So, Marketing & Sales Alignment, yeah? Seems everyone is feeling real warm and fuzzy about this lately.

Let’s not kid ourselves, though. We still hate each other’s guts. Am I right?

The Marketing perspective

I mean, seriously, you Sales guys, you just don’t get it.

Here we are, Marketing’s crowning glory, toiling restlessly to create top-notch content to dazzle, daze and ensnare B2B prospects left and right.

Outsmarting our competitors we orchestrate a complicated mix of inbound and outbound tactics to deliver sizzling hot leads to you guys.
Only to see you cherry-pick what you deem ‘quality’ and then recklessly waste even those chosen few with a horribly careless lead follow-up.

The Sales perspective

“Bah”, I hear our beloved Sales colleagues say. “You marketers are damn fools. Liberally dishing out expert advice to Sales, even though you have not had a single conversation with a real customer.

Do you sometimes go mad, trying to wring insights out of Google AdWords?

I find its interface dated, clunky and just plain horrible. Important information is hidden away behind some ‘Customize’ button.

The pattern of dance steps you have to take to do the most simple analysis – comparing two timeframes – is ludicrously complex.

You didn’t know it’s even possible?

Yep, I didn’t either because it is sort of hidden in plain view. Below is a step-by-step guide for comparing two timeframes in AdWords.

Hidden in plain view: The ‘Compare to’ feature

First, let me clarify something. There is a “Compare dates” feature available for the charts in AdWords.  Its preset is “off”, but you can turn it on by clicking on it.

The trouble with it: It only works for the chart. You won’t see the absolute numbers and % changes in the data grid. Sucks, right?

Do get something more meaningful you need to resort to a feature called “Compare to” and found on the “Home” tab.

Although proclaimed dead on a weekly basis, email marketing is still the most effective B2B tactic. Social is great for making connections and getting traffic, but it stinks when it comes to lead gen.

Think I’m far out here? Look at the chart below from Marketing Sherpa. Email comes in at a whopping 95% effectiveness.

The reason:

1. It gets you into your target buyer’s email inbox – arguably the most-used tool of business-people.
2. It’s dead cheap (provided the address is yours)

Item 2) above is the obvious catch. The tactic is only cheap if you own the list. If you have to rent the list you can still achieve a decent cost-per-lead, but cheap won’t be a sensible label anymore.

The question, then: How do you effectively build a house list you can be proud of?