As B2B Marketers we spend a lot of time, effort and resources on creating lead generation programs that drive prospect conversions.  But what happens next?

As we become more sophisticated marketers with more promising tools, we are now not only filling the top of the sales funnel but we are also helping move prospects through the sales funnel; one buying stage at a time.

We know it takes multiple interactions to turn a lead into a prospect and usually these interactions involve both Sales and Marketing.  This means both teams need to be armed and ready for the next follow up.

Here’s a checklist to go through to make sure you are set up for success before launching that next program.

• Do your sales and marketing teams know what to follow up with in response to different types of inquiries? If someone reaches out to you about Product A, your follow up should include more information about Product A that opens the door for a discussion.

• Are you emailing pdfs with your follow up emails? Remember attachments can get hung up in spam filters.  Consider putting your docs out on the web and link to them.  This also enables you to track who’s visiting this page.

• Are you prepared to capture all inquiries in a database or CRM for ongoing nurturing and qualification efforts? It’s key that this information is stored in a place that both sales and marketing can access.  Marketing needs to know when and what kinds of nurturing campaigns to push these people through and sales needs to know what marketing programs prospects are interacting with.

• Have you agreed with sales on what a qualified lead looks like? This is 101, right?

• Do you have a process in place for distributing qualified leads to sales contacts as they are identified? Getting in touch in a timely manner is key.  Make sure everyone is clear how leads are being routed.

• Do you have a program in place to nurture or cultivate your not-yet-qualified leads? One and done doesn’t work in B2B so you need a plan for staying in touch.  Different mediums with different offers is key here.  Not everyone responds to the same things.

• Do you know how often to contact prospects with nurture messages? The jury is still out here, monitor your nurture marketing unsubscribe rates and adjust as needed.  Also be sure sales has a way to opt people out of further communications.

• Do you know what offers to use to get them to further identify their needs and situation so you can determine if they are ready to buy today? Nurturing programs help build awareness, make sure you have the right kinds of offers in place to build on your prospect profile.

• Do you have a program in place to measure and track the results of your various sales-lead generation, cultivation and sales follow-up programs? You need this.  How else do you know what’s working and what isn’t?

• And, in my opinion, the most important question – Do you know what new customers originated in marketing and what programs helped drive them to the finish line?

Being able to show real ROI from your marketing efforts is key.  It drives so many “what’s next”  decisions.

We know all know Content is King in B2B Marketing.  We use it for blogging, email campaign offers, sales support, website content, whitepapers/eBooks, social media teasers and webinars.  In a recent study by Kingfish Media they found that over 70% of marketers are using custom content to communicate with current customers and 70% use custom media to attract prospects.

We also know that it takes multiple touches to convert a lead into a prospect so using the right kinds of content in the right marketing vehicles is key.

We just recently got back from the MarketingSherpa B2B event where I sat in on a presentation by Bob Johnson from IDG Connect.  He presented some really interesting stats on using content for lead generation.  One that really stood out – “Prospects that engage in 2 touch points are 25% more likely to be in a buying cycle.”  This is huge!

Knowing that content is so important (and so often used), you’ve got to stay fresh.  Here are a few ideas to help get started on creating new enticing content to engage your prospects.

Everyone loves lists, consider creating one of these –

• Compile the top blog posts on a specific industry topic (related to what you are promoting)
• Promote five blogs in your industry (be sure to let them know, you want to make sure they know you are out there too)
• Create lists of your own; things like Top 10 things to consider when choosing a XYZ solution or Top 5 things to avoid when implementing XYZ service (give your prospects a helpful tip and chances are higher that they remember you next time you reach out)
• Create a list of interesting industry stats

Get people to act, try one of these –

• Start a contest and ask for submissions
• Create a survey and commit to sharing the results with everyone that participates
• Start a discussion in your LinkedIn groups.  (Relevance is very important here.)
• Ask a question on Twitter and blog the answers

Think TIPs, everyone is interested in information that will help them –

• Explain industry terms for either the novice or the industry veteran
• Review a recent trade show or conference
• Interview industry leaders asking the tough questions and share their responses.

