More Than Half of Marketers Say Their Demand Generation Strategies Don’t Measure Up and Are Less Than Effective, Reveals New CMO Council Study

Lack of Consensus on What Is Really a Valued Lead

Call it a lead, opportunity or prospect. No matter what the term, sales organizations can never get enough new business contacts from their marketing groups. The question is how wisely they are used and whether that new point of customer access is qualified, primed and ready to write orders.

A detailed study from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and the Content ROI Center finds that most companies are struggling to originate compelling thought leadership content that engages the right customer decision makers and produces quality lead flow that can advance sales performance. Not only do marketers lack unanimity on what constitutes an actual sales lead, but they also are not teaming effectively with sales and business development groups. In most cases, these internal stakeholders lack synergy and alignment on demand generation strategies, themes and advocacy agendas.

Entitled “Lead Flow That Helps You Grow,” the North America-based research was conducted in partnership with NetLine Corporation, a leader in content syndication for lead generation. Key findings from a survey of more than 200 marketing leaders across many industry sectors in North America in Q2 of 2015 reveal that:

• Only 12 percent of marketers believe they have high-performance content marketing engines that are strategically programmed to target the right audiences with relevant and persuasive content. They are also not using multiple distribution and syndication channels for maximum reach, impact and return.

• Most view their content marketing process as ad hoc, decentralized and driven by internal stakeholder interests.

• Just 21 percent of marketers say they are total partners with their sales and business development counterparts when it comes to developing the strategy and measuring the effectiveness of demand generation programs.

• Some 22 percent of marketers believe sales teams are too often a roadblock and detractor and are rarely a contributor to the content marketing value chain.

“Generating demand and ensuring the consistent flow of high-quality, actionable leads is paramount to the success of today’s business-to-business marketer,” notes Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council. “Sales enablement and pipeline performance remain key mandates as organizations look to fine-tune their content marketing practices to be high-performance growth engines.”

While 75 percent of marketers view the number of downloads or registrations as the most important measure of content marketing success, they admit to many key failings that impact this metric. The top five include:

• Not developing customized content for target audiences (48 percent of respondents)

• Not allocating sufficient budget to create engaging and authoritative content (48 percent)

• Not producing content that is relevant or meaningful to different audiences (44 percent)

• Not reaching the right decision makers across the organization (43 percent)

• Not leveraging the right distribution channels and syndication opportunities to maximize reach (39 percent)

“The quantity and quality of audience-appropriate content directly correlates to the number of leads that will end up in the sales pipeline,” explains Robert Alvin, CEO and Founder of NetLine Corporation. “Content demand generation programs start with the asset but must ensure proper consumption. Syndication and distribution to target audience groups with measurable results is indispensable for a successful content strategy.”

According to 46 percent of the 600-plus marketing decision makers taking part in the CMO Council’s “State of Marketing 2014” study, their greatest accomplishment in the past year was the realignment of marketing to better support sales and improve selling cycles. Nearly one in three marketers admits that maintaining a high-quality sales pipeline is one of their top senior management mandates for the coming year, and half say that lead generation and qualification is the area of business need that will receive the most resources. But despite the improvements in processes, goals and intentions to optimize lead generation and yield, only one in four marketers believes they have made strides in implementing demand-generation systems to better target, acquire, qualify and convert business.

The report also includes the findings of an online survey of 213 respondents (46 percent from companies with $1 billion or more in annual revenue) who provided responses to a wide range of questions, including:

• How would you rate your organization’s content marketing performance relative to the caliber and incidence of lead flow?

• Do you have formalized content marketing strategies and protocols in place?

• How well are you managing and optimizing content marketing processes and practices?

• What are the primary content marketing tactics and programs used by your company?

• Are you fully leveraging all of your content marketing assets, formats and channels to maximum effect? If not, why not?

• How are you tracking and measuring end-to-end content marketing performance?

• Where are there deficiencies, and how are they being addressed?

• How are you currently packaging, promoting and syndicating marketing content?

• Which areas of content marketing generate the most lead flow, and what system do you have in place to nurture and convert these leads?

The Gurgaon office of Ogilvy has recently announced a number of additions to its senior management team.

Kapil Arora, Branch Head, Ogilvy Gurgaon: Over the last three years, the office has grown significantly across disciplines and we felt the need to bring in the right talent to help navigate our clients’ businesses through a rapidly changing environment.

Ajay Gahlaut, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy North: As our business gets more dynamic and interconnected every day, we are constantly looking for leaders who can join the dots effectively and enable a better, more integrated creative product.

