CRM magazine Best Practices Series: Enterprise Marketing

As marketing has grown in complexity over the past decade, the demands on those in charge-the Chief Marketing Officers-have also increased to a point where their positions are becoming increasingly untenable. According to a recent study by the CMO Council, the average tenure of a CMO is now less than

In a recent Forrester Research report, 83% of marketers responded that they need a more comprehensive and integrated application suite to increase their effectiveness. This statistic illustrates the pent-up demand among marketers as they attempt to improve customer experiences, deliver consistent messages, and accurately measure the results of their efforts.

Yet progress is being made. In fact, another CMO Council survey cites that marketers' top accomplishment in 2007 was creating improved accountability of the marketing organization; the second was the use of customer data and analytics for better targeting and effectiveness. Almost four out of five respondents said they made significant progress during 2007 in improving the perception and value of marketing within their company.

In the following special section, you will find six distinct perspectives from leading solution providers covering different aspects of enterprise marketing. Vovici and Allegiance both focus on engaging customers by giving them a voice in the organization through regular feedback mechanisms. By engaging customers, loyalty is improved and emotional bonds are encouraged, reinforcing their connection to the organization's products or services.

Forging tighter connections between sales and marketing is at the core of several of the following solution providers' messages. Neolane espouses better integration between sales and marketing by effectively managing leads through the sales process for greater business impact. The results include measurable increases in marketing effectiveness, conversions to sales, and increased revenue per account.

SpringCM facilitates better collaboration between sales and marketing professionals with its software-as-a-service solution that allows the creation, editing, and updating of sales and marketing documents, thereby streamlining and accelerating the marketing and sales process.

Citrix, with its GoToMeeting Corporate service, also makes the sales/marketing connection by using Web conferencing as a tool to both communicate with customers and prospects and help sales develop leads and close business.

Alterian gives marketers the tools to leverage database marketing and analytics for better control of the increasing amount of money spent online which is crucial for maximizing return-on-investment.

This section can also be downloaded in its entirety by visiting www.destinationcrm.com/whitepapers/.