The Direct Marketing Association of Northern California, DMAnc, hosted speaker Ian Michiels, Principal & CEO of Gleanster Research, at its November 2014 meeting. The topic, “B2B tactics that worked in 2014 and how to prepare for 2015.”
Gleanster gathers benchmark data by surveying business-to-business (B2B) companies and determines the marketing strategies and tactics of top performers – the top 25% of companies based on revenue growth, response rates, lead-to-sales conversion percentages and number of qualified leads. According to CMOs surveyed by Gleanster, the top marketing priorities for 2014 were to 1) increase revenue, 2) retain profitable customers, 3) reduce costs, and 4) leverage customer data to better understand who is buying their products and why.
Here are 7 best practices from 2014 top performers that you should consider as you plan for 2015:
- Continually cleanse and augment prospect and customer data
The most successful marketers are five times more likely to cleanse and enhance their prospect and customer database at least twice per year. Clean data allows for more laser-focused personalization and messaging, and augmentation reduces the amount of information you need to ask propects to fill out on forms. These companies leverage data from thier customers to understand who buys and why and tune their messaging accordingly. Consider sharing budget for these ongoing data projects among marketing, sales and IT.
- Invest in and optimize marketing automation tools
There is continued growth in the adoption of marketing automation tools. However, top performers are four to five times more likely to implement and optimize native features such as lead scoring, trigger campaigns for lead nurturing and multi-channel attribution.
- Segment your audience and develop buyer personas
Stay laser-focused on key verticals and buyers to get the most out of your budget and resources. Develop buyer personas to help you get inside the head of your best prospects so you can create engaging messages and relevant content. For tips on creating personas and customer-ready messaging, visit Mike Gospe’s blog, the Marketing High Ground. - Broaden campaign programs beyond lead generation
In addition to programs for lead generation and prospect nurturing, top performers spend 50% of their budget on influencing continued customer growth via up-selling and cross-selling programs. Adjust your budget, if needed, to support customer marketing programs. - Use a mix of inbound and outbound tactics
B2B companies use a mix of inbound and outbound marketing tactics to attract, engage, nurture and retain prospects and customers. Inbound (or “pull”) tactics allow your company to be found when prospects are looking for solutions. These include pay-per-click (PPC) ads, search engine optimization (SEO), blogs, landing pages, content marketing (including white papers, infographics, videos and webinars), and social media. Outbound (or interruptive) tactics enable you to “push” your message to your audience via email, phone calls, traditional advertising, direct mail and events. - Develop relevant and engaging content
Content marketing is key to the success of both inbound and outbound marketing programs. But it can be time-consuming and expensive to produce. Stay focused by creating 2 to 3 pieces of content that are really relevant to your personas, and include webinars and videos. According to comscore, 75% of executives watch business-related videos weekly. Try to educate and entertain vs. “sell” especially for those early in the buying cycle, and demonstrate the challenges your audience is facing and how your product or service can help them. - Take credit where credit is due
Marketers are under pressure to prove in the value of their campaigns and programs. Marketing attribution is a challenge. Measure and compensate on key KPIs, including marketing qualified leads (MQLs) and closed deals. Consider attributing a percentage of revenue (such as 5% or 10%) from each cross-sell or up-sell deal that marketing influenced back to marketing. This would need to be agreed to ahead of time by the management team.
Getting it all done. B2B marketing talent can be hard to find and expensive. Many marketing teams struggle with creating enough relevant content to attract and nurture prospects and customers. Consider augmenting your staff with consultants and agencies.