Eloqua Announces Call for Entries for Third Annual Markie Awards

Awards Recognize Top-Performing Marketing Programs that Generate High Response and Deliver ROI

VIENNA, VA (September 01, 2009) –

Eloqua, the category-defining marketing automation leader and provider of best practices expertise for marketers worldwide, today announced a call for entries for the third annual Marketing Awards, or Markies.

The Markies recognize excellence in business marketing. Awards go to those companies that have demonstrated exceptional and innovative ways to reach audiences, automate marketing processes, align marketing and sales and measure marketing impact. Among last year’s Markies winners were Forrester Research, National Instruments, Comcast Spectator and TriNet. This year, judges will look for campaigns that result in record response rates, lead generation of uncontestable quality and enduring harmony between marketing and sales teams.

The awards, which have expanded to 12 categories, will be announced at Eloqua Experience, Eloqua’s annual user conference, in November. Entries can be submitted at the Eloqua Experience website, which also includes information on the rules for submission, judging process and deadlines.

“Marketing today is about driving revenue for the organization. The Markies celebrate world-class marketing organizations that deliver documented, proven, measurable results,” said Joe Payne, CEO of Eloqua. “The Markies identify the most compelling marketing campaigns, practices and ideas across a wide spectrum of companies and industries. We look forward to seeing what marketers and their organizations are doing today to connect with customers and increase sales.”

The 2009 Markies will be awarded in 12 categories:

* The Best Customer Lifecycle Program Award recognizes the top customer lifecycle marketing program focused on key outcomes like license renewals, stimulating upsell or cross-sell opportunities, increasing customer loyalty and affinity and managing customer references.

* The Best Channel Marketing Award honors the organization that has made operational improvements with their partner and/or channel ecosystem to enhance communication or increase sales results.

* The Getting to Know You Award goes to an organization that uses advanced personalization and profiling techniques in campaigns to build stronger connections with prospects or customers and topple “industry-standard” response rates.

* The Sales and Marketing Alignment Award goes to companies that have overcome organizational barriers to achieve cooperation and appreciation on both sides of the sales/marketing fence, and have the metrics to show for it.

* The Eloqua API Connect Award recognizes the organization that has gone above and beyond a standard CRM integration to take full advantage of Eloqua’s flexible integration options, developing processes that enhance business operations and/or improve analytics.

* The Best Lead Scoring Award recognizes the organization that has deployed automated lead scoring systems that improve sales targeting, increase win rates or shrink sales cycles, among other key metrics.

* The Best Lead Nurturing Award recognizes the organization that has implemented sophisticated lead nurturing or cultivation systems that improve sales effectiveness and efficiency and minimize lead attrition.

* The Sales Impact Award recognizes the marketing organization that has given its sales team tools, programs and insight to measurably improve sales processes, shorten sales cycles, win more deals or increase deal sizes.

* The Marketing Visionary Award recognizes a forward-thinking marketer who has served as an agent for positive change within their organization or has made their voice heard in promoting marketing automation within their industry.

* The Social Media Marketing Award recognizes an organization that has creatively used social media technologies, such as blogs, forums, RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook or other related mediums to build stronger relationships and sustained dialogue with customers and prospects.

* The Marketing Center of Excellence Award recognizes an organization that made a significant investment in developing marketing best practices, organizational alignment and consistent standards for measurement and reporting. Winners of this award have developed a process and model for marketing decision-making and planning, developed internal champions and subject matter experts, and have promoted the pervasive adoption of best practices in marketing communications, automation and measurement.

* The Most Creative Marketing Campaign honors the marketing campaign where all of the pieces have fallen into place–the perfect idea, the right target, memorable creative, the personalized follow-up, and of course, the measurable results.

The winners of the 2009 Marketing Awards will be recognized at Eloqua Experience ’09, Eloqua’s annual international user conference, on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

About Eloqua

Eloqua helps clients dramatically accelerate revenue growth through Revenue Performance Management. Eloqua provides powerful business insight to inform marketing and sales decisions today that drive revenue growth tomorrow. The company’s mission is to make its customers the fastest growing companies on earth. Thousands of users rely on the power of Eloqua to execute, automate, and measure programs that accelerate revenue growth. Eloqua’s customers include Adobe, AON, Dow Jones, ADP, Fidelity, Polycom, and National Instruments. The company is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, with offices in Toronto, London, Singapore and throughout North America. For more information, visit www.eloqua.com, subscribe to the It’s All About Revenue blog, call 866-327-8764, or email demand@eloqua.com.

Source: Eloqua

Tags: