Over the last 2 years I have noticed a significant decrease in the measurable results marketers are seeing in their emails. Open rates have trailed off, and click through rates have also declined. Of course, to produce the same or more leads, most marketers are just sending more email but not addressing the underlying issues. There are several reasons why email isn't effective any more:
1. The rise of social media and a new generation. Today's under 25 crowd uses Text and IM long before they use email; they get information more organically - Twitter, Facebook, Chat; information is more interactive and conversation based. As my friend Aaron Kahlow likes to say - email is like the telegraph and social media is the telephone; how do you think your firm can have a more meaningful conversation?
2. List quality and permission; the average list turns over 25% per year and very few organizations have routing data cleansing and enrichment programs in place. Additionally, the majority of marketers still use an opt-out strategy vs. opt-in or double opt-in. The end result is that marketers have huge lists that are inaccurate, not segmented, and not built on permission. This leads to poor return on investment.
3. Noise and Filters; the average executive today receives over 150 emails per day. In addition to ISP and corporate spam filters, many executives have additional filters on their inbox and they also engage in polite 'unsubscribe' - meaning they just delete your email upon receipt instead of actually unsubscribing. The result - your emails are getting lost in a sea of noise and screening mechanisms. Instead of trying to figure out how to differentiate, marketers just send more hoping that will cure the problem.
Email can still be a viable tool in your arsenal, but to make it more effective, take the following steps:
1. Implement a subscription management system that allows your users to determine what they receive, how they receive it and when they receive it
2. Implement routine data cleansing and enrichment programs. The best marketers constantly refine their lists. It is not the size of your list but the quality.
3. Make your emails more relevant - subject matter and content along with a targeted list will always yield a better result
4. Use multiple channels - don't rely on email only. Use social media and offline tactics to build a demand generation ecosystem
Follow the above steps and you can start to gain more effectiveness from your email programs.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Lead Generation Strategies - X, Y and Z
Today we finish the alphabet and look at several lead generation strategies that begin with X, Y and Z:
The Letter X
Xpert on Demand
If you are really well known for expertise within your marketplace, why not have an ‘Xpert on Demand’ function on your website. Rotate several people throughout the week and allow visitors to call or chat in real-time with an Industry Expert to have their questions asked. Then, archive the questions, post them to a F.A.Q. section on your website, and add this content to a RSS feed. Now your expertise will be heard around the world!
The Letter Y
YouTube
Taking the planet by storm, YouTube has become the ultimate way for users to express themselves and for creative marketers to reach a broader audience. Simple humorous videos or stories under 5 minutes in length work well. Strike the right chord and you can reach hundreds of thousands of people very quickly. Finish the video with a simple URL that directs people back to a dedicated landing page. If you are short on resources, consider working with a local college or university drama department. They will get a real-world experience and do the job for free and your company gains the benefit.
The Letter Z
Zero in on active prospects and customers
Leverage the power of cookies and page tagging to monitor the individual patterns of visitors on your website. Develop profiles based on activity levels, navigation patterns, and content downloads. This will allow you to segment your list better and offer more personalized relevant content that will convert your leads at a higher rate.
The Letter X
Xpert on Demand
If you are really well known for expertise within your marketplace, why not have an ‘Xpert on Demand’ function on your website. Rotate several people throughout the week and allow visitors to call or chat in real-time with an Industry Expert to have their questions asked. Then, archive the questions, post them to a F.A.Q. section on your website, and add this content to a RSS feed. Now your expertise will be heard around the world!
The Letter Y
YouTube
Taking the planet by storm, YouTube has become the ultimate way for users to express themselves and for creative marketers to reach a broader audience. Simple humorous videos or stories under 5 minutes in length work well. Strike the right chord and you can reach hundreds of thousands of people very quickly. Finish the video with a simple URL that directs people back to a dedicated landing page. If you are short on resources, consider working with a local college or university drama department. They will get a real-world experience and do the job for free and your company gains the benefit.
The Letter Z
Zero in on active prospects and customers
Leverage the power of cookies and page tagging to monitor the individual patterns of visitors on your website. Develop profiles based on activity levels, navigation patterns, and content downloads. This will allow you to segment your list better and offer more personalized relevant content that will convert your leads at a higher rate.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Lead Generation Strategies That Start With "W"
Today we look at several lead generation strategies that start with "W":
Website
What better way to drive leads then by leveraging the power of your website? This is your most important asset, bar none. Your site should be fully optimized, highly interactive, and post fresh content on a regular basis. Knowledge Centers, games, podcast series, online testimonials, video and audio – all should be elements incorporated into your site. Ensure that every page has a strong call to action and that your forms link directly to a marketing automation system and can notify sales reps in real-time when online valuable behavior is occurring. Top off your website with good chat functionality and reach your visitors in more ways than ever before.
Webinars
Webinars are still a preferred method of B2B marketers for driving demand. Interview formats and guest speakers are two of the better ways to showcase good content and drive visitors. Make your webinars more effective by automating the pre-event marketing and post-event follow-up. This will allow you to scale and host more events on a go forward basis.
White Papers
Especially useful for early stages of the buy cycle, white papers can explore relevant industry topics in-depth. White Papers help position your company as Thought Leaders. Make sure that the paper is really a good examination of a business problem, not an extended brochure that promotes your specific product or service. Scheduling a new white paper for every quarter will keep your company’s image fresh and ensure you are taking a Thought Leadership position in the marketplace.
Website
What better way to drive leads then by leveraging the power of your website? This is your most important asset, bar none. Your site should be fully optimized, highly interactive, and post fresh content on a regular basis. Knowledge Centers, games, podcast series, online testimonials, video and audio – all should be elements incorporated into your site. Ensure that every page has a strong call to action and that your forms link directly to a marketing automation system and can notify sales reps in real-time when online valuable behavior is occurring. Top off your website with good chat functionality and reach your visitors in more ways than ever before.
