motarme nui galway technology marketing seminar dec 2012

Marketing Technology Products

NUI Galway 12 Dec 2012

Michael White

How to generate leads, drive sales and increase revenue using Online Marketing

Today when people want to buy something the first place they look is the web, whether they’re looking for shoes, a car or a house (or a technology product)

You need to make sure they find you when they come looking for your type of product

You need to make sure that when they find you they take an action that’s useful e.g. subscribe, buy, register ...

We’re going to look at the overall approach and the tools you use

Product?

Web Marketing for Tech Companies

Generate more leads

Website traffic

Google Pay-per-click

EmailSocial media

My Product

My potential customers

• 1. Make sure your product meets the needs of a group of customers – product/market fit

• 2. Promote that product effectively to those customers

Make something people want, then sell it to themMake something people want, then sell it to them

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Because this is the way businesses buy today

• Buyers are doing most of their initial research online before initiating conversations with vendors and are better informed at an earlier stage.

• We're moving from a focus on traditional techniques like press advertising, mail shots and cold calling, to techniques based on websites, ‘content-based’ marketing and automated marketing.

Why Focus on Web Marketing?

In a survey of 4000 B2B technology buyers in the US, who had bought a

product worth $25k or more, 80% of those buyers said they found the vendor, not the other way round.

Source: MarketingSherpa – “B2B Technology Marketing Benchmark

Survey 2008”

In a survey of 4000 B2B technology buyers in the US, who had bought a

product worth $25k or more, 80% of those buyers said they found the vendor, not the other way round.

Source: MarketingSherpa – “B2B Technology Marketing Benchmark

Survey 2008”

7

Because your website should be your top source of leads outside of personal connections

In a 2011 survey of B2B IT and marketing professionals, the corporate website was identified as the second most important source of leads after personal connections and referrals.

Source: DemandBase and Focus.com 2011

In a 2011 survey of B2B IT and marketing professionals, the corporate website was identified as the second most important source of leads after personal connections and referrals.

Source: DemandBase and Focus.com 2011


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A 2011 survey of B2B buyers in Europe

indicated that websites, web searches and email made up 3 of the top 4

information sources when carrying out a

purchase process

Source: 2011 BuyerSphere survey

A 2011 survey of B2B buyers in Europe

indicated that websites, web searches and email made up 3 of the top 4

information sources when carrying out a

purchase process

Source: 2011 BuyerSphere survey

Because your website should be your top source of leads outside of personal connections


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Because this is a natural progression of how sales work

Sales teams find and persuade the buyers

Buyers start to search online, find service and product information from multiple vendors

Buyers confer with each other via online networks

Sales now use online tools to prospect, generate and qualify leads

Marketing Automation

1997

2006

2009

1950s to

1990s


• Siemens Ireland – acquire customers for a new consulting service – migration to Microsoft Office 365• Value proposition – reduced capital costs, reduced operational costs, ease of access to IT systems• Buyers – CIOs, Directors of IT at top 500 companies in Ireland with more than 300 staff• Content – created a white paper called “Migrating to Microsoft in the Cloud”• Drive traffic – sent targeted email offering the white paper, plus Google ads and PR• Result – 265 contacts with targeted profile after 4 weeks, 25 leads, 10 prospects

Email and Google ads Website registration page

Visitor gets white paper

Siemens gets contact details of visitor

How Does It Work for B2B?

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Digital Marketing for B2B is Different from B2C

• The difference isn’t always clear cut

• But generally these differences are true

B2B B2C

Higher value e.g. > €10k Lower value e.g. < 1k

High consideration - more evaluation required Lower consideration – evaluation is faster

Perceived risk – so reducing this risk is important for buyers

Low risk

Complexity of product is greater e.g. large software system, machinery – so need to educate buyers on features, differentiators

Generally less complex – clothes, food, tickets (but exceptions e.g. cars, laptops, some software products)

Longer, multi-phase sales cycle – can be up to 18 months

Immediate – transaction occurs quickly (e.g. purchasing consumer goods, books)

Multiple participants on buyer side (e.g. financial manager, users, IT dept)

One buyer

Executive involvement – may require sign-off from senior staff or head office

Buyer decides for themselves

Branding / emotional appeal less important Branding / emotional appeal very important

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But for both B2B and B2C, buyers find you online …

• In B2C, you use online marketing to bring someone to your site so they will purchase something directly, right now Buy Now

• In B2B, you use online marketing to bring someone to your site so they will register for something (a white paper, free trial ...).

