pardot elevate 2012 - balancing agility with sophistication in demand generation program design

Balancing Agility with Sophis2ca2on In Demand Genera2on Program Design

Adam B. Needles Twi>er: @abneedles

#pardot2012

Copyright 2012 Adam B. Needles. All rights reserved.

Defining demand genera2on


Everyone is overwhelmed by tac2cs

“Tech marketers are juggling too many tac2cal balls. A full 75% of respondents reported they were using 15 of the 26 techniques we surveyed.” “The reported use of tac2cs was consistent across various company sizes, from small-‐to-‐medium businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises.”

Source: Forrester, “2012 Tech Marke2ng Planning Guidance,” December 2011.

How do you define B2B demand genera4on?


Strategic B2B demand genera2on defini2on

•  Perpetual process of Engaging, Nurturing and Conver2ng … •  Both new prospects and exis2ng customers … •  To influence and add value to their buying processes … •  Via two-‐way buyer educa2on and lead qualifica2on … •  In a way that is op2mize-‐able; opera2onalize-‐able … •  Throughout the en2re customer lifecycle … •  To maximize cash flows (i.e., revenue).


How do you define marke4ng agility?


Marke2ng agility defini2on

•  Business-‐outcome orienta2on •  Strong grounding/ra2onaliza2on in buyer insight, needs •  Flexible go-‐to-‐market framework •  Rapid decision-‐making •  Data-‐driven decisions •  Con2nuous itera2on and improvement •  “Pragma2c innova2on”


Not that different … eh?


Staying focused in modern B2B demand genera4on AND remaining agile requires framing demand genera4on differently.


The key is a strategic, not a tac4cal frame … sophis4ca4on, not complexity … and not confusing the two.


Sophis2ca2on is the key … especial for SMBs

“We … have a pre>y sophis2cated system built here … and the sophis2ca2on is what enables us to be agile … and automated.” “Instead of slowing us down, that sophis2ca2on is what lets us scale and stay personal at the same 2me.”

Source: Phone interview with Ezra Fishman, October 2012.

agility = func4on ( sophis4ca4on )


Taking an agile + sophis2cated approach


Source: Needles, Balancing the Demand Equa2on, 2012.

Agenda

•  State of modern B2B demand genera2on •  The why •  A new (sophis2cated) approach (w/ SMB case studies) •  A total (sophis2cated) framework •  Final thoughts

Twi>er: @abneedles

STATE OF MODERN B2B DEMAND GENERATION

Twi>er: @abneedles

Modern B2B demand genera4on is failing. Seriously.


Not genera2ng the right type of leads

“On average, Sales Reps report that only 31% of all leads generated fit their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Said another way, Sales Reps believe roughly 70% of the leads they receive have a low probability to purchase.”

Source: Vorsight and The Bridge Group, “Sales Speaks: Percep2ons and Ponderings on Marke2ng Leads,” 2011.

Yet SMBs show stronger results …

Source: Vorsight and The Bridge Group, “Sales Speaks: Percep2ons and Ponderings on Marke2ng Leads,” 2011.

36%

17%

29%

10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Fit ICP Fit ICP + 'Decision-‐maker' or 'Strong

Influencer'

SMB Enterprise

Not sa2sfying our sales teams’ needs

Source: Bulldog Solutions/Frost & Sullivan, "The Executive Benchmark Assessment,” 2010.

SMBs = more marke2ng automa2on success

“49% of current users say that they are able to be>er manage their sales leads.” “46% have seen an improvement in demand genera2on.” “42% have improved their marke2ng ROI.”

Source: Techaisle (via PR Newswire), "36 Percent of US SMBs Are Planning to Use Marke2ng Automa2on; More Than Double of Current Adop2on," July 2012.

B2B best-‐in-‐class vs. worst-‐in-‐class

-‐104%

-‐14% 135%

57%

111%

157%

-‐23% 48%

146%

-‐150%

-‐100%

-‐50%

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

2009 Profit Growth

2010 Profit Growth

2 YR Profit Growth Avg

Source: SiriusDecisions, “B-to-B Sales and Marketing: Forging a New Alliance,” 2011

Worst-in-class

“In Progress”

Best-in-class

Fixing demand genera4on requires some root cause analysis …


THE WHY

Twi>er: @abneedles

#1 -‐ We’re not really connec4ng with buyers, or suppor4ng their buying process, in a value-‐added fashion.