Remember you can repurpose all of your content.  Here at ReachForce we take our blog tips like this one and roll them into eBooks.  These tip-based eBooks are our most popular pieces of content and for us, writing them in bite size pieces (blog posts) makes the task of creating a new eBook a breeze.

We also use these blog posts for our monthly newsletter, it’s a compilation of our best posts from the previous month.  The newsletter typically gets about a 40% open rate.  It takes us no time to put together and it’s a crowd favorite.

Got any other content ideas, please jump in and share.

David Meerman Scott is sort of the Godfather of eBooks.  Case and point, his eBook, The New Rules of Viral Marketing: How word-of-mouse spreads your ideas for free has been downloaded more than 600,000 times.  David had a great post on his blog, Web Ink Now, back in June called So you want to write an ebook? 30 tips for success

Here are some of the best tips David had to offer (be sure to read his entire article before you write your next eBook):

• You should write to solve a problem that people have.
• The ebook should be authored by a person. Don’t make it by your company. You need the personal connection with readers. An ebook by “Premium Landscape Company” will not do as well as an ebook by “Mary Smith, chief landscape architect at Premium Landscape Company.”
• Have a definite point of view.
• Do not sell your products or services in the body of the ebook.
• At the end, in the biography section, have a place where people can learn more and can contact you if they want to work with you.
• You will need a great title that intrigues people.
• Use a subtitle to say what the ebook is about.
• Add a Creative Commons license to encourage people to share.
• Tell people about the ebook, especially those in a position to talk it up.
• Invest in a great design
• Focus on the cover – the first thing people see
• You should have a permanent place to point people. It could be on your blog or site or you could even make a micro site with a unique URL

Here are some of my tips based on the success we have seen with our own eBooks:

• You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  Our most successful eBooks are a collection of blog posts by topic.
• Take out the formality.  Add some personality.
• People love valuable content so put it out there where your customers are – could include: LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, monthly newsletter, advertising, etc.

Whether or not to have a form in front of your eBook  is highly debatable.  David would tell you to let your content go free and he has some very interesting stats to back this up.  I have yet to convince the higher ups to do this, so we will continue to require registration for our eBooks.  If you are going to put a form in front, try to limit the number of questions.  Also, I have seen some forms where you can choose if you want follow-up from a sales rep or not which could increase downloads.

Measuring What Matters Assessment

Peter Drucker, widely regarded as the “father of modern management”, once said, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”.  Now, more than ever, measurement is a fundamental part of the marketing process.  Good marketers are expected to understand marketing analytics and use marketing performance as the basis for allocating budget effectively.  As a result, marketers must measure metrics that matter; metrics that can translate to strategic actions and drive accountability.

The key to measuring marketing effectiveness lies in the ability to benchmark performance over time.  Measurement is of little value unless it can be used to assess the current state of operations and help marketers determine how to optimize performance.  Ultimately, organizations can only improve marketing effectiveness if they have a baseline to compare existing performance.  Marketers should be utilizing unique metrics to measure three areas of marketing operations:

• Budgeting and Execution:  Metrics for measuring how well the current marketing plan is tracking against budget and on-time execution.   This includes a top-down and bottom-up view of budget allocation and the ability to track performance against plan and forecast accuracy.
• Campaign Performance:  Metrics for measuring closed-loop marketing on marketing campaigns; to help link marketing spend with related performance. (For example, increase lead-to-sales conversion, increase click-throughs, increase sales for a certain product, maximize form captures, etc.)
• Operational Efficiency:  Metrics for measuring the cost of marketing operations; workflow and processes cycle time, time spent managing activities, time spent on analysis, content re-use, shipping costs, etc.

The following questions will help determine steps your organization can take to improve measurement practices.

Read each question and write down the appropriate points based on an honest assessment of the current state of your marketing operations.

Does the marketing function have a set of pre-defined metrics that are benchmarked over time?

