OPTIMIZING CONTENT: HOW TO REACH YOUR PROSPECTS WITH THE RIGHT MESSAGE AT THE RIGHT TIME

Presented by Marcus Tewksbury and Sharon Zaugh

engagement

Social CRM

user generated content

reputation management

customer centric

web 2.0

content marketing

maturity model

contextual discovery

crowdsourcing

social search

digital marketing

revenue performance management

demand generationshare of

voiceshare of wallet

demand funnel

customer success management

sales enablement

ROI

mobility

business intelligence

customer experience

customer lifecycle management

loyalty marketing

inbound marketing

interactive marketing

lead management

Content is King

Agenda:

• Marketing 101: Right People, Right Place, Right Message

• Mapping Content to the Buyer Journey

• Getting the Most Bang for Your Content Buck

Marketing 101:Right PeopleRight PlaceRight Message

People

Buyer Personas are short descriptions or biographies of fictitious, archetypical customers. A persona definition provides clarity on your target for programming and for communication.

Creating Buyer Personas – Data Collection Methods• Interviews

– Customers– Prospects– Sales team

• Registration forms• Keyword analysis• Analyst/competitor reports• Observation

– Live events– Social networks (e.g. LinkedIn Groups, Twitter

hashtags)

Creating Buyer Personas – Defining Segments

• User• Influencer• Technical buyer• Economic buyer• Decision maker

Creating Buyer Personas – Key Attributes

• Title• Job description• Industry• Years of experience• Years in current role• Role in purchase decision• Needs• Pain points• Pressures and barriers

Sample Buyer Persona

• VP of Marketing• Responsible for creating and managing overall marketing

strategy encompassing direct, email, event and online marketing

• Mid – large online retailers• 15 – 20 years total experience• 3 – 5 years in current role• Purchase role = decision maker• Needs to align disparate systems to better track success of

each department within marketing• Reporting variables and timing is not consistent among

department managers• Under pressure from CEO to reduce spending over last year

Buyer Persona Impact on Content

• VP has many direct reports and ultimate purchase authority– Focus on later stage content

• Less concerned with features/functionality, more concerned with integrating into existing programs– Provide case study showing how clients have

implemented tool with a summary of benefits

• Price sensitive– Call out cost benefit over competitors, show how

to calculate ROI

Additional Buyer Persona Attributes

• Name• Age• Education• Likes/dislikes of job• Outside Interests

Sample Buyer Persona – Additional Attributes

• VP Veronica• 43• MBA• Enjoys variety of disciplines and

ability to impact overall strategy.Dislikes time spent in meetings andreviewing reports to keep up with thework of various departments

• Interests include running and community involvement in educational and arts organizations

Additional Insight for Content• As a member of Gen X, Veronica is independent

and self-sufficient– She values self-guided information

• Through her educational background, she has a strong understanding of corporate organizations– Do not spend extra time defining concepts or terms

• Veronica is always on the go at work and in her personal life– Provide short, easy to digest information rather

than longer narratives

Getting Started Tips for Creating Buyer Personas• Plan carefully– If resources are limited, start small

• Take your time collecting data– Interviews are best, utilize them when you can

• Be prepared to refine– Buyer attributes may change over time– Add deeper insights where resources are

available

• Remember why you’re doing this– Insights should influence the content you create

and distribute

Place

Marketing channels are the avenues an organization uses to communicate with potential buyers in order to lead them toward a purchase decision

Marketing Channels

• Offline– Direct Mail– Print– TV– Radio– Telemarketing– Tradeshow– Conference/Seminar– Point of Purchase

Marketing Channels

• Online– Email– Search– Blog– Company Website–Webinar– Online Advertising

Marketing Channels

• Mobile– SMS– Email– Advertising– Search– Podcast– Custom Apps

Marketing Channels

• Social– Social networks–Microblogs– Collaboration tools–Wiki– Customer Forums– Social Bookmarking– Photo sharing

