Successful B2B marketing depends largely on the quality of marketing content. To break through the marketing clutter that fills the environment and create real engagement with potential buyers, you need relevant and compelling content that helps buyers address important business challenges.
Although this "new" approach to marketing is quickly becoming a competitive necessity, it's not an easy transition for many companies to make. The volume of content needed can seem to be overwhelming.
For example, suppose that you sell to only one type of company. Your buying group typically contains three individuals so you have three buyer personas to address. Your buyers usually move through a four-stage buying process, and you believe you will need to interact with each buyer at least three times during each stage of the buying process. This means you'll need at least 36 "pieces" of marketing content to fuel your marketing effort (3 personas X 4 buying stages X 3 interactions per buying stage).
The good news is that getting started with content marketing is usually the most difficult step. Once your initial base of content is created, the job becomes more manageable. So, is there any way to make getting started easier? These four tactics will enable you to jumpstart your content development.
Narrow Your Focus
If you sell to more than one type of business, pick your largest, most profitable, or most attractive customer segment and start by developing a full set of content materials for that segment. You can add content for other types of customers later. When it comes to content marketing, you are better off having the content you need to take some of your prospects all the way through the buying cycle than having content that will take all of your prospects only part of the way through the buying cycle.
Use Existing Marketing Materials
OK, I'll admit that most of your existing marketing materials probably aren't suitable for the kind of customer-focused marketing you need to be doing today. I include this tactic for two reasons. First, at the right time in the buying cycle, your potential buyers will want and need to learn about your company and your products, and your existing marketing materials should be able to perform this function. Second, even if your existing materials aren't suitable in their current form, you may be able to make some of them suitable by making relatively minor changes. At least you won't be starting from scratch.
Follow the "Rule of Five"
The rule of five says that whenever you develop a significant content asset, you should try to create at least four "smaller" content pieces from the original asset. For example, say you write a white paper. You then use the content in the white paper to create one or two short articles and two or three blog posts.
Outsource the First Wave
Even if you follow the first three suggestions, you may still find that you don't have the time or internal resources to create the content you need as fast as you need it. If that's the case, you should consider outsourcing some or all of the content development work. Once the initial wave of content is developed, you may find that you can build on that foundation to create the additional content you need.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Can Customers and Prospects Talk to You?
As you can imagine, in my role with MarketMatch, I spend a great deal of time on the telephone talking to (or should I say trying to talk to) banks and credit unions. Often, I have only the main telephone number of the institution and have to depend on the quality of their telephone system to allow me to reach the appropriate person.
I have found the process frustrating at best. Many times I have navigated through the automated options only to have my call dropped just after I select what I think is the final option before I get the individual I am trying to reach. Other times, I have found the only way to talk to a live person is to talk to customer service and then asked to be transferred. Even then, half the time the call get dropped.
When I do encounter a telephone system that is either answered by a "live" person or a system that allows me to key in the last name followed by the first name of the individual, you would be amazed at how the call is answered. More often than not, the individual does not identify themselves or the institution. Even more rare is the greeting "how may I help you."
Don't even get me started on voice mail messages. Voice mail messages are "all over the place" from very rude to very helpful.
How long has it been since anyone at your institution has taken a look at your telephone system?
The cost of telephone systems has dropped dramatically over the last several years. Every institution can afford a quality telephone system.
How long has it been since your institution has discussed telephone etiquette?
Institutions spend a lot of money on branding, web sites, merchandising, etc. but often overlook what is in many cases, the first customer/prospect touch point an individual has with the institution.
Does your institution have a standardized voice mail message?
If not, creating one would probably be a good idea! If you decide to create a standardized voice mail message, refresh it frequently. Remember it is OK to "sell" via the voice mail message!
Bottom Line - Make sure your telephone system represents a "great" customer/prospect touch point because your institutions reputation for quality service is "on the line." No pun intended.
Have a great week!
Mike Witsken
I have found the process frustrating at best. Many times I have navigated through the automated options only to have my call dropped just after I select what I think is the final option before I get the individual I am trying to reach. Other times, I have found the only way to talk to a live person is to talk to customer service and then asked to be transferred. Even then, half the time the call get dropped.