Webinars
Webinars are still a preferred method of B2B marketers for driving demand. Interview formats and guest speakers are two of the better ways to showcase good content and drive visitors. Make your webinars more effective by automating the pre-event marketing and post-event follow-up. This will allow you to scale and host more events on a go forward basis.
White Papers
Especially useful for early stages of the buy cycle, white papers can explore relevant industry topics in-depth. White Papers help position your company as Thought Leaders. Make sure that the paper is really a good examination of a business problem, not an extended brochure that promotes your specific product or service. Scheduling a new white paper for every quarter will keep your company’s image fresh and ensure you are taking a Thought Leadership position in the marketplace.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Lead Generation Strategies That Start With "U" and "V"
Today we look at several lead generation strategies that start with "U" and "V":
The Letter U
User Groups
User groups are another effective way to generate more demand for your products and services. You can have different groups for executives, who want to discuss strategy, resourcing, process – and practitioners, who want to discuss product roadmap, how-to, hear case studies, etc. Providing valuable content and giving your user community the opportunity to interact on a regular basis strengthens support for your brand and gives you a chance to highlight other services and products your users may not be aware of.
The Letter V
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing can be a simple video, story, or podcast. It can also be a game, or an immersive experience. Backup Trauma (www.backuptrauma.com) by LiveVault is an excellent example of how to build a compelling experience that takes a humorous approach, while highlighting the strengths of the company. This particular version generated millions of downloads for LiveVault. The key to a successful viral campaign is to tap into the emotional element – make it funny, controversial – something people just have to watch and pass on. A good viral approach can drive more demand than almost anything else on this list.
Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds haven’t been really embraced by B2B marketers yet. They involve using Avatars (representations of you in a character form), having an online experience in an alternative , 3-D virtual world. The most common approach has been game form, where Advertisers design games and experiences that take the visitor through different scenarios while highlighting their brand. Second Life is the best know vendor in this space. If you really have a creative bent and some time on your hands, this is another approach that really leverages the interactive nature of the Internet.
Virtual Tradeshows
Growing in popularity, virtual tradeshows offer visitors the experience of going to a tradeshow without leaving the comfort of their office. They typically support an actual live event. While online, you can check in for sessions, viewing them in webcast form, post questions, visit ‘virtual tradeshow booths’ and network with other online visitors. This is an inexpensive way to reach many people – typically they cost $5000-$20,000 to promote. Consider adding one of these to your arsenal this year.
The Letter U
User Groups
User groups are another effective way to generate more demand for your products and services. You can have different groups for executives, who want to discuss strategy, resourcing, process – and practitioners, who want to discuss product roadmap, how-to, hear case studies, etc. Providing valuable content and giving your user community the opportunity to interact on a regular basis strengthens support for your brand and gives you a chance to highlight other services and products your users may not be aware of.
The Letter V
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing can be a simple video, story, or podcast. It can also be a game, or an immersive experience. Backup Trauma (www.backuptrauma.com) by LiveVault is an excellent example of how to build a compelling experience that takes a humorous approach, while highlighting the strengths of the company. This particular version generated millions of downloads for LiveVault. The key to a successful viral campaign is to tap into the emotional element – make it funny, controversial – something people just have to watch and pass on. A good viral approach can drive more demand than almost anything else on this list.
Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds haven’t been really embraced by B2B marketers yet. They involve using Avatars (representations of you in a character form), having an online experience in an alternative , 3-D virtual world. The most common approach has been game form, where Advertisers design games and experiences that take the visitor through different scenarios while highlighting their brand. Second Life is the best know vendor in this space. If you really have a creative bent and some time on your hands, this is another approach that really leverages the interactive nature of the Internet.
Virtual Tradeshows
Growing in popularity, virtual tradeshows offer visitors the experience of going to a tradeshow without leaving the comfort of their office. They typically support an actual live event. While online, you can check in for sessions, viewing them in webcast form, post questions, visit ‘virtual tradeshow booths’ and network with other online visitors. This is an inexpensive way to reach many people – typically they cost $5000-$20,000 to promote. Consider adding one of these to your arsenal this year.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
5 Things To Consider When Evaluating a Marketing Automation Platform
There has been a lot of buzz in the last few years about Demand Generation or Marketing Automation. Both terms refer to the practice of combining multiple marketing channels that drive prospects to a website onto a single platform. These platforms monitor a prospects online behavior and use some type of workflow/trigger system to deliver messages in an automated fashion over a period of time. This helps the marketing organization deliver relevant and personalized messages in a highly scalable fashion. There are many vendors and things to evaluate when considering a Marketing Automation Platform. Below are 5 major things to consider.
1. Business Objectives - what are your main goals? Do you want to send out more email effectively? Do you want to integrate disparate systems? Is resource and budgetary planning important? How many channels do you plan to use? Are you trying to drive more leads ... more qualified leads? Do you need more help in cross-sell/up-sell? Whatever it is, make sure that you clarify with your team what you are looking for not just for today, but in the next 24 months. Fortunately, most vendors out there are on demand and have flexible contracts - but once you seriously commit to a platform, it does get harder to switch over time.
2. Cost - most marketing organizations are not familiar with buying technology, but they are very familiar with buying services. This will be a new type of purchase for many, and your budget will play a big role in determining what you can implement. Like most things, you get what you pay for. Solutions are available from under $1,000 to over $10,000 per month. Depth of functionality increases as you move up the food chain. Depending upon what you are looking for, you can find the right vendor at the right price. Software licenses are not the only price consideration. Evaluate start-up costs such as deployment, implementation, training, integration and system migration. There can also be ongoing costs for customer support, training, and additional modules. Again, consider all of these variables in your budgetary process.
