Previous meetings

Summaries of these previous events are available; please contact Gemma Davies on 01235 437847 or gdavies@themarketingpractice.com for further information or to arrange a presentation

Leading them on:

SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL LEAD NURTURING PROGRAMMES

With a panel including: Zoe Frost, Head of Enterprise Marketing Execution, Telefónica O2 and Brian Price, former Head of Consumer Markets Solutions at dunnhumby, and Business Database Marketing Director at Cable & Wireless UK and Europe

The theme

The new art (or is it a science?) of lead nurturing is a cornerstone of alignment between Sales and Marketing and promises benefits including:

  • higher numbers of better qualified sales leads;
  • improved conversion rates;
  • stronger market awareness;
  • significant efficiency savings compared with one-off lead generation campaigns.

This was an evening for sharing examples and strategies that the audience could apply instantly, as well as food for thought in the planning of longer term programmes.

With Zoe Frost, we looked at the anatomy of an award winning B2B programme, from planning, launch and deployment through to the vital lead handover to sales. Brian Price took us through the parallels between B2B lead nurturing and some of the long term, data-led B2C programmes that he has been involved in. We also looked at a snapshot of statistics from a year of lead nurturing at The Marketing Practice.

Social Media on the rack:

WHAT IS ITS REAL VALUE TO B2B MARKETERS?

With a panel including: James Gardner, Managing Director, International Operations, Spigit, formerly Chief Technology Officer, DWP, and Head of Innovation, Lloyds Banking Group; and Sam Hall, Head of Apps PR EMEA, Oracle.

The theme

This Sales & Marketing Forum took a critical look at the practicalities and rewards of social-media marketing and, as ever, saw some priceless feedback straight from the horse's mouth – hearing what senior IT decision-makers think we should be doing next. We considered:

  • The nature of the B2B challenge – what is different about marketing complex, expensive and sometimes business-critical solutions through social media? Advice from the front line on implementation and organisation, plus a look at lessons from the B2C arena.
  • Quality insight from the buyer – how social media affects the relationship with suppliers and what gets their ear. Expect food for thought on where social media interactions fit into the sales funnel.
  • Quantitative analysis – May's S&M Forum sees the release of extensive, independent research, commissioned by The Marketing Practice, into the ways senior IT decision-makers really use Social Media to do business.

A very public affair:

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BECOME A PARTNER FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR?

With a panel including: James Gardner, CTO, Department for Work and Pensions, Colin Cram, Former Director, North West Centre of Excellence and Simon Carter, Marketing Director, UK Government Division, Fujitsu.

The theme
  • How will buyer behaviour, attitudes and needs change?
  • Where should suppliers position themselves to meet these changes and be seen as the right partner?
  • What moves do marketing need to make to reach, educate and influence buyers?
  • What support will sales need to succeed in the 'public sector recession'?

This Sales & Marketing Forum examined the challenges of marketing and selling to the public sector. Based on sheer size and volume the public sector is of massive importance. It can also appear something of a closed shop, hard to penetrate, and gaining a glimpse into the procedures, processes and personalities of this unique operational landscape was fascinating. Finally, our timing was opportune, with the coalition government announced live during the Q&A session, and the change this has already initiated is expected to have a huge impact across the IT sector.

Peep Show:

YOUR MARKETING FROM THE BUYER'S POINT OF VIEW

With a panel including: Claire Myerson, Information Technology Solutions Director at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Keith Mitchell, former Global Head of Shared Infrastructure at Reuters, and Chris Cottam, former European Marketing Manager at HP.

The theme

Marketing activities that worked 12 months ago are no longer delivering returns – or the budget to deliver them no longer exists. Sales alignment is the order of the day. Hard business results are the only measure.

These challenges can all be met head on by improving marketing's ability to uncover sales opportunities. But this will only happen if every marketing activity is reaching and influencing buyers in a way that works for them and for you. This meeting of the forum brought together over 30 B2B marketers and senior sales executives to hear from a panel of buyers.

  • What are buyers really looking for from their suppliers? (And which suppliers will be best placed to take advantage of the new openings in a downturn?)
  • What does your audience think of supplier marketing? (How do experiences vary by stage of the purchase cycle?)
  • What is the buyer's view on the ways that a supplier's marketing and sales teams can best work together?

Pleasure or Pain?

MARKETING IN A MEASUREMENT-DRIVEN WORLD

With a panel including Trevor Salomon, IFS, and Chris Cottam, HP.

