Creating Customer Centric Messaging For Optimal Lead Generation

Creating Customer Centric Messaging
For Optimal Lead Generation

August 23rd 2012
Sponsored by:

Introductions
• Jen Doyle, Senior Research Manager, MarketingSherpa
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenldoyle
Jen.Doyle@MECLABS.com

• Stonie Clark, Research Associate, MarketingSherpa
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stonie-clark/33/567/ab1
Stonie.Clark@MECLABS.com

$100 Off the Full 2012 Lead Gen Benchmark Report
Meclabs.com/100-acton Discount code: 305-BM-4008

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#SherpaWebinar


MarketingSherpa is a research and publishing
organization serving the marketing community

• MarketingSherpa’s annual
research cycle provides
knowledge for continuous
marketing improvement


Today’s agenda
• Introduction / background for the FUEL methodology

• Building the foundation for your lead generation programs

• Identifying buyer personas to improve relevance and engagement

• MarketingSherpa case study: Combining Email, Search, Social and PR for
a Content Marketing Campaign

• Key strategies for developing valuable, in demand content


Research Background
• We surveyed over 3,000 marketers focused
on lead generation to uncover:
• Top challenges
• Best marketing tactics
• Lead scoring, nurturing and management
• Content strategies
• Marketing automation
• Marketing analysis
• Marketing operations and metrics

• Result of this research – MarketingSherpa’s FUEL methodology to power
marketing effectiveness from lead generation to sales conversion


Key Finding: Challenges Still Growing
45%
45%
• B2B organizations rated
44% the pertinence of several
44% challenges including:
43% • Lead quality
Average Indication of Challenges

• Lead volume
42% • Lengthening sales
cycles
41%
• Growing committees
40%

• YEAR-OVER-
39%
39%
YEAR, average indications
38%
of challenges continue to
2009 2010 2011 grow
Year of Response
Source: ©2011 MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded June 2011, N=1,745


Live Poll
• What is your top b2b marketing challenge?
• Generating high-quality leads
• Generating a high volume of leads
• Generating high perceived value of products
• Lead gen across multimedia
• Generating PR “buzz”
• Marketing to a extended sales cycle
• Marketing to an increased # of people in buying process


The Growing Challenges facing B2B Marketers
74%
Generating high-quality leads
69%
78%
• B2B marketing challenges
49%
have become more
Generating a high-volume of leads
35%
44%
pertinent to organizations
Generating perceived value in 41% 2011 over time
37% 2010
"cutting-edge" product benefits
37% 2009

Competing in lead generation across
multiple media, from podcasts to
40%
36% • Balancing quality and
paid search to webinars to print ads 27%
quantity of leads
38%
Generating public relations "buzz" 36% generated
33%

Marketing to a lengthening sales 38%

• Sales cycles becoming
41%
cycle
39%

Marketing to a growing number of 33% more complex
people involved in the buying 34%
process 33%



What has caused these challenges?

There are internal and external influencers


B2B Marketers are Resistant to Change
Our research indicates the
industry is resistant to the
changes happening in the
marketplace, and the resulting
new best practices that are vital
to success.

So, are you resistant to
change? Let me ask you
a few questions…


Q1 – Do you send all leads directly to Sales?

• 61% send all leads
No
39%
directly to Sales … but

• Only 27% of leads
Yes
generated are actually
61% qualified



Q2 – Have you defined your sales and marketing
funnel?

• 68% have not identified
Yes
32%

their funnels

• Before you can optimize
lead progression through
No
the buying cycle, you first 68%

need a map



Q3 – Do you score and nurture your leads?
• 79% of B2B organizations are • 65% of B2B organizations have no
not scoring their leads nurturing campaigns in place

Yes
21%
Yes
35%

No
65%
No
79%



How can we combat these new challenges?


FUEL Up…….. and Drive Effectiveness
Find and attract Uncover qualified Establish automated
Lift results
leads leads marketing processes

Building a
Bridging the gap How to select
foundation for your Lead generation
between Marketing marketing
lead generation analysis
and Sales automation software
programs

Marketing
Identifying the
Mastering essential automation
Marketing-Sales Automation analysis
lead generation implementation and
funnel
upkeep

How to select your Identifying and
Metrics that matter
lead generation mix qualifying leads

Delivering marketing
Harvesting high value to the C-Suite
quality leads & marketing
leadership


BUILDING THE FOUNDATION FOR YOUR
LEAD GENERATION PROGRAMS


Who are you Targeting? Identifying Buyer
Personas
• Why do we need buyer personas?


Personas

• What is a buyer persona?

A detailed profile that represents an
actual, real-life group of your target
audience. It includes common interests,
motivators and expectations, as well as
demographic and other behavioral
characteristics.


Personas
• Isn’t that the same as a target market?

