Marketing in the "New-Normal World"

I googled the phrase "New Normal" and find I'm one of many using the phrase to describe how business -- and marketing -- has changed thanks to the recession.

There are plenty of industry experts asserting that the rules of busines have changed and maybe for good. Or at least for a good, long time.

Some thoughts on how B2B marketing has been effected:

The involvement of the CFO on more than a peripheral level. Close inspection -- and I mean close -- of the planned marketing spend and occasionally without overt enthusiasm for the positive impact on top-line results is a trend we've seen repeatedly in the past 18 months.

The requirement to do more with less budget. Do I really need to go into detail on that one?

The use of technology to build communities, streamline communications, engage customers, wash the laundry, walk the dog and deliver actionable marketing metrics. Yep. Technology carries a full load these days.

The use of "integrated PR" as a priority program element. PR tends to increase in use during a recession. "Searchified" and "social media-ized" public relations isn't NEW...it's more that the prioritization of these extensions of an already powerful tool may be new. (You could argue with me on that one...)

Lots has changed.

And so have marketers. And their agencies.

Unless your marketing strategy is delivering "send me straight to retirement do not pass go" kind of results, you'd be wise to audit what you're doing and identify ways to re-work your program as you enter 2011.

We urge you not to look for budget cuts, but rather to seek out ways in which you can improve program performance while playing by the new rules.

-- Seek a better understanding of what motivates your prospects in today's economy. Often this is enhanced through improved integration of sales and marketing. Craft your messages, select your tactics, time your activities, in ways that demonstrate your understanding of the prospect's current points of pain. You've changed, right? Well so have "they."

Commit to using audience-centric messaging and tactics. Execute a program that is completely customer centric as well as fully integrated.

-- Consider a shift in focus from customer acquisition to customer retention, but only if this is aligned with top-level objectives and will not handicap your company in 24 or 36 months when you'll be hungry for leads. (We offer this only as a sample strategy, not as one that's appropriate to all companies.)

-- Identify ways in which you can effectively support your sales team or channel. This may be a planned distributor communications program, a co-marketing program or even a Mobile Phone App that aligns sales and marketing teams. There has never been a better time to support sales than now.

What does YOUR new normal look like? How can you evolve your marketing in a way that allows you to take advantage of the opportunities existing within today's economy?

Can we help?

Are You Considering Your Customer's Point Of View? Customer Engagement Strategies Improve Lead Nuturing

This year, we have heard recurring themes from many of our clients as they place their marketing focus on penetrating existing account relationships and improving their lead qualification processes:  “We are struggling with converting our leads into sales opportunities,”  “We aren’t sure what happens to our lead after an initial introduction or meeting,” “Our sales cycle is months long.  How do we keep our customer engaged during that time?”

Often, these struggles bring us back to a fundamental question:  ‘Are you demonstrating relevant value to your prospect through all communication touch points as you develop the relationship with them?”

It’s important to remember that EVERY communication that the prospect receives from you gives
that prospect insight on:

§       How much you truly value them

§       If you will honor promises made

§       What differentiates you from a competing brand

Connecting the customer relationship with where the rubber meets the road is the further “connection” to your company’s bottom line.  Harris Interactive recently found that:

§       86% of consumers quit doing business with a company with whom they have a bad experience (up 27% from four years ago).

§       60% will PAY MORE for a good experience (even in a down economy)

§       53% will recommend you based on an outstanding experience, and experience trumps price (50%) and the quality of product (41%) in driving word of mouth promotion.

The Impact of Marketing on the Lead Nurturing Process

It’s key to remember that the customer’s experience of your company and brand does not begin and end at the sales call, the web site visit, or trade show.  Marketers can no longer think about their marketing efforts as individual “tactics.”  Why?  Because, it is the TOTAL set of communication experiences that your prospect has with your brand that drives your prospect’s impression of your company and has direct impact on your ultimate goal:  converting the lead from prospect to customer.

Today, our challenge as marketers is to orchestrate and engineer our marketing messages to the customer and organize the timing and delivery of those messages in an effort to successfully encourage the action we want our prospects to take.

Often, an unplanned lead communication process contains gaps that the customer falls through on the process of becoming aware of your offering, becoming a customer, and ideally a brand advocate.

Strategy + Message + TIMING.  A little bit of organization can go along way to increase the effectiveness of your communications strategy.  A customer engagement strategy maps the communication tactics that are deployed along the relationship stages that the customer advances through on his way to becoming a buyer of your product or service.

