Building Detailed Marketing Profiles to Drive Better Sales

Building Detailed Marketing Profiles to Drive Better Sales Juliann M. Grant, Vice President Telesian Technology Inc. [email_address] 978-681-1600 Scott Sommer, Automation Technology Manager Jacobs [email_address] (610) 731-1010

This Year’s Marketing & Summit Theme: In Search of the Holy Grail: Integrating Marketing and Sales Integrating Marketing & Sales Through: Marketing Profiles  Better Sales

But Searching for the Holy Grail Has Never Been Easy…

Is there someone else we can talk to…
Juliann and Scott’s quest for the Holy Grail:
Challenges in Getting Messages Heard
Creating Detailed Customer Profiles
Integrating the Message into Marketing
Moving the Message to Sales
Amplifying the Message
Translating the Message
Extending the Message
Alignment of Marketing and Sales

Part 1
Challenges in Getting the Message Heard

1 in 10 Email Noise Factor How do you get heard?

Social media noise Network ≠ Reach

Market segmentation
Traditional:
Industry/SIC code
Business category
Geography
Product category (what it is – flow meter, laser system)
Problem: Customers/buyers don’t think this way unless…
They know exactly what they are looking for

New segmentation
Focus on the job the product does
People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole
Profiles are built around product features, customer types, not customer needs

Customer profiles lacking
Only know the basics
Typical demographics
Product type purchased
Customer vs. prospect
Need to know
Needs
Behaviors
Actions taken
Qualitative and quantitative info

Part 2
Creating Detailed Customer & Prospect Profiles

Building a profile
Start with the basics
Professional Information
Company, title/functional role
Demographics
Geography, gender, age, industry, business size
Products purchased
What was bought, price, timeframe of purchase
Sales info
Sales personnel, sales cycle duration
Lead source origin
Marketing and sales outreach

Add more layers: Quantitative details
What actions were taken before they bought?
Web site statistics
Forms completed
Downloads
Event registrations
Subscriptions
Social media interactions
Activity on web site
Entry/exit pages, referral pages, search terms, duration, frequency of visits, conversions
Where else did they acquire information?
Web sites, articles, peers

Add more layers: Qualitative details
Behavioral and attitudes
Why did they buy?
Trigger event?
Identify driving need - win/loss data – replacement tech? innovation?
Professional goals
Sphere of influence
Buying team participants and relationship
First time or recurring customer?
Likely to make recommendations?

More qualitative details
Satisfaction level
Overall buy experience
Did they feel they had enough information in process
Did the web site provide detail needed
Did sales provide detail needed
Any hiccups in the sales process
Most useful information
What was the most useful information provided during the buy process?

Develop buyer profiles
Common groupings of information
Trigger events
Reasons for purchase
Information gathering paths
Web site behaviors
Attitudes and goals
Industry trends

How to get info?
Start with what you have
Build as you go
Campaign metrics
Win/loss studies
Customer surveys
Usability surveys
Need a database (MS Access, Filemaker Pro)

Part 3
Integrating Profiles into Marketing Campaigns

#1: Build learning experiences
Prospects
Focus on buy cycle stages
Early stage: Technology sizzle, what’s different
Mid stage: Why you’re better than competitors
Close stage: Build confidence in their decision to choose you
Customers
Focus on after sale activities
New customers – Good service – Becoming a “customer”
Ongoing – Relationship building events, staying informed

Short order cook vs. a Chef Let’s start with an Appetizer….

#2: Create smaller, targeted campaigns
Small is better: slice and dice data into small groups
Prospects
Break down into buy cycle stages and focus on key actions that progress sales cycle
Customers
Identify profile groupings that can have very targeted messages
i.e., migration issues, expanding product footprint, functional challenges as it relates to product/service capabilities

#3: Add Personalization
Need to make communications relevant to audience
> 9,000 email messages to process annually
"By 2014 direct marketers will waste $144 million on emails that never reach their primary target.
Successful Direct Marketing pros will alter their tactics to overcome inbox clutter and increase relevancy."
Forrester Research Vice President and Principal Analyst David Daniels .

