b2b marketing: do the maths - data versus creativity

Do the Maths: Why Numbers have Replaced Creativity as the Core Marketing Discipline

Data as Priority No. 1

Marketing has forever changed

The old way of speaking to customers has shifted...

From Push...

Direct Mail, Bulk Email, Radio, TV,...

...to Pull...

Search, PPC, Blogs

...to Engagement and Sharing

Social, Conversations, Participation, Feedback,UGC

Email Is the B2B Tool of Choice• 89% of B2B marketers use

email.• Email is the number-one

outbound B2B marketing tactic used today.

Source: Forrester Marketing Forum 2010 presentation

B2B Buyers Hearing More Noise

By 2014…

9,000 email marketing messages a year.

…750 a month

…25 each day

Key Customer/Prospect Insights

Behavior to monitor…

• Opening an email (or not)• Clicking on a link in an email• Downloading a white paper• Accessing a Webinar• Requesting a demo• Visiting a landing page• Viewing a website (or a specific page

within that site)

Monitor your website

Incorporate Blogs, social networks and customer communities

Key Metrics

Core Metrics• Open Rate

– What it measures: Open rate can be calculated a few ways, but typically measures the number of measured opened messages divided by the number of delivered messages.

– What it can tell you: How your “From” name, subject line, and overall brand and value proposition rate with recipients.

• Click-through rate– What it measures: The number of clicks on links in the email

message divided by the number of delivered email messages in a campaign.

– What it can tell you: How strongly the email’s call-to-action(s) resonated with recipients.

• Bounce rate– What it measures: The percentage of sent messages that

permanently failed (bounced)– What it can tell you: Potential problems with accurate data collection

at opt-in as well as email address churn among subscribers.

Core Metrics—Industry Standards• Open Rate: MarketingSherpa’s “2010 Email Marketing

Benchmark Report” showed an average open rate of 24 percent for email newsletters.

• Click-through Rate: Overall average is 11 percent for email newsletters according to MarketingSherpa.

• Bounce rate: According to DMA’s report, emails to a house list averaged a bounce rate of 3.7 percent.

Comprehensive Metrics• Opens per Opener

– What it measures: The total number of opens divided by the number of unique opens

– What it can tell you: Relevance and depth of content, use of multiple devices (e.g. mobile device and desktop), viral sharing.

• Click-to-open rate– What it measures: The ratio of unique clicks as a percentage of

unique opens.– What it can tell you: How strongly the email’s call-to-action(s)

resonated with the recipients who actually opened the message.• Clicks per clicker

– What it measures: The total measured clicks divided by the number of unique opens

– What it can tell you: The same items as opens per opener, only as pertains to the message’s calls to action.

Comprehensive Metrics• Unsubscribe rate

– What it measures: The percentage of delivered email messages that generate unsubscribe requests.

– What it can tell you: Whether your program is meeting the needs and expectations or recipients.

• Spam complaint rate– What it measures: The percentage of delivered email messages that

generate spam complaints.– What it can tell you: Same as unsubscribe rate, but a stronger red

flag that also indicates subscribers don’t trust your unsubscribe process enough to use it.

Comprehensive Metrics—Industry Standards• Opens per Opener: According to emails analysed as part of a

Silverpop study, opens per opener averages 1.66

• Click-to-open Rate: Overall average is 18.5 percent according to the Silverpop study

• Clicks per Clicker: An average of 1.45, according to the Silverpop study

• Unsubscribe rate: An average of 0.77 percent according to Direct Marketing Association’s “2010 Response Rate Trend Report.”

• Spam complaint rate: An average of 0.09 percent according to Silverpop’s study.

Output Metrics

• Leads Generated• Opportunities Created• Win Rate• Order Size• Revenue

Collaborating with Sales

B2B demand-gen is a numbers game

• Only 2-5% of raw inquiries coming into the top of the B2B marketing and sales ‘funnel’ convert to sales.

• 25-30% of B2B marketing databases have bad or incomplete records.

Source: SiriusDecisions, SiriusDecisions 2010

Summit, Scottsdale, Arizona

Agree on Definitions

• What is a marketing qualified lead? • What is a sales qualified lead? • What is an opportunity?• What is the process for each of these

handoffs?

Agree on Metrics

• Be specific• Speak their language• Compromise• Be transparent

Creating a Lead Nurturing Methodology

Nurturing = It’s about efficiency

Nurturing = It’s about timing

Source: MarketingSherpa, "2010 E-mail Marketing: Benchmark Report"

sort-of-ready

definitely not ready

Four Phases of a Buying Cycle—

Awareness

Evaluation Choice Purchase

Nurturing = It’s about the relationship

Dialogue = Architecture of nurturing

LISTEN TO PROSPECT

OFFER CONTENT

GET FEEDBACK

PLAN + TUNE NEXT OFFER

Dialogues Must be Relevant

Segmentation based on Data—Why?• Target communications in order to

increase relevancy • Align your marketing and sales

resources • Transition from product-centric to

customer-centric messaging

Segmentation based on Data—How?• Demographic information • BANT• Behaviours

Role of Technology

Marketing Automation: Makes it Happen

Buyer-centric B2B demand generation

Sales Team POV Buyer POV

Opportunity Cycle

Buyer Education + Dialogue

Buyer-centric B2B demand generation

Sales Team POV Buyer POV

Opportunity Cycle

Buyer Education + Dialogue

Content MarketingLead Management

Buyer-centric B2B demand generation

Marketing Automation

Content MarketingLead Management

Scoring

Segmentation + Routing

Sales Team POV Buyer POV

Opportunity Cycle

Buyer Education + Dialogue

Conclusion

Thank you!<Insert Dialogue Here>

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