3. Vendor Rating - there are at least 15 vendors in this space, with more jumping in every month. Some vendors have been around a long time, and have hundreds of customers in their stable and are financially secure. Other vendors are exciting and new, but unproven. Your appetite for risk will play a big part in your decision. Also look at the vendors support network. Do they have partners and affiliates that can help you with best practices and value-added services? Are there regular user groups and online forums where you can network and share with other customers? Is the vendor accessible? Are they continuously updating and refining their product to meet the demands of the market? What do the analysts think about them? Ask yourself these questions when making your purchase decision.
4. Usability - how easy is it to implement and use the product? As marketers, we are constantly on the move and seriously multi-tasking. We need systems that can support the way we work, not for us to support the software. You should be able to try before you buy and decide for yourself whether or not you can use it in your daily work routine.
5. Results - ultimately, it comes down to financial results, and the KPI's you choose to evaluate the success of your decision. A marketing automation system should help you get a better lead to customer conversion rate, higher transaction price, shorter sales cycle, and an increased opportunity to close rate. The vendor you choose should have demonstrated success in this area with multiple customers, especially in your industry. If they have a hard time demonstrating value, then you will too, so tread carefully.
There are many other things to consider when making a technology purchase, but the 5 criteria above should get you well on your way to making an informed decision.
1. Business Objectives - what are your main goals? Do you want to send out more email effectively? Do you want to integrate disparate systems? Is resource and budgetary planning important? How many channels do you plan to use? Are you trying to drive more leads ... more qualified leads? Do you need more help in cross-sell/up-sell? Whatever it is, make sure that you clarify with your team what you are looking for not just for today, but in the next 24 months. Fortunately, most vendors out there are on demand and have flexible contracts - but once you seriously commit to a platform, it does get harder to switch over time.
2. Cost - most marketing organizations are not familiar with buying technology, but they are very familiar with buying services. This will be a new type of purchase for many, and your budget will play a big role in determining what you can implement. Like most things, you get what you pay for. Solutions are available from under $1,000 to over $10,000 per month. Depth of functionality increases as you move up the food chain. Depending upon what you are looking for, you can find the right vendor at the right price. Software licenses are not the only price consideration. Evaluate start-up costs such as deployment, implementation, training, integration and system migration. There can also be ongoing costs for customer support, training, and additional modules. Again, consider all of these variables in your budgetary process.
3. Vendor Rating - there are at least 15 vendors in this space, with more jumping in every month. Some vendors have been around a long time, and have hundreds of customers in their stable and are financially secure. Other vendors are exciting and new, but unproven. Your appetite for risk will play a big part in your decision. Also look at the vendors support network. Do they have partners and affiliates that can help you with best practices and value-added services? Are there regular user groups and online forums where you can network and share with other customers? Is the vendor accessible? Are they continuously updating and refining their product to meet the demands of the market? What do the analysts think about them? Ask yourself these questions when making your purchase decision.
4. Usability - how easy is it to implement and use the product? As marketers, we are constantly on the move and seriously multi-tasking. We need systems that can support the way we work, not for us to support the software. You should be able to try before you buy and decide for yourself whether or not you can use it in your daily work routine.
5. Results - ultimately, it comes down to financial results, and the KPI's you choose to evaluate the success of your decision. A marketing automation system should help you get a better lead to customer conversion rate, higher transaction price, shorter sales cycle, and an increased opportunity to close rate. The vendor you choose should have demonstrated success in this area with multiple customers, especially in your industry. If they have a hard time demonstrating value, then you will too, so tread carefully.
There are many other things to consider when making a technology purchase, but the 5 criteria above should get you well on your way to making an informed decision.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Lead Generation Strategies That Start With "T"
Today we look at several lead generation strategies you can use that begin with the letter "T":
Text Messaging
More and more B2B marketers are turning to this medium. The younger generation is entering the workforce, and Text ranks #1 as the preferred communication choice ahead of Instant Messaging and Email. Texting provides a real-time and interactive experience. The more conservative marketers have subscribers texting in a code to get a promotional offer or be redirected to a landing page. Other marketers are gaining opt-in permission and adding texting to a rich, multi-channel approach to campaigning. Texting should be tested as part of your marketing plans this year.
Telemarketing
Many B2B marketers are using Telemarketing and/or Inside Sales as a viable lead generation function. Other uses include organizational mapping - calling into a company and determining all key contacts for your product and service; data validation, opt-in for mailing lists, and surveys. Savvy marketers who track their website visitors, pass on unknown visitors in real-time to a telemarketer who then uses a reverse DNS lookup of the visitor to call into the target company and gain contact and lead information.
Trade Shows
Many tradeshows don't give the same return as they once did, which is why so many marketers opt to not do them or go to very few. Instead of paying money for a booth, consider being a panelist or speaker at the event, hosting your own cocktail party, or doing a guerilla 'on-floor' promotion, passing out coupons and using SMS with contest codes to draw attendees. Any of these approaches will yield a much better return on investment .
Testing
Taking just a few extra minutes on every campaign to test will yield a much better response rate. Simple A/B split testing, comparing subject lines, calls to action, or content headers can help you optimize every campaign. Start with 10% of your list and perform the test. After a few hours (with email or phone) you will have enough of a gauge to determine which version you should send the other 90% to. Doing this within the campaign, as opposed to waiting until the next one will produce a much better outcome.
