5 steps to boost b2b marketing productivity · consider your team’s productivity. by setting the...
TRANSCRIPT
This article was written by Ray Kemper, CMO of Televerde and published by Convince and Convert in June 2016. Convince & Convert was founded by Jay Baer in 2008. Jay has advised more than 700 brands since getting started in online marketing in 1993.
By Ray Kemper
5 Steps to Boost B2B Marketing Productivity
When it comes to marketing strate-
gies, you’ll find lots of tricks and
techniques on launching creative
marketing campaigns and driving
conversions. While those are
valuable conversations to have,
sometimes teams put the cart before
the horse by focusing on refining
those tactics when they haven’t yet
addressed more basic steps on
ccampaign strategy and metrics for
success. One commonly overlooked
area? Volume.
Consider your team’s productivity. By
setting the right expectations up front
in terms of volume and leads, and by
prioritizing the appropriate metrics,
you’ll position your pipeline for
sstronger sales. The trick is to increase
volume strategically, so your team
brings in a higher number of quality
leads. You’ll make better use of your
team’s time and enjoy stronger
results and bigger profits on the
same budget.
HHere are five steps to bigger and
smarter B2B marketing volume.
1. Get Focused
This is where your engagement
strategy begins. No doubt you’ve
already spent time focusing on your
targets. Get laser-sharp on your
industry segments, and identify
ggeographical areas and the size of
the businesses you’re targeting, as
well as other qualifying information
for your product.
5 Steps to Boost B2B Marketing Productivity1
The trick is to increase volume strategically, so your team brings in a higher number of quality leads.
The buyer personas within your
segment are a critical component. You
should develop your personas from
good primary research involving
tailored surveys, both online and
through telecommunication or
iin-person conversations, with your
targeted industries and buyers. Your
personas will continue to evolve based
on your learnings and approaches.
YYou’ll also need to map out the buyer’s
journey for your product. Too many
teams make one of two mistakes here:
They either try to recreate the wheel for
each campaign, or they think in terms
of transactions, rather than the buyer’s
mmind throughout their buying decision.
By mapping the buyer’s journey up
front, you can leverage those insights
and develop campaigns that talk to the
buyers’ needs at various points of the
decision making process.
2. Know Your Data
TThe effectiveness and productivity of
your campaigns is reliant on the
clean and accurate data that feeds
them. According to Sirius Decisions,
25 percent of the average database is
inaccurate. This isn’t surprising, given
that teams often build up a base of
ininformation quickly without
deliberate management. The result
is wasted valuable time and budget
going after the wrong targets.
Keeping your data clean and current
does more than empower you to
personalize effectively and develop
content that resonates. You’ll also
maximize your budget by having your
team pursue only the right people at
the right time.
According to Sirius Decisions, 25 percent of the average database is inaccurate. This isn’t surprising, given that teams often build up a base of information quickly wwithout deliberate management.
3. Get a Marketing Automation Engine
YYou have two options here: You can
either buy a platform yourself or hire
a provider as a managed service.
Either is a valid option, but be aware
that marketing automation is not
plug-and-play. It involves a steep
learning curve and the right staffing. If
yoyou choose to use a provider as a
managed service, you’ll get the
benefits of the provider’s expertise
without the hassles of managing or
maintaining the system. If you
choose to deploy and manage your
own system, just be sure to manage
internal expectations for when
4. Have the Right Conversation
To accelerate your pipeline, you’ll
want to tailor your outbound
conversations as precisely as
ppossible. You’ll need to discover
where each prospect is in the
buyer’s journey. Is the prospect only
consuming content and getting
educated? Does their contract come
up for renewal next year, and they’re
exploring their options?
KKnowing where they stand in their
process helps you frame the
conversation and shortens the time
from contact to close. Remember
campaigns can start to roll out, and
plan on training your team.
YYou can choose from top-of-the-line
platforms to more basic models, but
you do want your system to feed into
your CRM. This is critical for boosting
productivity and sales effectiveness;
if your systems don’t talk to each
other, you’ll encounter a number of
ununnecessary delays, misalignments
and stumbling blocks. For instance,
follow-up will be difficult, you’ll have
to export files manually, and sales
people will update information that
doesn’t make it into your master
system, creating frustration with
outdated records.
5 Steps to Boost B2B Marketing Productivity2
that digital is only part of the
jjourney—it’s not the entire journey.
You need to layer in a conversation
with the prospect through teleservices
to identify their stage in the journey.
Your data and engagement statistics
should help you strategize and
eescalate the path to ROI. But don’t
forget the importance of the human
touch along the way.
5. Align Sales and Marketing
We We marketers talk about this a lot,
but more as a general goal than a
practical tactic. The truth is that
aligning with sales and building trust
among departments will spark an
immediate rise in productivity.
Agenda items here include
ddeveloping a common set of
definitions on what a lead is and
agreeing on when that lead is qualified
for sales. The teams will also need to
agree on a standardized process and
timeline for lead follow-up.
WWithout this alignment, you’ll have a
disgruntled sales team who complains
that marketing is giving them the
wrong leads, and an equally
ddisgruntled marketing team who wants
to know why good leads are dying
on the vine. But once they’re working
in tandem, you’ll have a feedback
loop of continuous improvement.
TThe first step in a high rate of closed
deals is a rich pipeline flowing with
leads. Focus on boosting your team’s
productivity and making the most
strategic use of their time, and you’ll
see a rise of lead volume that translates
into a rise in ROI.
Call us about how to increase your
sales pipeline volume.
televerde.com 888-787-2829
The truth is that aligning with sales and building trust among departments will spark an immediate rise in productivity.
5 Steps to Boost B2B Marketing Productivity3
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