We practice what we preach and recommend you practice it too!  You need to build a profile of common denominators or qualifying criteria for companies in your target market “sweet spot.” The next step is to identify your decision making unit (DMU). The DMU consists of everyone involved in the buying decision of your product or service.

Start by building a profile that clearly identifies the different buyers you want to target in the DMU. Don’t be satisfied with just their titles. As we know, sometimes titles can be misleading. In fact, traditional title-based lists deliver a response rate that’s usually less than 3%. Determine the actual role that your contacts play in the buying cycle and in the organization. Backed by this functional, role-based information, you’ll be able to refine your data augmentation program and standardize data collection requirements for more targeted marketing programs.

Next, pull a list of pre-existing contacts that correspond to your target accounts. With this list in hand, begin the process of de-duping, identifying missing fields such as addresses or contact details, and identifying gaps such as key buyers, roles and other relevant details.

After this process, you begin to get a better feel for what you have and what you need.

You should also make sure that you’re marketing to the entire DMU. As we know, B2B purchases are typically made by a group of people, each one with different concerns and requirements. DMU members can include end users, business managers, finance specialist, technology specialists, senior management, key influencers, procurement specialists, and so forth.

The number of people in a DMU can vary greatly according to the size of the company. Marketing Sherpa reports the following statistics for purchases of $25,000 or more:

• Companies with 100 to 500 employees ― 6.8 people in the DMU
• Companies with 501 to 1000 employees, 13.5 people in the DMU
• Companies with over 1000 employees ― 21 people in DMU

By connecting with the entire DMU before the prospect moves into the sales funnel, you can accelerate the sales cycle and increase your chances of conversions.

Circuit City, Bank One, Enron, Lehman Brothers…these are folks you might be shocked to find still sitting in your sales and marketing databases.  What’s the common theme among all of these companies? They aren’t doing business anymore. Some of them have made very splashy exits from the scene (ehhem Enron??) and some have quietly been forgotten as acquisitions from a few years back (Bank One). Search around and you may just find them in your target lists.

As a rule, no salesperson or marketing team wants to waste time trying to talk to companies that are out of business.  It only makes good sense to weed those companies (and affected contacts) out. But how do you know who they are? Aggregating data from all the M& A activity, bankruptcies and shut-downs these days can be time-consuming. In face, it can become a full-time job.  Why not seek out some proactive solutions to keep these types of situations out of your database? Besides some shameless self-promotion here (yes, ReachForce has a solution for this), one of our best suggestions is to empower your teams to mark this kind of information in your database. That way you can weed them out as they come up. For a salesforce.com-specific tip on how to set up this weed-out process, check out a few of our past posts, Updating Lead Status in SFDC for Better Marketing Data and Cleaning Up Your  Marketing Database

Like it or not, data fuels the engine of your business. Your sales teams need it to prospect, cross-sell and upsell. And your marketing teams need it to create viable campaigns so your sales team has a message to sell. With that in mind, what exactly are you doing with that ever growing pile of information?  Do you have someone to keep it fresh, or does it sit untouched, unmaintained and just plain unloved?

No matter what, you need a plan for organizing the monolith that is your database. SiriusDecisions estimates that in a typical B2B company error rates are as high as 25%. That means that if you have a team of sales reps working with that data, 25% of their efforts are wasted.  At the same time, it means that 25% of your marketing departments’ messages cannot get through and likely are falling on deaf ears.  That’s pretty wasteful.  In an economic climate like ours you have to be lean and mean. Wasting 25% of your sales efforts and marketing messages just isn’t in-line.

Ok, so the baby (your database) is ugly, but how do you fix it? Set up error reporting so that you empower your users to point out the problems (see Cleaning Up Your  Marketing Database). Then assign some ownership, giving someone the responsibility to oversee, fix and police your database to ensure positive change.  You have to have a continual focus on data quality, because constant improvement will lead to gains across the board.  If you need proof, SiriusDecisions estimates that B2B companies that address the root cause of data errors can realize a 25% increase in converting inquiries to marketing-qualified leads.

Coming back from a trade show, everyone is on a high.  Your team tells you, “it was the best show EVER” and the sales team is ready to get all of those hot leads.  As much as they may want you to, the last thing you should do is just hand over the scans list to sales and tell them to have at it.  Setting up follow-up is key.

We do one big trade show a year, Dreamforce (salesforce.com’s user group conference).  We limit collateral at the show (partly because most of it ends up being thrown away and partly to do our best to be a bit greener) and promise to follow-up with more info in an email.

Most everyone that scanned me sent a follow-up email within days of the show.  Unfortunately almost all of them used the exact same subject line.  Yes, I said exact same subject line – Dreamforce follow-up.  At a show like Dreamforce with hundreds of exhibitors, that just really is not going to cut it to stand out in the crowd.  When I looked back at our follow-up email from last year I was a little disappointed that we had used that same worn out subject line.  I decided I wanted to try something new.

The subject line I ended up using this year is a little on the long side but much more descriptive.  The subject line was: Dreamforce follow-up on data cleansing and contact discovery.  Notice I chose to exclude our company name.  I did this for two reasons, it was already in the from line and it is doubtful anyone remembers who we are or what we do.

But much more interesting were the results I saw.  I grew our open rate from 16% to 36% as compared to the same follow-up email from the year before.  See if you can increase your open rates by adding more relevancy in the subject line for trade show follow up emails.

