The document provides 10 tips for improving marketing campaigns and lead nurturing efforts. It recommends aligning marketing activity with sales, capturing all responses from campaigns, planning a structured nurturing dialogue with different content offers tailored to the buyer's journey, scoring responses to determine readiness for sales, and automating processes where possible. Regular measurement of key indicators and refinement of approaches based on lessons learned are also advised.

1. Great Campaign! Now What? Pete Jakob Marketing Transformation Leader IBM UK 30 September 2009

2. Leaky Sales Funnel Increases Customer Acquisition Costs October 2006, Best Practices “Improving B2B Lead Management” Nurture [Verb] : foster, help develop, or help grow; the act of nourishing or nursing; tender care; education; training; that which nourishes; food; diet; sustenance; the environmental influences that contribute to the development of an individual.

4. “ As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.” Chauncey Gardiner – Being There

5. An Organic Gardener’s Guide to B2B Lead Nurturing Pete Jakob Marketing Transformation Leader IBM United Kingdom September 2009 [email_address] 10 tips for a bumper harvest Updated for 2009

6. Are you growing the right stuff? Unless Sales are hungry for your leads, your marketing programme is DOOMED! Management Questions: Who is the key sales sponsor? What is their capacity for leads, and what shape? What did they agree to do with the leads you generate? How will you review progress with them? What will you do with leads they don’t progress? Impact Fewer, longer-running campaigns Greater accountability Increase focus on Sales Enablement and Nurturing Symptom: Great campaign -> lots of “leads” -> can’t get sales to engage

7. 2. Build Your Plot The Glue between Sales and Marketing Accountable to Sales and Marketing Internal and External Resources? Unified Management System Response Management is NOT “Are You Ready to Buy Yet?” Measurements to Drive Intended Behaviours Identify Sales Opportunities Nurture responses until Sales-Ready Narrow & Deep vs Broad and Shallow

8. 3. What’s growing well, and what’s not? Responses Database Client-centric view of Responses Define your policy What constitutes a response? How will responses be loaded? How quickly will responses be loaded and become actionable? Points to consider Client at the centre or your response system Include Third Party data from Events, Hosted web content etc? Business partner? Develop picture of clients across multiple campaigns What is the optimum touch cadence? What governance rules should apply across different campaigns in market?

9. 4. Follow the Instructions on the Packet Rules-based Dialogue A systematic approach to campaign contact structure for each response type Events Web Contact Form Outbound Tele Inbound Response Blueprints are a startpoint for customisation for specific campaign needs Consider non-responders and responders Consider “transactional” offers and “dialogue” offers Benefits: Plug leaks in the marketing funnel (eg non-responders) Clarify Roles and Responsibilities within the team Clarify when/how to pass to sales Underpin alignment to tools

10. 4. (contd.) Plan Your Planting “ Dialogue” offers that permit ongoing contact Plug leaks in the funnel by re-engaging with non-responders Leverage content aligned to buying cycle to advance customer journey Leverage tools to provide engagement insight Nurture via Tele or Tool

11. 5. Right Feed at the Right Time Learn Scope Select Why Your Company/Solution Demo Product specifications Call me/Inbound call Case studies Q&As FAQs Solutions Self Assessment White papers – Yours & credible third parties Newsletters Interactive tools Supplements PR Webinars Industry Events IT Press/Online Podcasts CONTENT/ CHANNEL SOLUTIONS Clear “why me” from suppliers Endorsement from 3 rd parties Accesibility to the right people who can take issue to technical solution Proof of capability Objective support, no sales pitch Case studies Explanation of different solutions Ability to ask questions Objective, up-to-date information Information at the right level Tools to help them understand what the right level is (eg vs maturity or vertical) Guide/pointers to other information WHAT THEY WANT SUPPLIER SELECTION SCOPE REQUIREMENTS ISSUE RECOGNITION JOURNEY STAGES

12. 6. Are the Nutrients being Absorbed? Scoring Responses Responses Can be Scored based on Job Role Content Consumed Activity Can be Manual or Automated Automation allows for automatic routing of contact details once a new threshold reached Proceed with Caution!

13. 7. Make it easier with a little machinery… Events registration Web Forms Outbound Tele Inbound Enquiries Attractor Triggers Standardised digital nurturing engine Added-value Response Customer’s pain Engagement measure LDR Pass to Sales Nurture Further Comms 1 Comms 2 Comms 3 Objective: Know more about the client at then end of the journey than at the beginning

14. 7. (Contd.) …Or with a lot of machinery Nine Rules for Value-Driven Marketing Automation Marketing Operations Campaign Planning Campaign Execution Response Management Relationship Management

15. 8. Share your knowledge Significant Customer Insight may have been developed via Automated Marketing System Other Marketing Processes (eg external Telemarketing) Publish to Marketing AND Sales

16. 9. Monitor Progress Regularly Responses How many named named , valid responses did marketing generate? Marketing Validated Leads (MVL) How many responses are nurtured to a level that has been mutually agreed with sales Separate marketing “influenced” from marketing “sourced” Segment via Customer type (eg Core Clients, Investment Clients, New Clients etc) Sales Acceptance Sales agreement (via SLA) to perform specific tasks with MVL Lead follow-up timeframe Feedback required SLA defines specific reasons for rejection Incorrect routing Incomplete record Doesn’t meet agreed threshold MVL-to-sales acceptance days Review on regular basis via Sales/Marketing “huddle” Sales Qualified Lead Conversion rate of Sales Accepted lead to SQL (Plus conversion rate of Sales Accepted to Lost) Cumulative size of the opportunities now in pipeline Closed Business Conversion rate of SQL to closed business Source: Sirius Inc

17. 10. Apply Plenty of Mulch and Compost www.mpdailyfix.com www.raintoday.com sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog www.mikemoran.com/biznology blogs.forrester.com/marketing blog.startwithalead.com

18. Some Lessons Learned People, Process, Tools Cultural aspects are the most challenging Sell the vision Tools alone won’t fix it Timing Be selective, but relate to the bigger vision Stay Focussed and Passionate Stay Fresh – there’s a wealth of free insight Blogs Google Alerts Network

19. 10 Tips for More Successful Campaigns 5 4 3 2 1 6 7 8 9 10 Align activity with Sales Capture all Responses Plan structured nurturing dialogue Align nurturing offers to buying cycle Score Responses Automate where appropriate Integrate with CRM Measure key Indicators Refine and keep learning Organise Resources

20. Thank You ! B2B Marketing – Open for Business http://b2bnurture.blogspot.com/

21. Photo Acknowledgements http://www.flickr.com/photos/wheatfields/2606966401/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/dweekly/2311463183/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellievanhoutte/2817039164/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/freeparking/2432369855/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/freefoto/2515337245/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/tico_bassie/120810354/ http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalrural/1091785673/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvar/112595227/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/markhillary/538883459/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/23126594@N00/369121290/ http://loveapplefarm.typepad.com/growbetterveggies/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/29278394@N00/2457055952/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pancakejess/1429256455/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/angela7/87957760/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/drstarbuck/194160521/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremymates/2688974917/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/chichacha/2473930145/