Text Messaging
More and more B2B marketers are turning to this medium. The younger generation is entering the workforce, and Text ranks #1 as the preferred communication choice ahead of Instant Messaging and Email. Texting provides a real-time and interactive experience. The more conservative marketers have subscribers texting in a code to get a promotional offer or be redirected to a landing page. Other marketers are gaining opt-in permission and adding texting to a rich, multi-channel approach to campaigning. Texting should be tested as part of your marketing plans this year.
Telemarketing
Many B2B marketers are using Telemarketing and/or Inside Sales as a viable lead generation function. Other uses include organizational mapping - calling into a company and determining all key contacts for your product and service; data validation, opt-in for mailing lists, and surveys. Savvy marketers who track their website visitors, pass on unknown visitors in real-time to a telemarketer who then uses a reverse DNS lookup of the visitor to call into the target company and gain contact and lead information.
Trade Shows
Many tradeshows don't give the same return as they once did, which is why so many marketers opt to not do them or go to very few. Instead of paying money for a booth, consider being a panelist or speaker at the event, hosting your own cocktail party, or doing a guerilla 'on-floor' promotion, passing out coupons and using SMS with contest codes to draw attendees. Any of these approaches will yield a much better return on investment .
Testing
Taking just a few extra minutes on every campaign to test will yield a much better response rate. Simple A/B split testing, comparing subject lines, calls to action, or content headers can help you optimize every campaign. Start with 10% of your list and perform the test. After a few hours (with email or phone) you will have enough of a gauge to determine which version you should send the other 90% to. Doing this within the campaign, as opposed to waiting until the next one will produce a much better outcome.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Lead Generation Strategies That Start With "S"
Search Engine Optimization
With more and more buyers turning to the Internet to start their research, it is imperative that you have an ongoing SEO program in place. Both natural and paid search have their place, but natural listings should dominate the majority of your effort and budget. A combination of in-house and consulting resources can work well to ensure you have a good mix of best practice expertise and company/industry specific knowledge. Most B2B marketers spend a considerable portion of their budget on this tactic.
Speaking
Speaking at events is an excellent way to build your Thought Leadership in the marketplace. In addition to having your executives speak, consider using sales and marketing personnel at local and regional events. Your marketing team can prepare 3-4 standard presentations, and then have your team that is virtually located speak on them cost-effectively. Turn your organization into a team of speakers and Thought Leaders and reap the returns.
Seminars
Running live seminars is another way to build Thought Leadership. Focus on education and teaching and down play the product pitch. If you do a good job of providing content and transferring knowledge, the sales will take care of themselves – especially if you mix your customers and prospects at the same event!
Subscription Management
Instead of ‘spray and pray’, give your subscribers the option to choose what content they want to receive and when they want to receive it. You can start by categorizing your content into simple groups such as events, product and service updates, newsletter, etc. Over time, you can get more sophisticated as you gauge how subscribers respond. You will see a much better response from your lists by taking this approach.
With more and more buyers turning to the Internet to start their research, it is imperative that you have an ongoing SEO program in place. Both natural and paid search have their place, but natural listings should dominate the majority of your effort and budget. A combination of in-house and consulting resources can work well to ensure you have a good mix of best practice expertise and company/industry specific knowledge. Most B2B marketers spend a considerable portion of their budget on this tactic.
Speaking
Speaking at events is an excellent way to build your Thought Leadership in the marketplace. In addition to having your executives speak, consider using sales and marketing personnel at local and regional events. Your marketing team can prepare 3-4 standard presentations, and then have your team that is virtually located speak on them cost-effectively. Turn your organization into a team of speakers and Thought Leaders and reap the returns.
Seminars
Running live seminars is another way to build Thought Leadership. Focus on education and teaching and down play the product pitch. If you do a good job of providing content and transferring knowledge, the sales will take care of themselves – especially if you mix your customers and prospects at the same event!
Subscription Management
Instead of ‘spray and pray’, give your subscribers the option to choose what content they want to receive and when they want to receive it. You can start by categorizing your content into simple groups such as events, product and service updates, newsletter, etc. Over time, you can get more sophisticated as you gauge how subscribers respond. You will see a much better response from your lists by taking this approach.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Pop Quiz: Time To Test Your Company's Lead Effectiveness Quotient
More leads, more leads, more leads. Every day B2B marketers are continually under pressure to produce more leads to help the sales organization meet its quota. But are more leads the right answer? In an ideal world, you would generate one lead that would convert to a customer. While this may not be possible, generating a consistently higher quality of leads will ensure that the sales team gets a better swing every at bat, and you won’t see those leads coming right back at you or just ignored.
To produce higher quality leads on a consistent basis, your company may need to implement a lead scoring system that can act as a filter between all the leads that you do generate and the ones that end up in the hands of the sales team. Those leads that are not ready to be passed over should be incubated in a lead nurturing program until they show signs of being ready to buy.
It could be that your organization actually needs fewer leads that are truly sales ready. Take the following quiz and use the matrix at the end to determine what next steps you should take.
1. Do you currently have a formal methodology for scoring leads?
a) No process
b) Manual Process, Inconsistently Enforced
c) Manual Process, Consistently Enforced
d) Automated Process, Consistently Enforced
2. Which factual/demographic attributes are you using to help score your leads?
a) None
b) 1 or more of the following: Budget, Authority, Timeline, Revenue, Industry
c) Business Need
d) B and C
3. Which behavioral attributes are you using to help score your leads?
a) None
b) Email Opens and Clickthroughs
c) Website Activity – 1 or more of the following: Key Content Pages, Visits, White Paper Downloads, Form Submissions, Trial/Downloads
d) B and C
4. Which statement most closely pertains to your organization?
a) No leads are distributed
b) Most to all leads are distributed to either a single person or a lead queue
c) All incoming leads get distributed to the sales team
d) A and "B" leads get distributed to the sales team, and "C" leads get nurtured by marketing
e) All "A" leads get distributed to the sales team, and "B/C" leads get nurtured by marketing
5. How would you describe your lead management process?
a) We do not know what happens after leads are handed off to the sales team
b) We can manually review lead status in our CRM system and use that data in our marketing analysis
c) We have an automatic reporting process in place that lets us know when leads are followed up on
d) Answer C plus a mechanism to reassign leads that aren’t followed up on within a specified time period to someone else.
