Awareness is when the prospect first discovers the company. At this point in the first four stages, the lead is typically anonymous—that is, Marketo doesn’t know their name or any contact information. And yet Marketo still tracks activity levels at this stage. For example: The primary way Marketo tracks “Awareness Activity” levels is by a) observing the number of known or anonymous leads that are visiting the site, or b) searching for the keyword, “Marketo.” Marketo believes that their “Modern B2B Marketing” blog (http://blog.marketo.com) is the main reason the market’s awareness of them grew so quickly and greatly sped up how fast they landed their first 500 customers. This is a really important lesson about blogging and marketing: Marketo doesn’t “pitch” their own products on the blog. There’s no selling. Marketo’s blog is popular and successful because they provide a platform to share all kinds of modern marketing best practices and thought leadership. They invite all kinds of other thought leaders to share on their blog (I’ve been a guest writer). They’ve become a trusted authority. Creating a company blog is a great way to establish brand presence, drive SEO rankings and give prospects and partners an easy way to get to know and trust your company. It is a place to prove your company as a thought leader in your vertical or industry. Your blog is not the best place to directly promote your business or service. When people get real value from your blog (and events, newsletter and webinars), they will both come back to buy and refer friends. Stage 2. “Inquiry”