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Optimum Mix - Almost there!
Here’s a quick rationale for my choice of content & channel mapping in my previous piece. For instance, C/V level decision makers in larger businesses would rarely, if ever start researching stuff on Google. They will ask somebody with more time to do it. They wouldn’t mind attending a webinar & if they miss out, they could be found though looking up social media – blogs, video & audio networks – in spare/research time just to catch up on what’s going on. This explains choices for 1 & 2.
Now about 3. Analyst white papers are typically, red hot lead generators for you. Picture this – a Veep asks his managers to look up some strategic content around data rationalization so that they can review what’s out there, what they can do, next steps, etc. in a team meeting next week. If I am targeting this scenario 50% of my time as a B2B marketer, my white paper will potentially get me almost every single lead there is to milk in my area.
The catch is, I have to get ‘found’ at any cost. Here’s where my paid search needs to be ultra aggressive & my organic search guy needs to think between his ears. If you notice too – I have kept just a month aside for my paid search & that’s because any piece of content has just about 30-40 days of shelf life on paid search for a particular region/geography. Beyond this, you will notice a sharp drop in both the quality & number of inbound leads from that particular content.
Finally 4. Press Releases are great tools to tell all who matter or care that ‘we have done something exceptional! Come visit us’. In the age of feeds & widgets, online PRs have just gone up several notches in importance. If nothing gets to your target audience, a well written & distributed PR always will. In many ways, PRs also drive people to 1, 2 & 3 & ensure your planning doesn’t go bust.
So what does an optimum mix look like from quarters 1 to 3?
- Analyst White Paper: 15%
- Content Syndication through social media: 10%
- Press Releases: 10%
- Pay-per-click: 15%
- Search Engine Optimization: 20%
- Webinars: 30%
What I have tried to achieve is a ready-to-go, B2B demand generation mix which will work on more days than not. If you notice, I have not spoken about things like Mobile, behavioral/contextual targeting, etc. That is because those are more elaborate, relatively risky options. They hold undeniable value, but we will think about them in Q4 or year 2!
by Abhiraj Banerjee (abhiraj.banerjee@edynamic.net)
Optimum Mix – Achieving the Demand Generation Mojo
My first task at the start of Quarter 2 soon as my webinars have ended & I have the analyst endorsed content piece would be to create a ‘content map’. This map would comprise pieces of audio, video & static content taken from the webinars & analyst pieces.
While my team was handling the logistics of Q1 activity, I was researching & thanking John Kotter for ‘A Sense of Urgency’ & basically getting on with it. And what was I researching - how should I distribute my content?
This is key to the magic unfolding over the next 6 months wherein I intend to bombard my Sales folks with leads enough to last forever. Content distribution planning also enables me to show to my bosses up there that I have been able to achieve the stars without denting the dollars & gives me the leverage to demand for & get these dollars when I would need those most – at the start of Q4. Here’s how a part of my content distribution plan could look like:
First:
- Content: Webinar-1- 4 minute video extract
- Target: Mid rung decision enablers
- Objective: Lead Generation to engage for reaching higher rung
- Channel: Website, Paid Search, SEO with specific landing page optimization
- Geography: As applicable
- Time: 3 Months
Second:
- Content: Webinar-2-5 minute audio & video extracts
- Target: C, V level decision makers
- Objective: Lead Generation, thought leadership branding
- Channel: Website, Social Media for audio, video & 3rd party blogs with specific search optimization & linking
- Geography: As applicable
- Time: 3 Months
Third:
- Content: Analyst White Paper
- Target: Mid rung decision enablers
- Objective: Lead Generation to engage for reaching higher rung
- Channel: Website, Paid Search
- Geography: As applicable
- Time: 1 month for paid, 3 months for organic
Fourth:
- Content: Press Releases
- Target: All rungs
- Objective: Lead Generation, spreading awareness & branding
- Channel: Online premium wires
- Geography: As applicable
- Time: 15 days
If you are reading this piece, then I shall talk about why this kind of a content map will give
me what I need. But, that’s for next time!
by Abhiraj Banerjee (abhiraj.banerjee@edynamic.net)
Even though businesses have been utilizing Direct Marketing for long, it is widely believed that not all B2B marketers have been able to fully leverage the growing clout of digital capabilities available today in the market place.
The existing digital environment today presents opportunities to convert the prospects into customers via a carefully crafted digital plan - listening, supporting and delivering along the customers purchase cycle. This in turn results in generating referrals and plentiful opportunities to deliver a positive return on marketing spend.
Even though more and more users are spending large amount of their time online, how many B2B businesses do we know who have a full-proof plan to market their products online? How many businesses are able to create an integrated offline and online customer experience for its prospects? How many businesses do you know who can confidently track their customer through his purchase cycle?
Today there are ample tools and technologies that will allow you to do this successfully.
However a strategic approach is required to understand how to apply, target and optimize the process of marketing across the various steps of customers purchase.
