Revitalize Your Buyer Personas for Real World Results - MarketingProfs B2B Forum presentation 2015

Katie MartellCo-Founder, CMOCintell@KatieMartell@MyCintell

Revitalize Your Buyer Personasfor Real-World Results

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Dan BriscoeVP of MarketingHCSS@DFBriscoe@HCSS

Hi! This session appeared live during the 2015 MarketingProfs

B2B Forum in Boston, MA.

Please visit mpb2b.marketingprofs.com

to purchase on-demand.

Agenda:1. What’s happening in B2B marketing?2. Our role as marketers3. The state of buyer personas4. Why personas fail (and what to do about it)5. Real-world revitalization (Dan Briscoe, HCSS)

@KatieMartell #MPB2B © Cintell

About me:I market to B2B marketersI’m from BostonI co-founded Cintell

My desk


The B2B marketer in 2015:

More technology

(2,000 vendors)

More budget(up 4% in 2015)

More of the purchasejourney (50-90%)

More buyers(5-7 average)

More content across morechannels


It’s easy to lose sight of who this is all for in the

first place.


Most companies are the center of their own

universe.


of B2B companies admit they do not understand their buyers.

60%

-SiriusDecisions

NOPEYEP


Content output in past 5 years:

78% -TrackMaven

Content engagement:

60%


The role of marketing is changing to becomethe customer advocate within a company.

The rise of the marketer: Driving engagement, experience and revenueEconomist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by Marketo


Your #1 job responsibility in 2016:

Study: B2B Marketers WorldwideITSMA “The New Architecture of Marketing Talent,” Dec 9, 2014

Understanding buyersMarketing technology toolsMarket/competitor analysisThought leadershipLead generation

85%76%

75%74%

73%


CUSTOMERCENTRIC

“Inside-out” product-driven marketing, or “outside-in” customer-centric marketing?

PRODUCTORIENTED

Which are you?


3XMore profitable

2XFaster getting new products to market

20%Higher customer satisfaction

Customer-centric organizations:


The marketer that understands their buyers best, wins.

(PSST: this is a really tweetable moment.)


To winin the age of the customer, B2B marketers need to drive customer intelligence into all areas of the business.

- Laura Ramos Forrester


Personas are a vehicle for customer-centricity.

My car (JK)


This is about empathy.


Personas: a history

1990s“Persona” created to humanize softwaredevelopment byAlan Cooper

1990s – 2000sBuyer personas become popular among marketing consultants and agencies

2000s – todayIndustry standard best practice used bybest-in-class B2B organizations

65 MYADinosaurs roamthe Earth


Evolution and innovation in marketing tech

2011 2012 2013 2014 20150

200400600800

100012001400160018002000

The rise of marketing technology

$32.4B in marketing

software spend by 2018

# of technology vendors


Evolution of the buyer persona:


*Sad trombone noise.*

Of B2B companies aren’t using buyer personas effectively.

-ITSMA

85%@KatieMartell #MPB2B © Cintell

1. Have personas and confident in them

2. Have personas but they need work

3. Don’t have personas – but want to

4. No personas – no plans to right now

POLL


Of B2B companies have personas or a related initiative in place.

-ITSMA

73%@KatieMartell #MPB2B © Cintell

Why do personas fail?


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Copyright © 2015 Cintell LLC CONFIDENTIAL

Reason #1: PDF PURGATORYReason #1: They’re too shallow.

“IT DIRECTORS”


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Reason #2: PDF PURGATORY


29


Reason #3: They’re out-of-date

Ch-ch-changes• Regulatory (new laws)• Economic (hard times)• Demographic (new/retiring

buyers)• Environmental (new tech,

influencers) @KatieMartell #MPB2B © Cintell

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Reason #4: Created with internal opinion ONLY


of personas deemed “extremely” or “very effective” are based on new external research.

77%of “ineffective” personas are created from existing data only.

72%- B2P Partners 2015

Copyright © 2015 Cintell LLC CONFIDENTIAL@KatieMartell #MPB2B © Cintell

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Reason #5: Created without collaboration / buy-in


1. Build trust2. Show them the WIIFM3. Start with your sales BFF4. Remind them of your

common goal

“Sales won’t let us near their customers.”


34


Reason #6: They don’t account for the committee.