• Yes, there’s no room for improvement – Award yourself 4 points if you are confident marketing is measuring the right metrics and using these metrics to make better decisions over time
• Yes, but we could do better- Award yourself 2 points if you feel fairly confident you are measuring some metrics over time, but there is still some room for improvement
• We need to work on this- Award yourself 0 points if you know your marketing function needs to spend some time defining which metrics to measure and how to measure them

Do you measure customer lifetime value?

• Yes- Award yourself 4 points if your organization has ever tried to measure customer lifetime value, and used this to determine the maximum cost per lead.
• No- 0 points if you are not quite sure how to calculate customer lifetime value

How confident are you in your ability to measure current performance and adjust marketing campaigns in mid-cycle?

• Confident- Award yourself 4 points if your organization can adjust marketing campaign effectiveness based on mid-cycle campaign performance
• Room for Improvement- Award yourself 2 points if your measurement activity tends to be weeks or months after a campaign is executed
• We can’t do this today- 0 points if, for whatever reason, you can’t measure marketing campaign performance

Do you have access to data required to measure marketing performance?

• Yes, and it’s timely- Award yourself 2 points if you have access to the data necessary to calculate the metrics your organization uses (or would use) to measure marketing performance
• Yes, but it’s difficult to get- Award yourself 1 point if you have access to the data necessary to calculate the metrics your organization uses (or would use) to measure marketing performance, but the time it takes to gain access impacts the ability to maximize marketing effectiveness.
• No- 0 points if the data required does not exist, or is very difficult for marketing to get their hands on

Final Score

a._____+ b._____+ c._____+ d._____=  ______

How did you score?

• 0-4 Points:  You’re falling short – A final score between 0 and 4 indicates you could increase marketing effectiveness considerably by measuring and benchmarking metrics over time.  Every organization must determine pre-defined metrics for measuring marketing performance.  Start by mapping out a few different “nice to have metrics” to measure each of the three main categories of marketing measurement: Budgeting and Execution, Campaign Performance, and Operational Efficiency.
• 5-10 Points: You’re a few inches shy – A final score between 5 and10 indicates you marketing group could use some education on marketing measurement.  Consider automation and technology to help standardize and benchmark performance over time.  If access to data is a significant barrier to effective measurement, list out the different sources of data in your organization.  Then prioritize each source and start tracking small win’s by going after the low hanging fruit.  Partial data is better than no data in the eyes of the CFO.
• 11-14 Points: You’re measuring up – A final score between 11 and 14 points indicates you have a good grasp of marketing performance.  Quality data and superior marketing execution suggest you have already used marketing measurement to optimize marketing execution and operational efficiency.

What is Marketing Effectiveness?

We’ve spent the last few weeks getting to know our marketing automation partners and friends.   They all share the goal of increasing marketing effectiveness.  This got me thinking, really what IS marketing effectiveness.

Wikipedia defines marketing effectiveness as the quality of how marketers go to market with the goal of optimizing their spending to achieve good results for both the short-term and long-term.  So essentially, effective marketing must grow top line revenue while minimizing the impact on bottom line cost.

There are three fundamental ways marketers can influence marketing effectiveness:

• Marketing Strategy: How you will engage customers, prospects, and competitors in the market.  This includes the marketing mix, product development, positioning and segmentation / targeting.
• Marketing Execution: The people, process and technology that enable effective execution of marketing strategy and highly impactful creative.  Successful execution of a superior marketing strategy increases marketing effectiveness.
• Marketing Measurement: Good marketers are expected to understand marketing analytics and use marketing performance as the basis for allocating budget effectively.  As a result, marketers must measure metrics that matter; metrics that can translate to strategic actions and drive accountability.

At its core, marketing effectiveness is about increasing revenue.    Higher returns on marketing investments are a byproduct of effective marketing. However, calculating a true return on marketing investment is no easy task.  With today’s multi-channel marketing strategies, it’s difficult to accurately allocate measurable returns to marketing spend.

By scoring best practices across these three areas, organizations can rapidly measure and identify immediate opportunities to improve marketing effectiveness.  But, remember the effectiveness of marketing is tied to marketing and sales agreeing on WHAT is handed off and at what stage. If this definition and agreement are NOT in place, marketing effectiveness and overall marketing ROI can go quickly to zero.

