The Thomas Blog

3 Ways To Cut Through The Marketing ROI Clutter

When it comes to measuring marketing ROI, there’s no shortage of data available. In fact, over the last five years, more than 3,600 martech vendors have entered the industry, giving business owners and marketing teams the ability to track every move their customers make, from opening emails to viewing pages to commenting on social media.

As a result, companies are armed with more data than ever before. Unfortunately, however, there’s so much information available that it can be easy to lose focus on the marketing metrics that really matter to your company. To help keep you from falling down the data rabbit hole, here are three things you can do to cut through the clutter:  

You’re Probably Making This Fatal Sales Mistake

Think about your current sales process: You probably get leads from marketing, the RFQ form on your website or referrals. You might give a prospect a call, ask a standard set of questions, set a price, send an email and hope your bid is selected. 

5 Reasons Why a Sales CRM is a Process Game-Changer

If your sales team is still sharing spreadsheets and documents to manage pipelines, monitor leads and drive sales, you might as well be sending up smoke signals across the office.

For years, marketers have been adopting automation tools to tie all of their campaigns and reporting together to better manage and prove ROI — and it’s about time that sales pros did the same.

How Do I Get More Leads For My Sales Team?

The sales team needs more new leads. There’s no way around it. They’ve exhausted their existing relationships, and the lists you’ve bought for cold calling aren’t worth the paper that they’re printed on. The magazine ads aren’t working, and the tradeshow traffic has dried up. You’re really trying to get the website going, but you’ve hit a wall. You’re converting about 1-3% of your existing website traffic to leads, but this isn’t enough to keep the team busy and revenue growing. Sound familiar?

How to Avoid “Missed Connections” in the Buying Cycle

Most people know about Craigslist “Missed Connections:” you’ve met someone interesting but didn’t follow up or exchange contact information, so you cast a line into the World Wide Web in the hopes of getting a second chance with that special someone.

The problem? The odds are largely against you, since it all depends on that other person actually finding your ad.

4 Ways You Can Flush Your ROI Down the Toilet

You can just hear the sound in your head as your marketing budget circles the drain, never coming back, with nothing to show for it. It’s the scenario you may find yourself in if you’re not thinking about return on investment (ROI) when you plan a marketing program.

ROI is a few things: it’s a measure of how effective your marketing is, how efficient it is, and how productive it is. But it really boils down to one yes-or-no, bottom line question: Was it worth it? You can have all the impressive metrics you want, but if the ROI isn’t there you may as well just toss those dollars down the bowl. How can a marketing program go so wrong? Here are a few ways.

Closing the Deal: The B2B Buying Cycle, Part 5

Although the RFI process represents the end of the B2B buying cycle, in many ways it’s actually another beginning. Often, it’s the first time a prospect will contact you. It’s the start of the “face-to-face” process of closing a sale. And ideally, it commences a long and productive partnership between you and the buyer.

Just like each step leading up to it, however, it’s important to treat the RFI as an important component of the overall process, not merely a formality on the way to a sale.

Stand Out on the Shortlist: The B2B Buying Cycle, Part 4

Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. What’s most important to them when sourcing? Early on, speed and efficiency are key — conducting research on their terms, without worrying about an email or a call back. That doesn’t change once they reach the shortlist stage — they’re still not ready to spend time on queries. In fact, you likely won’t even know you’re on the shortlist until the first time they contact you.

How does the shortlist work, and how can you improve your chances of getting there — and getting selected?

Learn What Your Prospects Are Really Looking For: The B2B Buying Cycle, Part 3

It’s not enough just to be listed. Keep that in mind as you consider the third stage of the industrial B2B buying cycle: Evaluation. Buyers arrive at this stage once they’ve identified a need and begun a high level, general search. You’re a possibility to reach their shortlist — but you’re still not a lock. Buyers need to see that it’s worth their time to keep considering you. How? It’s all in the details.