A New Guide to Effective B2B Demand Generation Page 1CATALYST WHITE PAPER

A New Guide to Effective B2B Demand Generation

BY: JEFF CLEARY | MANAGING DIRECTOR

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Never forget that it is a human being or team of human beings who will make the ultimate buying decision.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

In B2B demand generation, much has changed over the last 20 years. Where we once focused on controlling the sales process, we now focus on understanding the buyer’s journey, since it is the buyer who’s driving the bus. Easy access to information online often negates the need for the buyer to engage with the salesperson until late in the decision-making process. Several studies even claim that buyers don’t engage with sales until after their buying preferences are already established. All of this puts a significant damper on our ability to influence prospects when they are in the early stages of consideration.

This shift represents a sea change in the way B2B buyers and sellers do business together. However, there are still key aspects that have not changed. For example, we’ve known for years that a buyer’s journey is not linear. More often than not, entry into the sales cycle is spurred by a specific business event, such as a particular competitive situation, a new regulatory requirement, or the need to drive revenue and/or bottom line efficiency. Often these decisions are not anticipated nor planned for.As in the past, the buyer wants to make the best informed decision with the least amount of risk. And, as in the past, the seller strives to be the trusted partner who exceeds the buyer’s expectations.

What’s especially held firm: At the end of the day, it’s still about people buying from people. You can have all the technology in the world, all the marketing automation on the planet, the best CRM at your fingertips … but never forget that it is a human being or team of human beings who will make the ultimate buying decision. Every outreach communication and every engagement effort must always keep that in mind.

So where does all that leave us?

THE EVOLUTION OF DEMAND GENERATION

In our experience (more than 26 years), there were two distinct phases that preceded today’s demand generation environment.

1. Response management

2. Lead generation

Let’s talk a little bit about what those phases were.

We now focus on understanding the buyer’s journey, since it is the buyer who’s driving the bus.

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THE EARLY DAYS (PHASE 1): RESPONSE MANAGEMENT

For the purposes of this discussion, let’s define “response management” as the process of collecting and qualifying advertising and PR responses. In the early days of the World Wide Web, progressive B2B marketers quickly figured out how to use the Internet to enhance outreach to their target audiences. The strategy was pretty straightforward and pretty linear: Advertising and PR would drive prospects to a landing page or microsite where product/service information could be requested and/or downloaded. Even then, best-in-class marketers knew it was a good strategy to create an interactive environment that offered their buyers added value. It was a way to thank prospects for their inquiry, learn more about their interests and ask a few qualifying questions.

When a prospect registered and downloaded content, a trained telesales representative was alerted, in real time. A call was made to the prospect, usually within 30 minutes, positioned as a service call, to see whether the prospect had what she or he needed and whether the rep could offer additional help. That call set the stage for a conversation in which we could learn more about the prospect’s company, his or her interests, and the prospect’s role in the purchase process. This data was captured, then vetted by both sales and marketing to better understanding the prospect’s needs and level of interest. This was the first step in creating the human connection that is the foundation of all successful selling.

This process also made the marketing people happy, because the information captured became the basis of the prospect database. At the time, most B2B databases were nothing more than a customer billing file (name, address, phone, etc.). Prospect data beyond basic firmographic data didn’t exist and/or was poorly maintained. The quality of the data captured through this process set the stage for more targeted outreach.

By today’s standards, this process was pretty primitive, but it worked. There was no “lead generation” per se. Contact was reactive at best, and telemarketing was primarily response fulfillment.

Then we as B2B marketers got a bit more sophisticated … and introduced more formalized lead generation methods.

THE MID 2000s (PHASE 2): LEAD GENERATION EVOLVES

By the early 2000s, the combination of the database with variable data print was making headway, and it brought an unprecedented degree of relevance to print communication. Direct and digital marketing profes-

B2B marketers got a bit more sophisticated … and introduced more formalized lead generation methods.

