Zero WasteMarketing

Growth Architects

Introduction

I’ve created this guide to give you, my fellow marketers, some insight and guidance into “Zero Waste” marketing.

Why? Well, because I’ve been in your shoes and I understand the pain and pressures that you’re under. You need to fill your sales pipeline full of leads and make sure it stays that way.

As marketers, it’s our job to make sure that sales have enough leads to go after, but the pressure to generate these leads mean that often we lose focus on lead quality, and focus more on quantity.

“We need to get X amount of leads in the pipeline for sales to hit X target” has been a standard phrase that sales and marketing professionals may be used to hearing in the office, and it’s what we all know as the traditional sales funnel which was created to drive a sale to closure.

But, things have evolved and this approach has become outdated, as Forrester reported that less than 1% of leads turn into customers using this method. Why? Because the customer now holds the power, and they want and expect everything that is relevant, personable and tailored to them. Plus, with GDPR this has been reinforced even further. So, what does this tell us? We need to start marketing to people in a personalised manner, and that means more than using their first name. And, to generate high quality leads we need to truly understand our prospects and customers if we are to do business with them, and retain them.

Traditional Funnel (Lead based)

PURCHASE

CONSIDERATION

INTEREST

AWARENESS

Marketing pounds spentarbitrarily throughout funnel

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Increasing leads doesn’t mean you will increase revenue.- Sud Kumar

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What’s a quality lead?

A quality lead is having an in-depth understanding of the person you’re speaking to.

To create a quality lead, I recommend asking yourself these key questions…

What challenges do they face in their role?What pain points do they encounter regularly?What are they looking to achieve in their role?What challenges does their industry face?What sector do they operate in?What social channels do they use?How active are they online?What subject matters would appeal to them and their role? How can I help them?What insight can I offer them?How can I resonate with them?What types of content are they consuming?Are they part of any industry groups or bodies?

By gathering the above information on your leads you’ll be able to identify other questions that’ll help you gain further insight. And, it’s essential to remember that you’re trying to understand the key decision makers that you need to get your sales team in front of. To do this, we are trying to create real life buyer personas to truly understand your target audience.

By taking this approach you will build a solid foundation to not only understand the targets, but so you can start to create a bank of content to nurture your targeted prospects. In addition, this targeted content will help you address their pain points, talk to them specifically and add value by offering informative insight.

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As marketers it’s our job to get sales in front of the right people, in the right accounts, at the right time!- Sud Kumar

Zero waste marketing

Zero waste marketing allows your activity to be super targeted on the key decision makers you need to get sales in front of. And, you are spending time to truly understand your audience so you can talk specifically to them in a manner that positions your sales people as experts. Every touch point is written for them and it’s all about adding value and being informative. This in return, will allow you to build trust and enhance your business’ brand reputation which will enable you to create warmer and more approachable leads when they reach that decision stage in their buyer’s journey.

At Origin we call this a “zero waste” marketing approach because of how detailed, targeted and personalised every element is. This approach doesn’t focus on going out to the masses and hoping something sticks, it focuses on the key accounts that matter and the accounts that are of the highest value. And, it’s about quality and filling your pipeline full of quality leads.

What does this mean for traditional lead generation tactics? It breaks the funnel.

Here’s how…

It’s time for us as marketers to align ourselves with sales and implement an Account Based Marketing (ABM) approach. Let’s stop trying to capture everyone (fishing with nets) and target the ideal accounts (fishing with spears) that we want, that are of high value and are relevant.

So, put the net down, sharpen that spear and let me walk you through my guide to ABM.

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Target, discover and spend wisely

Customer Experience Funnel(Account based)

IDENTIFY

EXPAND

ENGAGE

ADVOCATE

Traditional Funnel (Lead based)

PURCHASE

CONSIDERATION

INTEREST

AWARENESS

Marketing pounds spentarbitrarily throughout funnel

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Investing the time to understand our target leads is vital in today’s world. Generic doesn’t cut it anymore, it’s all about being able to resonate with our targets by taking a personable, relevant and tailored approach.- Sud Kumar

My ABM approach

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When it comes to ABM there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach, it really depends on your business, industry, goals and team.

The ABM approaches shown below each have their own part to play in an overall marketing strategy, and a more sophisticated combination will increase the breadth and depth of your campaign.

