In the fall of 2009, Arketi Group hosted the third annual Atlanta High-Tech CMO Roundtable. More than 20 marketing executives from leading technology companies throughout the Southeast gathered to discuss the current and future state of marketing in the business-to-business (BtoB) technology sector.

In the wake of an economic recovery and a vastly shifting marketing landscape, some consistent themes emerged that every BtoB marketer can benefit from knowing:

	The BtoB technology sector is finally ripe enough to allow a true partnership between Sales and Marketing for lead generation and nurturing initiatives.
	Social media is not a magic marketing bullet, but this legitimate communication channel has found a corporate champion in the PR department of most BtoB organizations.
	Content has become the fuel for most marketing efforts of companies seeking to gain market share and accelerate growth.

As more avenues for online lead generation open up, producing more leads may not necessarily be as valuable to the sales department, as producing more qualified leads. Using off-the-shelf marketing automation technology, touch points with a prospect can be unified into one cohesive platform, aggregating all prospect interaction data into one system In this way, BtoB sales organizations gain significant marketing and sales efficiencies, effectively automating their BtoB marketing programs without having to increase marketing spend.

This white paper presents five key actionable steps that show how implementing a marketing automation solution can maximize your on-going investment in lead generation and facilitate turning your existing “suspects” into prospects.

At the end of 2008, Arketi Group chaired the second annual Atlanta High-Tech CMO Roundtable. Nearly 20 marketing executives from leading technology companies in the Southeast gathered to discuss the current and future state of marketing within the business-to-business and technology sectors.

Set amid the growing economic crisis, the roundtable addressed two main issues:

	How companies’ marketing plans for 2009 are taking shape, given the dramatic market conditions and uncertain business environment; and
	What steps the participants are taking to measure marketing’s contribution to their businesses.

The roundtable discussions were divided into four sessions – two on each topic – and some consistent themes emerged that we feel every BtoB marketer can benefit from knowing.