents were also asked to review and rank these four insight types based on how frequently they appear in marketing collateral and sales tools. The rankings were:

1. Anecdotal insights
2. Authoritative insights
3. Current insights
4. Visionary insights 

Respondents were then asked to rank those same insights in order of how effective they believe they are at generating more engaging conversations and driving sales decisions. Surprisingly, the rankings fell in the exact opposite order of those in the previous question:

1.     Visionary insights
2.     Current insights
3.     Authoritative insights
4.     Anecdotal insights

Tim Riesterer, chief strategy and marketing officer for Corporate Visions, said: “What’s surprising about the survey results is that the insights marketers and salespeople feel are the most effective are exactly the opposite of the insights they believe their companies produce.

“However, regardless of the category, the real power of an insight comes from using it in proper context – identifying relevant market data points and then interpreting that information to make it meaningful to the challenges prospects are facing.

“In order for companies to be truly successful, they must take these insights and turn them into provocative questions and a distinct point of view that breaks the status quo bias and differentiates their solution.”

 

A ground-breaking new partnership has been formed between UK retail giant, Tesco, and two of the country’s major health charities.

Tesco, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation have confirmed that they will join forces from early next year. The trio’s charity partnership – the first of its kind – aims to raise millions of pounds to promote healthy living, so that people are able to afford monthly visits to the dentists at https://dentistinperth.com.au/, as well as regular check ups with their doctors.

In the UK today, there are seven million people living with cardiovascular disease; 3.5 million people are living with Type 2 diabetes, with a further 11.5 million at high risk of developing this condition.

The partnership aims to reduce the risk of both conditions by focusing on ways to encourage healthy eating and healthy cooking habits, including making it easier to choose foods lower in sugar, saturated fats and salt. The ultimate ambition for the partnership is to be a force for positive change in the health of the nation.

It will launch in early 2015 and will see Tesco, its customers, colleagues and suppliers aim to raise millions of pounds for the two charities.

Heart disease

Those who develop gum disease as a result of poor dental health, have a higher risk of also developing heart disease. The bacteria that’s responsible of causing gum disease can cause inflammation as it travels through the blood stream which in turn can cause a stroke or heart attack.

 

Respiratory Disease

Scientist have proven that the bacteria that’s produced in the mount can betaken into the lungs and cause respiratory diseases such as pneumonia.

 

Pregnancy

There could be a possible relation between gum disease and babies born with low birth weight and premature babies. If you need emergency dental care, Pickup Bagshaw Dental is the place to call. emergency dentist in launceston Tasmania,  having proper  oral hygiene during pregnancy may decrease the amount of cavity-causing bacteria that can be transmitted to the new baby.

Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “We are delighted to be part of this first-of-a-kind partnership, which is committed to improving the nation’s health and helping prevent Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

“We have already been working with Tesco over the last 18 months and have seen the phenomenal efforts of Tesco staff and customers in raising millions of pounds that have made a real difference to the lives of people with diabetes or who are at risk of developing it. It is really exciting to be continuing working with them and our new partner, the British Heart Foundation, to make a real impact on reducing the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Every year 24,000 people with diabetes die tragically young and many endure amputations, blindness and kidney failure. This innovative partnership with Tesco’s reach and focus on food and the combined expertise of the two charities backed up by real resources is an important contribution to helping families across the UK.”

Simon Gillespie, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation said: “We’re thrilled to be entering into a partnership with Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, and Diabetes UK, another leading national health charity. We know that eating a healthy, balanced diet and increasing levels of physical activity can cut your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. This ground-breaking partnership is a fantastic way to get healthy lifestyle messages to millions of people across the UK.

“The sad truth is that cardiovascular disease claims the lives of over 400 people every day. Thanks to the generosity of Tesco and its customers we will be able to continue our fight for every heartbeat, and set a new benchmark for strategic partnerships between businesses and charities.”