1:1 ABMThis is my preferred choice of ABM. Why? Because it truly is specific, tailored, personalised and targeted. And, you could call it intimate marketing because you take a deep dive when it comes to researching the accounts and key decision makers within those accounts.

Selecting the right accounts and people is a combination of rationale, logic, intuition and science. This is the most important stage of ABM, and the “groundwork”, so make sure it’s right and invest the right amount of time to get it done properly. Don’t rush or “wing it” because you will not only waste time but you will be throwing your cash away which is the opposite of what you want.

Remember this approach means that you’re literally developing a campaign for a single account, but it’s worth it because of the value of the account.

1:1 ABM will provide the foundation for you to build your ABM journey on. And, if you take the diagram above into consideration you’ll start at the top and work your way down as you gain more insight and understanding.

Inve

stm

ent p

er a

ccou

nt 1:1

1: FEW

1: MANY

Creating and executing highly-customised programmes for individual accounts

Creating and executing lightly-customised programmes for clusters of accounts with similar issues and needs

Leveraging technology to tailor and personalise marketing campaigns for specific, named accounts at scale

HIGH

LOW

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1: FewThis approach is focused on taking the key research and insight from 1:1 ABM and then applying the principles to a larger group of accounts. The larger groups are around 20+ with similar pain points and often within the same industry. This focus is broader but not as deep. But, as mentioned earlier if you are taking a one-to-few approach off the back of a 1:1 ABM approach you should have a solid foundation to build upon. In addition, one to few is more appealing to businesses as you can go after a larger group.

1: ManyThis approach is supported largely by technology so you can do personalisation at scale whilst addressing a list of accounts within the 100+. With this scale, the reach and investment per target will be lower when compared to 1:1 ABM.

This ABM approach should be based on your previous experience and insight from past ABM campaigns. If you are considering an ABM approach for the first time and you choose this approach due to costs and scalability, it’s essential to bear in mind that you’re in essence “going in blind” when it comes to research and insight which needs to be reflected in your expectations. Ideally, you should take this approach after you’ve successful ran previous 1:1 ABM campaigns as you will have a foundation to build your ABM journey on.

My ABM approach

If you truly want ABM results then do it right.

- Sud Kumar

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What’s the strategy?

A true ABM approach is not “off the shelf”, and there is no cookie cutter template available. Every ABM campaign should be tailored because each client, market and customer base is different.

But, one thing to keep consistent is the frame work. Below you will see the five key pillars of an ABM strategy.

One of the biggest issues people have with an ABM approach is the investment of time upfront. If done correctly, you should spend two months or more planning and researching before any outreach is done. Now, this is hard for many to grasp, especially as we are so used to a “spray and pray” approach within a short time frame. But remember, to get quality leads we need to take a new approach which is focused and personalised.

KNOW YOURMARKET

ACCOUNTSELECTION

CONTACTIDENTIFICATION

RESEARCH &CONTENT CREATION ENGAGEMENT

Consolidate & cleanse your customer data;

understand and profile your success

Use profiles to select target accounts (both

existing and new); align sales & marketing

Identify relevant contacts within target

accounts; create contact map

Research accounts and contacts; create

tailored messages and content for use in

engagement

Marketing and sales outreach activities;

ecosystem connectivity assures continual alignment

ABM Strategy Steps

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1. Know your marketInvest the time to truly understand your market. Take a collaborative approach from day one and involve all the key stakeholders. Everyone has insights, it’s just about extracting the information and using it as a foundation to build upon.

Data is key. Dig deep and use various tools (DataFox, Datanyze, LinkedIn etc) to find your key accounts and the contacts that are key to the decision making process.

2. Account selectionYour B2B marketing and sales teams collaborate on a list of target accounts. For that to be done, you need to create buyer personas by examining your existing customer base to determine the industry and size of the companies that have been most successful with your product.

So how would you do this? Review your best accounts by looking at revenue, retention and profitability for example. Then look at the key characteristics that separate these from the rest. You can use marketing and sales intelligence tools to help you do this.

What’s the strategy?

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3. Contact identificationABM is about targeted, focused and personalised marketing that is manageable, so it may be useful for you to segment or tier your list. To do this it’s time to expand your insight into the data. What additional information can you find out about the accounts and contacts?

