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Marketing: Active Listening vs Shouting

by Robin Collyer

The great news about blogging is that you'll already be interested in what I have to say or else you wouldn't have found me! (Keyword Response Attribution in practice ....)

Recognising that shouting about Aprimo's new SaaS offering - Aprimo Marketing Studio - in the UKI market isn't an effective way to reach my target market, I am opting for some "active listening" - which I guess you could label as a form of Influencer Marketing.

My name is Robin Collyer and I am responsible for Aprimo's Sales and Marketing Operations in the UK & Ireland. I have worked around Marketing Professional Software for the last 10 years and am looking forward to sharing my experiences in this blog as I experiment with all the new ways to influence a market and maximise sales.

When we talk about Marketing Communication Software, we instantly think of all the messages we want to send to the market - but who is really listening?

I have recognised that the power lies firmly with my customers and prospects - not me - so I need to help them find me (Capture) - making Aprimo easy and fun (Engage) to buy from (Convert) as I go.

Should I even introduce myself in terms of "Sales and Marketing"? I guess I view my role as more of a facilitator or Head of Engagement, where the line between Marketing and Sales is all but non-existent. e.g. Is this blog a marketing initiative or a sales tactic?

How does this resonate with you? What are your thoughts on shouting vs active listening and how to influence a market?

(Loving Twitter's 140 character limit - follow me @AprimoUKI).

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Aprimo® Continues Growth and Focus on Marketing Automation; Names Veteran CMO Lisa Arthur to Executive Team

by Kelly Turner

As CMO, Arthur combines her expertise in CRM Applications, Software as a Service (SaaS) and customer-driven marketing with Aprimo’s leadership in Marketing Software.

Aprimo® Inc., a leading global provider of on-demand marketing software solutions, announced that it is enhancing its management team with the addition of Chief Marketing Officer, Lisa Arthur.

"Lisa is an outstanding addition to our Aprimo team,” said co-founder and CEO Bill Godfrey. “Lisa is laser focused on customers and market-driven strategies to drive value and growth. This, combined with her expertise in branding, on-demand strategy and demand generation, is a great complement to Aprimo and our intense focus on helping marketers improve their effectiveness, efficiencies and their shareholder value. We are excited to have Lisa join the Aprimo team.”

Arthur has over 25 years of global leadership experience, achieving high marketing metrics for large technology companies including Oracle & Akamai Technologies. As the VP of Global CRM- Marketing for Oracle, Arthur was able to carve the company's entry into the CRM market in the late 90s, and grow Oracle to become a leading applications provider. Arthur also led Oracle's Services Marketing group, and was responsible for re-positioning and driving triple digit growth in the Software as a Service market. Arthus then joined Akamai as CMO, steering market strategies and positioning, invigorating the brand and helping Akamai grow from $160 million to over $300 million in annual revenue.

Most recently, in a quest to improve the traction of marketing within high-tech companies, Arthur co-founded Cinterim, a San Francisco-based company offering Interim Chief Marketing Officer Services to small to mid-sized companies. In that role, she helped drive market creation, positioning and strategies for several start-ups and Fortune 20 companies.

As CMO for Aprimo, Arthur assumes immediate responsibility for its overall market strategy, branding, demand generation, and Marketing ROI optimization.

“Aprimo is the best kept secret in Marketing and I'm thrilled to be on the executive team of the world's best marketing software company. I will be working globally with our customers to better understand how they are leveraging Aprimo to run some of the most sophisticated and innovative marketing programs on the planet,” said Arthur. “And then my goal will be to share with the world how the best marketers capitalize on the power and capabilities of Aprimo.”

Arthur is a seasoned key note speaker on topics including, but not limited to Web 2.0, CRM strategies, SEO optimization, new product strategy, and brand identity. Subscribe to Lisa's blog to read more about her and her marketing thought leadership.

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Deploying Interactive Marketing Software

by Eric Teitsma

I thought it might be good to begin with a quick summary to make sure everyone reading this is on the same page. There are many different interactive marketing software solutions in the market today. Most of these solutions are Software as a Service or SaaS based software solutions. They address various needs related to online marketing. They include some or all of the following features: list management, email, marketing lead management, microsite builders, web analytics solutions, social media software (blogs), search engine optimization, PPC Management, web advertising, and reporting.

With so many tools to leverage, deploying interactive marketing software is best approached in stages or phases. Beginning with the quick easy wins and building up to more complicated features over time. For example, starting with simple email campaigns with some basic personalization or limited dynamic content in the first phase can show early success internally. I have found that letting users see some early wins and success can really help build internal momentum and excitement. You can then leverage that success to move into more advanced features like a microsite builder and maybe begin to tie in a web analytics tool in future campaigns.

Yes, the real power and value comes when you tie all of the features together to see a full picture of your online marketing efforts and measuring their success. However, do not get too caught up in the vision to think that you must have everything turned on at once for it to be worth it. Too often I see companies get so wrapped up in wanting it all right away that they try to push everything out all at once in one large phase and end up overwhelming their users. This leads to user adoption issues and can kill the entire implementation. It is much better to take the crawl, walk, run approach when deploying an interactive marketing solution.

