Buying has changed forever The B2B buying process has fundamentally changed. Prospects are spending...

Buying has changed forever

• The B2B buying process has fundamentally changed.

• Prospects are spending more time on the web doing independent research, obtaining information from their peers and other third parties.

• Engaging early-stage leads is premature, prospective buyers only want to meet in the last third of the buying process.

• Nurturing leads allow brand to build trust and authority

Buying Stages

Awareness:Identifies a business need

Consideration:Determine possible solutions

Research:Evaluate different

solutions

Purchase:Select a solution

& negotiate purchase

Buying has changed

Information Scarcity1960’s - recent

Information AbundanceToday

Media

Sales Team

Awareness

Consideration

Research

PurchaseSale

s Team

Media

Marketing & Sales Collaboration

• 3 key areas for Marketing and Sales alignment:

– The definition of a sales-ready lead derived from co-defined lead scoring values

– The appropriate type of customer communication, associated cues and optimal timings

– The lead profile and history that is most interesting and valuable to sales, especially for recycled leads

Lead Nurturing – What is it?

• Most leads that are generated are not yet ready to buy or engage with sales reps

• Lead nurturing is the process of developing relationships with qualified prospects regardless of their timing to buy, with goal of earning their business when they are ready.

– Customer willingness to buy = Your willingness to sell to them

Lead Scoring

• We need to agree a common scoring strategy that acknowledges the importance of all leads

– We need assign values to the attributes of potential leads not exclusions

• There are two types of scoring we can apply to leads:

– Explicit Lead Scoring: Based on information the prospect tells you or otherwise directly identifiable information.

– Implicit Lead Scoring: Based on information that you have observed about the prospect, such as their online behaviour

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Nurturing Database

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MQLSAL

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Recycle Prospect

Revenue CycleStage Description Example

All names Names are just names – they are not leads

Bought lists

Engagement Meaningful interaction with us

View key web content, subscription, RSS

Prospects & Recycled

Qualified, engaged potential buyers

Demographic, Firmographics, Lead source, BANT, behavioural attributes

Nurturing Do we have permission to nurture relationship

Lead processing, Stay in touch, Accelerator, Lead Life Cycle Campaigns

Lead Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) - Showing buying signs or significant engagement

Lead scoring (e.g. Data profiling, response to emails, “high value” web pages, colleagues)

Sales Lead Sales Authorised Lead (SAL) - Qualified as sales-ready by human

Lead Hand-off, lead status qualified by Sales Team and either feedback for recycling or taken to Sales.

Opportunity Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) Accepted & actively worked by sales

Lead Hand-off, Sales engagement, Timely engagement SLA, Lead Recycled if required

Customer Sales closed – time to work on up/cross-sell etc.

New Customer campaigns, product & service education, cross/up-sell opportunities

Lead Nurturing Campaigns

• Incoming Lead Processing Campaigns

• Stay in Touch Campaigns

Incoming Lead Processing Campaign

Lead Scoring

• Define the profile of a ideal customer and lead scoring methodology. For example:

– Demographic attributes (company size, role, industry)

– Lead source & offer

– Budget, Authority, Need & Timeline (BANT)

– Completeness of data profile

– Behavioural Attributes (number of responses, overall engagement, etc.)

• Lead scoring enables you to qualify and categorise leads to help determine if the are sales-ready or not

Automated Marketing

• Automated Marketing technology can be configured to score leads. For example:

– Does the prospect visit your site?

– What search terms did the prospect use to find more information about you?

– Have other prospects come from the same company visited your website?

– How has the prospect responded to your email campaign or offers?

– What interactions has the your sales team had with the prospects and when?

Explicit Scores

Implicit Behavioural Scores (1 of 2)

Implicit Behavioural Scores (2 of 2)

Lead scoring framework

ExplicitWhat the prospect tells you

InferredWhat you observe or infer

FitAre you interested in them?

- Demographics- Firmographics- BANT

- Data Quality- Corporate vs personal email- Data.com data

InterestAre they interested in you?

- BANT -Latent Behaviour (Engagement)- Active behaviours (Sales readiness)

Establishing Permission for Nurturing

Pros Cons

CAN-SPAM Only

- Minimal effort- Lead source and offer-“Legal” in the eye’s of government regulators (USA Law)- Grows database quickly

-Risks poor deliverability score and bad reputation- despite database growth, relationship quality will not improve

Single Opt-in Approach

-Demonstrates pro-active concern for permission- Prospects might remember that they opted-in-Increase deliverability and sender reputation scores

- Still assumes that just because prospects requested information once, they want to hear from you again

Double Opt-in Approach

-Demonstrates the most concern for privacy and relevancy- Subscribers truly want to hear from you- Increases deliverability rates and send reputation score

- Adds another layer of complexity and communications with potential subscribers- Risks losing subscribers in the confirmation process

Determine Preferences

• How often would you like to receive communications from us?

• Which types of communications would you like to receive? (e.g. Email, direct mail, text messages, etc)

• What are your primary interests? (offer multiple check boxes that apply to your products or services offerings)

Staying in Touch Campaign

• Buyer Roles

• Buyer Stages

• Content

• Timing

Buyer Roles

• Identify the clients “Buying Committee” – the people who will be involved in the purchase decision

– Champion: a user with purchasing authority

– Influencer: a person without purchase authority but with significant input (e.g. Consultant, middle manager or user)

– C-Suite: a member of the executive staff

• Layer additional content as required (e.g company information, what content they consume)

• Produce content for each role

Buying Stages

• Awareness: Identify a business need

• Consideration: Determine possible solutions

• Research: Evaluate different solutions

• Purchase: Select a solution and negotiate purchase

Content

• Buyer Role: Prospects find content targeted to their role or industry much more valuable than generic content.

– 82% of prospects say content targeted to their specific industry is more valuable

– 67% say content targeted to their job function is more valuable

– 49% say the same for content targeted to their company size

– 29% prefer content targeted to their geography

» SOURCE: Marketing Sherpa

Content

• Buyer Stage: The content someone would find relevant changes as they move through the buying process.

– Educational pieces work well during the early awareness stages. With these pieces, you are simply educating and sharing best pratice

– Industry-oriented pieces work well just as prospects start looking for a solution. Examples can be industry overviews, analyst reports, buyers guides.

– Solution oriented and company-focused materials are appropriate for prospects engaged in an active buying cycle.

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Goals for Content Marketing

• Brand awareness 78%

• Customer retention/Loyalty 69%

• Lead Generation 63%

• Website Traffic 55%

• Thought Leadership 52%

• Sales 51%

• Lead Nurturing 37%

» Source: MarketingProfs

Biggest Content Marketing Challenge

• Producing Engaging Content 36%

• Producing Enough Content 21%

• Budget to Produce Content 20%

• Lack of C-Level Buy-in 11%

• Producing a variety of Content 9%

• No Answer 3%

» Source: MarketingProfs