This document summarizes a webinar about creating customer-centric messaging for optimal lead generation. The webinar was presented by Jen Doyle and Stonie Clark of MarketingSherpa and discussed building foundations for lead generation programs, identifying buyer personas, a MarketingSherpa case study on an integrated content marketing campaign, and developing valuable content. The webinar provided strategies to help marketers overcome challenges in lead generation.
2. Introductions
• Jen Doyle, Senior Research Manager, MarketingSherpa
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenldoyle
Jen.Doyle@MECLABS.com
• Stonie Clark, Research Associate, MarketingSherpa
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stonie-clark/33/567/ab1
Stonie.Clark@MECLABS.com
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3. Join the conversation
#SherpaWebinar
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4. MarketingSherpa is a research and publishing
organization serving the marketing community
• MarketingSherpa’s annual
research cycle provides
knowledge for continuous
marketing improvement
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5. Today’s agenda
• Introduction / background for the FUEL methodology
• Building the foundation for your lead generation programs
• Identifying buyer personas to improve relevance and engagement
• MarketingSherpa case study: Combining Email, Search, Social and PR for
a Content Marketing Campaign
• Key strategies for developing valuable, in demand content
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6. Research Background
• We surveyed over 3,000 marketers focused
on lead generation to uncover:
• Top challenges
• Best marketing tactics
• Lead scoring, nurturing and management
• Content strategies
• Marketing automation
• Marketing analysis
• Marketing operations and metrics
• Result of this research – MarketingSherpa’s FUEL methodology to power
marketing effectiveness from lead generation to sales conversion
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8. Live Poll
• What is your top b2b marketing challenge?
• Generating high-quality leads
• Generating a high volume of leads
• Generating high perceived value of products
• Lead gen across multimedia
• Generating PR “buzz”
• Marketing to a extended sales cycle
• Marketing to an increased # of people in buying process
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10. What has caused these challenges?
There are internal and external influencers
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11. B2B Marketers are Resistant to Change
Our research indicates the
industry is resistant to the
changes happening in the
marketplace, and the resulting
new best practices that are vital
to success.
So, are you resistant to
change? Let me ask you
a few questions…
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15. How can we combat these new challenges?
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16. FUEL Up…….. and Drive Effectiveness
Find and attract Uncover qualified Establish automated
Lift results
leads leads marketing processes
Building a
Bridging the gap How to select
foundation for your Lead generation
between Marketing marketing
lead generation analysis
and Sales automation software
programs
Marketing
Identifying the
Mastering essential automation
Marketing-Sales Automation analysis
lead generation implementation and
funnel
upkeep
How to select your Identifying and
Metrics that matter
lead generation mix qualifying leads
Delivering marketing
Harvesting high value to the C-Suite
quality leads & marketing
leadership
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17. BUILDING THE FOUNDATION FOR YOUR
LEAD GENERATION PROGRAMS
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18. Who are you Targeting? Identifying Buyer
Personas
• Why do we need buyer personas?
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19. Who are you Targeting? Identifying Buyer
Personas
• What is a buyer persona?
A detailed profile that represents an
actual, real-life group of your target
audience. It includes common interests,
motivators and expectations, as well as
demographic and other behavioral
characteristics.
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20. Who are you Targeting? Identifying Buyer
Personas
• Isn’t that the same as a target market?
A target market is a profile typically based
on demographics, such as location, company
size, annual revenue, etc. Buyer personas are
more in-depth profiles that include
behavioral characteristics.
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22. Key Buyer Persona Traits
Demographic traits Behaviors
• Job title & responsibilities • Key concerns for purchase
• Organization size / • Interests
department size • Motivation
• Primary market • Expectations
(B2B, B2C, B2B2C) • Decision-making authority
• Industry • Approvals needed for purchase
• Location • Urgency
• Budget • Goals
• Familiarity with product / service
• Pain points & challenges
• Validation needed for purchase
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23. Exercise: Initial Perceptions of Buyer Personas
Initial thoughts and perceptions of buyer personas
Ideal customer Worst customer
Additional persona Additional persona
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24. Researching Buyer Personas - Qualitative
• Step 1 – Ask customer-facing departments
• Ask Sales about prospect motivations, barriers, objections, etc.
