The subject of Content Marketing is getting a lot of discussion - and for good reason. The messages companies send out to the marketplace take a lot of time and expense and few are realizing acceptable returns. A recent study shows that most marketing messages are void of relevant content. Many messages still have content about products and services the company offers rather than having content that helps their prospects or customers make informed decisions. The problem of poor messaging will only get worse as we all get busier and as marketing channels allow the recipient to “self-select” what they are interested in. It’s more critical than ever to create relevant content that is appropriate at various stages of either the customers buying cycle or their life-cycle. Scott Maxwell, Senior Director or OpenView Venture Partners recently was quoted by B2B magazine: “I think it is the single most important thing as a marketer that you can do - develop relevant, valuable content for your target segment(s).”
This is even more critical in the context of lead management and customer nurturing programs, which are becoming more sought after as viable methods to increase the productivity of customer acquisition and retention. The message sequences within these programs must model the customers buying cycle and reflect content that is appropriate at each stage. This is not easy, but, it is critical - and there’s help. I recently came upon the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). It is a relatively new resource that is designed to help companies develop compelling, relevant content. If you have not yet visited this site, you’ll find it quite interesting. As a company that focuses on Demand Generation processes, we know first hand the difficulty our customers have with developing good marketing messages. Fortunately, there are resources coming to market that offer help. CMI is just one. I’d be very interested in other resources that are available.
Life used to be so easy. But, as they say, change is the one constant. The marketing world, too, continues to evolve. It use to be easy to promote your business. You basically had radio, TV and print options. Even the web has changed… Web 2.0 is creating a completely new culture - world wide! Folks no longer rely on (much less trust) traditional news sources; they are making a major shift to get information of all types on their computers and on their smart phones. Just as I’m writing on this blog, millions of people are doing the same or engaging in some form of online activity. I know in my circles (middle-age) many are scratching their heads about social media - they are, I’ll say, intimidated. Some feel it’s a fad, some are diving in and others are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what develops. Well, in my opinion, it aint goin’ away - it’s not a fad. The technology today will, of course, evolve, but, the new culture of how people communicate and the new online communities that are being created will continue to grow and mature.
What’s most interesting tot me is how marketing now has to be interactive. It can no longer be an “outbound” set of tactics. It’s now a mix of outbound and inbound marketing tactics. In fact, I believe inbound marketing is where businesses must focus serious attention. Hubspot is an excellent source for information and on inbound marketing - in fact, they have an Inbound Marketing University!
If a business does not get “in the path” of the communications, doesn’t participate online, they will be invisible. Best practices today involve putting information online, driving people to it using traditional (outbound) tactics, attracting people already online, creating interest and dialogue. When this occurs, and assuming the information is valuable or interesting, the business will be sought after - creating an inbound flow of traffic. This is why Google places so much emphasis on the value of external links - the more referring links a site has, the more implication the site truly is a credible resource. Once a business gets inbound, then the follow up and ongoing engagement becomes key. But, this is a subject for another post (and prior posts). I’ll end this with a question: what is your inbound marketing strategy?
Over the last few years, technology has brought us new tools to use for improving sales & marketing activities. One in particular is Marketing Automation (MA for short). MA helps companies implement repeatable processes associated with nurturing leads of prospective and existing customers. This new technology has given birth to a new process termed “Demand Generation”. A recent white paper I read defined Demand Generation as: ‘The process of creating and nurturing interest (generating demand) in the products and services that your company offers”. A simple Google search for the term Demand Generation yields over 25 million hits! I’d say this is getting some press. What’s intriguing is how radical technology has changed the way people behave. The online world has nearly removed the sales person from much of the sales cycle - information that was obtained in the past can be found online in excess. This reality is forcing businesses to relook at their business development processes and the role of their sales people. Best in Class companies have adapted Demand Generation as a key part of their go-to-market strategy. The are using interactive websites, content specific landing pages, auto-responders, social media, sophisticated databases and educational content to attract, nurture and stay in front of prospects and customers. Marketing is no longer an outbound activity (sending stuff out - email, direct mail, advertising, etc.), it is moving to an inbound model (people searching for information and finding resources). In order to manage interest and the flow of information efficiently, a company will need to have consistent, repeatable processes. The challenge with implementing demand generation processes is creating the infrastructure, work flow and content. New tools, skills and resources will be needed.