So, how do you help drive your customers through the sales cycle and make your marketing efforts a stronger asset to the company (and to the sales organization)?  Incorporate these six steps, and you will be on your way:

1. Inventory your current lead management process and the communication tactics that are currently used in that process (create the chain).
2. Organize your current process by the key stages that the prospect is at in his relationship with your company.  (AIDA marketing models frequently works well.)
3. Start to analyze this process from your customers POV (that’s “Point of View”).
4. Complete a GAP analysis – where do things fall short?
5. Identify points of “conversion.”  What measurable actions will you ask your prospect take that will tell you that he is developing a closer relationship with you.  (“Conversions” are today’s “Call to Action.”)
6. Develop your communication strategy:
1. Identify tactics
2. Orchestrate timing
3. Identify ownership within your team for tactics, timing, and delivery
7. Implement, Analyze, and Act

Customer engagement mapping allows you to more effectively create and communicate value to the customer, position you as expert, and build trust and credibility more quickly. Thoughtful engineering of messages provided to your customer along the demand generation process will guide them to a closer relationship with you.

Where have you had success in pulling the customer through your lead communication cycle?

All you want to do these days is blog, blog, blog

Interesting study out of eMarketer and published recently in B2B : "34% of U.S. companies currently use blogs for marketing purposes."*

In fact, the study states that blogging activity will rise to 43% by 2012 (excluding microblogging and social network activity).

Why? As stated in the study, more companies view blogging as an effective means of supporting key marketing functions (brand building, lead generation) and as a way to enhance customer support/service.

I also like to think of blogs as an excellent "equalizer" of brands. Where one company may have the financial resources to pour into an integrated campaign (PR, print advertising, SEM, direct, etc.)...another in the same market space may not.

Blogs level the playing field by providing companies large -- and small -- with an opportunity to develop an incredibly personalized marketing tool without the need to overinvest in terms of hard dollars. Can you spend thousands of dollars developing a customized, interactive corporate blog? Of course. Must you? No.

Just consider:

Tone. Particularly important if blogging is used to support branding activities. The most basic rule of branding is that the brand personality must be present and consistent throughout all communications. Consider the tone of your brand and execute it consistently within your blog posts.

Objectives. Be clear about what you hope to gain from your blogging activities at the outset. If your blog is intended to support branding activities, to present the essence of your company's brand, it may not be realistic to expect leads from your posts. (It may happen of course...it just may not be an expected outcome.)

Demand Gen. Do you have a clear picture of how your blog will fit into or support your demand/lead generation activities? Are all demand gen activities working together in terms of timing and message? What are your key performance indicators for your blogging activity -- and are they realistic given the other components of your program?

If the blog is intended to deliver leads, is the content fully in tune with your target audiences? Use keyword research tools to help understand what terms your target audiences are searching for and how you can organically include them in your posts.

Have a plan for where the blog will take your visitors after they've read your content.

If the blog supports other efforts (ex. serves as a call to action) make sure the transition from that tactic to the blog is logical.

Of course there are more things to consider when preparing to launch your blog, or improve your current efforts. These are just food for thought.

How can blogging benefit your top-line objectives?

*Source: "Study says more companies blogging," B2B, Posted 10/20/10

B2B Creative - "Smart" Thoughts for Today's Market

Today's B2B Agency Creative Director faces new message delivery challenges (and opportunities) we couldn't have imagined a few years ago.

Smart phones, Apps, Social Media, QR codes, YouTube -- the landscape changes fast and you need the ability to adapt quickly. Long gone are the days of creating an ad, laying out the "capabilities" brochures for lead response and the "possible" call center follow-up.

Just as the Internet changed the push/pull dynamic, Smartphones are changing some sales processes. Being in a meeting no longer means being out of touch. And phones are being used more than ever to advance face-to-face sales.

Maybe it's an obvious question, but what's the impact on creative?

Tried and true design approaches don't necessarily work on a 3 x 4 inch screen. Maybe it's time to think "inside the box". What works on the small screen? How do we develop visual/creative solutions that work in the new hand-held era? How are messages, brands and images created, supported and maintained through a phone? As creative folks we must use unique navigation and data content mapping combined with simple and easy-to-use fingertip-friendly designs to yield the best functioning creative product.

With iPhones, Droid and Blackberry devices becoming the future of just-in-time delivery of sales and marking information to your sales force (and customers) our clients are looking to us to find the right mobile solution.

It's time to think and create "smart".