• Ask Customer Service about customer expectations, problems, concerns, etc.
• Be sure to ask who your best and worst prospects and customers are and why.
• Step 2 – Ask prospects
• Ask prospects about motivators, challenges, barriers, etc.
• Interview best and worst prospects
• Step 3 – Ask customers
• Ask customers about motivators, challenges, barriers, etc.
• Interview best and worst customers
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25. Researching Buyer Personas - Quantitative
• Step 4 - Mine in-house database
• What to look for
• Common traits for ideal customers
• Large deal sizes, short
timeframes to
purchase, most repeat
purchases, etc.
• Common traits for undesirable
customers
• Returns or refunds, smallest
deal sizes, longest
timeframes to purchase
• What’s the difference?
TIP: DOCUMENT YOUR RESEARCH
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26. Sample buyer personas
Ideal customer - The B2C retailer with ample resources
in house, seeking a comprehensive platform to deploy
promotional emails to a large list of over 100,000
contacts. They tend to have a solution in place but are
seeking a more in-depth product. Their organization has
over 500 employees. This buyer “gets it” and has a clear
understanding and value for the benefits of the product.
This buyer has ample resources both financial and
departmental.
Worst customer - The small business owner with limited marketing resources
and experience. This buyer thinks email marketing should be inexpensive and
they want to deploy messages to a list with fewer than 10,000 subscribers.
This buyer is relatively unfamiliar with the benefits of the product over their
current free email system.
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27. Plotting the Buyer Persona Quadrant
Additional persona Ideal customer
The B2B2C marketer who is fairly educated with the benefits of The B2C retailer with ample resources in house, seeking a
the product. They often have a solution in-house that they are comprehensive platform to deploy promotional emails to a large
unhappy with. This buyer has a medium to large sized house list list of over 100,000 contacts. They tend to have a solution in
of 30,000 to 100,000 subscribers. place but are seeking a more in-depth product. Their
organization has over 500 employees. This buyer “gets it” and
has a clear understanding and value for the benefits of the
product. This buyer has ample resources both financial and
Potential departmental.
deal size
Worst customer Additional persona
The small business owner with limited Marketing resources and The B2B marketer with limited resources in house, seeking a cost
experience. This buyer thinks email marketing should be effective, user-friendly system to deploy monthly newsletters
inexpensive and they want to deploy messages to a list with and promotions. This buyer has a clear understanding of the
fewer than 10,000 subscribers. This buyer is relatively unfamiliar benefits and hopes to make a quick purchasing decision. They
with the benefits of the product over their current free email may say they “needed a solution yesterday.” Their organization
system. has less than 100 employees.
Education / understanding of key benefits
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28. MARKETINGSHERPA CASE STUDY: COMBINING
EMAIL, SEARCH, SOCIAL AND PR FOR A CONTENT
MARKETING CAMPAIGN
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29. Case Study: Combining Email, Search, Social and
PR for a Content Marketing Campaign
• Suitcase.com, online luggage
retailer
• Used existing marketing channels
and content to attract a relevant
audience to drive blog traffic
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30. Campaign Goals
• Suitcase.com wanted to drive
more blog traffic to:
• Establish thought leadership
and authority
• Educate customers on product
selection
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31. Campaign Tactic – Research Topics
• The team built an online survey to gather prospect insight on how they
have been affected by the changes in airline regulations including:
• “Has the increase in airline baggage fees caused you to do any of the
following?”
Pack lighter, Check fewer bags, Consider related features, None of
the above
• “Which of the following factors have the greatest influence on your
baggage purchase?”