• Once you have their contact details, you set up a regular communication with them to build up their interest, qualify them as sales opportunities and persuade them to buy later

Download

The Overall ApproachUnderstand who you are targeting (your buyers) – what are their roles, which companies do they work for, where are they, what is important to them, how do you connect with them?

What are you selling – what does your product and service do for them, what is your value proposition for these buyers?

Generate ‘content’ – based on your understanding of the buyers, create information that your target buyers will find useful e.g. Case studies, white papers, research surveys, how to guides ...

Drive traffic to that content using PPC, email, SEO, PR, social media

Capture contact details in exchange for your content

Build a relationship with those people over time via your content, website, social media and email so they learn and understand your proposition, answer their concerns and select you as their best choice

How do you compare with competitors – which ones are worth focusing on, how do you differentiate from them?

http://

Who?

Who else?

What?

Content

Traffic

Leads

Lead Management

2. Who to target?

2. Who to target?

• Who is your ideal customer?• Profile of ideal customers - what is their

• Industry?• Typical size (staff, revenue)• Type of Organization• Role(s) - Personas?

• Do you know any individuals who fit? Can you prepare a list of names?• Could you get me a list of email addresses? E.g. Business.ie

• Who is your ideal customer?• Profile of ideal customers - what is their

• Industry?• Typical size (staff, revenue)• Type of Organization• Role(s) - Personas?

• Do you know any individuals who fit? Can you prepare a list of names?• Could you get me a list of email addresses? E.g. Business.ie

2. Who to target?

• Create “Personas” for your top 3 target customers• They are “archetypes” representing 80% of your target visitors• Use them as way to describe and understand those customers

• Create “Personas” for your top 3 target customers• They are “archetypes” representing 80% of your target visitors• Use them as way to describe and understand those customers

Oscar

Role: Sales managerOrganization: SMEAge: 45Goals: have easy access to prospect information 24/7; get better quality leads; better pipeline

NoraRole: Marketing managerOrganization: multi-nationalAge: 32Goals: manage multiple channels; drive awareness of the company; produce more and better quality leads.

LiamRole: IT managerOrganization: SMEAge: 31Goals: reliability and availability; simplified architecture; security; cloud-based infrastructure

3. “What are we selling?” Your value proposition

3. Your Value Proposition

Need it …

• When talking to prospects

• On your website

• On Landing pages

• In Email campaigns

• On Brochures

• In your PR

• When talking to prospects

• On your website

• On Landing pages

• In Email campaigns

• On Brochures

• In your PR

For <target customers>

Who are dissatisfied with <current market alternative>

Our product is a <new product category>

That provides <key problem solving capacity>

Unlike <the main product alternative>

We have assembled <key ‘whole product’ features for your

product’s specific area of application>

For <target customers>

Who are dissatisfied with <current market alternative>

Our product is a <new product category>

That provides <key problem solving capacity>

Unlike <the main product alternative>

We have assembled <key ‘whole product’ features for your

product’s specific area of application>


Value Propositions• From the outside, a lot of products and services look the

same to their potential customers.

• The more complex the product or service, the harder it is for buyers to understand how to differentiate between the available options.

• You have make it easy for buyers to quickly understand how you can help them and why you are better than your competitors.

• You do this by defining a clear and compelling Value Proposition aka your pitch

• From the outside, a lot of products and services look the same to their potential customers.

• The more complex the product or service, the harder it is for buyers to understand how to differentiate between the available options.

• You have make it easy for buyers to quickly understand how you can help them and why you are better than your competitors.

