"We serve the marketing department. Broadly defined, we're in the marketing-automation space. So we help marketers fundamentally become part of a company's revenue-generating pipeline. Traditionally, the revenue pipeline starts in the sales department; that's where CRM systems got their start. We really think revenue starts in the marketing department, and our systems help marketers deliver more ready-to-buy sales leads to their sales channel and [also]... have the analytics to really prove it — to take credit, to show how marketing is impacting the top line of the company." Read More »

"Sales and marketing teams often seem like contentious relatives, fighting bitterly and avoiding contact. Beyond causing animosity, their refusals to cooperate damage business, costing companies an estimated $1 trillion in lost revenue every year. Intent on helping companies reverse missed opportunities, Marketo, a California-based management firm, offers a new on-demand product called "Lead Insight for Sales," which provides these respective groups a system for achieving cooperation." Read More »

"The problem, of course, is that sales-marketing alignment is easier said than done. And even when it's done, companies often go about it all wrong, focusing on what Miller calls "point initiatives" such as common lead definitions and better communication. Certainly, these areas are important but they don't get to the heart of the issue, says Miller. "Sales and marketing need to throw out old notions of marketing leads and sales cycles and departmental boundaries," he argues, "and focus instead on integrating marketing and sales as dual drivers of revenue." Read More »

"While technology is definitely an enabler, marketing automation software Marketo is focusing on promoting a "Revenue Revolution," in addition to its new Lead Insight for Sales release today. The lack of coordination and communication between marketing and sales has been entrenched in the cultures of many companies, resulting in nearly $1 trillion in wasted opportunities, according to Phil Fernandez, Marketo's chief executive officer. In light of that, it's going to take a revolution in thought, particularly among senior executives, before technology can ever successfully solve the problem." Read More »

"This conflict [between sales and marketing, Marketo president and CEO Phil] Fernandez said results in 70 percent of leads generated by marketing being wasted – and sales duplicating marketing’s efforts by hunting for leads on its own. 'If the 20 to 40 percent of the time sales people do cold prospecting because they don’t trust marketing’s leads could be devoted to actually selling, we think it could release $1 trillion in revenue,' Fernandez asserted. Talk about your peace dividend." Read More »

"Lead Insight for Sales integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce.com and allows sales reps to send e-mail campaigns, track how prospects respond to marketing and sales communications, and get instant alerts when recipients open e-mails, visit a Web site or take other actions. " Read More »

"The SaaS allows marketing and sales departments to use Microsoft Outlook or Salesforce.com to send e-mail blasts to prospective leads and then track e-mail open rates, Web site hits and key buying signs instantly." Read More »

"Sales is seen as a revenue driver because sales operates in terms of positive numbers. Yet in order for marketing to align with sales and impact business as a revenue driver in its own right, marketing also needs to measure itself based on positive numbers and revenue in the door."Read More »

"We have improved a number of leads. It is the first time I am able to deliver the vice president of marketing a lead report saying, 'We generated this number of leads, this many were passed on to sales and we are seeing these types of trends.' This allows us to predict campaigns."Read More »

"That’s not to say Marketo is a simple product. Functionally, it covers all the demand generation bases: outbound email, landing pages, Web site monitoring, lead scoring, multi-step nurturing programs, prospect database, analytics, Salesforce.com integration. It even adds A/B testing for landing pages, which you don’t see everywhere. The depth in each area is perfectly respectable as well." Read More »

"...encourage marketing to really get on the same page as sales and to make sure it’s doing its best to pass quality leads. Now that there’s a number that can be identified, there’s skin in the game for marketing to get that number to go up." Read More »

"Best-in-class marketers are working hard on shoring up the foundation of their lead-management processes," said IDC Research analyst Michael Gerard. "Above all, they're taking a more process-oriented approach rather than saying, "Let's get more leads and throw them over to sales." Read More »

"Even BANT criteria (budget, authority, need and timing) have limited usefulness since buyers' answers to those questions are notoriously inaccurate (only 29% of respondents always fill that information out accurately, according to MarketingSherpa). In contrast, as we all know, people's actions speak louder than their words. This means you should also track and score a lead's behavior so you can measure their interest and engagement in your solution." Read More »

"The WizKids of 2008 all take CRM solutions to the next level of ease-of-use and productivity. "Beyond the leverage of the on-demand model," Pombriant writes, "is their orientation to helping companies to present their customers a face that is easier to do business with." Read More »

"Another sign of the times is the emphasis more and more companies have on delivering solutions that make their clients easier to do business with. I have been investigating this phenomenon for a while and believe it is very understandable." Read More »

"We are the first complete software in this space that lets marketers act responsively — to build and deploy campaigns in minutes, not days or weeks." Read More »

"Nothing focuses the sales force on sales like a quota. But what does a CEO use to focus Marketing? Can Marketing really begin to source leads for Sales? And how can you really optimize the relationship between Sales and Marketing?" Read More »

"Another software company that has had significant success with free trial offers is Marketo. The marketing automation provider is now offering free trials of its lead management solution to qualified prospects." Read More »

"What if you don't have an in-house web designer or the resources to hire someone to design a landing page for every online marketing campaign? Luckily, there are online sites that help you create your own landing pages relatively easily and inexpensively. These sites don't require that you know HTML, and designing a landing page can be as easy as creating a PowerPoint slide. For example, Marketo.com offers landing page creation tools and hosting." Read More »

"Test your landing pages, but don't over test. Having too many test versions means it will take a long time to get anything even remotely looking like accurate results.. Don't pass a lead to sales before it's ready." Read More »

"Marketing is suffering from a crisis of credibility. So what can marketers do to be seen as part of a machine that drives revenue and profits, not just the people who throw parties and buy swag?" Read More »

"Did you hear the one about the VP of marketing who demanded budget and IT support for a $10 million enterprise application that he promised would revolutionize how his company did its marketing? Neither did we... Despite the fact that many marketers have as much bottom- and top-line responsibility as their counterparts in sales, finance and manufacturing, they need to be much more creative about getting the software tools they need. Enter the software-as-a-service, or SaaS, provider." Read More »

"Do your marketing and sales teams work together or against one another? In many cases, office politics may be choking your results - and your career. 80% of B-to-B marketers surveyed by MarketingSherpa last year don't receive any feedback once a lead has been passed along. Want to reverse the lead generation black hole? Here are seven strategies to get both sides talking, including how to: model the sales/marketing funnel, develop a common vocabulary, and create a closed-loop reporting process." Read More »

"For Marketo's clients, which are strictly B2B, multivariate testing is not as effective, because of sites' lower conversion rates. Unlike retail companies that sell a lot of products with lower price points, B2Bs generally make many fewer sales, but their price tags are much higher. Therefore, if a company's goal is to convert more consumers into buyers and the firm is trying to figure out which version of its Web page best makes that happen, the company will have many fewer positive data points." Read More »