At least 7 influencers in B2B tech buying decisions- IDC


35


Reason #7: They contain irrelevant B2B information.


36


What Goes Into a Great Persona?


Ardath Albee Tony Zambito Adele Revella SiriusDecisions• A Day in the Life

• Objectives / Problems

• Orientation

• Obstacles

• Questions

• Preferences

• Keywords & Phrases

• Engagement Scenarios

• Who buyers are

• What they’re trying to accomplish

• What goals drive their behavior

• How they think

• How they buy

• Why they makebuying decisions

• Where they buy

• When they buy

5 Rings of Buying Insight™

• Priority Initiatives

• Success Factors

• Perceived Barriers

• Buyer’s Journey

• Decision Criteria

Functional Attributes• Job Role• Common Titles• Position on Org Chart• Buying Center• FirmagraphicsEmotive Attributes• Initiatives • Challenges• Buyer Need• LexiconDecision Process Attributes• Buyer Role• Level of Engagement• Decision DriversBehavioral Attributes• Content Asset Types• Interaction Types• Watering Holes

37


Reason #8: They don’t translate to tactics.

Can you: Map contact records to persona? Organize / tag content by persona? Use personas to inspire content

(your muse)? Understand account coverage by

personas?

Perceived value of personas Practical application

of personasYou (ouch)


1. Get the marketing team in lock step2. Expand into sales enablement, service3. Segment by persona4. Build a centralized repository w/ assets5. Open the lines of communication

5 Ways to Operationalize Buyer Insights



Dan BriscoeVP Marketing, HCSS

@DFBriscoe #MPB2B © Cintell






Owner/Exec

“I need better information in real-time to make better decisions.”

About Owner/Exec

Has a lengthy career in construction and is now running his own business.• Male• Age 45 – 65• Conservative• Expert on construction industry• Not tech savvy, but competent

Issues

• More competition, fewer jobs, tighter margins• Costs are rising, especially health insurance• Must do more with less

• Make every employee efficient / accountable• Eliminate waste• Prevent accidents• Automate where it makes sense

• Trying to keep up with regulatory changes• Need to please customers keep employees happy

Owner’s Questions

• How can your software help my business?• How much is it going to cost me? Any hidden costs?• How long will it take to implement?• How risky is it? What are our odds of success? Is there a guarantee?• How quickly will this investment payoff?• What could go wrong?• Why should we buy from you?• Do I really need all of this software?• Who else has done this and what was their experience?

Our Answers

• Our software will help you work smarter and do more with less• Our suite will provide you the information you need in real time so you

can make better decisions• We’ll give you an accurate quote for the right amount of software, clear

SOW with no surprises• We have a [proven process] with over 500 successful implementations,

backed by a 12 month money back guarantee.• Estimate your ROI and payoff times using our [calculator]• Here are things that can go wrong and how we address those in our

[proven process]• 27 years in business, 40,000 end-users, world-class customer support,

continued innovation using customer feedback• Most customers continue to expand their software suite. We can help

you implement at your desired speed with pilots.• Here is a complete list of customers in your area

Ex: HeavyBid buying committee


Problems with our personas:• Our perception of them and in our words• Too many, too complicated• No differentiation between

– Buyers– Users– Customers

• Buried in Google Drive• Stagnant• Not using them to segment 41,000 contacts


Realized we had a problem

April 8 – 10, 2015


Getting smarter


What did we do?


1. Got some help

Samantha Stone

Persona Coach, CintellFounder, Marketing Advisory Network

Kristin Farwell

Director of Customer Experience, Cintell


2. Worked with sales to narrow to 5 buyers


3. Qualitative & quantitative research

• Email surveys• Followed up with

phone interviews



Leads self-identifyand segment by persona

4. Form optimization


“What’s your biggest business problem?”

5. Segmented our contacts


Initial Results







Blog Subscriptions



3 Takeaways


1.Primary research is powerful.

2.It’s not about us.

3.Make your customer the hero.


Questions?What’s your POV? Got a story to share?

bit.ly/persona-guide

Intelligent Guide to Buyer Personas

Ardath Albee


Liberate personas fromPDF purgatory

app.cintell.net/signup

Katie MartellCo-Founder, CMOCintell@KatieMartell@MyCintell

Dan BriscoeVP of MarketingHCSS@DFBriscoe@HCSS

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