• You do this by defining a clear and compelling Value Proposition aka your pitch


The ProductThe Product

The ServiceThe Service

The way we deliver our product or and service, our skills and expertise

The way we deliver our product or and service, our skills and expertise

Other elements that our customers value – easy to do business with, reliable, innovative, thought leaders,

trustworthy

Other elements that our customers value – easy to do business with, reliable, innovative, thought leaders,

trustworthy


4. Product Launch Plan

Objectives and time

“More than 3 objectives = no objectives”

Year

Q3 Q4

M1 M2 M3 M1 M2 M3 M1 M2 M3 M1 M2 M3

Q1 Q2

1. Planning

BUDGET1. Set an annual budget for marketing2. Pick an initial figure based on spending in the past 12 months 3. Should be between 3% and 10% of revenue on average4. 30% or more of spend should be on online activities5. The budget should be allocated to specific activities:

1. Website updates2. Online ads – PPC3. SEO4. Email marketing5. Events – in-house seminars6. Online ads – banner / display7. Events – Tradeshows8. PR9. Press advertising10. Sponsored email distribution11. Printing12. Analysts

6. Report monthly and quarterly on spending against plan

1. Planning

PLAN1. Quarterly planning2. Quarterly objectives for unit3. Personal objectives match up to unit objectives4. Planning starts 2 weeks before end of quarter5. Review capacity and outputs from previous quarter6. Prepare draft plan and draft objectives based on what was delivered on

previous quarter7. Discuss with Sales and agree goals for lead generation, campaigns,

events8. Product marketing – get briefing on upcoming features from R&D9. Use simple graphical chart to discuss timeline

4. Product Launch Plan

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Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk 9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk 12

Activity 3

Activity 4

Activity 6

Activity 5

Activity 2

Activity 7

Activity 8

Activity 9

Activity 1

Activity 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

• Multi-touch promotion• Synchronize your

activities so they lead up to one point e.g. a launch event

• Multi-touch promotion• Synchronize your

activities so they lead up to one point e.g. a launch event

5. Website

•Explains how to make sites more usable.•Helps you avoid basic errors.•Main message - when we look at a web page it should be obvious, self-evident. Don’t use text, graphics or layouts that cause unnecessary delays or confusion.

•If you follow Steve Krug’s advice you have a better chance of steering visitors to what you want them to do and see.

•Explains how to make sites more usable.•Helps you avoid basic errors.•Main message - when we look at a web page it should be obvious, self-evident. Don’t use text, graphics or layouts that cause unnecessary delays or confusion.

•If you follow Steve Krug’s advice you have a better chance of steering visitors to what you want them to do and see.

5. Website

Purpose of Website•To generate sales leads •To generate sales

Purpose of Website•To generate sales leads •To generate sales

Source: DemandBase and Focus.com 2011 Survey of B2B IT and marketing professionalsSource: DemandBase and Focus.com 2011 Survey of B2B IT and marketing professionals

5. Website

• Call To Action – make these prominent• Encourage sign-ups – use home page, all internal pages• Understand search patterns – use Google keyword tool so you can

identify phrases to target• Use Landing Pages for your online ad / email campaigns

• Call To Action – make these prominent• Encourage sign-ups – use home page, all internal pages• Understand search patterns – use Google keyword tool so you can

identify phrases to target• Use Landing Pages for your online ad / email campaigns

87%Description of service/products

Which Industries You Serve

Success stories / case studies

Professional website design and presentation

About us / biographies

Client list

Online resources/content (white papers etc.)

News items

Podcasts or audio content

Top 10 Website Elements – rated “Important/Extremely ImportantTop 10 Website Elements – rated “Important/Extremely Important

87%

Video or online presentations

78%

73%

69%

64%

64%

60%

57%

47%

40%

Source: “How clients buy 2009 Benchmark Report”, RainTodaySource: “How clients buy 2009 Benchmark Report”, RainToday

5. Website

5. Website

5. Website

Example landing page layout

Example landing page layout

5. Website

Bring people (traffic) to

your website

Bring people (traffic) to

your website

Persuade them to sign-up for a

Free Trial

Persuade them to sign-up for a

Free Trial

Persuade them to pay for your

service

Persuade them to pay for your

service

Convince them to renew each year –

retain your customers

Convince them to renew each year –

retain your customers

TrafficTraffic ConversionConversion SubscriptionSubscription RetentionRetention

Traffic Conversion Subscription Retention

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What content will interest your Buyers? “Bait”