For example:

From this insight, you should be able to create a detailed buyer persona which you can use in this and future ABM campaigns. Again, there are various marketing and sales intelligence tools to help you do this.

This approach will help you segment or tier your data and tell you who is more likely to buy or engage with you based on your findings.

What’s the strategy?

Account ContactHas the business just merged? Are they part of any groups or associations?

Have they appointed a new director? What channels are they most active on?

What types of content are they posting? Have they appeared in any PR?

What’s their Alexa score? Do they follow any influencers?

What are their pain points? Do they attend any events?

What would the average order value for this client be?

What challenges do they face within their role?

What events do they have planned for the year? What type of content are they consuming?

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The growth stack is the traditional sales funnel stacked on your ABM funnel.- Sud Kumar

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4. Research and content creationYou need to have content that is tailored, specific, targeted, personable and most of all of value. Generic content is exactly that generic, with ABM you want informative content that is created for different sections of the buyer’s journey. You want solid, strategic, emotional and disruptive stories that grab your target personas’ attention and pull them into your story.

Well like with anything, you make a decision based upon emotion which is reinforced by rationale. This way you are focusing on how you engage with your target audience, so that your story resonates with them and they buy into your message.

When it comes to ABM you are going to focus on targeting the key stakeholders involved in the decision-making process as part of your strategy, which will mean all of your personalised content needs to be carrying the same vision/message. Focus on creating a vision that the key personnel within the targeted accounts can engage with, latch on to and share the vision and story across the business and departments.

Content is king. Yes, it’s a common saying but it’s true, especially when it comes to ABM. Remember it’s all about resonating with your targeted stakeholders so you need to make sure your content is on point. Ideally, you would focus on their pain points, the challenges they face and how you can help solve them.

What’s the strategy?

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Through the in-depth research of your targeted accounts, stakeholders and pain points you should be in a good space to create your content. One formula I’ve used is the Three-Act Structure.

1. Setup- Set the scene and introduce the character(s)

2. Confrontation or “Rising action”- Present a problem and build up the tension

3. Resolution- Resolve the problemThe three-act structure is a popular and straightforward storytelling formula. You should be able to recognise this structure in stories you come across.

What’s the strategy?

The 3 act

1

structure for storytelling

Setup

23ConfrontationResolution

Selecting the right accounts and people to target is a combination of rationale, logic, intuition and science.

- Sud Kumar

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You need to engage with the modern buyer on their terms. By this, I mean communicate with them on the right channels with the right content and touch points that suit them. Within the first four steps you’ve been laying down the foundations and extracted a lot of insight. Now it’s time for us marketers to get creative and put our skills to the test.

What tactics are you going to use? Consider the diagram below:

Remember, buyers take the time to do their research first when it comes to a purchasing decision so it makes sense to create digital resources to meet these wants and needs in the form of blogs, vlogs, eBooks etc.

Engagement

Social media content(Other than blogs)

eNewsletters Articles on your website

92% 83% 81%

Blogs In-person events

80% 77%

77% 76% 69% 68%

65% 62% 61% 48% 47%

Case studies Videos Direct mail Illustration/photos White papers

Online presentations Infographics Webinars/webcasts Research reports Microsites

70%

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Let’s be honest, buyers are less likely to respond to:

Cold CallsCold EmailsOr any sales interaction within the early awareness and consideration stages

But what they do prefer is:

Helpful informationInformative content in various rich media formatsCase studies that relate to their pain pointsContent that addresses their pain pointsAbility to use social media to ask questions and interact with your businessTrust those that are industry experts and influencers

Engagement

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It’s time to create content that will resonate with your audience. This is where your “real life” buyer personas come into play as they will help shape your content and you can address their pain points. You may choose to create a range of content and marketing assets for each of your buyer personas at each stage of the buyer‘s journey.

The diagram below shows how you can create content for the various stages of the buyer’s journey.

No doubt you will be creating a bank of content so it would make sense to create a plan that helps you keep track of it and use it as and when it’s needed.