When I do encounter a telephone system that is either answered by a "live" person or a system that allows me to key in the last name followed by the first name of the individual, you would be amazed at how the call is answered. More often than not, the individual does not identify themselves or the institution. Even more rare is the greeting "how may I help you."
Don't even get me started on voice mail messages. Voice mail messages are "all over the place" from very rude to very helpful.
How long has it been since anyone at your institution has taken a look at your telephone system?
The cost of telephone systems has dropped dramatically over the last several years. Every institution can afford a quality telephone system.
How long has it been since your institution has discussed telephone etiquette?
Institutions spend a lot of money on branding, web sites, merchandising, etc. but often overlook what is in many cases, the first customer/prospect touch point an individual has with the institution.
Does your institution have a standardized voice mail message?
If not, creating one would probably be a good idea! If you decide to create a standardized voice mail message, refresh it frequently. Remember it is OK to "sell" via the voice mail message!
Bottom Line - Make sure your telephone system represents a "great" customer/prospect touch point because your institutions reputation for quality service is "on the line." No pun intended.
Have a great week!
Mike Witsken
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
5 Ways to Better Marketing Performance with Marketing Operations
By Holger Schulze
In my last post “5 Steps to B2B Marketing Success” we established a simple approach to improving success in B2B marketing, starting with understanding your audience, building a strong value proposition, mapping out the buyer’s journey, building compelling messages and content, and finally, investing in robust marketing automation.
Increasing Pressure on Marketing
But how do you ensure that all this happens at peak efficiency, you are meeting your goals, and providing solid quantifiable return on your marketing investment? Today, in many organizations the executive suite is demanding proof of ROI and CEOs are asking the marketing function questions like: What is your economic value add to the company? Where is the return on the millions of Dollars invested in marketing? What happens if I cut your budget by 20 percent? Or add 20 percent? Many CMOs inability to answer these questions in a satisfactory manner has lead to their average tenure of less than 2 years in US companies, the shortest of any C level executive role. The old adage that 50 percent of marketing budget is wasted, the question is which half, just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Contrast this with your sales organization - typically the most measured and performance oriented part of the company. No wonder you get a culture clash between marketing, often focused on activities without clear link to the bottom line, and sales determined to make quota by selling product. The result is misalignment between CMO and CEO, marketing and sales, marketing goals and company goals. Absent strong alignment behind a set of clear measurable objectives, nobody in marketing is really accountable.
Marketing Operations to the Rescue – A 5 Step Program
I believe this challenge is quite healthy as it provides strong incentives for marketing to become a truly performance driven and business critical function of the company. This is where the field of marketing operations (MO) has received a lot of attention lately as a new marketing function designed to create cross-company alignment, performance visibility, and the foundational systems and processes that enable marketing to scale, become more effective and efficient, and contribute to company goals. Such a systematic marketing operations approach brings structure, process and accountability to the marketing function. It also establishes institutional knowledge on how marketing is done - this is important considering the high turnover in many marketing departments and the resulting loss of institutional knowledge. Marketing operations is basically injecting left-brain thinking into the traditionally right-brained creative marketing function. This can be intimidating at first. So let's take a look at how we can break marketing operations into smaller steps and tactics.
Step 1 - Establish a Formal MO Function
Marketing is getting more complex with new technologies such as social media, new tools like marketing automation, and higher performance and ROI expectations. A formal MO function can make sure that best practices and systems are implemented marketing wide so that marketers can take on more sophisticated projects, such as campaign automation, without having to worry about underlying processes, analytics, and metrics. The analytical skill set and experience required for marketing operations are hard to find in marketing folks that have entered the field because of their creative talent, so having a dedicated MO person, and eventually MO team, with the required analytical and marketing process skills makes perfect sense.
Step 2 - Define the Scope of MO
MO adds value to marketing by creating an ecosystem that enables marketers to excel and allows them to focus on their core competencies while being in sync with the requirements of the company and its stakeholders. MO typically includes planning & budgeting, performance measurement, reporting and dashboards, marketing best practices, sales alignment, and automation of processes such as campaign management, to name a few. While marketing operations focus is on the overall performance of the marketing department, it would be a mistake not to include the other departments marketing interacts with. MO has an opportunity to align marketing goals and processes with departments such as sales, finance, and development for example to make sure that critical dependencies and expectations are managed, that goals are aligned and marketing provides value to the company.
