Developing Your Marketing Analytics Strategy - A 3 Step Approach

Guest post by Glenn Facey

We live in a new age of information superabundance: the burgeoning era of Big Data analytics. Never before have marketers had the opportunity to understand their audiences in such fine, precise, and comprehensive detail. But while it seems that answers to many persistent marketing challenges are rising to the surface in the constant churn of data from social, mobile, and other online activity, the core tenet of Big Data remains as true as ever: In order to gather useful answers, you have to ask the right questions.

Without actionable goals and insights, even the most data-rich, well-supported marketing analytics efforts can go awry. So how do you go about setting the stage for an effective marketing analytics strategy? We’ve identified three key steps.

1) Pair insight from inside and outside

What are you trying to accomplish with your marketing analytics efforts? In order to identify the right goals for your marketing analytics effort, you’ll need to draw on two crucial perspectives.

First, an insider from your firm will help ensure that your approach aligns with the needs and direction of the organization. This individual is responsible for keeping the process rooted in the path and realities of the firm. Second, an outside analyst will provide context through knowledge of related industry verticals — as well as third-party objectivity. With these two figures in partnership, you’re prepared to move to the next step.

2) Identify questions that drive your goals

Now that your company insider and outside analyst are in place, they’ll need to collaborate in order to identify questions that will drive growth for the firm — questions that may be answered through business intelligence (BI) and big data analytics. While these will differ from organization to organization, some common approaches include:

●        What is the amount of revenue retained?

●        How much revenue did newly converted leads bring in?

●        What is the cost savings attributed to more efficient workflows?

●        How do we identify which marketing activities contributed to the creation of a given lead?

●        What is the percentage increase in our brand awareness?

By explicitly identifying goals and related questions for your marketing analytics, you may ensure that those goals are clear and achievable, as well as make it easier to select the right tools for the task. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of this stage — it creates the guidelines (and sometimes guardrails) for everything that comes after. From defining deliverables to knowing when you’ve achieved your goal and may proceed to the next phase, these questions touch the rest of your work in countless ways. And that brings us to the third key step in your strategy development.

3) Know your tools and prerequisites

You’re almost ready to think about the metrics you need to gather and analyze in order to answer your questions. But first, you’ll need to consider the tools available to you and the “facts on the ground” at your organization — in other words, the prerequisites of a successful marketing analytics effort. The top three include:

●        Creating a consolidated data strategy

●        Investment in analytics

●        Continuous dedication to the effort at the highest levels of the organization

Big data marketing analytics aren’t a grab-and-go goodie bag of answers. They require serious, ongoing commitment from a firm that’s looking to better understand its own thoughtfully forged path — where it stands, and where it’s going. With a collaborative balance of internal and external minds, a robust set of tools and resources, and defined goals driving actionable questions, your firm will have everything in place to not only achieve an incisive understand of its marketing and audience, but the way forward to greater success.

About the Author:

Glenn Facey is the VP of Business Development and Marketing at Claraview, where he achieves business growth through his deep cross-functional experience in consulting, sales, business intelligence (BI) and analytics, marketing, organizational effectiveness, and working across organizations to ensure that business value is delivered to the organization.

S.E.L.L. more with SEM and SEO

"For online advertising, almost half (48%) of consumers surveyed said they trust ads in search engine results, online video ads and ads on social networks. More than four in 10 (42%) trust online banner ads, up from 26 percent in 2007. Forty-five percent of respondents in Nielsen’s 2013 survey believed display ads on mobile phones were credible, and 37% trusted text ads on mobile phones, up from 18% in 2007."

~ Under the Influence: Consumer Trust in Advertising, 09.17.2013

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BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2013.
Myles Anderson & filed under Online Reviews, Research, 06.25.2013

~ Only 5% of consumers had not used the internet to find a local business in the last 12 months 

(down from 15% in 2012)

~ 37% of consumers used the internet to find local businesses at least one time per month 

(up from 34% in 2012)

Many of us have new customer acquisition at the top of our wish list for 2014.

• Fact #1: To acquire new folks, you must first have market awareness.
• Fact #2: Awareness takes money that most of us simply don't have.

That said, strategically, you have to steadfastly stick to two strict disciplines:

1. You DO NOT want everyone in your market. So why pay for media that reaches everyone. Identify as narrowly as possible who you REALLY want to walk through your door and focus your money there. Anyone else will walk in organically.

2. You need to reach your target when they care. It would be great to have the budget for a Nike-style blanket awareness effort, but you don't. 

More and more, a focus on electronic media makes more sense than burning your budget on traditional broadcast and print. A serious evaluation of SEM and SEO can make a huge difference in your marketing results.

Search Engine Marketing - (SEM) allows you to quickly identify and serve text ads to individuals as they are looking for information related to local banking options 

SEM is focused on key words, so you reach your target while they are hunting for what you do - but it goes much deeper. For the most part, you can also target your SEM just like you do direct mail: Regional, demographic, lifestyle, etc.

SEM is typically budgeted on a cost-per-click model, so unlike direct mail, you will not pay for simple exposure, but for actual desired action.