Weight, Size and dimensions, Warranties, Features /
functionality, Price, Style, Other
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32. Campaign Tactic – Research topics
• The team looked at search
volumes for industry specific
keywords
• Identified trends in new travel
restrictions and baggage fees:
• “baggage restrictions”
• “travel bags”
• Competitive research
• Monitored competitor
press mentions and
websites for content
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33. Campaign Tactic – Research Topics
• The team distributed the survey
via an email blast
• The selected a relevant database
for the send
"We wanted to make sure the people
we sent it to were interested in
luggage...and not someone who just
liked to fill out surveys"
• They included an incentive to
boost responses
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34. Campaign Tactic – Develop & Distribute Content
• A nine-page report was developed
based on the study results
• The report included:
• Cover, TOC, Executive
Summary, Stats and charts,
Analysis, and company
descriptions
• Content was highly relevant to
audience and light on self-
promotion
• The team made this report
available through a .pdf download
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35. Campaign Tactic – Develop & Distribute Content
• The team distributed a well-
optimized press release and
reached out to key bloggers
and publications
• Pitches were done individually
with tailored messages
• They received further
distribution through partners
with strong social media
presence
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36. Campaign Results
• Blog traffic increased 518% YOY
• The report was picked up by
numerous media outlets, and a
number of third-party blog posts
were generated
• The report’s landing page was the
top-performing landing page of
their site – with a 16% lower
bounce rate than the site’s
average
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37. KEY STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING VALUABLE, IN
DEMAND CONTENT
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38. Delivering the Message with High Quality Content
Repurposing and
reformatting 64%
• Best practices in
existing content developing marketing
Encouraging
content
customers to
53%
submit testimonials
and case studies
• Repurposing and
Recruiting authors
internally from 48%
reformatting existing
other departments content
Outsourcing to a
• Recruiting authors
consultant or 27%
agency
internally from other
Utilizing social
media to encourage
20%
departments
brand advocates to
produce content
Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded Aug 2010, N=935
• Outsourcing to an agency
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39. The New Rules of Content Development
Step #1 – Research
• What subject matter is going to be both interesting and valuable to our audience?
• What topics does our audience want to learn about?
• Are there any opportunities for us to fill a void?
• What language do they use in their discussions
related to our product or service?
• What formats do they prefer?
• Articles
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Images
• Etc.
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40. Thorough research leads to engaging content
Start by developing a list of targeted key terms including:
• Products
• Services
• Industry sectors
• Technologies
• Competitors
• Brands
• Key issues
• Industry experts
• Key employees
• Recent press releases
• Key needs and concerns of your audience
Where can we find this information?
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41. Balance research with innovation for optimal
content development
“If I had asked what my customers wanted,
I would have made a faster horse.”
- Henry Ford
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42. The New Rules of Content Development -
Personalize
• The personalization of
We regularly personalize the
messaging of our marketing 40% marketing materials
materials
• The vast majority of B2B
We tend to personalize messaging
from time to time, but not on a 41% organizations are using
regular basis
some level of
personalization
We don’t personalize any of our
19%
marketing materials
• Why?
Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded Aug 2010, N=935
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43. You can’t make the grade without a good test
• In Marketing, we’re constantly testing lead generation campaigns, landing pages, calls-to-
action, etc.
• Things to test:
• Subject matter
• Format
• Style (Formal? Informal?)
• Length
• Readability
• Timing of distribution
• Subject lines / titles
• Calls-to-action
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44. Exercise: Taking Inventory
Existing content for reformatting and repurposing
1. 9.
2. 10.
3. 11.
4. 12.
5. 13.
6. 14.
7. 15.