Step 3 - Align MO Goals with Biggest Sales and Marketing Challenges
In order to establish MO, justify the investment and show its positive impact on the company, MO has to address the biggest sales and marketing challenges and bring about change. A survey by Gary Katz, CEO of Marketing Operations Partners, shows the marketing priorities in many organizations. First, "measuring marketing ROI and demonstrating value", with 73 percent of respondents selecting this issue. This goes back to the premise that current lack of demonstrated marketing ROI is causing problems for marketing departments in terms of budget funding and CMOs staying power. Second, "balancing marketing strategy and tactics" - over 60% of survey respondents say that they are having trouble aligning day to day activities with big-picture strategy and company goals. MO is designed to address this issue. And third, 57 percent of respondents said that "creating common goals for marketing success that are tied with the goals of other groups in the company" is a major challenge. Here, marketing operations can help by creating a goal framework that starts with corporate goals and cascades them into department and individual goals, and aligns goals across the organization with departments that have a stake in marketing's success, particularly the sales function.
Step 4 - Get Buy-in from Senior Executives
Without senior level buy in from the company's C-management, MO is not going to be successful. MO requires support and collaboration not only within marketing but with other departments to be effective.
Step 5 - Conduct Regular Performance Checks and Improve MO over Time
This ties back to the idea of continuous improvement that the Japanese perfected in manufacturing with Kaizen and other quality management systems. With regular reviews of actual performance against goals, marketing operations can quickly identify areas for improvement, opportunities for resource re-allocation, process changes, and further education. Dashboards, as the "glue" between strategy and execution, can provide leading and lagging indicators to correct issues and take action before they grow into bigger problems downstream.
What is your experience with marketing operations? Does your marketing organization have a dedicated MO function, and if so, what are your success stories?
A Lesson From A "Sandwich"
By now, I'm sure you've heard about the abomination from KFC called the Double Down. In case you haven't heard about this beast, it is a bacon and cheese "sandwich" housed between two pieces of fried chicken. It's essentially calories, cholesterol and fat ... it's a heart attack in a sack.I in no way endorse this product or encourage you to eat it - in fact, I see it as another reason why we have one of the fattest and most unhealthy countries in the world. But, there is one marketing lessons that can come from this product that should have it's own chapter in the Healthcare Bill.
Rethink Your Existing Packaging
Since the aristocracy, we have considered a sandwich as anything that is jammed between two pieces of bread. KFC said, "Why not chicken - it's what we do best?"
Likewise, in banking, our bread-and-butter account has always been checking. Well lets scrap the rules for a second. It's 2010, the prime driver of these accounts is less and less about the check book and more about electronic access, right? Wouldn't our staff be more likely to promote and our customers be more likely to accept key products like e-statements, debit cards, online banking, text alerts and online bill pay if we dropped the "C" word and called these "Access Accounts" instead?
I'm sure we can apply Double Down thinking to many of our traditional products and help "fatten" our products per customer numbers. Have an idea? Share it in the Comments section of this blog.
Take care,
Eric
Monday, April 12, 2010
The "Other" Jobs of B2B Marketers
A lively discussion is underway in the Marketing Communications group at LinkedIn. The question that started the discussion was: "In one sentence, what is marketing?" In less than a month, this question has produced 145 comments. As you might expect, the comments have included a wide range of definitions, but I think it's fair to say that most have focused, in one way or another, on the "persuasion" aspect of marketing.
Because of my work, I read almost everything I can find about B2B marketing. For example, I regularly follow over three dozen B2B marketing blogs, and the list keeps growing. There are some wonderful B2B bloggers sharing insights and ideas - Seth Godin, Ardath Albee, Steve Woods, and Jon Miller, just to name a few.