SEO - Having a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy is an essential component in being competitive in the search engine realm and providing your customers with the most timely, accurate information about what you do and what you're about. The goal of SEO is to provide an intuitive user experience by communicating with search engines about your products and services so that you rank well within the search results. 

Proper SEO is not a DIY project. It requires regular analysis of web crawler reports, key word rankings, competitive analysis and content review. It also takes updates of keywords generation and meta data as well as social media integration.

The best part is that both SEM and SEO are budget friendly. With a pay-per-click and super-tight targeting, you can create a SEM plan that fits most any budget. And, while SEO is an ongoing effort, you can reasonably expect to pay just a  few hundred dollars per month for the consultation, reporting, analysis and management

We bring these marketing philosophies to credit unions and community banks nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.

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7 Unique Roles of B2B Telemarketing you won’t find anywhere else

Telemarketing now resides within the shadows cast by the enormous internet marketing evolution that’s eating up the business world today. About two decades ago it was at the pinnacle of all marketing heights, and now it only exists as a seasoned veteran – but very much alive.

There are things that traditional marketers value and these are things that only a traditional method like telemarketing can bring about.

Therefore it creates a distinctive impact in the industry, one that preserves the very reason why telemarketing is still being used by a majority of B2B companies.

Here are the roles that it plays in the B2B framework, and why you should value them as well:

1.    Telemarketing can tap a non-Internet-based demographic. Believe it or not, there is still a significant fragment of people that are not web-savvy, even in the B2B world. These are your conventional business people, living off simple needs and traditions. And just because they’re not online doesn’t mean they don't deserve your business.

2.    Telemarketing can strengthen brand awareness. What marketers really need nowadays is to reinforce a brand name without merely repeating. Telemarketing gives the opportunity to instill a brand within the target market’s awareness by being informative and personal at the same time.

3.    Telemarketing can extract immediate and timely feedback. Telemarketing promotes immediacy and interactivity, which other channels do not possess.

4.    Telemarketing calls can strengthen a relationship with existing customers while maintaining selling opportunities. Recurringcustomers make a company stable, and it’s important to keep the ties strong.Telemarketing can make them feel they are continually valued.

5.    Telemarketing is still perfect for business-to-business interactions. Business-to-business calls are part of the commercial landscape and do not carry the stigma that calling on households can. Aside from email, telemarketing calls are the main communication lines for businesses.

6.    Telemarketing can establish a good talent pool for future sales representatives. Telemarketing is a great way to try out people who have an aptitude in sales as a career track and see if they’ve got what it takes to succeed with the big guys.

7.    Telemarketingprovides sales evaluation data. The vertical volume of telemarketing calls provides a number of evaluation metrics, such as number of calls made, successful contacts per call, and lead closing rates. This is important in drafting future plans and making adjustments in a campaign’s approach.

Two Keys to More Effective Marketing in 2014 - How Marketing Content Must Change

With 2014 now less than a month away, most B2B marketers are well into their planning for next year. For most marketers, the ultimate question is:  What can we do to boost the effectiveness of our marketing efforts in 2014?

This is the second of two posts that are describing two key actions that marketers can take to improve marketing effectiveness in 2014. In my last post, I discussed why most B2B companies need to implement marketing automation and CRM technologies. In this post, I'll describe how marketing content needs to change in 2014.

More than nine out of ten B2B marketers now say they are using some form of content marketing, according to research by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs. The irony is that the popularity of content marketing is creating a new challenge for marketers. As more companies implement content marketing and publish more content, it's becoming more difficult to make your content stand out.

The key to content marketing success in 2014 will be to make your content useful. The concept of utilitarian marketing - marketing that is truly useful to the recipient - has gained increased attention in recent months largely due to the publication of two books - Youtility by Jay Baer, and Ctrl Alt Delete by Mitch Joel.

In Youtility, Jay Baer argues that there are only two ways for companies to break through the marketing and advertising clutter that engulfs today's consumers and business buyers. They can be amazing or they can be useful. Being amazing works, Baer says, but it is more difficult to do and provides less predictable results than being useful.

Being useful is what Baer means by "Youtility," which he defines as follows:

"Youtility is marketing upside down. Instead of marketing that's needed by companies, Youtility is marketing that's wanted by customers. Youtility is massively useful information, provided for free, that creates long-term trust and kinship between your company and your customers."

In Ctrl Alt Delete, Mitch Joel contends that what he calls utilitarianism marketing will be the "next great business disrupter." Joel describes utilitarianism marketing as follows:

"What is utilitarianism marketing? It's not about advertising, it's not about messaging, and it's not about immediate conversations. It's about providing a true value and utility:  something consumers not only would want to use - constantly and consistently - but would derive so much value from it that it would be given front-and-center attention in their lives."
 
In the CMI/MarketingProfs study mentioned earlier, 73% of B2B marketers surveyed said they are currently producing more content than they were twelve months earlier. There is every reason to think that companies will produce more content in 2014 than they did in 2013. With so much content available, potential buyers have little patience for content that doesn't provide real value and utility. If they don't see value in your content, they'll simply move on to someone else's.