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45. Home Grown Content VS 3rd Party
Home Grown 3rd Party
√ Inexpensive Often expensive X
√ Specific Broad X
√ Controlled Uncontrolled X
√ Can be pulled down There forever X
√ Technically accurate Can be inaccurate X
X Lower value to reader High perceived value √
X “Sales job” Endorsement √
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46. WRAP-UP & KEY TAKEAWAYS
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47. Summary: FUEL B2B Marketing Effectiveness
Find and attract Uncover qualified Establish automated
Lift results
leads leads marketing processes
Building a
Bridging the gap How to select
foundation for your Lead generation
between Marketing marketing
lead generation analysis
and Sales automation software
programs
Marketing
Identifying the
Mastering essential automation
Marketing-Sales Automation analysis
lead generation implementation and
funnel
upkeep
How to select your Identifying and
Metrics that matter
lead generation mix qualifying leads
Delivering marketing
Harvesting high value to the C-Suite
quality leads & marketing
leadership
$100 Off the Full 2012 Lead Gen Benchmark Report
Meclabs.com/100-acton Discount code: 305-BM-4008
48. Marketing Automation for the Fortune 5 Million
Marketing Automation for the Fortune 5 Million
World-Class E-mail Complete Set of Tools Approach & Terms
Marketing Core & on One Platform that Work
Deliverability • Drip/Nurturing, Web • Start Simple, Automate at
Analytics, Landing Pages, Your Own Pace
• Third-Generation Email Forms, Scoring, CRM
Marketing Platform Integration, Social Media, • Affordable Pricing; Month-
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49. $100 Off the Full 2012 Lead Gen Benchmark Report
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50. Thank You!
• Jen Doyle, Senior Research Manager, MarketingSherpa
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenldoyle
Jen.Doyle@MECLABS.com
• Stonie Clark, Research Associate, MarketingSherpa
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stonie-clark/33/567/ab1
Stonie.Clark@MECLABS.com
$100 Off the Full 2012 Lead Gen Benchmark Report
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Notas do Editor
Everyone should have a copy of the handbook – worksheets Certification at the end of the day – Q & A at the end of each section– EvaluationsInteractive session
Lead author - My expectation is that you will all leave here today with a revolutionized B2B Marketing plan that will generate highly qualified leads for your organizations, accelerate sales pipeline performance, and maximize Marketing’s impact on revenues. Kaci can share her expectations
Q. Which of the following marketing challenges are currently most pertinent to your organization?How many can relate to this challenge?
What has caused intensified challenges, expectations and demands of the B2B marketer?
How do we combat these challenges?By revolutionizing your B2B marketing approach, you will play an integral role in the overall success of your business. To achieve success, it is necessary to become more sophisticated than ever before with your marketing practices. You must elevate Marketing’s efficiency in all stages of the buying process, from lead generation to sales conversion.
In today’s market, it is essential for all marketing communications to be focused on the buyer, not the organization. Buyers do not want to be addressed as a mass audience, but as individuals with unique needs, concerns, interests and values. A traditional, one-size-fits-all approach will not be effective. By establishing buyer personas, organizations are enabled to deliver unique content to various personas that will attract and nurture new and existing leads.
How many of you feel like you have an idea of who your buyer personas are?
Now that you know what to look for, you may be wondering how to get this information. Your organization may have an idea of the key traits of your various buyer personas, but those ideas must be validated by true insights and data. To get started, use the worksheet below to record any perceptions or ideas that your organization has of your buyer’s traits and behaviors. Record anything that you have heard internally about your buyer’s key motivations, concerns, goals, expectations, etc.
If you have alignment issues with your Sales department, conducting preliminary interviews with key salespeople to help identify your organization’s buyer personas can be an effective first step in bridging the gap.
Why are we identifying our worst customers? You want to learn how to attract more of the customers you want for your organization, and detract any that you don’t want. Bad customers can be very damaging to your reputation, especially now since they can be heard through social media. The decision is up to you – your organization may still find that it’s effective to generate some revenue from their worst customers, however in most cases, attracting your ideal customers will result in maximum revenues and success.
We’re going to shift gears a little bit and talk about how you can improve you lead generation with content marketing. This case study is entitled: “Combining, Email, Social and PR for a Content Marketing Campaign”
Now, the study is about how suitcase.com, an online luggage retailer, used existing marketing channels and content to attract a relevant audience and drive blog traffic.
The marketing team at suitcase.com wanted to drive more traffic to the company blog in order to(A) help establish thought leadership and authority for their brandand (B) educate customers on product selection. However, the team didn’t want to spend more money on advertising…. Instead they decided to take advantage of existing marketing channels and assets that weren’t being used to their full potential.