Not engaging our B2B buyer …

“86% of the 'unique benefits' touted by vendors were not perceived as unique or having enough impact to create preference.”

Source: Tim Riesterer, "Three B2B Value-‐Proposi2on Rules That Create Preference, Not Just Parity,” 2010.

Not suppor2ng our B2B buyer’s journey

"Half of the marketers create and use content that educates buyers on their issues and problems, but only 14% align compelling content with buyer journeys in a way that tells a story."

Source: Forrester (J. Ernst), “The State Of B2B Demand Genera2on: Disjointed,” 2011

“[Y]our customers are living in a different world, and you need to adapt.”

Source: Salesforce.com execu2ve, Dreamforce, 2010.

Buyer 2.0 is disintermedia2ng Sales

Source: Enquiro/Media2ve, “Integrated Persuasion: Online and Offline,” 2010.

Yet we do more of the same, with declining returns.


78%

0.2%

Sources: TechCrunch (Suster, M.), “The Future of Adver2sing Will be Integrated,” 2011; BusinessWeek (Stone, B.), “Idiot Proof, 2012.

3% 5% Average click-‐through rates for ‘Promoted Tweets.’

Digital banner ad click-‐through rates 1990s vs. today

Average email click-‐through rates

Sources: MailerMailer, “Email Marke2ng Metrics Report, Click Rates, July 2010 Edi2on”; Oceanos, “The List Intelligence Report, Spring & Summer 2011”; Forrester (L. Wizdo), 2012 Tech Marke2ng Planning Guidance -‐ With Prolifera2ng Tac2cs and constrained budgets, Targe2ng and Focus are a Mandate, 2011.

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00%

2007 2009 2010 2011

2.90%

1.60%

1.20% 1.16% MailerMailer

Oceanos

5% Forrester: B2B marketers who cite enewslekers and email

as “highly effec4ve” top-‐of-‐funnel tac4cs.

#2 -‐ We’re not really building a founda4on for a con4nuous and long-‐term rela4onship with buyers.


Technology focused at the top of funnel

Among adopters of marke2ng automa2on technology, “fewer than 10% of them are deploying those tools to address programs later in the buying cycle.”

Source: Heuer, Email Interview re: SiriusDecisions Sea Change Data, 2010.

Engagement focused at bo>om of funnel

“Buyers have higher expecta4ons for in4macy. … We have built in2macy into the later stages of the buying process. … But at the front end, our tradi2onal tac2cs are star2ng to come off with all the warmth and sincerity of an English royal.”

Source: Chris Koch, “Why you need to turn your customers into stalkers,” 2011.

To what extent do you use data on past performance to build models that enable the predic2on of future buying behavior? % of Respondents (N=85)

We do not op2mize buyer interac2on

Not at all or very rarely 34%

Some2mes 51%

Nearly all the 2me 15%

Source: ITSMA, “B2B Services and Solu2ons, Lead Management Benchmarks,” 2011.

We do not organize around an L2R process

"Fewer than one-‐fourth of [B2B organiza4ons] have defined a lead-‐to-‐revenue management process that their marke2ng and sales teams follow. Included in that number are only 5% who claim that every prospect interac4on is orchestrated."

Source: Forrester (J. Ernst), “The State Of B2B Demand Generation: Disjointed,” 2011

‘You can’t get there from here …’

‘Awareness’ + automated (tac2cal) lead gen

Sales Enable-‐ ment

?


We have a middle-‐of-‐the-‐funnel problem.


A NEW (SOPHISTICATED) APPROACH

Twi>er: @abneedles

#1 -‐ Focusing on the buyer … so we can ‘stop selling, start educa4ng’


Focusing on the buyer


Organizing around a dialogue thread

IR2 IR3 IR4 IR5 IR6 IR7 IR8 IR9 IR1

Buying Process w/ Buyer’s Informa4on Requirement (IR) Stages

CO1 CO2 CO3 CO4 CO5 CO5

QL SAL

SE1 SE2 SE3 SE4

Marke4ng Content Offers Sales Educa4on

Source: Needles, “Process Stewardship,” 2012. Copyright 2012 Adam B. Needles. All rights reserved.