Content Funnel

Content at the top of the funnel facilitates awareness

Content at the bottom of the funnel facilitates decision

Content in the middle of the funnel facilitates consideration

TOFU

MOFU

BOFU

Make prospects problem aware & solution aware

Convert problem aware & solution aware prospects into leads

New leads can now make an informed purchase decision

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Aim to personalise and offer value in every piece of content so it resonates with your audience.- Sud Kumar

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When it comes to ABM my preferred method is a 1:1 approach, as this ensures it’s “zero waste marketing”, it’s personalised, and outreach is tailored to targeted personas within your targeted accounts.

What does your strategy look like

TOFU

BOFU

Setup Awareness Consideration Decision

MOFU

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Nurturing your targetsIt’s important that you create an ABM funnel so you know exactly where each target is within your funnel as you are trying to nurture your targets through it. Remember every target is different, so you can’t apply the “cookie cutter” principle here. Aim to personalise and offer value in every piece of content so it resonates, which in return will start to build trust and authenticity. Forrester has shown that marketers see an average 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured vs non-nurtured leads.

Take the time to understand them individually, work out what’s resonating and apply that to your outreach and touch points so you can nurture them to the point you feel they are ready for that sales outreach. HubSpot reported that prospects receive an average of 10 touches from the time they enter your funnel until they’re closed and won.

Awareness StageThe awareness stage is focused on exactly that; creating awareness. In this stage, we are looking to get in front of your targets, and become visible in their ecosystem through the range of channels they use.

This could be a specific blog title, an image, a tag or mention of a podcast but you are looking to gain their attention and you will, as all of your outreach has been created specifically for them, in a tone of voice they prefer, in the formats they like and on the channels they use.

Cold Awareness Consideration Decision Sale

What does your strategy look like

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Consideration StageYou should be creating content that continues to educate but also starts to position your business as the solution to overcome the pain points and challenges the target contacts are experiencing.

Types of MOFU content can include eBooks, infographics, presentations, webinars, surveys, data sheets, check lists etc.

You want to continue to offer value and insight but at this stage you want something stronger; something they can download and digest in their own time. MOFU continues to address the targets’ pain points and consequences of those pain points in great depth, but now you start to present your business offering as a practical way to address them. Include research statistics, survey results, and customer case studies within your content. One key takeaway is not to be too salesy, you don’t want to lose the credibility you have built up.

Remember, your MOFU content will be in addition to your blogs and general posting. All of the activity from the awareness stage continues but you are going to offer MOFU content to help nurture the targets further along your funnel. Consider target ads, remarketing, sponsored inmails, CTAs within blogs etc.

What does your strategy look like

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Decision StageDuring the decision stage you should be creating content that gives the targets a solution to their paint points – which is your product and service offering.

For example, types of BOFU content can include eBooks, infographics, presentations, webinars, direct mail, case studies, testimonials, live demos, an ROI calculator or video brochures.

Whilst it’s best practice to continue to offer value and insight through blogs and a range of different content, at the decision stage you need to position your product or service offering as the perfect solution to your audience’s problem. If you have truly nurtured your targets, and built trust over the past few months, they’ll be more willing to consider your solution over your competition.

BOFU content still needs to be personalised and relevant to your target, but it should be direct in its tone, communication and positioning. And, it provides the perfect opportunity to get your brand values and proposition across. Remember, you’ve spent a lot of time nurturing these targets and built up an element of trust, so don’t go in with a typical full sales pitch, as this could harm the credibility you’ve built up.

Remember, your BOFU content will be in addition to your blogs and general posting. All of your activity from the awareness and consideration stage will continue, but you’re going to offer BOFU content to get your product and service offering across as the solution to your audience’s pains.

To do this continue to use target ads, remarketing, sponsored LinkedIn InMails, and CTAs within blogs, but consider how you are going to get your sales person/team in front of your targets – How are you going to get them to a meeting? This is where you need to make sure your BOFU outreach is relevant and tailored to your target.

What does your strategy look like

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We as marketers need to lead the way when it comes to mindset.- Sud Kumar

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We as marketers need to lead the way when it comes to mindset. We live in a digital era and customer interactions and expectations have evolved, and as they have evolved so does our mindset. The role of the sales person has changed, successful sales people should not consider themselves as “hunters” but more like “gardeners” because it’s all about nurturing, being patient and thinking about the long term.