The hot topics today in the B2B marketing blogosphere include the use of social networks, inbound marketing, content marketing, lead management (lead scoring, lead nurturing, etc.), and marketing automation. All of these topics also relate to how we communicate with and persuade potential buyers.
It's understandable why we devote so much attention to marketing communications. Most B2B marketers spend most of their time developing and executing marketing communications programs of various kinds. Marketing communications are extremely important, but they are only part of the "promotion" component of marketing. And promotion is only one of the "four P's" of marketing.
Peter Drucker once said, "Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two - and only two - basic functions: marketing and innovation." I might not go quite that far, but I do believe that B2B marketers can and should play a broader role that just managing marketing communications.
Let's consider just two examples. First, marketers should have a strong voice in the development of new products and services. Marketers (in collaboration with salespeople) are best suited to be the "eyes and ears" of the company in the marketplace. Gathering information about the changing needs and challenges of customers and prospects should be an ongoing priority for marketers, and you should create a systematic process for collecting and evaluating this information. This kind of market intelligence can be vital for developing new products or services that will win in the marketplace.
Marketers should also play a significant role in making decisions about pricing. I realize that pricing is a sensitive subject in many companies and is often the source of contention among marketers, salespeople, and financial/accounting professionals. Research has shown that pricing is the single most powerful profit lever that managers can use on a daily basis. It's up to marketers to understand the real economics of pricing decisions so that they can bridge the gap between those who view pricing as a tool for closing a sale and those who believe that your company's costs should dictate its prices.
Managing the marketing communications effort is important, but B2B marketers also have other critical jobs to perform.
Because of my work, I read almost everything I can find about B2B marketing. For example, I regularly follow over three dozen B2B marketing blogs, and the list keeps growing. There are some wonderful B2B bloggers sharing insights and ideas - Seth Godin, Ardath Albee, Steve Woods, and Jon Miller, just to name a few.
The hot topics today in the B2B marketing blogosphere include the use of social networks, inbound marketing, content marketing, lead management (lead scoring, lead nurturing, etc.), and marketing automation. All of these topics also relate to how we communicate with and persuade potential buyers.
It's understandable why we devote so much attention to marketing communications. Most B2B marketers spend most of their time developing and executing marketing communications programs of various kinds. Marketing communications are extremely important, but they are only part of the "promotion" component of marketing. And promotion is only one of the "four P's" of marketing.
Peter Drucker once said, "Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two - and only two - basic functions: marketing and innovation." I might not go quite that far, but I do believe that B2B marketers can and should play a broader role that just managing marketing communications.
Let's consider just two examples. First, marketers should have a strong voice in the development of new products and services. Marketers (in collaboration with salespeople) are best suited to be the "eyes and ears" of the company in the marketplace. Gathering information about the changing needs and challenges of customers and prospects should be an ongoing priority for marketers, and you should create a systematic process for collecting and evaluating this information. This kind of market intelligence can be vital for developing new products or services that will win in the marketplace.
Marketers should also play a significant role in making decisions about pricing. I realize that pricing is a sensitive subject in many companies and is often the source of contention among marketers, salespeople, and financial/accounting professionals. Research has shown that pricing is the single most powerful profit lever that managers can use on a daily basis. It's up to marketers to understand the real economics of pricing decisions so that they can bridge the gap between those who view pricing as a tool for closing a sale and those who believe that your company's costs should dictate its prices.
Managing the marketing communications effort is important, but B2B marketers also have other critical jobs to perform.
It's Here!! Monday!
Greetings and HAPPY MONDAY!
Today is a great day...spring has sprung, the weather has turned and I have actually mowed my grass 2x already! The best times in grass mowing? The 1st time of the season...and the last time of the season! However, each time in between adds to the look of your home and displays your attitude toward your neighbors.
To that end, I share my blog for today...
Action is required by everyone.
Monday's are all about action. You had the weekend to rest and relax (or have a crazy schedule with baseball, soccer, dinner's cookouts, etc...but still relaxing stuff!) and think about the coming week. So, today's action has to be to put your thoughts INTO action!
Just like mowing your grass is a reflection on you and your neighborhood, so is your Monday actions! Your actions reflect on your attitude and desire to be successful as well as your attitude toward your co-workers, your company and your customers.
