7706 May Supplement.qxd:7706 May Supplement V5.qxd 1/5/08 16:05 Page 5
≤
Go to www.b2bm.biz/eloqua-roundtable for WebTV report
Round table
5
reaching out to audiences easier. But it PM: The difficulty is that organisations still
“If you go back ten years,
makes day-to-day work more intensive. So have somebody responsible for direct mail,
it’s a mixed blessing. When I send somebody responsible for Internet,
marketing was about upfront
something, I have to ask, “Can I follow up in somebody for advertising. They’re all
awareness. Then sales took
a way that’s expected? Do I have the looking at their own targets and this might
resources and time, and are the sales people be counterproductive in terms of what
over. Now marketing is forced
there to make sure it doesn’t fall flat?” you’re trying to achieve.
to get involved earlier. It’s a
AC: If you haven’t got the data, then you
shouldn’t try and be clever because you’ll JH: I once interviewed a senior marketer
big change and new
end up shooting yourself in the foot. You’ll from a large US-based technology
technology allows us to do
make assumptions with non-existent data company whose job title was manager
that will alienate that audience. of field sales support. Is marketing
that. Marketing is looked at
becoming a support function for sales?
as part of the sales process.”
JH: Is marketing technology making AC: I could say that’s the wrong way
your lives more complicated or just round. Often we are viewed as having to
changing how you do things? support the business, but then there’s the
Stuart Wheldom,
JM: The responsibility is wider and you conundrum where we’re the thought
Director customer success, EMEA and Asia Pacific,
Eloqua
have to collaborate more with colleagues. It leaders trying to drive the business.
unveils the back-end systems and you have CC: It’s the old adage of turning marketing
to get those in order, because the sales tool from an overhead into a resource. The DO: Because marketing has changed so
has to talk to the marketing tool. trouble is some people see a resource as a much in the last five years, there is even
SAS: If it’s done properly it makes us more support function. more of a gap between the business’s
effective. There’s no way I’d want to go JM: Sales is appreciating marketing more understanding of what marketing is about
back 10 years, or even to last year. New these days because they can see they’re and how you measure it. One of my biggest
tools that are coming out – like personalised getting people to website and to events. issues is standing in front of the board and
URLs – are fantastic if you put the effort in They’re more tangible deliverables. These saying where we spent our money. If I’m
and do it properly. days they can see the numbers go up and it lucky, I can say we got a £1 for every £1
AC: The non-integrated way was a lot can be tracked. It’s about quality of leads. If we’ve spent. But if I can’t, it becomes a
simpler. You only had to think about your they have more information it can help ‘finger in the air’ scenario, which isn’t
own thing. Now you’ve got to think about close the deal and get an appointment. scientific enough for them.
everybody else in that whole process. AC: The line between sales and marketing PM: In business-to-business marketing, the
DS: Marketing was always business is blurring. If you look at a system like challenge we face is that the sales cycle is a
focused, now it’s measurable. Eloqua, it does many of the things a sales lot longer than in consumer marketing and
AC: We’re having to plan and think in an person does, and yet it falls under the our challenge is to bridge that gap. One
integrated way, but often the business isn’t domain of marketing. way to do that is to have strong
aligned in the same way, so you’re cutting promotional tools and codes.
across cultural differences and processes. JH: How do you find integrating online CC: Management of data is a big issue.
SAS: I stopped my company talking about with offline? Is is a challenge? Different countries manage and report in a
ROI on a piece of DM or a piece of email, Derek Owen: It makes it easier. For completely different way. This means you
because how can I say the deal we’ve example, with offline events there are a don’t really have a benchmark.
closed was to do with that piece of DM? number of digital tools to help with
Because it wasn’t – it was to do with five measurability. RFID systems allow you to JH: How much time are you spending on
pieces of DM, three emails, the fact that track where people and and which measurement?
they went onto a website and it was seminars they’re interested in. AC: We spend too much time on it.
personalised. Directors are constantly DO: It would be great to have something
asking marketing people, “What’s JH: What about measurement? How that shows how long it takes to pull all the
happened with this spend?” You have to does that work? Is it on spreadsheets? Is data together. I’d love to know if there was
keep talking about the whole scenario. it on bespoke systems? an industry average because I bet some
Stuart Wheldon and Justine Derek Owen
B2BM MAY 08 – www.b2bm.biz
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12