The team also asked which suitcase features -- such as wheels or exterior pockets -- were most important in respondents' purchasing decisions. By compiling the answers to these questions, the team created a report to establish its authority on luggage and attract press articles about the change in travelers' behavior. This report would be the asset to ultimately drive traffic to Suitcase.com’s blog.
So, the team came up with a multichannel campaign that combined insights from search marketing and the reach of public relations, email and social media…They began research for the campaign by looking at search volumes for industry specific keywords…And doing this, they discovered several trends in suitcase-related searches:For one, they saw that a lot of people were looking up terms like “baggage restrictions” and “travel bags.”The popular search terms suggested that people were frustrated with airport luggage restrictions and searching for more information on the topic.Realizing this could be a great point to report on, they began to search competitor sites for similar content. Fortunately, they found that noone else had really addressed these issues and decided to go through with research on the topic.
The team built a survey addressing each of the areas they found during their preliminary research. They then sent out the survey to their house list. Now, these were individuals who were already interested in luggage, so they made great subjects for the study.As CEO John Ebb told us, the team “wanted to make sure the people they sent the survey to were already interested in luggage...and not just people who liked to fill out surveys.“As incentive for the survey, they offered respondents an opportunity to win a free dinner for two.
Once the survey closed, the team compiled its results in a nine-page report that included:-ACover page-Table of contents- An Executive summary with methodology and key findings-Colorfulcharts and statistics-Analyses and quotes from the team -And descriptions of each company involvedThe team created journalist-friendly content by focusing on the data and analyses rather than self-promotion.
Instead, they strove to increase search visibility by attracting press mentions and external links.The key here is to pitch the idea to your partners in a context that's relevant to their audiences. So for instance, the team couldn’t have asked its PR agency to blog about the travel report's findings alone -- the subject would have been pretty irrelevant. In this case, the team asked the agencies to focus on its PR and content strategy, which applied to their audiences.They achieved additional visibility by distributing through partners with strong social media presence.
According to Ebb, the campaign was a huge success:-Blog traffic increased 518%, compared to the same period the previous year-The report generated numerous third-party blog posts and press mentionsAdditionally:-The report’s landing page had a 16% lower bounce rate than the site’s average
Search engines and social media sites can serve as excellent tools in conducting this research. By analyzing keyword search volumes and trends, as well as monitoring behaviors of your audience on social media sites, your will be able to identify answers to all of the questions above.Once you have a list of keywords that are relevant to you company and audience, you can start monitoring conversations that are happening on social media sites on those topics and conducting keyword research.There are a vast number of online tools available to assist with the monitoring process, both free and paid.
You will use the research you have conducted to determine subject matter, format, etc., but you also need to leave some room for innovation. After all, not all buyers always know exactly what they want, right? There is a famous quote from Henry Ford that states:We don’t want you to be afraid to get creative with your content development, and the best practice is to balance this creativity with key insights you have learned from your research. For example, if Henry Ford’s customers asked him for a faster horse, the fact that they desired to get to where they wanted to go faster may have helped him with his innovation. Your content needs to be centered on your audience, but only you understand your company’s goals and value proposition. You’re going to need to balance what your audience wants with your innovations and what you need to communicate.
By balancing research with innovation, and using personalization when possible, you will be able to develop effective content for your audience. You will find that some content formats and subjects will be more effective than others. In marketing, you’re constantly testing the effectiveness of your lead generation campaigns, and your content should be no different.
Act-On has made it extremly easy – removing the complexity to Marketing AutomationStarting with word class EMAIL – then we give a rich set of tools - all in a single platformThis combination has proven to be very successful in giving back time to the marketer to focus on Increasing Revenue. Next step.
Lead author - My expectation is that you will all leave here today with a revolutionized B2B Marketing plan that will generate highly qualified leads for your organizations, accelerate sales pipeline performance, and maximize Marketing’s impact on revenues. Kaci can share her expectations