Aren’t we all looking for ways to draw more people to our trade show booth?  Start by generating traffic before the show.  Do whatever you can to get on the attendee’s short list of must see sponsors.  Here are a few ideas for pre-show marketing:

• Send pre-show emails and/or direct mail to drive visitors to your booth. Don’t have a list of show attendees? Email contacts in your database that are likely to attend. Start by inviting prospects in the area. Do anything and everything to let people know you will be there.
• Send out a press release – timing is everything on this because you don’t want to get lumped in with everyone else sending out a press release about the show.  Make sure your press release is full of the right keywords and links to relevant content.
• Announce it on your website
• Twitter about it – be sure to tweet before and during the show.  Make a tweeting schedule to promote registrations for the event and then the days leading up to the show to promote your booth.  Find out from show management if they have a pre-set hashtag for the show you should include.
• Utilize your sales team – make sure your sales team has all the details so they can promote as they speak with prospects.

In all communication, be sure to include your booth number and announce any giveaways and/or parties.

Photo: www.vinylbannersprinting.com/

I will be the first to admit that I have been very skeptical about “setting my content free” (not using forms in front of eBooks and whitepapers.)  I feel like if my job is lead generation then I have to capture those downloading.  But after much deliberation and hearing it again and again from David Meerman Scott (I have seen him speak 4 times and I read his books, eBooks and blog), I decided to give it a shot.  I had a new eBook I wanted to promote to my in-house database.  I created a couple of different emails targeted at the segments that the eBook was relevant to.  In the emails, I had a link asking the reader to download the eBook.  Next to the link I was sure to call out that no registration was required.

I will admit that this was not true A/B testing but the results were still outstanding.  Compared to an email promoting an eBook with similar content to the same segments of the database, I saw a 1600% increase in the number of clickthroughs.

Because we can track clickthroughs in our marketing automation system, Eloqua,  the sales team did not lose any information about who was downloading the eBook.  Now, they just had more people to follow-up with.

If you are still scared to set all of your content free, try it with just a couple of eBooks or whitepapers and be sure to track the results.

At a trade show, you are all about talking to as many people (hopefully qualified leads) as you can.  But don’t forget about your current customers that may be at the show.  More than likely you will have a few current customers already attending the events you sponsor.  Oftentimes with sponsorships you get free or discounted passes.  Offer these to your best customers (note: those that live closest to the event are most likely to accept).

Engage with those you give passes to and any other current customers that will be at the show ahead of time and ask them to act as brand ambassadors for you. Give them something to wear like a t-shirt or button so attendees know they are your customers. At one show we sponsored, one of our customers literally stood at our booth (without us asking him to) and told anyone who stopped to listen about the great results he had seen using our data.  If your customers love what you do, they are often more than willing to shout it from the rooftops.

Some customers may be too busy attending sessions and speaking to other sponsors to be a brand ambassador during the event.  You may consider a cocktail party after show hours where you invite customers and prospects.

Most importantly, don’t forget to thank your customers, especially if they have been bringing you new leads. Cocktail parties, dinner or a gift at the show are a few ideas.  If you don’t have your own user group events, industry events which a lot of your customers attend can be an open opportunity to connect and show your appreciation.

Here on The B2B Lead, we are all about helpful how-tos.  Mashable is a great source for how-to do just about anything online.  Brenna Ehrlich compiled a great list on HOW TO: Do Almost Anything Online in 2010.  The list covers professional goals, lifestyle goals, fun and a bonus section on Twitter.

Here’s what I think is most relevant to the B2B Marketer:

HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI

HOW TO: Track Social Media Analytics

HOW TO: Make Social Media Work for Non-Consumer Brands

HOW TO: Use Social Media in Your PR Pitch Plan

HOW TO: Use Social Media to Retain Customers

HOW TO: Choose a News Reader for Keeping Tabs on Your Industry

HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

HOW TO: Use Facebook for Professional Networking

Top 5 Business Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

The Twitter Guidebook

HOW TO: Use Twitter Lists

HOW TO: Use Twitter’s New Retweet Feature

HOW TO: Get Retweeted on Twitter

HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Twitter #Hashtags

HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for Business

HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Twitter

Every once in a while I come across a marketing campaign that makes me say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  Yesterday, I got a fantastic holiday email from Marketo that I just had to share.  Maybe I am just a sucker for a rhyming poem but I love this.  It is also great that they do more than just wish you a happy holiday but give you some great tips and push you back to their blog.  Love it!

Here is a preview of the great email but be sure to check out the full email for your chance to win a new iPod!

In 2007, we at ReachForce declared January 15th the “Oh $#%@!” Day in Marketing.

Here’s why:

Are you prepared to deliver sales-ready leads in January? December is typically a slower month for B2B Marketing teams, since most organizations slow down current marketing programs and instead spend their time preparing for the next year. Then, you leave for the holidays happy to have completed the painful process of planning and budgeting for the next year’s activities. But once the holiday haze clears, it’s January and everyone is ready to kick off the New Year with new customer wins. Your sales team wants to know, “Where are my leads? I’ve got a number to hit.”

The “Oh $#%@!” moment…

If you wait until you get back from the holidays to begin developing your marketing programs, when are you going to have leads to pass to sales? End of January? Beginning of February? Can your sales team land those deals by the end of Q1?

Instead, start developing your 2009 programs now and be ready to execute your first week back. Remember to go back and look at where you’ve been before getting started. With the economy on a roller coaster, we’re all being forced to do more with less. It’s more important than ever to analyze and target your lead generation initiatives at the right buyers in YOUR target market. I promise your sales team will thank you.