Demand Generation. Marketing Automation. Lead Generation. All buzzwords marketers these days are hearing, but what do they mean? More importantly, what do these terms mean to you and your marketing obligations?
Below are 10 definitions of buzzwords you may be hearing as you explore options for Demand Generation. These terms help clarify what processes and technology marketing organizations are now using to put more qualified leads at the top of the sales funnel and help shorten the sales cycle. Now THAT’S a concept your VP of Sales or Marketing could get into!
1. Demand Generation (or ‘DG’ for short) is the revenue focused set of activities for both sales and marketing that gets high quality leads into the top of the sales funnel AND then helps pull opportunities through the sales funnel quicker.
2. Marketing Automation describes a rapidly emerging category of Web 2.0 technologies designed to improve marketing efficiencies and drive additional revenue through high quality lead generation and opportunity management.
3. Digital Body Language is online behavior. It’s the other half of the conversation your prospects and clients are having with you. Are you listening and participating?
4. Use Cases are built to help identify the best areas for demand generation in a company. They highlight the areas of quickest and best revenue opportunities and also identify areas for improving efficiencies. It is a description of how sales/marketing users and PROSEPCTS will engage and react during the customer buy cycle.
5. Lead Scoring is a process using a marketing automation system that allows you to assign points to demographic data ( a C level title might get 10 points while a Director title might get 8 points) and implicit behavior ( visiting 10 pages on a specific solution on your website). This point system is designed to identify when a prospect “raises their virtual hand” letting you know they would welcome a call from sales. This is an MQL. Demographic data hard data that is pulled from CRM (title) or a form (# of employees). Part of the total lead score. Behavioral data online behavior such as number of pages visited or the visit of a key web page. Part of the total lead score.
6. Persona is a term used to create a profile of your key prospects, including how they act online for purposes of creating content and calls to action they will respond to. This is a detailed representation of who they are, and how they act, which allows you to set up more effective campaigns to engage the prospects in virtual relationships.
7. Subscription Management also known as Preference Management is a process that a list builder uses to add and/or remove members from their lists. It can be used for multiple list building purposes such as direct mail, but is often more associated with email and telemarketing.
8. Lead Nurturing is a process of building a relationship by conducting an informative dialogue that helps qualify prospects who are not yet sales ready (regardless of budget, authority or timing) to ensure a clean hand off to sales at the right time.
9. Lead Management is a process that defines what happens after a prospect has “raised their hand”, i.e. shown the right level of interest. Once the prospect meets established qualification criteria, this process defines the next steps, and who is responsible for each step until that prospect becomes a closed deal. Both the sales and marketing teams have assigned responsibilities in lead management.
10. Deliverability is the process of getting your email messages into the inboxes of your recipients. An ongoing battle for email marketers to avoid being classed as spam, successful deliverability depends on a combination of best practices, including authentication and reputation. However, the rules are constantly changing. (Source: mailboxFOX)
