Smart Markeng for Engineers Workshop ACerS Workshop/SMFE … · drive website traﬃc and leads,...

Smart Marke*ng for Engineers Workshop

Marke&ngPlanning&ContentMarke&ngWorkbook

INTRODUCTION

Marketers have a saying: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Without planning and a sound strategy, how can you know where you are going or what you need to do to get there?

A sound marke*ng strategy aligned with your highest-level business goals helps you create awareness for your company and its products and services, drive website traffic and leads, and generate new sales opportuni*es that meet your company’s target audience profile.

Through our proven Smart Marke*ng approach, we step you through the key stages of developing your plan, targeted to achieving or exceeding you goals and with success measures to prove return on investment.

Table of Contents:

Document your business goals 3

Iden*fy key markets 4

Define your buyer personas 5

Iden*fy your SWOT 6

Select your key ini*a*ves 8

Outline your current and future state 9

Develop your marke*ng goals 10

Create your campaigns 11

Set your success measures 15

Build your ac*on plan 16

Marke&ngPlanning&ContentMarke&ng

2

1.Documentbusinessstrategytoinformyourplan

BusinessgoalsKeymarketsAudience

2.Evaluatecurrentstateandoutlinedesiredfuturestate

Marke7ngSWOTKeyini7a7ves

Currentandfuturestate

3.CreateaplantogetthereMarke7nggoals

CampaignsAc7vi7esandKPIs

PART 1: MARKETING PLANNING

BUSINESS GOALS

The most successful marke*ng plans start with establishing business goals. Your goals can be externally focused, internally focused, or perhaps a mix of both. Hereisalistofareasyoumaybuildyourbusinessgoalsaround:

q  Improve customer sa*sfac*on

q  Establish or increase brand awareness

q  Find new markets for products or services

q  Expand product or service lines

q  Decrease *me to market

q  Improve employee sa*sfac*on

q  Increase management communica*on

q  Reduce opera*onal costs

q  Generate new sources of revenue

q  Develop new partnerships and nurturing exis*ng ones

q  _____________________________________

Whatareyourtop3businessgoalsforthisyear?1.___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

2.___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3.___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________


3

When developing goals, write them in the SMART format that ensure accountability. SMART stands for: •  Specific •  Measureable •  A\ainable •  Realis*c •  Time-Bound Forexample,aSMARTbusinessgoalcouldbe:“Increaseby10%thepercentoftotalrevenuecomingfromthemilitarymarket”. Develop at least three and no more than five business goals.

KEY MARKETS

Ques&ons

1.  Whatisyourcurrentrevenuebreakdownbyindustryorapplica7on?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.  Whatgrowthopportuni7esdoyouforesee?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.  Arethereanynewareasthatyouwanttotarget?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.  Arethereanyareasofdivestment?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.  Howdoyouexpectfuturerevenuetobreakoutbasedontheseopportuni7es?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4Marke&ngPlanning&ContentMarke&ng

Now that you have documented your top business goals for the year, you need to iden*fy key markets that will help you grow your business and inform your marke*ng strategy.

BUYER PERSONAS

Foryourtoppersona,answerthefollowingques&ons:

1.  Whataretheirgoals?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.  Whataretheirpainpoints?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.  Whatdotheyvaluemostinavendor?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.  Wheredotheygettheirinforma7on?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.  Whataretheircontentpreferences?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Knowing whom you are communica*ng with is key to crea*ng content that converts. This starts with iden*fying your primary buyer persona. A persona is defined as a representa*on of your ideal audience.

Who are your top 3 target customers (job *tle)?

1._______________________________

2._______________________________

3.__________________________________

“B2P–or‘business-to-people’–marke7ng...it’snotcompanies[butpeople]thatbuy

things...suppliershavetounderstandthosepeopletodayfarbe8erandgetinfrontofthem

farearlierthaneverbeforewithcontent...that...specificallyspeakstoeachof

theiruniqueneedsandpriori7es.”

--TheChallengerCustomer

MARKETING SWOT

List3Strengths

Example:Ac7veblogwithCTAsonallposts.

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

List3Weaknesses

Example:Nomarke7ngautoma7ontohandleinboundleads.

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________


6

Iden*fying your current marke*ng strengths, weaknesses, opportuni*es, and threats helps you priori*ze focus areas and determine key ini*a*ves to strengthen your marke*ng program. Consider the following marke*ng areas: •  Messaging•  Content&SEO•  Website•  Marke7ngautoma7on•  Leads•  Events•  Partnerco-marke7ng•  Compe7tormarke7ngefforts

MARKETING SWOT

List3Opportuni&es

Example:Simplifyhomepagedesignsomessaging/focusareascomesthroughmoreclearly.

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

List3Threats

Example:Lackofclearnaviga7ononWebwon’tleadvisitorsdownthefunnel.

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________


7

Iden*fying your current marke*ng strengths, weaknesses, opportuni*es, and threats helps you priori*ze focus areas and determine key ini*a*ves to strengthen your marke*ng program. Consider the following marke*ng areas: •  Messaging•  Content&SEO•  Website•  Marke7ngautoma7on•  Leads•  Events•  Partnerco-marke7ng•  Compe7tormarke7ngefforts

KEY INITIATIVES

Ac*vi*es that will make up your marke*ng focus for the year.

Hereisalistofexamplekeyini&a&ves

q  Redesign your website q  Create new messaging and posi*oning q  Launch new product(s) and/or service(s) q  Implement a marke*ng automa*on plaeorm q  Build a partner co-marke*ng strategy q  Hold or par*cipate in a significant event

Whatareyourtop3keymarke&ngini&a&ves?

Example:LGIPhardwarerelease,theme:reliability,ruggeddesign,audience:industrialautoma7on,enterprise-wide.

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________


Typically, there are a few key ini*a*ves that several other marke*ng ac*vi*es circulate around. This could be a product release, which drives content development, social promo*on, speaking engagements, and other ac*vity. It could be a significant marke*ng investment like a website redesign, which could drive marke*ng ac*vi*es such as messaging development, content crea*on, and SEO implementa*on. Document your top marke*ng ini*a*ves for next year.

CURRENT & FUTURE STATE Building on the marke*ng areas iden*fied in your SWOT, document the current state of key elements of your marke*ng program and then define your desired future state, no*ng a *meframe by which to achieve it.


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CurrentState FutureState/Timeframe

Example:Content

Nostrategiccontentplanningorregularcadenceofcontentcrea7on.

Create&promotecontenttargetedtobuyerpersonasalongthefunnelmonthly;contentisop7mizedforsearch

Messaging

ContentandSEO

Website

Marke&ngAutoma&on

Leadgenera&on

PartnerMarke&ng

MARKETING GOALS

Documen7ngyourmarke7nggoalsiscri7caltoensuringyourteamisalignedaroundyourtopmarke7ngpriori7esandwhatyouexpecttoachievethroughyourmarke7ngefforts.Yourgoalscanbeexternallyfocused,internallyfocused,orperhapsamixofboth.Hereisalistofexampleareasyoumaybuildyourmarke&nggoalsaround:

q  Increasebrandawareness

q  Demonstratethoughtleadership

q  Developanonlinerapportwithyourcustomers

q  Penetrateamarketorapplica7onspace

q  Launchanewproductorservice

q  Createausercommunity

q  Increasewebvisits

q  Increaseleads

q  Communicatewithemployeesorpartners

q  _____________________________________

Whatareyourtop3-5marke&nggoalsforthisyear?1.___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

2.___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3.___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

4.___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

5.___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________


10

When developing goals, write them in the SMART format that ensures accountability. SMART stands for: •  Specific •  Measureable •  A\ainable •  Realis*c •  Time-Bound For example, a SMART marke*ng goal could be: “Increase by 15% the number of qualified leads passed to sales in the military market”. Develop at least three, and no more than five, SMART marke*ng goals.

CAMPAIGNS

Campaignshelpyougroupyourmarke7ngac7vi7esintocommonthemestoorganize,focusandtrackyourefforts.

Hereareareasaroundwhichyoucouldbuildcampaigns:q  Thoughtleadershipinaspecificapplica7onareaq  Newmarketpenetra7onq  Leadgenera7onforaspecificproduct,segmentq  Partnerco-marke7ngq  Salesenablementq  Contentmarke7ngq  Companyanniversary,significantaward

Create3Marke&ngCampaigns

Example:NewMarketPenetra7on–EmbeddedWireless

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________


To organize your marke*ng program, it is helpful to break up your efforts into campaigns. Campaigns are simply a way to bucket a set of marke*ng ac*vi*es you are doing around a par*cular ini*a*ve, launch, or theme and track progress collec*vely.

CAMPAIGN 1

Marke&ngCampaign1

____________________________________________________


For each campaign, iden*fy your objec*ve and key tac*cs. Campaign objec*ves should support your overall marke*ng goals, but will likely be more tac*cal. Next, iden*fy key tac*cs that will help you meet your objec*ve. Choose tac*cs that relate to how your target audience finds informa*on, that address weaknesses you outlined in your SWOT, and will help get you closer to the future state you outlined.

