We all collect data as part of the lead nurturing process, but are you really using it? Look over your online forms, analyze your marketing database and speak with the recipients of this information within your company.

Find out what’s absolutely essential, then pare down your online forms so they’re fast and simple for respondents to complete. The less you ask, the more inquiries you’ll generate.

Want to gather good information to support your marketing strategy or campaigns? Ask your question correctly.

Use open-ended questions to gather qualitative information and personal impressions:  “What does your process typically involve?” or “How would you describe the impact of our product on your business?”

Use closed questions to gather quantitative data and easily compare responses:  “Do you prefer email, telephone or mail communication from us?” or “Which one of the following choices is most appealing to you?”

Business-to-business content is chock full of lists: services offered, product features, customer benefits and more. Make your content more digestible—and memorable—for customers by grouping long lists of items into sub-categories, with clear category names.

When there’s no logical way to present your lists, always alphabetize your content to make it quickly searchable for your audience.

Creating a campaign takes time—but few outside the marketing team really understand what the process entails. Take time to educate key stakeholders—especially sales—about the steps involved, the time required, and why they exist.

Go a step further and meet proactively on a quarterly or monthly basis. Identifying upcoming needs and goals can reduce the number of “urgent” project requests and keep marketing plans on track.

Maintain the health of your visual brand with an annual design tune-up. Examine your last 12-18 months’ of communications side-by-side. Look for consistency, compliance with your design guidelines and opportunities to keep the brand contemporary and fresh moving forward. Consider asking your lead agency or an outside partner to provide an objective perspective.

Instead of Tweeting and posting for the masses, target the most influential online personalities in your market space.

Follow these bloggers, analysts, media and customers to learn their voices and key issues, then start a dialogue by commenting on, liking and respostingtheir content. Slowly introduce your solution into the conversation—but avoid a sales-focused approach.

The lowly status report can be a great tool to boost your credibility with internal stakeholders. Give yours a fresh look with your target audience in mind, using the same critical eye you would with an external campaign.

Try to deliver the key message in the subject line or first sentence, and use a graphical format (such as green, yellow and red color-coding) to make critical items apparent immediately.

Lastly, demonstrate your commitment by communicating progress updates before stakeholders need to ask for them. A proactive telephone call or email, even if the news is bad, can save a lot of heartache down the road.

Even the most experienced marketers can benefit from outside perspective. Consider hiring a professional facilitator to run your next strategy session. An outside consultant can provide an objective viewpoint, keep discussions focused, and give internal leadership a chance to fully participate.

Marketing supports your sales efforts—but marketing itself is a decidedly different tactic. Leave the selling to sales, and focus your marketing content on help and education.

Help your customer solve a problem or learn a best practice. You’ll start building a positive relationship, and sales can take it from there.

For most of us, great copy doesn’t happen in a flash. Allow enough time in your schedule to write your draft, then step away from it for at least 48 hours. You’ll find it easier to edit and improve your work when you can review it with a fresh and critical eye.