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Healthy Marketing

by Donna Holland

One of my family members had surgery this week and has come through it beautifully. She had a wonderful team of medical experts to make this happen.

It made me think about the surgery we often need in our business processes. I hear this in speaking with prospects looking for marketing information technologies and social media applications. They need to eliminate the old and find something that works for them making their marketing efforts healthy and productive.

One lady recently told me they have a complex system of marketing management processes but it doesn't give them the productivity they desperately need. Their current process mires them down, resulting in consumption of time and money. She was excited to know we have marketing software, both on-demand & Marketing SaaS (Software as a Service) that can streamline all of her marketing needs. Now, the hardest decision she has to make is determining which solution best suits her needs!

So, think of Aprimo as your marketing medical team. If your marketing efforts are ailing, I would love to speak with you. We would love to make them healthy.

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Integrated Online Marketing - My new charter

by Rob McLaughlin

There is a moment in every company's life where the management team realizes the company's past success has in no way guaranteed its' future success. That to stay relevant, the company needs to embrace change, or become a footnote in the history of it.

I experienced that moment two years ago when I (with my fellow management team) realized two major events were taking place in our world of marketing software:

- SaaS (Software as a Service) was here to stay
- Marketing spend was going online - in a hurry

Aprimo has been providing marketing software for over a decade. We have been an important component to solving some of the most complex marketing problems within some of the largest companies in the world. However, the problem set of the past 10 years within marketing across our customer base was changing, and changing fast.

To remain a top player, we had to change as well. So, 12 months ago, I set off with our team to develop and expand our set of online marketing products. These new applications would deliver two critical elements to the Aprimo solution set:

- All the applications would be 100% SaaS based
- The solution would focus on the critical need for integrated online marketing

For "extra" encouragement, the very applications we were expanding and creating would be instrumental in the launch and support of this new business & offering. In essence, the solution and the business were linked from the start. We did not only need to fully develop integrated online marketing software, we had to become the best practitioners of integrated online marketing.

I plan to blog over the coming days, weeks, and months on our life in both creating and implementing online marketing software and strategies. It has already been a wild ride, one I have truly enjoyed. We are at the eve of our launch and I cannot wait to share our stories, our failures (well, ok, I could wait on these - but won't), and our successes along the way.

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Where is Aprimo going?

by Donna Holland

Even before I was hired, almost four years ago, I knew Aprimo was special because of something someone said about them. This person candidly admitted he didn't know very much about the marketing management technology company. He knew only that they were a marketing software company with a good reputation. He didn't know what type of software they represented - PPC Management, Marketing Planning Systems or a much larger marketing operation system. Without researching them, he said about Aprimo, "They came through the devastation and demise of so many software companies and they are still in business. That means they are doing something right."

When I came on board, I quickly learned their Core Values:

Cultivation of customer loyalty and success
Commitment to the highest standards of integrity and ethics
Dedication to teamwork and the focused pursuit of excellence
Creation of career passions and professional growth
Respect for the individual and the importance of a balanced life
Responsibility for service and philanthropy in our communities

Aprimo doesn't print these core values on their website to look pretty and be politically correct; they live them every day, every one of them. I've heard many co-workers comment, after working here for a few weeks, how impressed they were initially with Aprimo's Core Values and how these Core Values are truly part of the everyday makeup of Aprimo.

I've just attended training for our new Aprimo Marketing Studio. Once again Aprimo is doing something right. They have thoughtfully put together a product to solve the needs of many marketers and it is wrapped neatly into a SaaS (Software as a Solution) package. Once again, Aprimo is ahead of the curve. Once again, they are honest in and about their offerings. We are not perfect; we are not all things to all people, but we hear our customers and we are working to meet their needs in the industry.

So, where do I see Aprimo in five years? I have absolutely no idea. They always surprise me in the most positive ways. I should not be surprised after all this time, but I am. Whatever we are doing in five years, it will still be right.

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Back In The Hot Seat

by Lisa Arthur

It’s been just a little more than three months since I decided to shut down my marketing services company, jump back into my pumps and back into the proverbial hot seat of a high-tech CMO. It’s been just a little over a month since joining my new company, Aprimo.

What is going on in the Marketing Automation space, let alone here at Aprimo, is just too exciting not to jump in. Name it. Budgets are slashed so B2B and B2C marketers are flocking to improve pay per click management, organic search, social media and blogging to reach new prospects and consumers at a fraction of the cost.

Guess what happens when marketers flock? Innovation occurs. And as B2B marketers try to scale and B2C marketers try to entice...CMOs like myself are looking to automate not populate to get more personal and more relevant with their marketing strategies and tactics.

Enter Aprimo. Our flagship product, Aprimo 8.5, automates the hard work of marketing -- budgets and financial planning, mass amounts of digital assets as well as integrated, multi-campaign management. Our new product line, Aprimo Marketing Studio, offers a suite of software as a service applications for interactive marketing -- including the blog I'm writing...as well as microsite tools, pay per click management and social media optimization.

So as Aprimo's CMO -- my team and I get to innovate our own marketing efforts -- and those of some of the most savvy marketers on the planet.

Can you blame me for jumping back in? Come join me -- let's talk about how we can innovate together.

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