don't be out-marketed: selling in the new reality
DESCRIPTION
Review marketing in manufacturing today, key trends, the value of a company's brand, and a peek at the execution of a strategic marketing program. Want to learn more about selling in the new reality? Contact Lindsey Dillon at 414-274-3012 [email protected]. Presentation originally given at the NPE 2012 by Mary Scheibel, Principal, and Christy Domanoski, Account Manager.TRANSCRIPT
Don’t Be Out-Marketed: Selling in the New Reality
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group
Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
April, 2012
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Agenda– Introduction – Marketing in Manufacturing Today: Key trends – Review of 2011 Marketing Effectiveness Research – Your Brand: A Company’s Most Important Asset– Execution of a Strategic Marketing Program
• Today’s new fundamentals– Website/online– Lead nurturing and content marketing– Employee engagement
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• About Trefoil Group– Full service strategic marketing communications firm
• Business/strategic counselors • Solid understanding of both traditional and new mediums• Experience in attracting both customers and talent
– B2B with 20 years of experience in manufacturing• Niche focus in plastics – Clients have included material
suppliers, toolmakers, equipment manufacturers, processors and related associations
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Our Three Critical Success Factorso Partner with business leaders to align communications with
vision, objectives and strategies driving the businesso Create meaningful differentiation through brand-based
communications, grounded in research o Integrate communications to reach target audiences
wherever they are – with information they care about
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
Marketing in Manufacturing Today: Key Trends
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Marketing in Manufacturing Today– New opportunities. New technologies. New tools.– Expanded focus
• From lead generation to lead nurturing• Attracting talent as well as customers
– Today’s new B2B customer is armed with information and sometimes knows more than you do!
– Marketing savvy, yet inferior competitors can beat you more easily than ever before
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Key Findings: 2011 Marketing Effectiveness (Research conducted in partnership with Plastics News)
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
52.90%
24.20%– A significant shift: companies
are investing more in marketing than in sales
– Feet on the street no longer enough:
• 50% report sales are reaching less than 50% of their targets
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Key Findings: 2011 Marketing Effectiveness – 72% claim unique niche expertise (in what they do or
how they do it), but don’t communicate this well
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
Sales c
onversa
tions
Internal c
ommunications
Websit
e/onlin
e prese
nce
Marke
ting materia
ls
44.10% 35.90%23.50% 28.80%
22.90%20.30%
10.10% 5.60%
Above Average Excellent
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Key Findings: 2011 Marketing Effectiveness – 75% say recruitment is critical to success, but don’t
know how to reach younger audiences
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
71.60%59.80%
48.10%39.60%
40.50%31.70%
20.60%18.70%
Felt the following are impor-tant/very important to future success
Ranked themselves as very good or excellent at the fol-lowing
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• What This Means to Us As Marketers– The risk: Companies are increasing investments, but
not necessarily ROI• Creates ongoing dissatisfaction with marketing• If you’re not connecting what you’re doing to the goals of the
business, you are part of the problem and not the solution
– The opportunity: To connect marketing to the goals and objectives of the business, creating measurable ROI.
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• The More Specific Opportunity: – Be strategic in aligning marketing with sales strategies– Move the needle from lead generation to lead nurturing – Create meaningful differentiation that speaks to both customers
and recruits– Own the leadership position where you can– Integrate programs to include face-to-face, digital, PR and social
media– Equip your employees to be brand ambassadors in your
marketplace and your communities
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Bottom-line Opportunity – Create metrics to measure the true success of your
program• Business goals, not open rates or click-throughs
– Demand a return on your program• New opportunities to show ROI through targeted sales
augmentation • If marketing is an investment, not an expense, than we as
marketers need to prove it.