There are several actions you can take to improve the effectiveness of your marketing in 2014, but nothing is more important than producing content that is truly useful to your customers and prospects.

Read Part 1 of the series here.

Handle B2B Software Telemarketing Rejections In Six Ways

Rejections from your sales leads prospects can be a big blow to your B2B telemarketing efforts, but you have to admit that this is the reality that many software companies have to face every day. Yes, the market is expanding, but that is no assurance that you, as the software services provider, will be able to get a lot of B2B leads. That is because there are a lot of you in the same business as well. Competition is good, but only if you have something that your prospects need. Aside from that, you also need to make sure that you deliver excellent serviceall the time. Yes, there will be rejections, it cannot be helped. It is how you handle that makes all the difference. The question here is this: how will you do it?

  

1.    Consider things rationally – when you get a ‘no’ from potential sales leads, do not feel bad. Always remember that this is a rejection of your business, not you. Come to think of it, they may not be even rejecting you totally. There is the possibility that they would want to know more about your business. Figure out what their ‘no’ really mean, and you may be able to nail it.

2.    Identify their dislikes – for business prospects that rejected you after presenting everything, you should seek a more specific reason why they are saying ‘no’. There are cases where a prospect rejected an offer only because of one small part of the package. If you can do away with it, then you might be able to save the sale. Just be sharp about it.

3.    Figure out the ‘no’ – some B2b appointment setting specialists make the mistake of accepting the rejection immediately, not realizing that the underlying reason may just be a trivial matter. You should always keep in mind that, behind every ‘no’ that you get, there is the possibility of ‘yes’ that you have yet to uncover. Be specific, be inquisitive. That business deal could be yours.

4.    Keep going with the tough ones – in any B2B lead generation campaign, there will always be business prospects that possess a pretty strong personality, the type of people whom you will have a very hard time to convince. But if you keep going, if you keep pursuing them, then you might be able to convince them that you mean business.

5.    Collect the rejected ones – they might prove to be useful for your future sales campaigns. Software and IT needs change over time, and if you can offer them something good, then you might be able to make a sale happen.

6.    Fix you closing – the closing is the most important part of your B2B telemarketing process. If you cannot make it impressive or memorable enough, then you reduce your chances of make a sale or a deal to happen. You better polish up your act at this point.

Getting rejected in your B2B telemarketing campaign can be handled, you just need to know how.

Making It Happen

The holiday season is here.  Organizationally, it is strategic planning time, budgets are being finalized and most of us are buckling down to finish out the year with a bang.  Personally, most are making gift lists and thinking about their New Years resolutions.

Last year for Christmas, my husband got me a book called Living Your Best Year Ever, which is filled with goal-setting activities and personal and professional challenges.  I'd had a tough year, and was honestly wishing it was a pair of earrings instead because that was easier than facing the realities of wanting to change several big things in my life.  But I knew I needed to change things if I wanted things to change, so I dug into the book.

While at first I was overwhelmed with its intensity, the (seemingly simple, yet hard to make habitual) act of writing down my goals and following the plan of daily activities directly tied to my goals was a powerful and enlightening experience. 

“Goal setting is the most important aspect of all improvement and personal development plans.  Confidence is important, determination is vital, certain personality traits contribute to success, but they all come into focus in goal setting.”           -Paul J. Meyer

For the three big goals I had for myself this year, the book had me focused every day on the things I could do to get me to my goals.  Surprisingly, my most difficult goal was met first…by March 6. 

“Living a more balanced life” – well, I’m still working on that, but, with a great support network around me and those I have shared my goals with who keep me accountable, I am markedly closer than I was in January.

We all have big goals for ourselves, and many people succeed in great feats like losing 100 pounds, finding their dream job, or starting their own business.  The one thing these people have in common is that they calibrate their daily lives around these goals.  They figure out what they can do on a daily basis that would get them closest to their goal, measure their progress daily, set weekly goals, and do monthly reviews of what works and what doesn’t.

“To achieve something you have never achieved before you must become someone you have never been.”  -Les Brown

Reaching big goals, personal or professional, whether it is to achieve a new feat in loan growth or to write a novel, is a daily execution of smaller tasks and measurement.  And you can’t do it alone.  If it is organizational, involve your staff in the goal setting and measurement.  Make measuring your progress a team activity.  Put up one of those thermometer pages and draw it in each time you get closer to that goal.  The more people in your organization who you involve in this process, the more successful you will be.

If it is a personal goal, tell someone close to you what your plans are and share your progress with him/her along the way.  You'll always push yourself harder if you know you have someone holding you accountable on a regular basis.  But most important in this process is stopping to assess your progress along the way in order to make improvements and celebrate successes.

Reaching goals requires continued awareness and a lifestyle of commitment to the growth and improvement you want in all areas of life.  It is a journey, and not a destination.  Here's to a great ending to 2013, and an upcoming year of bests.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you’ve imagined.”              -Henry David Thoreau

Amanda