Digital Marketing is like fishing – you need the correct bait to attract your fish Different buyers have different information needs at each stage of the buying process So, if you identify 3 to 4 typical buyers – General Manager, Sales & Marketing Director,

Head of Compliance ... Develop content that meets the information needs of these buyers at different stages

of their buying cycle This will be used as online “bait” to bring them to your website

Types of content•Case studies•Research•Education e.g. slides and tutorials•Tours and overviews•How to tips•News•Thought leadership

Content Strategy

7. Email marketing

• Use an email service provider – Mailchimp, ConstantContact etc.• Build your list – a list of emails from your target group• Design your email so it looks professional• Offer either (1) Pilot sign-up or (2) content e.g. a White Paper• Or carry out a survey e.g. “Your use of Technology X”, offering something in return• When someone clicks, bring them to a landing page• Plan what your response should be – phone call, email, other ..

• Use an email service provider – Mailchimp, ConstantContact etc.• Build your list – a list of emails from your target group• Design your email so it looks professional• Offer either (1) Pilot sign-up or (2) content e.g. a White Paper• Or carry out a survey e.g. “Your use of Technology X”, offering something in return• When someone clicks, bring them to a landing page• Plan what your response should be – phone call, email, other ..

8. Pay-per-click ads

These kinds of ads are called “Pay per click” – get them on Google and Bing How it works – tell Google that if someone searches on “phrase” they are to show

your ad; if someone clicks on your ad, then they are brought to a Landing Page You only pay when someone clicks; you know in that case that they were

searching on a relevant term for your business Keyword selection – find all the relevant words and phrases Write your text ad - offer “Free sign-up, this month only” Bring visitors to specially designed Landing page When they register, think through the follow-up e.g. Email, phone call ... Store the contact details ! OnePageCRM, ZohoCRM, your email system, Excel ...

Your ad here

1. The WebsiteGoogle Ads

11 Keyword analysis

22 Ad text

33 Landing page

Campaign set-up – budget, geography Keyword analysis – what are people searching for Ad text – variants Bids and cost-per-click Bid management Broadmatch, exact match, negative keywords Keyword insertion

Your ad textWhy we’re greatCall us now!www.mywebsite.com

NameEmail

Download

Google Ads

Think about how visitors search for your product or service

Thousands of ways people search for things, but usually fall into a category :

The actual question they have e.g. “how do I fix a broken pipe”

The answer to the question e.g. “plumbers in Galway”

A description of the problem e.g. “broken water pipe in kitchen”

A symptom of the problem e.g. “flooded kitchen”

A description of the cause e.g. “frozen pipes”

Producer parts or brand names e.g. Bosch, Philips

For each product, think how people might search for it, using the above as a guide

Use Google’s free Keyword Tool to help generate more keywords

Sort by “volume of searches” and “level of competition”

Break them into groups of 20 to 30 keywords and put them in Ad Groups

Google Ads

Keyword selectionKeyword selection

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Why SEO is important:• Business buyers as well as consumers search online when looking

for products and services

• 85% of those buyers find what they want via search engines

• If they can’t find you, they will find a competitor

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Search (ads) are the two main tools to ensure you are found

• You should understand the basics of how search engines prioritize search results

•With SEO there’s no incremental cost per customer

• Then you can decide what to do about it – do nothing, do it yourself or hire someone to help

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Why is Search Engine Optimization important?