As part of this exercise, Alok Sinha has been brought in as President, Planning. With over 20 years of experience across research, advertising, media and digital, Alok has worked with brands like IBM, Unilever and Vodafone. He has also had extensive experience across South East Asia, in a regional communications planning role at Aegis and subsequently as lead on the P&G businesses at Carat, Philippines. Most recently, he led the strategic digital mandate for Mindshare in South Asia, where his focus was on strengthening Mindshare’s planning product and the strong integration of digital thinking on businesses including futuristic projects like the Loop Room

Alok Sinha, President, Planning: It’s a homecoming for me. I’m quite excited at the prospect of bringing a ‘no boundaries’ approach to account planning for clients – having traversed the entire spectrum myself. The communication business is at the confluence of two tectonic forces – content and data. Ogilvy Delhi has some of the most prestigious clients and talent in the country and my job is to try help both our clients and our talent effectively navigate this confluence for business success.

Chandana Agarwal has taken on the role of Managing Partner of the Advertising function. Chandana has been with Soho Square and Ogilvy Gurgaon for over four years now and has been responsible for great work across brands like Philips, Sprite, Taco Bell, Pernod Ricard & Honda, amongst others. In her role as Managing Partner, she will work with Kapil to steward the advertising business of Ogilvy.

Chandana Agarwal, Managing Partner, Advertising: The business and process of Advertising is going through a tectonic change. These are exciting and challenging times and I am all charged and geared to work with Kapil and the leadership team here to ensure that Ogilvy advertising is at the forefront of this change.

Namrata Balwani has been appointed as Senior Vice President and Head of OgilvyOne, Gurgaon.

Namrata moves in from Media2win, a digital agency she co-founded, where she was CEO. A graduate from MICA, she has been at the forefront of media & the digital medium in particular, leading a host of brands to success and recognition across the Abbys, Yahoo Big Idea, IAMAI, Campaign India & many other industry awards.

Namrata Balwani, Senior VP & Head of OgilvyOne Gurgaon: I am excited to lead an amazing OgilvyOne team in Gurgaon. Digital platforms and connectivity, especially mobile, are transforming India at a speed never seen before. This is the best time to not only be a part of the transformation but also lead the charge and OgilvyOne is well poised to do that for all its brand partners.

Kapil & Ajay conclude: We are really excited about these new additions. Between Alok, Chandana and Namrata, we have some of the best talent at hand, to fuel the creative product and to partner our clients in building their businesses.

Mr. Mithun Appaiah, joins iD Fresh Food as VP- Sales & Marketing.

He comes with 12+ years of sales and marketing experience in organisations like Nestle, Seagrams, United Spirits & Britannia. His last assignment was with Britannia, Bangalore as Head of Alternate and Emerging channels.

Mr. Mithun will work towards further strengthening the sales network at iD and focus on building a new team for the B2B vertical too. He will be leveraging his expertise in the FMCG & Beverage industries and will work towards building company's efficiency and charting a bigger course for iD in India and overseas.

iD Fresh Food caters to the Indian ready-to-cook segment using fresh, natural, authentic and traditional recipes. The product range includes Idly and Dosa Batter, two variants of Parota’s- Malabar and Whole Wheat, Wheat Chapati and two variants of Chettinad Chutneys-Tomato and Coriander. The company has its presence in eight cities in India and UAE.

Mithun has been credited on building the on-trade business for United Spirits Limited in his 5 year stint with them as General Manager– Key Accounts. He started his career with Nestle India limited handling general trade sales operations in urban and rural markets.

Mithun is an MBA from IFIM-B where he won the award for ‘topper in marketing'. He has won several laurels for his exceptional contribution to the companies he has worked with. He is a proud father and an enthusiastic cricketer.

Mr. P C Musthafa CEO of iD Fresh Food says, “Mithun, with his varied industry exposure will put together an integrated sales & marketing strategy while ensuring that uniqueness remains intact. His previous roles will help us build our modern trade & B2B segment too. We are delighted to have him on board.”

Commenting on his joining iD fresh Foods, Mr. Mithun Appaiah said, “With rapid changes in consumer lifestyle & trends, preservative free products with the convenience and taste of home cooked meals is taking center stage. iD caters to this space with 100% natural, preservative free products. I am excited and confident about this journey with iD.”

As part of the association, Amazon.in introduces a new Shoppers’ Choice Award

The Retail Jeweller India Magazine today announced Amazon India as their associate partner for the 11th edition of the Retail Jeweller India Awards (RJIA), 2015.

The 11th Annual Gemfields and Nazraana Retail Jeweller India Awards 2015 is India’s most prestigious and credible jewellery awards for the retail jewellery industry. With an eminent jury panel comprising of the who’s who from the jewelry, corporate, fashion, art, and entertainment industry, The Retail Jeweller India Awards 2015 is well established as the benchmark for industry excellence. The Jury Panel included Neha Dhupia (Actress), Michelle Poonawalla (Director, Poonawalla Group of Engineering Companies), Rouble Nagi (Artist Muralist), Ananya Banerjee (Artist), Vaishali Banerjee (Managing Director, Platinum Guild India), Shazia Khan (Vice President & Strategic Planning Director, JWT), Radha Kapoor (Founder & Executive Director, Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI) and Ashit Kukian (President & COO, Radio City 91.1 FM).