6. Your organization uses the following lead scoring scale:
a) No scoring scale is used
b) A/B/C or How/Warm/Cold based on criteria
c) Numerical score based on criteria
d) Numerical score and Grade Ranking based on criteria
7. You adjust and modify your lead scoring scale:
a) Never
b) Annually
c) Monthly
d) Quarterly
8. Once you have scored a lead, your organization:
a) Never changes it
b) Changes it when the lead moves forward in the funnel
c) Changes it when the lead moves backward in the funnel
d) Changes it based upon your nurturing and prospecting criteria dynamically
9. With your lowest scoring leads, your organization:
a) Discards them and/or never uses them
b) Distributes them to the sales or inside sales team
c) Nurtures them for up to 6 months
d) Nurtures them for up to 1 year
10. When building your lead scoring model, you solicit input from:
a) No one
b) Marketing
c) Sales
d) Sales and Marketing
11. In your lead scoring model, you:
a) Have None
b) Score leads but don't weight them
c) Weight each criteria equally
d) Weight each criteria differently based upon historical conversion rates and available information
12. Your organization separates incoming leads:
a) It doesn't separate leads by any distribution method
b) By Direct Channel Only
c) By Direct and Channel
d) Direct, Channel, Named and Non-named Accounts
13. Does your marketing/sales organization look at past interest and changes in baseline activity to prioritize follow-up?
a) No, our team doesn't do this
b) Yes, Sometimes
c) Yes, Most of the time
d) Yes, Always
14. When aggregating lead data, your company:
a) Has no way of aggregating lead data
b) Can aggregate data by campaign and provide score
c) Can aggregate data by campaign, division, and product line and provide score
d) Can aggregate data by campaign, division, product line and company level and provide score
15. Your company follows up on new leads within what time period?
a) 1 week
b) 1 day
c) 4 hours
d) 1 hour
SCORING GUIDELINES
Give yourself 1 point for every A, 2 points for every B, 3 points for every C, and 4 points for every D answer. After totaling your scores, use the matrix below to see how your organization compares.
49 – 60 – World Class Lead Effectiveness. You have a great process in place and should be using automation to get consistent results. Next Steps: Look at doing Company Level and Profile-Based Lead Scoring. With Company Level Lead Scoring, you can aggregate all of the individual scores into a composite score. For those of you engaged in complex sales, this is invaluable as the sum of the parts is greater than any one individual. Profile-Based Lead Scoring establishes different scores for a person based on the role that they occupy. A given individual can be a partner, a vendor, and a customer of one or more products. A score for one product or role can be completely different for another product or role based upon the key requirements for any given situation.
37 – 48 – Very Good Lead Effectiveness. Your systems are fairly well defined, but you can optimize and improve them in several areas. Key Considerations: Are you consistently automating the process? Do you have a closed-loop process in place with your CRM system to provide you with the feedback you need to continuously make adjustments? Are you tracking both explicit and implicit criteria? Once you can get consistency and automation in all facets, you can explore Company Level and Profile-Based Lead Scoring.
25 – 36 – Good Lead Effectiveness. You have some scoring in place, but it is mostly manual. Chances are, you are not tracking both explicit and implicit criteria and you don’t have a weighting system in place. Next Steps: Begin by developing a scoring model that looks at both explicit and implicit criteria. Next, look at ways you can automate the process. Examine your distribution and assignment rules – can you hold back some of the leads and develop a lead nurturing program that will market to them? After this, look at how you can integrate your CRM system with your marketing system to give you better closed loop analytics. Once you have taken these steps, continually optimize and make adjustments over a 4-6 month period until you have a consistent model in place.
< 25 – Poor Lead Effectiveness. You don’t have much of a model in place. You are most likely sending all inbound leads to sales with little or no filtering and this is affecting your conversion rates down the pipeline. Next Steps: Begin by setting up a manual scoring system that both sales and marketing can agree to. Have your inside sales or telemarketing function use this criteria consistently and record the results in your CRM system. From there, you can look at ways to automate the function. Take some time and examine your marketing campaigns and how visitors are behaving on your website. Can you extract some key observations and turn this into a consistent behavior score? Once this is in place, you can look at fully automating the function and investing time into developing a lead nurturing program.
The job of the B2B marketer is harder today than ever before. Don’t let the company view your department as an expense. Expenses get cut, investments get nurtured. Help sales close more business and be accountable for driving revenue. Do this with an effective lead scoring system. It is an essential tool in your arsenal and will help you and your company grow consistently over time.
To produce higher quality leads on a consistent basis, your company may need to implement a lead scoring system that can act as a filter between all the leads that you do generate and the ones that end up in the hands of the sales team. Those leads that are not ready to be passed over should be incubated in a lead nurturing program until they show signs of being ready to buy.
It could be that your organization actually needs fewer leads that are truly sales ready. Take the following quiz and use the matrix at the end to determine what next steps you should take.