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sionals developed robust campaigns that:

• Leveraged response and qualification data to target more effectively

• Utilized a high level of personalization in the messaging

• Deployed compelling offers, both personal and business-related

• Used a systemic, multi-touch approach

Typical marketing programs would begin with dynamic initial direct mail communication, followed by email and telesales. Although response options were present in all of the direct mail and email communications, the primary goal was to “warm up” the prospect and make him/her receptive to the telesales call.

What was the real value in this multi-step process, beyond presenting the benefits of their solution? Ongoing engagement between the buyer and seller. In an environment with an extended sales cycle, the earlier that di-alogue begins, the better. As we know, the ability to shape the prospect’s thinking about a future purchase is a huge sales advantage.

But it could have been better. This approach was very effective at engaging prospects who were “in market.” That singular focus on the top of the funnel yielded near-term results … but did little to cultivate future sales.

Marketing attempted to remedy the situation by deploying content based on assumptions about prospects who weren’t yet ready to engage with sales. But it was done with a narrow view of the prospect. The one thing that was lacking was the understanding of the buyer’s journey. Specifically, what they were thinking, feeling and doing throughout the buying process. Without this degree of knowledge, marketers deployed content that “felt right” to the marketer … but didn’t address the real needs of the buyer. It simply was not as relevant as it could or should have been. The majority of marketing spend was focused on identifying the “in market” prospect and a minimal amount on the rest of the funnel. That approach needed to be reversed. FAST FORWARD: DEMAND GENERATION TODAY

More than ever, marketing today is measured on business outcomes, not on marketing metrics. It’s not acceptable to exceed the goal for leads and miss the revenue target. The upside is, it forces marketing and sales to embrace a singular goal. And that’s the way it should be. Even in the past, those organizations whose marketing and sales approached the challenge collaboratively succeeded more often than not.

One thing that was lacking was the understanding of the buyer’s journey. Specifically, what they were thinking, feeling and doing throughout the buying process.

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Today’s B2B demand gen has to be focused on:

• Driving potential buyers through their purchase journey

• Maintaining a quality sales funnel

• Creating opportunities

To do this effectively, you must understand the buyer’s journey. Without a deep understanding of the buyer’s journey, your results will be limited and you will likely end up spinning your wheels.

STEP 1: UNDERSTAND THE BUYER’S JOURNEY

The first step in understanding the buyer’s journey is mapping it. And this effort requires extensive and effective research into the target audience. Often, it will entail connecting with multiple influencers and decision makers. Your goal is to identify where your company can most effectively influence a buyer’s decision within that journey.

What are the steps of the journey? A recent Gartner, Inc. study (May 2015) brings a contemporary definition to the question. Gartner outlines four phases in the journey:

1. Explore — Buyers identify a need or opportunity and begin looking for ways to address it. Much of this is self-directed research via the web.

2. Evaluate – Buyers take a closer look at options uncovered while exploring. In addition to continuing self-directed research, buyers may engage with peers and vendor sales may take place.

3. Engage – Buyers initiate further contact with vendors to help continue on the path toward purchase.

4. Experience — Buyers use a solution, often in a pilot or proof of concept, to develop perceptions of value.

Keep in mind that the buyer is looking to make the very best informed decision for their company. It’s not just a features/benefits calculation. It’s “who can I trust?” No amount of online research can fully answer that question. (In fact, online research may often accelerate, not postpone, the need to connect with the seller.)

Without a deep understanding of the buyer’s journey, your results will be limited and you will likely end up spinning your wheels.

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STEP 2: DEVELOP PERSONAS

Developing B2B buyer personas is a critical step in understanding who your buyers are. They also create tighter alignment across your different departments, according to Referral SaaSquatch, a B2B software platform consultant. According to them, these are some of the persona traits you should consider: personality, story, needs, and values. The idea is that once you’ve better defined your ideal customer, you can better market to and sell to them.

Why is this step important?