Objec&ve Ac&vi&es KPIs

Buildamarke7ngfounda7onthatscaleswithandservesbusinessneedsandgrowthplans.

•  Createresponsive,op7mized,websitethatdrivesorganictrafficandinboundleads

•  Implementbrandposi7onandmessagingthroughoutsite•  Conductkeywordanalysis•  Createcomprehensivecontentplanquarterly•  Implementandonboardsalesandmarke7ngautoma7on•  Monitorwebsiteperformance,op7mizetoincrease

traffic/leads

WebtrafficLeadsDomainauthorityOrganictraffic

ExampleCampaign:Marke7ngFounda7on


1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.1011.12

CAMPAIGN 2

Marke&ngCampaign2

____________________________________________________



1.  Meet RF engineers where they are and drive them to our Website

2.  Launch 3 products to illustrate new capabili*es and reinforce current differen*ators in embedded wireless

•  Develop messaging for RF engineers that supports key company messaging

•  Create quarterly gated content geared to RF engineers, op*mize and promote

•  Develop narra*ves around product launches, incorporate into suppor*ng content and PR to op*mize coverage

•  Create video series highligh*ng embedded wireless pain points and how we are addressing them

•  Implement proac*ve partner co-marke*ng strategy to reach new audiences through new channels

Leads

Landing page conversion

Press coverage

Video views

Referral traffic and conversion to new contact

ExampleCampaign:NewMarketPenetra7oninEmbeddedWireless


1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.1011.12


CAMPAIGN 3

Marke&ngCampaign3

____________________________________________________



Growawarenessthroughnewchannelsandbuildpartnerrela7onshipsthroughco-marke7ngaroundkeyproductlaunchesandini7a7ves

•  Schedule, execute co-marke*ng mee*ng with partner; get agreement on key ac*vi*es, KPIs, co-marke*ng funding

•  Launch new product through co-marke*ng efforts with key partner to grow demand through new audiences

•  Promote content through partner channels, including social media and e-Newsle\er

•  Co-author ar*cles around key themes and pitch to relevant trade publica*ons

•  Develop a leadership round-table video to show leadership posi*on in IoT with key partners

Referral traffic

New contacts

Press coverage

Video views

ExampleCampaign:PartnerCo-Marke7ng


1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.1011.12


SET YOUR SUCCESS MEASURES

Basedonyourkeymarke7ngini7a7ves,determineyourKPIs.Checkoffthetop5KPIsyouwilltrack:

q  Number of Page Visits q  Time on Site q  Landing Page Bounce Rate q  Number of Landing Page Visits q  Number of Leads q  Conversion to Lead Percentage

q  Number of New Opportuni*es Generated q  Number of Technical Video Views q  Number of Configurators Completed q  Number of Evalua*on Kit Sales

SetthenumericmonthlytargetforeachoftheKPIsyoucheckedabove;includebaselinewheneverpossible.

1.  ___________________________________________

2.  ___________________________________________

3.  ___________________________________________

4.  ___________________________________________

5.  ___________________________________________


15

ACTION PLAN Once you’ve filled out the key tac*cs for each campaign, map those ac*vi*es to an in-depth marke*ng plan by month and assign owners. This is where you can add more detail, like key themes, messages, or content topics if you have them. Having all your ac*vity laid out like this is a good way to ensure that you have a steady cadence of ac*vity and is useful for resource planning as well. This is a living document that you can use throughout the year to ensure you are on track with your plan.


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Campaign Ac&vity Month KPI Owner

NewMarke7ngPenetra7on:EmbeddedWireless

CreategatedWPtargetedtodesignengineers,op7mizeandpromote

Q1 WPdown-loads

JaceThompson

PartnerCo-Marke7ng

ExecutejointWebinarwithFanuc(plantautoma7on)

Q2(April) Registra7on,newcontacts

ShannonJones

Campaign Ac&vity Month KPI Owner

Example

INTRODUCTION

Engineers and scien*sts are searching for informa*on throughout the en*re buying cycle from the ini*al research awareness stage at the top of the funnel to their purchase decision at the bo\om.

The majority of the buyer’s journey happens online before the prospect talks to sales, so it’s important to carefully plan your content development, target it to your key personas, develop relevant themes, and map content to each stage to engage your target audience through the process.