Personalization Response Rates Broudy and Romano study 144,000 Mailers B2B and B2C B/W static w/out personlization: .46% response rate

More about personalization
Also known as “variable data”
An InfoTrends/CAP Ventures study found that campaigns using variable data strategies like personalization have up to:
36% higher response rate
47% increase in repeat business
24% average order value increase
31% overall revenue profit increase
http://www.infotrends.com

Multi-channel communications perform better

Try a pURL campaign
pURL: Personalized URL
Dynamic landing page
Entire campaign is personalized for each recipient
JuliannGrant.landingpage.com
Variable data options:
Text
Links
Images

Multi-Channel pURL example
Direct Mailers (2):
Direct mailer
Oversized postcard
Emails (2):
Heads up Email
HTML Tickler Email
PURL
Offers (2):
Personalized promo item
2 white papers
Thank you page

Initial Email
Variable data elements
male/ female image
contact first name
assigned sales rep
Company logo
Goal: Set expectations about direct mailer to arrive
Logo

Direct mailer – Prospect version
male/ female image
contact first name
Logo
Customer type

Direct Mailer – Customer Version
male/ female image
contact first name
Logo
Customer type

Email #2: Reminder
Touch #3
male/ female image
contact first name
assigned sales rep
Logo
Goal: Motivate to respond
Logo

pURL
male/ female image
contact first name
assigned sales rep
Logo
pURL features:
Video of CEO
3 Qualifying Questions
Contact information will automatically be filled in for easy verification
One SUBMIT button for all
Logo

Thank you page
Sent after landing page SUBMIT
male/ female image
contact first name
assigned sales rep & contact info
Logo
Logo Logo

Keys to success
Segmented database
Needs-driven message
Offer
A/B variant testing
Personalization technology
Reporting
Know exactly who responded and what action they took (or didn’t take)
Add info to customer profile

Part 4
Moving Profiles into the Sales Process

Building a Profile – Revisited!
Start with the basics
Professional Information
Company, title/functional role
Demographics
Geography, gender, age, industry, business size
Products purchased
What was bought, price, timeframe of purchase
Sales info
Sales personnel, sales cycle duration
Lead source origin
Marketing and sales outreach

Mapping the course Marketing Profiles Sales Force Buyer SALE! Negotiation PO Invoice Support Focus Here First!

Marketing “ammo”

Marketing “Targets”

Are We Hitting the Target?
An average buyer digests only about 1 in 10 marketing contacts
Of those 1 in 10, only about 1 in 10 lead to a followup or significant action.
That means about 1 in 100 marketing contacts results in a buyer taking any further action.

How Can We Do Better?
Marketing & Sales need a coordinated message to customers!
Can use Marketing Profiles to better know the customer and what drives them.
What messages are being heard and which are being ignored?
Let’s play a game...

The Traditional Sales Cycle

Truth About The Sales Cycle
The traditional Sales Cycle widens the gap between Marketing & Sales
50% waste in time chasing unproductive leads
80% of productive leads ignored
$1 Trillion lost sales productivity and wasted marketing budget each year
Marketo, Inc. 2008 survey

Keeping the prize in view Marketing Profiles Sales Force Buyer SALE! Negotiation PO Invoice Support We Must Start Here… But the Prize is Here…

Let’s focus on a revenue cycle instead!
Coordination of all Marketing & Sales activities from first customer contact to closing the sale.
Jointly-owned prospects
Hand-In-Hand instead of Hand-Off
Focus on the Revenue Cycle instead of the Sales Cycle

The revenue cycle

Part 5
Amplifying the Messages

Amplification
Amplify (v) : to make louder, to increase, to add detail.
1/8-column ad in an obscure publication has no amplification!
A full-page overlay on the front page of the #1 publication has plenty of amplitude!