1. 71% of companies who exceed revenue and lead goals have documented personas vs. 37% who simply meet goals and 26% who miss them. Source: Buyer Insights Benchmark

Source: “Tech-go-to-Market: Effective Sales Interactions Guide Buyers Forward through Insights and Added Value,” Hank Barnes and Tiffani Bova, Gartner, Inc.

This is reinforced in the following chart:

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL B2B MARKETING ACTIVITIES

On average, business buyers say direct interactions with providers influence their purchasing decisions more than anything else.

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Technical Decision Maker: The Transformational Leader

• CIO• Technical decision maker• Develops IT strategy and roadmap• Leads technology team that evaluates technology options

Key Attributes 40-55 years old: Masters in Science, Executive MBA; at least 15 years experience in enterprise leadership roles

Attitude Leader, business savvy, frugal, skeptical of vendor claims

Job Focus Creating enterprise wide change, shifting perception of technology from utilitarian to strategic

Values

• Leadership: Ability to see and convey the “big picture”• Knowledge and expertise: Broad IT knowledge but not interested in technical details• Innovation: Follows latest trends; seeks proof of how others have applied new technologies• Expectations: High expectations of IT team and vendors/solutions to make strategic

roadmap a reality

Fears Making bad purchase decision, tarnishing reputation

Internal Influences Board of directors, CEO, CFO

Motivators Bonus structure, ego, industry recognition

Source: Referral SaaSquatch

STEP 3: USE YOUR DATA AND ANALYTICS

You’re probably already doing some basic segmentation. And you may already be using marketing automation within a CRM environment. But there are a few other smart ways to use data and analytics to determine how to implement your marketing and sales efforts.

Where most companies fail is in limiting their analytics efforts to basic targeting, rather than expanding their use to include:

2. Marketers who use personas and map content to the buyer’s journey enjoy 73% higher conversions from response to marketing qualified lead (MQL). Source: Aberdeen Research

3. Customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than non- customer-centric organizations. Source: Deloitte & Touche

The following is a sample of a properly developed B2B buyer persona:

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• Identifying their best prospects – doing a customer value analysis to determine who your most valuable customers are, who are likely to become the most valuable customers, and whom to curtail spending on. Often companies who go through this exercise discover that their A-list prospects aren’t who they thought they would be. Going through this process is not only valuable for marketing, it is extremely helpful to the sales force, who tend to pursue the lowest-hanging fruit – known prospects or prior customers — who may or may not be the ones most likely to buy. And finally, it focuses marketing and sales on the same targets

• Leveraging learnings to segment their communications messaging and approach

• Understanding where buyers are in the customer journey toward purchase (which should also drive your content strategy)

The real value of using your data and analytics lies in discovering where you don’t want to spend your dollars. It gives your team focus. Armed with this knowledge, both sales and marketing can be more efficient and convert more sales.

STEP 4: DEVELOP CONTENT. LOTS OF CONTENT

Content is what drives engagement between buyer and seller. In numerous studies, buyers indicate that content has a significant impact on the final decision.

Content needs to address all phases of the buyer’s journey. Because interaction can occur at any phase, you must have the right content for the right time in the journey. (See “The Content Grid v2,” Eloqua) The importance of relevance cannot be stressed enough. And unless you understand the buyer’s journey and where they reside at any given time, you cannot create and target inbound (or outbound) content effectively. Your data simply will not give you this qualitative view.

Impress1 sums up the role of content marketing as “providing information to customers and prospects in order to build trust, develop brand, and ensure your brand is seen as an expert in the subject matter.”

We take this a step further: Content marketing needs to drive buyer/seller interaction. We often hear that content is purely an inbound marketing play. In many instances that’s true. But, don’t minimize the ability of quality content to drive an effective outreach effort. For example, an insightful research study that addresses a core industry challenge can be a very effective outreach tool in the hands of a skilled marketer. It gives you the opportunity to be proactive vs. reactive.

