1. Business buying behavior has changed dramatically in the last decade, with shifts in corporate purchasing patterns and the rise of digital technologies. Direct marketing has become the primary engine for managing lead generation, customer retention, and other aspects of the buyer journey. 2. A new form of direct marketing is required to address today's B2B buyers, with key elements including clean and comprehensive customer data, marketing automation to support customer contact strategies, social media outreach, an optimized website, and a content strategy. 3. Developing high-quality content assets and using them across different channels is an important part of an effective content strategy for B2B direct marketing.

1. 1
En B2B todo el marketing es
marketing directo
Business marketing
has changed forever
g
Nov. 3, 2010
Ruth P. Stevens
ruth@ruthstevens.com
Direct marketing in B2B
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In the last decade, business buying changed dramatically. With enormous shifts in corporate purchasing patterns and the extraordi
In this dynamic keynote talk, Ruth P. Stevens will outline the transformation in business buying behavior, and explain how multi‐t
Database
management
Lead generation1.
2.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
E-commerce and
mail order
Customer retention
4.
3.

2. 2
The funnel
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
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B b h i h h dBuyer behavior has changed
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© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
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4. 4
What does this mean for
marketers?
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Direct marketing is the engineg g
that manages this process
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A new kind of direct marketingg
is required
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Essential ingredients in B2B direct
marketing today
1 Clean comprehensi e data1. Clean, comprehensive data
2. Customer contact strategy, supported by
marketing automation
3. Social media outreach
4 Superb website
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
4. Superb website
5. Content strategy
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1/ Steps to clean, accurate data
1. Identify the data elements you need.
2 A d l t il bl f thi d t2. Append elements available from third-party
suppliers.
3. Fill in the gaps with “data discovery.”
– Outbound telephone to target accounts
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
– Probing on buying roles and contact info
– Fill in the blanks in your database
4. Ongoing data hygiene.
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2/ Contact strategy,
with marketing automation
Contact strategy Marketing automationContact strategy
1. Segment inquirer base by
need or value
2. Assess the ideal contact
level and frequency
3 T t th t t
Marketing automation
• Software specific to
campaign management,
lead nurturing, triggered
marketing communications.
• A large variety of vendors
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
3. Test the contact sequence.
Continuously review and
refine over time.
• A large variety of vendors
available today.
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3/Social media outreach (think PR)
Wrong: "How is this supposed to make meWrong: "How is this supposed to make me
money?"
Right: "How can I use social media to get my
ideal customer to choose me at any price?"
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
ideal customer to choose me at any price?
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Social media to-do list
• Company profile at GetListed.org and Google Local
• Buy domain names in your category• Buy domain names in your category
• Keep your blog fresh and informative
• Company profile on LinkedIn
• Branded Twitter account
Y T b f d t id d t t ti i l
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
• YouTube for product videos and customer testimonials
• SlideShare for technical presentations
• Invest in resources to respond, and start a dialogue
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4/ A superb website:
Essential site characteristics today
• Keyword-rich copy, tags, SEO basics
• Self-identifying segmentation of content and navigation
• Lead generation features
– Optimization on response-oriented pages
• External outreach via social media
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
• External validation at your site: Testimonials, case
studies
• Plenty of rich content to educate prospects
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Motivate visitors to provide contact info
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
Identify site visitors by IP address
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5/ Develop a deliberate content strategy
• A library of content assets that can serve different
needsneeds.
– Case studies
– White papers
– Archived webinars
– Podcasts
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
– Research reports
– Blog entries
• A new resource: the Content Marketing Institute
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The growing investment in
content development
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Buying behavior is changing
En B2B todo el marketing es
Marketing behavior is changing
marketing directo
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Thank you.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2010
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ruth@ruthstevens.com

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Web-based resources for B2B
• MarketingProfs.com: library of articles, seminars, cases
• MarketingSherpa.com: weekly case studies and research
• RainToday.com: resources for marketers of professional
services
• CMI (ContentMarketingInstitute.com): thought leadership on
content development and usage
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• WhichTestWon: Examples of split test results from real
campaigns
B-to-B direct marketing reading list
• The Marketing Manager’s Handbook, by Eric Gagnon
• Business to Business Direct Marketing by Robert W Bly• Business-to-Business Direct Marketing, by Robert W. Bly
• The DMA Lead Generation Handbook, by Ruth P.
Stevens
• Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, by Brian J. Carroll
• Trade Show and Event Marketing, by Ruth P. Stevens
• Sales & Marketing 365 by Jim Obermayer
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• Sales & Marketing 365, by Jim Obermayer
• Marketing Metrics in Action, by Laura Patterson