Through our proven treat-your-content-like-a-product approach, we step you through the key stages of developing your plan, with focus on your objec*ves and associated success metrics to prove return on investment.

Table of Contents:

Set your content objec*ves 18

Treat your content like a product 19

Develop content themes 20

Create headlines 21

Op*mize through keywords 22

Amplify your content 23

Iden*fy content to repurpose 24

Map content to the funnel 25

Align with sales 26

Set your success metrics 27


17

PART 2: CONTENT MARKETING

OBJECTIVES

The most successful content plans start with establishing content objec*ves. What do you hope to achieve by developing your content? Your objec*ves can be externally focused, internally focused, or perhaps a mix of both. Here is a list of example content development objec*ves:

q  Increase brand awareness

q  Demonstrate thought leadership

q  Develop an online rapport with your customers

q  Penetrate a market or applica*on space

q  Launch a new product or service

q  Grow organic traffic

q  Increase web visits

q  Increase leads

q  Communicate with employees or partners

q  _____________________________________


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TREAT YOUR CONTENT LIKE A PRODUCT

Content is the fuel that drives modern marke*ng. No ma\er what channels you’re using – trade shows, web, email marke*ng, PR, social media – you can’t expect a return for your efforts without high-quality content being at the heart of that effort.

With your customer personas defined, you are ready to create your plan. Star*ng with their key a\ributes and your defined objec*ves, follow the process below:

q  Develop 2 content themes of interest to your persona

q  Op*mize your content themes by iden*fying 4 keywords you’ll use to a\ract your persona

q  Determine how you will amplify your content to achieve desired results

q  Create a content map along the funnel

q  Consider how you can repurpose the lead-genera*ng content you will create or that already exists

q  Determine how you will measure the success of your content marke*ng efforts


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DEVELOP 4 CONTENT THEMES

ListbroadthemesontheleXandspecifictopicsontheright.

Armed with the key a\ributes of your persona, you are now ready to create a list of topics that will be of interest to them. To begin, create a list of 4 broad themes. For example, in the industrial automa*on space, one theme might be “Lean Manufacturing Process.” When you have listed out your 4 broad themes, drill down a level and make them more specific. An example of making a broad theme like “Lean Manufacturing Process” more specific might be “4 Tips to Ensure Your Manufacturing Process is More Efficient”.

BroadThemes SpecificTopic


20

HEADLINE DEVELOPMENT

Takeyourtopicsfromthepreviouspageandcreateafewheadlinesthats7ck.

Headline – Topic 1:

________________________________________________

________________________________________________


________________________________________________

________________________________________________


________________________________________________

________________________________________________


________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Headlines are key to catching readers’ a\en*on and inspiring them to to click, engage, and read your content. A few types of *tles that grab readers’ a\en*on include: 1. Controversy – offer alterna*ve opinions exposing people’s misconcep*ons 2. Lessons Learned/Mistakes – People like to learn from others mistakes before they make them on their own 3. Lists – “Top 10” and “7 Ways” lists are appealing as quick and easy reads 4. Guides – readers love instruc*onal manuals for doing something be\er Take your topics from the previous page and create a few headlines that s*ck.


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OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT WITH KEY WORDS

Toprac7cekeywordselec7on,startbypickingout2topicsfrompage20andlist4keywordsthatrelatetothetopicandyourpersona.

Topic ___________________________________________

Keywords

1. _____________________________________

2. _____________________________________

3. _____________________________________

4. _____________________________________

Topic ___________________________________________

Keywords

1. _____________________________________

2. _____________________________________

3. _____________________________________

4. _____________________________________


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Now that you know whom you are wri*ng your content for and what you will write about, go back to your persona worksheet on page 5 and review their pain points. This will give you some clues into keywords they will likely search on when researching vendor products and solu*ons. You should also consider key terms in your industry and/or related to your applica*ons and/or services.

HOW WILL YOU AMPLIFY YOUR CONTENT?

Consideringyourcontentthemeandkeywords,writeout2blogtopicsand2socialmediapoststoamplifyyourcontent:

BlogTopics

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

SocialMediaPosts:LinkedIn

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

SocialMediaPosts:Twi[er(140characterlimit)

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

When you create your content, it’s important to amplify it – or, said another way – promote it. Two op*mal channels for B2B content amplifica*on are blogs and social media. With amplifica*on, you increase the chances that your persona will find your content in their research. It’s also key that your amplifica*on plan considers frequency of posts. A good rule of thumb is to write at least 2 blog posts promo*ng your content and driving readers to your website to access the content and read more. For social media, best prac*ces for B2B technical markets include pos*ng to LinkedIn and Twi\er (and YouTube for video content) at least 2x a month per piece through its first year.