Amplification as a strategy
Need to amplify:
Leads Process from Marketing to Sales
Product Awareness to Sales
Product Message to Customer
Customer Messages to Marketing

Amplifying the leads process
Use a scoring system to identify the “strength” of a lead.
BANT – budget, authority, need, timeline
Build a strong set of sales enablement tools
Keep score: use results to fine-tune the lead process

Amplifying the product awareness
Daily updates to Sales on features and benefits
Marketing & Sales -“instant message” system to make communication real-time.
Sales Automation
Repository of white papers, testimonials, technical data, etc.
Travelling demonstration units
In-Depth Training and hands-on experience

Amplifying the customer message
Most sales messages have not changed in the past 5 years despite new product features and a changing marketplace.
Know when to market and when to sell.
Use technical resources to sell technical features.
Testimonials add impact – what else?
One-2-One communication is “louder” than email
Maintain consistency between methods and origins

Amplifying customer messages
Marketing & Sales need to share ALL customer feedback with each other.
Listen to the Customer – use feedback surveys, reorder data, email, personal follow-up, etc., to understand what you are doing right, and wrong.
Acknowledge all customer feedback with a time line for response. Follow through!
All customer feedback is important and has a message – look for it and make the right people aware!

Part 6
Translating the Messages

What is translation?
Translation (n): version in another language; a change or transference.
For us, translation means taking the general marketing message and transferring it into the precise message that will lead a customer to make a purchase.

An example
Marketing message: PowerPoint slide deck
Sales translation for Customer Y:
Use slides 12-16 to highlight the specific need of the customer to migrate the control system to a modern platform.
The remainder of the slide deck is “babble”.

Another example
Marketing message: Product Brochure
Sales translation for Customer Z:
Use last page to highlight certifications which indicate suitability for use in hazardous areas.
The remainder of the brochure is “dessert”.

One more example
Marketing message: Email Campaign
Sales translation for Customer X:
Send custom version of “stock” email which highlights the customer’s specific need or situation.
The personal touch can mean the difference between the “save” folder and “recycle bin”.

Some good practices
Feature downloads and white papers on your website
Make it easy to obtain technical data
Use widely-used formats (PDF, etc.)
Give a choice of formats for electronic media
Make it easy to report format issues

Some more good practices
Don’t hide information
If you don’t know, find out quickly!
Know what “messages” the customer already has; update the out-of-date; no duplicates please!
Bring along a “listener” to calibrate the “messages”.

Part 7
Extending the Messages

Extending the reach of the marketing message
How buyers make buying decisions is a challenge made more complex by the host of digital channels buyers now use
Sales must take the marketing messages and extend them to a wide audience, even to the point of “uncovering” needs
Targeted message – targeted exposure

Ways to extend the message
“ Aha!” Moments
Laying track – segment by segment
Social Media “reaches” where we could not go easily before
Internet (electronic) versus ‘glossy’ (paper)
Huggin’ and chaulkin’ – keeping track
Integrated Marketing & Sales automation

Putting it all together
How can the message be developed (marketing) and then be taken to your prospects so that they are heard (amplification) with the widest possible exposure to the message (reach, extent)?
The media might be different in each type of communication (ads, print, text, Twitter, flyers, trade pubs, etc.), but the message should be constructed to be coordinated, concise, and effective.

Part 8
The Holy Grail Obtained:
Alignment of Marketing & Sales

Integration of Marketing & Sales
Build Detailed Customer & Prospect Profiles
Start with the Basics
Add Quantitative and Qualitative Details
Integrate Profiles in the Marketing Strategy
Build Learning Experiences
Create Smaller, Targeted Campaigns
Add Personalization
Maintain a Database
Keep Track of the Messages Sent and to Whom
Report on How They Responded

Integration of Marketing & Sales
Use Customer & Prospect Profiles
Know Your Customer (needs & behaviors)
Know Your Message (marketing & strategy)
Focus on the Revenue Cycle
Amplify the Message from Marketing
Keep Your Toolbox Sharp and Current
Translate the Marketing Message
Speak the Language of Your Customers’ Needs
Extend the Marketing Message
Targeted Message  Targeted Exposure

QUESTIONS?

Building Detailed Marketing Profiles to Drive Better Sales

by Juliann Grant on Sep 08, 2010

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