B2B Lead Management / Content Marketing

The Sales Funnel

Traditional Funnel

The problem

B2B lead development gap• Buyers engaging with sales further down the funnel as they

research more online• Leads are not properly qualified by the marketing team before

they are handed over to sales• There is no way of identifying accurately when a lead is ready to

be passed to sales as no clear definition of a lead• There is no systematic process in place for managing and scoring

leads• When a lead is disqualified by sales it does not go into a lead

nurturing programme• There is no visibility where exactly leads fall out of the funnel• There is no connection between leads and converted sales

Terminology

Leads• Lead Management

– The process of generating revenue from leads by collecting, qualifying and interacting with individuals in relevant ways throughout the buying process

• Lead Nurturing– Process of building relationships with qualified prospects regardless of their

timing to buy, with the goal of earning their business when they are ready• Lead scoring

– The process of determining the sales readiness of leads using a pre-determined scoring methodology and ranking

• Lead Database– A system used to collect lead info – based on BANT, behaviourial data,

firmogrpahics etc..

Attraction Marketing• Inbound Marketing with intent – pull marketing versus push

marketing• Using your content to build engagement with purpose, targeted

at your specific audience• When you create content that pulls prospects, you are

differentiating your brand– Customers recognise the value and follow trail back to your base

(website) to engage with you– To ensure this works – create contagious content

• Your content will move buyers along in their buying process to become a live sales opportunity in time

Hubspot – Inbound Marketing Company view

The solution

Buyer Journeys, Lead Management and Content Marketing

The Buyer Process

Understanding the Buyer Journey• Status Quo: prospects have not yet recognised the problem as one

they need to resolve• Priority: problem recognised but prospect unsure which route is

best option• Research: Prospects actively engaged in learning what they need to

know, and building confidence• Options: Learning about solution sets that will best fit immediate

and future needs• Step Backs: Something happens to make prospect return to an

earlier phase to verify beliefs• Validation: You are on the short list – need to prove you can deliver• Choice: Decision to buy moves from intent to reality

Buyer Stage Q & A

Components of a successful B2B Marketing Programme

The 7 Key Rules for Connected Marketer

1. Develop Buyer Personas– Understand your prospects, based on who they are, how they

behave, and where they interact in the sales cycle2. Align content with buyers– Determine what types of information your prospects will need, based

on who they are, how they behave and where they are in their buying process

3. Consistency across channels– Leverage as many channels as possible to get your message out – and

keep messages consistent4. Let experts do the talking – Solve problems – find experts who can articulate and discuss

problems and solutions

The 7 Key Rules for Connected Marketer

5. Multi-channel distributionsBuyers have different preferences for consuming information – you need

to make sure content is accessible from all these channels (Blogs, website, rss, twitter, facebook, business portals)

6. Automate the process (4 Rs)– Reach: Use social media to engage with a broad audience (track all

interactions)– Response: measure all response and their nature– Relationship: Build relationship by delivering timely and personalised

message based on behaviour and profile– Revenue: Lead nurturing must feed sales

7. Get Connected– Make yourself a valuable resource for your prospects

Lead Management Process

Lead management • Agree definitions of “leads” between marketing and sales teams• Implement a lead scoring mechanism – assign scores for

behaviours and BANT, geogrpahies etc.. • Agree qualified lead hand-offs to sales from marketing• Maintain visibility of leads from marketing to sales • Implement a feedback loop between sales and marketing to

update on quality of leads and any issues• Implement a lead nurturing programme for leads that need

further development• Track leads to revenue generated and implement marketing

performance based on revenue generated from leads

Key lessons to implement lead management

Advantages of Lead Management• Optimises marketing impact on sales

– Gives marketers better visibility into the sales pipeline, helps marketing deliver better ready-to-buy leads to sales,

– reduces cost of acquistion to generate sales, enables more efficient sales force

• Ties sales and marketing closer together– Ties marketing process directly to the bottom line - # of marketing

qualified leads to converted sales, connects online buyer behaviour with readiness to buy

• Helps marketing treat customer relationships like corporate assets– Extend lead management to live customers– Foster and nurture closer customer relationships, develop an engaged

community, create customer advocates

Economics of the funnell

Content Programme

What we want our content to do• Attention - your content needs to get noticed - and not just by anyone - by the audience you've

targeted. Awareness - once people have engaged with your content, they should have some thoughts about your company - preferably favorable ones worth remembering.

• Mindshare - we need people to spend enough time with our content to actually "get" the ideas it's sharing.

• Anchor - once people have ingested the ideas, your content needs to work to make sure that those ideas take precedence in forming how your audience thinks about the topic.

• Action - your content is sent out on a mission to get people to DO something.• Conversation - beyond the action your content requests, it needs to ensure that the audience has a

clear enough understanding that they can now talk with others and share your ideas with them in their own words.?

• Confidence - the learning your content provides needs to help people feel certain that they know what they need to take the next step...and just what that might be.

• Competence - your content must provide evidence that your company can actually do what it says it can.

• Invitation - content must entice people to spend more time with your company - whether through opting in for a newsletter, attending a webinar, subscribing to an RSS feedAuthority - content must inspire reliance on your company for consistently valuable insights

Sample Content Plans

Relevant B2B Content

Business to Business Case Studies

CrownPeak

Altimeter Group

American Express

Alterian

Marketo

Intuit Business Services

Eloqua

MarketBright

Salesforce.com