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
Your Brand: A Company’s Most Important Asset
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• The brand is a company’s most important, yet most overlooked asset– As important in B2B as it is in B2C– Crucial in both customer and talent acquisition
• Your brand is what you want people to think about you
Your Company = X
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Common Branding Pitfalls– Basing your brand on the category you’re in
• Leading Plastics Injection Molders• Thermoforming Experts
– Staking your claim to entry level attributes• Solutions Provider• Meeting or exceeding customer expectations
– Relying on internal perceptions of your value– Mimicking what your competitors do and say
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Good Brands:– Establish relevance, personality and connect
emotionally – Specify the company's value proposition– Change the conversation– Reposition the competition as followers– Drive perceptions externally and the culture internally– Differentiate the company for a competitive advantage
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Strong Brands Produce ROI By:– Sustaining differentiation in a crowded marketplace– Supporting premium pricing/guarding against price-
based competition– Accelerating entry into new markets– Recruiting and retaining top talent– Increasing enterprise value
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Discover Your Brand – Answer key questions:
• What do you do better than anyone else? • How does this align with what your target audiences care
about today and in the future?
– Conduct research – Information today is easy & fast• Internal interviews with leadership, sales and others• Company-wide on-line surveys• External research with customers, suppliers, industry experts
– Face-to-face, telephone, focus groups, on-line
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Discover Your Brand– Look at your competitors
• Your value is a relative assessment against the value I can get somewhere else
– Be different. Not the same.• Understand what your competitors are saying and determine
the opportunity to say something better• Remember, if everything else is equal, all that’s left is price
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Bring Your Brand to Life – Maintain consistency throughout all communications
• Core narrative, communication keys to launch and cap conversations
• Align messaging with audience needs and concerns
– Be creative• Reach the consumer that’s in all of us• Make it compelling. Make it memorable. Make it relevant.
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Bring Your Brand to Life:
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
Designing & Implementing a Strategic Program
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Key elements of a strategic marketing communications plan:– Goals, strategies, key action items and metrics– Timeline, budget and responsibility – Integration across all platforms and technologies– Audience-specific messaging in the context of your
overall brand promise– Integrate new thinking into your plan without
abandoning what’s already working
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
The New Fundamentals:• Your Website: The #1 B2B Marketing Tool
• Create your website as a marketing portal– Hub for both outbound and inbound marketing– Make it engaging and easy to navigate– Optimize your site for easy search engine discovery– Use on-line newsrooms to build awareness and leadership
reputation– Use microsites and landing pages to reach specific target
audiences with audience-specific messaging and to increase quality content for search engines to index
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
The New Fundamentals:• Create a robust online presence:
– Customers are now their own gatekeepers• Active users of websites, social networks, search engines,
product/company reviews, news venues, industry bloggers
– Create profiles and become active in the social networks that make sense for you
– Ensure you have a clear, consistent and compelling brand across all channels
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
The New Fundamentals:• Make marketing communications your
supplemental sales force– Deepen relationships, keep prospects warm, free your
sales team to focus on more productive prospect engagement.
– Use tools to help navigate this new buying cycle• Lead nurturing software• Content development and marketing process
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Embrace Lead Nurturing & Content Marketing – Integrate a CRM system and/or marketing automation
software to manage this lead nurturing process– Reach prospects with customized messaging or offers– Learn about and embrace online, social behaviors
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Content Marketing– Nurtures prospects until they are qualified, educated
and ready-to-buy, then pass to saleso Maximizes marketing investment while controlling cost of
sale– Content marketing samples:
o Company blog - provides current insights and informationo E-communications vehicles, e-newsletterso White papers and primary researcho Video content
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Content Marketing
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Equip Your Employees to Be Ambassadors– Provide consistent messaging that they can take to
the marketplace• Hold the promise of your brand • Viral channels, social media, word-of-mouth • Produce social media policies
– Distribute internal communications • E-newsletter• Internal social network (i.e. Chatter)
– Reward and recognize top performers
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski
SPI’S BUSINESS OF PLASTICS CONFERENCE
• Questions?
Sponsored by: Trefoil Group Presented by: Mary Scheibel Presented by: Mary Scheibel & Christy Domanoski