Blog: B2B marketing

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A Marketing Reflection: Quaero's 2011 Webinar Recap

Dec 22 2011

Here at Quaero, it's a magical time of the year. Using up last vacation days, attending company holiday parties, and of course, planning for 2012 marketing efforts. A whole new collection of events, webinars, eBooks, etc. that we will be rolling out in the coming year. As we plan, however, we don't want to forget the success of 2011, because we were fortunate to work with some fantastic people, and create a good deal of content that we trust will live far beyond the new year. For this reason, I thought it would be nice to recap some of our 2011 webinars, and the lessons that we learned from them. Thank you to our friends at Neolane, who gave us the idea with a recap of their own.

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Building the Data Foundation, A Brief Interlude – Master Data Management

Feb 28 2011

In Part I of this two-part (plus this update) series, I talked about the importance of building a solid data foundation, informed by an overarching data strategy.  A key component of that strategy is to establish the data management architecture that will most effectively support your objectives.  There are two closely related disciplines that best serve this purpose:

  1. Customer Data Integration (CDI)
  2. Master Data Management (MDM)    

While these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, for the purposes of this blog, we will define CDI as the collection of technologies and processes that consolidate information from multiple sources to create a centralized view of the customer.  This includes ETL, cleansing, standardization, matching, identity management and creation of "master records."

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Email best practices for B2B lead management

Jun 7 2010

A big component of lead management strategy in B2B marketing is the process of building relationships with your prospects and engaging a prospect with meaningful dialogue that moves them through the sales funnel until they are ready to become a customer.

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Marketing and Innovation: A Tale of Two Companies

May 13 2010

When most people talk about innovation, they are often referring to the development of new or improved products, a la the iPad.   However, innovation with regard to processes and entirely new business  models are often much more impactful.  Famous examples of this are the lean manufacturing techniques pioneered by Japanese companies, the supply chain revolutions led by Dell and Wal-Mart, offshore support and development driven by Indian oursourcing companies such as Infosys and online retail shopping experiences from Amazon, e-Bay and myriad smaller online retailers.    Innovation in marketing can likewise help to transform businesses.  

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The challenges (and occasional perils) of blogging

Apr 5 2010

Blogging is a staple in the B2B marketer's toolbox and has helped many a small business elevate its presence and client base.  Here at Quaero, we have an active blogging community. We use blogs to provide thought leadership while engaging with both prospective and current clients.

But blogging and its younger cousin, microblogging (i.e., Twitter), have their drawbacks. Many companies continue to question their value.  Let's look at why and how corporate blogs are scrutinized:

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My New Year's Resolution - Improve Our Marketing Operations

Dec 10 2009

Although 2009 is drawing to a close and most people are thinking about winding down for the holidays, I'm already well-ensconced in 2010 marketing plans, programs and campaign execution.  During the past few weeks, I've spent a lot of time addressing the "marketing operations" side of the business; and while I've never considered myself an ops expert, my role has always included a significant amount of work in this area. 

Interestingly, marketing operations is one of those amorphous areas, quite different in every organization.  Here at CSG's Quaero, the goal of marketing operations is to improve the efficiency of the marketing function through people (resources), process and infrastructure/tools.  Most recently we've:

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