Because most people (75%) click on the ‘natural’ search results rather than ‘paid’ ads

25% of clicks go to the

“paid” advertising results you

see at the top and right-

hand side of Google and Bing search

pages

25% of clicks go to the

“paid” advertising results you

see at the top and right-

hand side of Google and Bing search

pages

75% of clicks go to the “natural”

or “organic” search results you see at the

left hand side of the search

results pages

75% of clicks go to the “natural”

or “organic” search results you see at the

left hand side of the search

results pages

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Because when people do search, they usually don’t look past the first results on page 1

Most people (64%) click on the first 3 results on Google page 1•42% to the first result•12% to the second•9% to the third

Less than 10% click on pages beyond page 1

Source: SEOBook and SEOMoz

Most people (64%) click on the first 3 results on Google page 1•42% to the first result•12% to the second•9% to the third

Less than 10% click on pages beyond page 1

Source: SEOBook and SEOMoz

Why is Search Engine Optimization important?

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• Search Engine Optimization is the process you use to appear higher in the search engine results pages for searches relevant to your business

• It is based on first understanding how people search for terms related to your business - keyword analysis

• You then use that understanding to update your website, interact with social media and seek links so you can push your business higher up on the search results

Website settingsWebsite settings

Links (incoming, outgoing

and internal)

Links (incoming, outgoing

and internal)Social mediaSocial media

Content on your pages

Content on your pages

Keyword AnalysisKeyword Analysis

Search Engine Optimization

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Search route 1

Search route 2

Search route N

• People take different routes when searching for your kinds of products and services

• You need to understand which kinds of searches are best at bringing your desired buyers to you online

• You should analyze each major ‘search route’ into your site so that you can increase that traffic


Signals that Google uses to decide which page to show for a query

1. Keyword use in title tag2. Anchor text in inbound link3. Global link authority of site4. Age of site5. Link popularity within the site’s internal structure6. Topical relevance of inbound links7. Link popularity of site in topical community8. Keyword use in body text9. Global link popularity of sites that link to the site

Overall, it looks at relevance and popularity.The list below is from an SeoMoz.org poll of SEO companies – 9 most important factors


The Long Tail

Source: SEOMoz.org

• The most popular keywords account for 18.5 % of search traffic• They are the most competitive terms – it is usually hard to get a new web page onto the top

of page 1 for these terms• However, over 70% of searches are for less common terms – these are the ‘long tail’

keyword phrases• Usually these terms are 3 words or longer and are more specific e.g. “1996 green 3 series

bmw” rather than “bmw”• Targeting these ‘long tail’ keywords is a good way to get more traffic to your site


The Long Tail

• You can optimize for about 3 phases per page• And … you need to have pages for the phrases you are trying to target• So plan out the site structure based on the phrases you want to be

found for


Three main tasks in SEO

“On Page” – configure settings and place content on your website

“Off Page” – Link Strategy – encourage other sites to link to you

Social media – has an increasing effect on your rankings in the results pages

On page Off page

WWW

WWW

WWW

WWW

WWW

Social media


First step – KEYWORD ANALYSIS – what terms do you want to be found for? Start similar to Google PPC keyword analysis – use Google keyword tool But – you have to pick smaller selection of keywords to focus on Sort by search volume (high) and level of competition (low) Pick top candidate phrases for your key phrases Optimize specific pages for particular terms More pages, more terms you can optimize for


4. Text, internal links, bold

1. Page Title

3. Header tags

2. URL

5. Page description text

‘On page’ optimization – 5 settings per page, plus regular use of your target keywords on an optimized page with relevant content ‘On page’ optimization – 5 settings per page, plus regular use of your target keywords on an optimized page with relevant content


Social Media

• Why will people share your status updates?• What do you want to happen when they do?

Social Media – Blog

Blogs• What? Basically like a website that you can easily edit and update• Why? Draws more traffic to your web-site, leads, sales• Can form the basis for your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter marketing• Allows readers to provide feedback• Can paste in YouTube videos, SlideShare slides

Social Media – Blog

Why start a blog?

12. Sign-up Process

Follow-up all leads within 24 hours It’s in your interest to get them to sign-up so make an effort Help during sign-up and test – use webinars, even call round for the first few Do not let them work it out for themselves Provide someone for them to contact 24/7 – these are your pilot customers so it’s worth it Be prepared for a “4 touch” cycle – email, phone, email, email ... Record what you are doing – it can quickly get confusing Sketch out a workflow diagram showing how it should work

13. Conversion

Are they using your product? If you take it away will they miss it? Can they see the value they obtain e.g. Money saved, time saved, revenue generated? What will it take to get them to buy? How does your pricing compare with comparable systems? Does someone else need to sign-off on the purchase? How do you know they understand the value? How do you test pricing? Big difference in saying “would be interested” versus providing credit card details Can you handle a card payment?