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LIST EXISTING CONTENT TO REPURPOSE

Listoutexis7ngcontentrelatedtoyourthemeandpersonaandiden7fythecontenttype.Then,checkoffhowyouwillrepurposeit.

ContenttoRepurpose/ContentType

1.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

q  Blogq  BlogSeries q  WhitePaperq  EBookq  Video/Webinarq  Exis7ngSlideDecksq  Other____________________________________

2.________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

q  Blogq  BlogSeries q  WhitePaperq  EBookq  Video/Webinarq  Exis7ngSlideDecksq  Other____________________________________

Inaddi7ontowri7ngfreshcontentonyouriden7fiedthemes,you’llalsowanttoconsiderrepurposingorcura7ngexis7ngcontentthatisrelatedtoyourthemeandrelevanttoyourpersona.Forexample:Youmayhaveawhitepaperonarelatedtopicthatismanyyearsold,butisakeydriverofvisitstoyoursite.Canyouupdatethispiecetomakeitcurrentbyaddinginnewtrendsintheindustry,newdata,andincludingthekeywordsyounotedonpage22?Youcanalsorepurposeablogseriesintoawhitepaper,awhitepaperintoablogseries,orafewrelatedwhitepapersintoanebook.


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MAP YOUR CONTENT TO THE FUNNEL

ContentTitle Stageofthe

Funnel

ContentType

Keywords Call-to-Ac&on

Herearesomeexamplesofcontenttypesalongthefunnel:Top-of-FunnelContent•  BlogPost/Series•  CaseStudies•  Top-LevelWebProduct/ServicePage

Middle-of-FunnelContent•  WhitePapers•  Webinars•  SoswareEvalua7on

Bo[om-of-FunnelContent•  ProductorServiceConfigurator•  Evalua7onKit•  ROICalculator


25

SALES/MARKETING ALIGNMENT

ListKPIstobesharedbysalesandmarke7ng

1.  ________________________________________________

2.  ________________________________________________

3.  ________________________________________________

Listtopwaysmarke7ngcanhelpsales

1.  ________________________________________________

2.  ________________________________________________

3.  ________________________________________________

Listtopwayssalescanhelpmarke7ng

1.  ________________________________________________

2.  ________________________________________________

3.  ________________________________________________

Sales/Marke&ngSyncMee&ngs

q  Goalsofmee7ng:

q  Exampletopics:

q  Howosenwillyoumeet?

q  Wholeadsthemee7ng?

Marke7nggeneratesdemandandsalesfulfillsit.Thebuyer,meanwhile,hasnumerousinterac7onswithyourcompanyalongtheirjourney.Witheachinterac7onyouhavetheopportunitytobuildtrustandpreference,orcauseconfusionanddoubt.Thisispartofwhysales/marke7ngalignmentissocri7cal.Sales/marke7ngsynergyisnotoseneasytoachieve,sincebothdepartmentsosenhavedifferentgoals,metrics,mo7vatorsandstrategies.Highperformingteamscomefromaperspec7veofthebuyerfirst,andcombinetheirdiversestrengthstoachievesharedgoals.


SET YOUR SUCCESS MEASURES

Basedonthecontenttypesyouselectedonthepreviousslide,herearesomeexamplesofkeysuccessmetricsyoushouldtrackmonthly,alongwithB2Bbenchmarkswhereapplicable:

Top-of-FunnelContent•  NumberofPageVisits(3pages)•  TimeonPage(>2minutes)•  TotalBlogPageViews

Middle-of-FunnelContent•  NumberofLandingPageVisits•  NumberofLeads•  ConversiontoLeadPercentage(>20%)•  NumberofNewOpportuni7esGenerated

Bo[om-of-FunnelContent•  NumberofROICalculatorCompletes•  NumberofConfiguratorsCompleted•  NumberofEvalua7onKitSales


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Visit us at trewmarke*ng.com/contact to request a consulta*on.

AboutTREWMarke&ng:AtTREW,westrivetobethesmartest,mostcollabora7vemarke7ngpartnerservingengineeringandtechnologycompanies.BasedinAus7n,Texas,withdecadesofexperiencemarke7ngtotechnicalaudiences,weofferfull-servicemarke7ngprogramstailoredtomeetyouruniquegoalsandobjec7ves.

Smart Markeng for Engineers Workshop ACerS Workshop/SMFE … · drive website traﬃc and leads,...

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