1. Do you currently have a formal methodology for scoring leads?
a) No process
b) Manual Process, Inconsistently Enforced
c) Manual Process, Consistently Enforced
d) Automated Process, Consistently Enforced
2. Which factual/demographic attributes are you using to help score your leads?
a) None
b) 1 or more of the following: Budget, Authority, Timeline, Revenue, Industry
c) Business Need
d) B and C
3. Which behavioral attributes are you using to help score your leads?
a) None
b) Email Opens and Clickthroughs
c) Website Activity – 1 or more of the following: Key Content Pages, Visits, White Paper Downloads, Form Submissions, Trial/Downloads
d) B and C
4. Which statement most closely pertains to your organization?
a) No leads are distributed
b) Most to all leads are distributed to either a single person or a lead queue
c) All incoming leads get distributed to the sales team
d) A and "B" leads get distributed to the sales team, and "C" leads get nurtured by marketing
e) All "A" leads get distributed to the sales team, and "B/C" leads get nurtured by marketing
5. How would you describe your lead management process?
a) We do not know what happens after leads are handed off to the sales team
b) We can manually review lead status in our CRM system and use that data in our marketing analysis
c) We have an automatic reporting process in place that lets us know when leads are followed up on
d) Answer C plus a mechanism to reassign leads that aren’t followed up on within a specified time period to someone else.
6. Your organization uses the following lead scoring scale:
a) No scoring scale is used
b) A/B/C or How/Warm/Cold based on criteria
c) Numerical score based on criteria
d) Numerical score and Grade Ranking based on criteria
7. You adjust and modify your lead scoring scale:
a) Never
b) Annually
c) Monthly
d) Quarterly
8. Once you have scored a lead, your organization:
a) Never changes it
b) Changes it when the lead moves forward in the funnel
c) Changes it when the lead moves backward in the funnel
d) Changes it based upon your nurturing and prospecting criteria dynamically
9. With your lowest scoring leads, your organization:
a) Discards them and/or never uses them
b) Distributes them to the sales or inside sales team
c) Nurtures them for up to 6 months
d) Nurtures them for up to 1 year
10. When building your lead scoring model, you solicit input from:
a) No one
b) Marketing
c) Sales
d) Sales and Marketing
11. In your lead scoring model, you:
a) Have None
b) Score leads but don't weight them
c) Weight each criteria equally
d) Weight each criteria differently based upon historical conversion rates and available information
12. Your organization separates incoming leads:
a) It doesn't separate leads by any distribution method
b) By Direct Channel Only
c) By Direct and Channel
d) Direct, Channel, Named and Non-named Accounts
13. Does your marketing/sales organization look at past interest and changes in baseline activity to prioritize follow-up?
a) No, our team doesn't do this
b) Yes, Sometimes
c) Yes, Most of the time
d) Yes, Always
14. When aggregating lead data, your company:
a) Has no way of aggregating lead data
b) Can aggregate data by campaign and provide score
c) Can aggregate data by campaign, division, and product line and provide score
d) Can aggregate data by campaign, division, product line and company level and provide score
15. Your company follows up on new leads within what time period?
a) 1 week
b) 1 day
c) 4 hours
d) 1 hour
SCORING GUIDELINES
Give yourself 1 point for every A, 2 points for every B, 3 points for every C, and 4 points for every D answer. After totaling your scores, use the matrix below to see how your organization compares.
49 – 60 – World Class Lead Effectiveness. You have a great process in place and should be using automation to get consistent results. Next Steps: Look at doing Company Level and Profile-Based Lead Scoring. With Company Level Lead Scoring, you can aggregate all of the individual scores into a composite score. For those of you engaged in complex sales, this is invaluable as the sum of the parts is greater than any one individual. Profile-Based Lead Scoring establishes different scores for a person based on the role that they occupy. A given individual can be a partner, a vendor, and a customer of one or more products. A score for one product or role can be completely different for another product or role based upon the key requirements for any given situation.
37 – 48 – Very Good Lead Effectiveness. Your systems are fairly well defined, but you can optimize and improve them in several areas. Key Considerations: Are you consistently automating the process? Do you have a closed-loop process in place with your CRM system to provide you with the feedback you need to continuously make adjustments? Are you tracking both explicit and implicit criteria? Once you can get consistency and automation in all facets, you can explore Company Level and Profile-Based Lead Scoring.
25 – 36 – Good Lead Effectiveness. You have some scoring in place, but it is mostly manual. Chances are, you are not tracking both explicit and implicit criteria and you don’t have a weighting system in place. Next Steps: Begin by developing a scoring model that looks at both explicit and implicit criteria. Next, look at ways you can automate the process. Examine your distribution and assignment rules – can you hold back some of the leads and develop a lead nurturing program that will market to them? After this, look at how you can integrate your CRM system with your marketing system to give you better closed loop analytics. Once you have taken these steps, continually optimize and make adjustments over a 4-6 month period until you have a consistent model in place.
< 25 – Poor Lead Effectiveness. You don’t have much of a model in place. You are most likely sending all inbound leads to sales with little or no filtering and this is affecting your conversion rates down the pipeline. Next Steps: Begin by setting up a manual scoring system that both sales and marketing can agree to. Have your inside sales or telemarketing function use this criteria consistently and record the results in your CRM system. From there, you can look at ways to automate the function. Take some time and examine your marketing campaigns and how visitors are behaving on your website. Can you extract some key observations and turn this into a consistent behavior score? Once this is in place, you can look at fully automating the function and investing time into developing a lead nurturing program.
The job of the B2B marketer is harder today than ever before. Don’t let the company view your department as an expense. Expenses get cut, investments get nurtured. Help sales close more business and be accountable for driving revenue. Do this with an effective lead scoring system. It is an essential tool in your arsenal and will help you and your company grow consistently over time.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
What they didn't teach you in Business School: 5 Critical Things Today's Professional Marketer Needs to Master
Today's business schools have come a long way since the day I graduated. The programs are more involved, internships are more prevalent, and the case study programs continue to impress. With all the improvements, I find that today's graduates are still lacking some key skill sets that will ensure their success on the job in years to come. Additionally, professionals that have been in the field for more than five years are also lacking key skills that threaten their job security. In this article, we examine 5 critical things that every professional marketer needs to master.