Greg Sage, community director at Tesco, said: “We’re delighted to be part of this charity partnership – the first of its kind in the UK. It’s great to be working with Diabetes UK again and to be building a new partnership with the British Heart Foundation. We have enormous respect for the work they do, and want to help them do more. Using our collective scale and expertise, we’re going to make a real and positive difference to millions of customers’ lives.  Over the next few months we’ll be working on the details of exactly how we’ll do that, so watch this space.”

New event will gather B2B publishing, information and media industry to explore emerging trends

Business leaders, sales, marketing, content and technology executives from some of Europe’s biggest brands – including Centaur Media, the Financial Times, and Incisive Media – will offer insights on the changing face of B2B digital content during the Business Media Insights 2014 conference, held Wednesday October 22 at One Wimpole Street in London.

Business Media Insights 2014 is presented by the Information Industry Network – the European division of SIIA, the leading association representing the software and digital content industries.

As niche players and new disruptors enter the industry, ad revenues decline and even more emphasis is placed on paid content, B2B content providers must evolve. Business Media Insights will convene the information industry’s top minds and emerging innovators for unique perspectives on the most pressing issues facing media companies. Topics include the integration of data and content offerings (a discussion led by Financial Times CTO John O’Donovan), the shifting role of content professionals, evaluating acquisition targets, social media strategies for B2B success, and more.

For a complete schedule of events, click here. 

Speakers include:

•       Julie Carroll-Davis, vice-president, Global Content Alliances, Proquest

•       Rob Chambers, managing director, Total Telecom

•       Caroline Frost, global director of Learning and Development, Informa

•       Helmut Graf, chief executive officer, VNR Verlag fur die Deutsche Wirtschaft AG

•       Tom Hall, vice-president Strategic Partnerships & Technology Delivery, Growth Markets,  Pearson

•       Arno Langbehn, chief executive officer, B. Behr’s Verlag GmbH & Co. KG

•       John O’Donovan, chief technology officer, The Financial Times

•       Simon Middelboe, managing director, Centaur Media

•       Justin Pearse, managing director, The Drum Works

•       Tim Weller, founder and group chief executive, Incisive Media

 

Almost one in four marketers need to follow the mantra of working smarter, not harder, according to research from AtTask.

AtTask – the provider of cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solutions – has announced the results of a study that looks at a day in the life of a marketer.  Among the findings, long hours and lots of disruptions from external sources show that marketers need better structure and tools to get more from their workdays.

The survey found that nearly one in four marketing professionals works ten or more hours on an average day. Thirty-six per cent of respondents said interruptions were a major distraction to their workdays, while more than a third said they spend three to four hours a day on email.

Other key findings from the survey include:

• Multitasking machines—Multitasking is the norm, with 41 per cent of marketers saying they frequently multitask in meetings. Not all are proud of it, though—43 per cent of those who said they often multitask also said they do so reluctantly.
• Time suckers—40 per cent of marketers blame manual tasks, unexpected projects and rework as primary sources of lost productivity.
• Application overload—Opening, closing and switching between applications can cause a big drain on a marketer’s day. Eighty-two per cent of respondents said they typically have at least six different applications or tools open on their desktop.
• Lunch break? What’s that?—Desktop meals are standard for marketers, with 56 per cent of respondents saying they eat lunch at their desks. Much smaller numbers of marketers eat in the office break room, outside or at local eateries.
• Artists at heart—When asked about what they’d do if not working in marketing, one in three respondents named a career in the arts. Among the specific dream jobs mentioned were writer, singer, actor, designer, floral designer and various facets of fashion and filmmaking. Interestingly, 16 per cent of respondents dreamed of a career shift to a more left-brained field like business, law or engineering.

AtTask chief marketing officer, Joe Staples, Said: “In a fast-paced marketing environment, efficiency is everything.

“This survey validates what we know to be true—that marketers can’t expect mythical extra hours to be added to their workday, even while all of the interruptions and distractions push them into overtime to finish projects. Instead, they need to do more with the time they have, and that can happen with better collaboration, visibility and communication. Marketers lose too much time to problems that could be avoided or resolved with the right structure and tools.”