This year the awards received 1,165 entries across 12 jewellery categories including four Vivah and eight Non-Vivah jewellery categories. The winners of the jewellery categories at the Retail Jeweller India Awards are chosen through a rigorous and meticulous two-tier selection process – online judging followed by a physical judging round where the designs are displayed for the jury to evaluate. The entire selection process is supervised by the official process validator IMRB to bring in perfection of the highest level.

The prestigious awards witness participation from some of the most coveted jewellery houses across the country like Mirari, Hazoorilal & Sons, Anmol Jewellers, Kalyan Jewellers, Tanishq, Joyalukkas, Notandas & Sons Jewellers & many others who get together to  showcase world class precious jewellery designs. In line with the growing consumer trend online in precious jewellery, the RJI has taken a giant leap towards bringing an online leader to work in tandem with the industry to promote fine jewelry to and serve a wider base of consumers through convenient online shopping.

Commenting on the association, Soma Bhatta, Editor & Director, The Retail Jeweller India Magazine said, “Retail Jeweller India Awards has always remained at the forefront of pushing new concepts in the realm of design, retail and marketing. At this juncture, when more consumers demand a superior multichannel shopping experience, our association with Amazon signifies the new landscape in which businesses need to operate. We are glad to join hands with Amazon.in, India’s largest online store, considering the growing purchase of precious jewellery online”, said Ms. Soma Bhatta, Editor & Director, The Retail Jeweller India Magazine.

Speaking on the occasion, Vikram Raizada, Director, Category Management, Amazon India said, “We are delighted to be associated with RJIA. There’s definitely a significant potential that the Indian market offers in online business of fine jewellery and we have seen an increasing uptick in the segment since the launch of the category on Amazon.in. By associating with the most premium and prestigious platform of the Indian Jewellery Industry, we aim at bringing most progressive jewelers under one roof to meet the different tastes and styles of all our customers. We look forward to partnering with jewelers, designers and jewellery brands to leverage the power of technology and provide unique experiences to customers across the country and the globe in the digital economy”.

Amazon.in is also launching a special award category – Shoppers’ Choice Award on Amazon India’s website for consumers to vote for their favorite jewellery. The voting will be open from July 22 – July 31, 2015 for the RJI shortlisted Gemstone jewellery pieces on Amazon.in’s exclusive “Shoppers’ Choice Award” page. The 3 lucky winners, who participated in the voting process, will be awarded with Amazon vouchers worth INR 5000 each to enjoy a convenient and reliable shopping experience on Amazon.in.

“Each year, Retail Jeweller India Awards celebrates the highest achievers in India’s dynamic jewellery industry with one single yardstick. We being the frontrunners in the jewellery industry and Amazon.in being the leaders in their space, prove the association to be a perfect fit. This year, Amazon.in will showcase Coloured Stone Jewellery considering the rising demand of colour infused fashion amongst the Indian audience. We wish this association continues for years to come to ensure together we display a palette of creative designs to the discerning online consumers”, said Mr. Samit Bhatta, Associate Publisher, The Retail Jeweller India Magazine.

The 11th edition of the Retail Jeweller India Awards (RJIA) will be held on 8th August, 2015 at Grand Hyatt, Santacruz, Mumbai.

Zee Action, India’s Hindi action movie destination, aims to offer something special to its dedicated viewers this monsoon with the World Television Premiere of the action-romance film ‘Mausam’. On Saturday 25th July at 9 PM the channel stationed with adrenaline pumping action will present the association of legendary actor Pankaj Kapoor and his son Shahid Kapoor’s maiden project together for the first time on television screens.

Mausam is a brilliantly crafted narrative that uses real unfortunate events from communal riots to armed conflicts at the border as the backdrop to symbolize changing seasons of love. The film revolves around Harinder AKA Harry (Shahid Kapoor) who goes on to serve his country as an Indian Air Force Pilot and his arduous romance with Aayat (Sonam Kapoor).

Speaking on the premiere, Ruchir Tiwari, Deputy Business Head, Hindi Movie Channels, ZEEL stated, “Mausam marks the beginning of quality World TV Premieres on Zee Action every month. With Mausam we are now providing our audiences both action and romance packed in one blockbuster. The line-up of upcoming premieres include interesting titles like Gulaab Gang, Teen Patti & Issaq. Keeping our promise of providing action packed blockbuster movies, Zee Action has consistently delivered successful world television premieres in the last few months and has become the most preferred movie channel in the action genre.”

Tune in to Zee Action to catch the World Television Premiere of Mausam on Saturday 25th July at 9 PM