Can You Get Inactive Prospects to Re-engage? Do You Even Want To?

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September 2009, Issue 67

Marketing Evolution
Can You Get Inactive Prospects to
Re-engage? Do You Even Want To?
Q&A from the BtoB Online Webinar, New Benchmark Data on Effective Demand Generation: How Do You Compare?, originally broadcast September 1, 2009.

In a live panel discussion on September 1, Steve Woods, CTO of Eloqua; Rob Solomon, CEO of Bulldog Solutions; and Naylor Gray, Director of Global Marketing at Frost & Sullivan answered questions about lead generation best practices. View the on-demand Webinar.

On-demand Webinar: See How Your Peers Perform in Demand Generation.

Join experts from Bulldog Solutions. Eloqua, and Frost & Sullivan for a panel discussion that reveals what top-performing marketers are doing to accelerate their pipelines and close more deals.

View the on-demand Webinar.

Kate Maddox, Senior Reporter, BtoB (Moderator): Do you recommend continuing to communicate with inactive people in your database to gain back their loyalty and generate activity, and how should you go about doing that?

Steve Woods, CTO, Eloqua: My recommendation is, no. When you survey someone, you're asking someone to take 10 minutes out of their day, and that's a very brave "ask" for an unengaged content. Generally the successful strategy that we've seen for re-engaging with unengaged contacts is extremely heavy on "the offer you can't refuse." Free research, free Webinars: It's heavy on the value you create for them, and a low effort on their part.

Kate Maddox, Senior Reporter, BtoB: Fewer and fewer people are entering valid information on forms. So how do you nurture leads using forms? Is that still a valid strategy?

Steve Woods, CTO, Eloqua: We generally recommend an equitable exchange of information. Honestly assess how valuable the information you're offering is. A sales-y white paper is not that valuable. Once you've made that assessment, you can ask one, two or three questions of that buyer. If you ask that minimal number of questions, generally people will be more up-front about it, and you can build a profile of them without asking them to submit a 20-field form.

Kate Maddox, Senior Reporter, BtoB: Marketers are responsible for lead-generation activities that occur in the short term. Are there ways to look at ROI other than long-term—the sales pipeline?

Rob Solomon, CEO and Founder, Bulldog Solutions: Tons of relevant data come out of a marketing campaign, and it can all be used to optimize ROI. In our world, we're constantly putting under the microscope even our definitions of the different stages, and using campaign data to support that. We're constantly also testing messages. The whole idea of getting inside the head of a prospect means you're talking about things that are urgent to them. The ability to put quantifiable metrics around your messages, to understand which ones drove the best prospects, is really valuable in supporting the ultimate endgame, which is filling that pipeline.

Kate Maddox, Senior Reporter, BtoB: What are some best practices in sharing data with channel partners, and how do you get access to the channel partners' data?

Steve Woods, CTO, Eloqua: It's never easy. You're dealing with a lot of political challenges rather than analytical challenges. But purely from an analytics standpoint, you can enable your channel partners with an understanding of digital body language. Give them a sense of what the leads you're passing to them are interested in, what their hot buttons are. That makes your channel partners more effective and gives them a better sense that when you say it's a qualified lead, they trust the backup data.

In terms of getting them to be more friendly with their data, you can start to use those qualified leads as a carrot or reward. Channel partners who correctly register their leads through the partner portal will be fed the next set of qualified leads.

Kate Maddox, Senior Reporter, BtoB: What should be considered the fundamental technology marketers should be using for marketing and lead generation?

Naylor Gray, Director of Global Marketing, Frost & Sullivan: The fundamental technology for demand generation is marketing automation software. Beyond that, it's very important to have a CRM system: You need a central repository for your contact database, you need to be able to measure behaviors and preferences, and certain outcomes.

Original Q&A has been edited for clarity and consolidation.

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Panelists:

Kate Maddox is senior reporter, BtoB Online.

Steve Woods is CTO, Eloqua.

Rob Solomon is CEO and founder, Bulldog Solutions.

Naylor Gray is director of global marketing, Frost & Sullivan.

Marketing Watchdog Journal is a monthly newsletter from Bulldog Solutions, a lead optimization and lead management company dedicated to helping our clients generate more, better leads and turn them into revenue. We welcome your feedback on this newsletter's content and design, and encourage you to share your ideas for topics you would like us to cover in future issues. Please send your comments or questions about Bulldog Solutions to Amy Bills, director of field marketing.