Come out firing away and getting things done...it sets the tone for a GREAT week and let's everyone know that you are ONBOARD with success--- your's and theirs!
So...put your weekend thoughts and considerations on the front burner and get them INTO action. You will find success comes, the week speeds along, and people gravitate to you.
Afterall, success (like honey) attracts good things!
Have a great MONDAY and even better week...
Cheers!
Bruce
Today is a great day...spring has sprung, the weather has turned and I have actually mowed my grass 2x already! The best times in grass mowing? The 1st time of the season...and the last time of the season! However, each time in between adds to the look of your home and displays your attitude toward your neighbors.
To that end, I share my blog for today...
Action is required by everyone.
Monday's are all about action. You had the weekend to rest and relax (or have a crazy schedule with baseball, soccer, dinner's cookouts, etc...but still relaxing stuff!) and think about the coming week. So, today's action has to be to put your thoughts INTO action!
Just like mowing your grass is a reflection on you and your neighborhood, so is your Monday actions! Your actions reflect on your attitude and desire to be successful as well as your attitude toward your co-workers, your company and your customers.
Come out firing away and getting things done...it sets the tone for a GREAT week and let's everyone know that you are ONBOARD with success--- your's and theirs!
So...put your weekend thoughts and considerations on the front burner and get them INTO action. You will find success comes, the week speeds along, and people gravitate to you.
Afterall, success (like honey) attracts good things!
Have a great MONDAY and even better week...
Cheers!
Bruce
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Biggest Marketing Challenge of the Next 10 Years (Part 3)
Part three of the series features responses from two experienced theatrical marketers--one that works at one of the finest training institutions in the nation, and the other works at a top Broadway marketing and advertising firm.
Anne Trites
Director of Marketing & Communications, Yale Repertory Theatre
Assistant Professor of Theater Management, Yale School of Drama
Technology! I think the biggest marketing challenge facing arts organizations is related to the impact of technology on communication with audiences – current and prospective. We used to rely on print and radio advertising, snail mail, email and the telephone to communicate. A great deal of time was spent developing just the right message to be delivered at just the right time to each segment. We would develop tactics to stimulate positive word of mouth to encourage sales. Marketers were largely in control of the message. Technology has already tipped the balance and audiences are quickly gaining that control. Individual audience members offer their opinions frequently and with immediacy on a growing number of platforms. Some have online followings that rival those of professionals. And, the voice of the audience has more authenticity and therefore more clout with their networks than any marketing message.
It’s hard to think about ten years from now only because of the speed at which technology is stimulating change to marketing tools and consumer behavior. Whether it is two or ten years from today, I believe we will become `somewhat’ more transparent marketers working in partnership with loyal fans in our audience. I say `somewhat ‘because I also believe we will use the information we glean about audiences through their online activities. We will still be segmenting audiences and crafting targeted messages which we hope will become viral. In other words, it will be the same but different!
I think the biggest challenge is not about what it will be like in ten years, but how we will get there. Can we be nimble organizations? Can we keep up with the fast pace of change? Can we be proactive and get in front of change? Can we measure our efforts and make wise choices during this period of change?
One more thought … I wonder if our art form will become increasingly unique because it is live. We’re already using the slogan “there is no app for this” at Yale Rep for next season.
Ilene Rosen
Director of Business Development, SpotCO
I wanted to respond to the question Chad posed with a challenge I think we can tackle. The issue is this. Today’s marketing and advertising environment has not only changed drastically in the last five years, but it is continuing to change, and it is more cluttered than ever.
So, how do we stay focused on SELLING TICKETS?
With the economic downturn and the explosion of new media, we face some tough questions:
What are the most effective forms of advertising now?
How best to use new and social media?
Does print advertising still provide value?
As new media continues to grow as an industry, this list of questions will only expand, and these questions leave me with some concerns:
• I worry that as marketers, we will get so overwhelmed with ‘the clutter’ that it will become more difficult to make good marketing decisions.
• I worry that as more forms of social media become available, we will spend more and more of our marketing energies trolling the Internet aimlessly trying to find/engage audiences.