AtTask partnered with MarketingProfs to conduct the survey online, with almost 800 marketing professionals answering the questions on MarketingProfs’s website. Survey respondents varied in job type, career level and/or leadership position and age.

 

Recent research identifies key attributes, strategy and structure for the perfect approach.

A recent survey of 1,100 digital marketers points to the email ‘dream-team’ for any company. The Adestra/Econsultancy Email Marketing Industry Census 2014 not only identifies key attributes and structure for the perfect approach, but strategic areas on which to focus when building a team from the ground-up. With email marketing producing the best ROI of any channel, and more sales attributable to it than ever before, getting the approach right is valuable to your business.

Unfortunately, there are many ways to get this approach wrong which leads to lower performance and lower esteem. The majority of emarketers (58%) said their own email campaign results were ‘average’ or ‘poor’. This shows there is significant scope for improvement – and league promotion – for many using this consistently reliable marketing channel.

Heather Hopkins, senior analyst with Econsultancy, said: “While email marketing delivers strong ROI for companies, with the right resources and approach it could contribute even more to the bottom line.

“Email is too often viewed as a cheap channel even though marketers tell us that on average it accounts for over 20% of sales. Putting the right resources behind email campaigns to personalise communications and tailor offers based on advanced segmentation and behavioural targeting, can further improve the results of email marketing.”

So what is the ultimate resource and cost-efficient team structure for an email marketing operation? While it does vary across size and sector, there are common elements that will make campaign return soar. Marketers can use these as a checklist in their quest for reaching the email Premier league . . .

1. A dedicated team

Having human resource dedicated to email marketing, irrespective of size of team or level of dedication, makes email marketing a more effective tool. Companies with teams dedicated to email marketing had the highest proportion of companies rating their email efforts as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ at 83%.

2. Understand and use the functionality available in your email system

Email ROI increases when the use of email functionality increases. Nearly a fifth (17%) of companies using up to a quarter of their email functionality described their ROI from email as poor. However, of the companies using more than three-quarters of their email system functionality, 37% rated their email ROI as excellent, an eight per cent increase on last year.

3. Focus on strategy/optimisation/reporting 

Company marketers spend the least time on optimising and most on design – nearly two-thirds (63%) are spending more than two hours on design and content for a typical campaign, with around quarter as many (17%) spending at least two hours on optimisation. In order for companies to improve their likelihood of success with email marketing, for example spending time on optimisation, automation, segmentation and other areas where performance can be improved, companies need to spend proportionately less time on the creative elements of their campaigns.

4. Focus on making automation work

Marketers understand the benefits of automation, such as increased relevancy and customer engagement, but today few are using triggers to send automated emails. It’s perhaps no wonder that success is limited – 49% say implementation has been unsuccessful. But it’s not just about buying the technology, the main challenge to automation is lack of budget/time – ironically, you need to invest time to save time.

5. Use more email marketing best practices

Get the basics right and the ROI will follow. More segmentation, better list cleansing, content personalisation, and CRM integration are all proven to help deliver results.  For example, more than three-quarters (77%) of companies using advanced segmentation rated email as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’, 8% more than companies doing just basic segmentation.

6. Don’t forget mobile

While 2013 saw big growth for mobile optimisation, lack of time is preventing further progress. Today 47% optimise email campaigns for mobile devices, therefore most are not, and 61% have a ‘basic’ or ‘non-existent’ mobile strategy. While the trend is encouraging, there’s still a long way to go.

7. Look to the future

Successful marketers cannot stand still and need a clear focus on where they are going. Nearly two-thirds of companies would like to improve their personalisation (64%), marketing automation (64%) and segmentation (62%). And the top area to really focus on in 2014 is email strategy.

8. Match your team to your email platform

Team structure also depends on a company’s email provider – and matching your team to maximise use of the platform. Companies may consider bringing in marketing technologists alongside traditional marketers if their ESP doesn’t have the support to offer help and guidance. And total cost of ownership should be considered, as ROI can be negatively affected if spend on additional support packages is required.