A target market is a profile typically based
on demographics, such as location, company
size, annual revenue, etc. Buyer personas are
more in-depth profiles that include
behavioral characteristics.


Top Tactics in Developing Buyer Personas
Interviewing prospects
64%
and/or customers

Interviewing Sales 56%
• #1 Tactic – go straight to the
Conducting a survey of
prospects and/or customers
47% source!
Mining in-house database to
identify characteristics of 43%
best and/or worst … • Balancing qualitative and
Evaluating Web analytics
reports
34% quantitative data
Interviewing customer
27%
service

Using keyword research to
25%
identify topics of interest

Monitoring activity on social
20%
media sites



Key Buyer Persona Traits
Demographic traits Behaviors
• Job title & responsibilities • Key concerns for purchase
• Organization size / • Interests
department size • Motivation
• Primary market • Expectations
(B2B, B2C, B2B2C) • Decision-making authority
• Industry • Approvals needed for purchase
• Location • Urgency
• Budget • Goals
• Familiarity with product / service
• Pain points & challenges
• Validation needed for purchase


Exercise: Initial Perceptions of Buyer Personas
Initial thoughts and perceptions of buyer personas

Ideal customer Worst customer

Additional persona Additional persona


Researching Buyer Personas - Qualitative
• Step 1 – Ask customer-facing departments
• Ask Sales about prospect motivations, barriers, objections, etc.
• Ask Customer Service about customer expectations, problems, concerns, etc.
• Be sure to ask who your best and worst prospects and customers are and why.

• Step 2 – Ask prospects
• Ask prospects about motivators, challenges, barriers, etc.
• Interview best and worst prospects

• Step 3 – Ask customers
• Ask customers about motivators, challenges, barriers, etc.
• Interview best and worst customers


Researching Buyer Personas - Quantitative
• Step 4 - Mine in-house database
• What to look for
• Common traits for ideal customers
• Large deal sizes, short
timeframes to
purchase, most repeat
purchases, etc.
• Common traits for undesirable
customers
• Returns or refunds, smallest
deal sizes, longest
timeframes to purchase
• What’s the difference?

TIP: DOCUMENT YOUR RESEARCH


Sample buyer personas
Ideal customer - The B2C retailer with ample resources
in house, seeking a comprehensive platform to deploy
promotional emails to a large list of over 100,000
contacts. They tend to have a solution in place but are
seeking a more in-depth product. Their organization has
over 500 employees. This buyer “gets it” and has a clear
understanding and value for the benefits of the product.
This buyer has ample resources both financial and
departmental.

Worst customer - The small business owner with limited marketing resources
and experience. This buyer thinks email marketing should be inexpensive and
they want to deploy messages to a list with fewer than 10,000 subscribers.
This buyer is relatively unfamiliar with the benefits of the product over their
current free email system.


Plotting the Buyer Persona Quadrant
Additional persona Ideal customer
The B2B2C marketer who is fairly educated with the benefits of The B2C retailer with ample resources in house, seeking a
the product. They often have a solution in-house that they are comprehensive platform to deploy promotional emails to a large
unhappy with. This buyer has a medium to large sized house list list of over 100,000 contacts. They tend to have a solution in
of 30,000 to 100,000 subscribers. place but are seeking a more in-depth product. Their
organization has over 500 employees. This buyer “gets it” and
has a clear understanding and value for the benefits of the
product. This buyer has ample resources both financial and
Potential departmental.
deal size

Worst customer Additional persona
The small business owner with limited Marketing resources and The B2B marketer with limited resources in house, seeking a cost
experience. This buyer thinks email marketing should be effective, user-friendly system to deploy monthly newsletters
inexpensive and they want to deploy messages to a list with and promotions. This buyer has a clear understanding of the
fewer than 10,000 subscribers. This buyer is relatively unfamiliar benefits and hopes to make a quick purchasing decision. They
with the benefits of the product over their current free email may say they “needed a solution yesterday.” Their organization
system. has less than 100 employees.

Education / understanding of key benefits


MARKETINGSHERPA CASE STUDY: COMBINING
EMAIL, SEARCH, SOCIAL AND PR FOR A CONTENT
MARKETING CAMPAIGN


Case Study: Combining Email, Search, Social and
PR for a Content Marketing Campaign

• Suitcase.com, online luggage
retailer

• Used existing marketing channels
and content to attract a relevant
audience to drive blog traffic


Campaign Goals

• Suitcase.com wanted to drive
more blog traffic to:

• Establish thought leadership
and authority

• Educate customers on product
selection


Campaign Tactic – Research Topics
• The team built an online survey to gather prospect insight on how they
have been affected by the changes in airline regulations including:
• “Has the increase in airline baggage fees caused you to do any of the
following?”
Pack lighter, Check fewer bags, Consider related features, None of
the above
• “Which of the following factors have the greatest influence on your
baggage purchase?”
Weight, Size and dimensions, Warranties, Features /
functionality, Price, Style, Other