To understand the various tactical digital initiatives that one can pursue, we should first understand the general process. The Go-To–Market process for any B2B client can be broadly classified into a 7 step process:
1. Understanding Customer Needs
2. Communication Message
3. Fulfillment (information)
4. Generating and Qualifying Leads
5. Transaction (online or offline)
6. Relationship Management
7. Referrals
In order to drive a perfectly aligned marketing program across the various stages, the quintessential requirement is to have a tracking,measurement and reporting system in place.
Below are some of the tactics that can be utilized across the different stages.
Understanding Customer Needs:
A brief from a client is the first bit of information that can be used to prepare a basic strategic draft and define one’s approach to the problem
Other than the information derived from client brief , your website analytics and automated customer surveys can also play a part in defining a customer’s needs.
Communication Message:
You’re messaging in terms of creative and copy is equally important in closing the loop. By automatically serving a different message to your various target segments you can see visible increase in conversions and leads.Moreover, A/B testing of various creative messaging options or landing page scan help you successfully optimize your creative messaging and increase interest and engagement.
Fulfillment:
All users are searching for a certain set of information or content – it may be in form of a certain kind of whitepaper, or request for information or even a free trial. Fulfillment of any form of information draws the customer closer to eventual sale. An automated system that keeps track of user information consumption patterns will help you in re-targeting your customer and allow one to provide value to the prospect.
Generating and Qualifying Leads:
Lead generation and qualifying them as MQPs (marketing qualified) prospects is another process that can be carried out online or via a call-center. SEM or search engine marketing today is one of the most important lead generating tools out there. With more and more people dependent on Search Engines to acquire information, the search engines form a favorite hunting ground for such activity.
Webinars, Database driven marketing campaigns, Newsletters and online events they all form a powerful set of tactics to generate leads.
The other not so direct yet powerful ways of generating leads online can be Blogs, Social Media and Virals.
Transactions
As and when a transaction occurs,your prospect converts into a customer. To be able to track this transition and define the value of the transaction will allow you to tier your customer and know more about the various points of interception that he experienced. This in turn rolls back into the marketing campaign planning process and optimize future acquisitions.
Having a digital way of connecting leads to transactions and then data-mine to drill down on those transactions will provide you with powerful behavioral data of your customers.
Your messaging and treatment met to the customer at this point will make way for future referrals.
Relationship Management
Once a prospect is converted into a customer an equally important task of managing relationship with customer begins. Loyalty programs, rewards and recognition and a knowing more about your customer will allow you to build that relationship with your customer and provide value to them.
The emphasis on a relationship management is on one-on-one marketing – that knows your customer to an extent that you can tailor make your offering for him.
Referrals
Referrals are the greatest validation of a satisfied customer. Referrals can be in form of leveraging a testimonial of an expert who also happens to be a client or even someone who can pitch in with a good word for a Prospect.
In some products Referrals can also be used to generate a buzz or awareness and increase the interest levels of the prospects.
Even though the above describes the perfect set-up where one is tracking and end-to end customer behavior through his purchase cycle, a focused campaign aimed at any of the steps in a purchase cycle can be instrumental in generating leads and qualified marketing prospects and shortening the time it takes to convert a prospect into a customer. With more and more people seeking that information online, Direct Marketing is going all Digital in coming days , much sooner than we think.
by Aditi Kumar (aditi.kumar@eynamic.net)
I came across an exciting job post just today for Madagaskar. It was an exciting role for marketers such as me who are thirsty for unknown territory. But remember Grade 5 geography? Madagascar is in Africa right? The ‘k’ put me off just like a lot of B2B marketers around the world are put off when they see the CEO or CFO’s diktat. Reduce spend, get more ROI…branding be damned.
I swear I love ROI because I know what I would do. I would say – “You need to only spend for 4 months. That’s a quarter & a bit. Beyond that I won’t bother you with budget haranguing.” But in those first four months I would need:
1) An analyst endorsed, syndicated content piece. Industry thought leadership they call it.
2) 3 Webinars with 2 of our clients targeted at geographies we work in. The Webinars have to be necessarily in partnership with a business media of choice with the latter driving promotion of the webinars.
That is all. Once I have these, I would spend the next 2 quarters simply peddling my fare on the Internet while the Webinar leads keep my ever nagging sales team on ‘Run Forrest Run!’
Every marketer worth his/her salt needs a cushion when they can strategize on ROI. But in the real world this cushion never materializes because you are always chasing the eight ball. When I was handed this real world challenge at several places, all I asked for was a budget for 4 months that gave me the cushion to experiment without ever letting the pipeline run dry.
It is almost impossible to predict a model for lead generation that ensures highest bang for your buck. But what I have found is:
1) Organic Search can be the cornerstone for free, high quality leads from month 4 onwards since kick off
2) Paid Search should come into the mix only after 6 months into your annual marketing program
3) Social Marketing can provide the odd gold mine but only after your Organic Search is firmly in place
The day you enter the 3rd quarter, you are primed to get rich. And then come the focus groups & discussion laundering for you to sing aloud on the Web. If you are reading this piece, then I shall talk about how the magic starts unfolding from the 4th month onwards in my next dig.
by Abhiraj Banerjee (abhiraj.banerjee@edynamic.net)
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