The theme
  • How is marketing measured? How does this compare to the issue of what organisations want and need from marketing, and whether they understand what is possible?
  • How do short-term measures affect plans for building effective demand generation engines, especially in an environment where a 'lead' can go nine months before it is sales ready?
  • What role should marketing play throughout the sales cycle, and what examples of success can we share? In a sales-driven world, how does marketing avoid becoming a tactical sales support function?

"What gets measured gets done." This Sales & Marketing Forum brought together a panel of speakers to lead a discussion on how marketing is measured today and what else it could be delivering to the rest of the organisation. It was an opportune moment to review thoughts on the thinking and metrics behind plans for the next year, with a focus on lead generation and how marketing delivers on its promises to the sales team.

Account-Based Marketing:

ONE-ON-ONE ON AN INDUSTRIAL SCALE

With John Bryant, Unisys and Aly Richards, Chordiant

The theme

Account-based marketing – one-to-one marketing relationships on an industrial scale, united behind the drive to maximise revenue from individual customers. What does a successful marketing programme look like when it is organised around individual customer accounts? What does this mean for the role of the marketing department? With account-based marketing past its early adoption in many organisations, we have a valuable opportunity to learn and review before pressing on with plans for 2008. This session of the Sales & Marketing Forum aims to cover a number of decidedly practical questions, with views from every side of the argument – marketing, sales and the customer.

  • How do we know what will work for the organisation? Where does account-based marketing fit within corporate strategy and how does it align with business units and sales teams?
  • How do we know what will really work for customers? What does account-based marketing look like from their perspective?
  • How are the best programmes set up? What are the up-front elements that make the difference between success and… well, let's just call it 'slightly less success'?
  • How do we make sure that the sales team (and wider organisation) sees the full value of the programme and continues to help drive the roll-out? What is the sales perspective on the purpose of account-based marketing?
  • How can we evaluate what success looks like?

Indefensible to Indispensable:

MARKETING IN A SALES-DRIVEN WORLD

Facilitated by Dr Louise Beaumont, former Marketing Director, Unisys

Part one: why indefensible?
  • IT companies are often binary – they are either busy selling or busy delivering what they have just sold. Where does that leave marketing?
  • What does the organisation want vs need from marketing? Does the organisation understand what's possible?
  • Enabling the sales force: what role should marketing play throughout the sales cycle?
  • The frustration of low expectations. How to do great marketing in organisations which don't have great marketing genes – what are the problems presented by the fact that IT services companies are not, typically, marketing organisations in the way that FMCG companies are? What's different in these firms and how can we get there?
Part two: getting to indispensable
  • How to build a team and programme that really makes a difference to the business. (Should marketing lead or be a fast follower? What lessons can we learn from industries where marketing is a more established leader in the business?)
  • Bigger budgets come with expectations to match – how to live up to this
  • Marketing metrics – demonstrating value and return by measuring the right stuff in the right way
  • Avoiding becoming a tactical sales support function. How severe is the need to develop professional marketing capability and how can this be achieved?
  • Delivering sales, and ultimately shareholder, value: tools, techniques, experiences

Cracking the Whip:

IS FINANCE DOMINATING THE BUYING PROCESS?

With a panel including Gareth Bailey, Head of Central Services, Logistics & IT Group, Marks & Spencer, and Mark Evans, Chief Financial Officer, Vodafone Group Technology.

The theme

This meeting offered a critical opportunity to examine the role of Finance and its relationship with departments including IT when it comes to major supplier decisions. Most suppliers understand that Finance’s role is increasingly important in an environment of strict cost-control – which is leading to an increasing level of communication targeted at the CFO and their team. But at the same time, Finance decision-makers are most likely to agree that suppliers do not understand how to communicate with them.

So against increasing levels of background noise, understanding the position, priorities, attitudes and behaviours of the Finance decision-maker could make all the difference to your competitive edge.

There are no universal right or wrong answers – the forum presented views from a range of senior Finance decision-makers in a number of key areas:

  • Where does Finance enter the decision-making process? (How is this changing and how does it differ between organisations?)
  • How does Finance's involvement differ for various kinds of purchase? (Major outsourcing deals, software requested by the business, IT transformation, solutions for the Finance department itself...)
  • What does the typical structure of a Finance department mean for suppliers dealing with the organisation?
  • How have suppliers best communicated their value to Finance? (What are the best examples of new and existing supplier relationships?)
  • What are the real limits to Finance’s involvement? Can Finance really offer a way in, or is it just a rubber stamp?

Contact details

THE MARKETING PRACTICE

The Great Barn
The Old Estate Yard
East Hendred
Wantage
Oxfordshire
OX12 8JY

Tel: 01235 833233