By Ian Michiels, Principal Analyst, Gleanster Research

In wine-making a vintage wine is one that is made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single year.

By Ian Michiels, Principal Analyst, Gleanster Research

In wine-making a vintage wine is one that is made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single year.

While marketing automation adoption continues to grow, many BtoB organizations are not capitalizing on the features and functions as part of a more efficient marketing strategy, largely due to a lack of knowledge and training.

During MarketingProfs’ BtoB Forum June 14-15 in Boston, this disconnect was addressed by Bryan Brown, Director of Product Strategy at Silverpop. Brown discussed the critical elements of marketing automation during his keynote presentation “Successful Lead Gen Demystified: Tips From The Trenches.” Brown emphasized how BtoB marketers can build a successful automated engagement strategy and improve lead gen accordingly.

DemandGen Report had the chance to catch up with Brown to discuss some of the specific features and functionality that are being utilized to help BtoB marketers and sales teams optimize marketing messaging and cater to the changing, knowledge-empowered buyer.

While marketing automation adoption continues to grow, many BtoB organizations are not capitalizing on the features and functions as part of a more efficient marketing strategy, largely due to a lack of knowledge and training.

During MarketingProfs’ BtoB Forum June 14-15 in Boston, this disconnect was addressed by Bryan Brown, Director of Product Strategy at Silverpop. Brown discussed the critical elements of marketing automation during his keynote presentation “Successful Lead Gen Demystified: Tips From The Trenches.” Brown emphasized how BtoB marketers can build a successful automated engagement strategy and improve lead gen accordingly.

DemandGen Report had the chance to catch up with Brown to discuss some of the specific features and functionality that are being utilized to help BtoB marketers and sales teams optimize marketing messaging and cater to the changing, knowledge-empowered buyer.

Capitalizing on the growing interest in marketing automation in global markets, consulting firm DemandGen International, Inc. announced the opening of new offices in Singapore and London.

DemandGen Founder and CEO Americas, David Lewis, explained that this important expansion will allow the firm to extend support for enterprise clients in these key regions. “Globalization of marketing efforts is a growing trend for many of our clients, so our expansion is designed to support their field marketing teams with campaign execution and lead management,” he said. “The combination of our geocentric orientation and proven best practice knowledge gives our regional teams a unique ability to support our clients’ marketing infrastructures around the world.”

Left Brain DGA, a Silicon Valley-based demand generation agency, announced the addition of three new executives to its leadership team. April Brown, former CEO of Rubicon Marketing Group, will serve as VP of Demand Generation Strategy; Kevin Provost will serve as Director, Client Services; and David Ward, will serve as Production Lead.

The three new executives previously held leadership positions at Rubicon, leading the agency in their respective areas.

BtoB marketing companies continue to embrace social networking sites to connect with prospects, colleagues and other companies on a more personal level.

Illustrating this trend, Glance Networks, an Internet-based desktop sharing and web conferencing service provider, recently launched Glance for Chatter, a new add-on to its Glance for Salesforce solution, during the Cloudforce Boston event. The add-on automatically alerts Salesforce users via Chatter whenever impromptu, collaborative selling and support sessions occur with prospects or customers.

Expanding beyond its core of inbound into the middle of the funnel, HubSpot announced its acquisition of marketing automation company Performable this week. The acquisition is intended to expand the functionality of HubSpot’s platform, and enhance its customers’ ability to turn more visitors into leads and customers.

HubSpot VP of Marketing Mike Volpe told DemandGen Report the acquisition will help accelerate company growth. “First, we instantly have more advanced MoFu (middle of the funnel) functionality to sell to customers now,” he said. “Second, it gives us the ability to grow with our customers and serve larger companies. Finally, the combination of these two product teams gives us the best product development team in all of BtoB software, so we will be improving and enhancing our products at a rapid rate.”

In the wake of recently proposed “Do Not Track” legislation in the U.S., new European privacy regulations have gone into effect May 26, 2011. Under an added amendment to the EU privacy directive, organizations conducting online marketing campaigns in the member states must receive explicit permission, or opt-in consent, to track individuals’ actions online. Industry insiders say there could be implications for U.S. Marketers from the EU regulations, while others point out the new rules are an opportunity to take standardized approach to privacy around the globe.

“Permission-based marketing is now more important than ever,” said Reinhard Janning, CEO of DemandGen International, Europe. “Without an explicit opt-in you cannot communicate or track your prospects. This means that your communication needs to be targeted and relevant in order to get permission to market to these prospects. In addition, you will need to make it easy for prospects to opt-in to your communications and engage in a virtual dialogue.”

In the wake of recently proposed “Do Not Track” legislation in the U.S., new European privacy regulations have gone into effect May 26, 2011. Under an added amendment to the EU privacy directive, organizations conducting online marketing campaigns in the member states must receive explicit permission, or opt-in consent, to track individuals’ actions online. Industry insiders say there could be implications for U.S. Marketers from the EU regulations, while others point out the new rules are an opportunity to take standardized approach to privacy around the globe.

“Permission-based marketing is now more important than ever,” said Reinhard Janning, CEO of DemandGen International, Europe. “Without an explicit opt-in you cannot communicate or track your prospects. This means that your communication needs to be targeted and relevant in order to get permission to market to these prospects. In addition, you will need to make it easy for prospects to opt-in to your communications and engage in a virtual dialogue.”