Big sales, high value orders take time, especially in the B2B world in which it could take 12 to 18 months. It’s about growing relationships and having a number of opportunities built over time.

In order to service the modern digital savvy customer, we as marketers must lead the way to break down the barriers and established beliefs when it comes to sales and marketing teams. Both teams need to work as one team, and truly align. Why? Because consumers consume a lot of content in various formats before sales gets involved, which is where marketing steps in. Consumers want to have content that is informative, offers value and in a range of formats they prefer, and they want to see it on their preferred channel. Sales and marketing needs to align so together they can go to market with the same end goal.

Conversion rates improve when sales and marketing aligns and shares ownership of leads when it comes to nurturing. Marketo reported that businesses that have aligned sales and marketing teams experience 36% higher customer retention rates and 38% higher win rates. Plus, leads are 67% more likely to become clients when teams are aligned.

Mindset

Big sales, high value orders take time, especially in the B2B world. - Sud Kumar

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The final diagram is focused on the Growth Stack. In essence this is the traditional sales funnel stacked on your ABM funnel.

The traditional sales funnel is still being used and it’s not dead, it just needs to evolve.

Growth Stack

Traditional Funnel(Lead based)

PURCHASE

CONSIDERATION

INTEREST

AWARENESS

Customer Experience Funnel(Account based)

IDENTIFY

EXPAND

ENGAGE

ADVOCATE

50 HIGHLY PROFILEDKEY ACCOUNTS(4 per account)

GROWTH STACK

INBOUND

WEBSITE

ABM

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By stacking your traditional sales funnel on top of your ABM funnel you are instantly making both of your funnels stronger.

You have the following benefits:

Pipeline velocityAny leads you have in a consideration stage of your traditional funnel can be converted at a faster rate by using content and sales plays that have worked in your ABM campaign. These act as mini ABM campaigns.

Tighten up traditional funnelABM is all about creating content for a specific persona. It’s all about resonating with them to build trust and add value. When you have rich content like this it makes sense to use it more. Use content from your ABM campaign that has performed the best within your inbound content and it will naturally resonate and increase your traction and make your funnel stronger.

New ABM campaignThe actual conversations you do get from your traditional funnel can be expanded on with a new ABM campaign. Take that account, profile it, find key decision makers, and find more accounts. Use this process and you’ll have a new ABM campaign to kick off.

Sales & Marketing alignmentThe whole growth stack makes the alignment between sales and marketing stronger.

Growth Stack

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Behaviour & IntentA full growth stack allows you to understand your prospects on a whole new level, as you can measure and spot behaviour and intent. This will feed into your “real time” content which will result in your content resonating more.

SEO & ContentContent is king! The growth stack allows you to understand your leads and prospects on a detailed level which will naturally feed into your SEO and content, which in return will make your traffic more specific and relevant.

Increase conversionTraditional sales funnels have 1% conversion rate, but with a growth stack this will increase over time as your outbound is more targeted, tailored and specific.

Retention & AdvocacyThe growth stack doesn’t just focus on acquisition but also customer retention and advocacy. Existing customers need touch points and yes, they need to be relevant and personalised too. Reduce the churn, keep them happy, remind them they are valued and you remember them, and turn them into advocates.

Growth Stack

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Consumers want content that is informative, offers value and is in a range of formats they prefer.- Sud Kumar

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When you look at the growth stack can you relate to it? It is made from more than just two funnels or strategies as it outlines various stages of sales cycles. The growth stack should hopefully allow you to understand where your current sales cycle is and identify what stage or area you need support on.

Maybe it’s social selling you need, or perhaps a blend of social selling and ABM? Do you see my point? I’d advise you hit the whiteboard, get the key individuals in a room and analyse the growth stack to understand where you are at and what support or area of focus is needed to help you to achieve your goals.

What else do you see

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The whole growth stack makes the alignment between sales and marketing stronger. - Sud Kumar

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ABM isn’t for everyone, and the same applies to marketing strategies and tactics.

Invest the time to observe, listen and work with the key stakeholders to build a plan.

If there is anything in this guide you wish to discuss further or if you have any questions, get in touch with me by calling (0)7764 993 622, emailing sud@origingrowth.co.uk or drop me a message on LinkedIn.

Final note

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