Interested in how you measure up?

Be sure to stop back here next week for a few quick assessment quizzes to identify areas of improvement and the overall ability for your organization to maximize marketing effectiveness.

This post comes to us from one of our friends at ExactTarget, Joel Book.

Having observed how email has become the backbone of successful one-to-one marketing solutions, I have 3 guidelines that will help you use personalization for more effective B-to-B email.

1. Remember that People buy from People.

With all due respect to brand marketers, creative directors, and copywriters, it’s important to remember that nothing is more important in selling than the customer’s relationship with the person with whom she is doing business. That person may be a dealer, an agent, or a field sales representative.

When you send email, send it on behalf of the “relationship owner” and include that person’s photo and contact information so it’s easy for the customer to contact him. This type of personalization dramatically improves email marketing campaign performance.

2. Serve. Don’t Sell.

Customers don’t want to be sold. But they do want to be helped in making their buying decision. That’s why using email to deliver information and offers that aid the customer’s decision-making process is the best way to support – and accelerate – the buying process.

Once a person has been attracted to your web site, use email to engage with and move the prospect through the consideration and evaluation stages . . . all the way to purchase. Serve your subscribers well, and they will reward you with their business. In fact, Forrester Research reports that “those who buy products marketed through email spend 138% more than non-readers of email.”

3. Put the Customer in Control.

One of the smartest things you can do to maximize email marketing performance is to personalize email content to the subscriber’s needs. When a new subscriber opts in to receive email from you, invite her to go to your preference center where she can check off her needs and topics of interest relevant to the products or services you offer. Then, use the Dynamic Content feature in ExactTarget to deliver content that’s relevant and timely. This is the essence of ExactTarget’s Subscribers Rule mantra.

Having trouble seeing the good in your database?  Separating the diamonds from the dirt can be tough and time intensive, but if you map out a plan ahead of time it can save you time and sanity!

• Create a CRM data standard sheet and separate the data elements into three categories:
  • Information that must be there and must be correct for all of your systems to align properly (i.e. key ID’s, emails, etc.)
  • Information that should be correct for rules within your CRM system to work – if you have set up custom validation rules surrounding addresses for instance, outline what those rules are and what format data has to be in to fit within those rules.
  • Information that people have asked for to make marketing, sales, and customer support, etc. work better.
• Determine what data needs to look like within all of the key fields idenitifed above.  (I.E. – State should always be two-letter abbreviation instead of the full name, make a designated location for name pronunciation guides (input by sales) so they don’t clutter the name field, etc.
• Next, do a quick data quality analysis on each data element in these three categories. Score the data quality by answering questions such as:
  • Does this data element have an undisputed owner? Is it updated by a team member as a natural step in a key business process? Or can nearly anyone update it at any time?
  • What percentage of the CRM records has this data element missing, clearly incorrect, or duplicate? Determine the best course of action for filling in the gaps, do you have the resources in house or do you need to find a vendor who can do this?

Based on the results of your scoring (step 3), you’ll have a better idea of who you can assign items to for fixing and where you need to focus your efforts in terms of filling in the gaps.  Assign them out to the people who can fill in the gaps and make sure to supply everyone with the same set of ‘rules’ or standards for what the end result should look like.

Once you’ve got your data cleaned up, make sure your data standards sheet is up-to-date with any changes in process you may have made during the clean up process and then circulate it.  Your teams will be much more likely to keep the data looking the way it needs to if they know what the standards are.