Campaign Tactic – Research topics
• The team looked at search
volumes for industry specific
keywords

• Identified trends in new travel
restrictions and baggage fees:
• “baggage restrictions”
• “travel bags”

• Competitive research
• Monitored competitor
press mentions and
websites for content


Campaign Tactic – Research Topics
• The team distributed the survey
via an email blast

• The selected a relevant database
for the send

"We wanted to make sure the people
we sent it to were interested in
luggage...and not someone who just
liked to fill out surveys"

• They included an incentive to
boost responses


Campaign Tactic – Develop & Distribute Content
• A nine-page report was developed
based on the study results
• The report included:
• Cover, TOC, Executive
Summary, Stats and charts,
Analysis, and company
descriptions
• Content was highly relevant to
audience and light on self-
promotion
• The team made this report
available through a .pdf download


Campaign Tactic – Develop & Distribute Content
• The team distributed a well-
optimized press release and
reached out to key bloggers
and publications

• Pitches were done individually
with tailored messages

• They received further
distribution through partners
with strong social media
presence


Campaign Results
• Blog traffic increased 518% YOY
• The report was picked up by
numerous media outlets, and a
number of third-party blog posts
were generated
• The report’s landing page was the
top-performing landing page of
their site – with a 16% lower
bounce rate than the site’s
average


KEY STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING VALUABLE, IN
DEMAND CONTENT


Delivering the Message with High Quality Content
Repurposing and
reformatting 64%
• Best practices in
existing content developing marketing
Encouraging
content
customers to
53%
submit testimonials
and case studies
• Repurposing and
Recruiting authors
internally from 48%
reformatting existing
other departments content
Outsourcing to a

• Recruiting authors
consultant or 27%
agency

internally from other
Utilizing social
media to encourage
20%
departments
brand advocates to
produce content

Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded Aug 2010, N=935
• Outsourcing to an agency


The New Rules of Content Development
Step #1 – Research
• What subject matter is going to be both interesting and valuable to our audience?
• What topics does our audience want to learn about?
• Are there any opportunities for us to fill a void?
• What language do they use in their discussions
related to our product or service?
• What formats do they prefer?
• Articles
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Images
• Etc.


Thorough research leads to engaging content
Start by developing a list of targeted key terms including:
• Products
• Services
• Industry sectors
• Technologies
• Competitors
• Brands
• Key issues
• Industry experts
• Key employees
• Recent press releases
• Key needs and concerns of your audience

Where can we find this information?


Balance research with innovation for optimal
content development

“If I had asked what my customers wanted,

I would have made a faster horse.”

- Henry Ford


The New Rules of Content Development -
Personalize
• The personalization of
We regularly personalize the
messaging of our marketing 40% marketing materials
materials

• The vast majority of B2B
We tend to personalize messaging
from time to time, but not on a 41% organizations are using
regular basis
some level of
personalization
We don’t personalize any of our
19%
marketing materials
• Why?
Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded Aug 2010, N=935


You can’t make the grade without a good test
• In Marketing, we’re constantly testing lead generation campaigns, landing pages, calls-to-
action, etc.

• Things to test:
• Subject matter
• Format
• Style (Formal? Informal?)
• Length
• Readability
• Timing of distribution
• Subject lines / titles
• Calls-to-action


Exercise: Taking Inventory
Existing content for reformatting and repurposing

1. 9.

2. 10.

3. 11.

4. 12.

5. 13.

6. 14.

7. 15.


Home Grown Content VS 3rd Party
Home Grown 3rd Party
√ Inexpensive Often expensive X

√ Specific Broad X

√ Controlled Uncontrolled X

√ Can be pulled down There forever X

√ Technically accurate Can be inaccurate X

X Lower value to reader High perceived value √

X “Sales job” Endorsement √


WRAP-UP & KEY TAKEAWAYS


Summary: FUEL B2B Marketing Effectiveness
Find and attract Uncover qualified Establish automated
Lift results
leads leads marketing processes

Building a
Bridging the gap How to select
foundation for your Lead generation
between Marketing marketing
lead generation analysis
and Sales automation software
programs

Marketing
Identifying the
Mastering essential automation
Marketing-Sales Automation analysis
lead generation implementation and
funnel
upkeep

How to select your Identifying and
Metrics that matter
lead generation mix qualifying leads

Delivering marketing
Harvesting high value to the C-Suite
quality leads & marketing
leadership


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Thank You!
• Jen Doyle, Senior Research Manager, MarketingSherpa
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenldoyle
Jen.Doyle@MECLABS.com

• Stonie Clark, Research Associate, MarketingSherpa
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stonie-clark/33/567/ab1
Stonie.Clark@MECLABS.com


Creating Customer Centric Messaging For Optimal Lead Generation

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