IR2 IR3 IR4 IR5 IR1

Buying Process w/ Buyer’s Information Requirement (IR) Stages

N-‐CO2A N-‐CO3A N-‐CO4A N-‐CO5A

Marketing Content Offers

E-‐CO1

E-‐CO1

E-‐CO1

E-‐CO1

E-‐CO1

N-‐CO2B

N-‐CO2C

N-‐CO2D

N-‐CO3B

N-‐CO3C

N-‐CO4B

RE-‐CO2

RE-‐CO3

RE-‐CO4

RE-‐CO5

D-‐CO2 D-‐CO3 D-‐CO4 D-‐CO5

Engagement Content Offers

Nurturing Content Offers

Re-Engagement Content Offers

(Recycle Loops)

Drip Content Offers (Recycle Loops)

Nurturing that is buyer-‐driven

Case Study: Wis2a

•  Challenge –  Alterna2ve to YouTube for SMB marke2ng –  "We're preaching a different way to think about video. … [T]he big win for us is ge{ng

more and more people to think about video marke2ng, 'in the Wis2a way.’”

•  Approach –  "We make lots of content. … That's a lot of our lead-‐gen, through the content.” –  Segment Nurtures based on topics, common paths, how they found Wis2a –  Offer a 'freemium' account –  "We're looking at that data to op2mize the experience … [t]hat's looking a lot at the

path people take and the content they consume along the way." –  "We are looking pre>y much on a daily basis at … conversion rates … ."

•  Results –  "It is really one con2nuum for us … there's not this separate marke2ng team who passes

to a sales team who pass to a support team." –  95% of customers purchase through ecommerce without any live, pre-‐sales support

Source: Phone interview with Ezra Fishman, October 2012. Copyright 2012 Adam B. Needles. All rights reserved.

Sophis2ca2on enables focus, agility

“It’s work se{ng this stuff up … but that’s the power of sophis2ca2on. We have a very small marke2ng team, but we’re able to spend 2me teaching people the Wis2a way.”

Source: Phone interview with Ezra Fishman, October 2012.

#2 -‐ Adop4ng an opera4ons mindset … so we can ‘shiq aken4on to middle-‐of-‐the-‐funnel dynamics’


Adop2ng an opera2ons mindset


Process stewardship

Source: Needles, “Process Stewardship,” 2012.

IR2 IR3 IR4 IR5 IR6 IR7 IR8 IR9 IR1

Buying Process w/ Buyer’s Informa4on Requirements

CO1 CO2 CO3 CO4 CO5 CO5 SE1 SE2 SE3 SE4

Marke4ng Content Offers Sales Educa4on

QL RESP SAL Pre-‐QL1 Pre-‐QL2 CR Pre-‐SO1

Demand Genera4on Team

Demand Genera4on Team + Marke4ng Ops Lead Dev Team Sales Ops Inside Sales Outside Sales

Lead Qualifica4on Stages Example

Marke4ng and Sales Demand Genera4on Process Roles Example

SO


Case Study: Cogmed

•  Challenge –  Research-‐based methodology; helps ac2vate “working memory” –  Acquired by larger company; focused on scaling programs

•  Approach –  "We do a lot of tes2ng." –  Define stage-‐based indicators; later stages get higher scores –  "They have to have certain qualifica2ons before they advance through our system to

become a hot lead.” –  "If they don't qualify, they s2ll get informa2on … they get in a segmented list, but they

don't move to the next step of talking to a sales person." –  "[W]e do know our targets and what we're trying to accomplish with it -‐-‐ with the

tes2ng and analy2cs. We've been able to accomplish a lot."

•  Results –  "We've really learned a lot about how to get people through, … how to grade them, …

what we need to accomplish … and running them through the sales team." –  Scaled from suppor2ng two sales people to 75+

Source: Phone interview with Chad O’Neil, October 2012. Copyright 2012 Adam B. Needles. All rights reserved.

A TOTAL (SOPHISTICATED) FRAMEWORK

Twi>er: @abneedles

A total framework


FINAL THOUGHTS

Twi>er: @abneedles

Final thoughts

•  Do strategic, not tac2cal demand genera2on •  Put buyer dialogue at the center of your planning •  Align buyer educa2on with lead qualifica2on •  Organize ac2vi2es around a lead-‐to-‐revenue demand process

•  Have clear demand process roles and SLAs •  All of the above will enable agility, not add to complexity


Thank you

•  Contact info: Adam B. Needles

•  Phone: 617-‐413-‐6087 •  Twi>er: @abneedles •  Email: [email protected]

•  Book info: Balancing the Demand Equa2on

•  Hardcover: Amazon, Barnes & Noble •  Electronic: Google Books, iBook, Kindle, Nook

pardot elevate 2012 - balancing agility with sophistication in demand generation program design

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