How is your company adapting to the “new buyer” paradigm? What changes are you making to ensure you gain the most from your opportunities? I’ve developed an audit to help companies determine how well they are using their sales & marketing resources. You can access this audit by following this link. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Wouldn’t be nice if sales and marketing activities were aligned? Some may ask, what does “alignment” mean? Well, it means that both sales people and marketing resources are working together to identify potential customers, set qualification criteria, convert them to customers and then continue to work together to ensure the customer experience is maintained and maximized for the life of the customer. Their individual incentives may even be the same. Unfortunately, many organizations still have traditional expectations for these two groups - Marketing is responsible to get the word out, develop brochures, run ads and trade shows, keep the website current and primarily generate leads for salespeople. Sales people are then expected to take the leads, diligently follow up, convert them to customers and then maintain the relationship, exclusively, for life. Sound familiar? If so, then you may have also heard “the leads marketing gives us are no good”, or, “the leads we gave to sales are not being followed up on”. In addition, few companies have formal systems or processes to align sales and marketing activities - less than half according to a 2008 survey by the CMO Council.
Much can be gained by aligning sales and marketing. A cooperative effort will produce better results. Best practices today place the burden of generating qualified leads on marketing. But, for them to be successful, they need input from the sales team as to what constitutes “qualified”. The reality is that most leads generated by marketing efforts are not qualified - they are in a unknown state and should be nurtured through a qualification process. Not by a sales person, but, with tools and processes that are enabled by technology.
Now, once a qualified lead is passed to sales, the probability of converting that lead into a customer is much greater. But, marketing’s role is not complete. Again, best practices today will have marketing continue to work in support of the sales team by helping maintain direct and consistent communications with the new customer. Basically, marketing and sales work together throughout the entire life-cycle of the customer.
Diluting sales people with unqualified leads can be very expensive. And, the time wasted is at the expense of existing customers. Aligning your resources can offer huge benefits. There’s a ton of articles, white papers and new technology all built around the concept of sales and marketing alignment. In summary, here are six tips you can use:
Get buy-in across your teams and from management.
Layout a process that shows where sales and marketing functions align, intersect and support each other.
Establish common definitions for leads to include the criteria that will be used to consider a lead qualified.
Collaborate on strategies and messages that are to be used at various stages of the sales cycle, and beyond.
Build a system that will show the progression of leads and provide insight as to what prospects and customers respond to.
Establish key measurements to gauge success.
The old adage: “together we stand, divided we fall” seems appropriate. My advice to is examine your current process to see if you can achieve more efficiency and gain more opportunities through better alignment of your business development efforts . As always, I welcome any comments or thoughts.
I was reading an article the other day about clutter, both online and offline. There’s so much demand for our attention today, the art and science of capturing that attention is getting very sophisticated. The article addressed the topic of offers and how critical it is in Demand Generation to get them right - to get the prospect to take action. I personally feel there are degrees of offers. Specifically, high risk offers and low risk offers. A high risk offer would be one that does not match or align the need of the prospect to the interest of the seller. For example, having an offer that invites the prospect to talk with a salesperson to early in the buying cycle. With today’s access to information online, buyers now engage with sellers later in the buying cycle. So, in this example, engaging with a seller too early in the buying cycle will likely create anxiety. Just as you’re greeted in a retail store and say “no thanks, just looking”. A low risk offer is the opposite. It creates a comfortable way to move a prospect though a buying stage. This is very important to master in order to maximize conversion rates - at each step of the buying cycle.
This brought me to another thought - virtual negotiations. In reality, as we compete for mind share, we are in a sense negotiating. Our offer is accepted or it isn’t - just as in any negotiation. And, negotiations represent a series of back and forth offers - not a one time take it or leave it offer. So, perhaps it may be a better mind set for marketers to think of offers in terms of steps in a negotiation, designed to move a prospect, over time, closer to their desired outcome. And, these offers must be appealing in terms of all options visible (not necessarily all available) to the prospect. For me, thinking of offers (and all aspects of the message or campaign) helps to orient my thoughts more in terms of the prospect.
Does this virtual negotiation concept make sense? I’d be interested in your thoughts…