The real value of using your data and analytics lies in discovering where you don’t want to spend your dollars.

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STEP 5: FUNNEL AND OPPORTUNITY MANAGEMENT

THE ROLE OF THE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

It is the role of the marketing department to create a seamless experience from your CRM to your marketing automation to your website to your lead generation activities.

But as in any data-driven environment, this process needs to be managed. We believe this process warrants the need for a hybrid role: The Business Development Manager (BDM).

CONTENT AND CONTACT

The BDM bridges the gap between marketing and sales and unifies your entire demand gen program. It is a particularly important role today, given the changes in many field sales organizations: fewer staff functioning at a higher level, with a focus on consultative selling.

Your BDM and your field sales force work as a team. They understand the targets, the content strategy and the contact methodology. There is a clear definition of a qualified opportunity.

On a routine basis they decide how each inbound response or identified outreach target is to be handled. Together, they determine the correct approach to move the prospect through the journey and the sales process. One team. One voice, making the buyer’s experience seamless.

The BDM has tactical responsibility for the management of sales funnel data, from the status of individual prospect records to the weekly results dashboard. He or she interfaces regularly with marketing to share results, needs and feedback from the field. He or she is your “feet on the street, eyes on the prize.” He or she shares the same revenue goals as marketing. With complete transparency, marketing and sales both understand where their efforts are in relation to the shared goal.

The role of the BDM is especially critical now, with more complex sales cycles and smaller sales forces who need to be more efficient. The BDM keeps the sales force focused on the right things at the right time, so they can more effectively lead more prospects through the buyer’s journey and even shorten the selling cycle.

The functional role that bridges the gap between marketing and sales.

MARKETING

SALES

BDM:CONTEXT

+CONTACT

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BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

Let’s sum it up. What does it take to succeed in demand generation today?

1. Focus on engagement: a. Understand the buyer’s journey b. Develop personas c. Use analytics d. Develop content for each stage of the funnel

2. Leverage: a. Content b. Data c. Analytics: i. CRM ii. Marketing automation

3. Organize marketing and sales into a singular force: a. Shared revenue goals b. Shared accountability for engagement

4. Utilize BDM as a tactical bridge: a. Between marketing and sales (internal) b. Between prospects and sales (external) c. In collaboration with field sales

HOW TO CONTACT US

Comments? Questions? Discussions? I would be happy to address them, call Jeff Cleary at

585.453.8309 or email: jcleary@catalystinc.com.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORJeff Cleary is managing director of Catalyst, a 26-year-old marketing agency based in Rochester, New York, where he oversees all agency business-to-business relationships. Jeff specializes in developing data-driven strategies for lead acquisition, retention and lead nurturing, particularly for capital equipment manufacturers, workflow providers and their partners.

A founding member of the American Telemarketing Association (now part of the Direct Marketing Association), he is considered a pioneer in the field of B2B marketing. Outside the office, Jeff serves on the board of one of the nation’s largest community college foundations and stays active by working on his golf swing.

ABOUT CATALYST

Catalyst (www.catalystinc.com) is a marketing agency that helps businesses develop compelling ways to engage their customers at every stage of the pipeline. We do this by using analytics to identify best cus-tomer targets and empowering the sales force to focus on those custom-ers. We then apply intellectual curiosity and inquisitiveness to create the right content and messaging to drive customers toward purchase.

We call it Science + Soul.

It’s a powerful combination that improves our clients’ marketing, because it aligns the company’s sales process with the customer’s buying needs and measurably increases revenue.

Headquartered in Rochester, New York, our B2B clients have included Kodak, Kodak Alaris, Océ Business Systems (now a Canon company), Hewlett Packard, Heraeus Kulzer, Ricoh, Sanofi, Xerox, Xeikon, Johnson & Johnson Orthoclinical Diagnostics, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Pitney Bowes, Carestream Health, and many others.

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