Message

Buyer’s journey refers to the behaviors of a consumer along the path of the sales cycle beginning from the identification of a business problem through to the purchase of a solution

Fun with FunnelsAwareness

Interest

Evaluation

Commitment

Referral

MAPPING CONTENT TO THE BUYER’S JOURNEY

Buyer Needs at Each Stage of the Journey

• Discovery– Understand the business problem and

identify vendors who offer a solution

• Consideration– Explore available vendors comparing them

to one another and evaluating each against the business needs

• Decision– Justify cost of solution and ensure it will

meet the needs of the business

Mapping Content to the Buyer’s Journey

• Discovery–Content that informs the buyer • Blog• Article• Self-assesment• Overview whitepaper

Mapping Content to the Buyer’s Journey

• Consideration–Content that helps the buyer select

the ideal vendor• Case study• Demo• Data sheet

Mapping Content to the Buyer’s Journey

• Decision–Content that validates the

purchase• ROI calculator• Checklist• Feature comparison

GETTING THE MOST BANG FOR YOUR MARKETING BUCK

SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall

Processes to Have in Place to Measure the Demand Waterfall

• Capture lead source to ensure marketing generated leads are tracked separately from sales generated or any other source

• Analyze existing lead scores to determine optimal point at which a lead is ready to engage with sales

• Confirm lead status is update to signify sales acceptance

• Verify opportunity status is visible to marketing

Demand Waterfall Benchmark Conversions

Conversion Stage

Average Strong Best

Inquiry to MQL

4.1 5.8 9.7

MQL to SAL 62 65.6 74.5

SAL to SQL 47.5 56.4 60.5

SQL to Won 22.1 26.9 30.7

* SiriusDecisions Benchmarks

Calculating Your Conversions• Keep in mind that outbound

marketing efforts typically garner a 1.5-2.5% response rate (i.e. inquiries)

• Review sales and marketing data for a 12 month historical period to calculate conversions

A Conversion Example

• Assume 10,000 inquiries annually (from 400,000 – 670,000 targeted)

400,000Targets

10,000Inquiries

A Conversion Example

• An average 4.1% conversion to MQL = 410

Inquiries MQL

10000

410

Inquiry to MQL

A Conversion Example

• If 62% convert to the next stage, that will result in 254 SALs (MQLs that are not accepted by sales should be returned to marketing to be included in a nurture campaign)Sales

Re-jected38%

SALs62%

A Conversion Example

• A 47.5% conversion to SQLs will created 121 opportunities

SAL SQL254 121

A Conversion Example• If 22.1% of the opportunities close,

this will equal 27 won deals attributed to marketing

MQL

SAL

SQLWon

Lead Conversions

Won

SQL

SAL

MQL

Inquiry

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

27

121

254

410

10000

Leads Conversion

Recycled Leads

SQLs

SALs

MQLs

Inquiries

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

94

133

156

9590

Recycled Leads

10,000 – 27 = 9,973

9,590 + 156 + 133 + 94 = 9,973

Don’t Fret If You’re Below Average

• Calculate the ratio of yourconversion rates to the average– Ex. If Your Inquiry to MQL is 3% and your

SAL to SQL is 38%, your Inquiry to MQL is 27% below average and your SAL to SQL is 20% below average. In this instance, you should focus more on Inquiry to MQL than SAL to SQL

Tying It All Together

• Once you’ve confirmed your lowest stages of conversion (in comparison to the benchmarks), determine what type of content to focus your efforts on most– Ex. If you have low conversion at the SQL

to won stage, consider who is involved in that stage and what are their needs.Perhaps you need to focus more onVP Veronica and give her information toprove your product is worth the price

Resources

• Content Marketing Institute• Buyer Persona Institute• SiriusDecisions

Contact

Marcus Tewksbury@tewksbum

Sharon Zaugh@sharon_zaugh