Engagement Systems is one of the newer players in the marketing automation space. We let them “speak for themselves” earlier this week, but I wanted to dive further to check out some of their content.  So far they only have a few whitepapers and case studies, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of their content.  Their whitepaper, Influence the Buying Process with Automated Marketing, is a quick read packed with great tips.  The whitepaper promises 10 tactics for improving revenue and ROI now.  After the explantion of each tactic they offer a take-away (great idea for your next whitepaper or eBook).  Here are the take-aways from the whitepaper:

1. Don’t let prospects fall through the cracks. Protect your marketing investment and maximize resources through better lead qualification and lead nurturing.
2. Unify sales and marketing in the pursuit of common goals.
3. Continue generating leads, but put greater emphasis on nurturing activities as well as retention and winback strategies to maximize customer lifetime revenue.
4. Make sure that you have all the materials in place to be the resource for information to support your buyer.
5. Map out the buying process and help prospects and customers navigate their way to a buying decision.
6. Automate the sales and marketing process by setting event and behavior triggers that utilize intelligent marketing automation to autoexecute marketing touches.
7. Deploy one-to-one communications for more meaningful dialogue with prospects and customers to shorten the buying process.
8. Commit to an ongoing learning process; employ a valuable exchange of information to align your product and service offerings with the changing needs and interests of each individual buyer.
9. Deploy multiple means of outreach to ensure that your message is received, and to move the customer towards a purchase position relative to their individual needs and interests.
10. Establish ongoing contact with customers to preserve satisfaction, increase up-selling and cross-selling, and decrease customer defections.

Be sure to read the entire whitepaper for the full story.  It is definitely worth the read.

Do you know who your customers are?  Not just by name, but do you know what they actually do, why your product is a good fit for them?  Better yet, do you know what makes some of your customers less than a good fit?  Here at ReachForce we try to take a holistic approach to analyzing our customers both those who we do regular business with and those that we may not have continued business with (I know it’s not a pretty subject but everyone’s got them).

In looking at what these customers do, what their price point is and the rates that they convert (from trial to subscription or bookings to revenue) we can get a much better picture as to what types of customers we do well with and where we should focus future data discovery. It’s a simple enough exercise, but take a look at your top 10-15 customers (those who spend the most with you) and your worst customers (those who may have done business with you once and then never again), see what parallels you can draw between the customers within each group.  For us we’ve learned that customers with a higher price point, a tech focused business and those who market to more than one vertical seem to have a greater need for what we do an a tolerance for our price point.

Once you’ve gotten a clearer picture of what your good customers look like and what the less than successful customers look like, you can better focus your marketing efforts (and for you sales folk out there, your follow up and prospecting efforts).  Now that you have a profile of your best customer, be sure to do continued contact discovery to find more buyers that are similar to your best customers.

Does your sales team understand the metrics you’re measuring?  Think about it this way, your sales team is focused on numbers, hitting the right number of activities each day/week, turning out the right amount of proposals to get good closed deals, and of course, the all important quota figure!

So when asked, you tell the sales team you measure click-throughs, website visits, opens, but it doesn’t mean anything to them….why you ask? Because just like all of the rest of us, they only care about what directly impacts them, yes you can make a case for the activity you’re measuring to impact them but it’s a story, it’s not a direct correlation.

What directly correlates to daily life of a sales person?  The number of leads you’re putting in the top of the funnel.  Let’s be more specific though, not just leads, QUALITY leads.  First you’ve got to have a unified definition of a quality lead (is it someone who has shown interest through opening your emails, checking out your site or is it someone who has downloaded a few resources, attended some webinars and who fits a great profile of your ideal buyer?), get on the same page with sales – decide what that perfectly qualified and quality lead is because not everyone who fills out a web form or downloads a white paper fits that mold.

The important thing is to directly correlate what you’re doing with what your sales team is doing – how many leads did you fill the pipe with this week and then track them through the pipeline.  How many of those leads generated the right kind of activity to create a closed deal?  Bring this full circle for a minute, if you can track how many leads you put in the pipeline that generate activity during each phase of the pipe and then close, pretty impressive stuff to the C-level folks!

Now for tracking this stuff:

1. In your CRM, use a lead source field – map it to the contact through the process (for all of your salesforce.com users, we’ll have some instructions soon).
2. Keep tabs on where these leads came, from…not just that marketing delivered them but that you purchased them from ReachForce, got them from an event/trade show, they were a web form, etc.  That way you can see what sources generate the most successful leads and  you can replicate that success.
3. Don’t just look at this information once and then toss it – keep track of it historically, the more information you’re armed with the better off you’ll be.