Are they using your product? If you take it away will they miss it? Can they see the value they obtain e.g. Money saved, time saved, revenue generated? What will it take to get them to buy? How does your pricing compare with comparable systems? Does someone else need to sign-off on the purchase? How do you know they understand the value? How do you test pricing? Big difference in saying “would be interested” versus providing credit card details Can you handle a card payment?

Lead Generation

Lead management

Score = 1

Score = 1

Initial contact details, not meeting basic criteria, bogus information, no real interaction with the company

Initial contact details, not meeting basic criteria, bogus information, no real interaction with the company

Score = 2

Score = 2

Score = 3

Score = 3

Contact details valid, company details valid, but low expectation that it will become a leadContact details valid, company details valid, but low expectation that it will become a lead

Details valid, lead is of interest to marketing, but doesn’t meet all criteria for a Sales Qualified LeadDetails valid, lead is of interest to marketing, but doesn’t meet all criteria for a Sales Qualified Lead

Score = 4

Score = 4

Lead meets all the criteria specified to be a Sales Qualified LeadLead meets all the criteria specified to be a Sales Qualified Lead

Score = 5

Score = 5

Lead meets all the criteria specified to be a Sales Qualified Lead, plus we have indication that they are seriously engaged and/or have shown interest in the company

Lead meets all the criteria specified to be a Sales Qualified Lead, plus we have indication that they are seriously engaged and/or have shown interest in the company

Hand offTo Sales

Hand offTo Sales

Lead Generation

Lead management

Score = 5Score = 5

Score = 1Score = 1

Score = 2Score = 2

Score = 3Score = 3

Score = 4Score = 4

Score = 5

Score = 5

Handoff to SalesHandoff to Sales

Not a fitNot a fit

Returned ProspectsReturned ProspectsSales-

generated leads and existing clients

Sales-generated leads and existing clients

EmailEmailGoogleGoogle WebWeb TelesalesTelesalesEventsEvents

14. Referral

Starting point – you have your first happy customer Will they give you a referral Why would they give you a referral? Can you incentivize them? E.g. 6 months free for every new customer? Can you offer something else? Value of offer should relate to value of customer e.g. If new customer worth 1k per year,

what “commission” will you offer to referrees? Examples: Perlico, ConstantContact, the Ecomist, Blueface ...

Bonus advice

Presentation Zen

Call to action!Call to action!

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About Motarme

Motarme is an easy-to-use enterprise Marketing Automation system. Motarme is specifically designed to help business-to-business (B2B) companies in the technology, software and industrial sectors generate sales leads online. In addition to our web-based Marketing Automation product we provide consulting, web marketing and lead generation services. Our customers include Siemens, Mergon, SF Engineering and mid-size and early stage technology companies.

Web: www.Motarme.com.

Clients

“ We have seen for ourselves how a solid strategy has helped to drive traffic to our

site and generate sales leads.”

“ We have seen for ourselves how a solid strategy has helped to drive traffic to our

site and generate sales leads.”Caolan BushellBusiness Development ManagerMergon Group

Caolan BushellBusiness Development ManagerMergon Group

Barry RooneyChief Operations OfficerSiemens ITSS

Barry RooneyChief Operations OfficerSiemens ITSS

“The system delivered real, measurable results in a short

timeframe – sales and contacts from our target audience at Tier 1

companies.”

“The system delivered real, measurable results in a short

timeframe – sales and contacts from our target audience at Tier 1

companies.”

Joe LynchGeneral ManagerIMEC Technologies

Joe LynchGeneral ManagerIMEC Technologies

“Generating leads online is now a central part of our sales strategy.”

“Generating leads online is now a central part of our sales strategy.”

About Motarme

Thank You

Automated Marketing That Drives Sales

[email protected]

@michaelgwhite

www.motarme.com