How to use technology to scale demand generation: There is no questioning that today’s marketing professional is much more tech savvy then previous generations. They can text, blog, engage in social networks, and use the internet in a variety of ways. What they haven’t learned how to do is leverage these technologies to build sustainable revenue streams for their companies. Marketers tend to overuse email at the expense of other channels and miss opportunities to engage with their prospects and customers in a meaningful fashion. Instead of using technology to scale, many marketers spend their days in hand-to-hand combat, performing a variety of key tasks manually. This is very inefficient and slows top-of-the-funnel growth. The first thing marketers need to do is build processes that can source leads from a variety of channels. These processes should include target profile, messaging, scoring, routing, follow-up, management, and disposition. Once these processes are in place, marketers can then select and use technology to drive demand. The most successful marketers leverage an ecosystem to drive a continuous flow of leads. There is no silver bullet. By building a variety of acquisition channels, marketers can more predictably grow their business. Key technological components should include:
Automating Event Marketing, Registration and Follow-Up. This includes webinars and live events.
Implementing website tracking at an individual level to monitor digital body language and build active buyer profiles and personas.
Implementing lead scoring and lead incubation programs to determine sales-ready leads and market to the remaining leads not ready to buy.
Integrating online forms with CRM systems and developing automated form handling routines in addition to the auto-responder.
Using RSS to syndicate content and drive traffic to the website.
Building or sponsoring specific social networks.
Hosting an active blog on the corporate website.
Integrating website tracking with online and offline demand generation programs.
Leverage streaming video and audio as part of podcasts or viral campaigns. This is just a starting point, but the above items should be considered a staple in every marketers demand generation arsenal.
How to develop a sustainable and healthy relationship with sales: This topic has gotten a lot of press over the last year. One of the biggest reasons sales and marketing are not aligned is because they are not measured on the same things. A sales team is always measured on revenue and thinks short term – this month, this quarter. A marketing team is typically measured on leads, programs, or softer metrics and has a much longer time horizon – 6 months, 1 year, etc. To ensure a better working relationship, there are several critical things every marketer needs to do:
Ensure you are measured on revenue, not on leads. As long as you continue to be measured on your spending, you and your department will be considered an expense. In business, expenses get cut, investments get nurtured. Get your team to be measured on revenue and this will significantly change your alignment with sales. Once you are being measured on the same things, your approach to marketing will be completely different. You won’t think about how many leads you drove this quarter, you will think about whether your programs helped make the quarterly sales target.
Have a shared and written definition of what constitutes a qualified lead. You can deliver all the leads you want to sales, but they will continue to reject them as long as you have different ideas about what a lead is and isn’t. Set up a working session with the sales team and determine what constitutes a qualified lead. Examine both traditional measures such as budget, authority, need and timeline. Also take a look at online behavior – content downloads, webinar attendance, key page views. Develop a scoring matrix around these components and ensure that you deliver only those leads to sales that meet these criteria. Revisit the matrix on a quarterly basis and adjust as needed.
Set up working teams. Instead of having siloed functions, pair up field marketing with the regional sales team and give them a shared goal. It is amazing what will happen when they have to work together instead of pointing fingers at the other.
Reporting on Marketing Success in Financial Terms: Remember those accounting classes we took in school – the ones we slept through while we anxiously looked forward to the creative ones? Guess what? The awards we have been giving each other over the years for our creativity don’t count anymore. Today’s board wants to know how we are spending the company’s money. It is no longer sufficient to report on leads, clickthroughs, impressions, or campaign awards. Today’s marketing professional needs to be financially savvy. They need to know lead to customer conversion ratios, return on marketing spend, lifetime value of a customer, net present value of a lead, and a variety of other business metrics that indicate how well marketing is managing the company’s money to grow revenue. It’s time to dust off that textbook and get back to basics. Your job security depends upon it.
Develop strategies, to get, keep and grow your customer base: It is easy to focus on programs that bring in new customers – that typically gets most of your budget. But what about your customers? We have all heard the adage, it is easier to keep a customer than get a new one – but is it? If you are not allocating more than a token amount of your budget to service your customers, they could be looking elsewhere. Many companies have a variety of products and services that they want to sell to their installed base to build wallet share and improve loyalty. With all the talk about Net Promoter and the clear correlation between customer loyalty and long-term profitable growth, it is essential that today’s marketing professional implement programs that address customers at every stage of their need cycle. There a number of methods that can be invoked here, from customer advisory boards to using technology to deliver automated cross-sell/up-sell campaigns, today’s marketer can reach their customer and grow the long term value of the relationship. It just takes a focused effort.
Understand and Align with the Customer Buy Cycle: I have lost track of how many professional sales training courses I attended over the years. They all prescribed one process or another for controlling the sales cycle and getting in synch with your customer. These methods worked for a long time until the Internet came along. Now, your customers have the power to initiate the buy cycle, long before you even know about it. We are not in control of the sales process. The customer is in control of the buy process. They go through various phases – awareness, identification, evaluation. The key to selling today is to understand where the buyer might be’ at any given time and to develop strategies and tactics that serve up the appropriate content and messaging. Do they need a white paper or an analyst briefing? Do they need a demonstration or an ROI calculator? The marketer that changes their focus from selling to helping customers buy is the marketer that will succeed in today’s competitive climate. Search engine optimization, site navigation, pay per click, link referral, decision/offer maps are all techniques that can and should be leveraged to help you align with your customer. There are many skills today’s marketer needs to master to not only keep their jobs but to grow and enjoy a satisfying career. At the root of it, understand how to leverage available technology and implement the proper financial metrics. Doing this will put you well on the way to marketing success.