• I worry that with all of the new and traditional media options to choose from, our attentions will get diverted away from making strategic marketing decisions. As a result, we will make less effective choices about where to focus our dollars and resources.
As we move into the next decade, I hope that we can stay macro: focus on selling tickets. If we make choices based on STRATEGY, I think it will help us be more effective in this elusive marketing environment.
As marketers, we do need to try new things, but we should be strategic about what we are doing or the efforts are wasted. We should repeatedly ask ourselves – could this yield a ticket sale, either directly or indirectly?
We will want to stay on the frontlines of new media, but when we post things on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc., we have to be thoughtful about it and ask ourselves what the strategy is behind every post. We should be able to answer that question.
Over the next decade, we will need to explore, experiment, and take risks, but I believe we can be successful only if we make decisions based on strategy. If we can use macro strategies as guides, it will help navigate us through all of the questions we face moving forward.
Anne Trites
Director of Marketing & Communications, Yale Repertory Theatre
Assistant Professor of Theater Management, Yale School of Drama
Technology! I think the biggest marketing challenge facing arts organizations is related to the impact of technology on communication with audiences – current and prospective. We used to rely on print and radio advertising, snail mail, email and the telephone to communicate. A great deal of time was spent developing just the right message to be delivered at just the right time to each segment. We would develop tactics to stimulate positive word of mouth to encourage sales. Marketers were largely in control of the message. Technology has already tipped the balance and audiences are quickly gaining that control. Individual audience members offer their opinions frequently and with immediacy on a growing number of platforms. Some have online followings that rival those of professionals. And, the voice of the audience has more authenticity and therefore more clout with their networks than any marketing message.
It’s hard to think about ten years from now only because of the speed at which technology is stimulating change to marketing tools and consumer behavior. Whether it is two or ten years from today, I believe we will become `somewhat’ more transparent marketers working in partnership with loyal fans in our audience. I say `somewhat ‘because I also believe we will use the information we glean about audiences through their online activities. We will still be segmenting audiences and crafting targeted messages which we hope will become viral. In other words, it will be the same but different!
I think the biggest challenge is not about what it will be like in ten years, but how we will get there. Can we be nimble organizations? Can we keep up with the fast pace of change? Can we be proactive and get in front of change? Can we measure our efforts and make wise choices during this period of change?
One more thought … I wonder if our art form will become increasingly unique because it is live. We’re already using the slogan “there is no app for this” at Yale Rep for next season.
Ilene Rosen
Director of Business Development, SpotCO
I wanted to respond to the question Chad posed with a challenge I think we can tackle. The issue is this. Today’s marketing and advertising environment has not only changed drastically in the last five years, but it is continuing to change, and it is more cluttered than ever.
So, how do we stay focused on SELLING TICKETS?
With the economic downturn and the explosion of new media, we face some tough questions:
What are the most effective forms of advertising now?
How best to use new and social media?
Does print advertising still provide value?
As new media continues to grow as an industry, this list of questions will only expand, and these questions leave me with some concerns:
• I worry that as marketers, we will get so overwhelmed with ‘the clutter’ that it will become more difficult to make good marketing decisions.
• I worry that as more forms of social media become available, we will spend more and more of our marketing energies trolling the Internet aimlessly trying to find/engage audiences.
• I worry that with all of the new and traditional media options to choose from, our attentions will get diverted away from making strategic marketing decisions. As a result, we will make less effective choices about where to focus our dollars and resources.
As we move into the next decade, I hope that we can stay macro: focus on selling tickets. If we make choices based on STRATEGY, I think it will help us be more effective in this elusive marketing environment.
As marketers, we do need to try new things, but we should be strategic about what we are doing or the efforts are wasted. We should repeatedly ask ourselves – could this yield a ticket sale, either directly or indirectly?
We will want to stay on the frontlines of new media, but when we post things on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc., we have to be thoughtful about it and ask ourselves what the strategy is behind every post. We should be able to answer that question.
Over the next decade, we will need to explore, experiment, and take risks, but I believe we can be successful only if we make decisions based on strategy. If we can use macro strategies as guides, it will help navigate us through all of the questions we face moving forward.
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