MINNEAPOLIS (August 24, 2009) – In addition to building brands and creating campaigns, business-to-business marketers face many challenges, including how to manage increasing demand for qualified sales leads and how to balance marketing campaign effectiveness and efficiency. Recognizing the need for more streamlined processes, the Minnesota chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA-Minnesota) will host “Marketing Automation Best Practices” led by Steven Woods, co-founder and chief technology officer of Eloqua, on September 24.

Drawing from a decade of experience using information technology solutions to automate marketing procedures for clients at Eloqua, Woods will provide attendees with marketing automation best practice examples, as well as lessons learned from more than 500 customers worldwide.

“The business world is increasingly competitive, and companies are always looking for ways to make marketing campaigns more effective,” said Dave Hans, vice president –programming of BMA-Minnesota. “By implementing marketing automation procedures, companies can make routine processes more efficient and new processes achievable, creating more targeted, effective and accountable marketing campaigns overall.”

Attendees will walk away from September’s session with knowledge on how to use marketing automation to drive revenue through more qualified leads, increase efficiency and effectiveness of marketing campaigns, align marketing and sales, and demonstrate value and accountability.

Sponsored by Minnesota’s only professional organization dedicated exclusively to the needs of business-to-business marketing professionals, the event will be held on Thursday, September 24 at The Metropolitan Ballroom in Minneapolis.

The presentation will run from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., with registration, breakfast and networking beginning at 7:30 a.m. The cost of the event is $30 for BMA members and $45 for non-members. Attendees can register online at www.bmaminnesota.org through September 22. A limited number of walk-up registrations also are available.

About Steven Woods

Steven Woods co-founded Eloqua in 1999 and has held the position of chief technology officer since that time. Woods has years of experience in software architecture, engineering and strategy, and is responsible for defining the product strategy and technology vision at Eloqua. Woods’ insights into the application of technology to the marketing profession have been key to Eloqua's consistent record of client satisfaction and he was recently named one of Inside CRM's Top CRM Influencers of 2007.

Woods is also a prolific writer on topics related to demand generation and the current transitions within the marketing profession. His book, Digital Body Language, explores these topics, and he is a regular writer on his blog of the same name. Woods is also deeply involved with the Eloqua user community, with whom he regularly interacts through the discussions on his Eloqua Artisan blog.

About Business Marketing Association

Business Marketing Association is the leading professional resource for business-to-business marketers and communicators. The organization develops and delivers services, information, skill enhancement, and networking opportunities that help its members grow, develop and succeed throughout their marketing careers. For more information on BMA-Minnesota, visit www.bmaminnesota.org.