How to use technology to scale demand generation: There is no questioning that today’s marketing professional is much more tech savvy then previous generations. They can text, blog, engage in social networks, and use the internet in a variety of ways. What they haven’t learned how to do is leverage these technologies to build sustainable revenue streams for their companies. Marketers tend to overuse email at the expense of other channels and miss opportunities to engage with their prospects and customers in a meaningful fashion. Instead of using technology to scale, many marketers spend their days in hand-to-hand combat, performing a variety of key tasks manually. This is very inefficient and slows top-of-the-funnel growth. The first thing marketers need to do is build processes that can source leads from a variety of channels. These processes should include target profile, messaging, scoring, routing, follow-up, management, and disposition. Once these processes are in place, marketers can then select and use technology to drive demand. The most successful marketers leverage an ecosystem to drive a continuous flow of leads. There is no silver bullet. By building a variety of acquisition channels, marketers can more predictably grow their business. Key technological components should include:
Automating Event Marketing, Registration and Follow-Up. This includes webinars and live events.
Implementing website tracking at an individual level to monitor digital body language and build active buyer profiles and personas.
Implementing lead scoring and lead incubation programs to determine sales-ready leads and market to the remaining leads not ready to buy.
Integrating online forms with CRM systems and developing automated form handling routines in addition to the auto-responder.
Using RSS to syndicate content and drive traffic to the website.
Building or sponsoring specific social networks.
Hosting an active blog on the corporate website.
Integrating website tracking with online and offline demand generation programs.
Leverage streaming video and audio as part of podcasts or viral campaigns. This is just a starting point, but the above items should be considered a staple in every marketers demand generation arsenal.
How to develop a sustainable and healthy relationship with sales: This topic has gotten a lot of press over the last year. One of the biggest reasons sales and marketing are not aligned is because they are not measured on the same things. A sales team is always measured on revenue and thinks short term – this month, this quarter. A marketing team is typically measured on leads, programs, or softer metrics and has a much longer time horizon – 6 months, 1 year, etc. To ensure a better working relationship, there are several critical things every marketer needs to do:
Ensure you are measured on revenue, not on leads. As long as you continue to be measured on your spending, you and your department will be considered an expense. In business, expenses get cut, investments get nurtured. Get your team to be measured on revenue and this will significantly change your alignment with sales. Once you are being measured on the same things, your approach to marketing will be completely different. You won’t think about how many leads you drove this quarter, you will think about whether your programs helped make the quarterly sales target.
Have a shared and written definition of what constitutes a qualified lead. You can deliver all the leads you want to sales, but they will continue to reject them as long as you have different ideas about what a lead is and isn’t. Set up a working session with the sales team and determine what constitutes a qualified lead. Examine both traditional measures such as budget, authority, need and timeline. Also take a look at online behavior – content downloads, webinar attendance, key page views. Develop a scoring matrix around these components and ensure that you deliver only those leads to sales that meet these criteria. Revisit the matrix on a quarterly basis and adjust as needed.
Set up working teams. Instead of having siloed functions, pair up field marketing with the regional sales team and give them a shared goal. It is amazing what will happen when they have to work together instead of pointing fingers at the other.
Reporting on Marketing Success in Financial Terms: Remember those accounting classes we took in school – the ones we slept through while we anxiously looked forward to the creative ones? Guess what? The awards we have been giving each other over the years for our creativity don’t count anymore. Today’s board wants to know how we are spending the company’s money. It is no longer sufficient to report on leads, clickthroughs, impressions, or campaign awards. Today’s marketing professional needs to be financially savvy. They need to know lead to customer conversion ratios, return on marketing spend, lifetime value of a customer, net present value of a lead, and a variety of other business metrics that indicate how well marketing is managing the company’s money to grow revenue. It’s time to dust off that textbook and get back to basics. Your job security depends upon it.
Develop strategies, to get, keep and grow your customer base: It is easy to focus on programs that bring in new customers – that typically gets most of your budget. But what about your customers? We have all heard the adage, it is easier to keep a customer than get a new one – but is it? If you are not allocating more than a token amount of your budget to service your customers, they could be looking elsewhere. Many companies have a variety of products and services that they want to sell to their installed base to build wallet share and improve loyalty. With all the talk about Net Promoter and the clear correlation between customer loyalty and long-term profitable growth, it is essential that today’s marketing professional implement programs that address customers at every stage of their need cycle. There a number of methods that can be invoked here, from customer advisory boards to using technology to deliver automated cross-sell/up-sell campaigns, today’s marketer can reach their customer and grow the long term value of the relationship. It just takes a focused effort.
Understand and Align with the Customer Buy Cycle: I have lost track of how many professional sales training courses I attended over the years. They all prescribed one process or another for controlling the sales cycle and getting in synch with your customer. These methods worked for a long time until the Internet came along. Now, your customers have the power to initiate the buy cycle, long before you even know about it. We are not in control of the sales process. The customer is in control of the buy process. They go through various phases – awareness, identification, evaluation. The key to selling today is to understand where the buyer might be’ at any given time and to develop strategies and tactics that serve up the appropriate content and messaging. Do they need a white paper or an analyst briefing? Do they need a demonstration or an ROI calculator? The marketer that changes their focus from selling to helping customers buy is the marketer that will succeed in today’s competitive climate. Search engine optimization, site navigation, pay per click, link referral, decision/offer maps are all techniques that can and should be leveraged to help you align with your customer. There are many skills today’s marketer needs to master to not only keep their jobs but to grow and enjoy a satisfying career. At the root of it, understand how to leverage available technology and implement the proper financial metrics. Doing this will put you well on the way to marketing success.
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