Hana Abaza on building a B2B SaaS revenue engine - how to figure out positioning, personas and more.

1. BUILD A REVENUE
ENGINE DEMAND GEN,
FUNNELS & SMARKETING
Hana Abaza, @hanaabaza
#SAASNORTH

2. ASSUMPTION: YOU’VE
ACHIEVED PRODUCT / MARKET
FIT
If you don’t, 90% of this presentation
is not applicable to you.

3. YOU NEED MORE THAN A
GREAT PRODUCT TO SCALE
You need effective system for
improving process and expanding
revenue operations.

4. 3 Phases of Evolution

9. WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
Wizard of Oz Scooby Doo Oceans 11

10. Marketing
Sales
Customer
Success
B2B SAAS REVENUE ENGINE

11. SALES & MARKETING ARE ON THE
SAME SPECTRUM
Sales Sales Sales Demand Marketing + Sales *Brand & Demand + Sales

12. Support (reactive) Support & Success Support, Success, Advocacy
CUSTOMER SUCCESS IS THE
KEY TO GROWTH

13. WHERE DO YOU BEGIN &
HOW DO YOU EVOLVE?
Where you focus first depends on
your model, your market and your
core strengths.

14. POSITIONIN
G
If you think this is a marketing thing,
you’re doing it wrong.

15. “Marketing is about making it easy for people to find,
evaluate and buy your products. Positioning is figuring
out what your product is in the first place.”
More April: rocketwatcher.com
- April Dunford, CEO of Sprintly

16. “Marketing can polish a turd. Positioning can turn
turds into fertilizer.”
More April: rocketwatcher.com
- April Dunford, CEO of Sprintly

17. HOW DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT
YOUR PRODUCT?
Are you a turd or are you fertilizer?

18. WHAT’S THE CONTEXT IN
WHICH PEOPLE THINK ABOUT
YOUR PRODUCT?
Price, customers, competition, brand,
channels, message.

19. WHAT LANUAGE DO PEOPLE
USE TO TALK ABOUT ABOUT
YOUR PRODUCT?
How do your customers explain your
product to their colleagues?

20. PERSONAS
These are your new BFFs – find out
everything you can about them

21. “By not deciding on one of these personas, we paid a
gigantic, invisible ‘optionality’ tax.”
Source: readthink.com
- Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot

22. THE PROBLEM WITH MOST
STARTUPS ISN’T A LACK OF
IDEAS, IT’S A LACK OF CLARITY &
FOCUS.
Hana Abaza | @hanaabaza
#SAASNORTH

23. MARKETING
Marketing in B2B SaaS requires
different grow levers and processes.

24. DEMAND GENERATION IS A
CORE ELEMENT OF
DRIVING GROWTH
But it’s poorly understood
and badly implemented.

25. BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS
DEMAND GENERATION?
It’s about creating urgency with
buyers that are complacent.

26. Demand generation is the engine that
generates leads, identifies and
nurtures qualified prospects, and optimizes
conversion throughout the buyer cycle.

28. These people are different!

29. Messaging, tactics and channels
change. You need to generate
demand.

30. TACTICS THAT FUEL DEMAND

31. CONTENT EVENTS PAID
CORE DRIVERS
PARTNERS ORGANIC ACCOUNT BASED
MARKETING

32. FOCUS ON WHERE
YOUR PEOPLE ARE.

33. CONTENT

34. will produce more content than they did in 2015
77%of B2C
marketers 76
%
of B2B
marketers

35. CONTENT
ENVIRONMEN
T
COMPLE
X

36. Over 841,000 “Mind-Blowing” Marketing Posts

37. Almost 563,000 Ultimate Guides to Marketing

38. Too many to count.

41. CONSUMERS ARE CREATING
MORE CONTENT THAN EVER

44. DESPITE THE NOISE

45. CONTENT CAN BE
A POWERFUL
GROWTH DRIVER
Define your brand, generate
leads, nurture prospects,
persuade buyers, and empower
advocates.

46. WE NEED TO CHANGE HOW
WE THINK ABOUT CONTENT
MARKETING.
Content needs to be more targeted,
relevant and engaging.

47. HOW CAN WE GET
MORE TRAFFIC?

48. HOW CAN WE GET
MORE TRAFFIC?

49. HOW CAN WE HIT OUR
GOALS WITH LESS
TRAFFIC?

50. Blog Articles
“Snacky” Content
Long Form
Premium (gated)
ebooks/whitepapers
Webinars
WHAT CONTENT TYPES DO YOU FOCUS ON?
Visual Content
SlideShare, Videos
Infographics

51. THE CONTENT MARKETING
POWER LAW
A small portion of your content is
responsible for the majority of your
results.

52. THE VAST MAJORITY OF
CONTENT UNDERPERFORMS
Buzzsumo analyzed one million
random B2B blog articles.

53. THE MEDIAN NUMBER OF SHARES FOR
B2B CONTENT?

54. THE MEDIAN NUMBER OF SHARES FOR
B2B CONTENT?

55. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SHARES FOR
AUTUMN’S VIDEO?

56. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SHARES FOR
AUTUMN’S VIDEO?

57. FOCUS ON HIGH-VALUE
CONTENT AND WATERFALL
THE HELL OUT OF IT
High-value content is relevant, data-
driven and unique to you.

58. WATERFALL
CONTENT
ACROSS MANY
CHANNELS
PR Strategy
Guest blogging
Webinars
eBooks/Whitepapers
Blog Posts
IRL Presentations
SEO

59. EVENTS

60. WHEN DOES IT
MAKE SENSE TO
DO EVENTS?
New Category
Innovative Product
High Price Point
Hard to Access Buyer

61. PAID
CHANNELS

62. ARE PEOPLE
READY TO BUY?

63. Ready to buy?
Yes
Acquisition
focused
(demo/signup)
Handoff to Sales

64. Ready to buy?
No
Lots of
Education
Required
Content
Focused
Approach
Capture &
Nurture Leads
Yes
Acquisition
focused
(demo/signup)
Handoff to Sales
Handoff to Sales

65. PARTNERS

66. WHEN SHOULD
YOU DO
PARNTER
MARKETING?
Complimentary Products
Overlapping Audience
Targeted Topic

67. PARTNER MARKETING IS
ABOUT ALIGNMENT &
AUDIENCE
Agree on goals, promotional plan,
topic and targeting upfront.

68. DEFINE YOUR FUNNEL

69. YOUR FUNNEL
Lead
Customer

70. Lead
Customer
Lead
Qualified Lead
Customer
YOUR FUNNEL

71. Lead
Customer
Lead
Qualified Lead
Customer
Lead
Marketing Qualified Lead
Sales Accepted Lead
Sales Qualified Lead
Opportunity
Customer
YOUR FUNNEL

72. Opportunity
Customer
Sales Qualified
Leads
Sales Accepted Leads
Marketing Qualified Leads
Leads
YOUR FUNNEL

73. Opportunity
Customer
Sales Qualified
Leads
Sales Accepted Leads
Marketing Qualified Leads
Leads
YOUR FUNNEL
Campaigns, Programs,
Data, Nurture, Scoring

74. Opportunity
Customer
Sales Qualified
Leads
Sales Accepted Leads
Marketing Qualified Leads
Leads
YOUR FUNNEL
Lead Qualification and
Management
Campaigns, Programs,
Data, Nurture, Scoring

75. Opportunity
Customer
Sales Qualified
Leads
Sales Accepted Leads
Marketing Qualified Leads
Leads
YOUR FUNNEL
Lead Qualification and
Management
Sales / Sales Enablement
Campaigns, Programs,
Data, Nurture, Scoring

76. Opportunity
Customer
Sales Qualified
Leads
Sales Accepted Leads
Marketing Qualified Leads
Leads
YOUR FUNNEL
Lead Qualification and
Management
Sales / Sales Enablement
Campaigns, Programs,
Data, Nurture, Scoring
Customer Marketing/Sales

77. Opportunity
Customer
Sales Qualified
Leads
Sales Accepted Leads
Marketing Qualified Leads
Leads
YOUR FUNNEL
Lead Qualification and
Management
Sales / Sales Enablement
Campaigns, Programs,
Data, Nurture, Scoring
Customer Marketing/Sales
Bi-directional
Funnel, Feedback
Loops

78. HOW DOES IT WORK WITH
SALES?

79. SALES

80. 3 KEY ELEMENTS OF GOOD
SMARKETING
Qualifying Criteria, Lead Handoff,
Funnel Operations

81. Lead Qualifying
Criteria
Lead Handoff
Process
Funnel
Operations

82. WHAT MECHANISMS ARE IN
PLACE TO RE-ENGAGE
LOST LEADS?
Funnel operations are core to scaling
your engine and improving efficiency.

83. LOST TO A COMPETITOR?
Automated follow-up at 5 and 11 months

84. LOST DUE TO BUDGET?
Long-term nurture, re-engage with promotions/campaigns

85. HOW DO WE PUT IT ALL
TOGETHER?

86. REMEMBER THESE CORE
PRINCIPLES.

87. Smarter Smarketing

88. Smarter Smarketing
Can You Funnel?

89. Smarter Smarketing
Can You Funnel?
Go Where Your People Are

90. Smarter Smarketing
Can You Funnel?
Go Where Your People Are
Death and (optionality) Taxes

91. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT
QUESTION OF ALL...

92. vs.
Are you fertilizer or a turd?