Posted by Frank Candio on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 @ 11:29 AM
Early in our marketing careers, we learned about the 4 P's of Marketing: Price, Product, Place and Promotion. Marketing Managers learned these were the four components in their control. Therefore, our marketing decisions should always be funneled through the 4 P's.
In our Internet driven, Sales 2.0 world, many claim the 4 P's, as a marketing strategy, are dead. Is this true?
Price, product, placement and promotion are now and will always be critical to your marketing mix. It is an excellent foundation for making marketing decisions. But the shift in buyer behavior, particularly in the B2B space, requires us to reevaluate and reinvent our approaches.
The hard truth is prospects are engaging with us without our knowledge. Using the Internet they are visiting our website, checking out the competition, referencing LinkedIn for connections and doing Google searches completely hidden from our view. Then, only after they have done their research, become educated, and developed their short list of solution providers, will they come out of the shadows and identify themselves as a prospect. And hopefully, you will be one of the vendors on their short list.
It is a different game today. Prospect engagement is now critical to sustainable sales and marketing success. In our Sales 2.0 World you need to know the 3 C's of Prospect Engagement.
What are the 3 C's of Prospect Engagement? Conspicuous, Compelling, and Consistent in Execution. Let's take a look at each.
The first "C" is conspicuous. You must get noticed. Prior to the Internet we did things like knocked on doors, dialed for dollars, attended trade shows and placed print ads to get noticed. Not anymore. The Sales Rep no longer creates awareness, trade show attendance has plummeted, and the print advertising model is a dinosaur.
So you must be conspicuous to your prospects. The first place they are going is the Internet. Will they find you? How?
First, you must know your buying personas. Who are they? Where do they congregate on the Internet? How do they search? How do they use social media? Who are the influencers they follow?
The answers to these and other questions will drive your strategy from keyword selection through campaign execution.
The second "C" is compelling. You have 3 - 5 seconds to capture a prospect's attention. If you fail to do so you will lose them - probably forever.
Think about your own behavior. How much time do you spend on an email before you hit delete. How much patience do you have with a website if you don't quickly find what you are looking for? What tolerance do you have for product feature dumps or tutorials?
It is critical to articulate your sales message in a way that is relevant, interesting and compelling to your buying personas. Your choice of media - such as video, FLASH, pod cast or written - is as important as your content / message and is critical in determining whether your message is ultimately heard.
The final "C" is consistent execution. We all know a great plan and strategy is worthless if you cannot execute. Unfortunately this is where we see the greatest gap. Most organizations can lay out a marketing campaign calendar and manage to it. The outbound campaigns go out on time, ads get placed and other milestones reached.
In our Sales 2.0 world, consistent execution means continual optimization of all outbound and inbound efforts. Things like changing email subject lines on resends...constant monitoring SEO keywords performance...active social media engagement. There are very few "set it and forget it" activities in marketing today.
If you are conspicuous, compelling and consistently executing you have a marketing mix that will surely lead to success.
About Sales Engine International
Sales Engine International is a Sales 2.0 Prospect Engagement and Marketing Campaign Execution Company. Clients come to us for inbound and outbound marketing strategies, tools and services that engage and move your prospect through the funnel, result in more qualified leads, and offer complete marketing spend transparency.
Posted by Frank Candio on Tue, Feb 09, 2010 @ 08:50 PM
Filmmaker John Hughes wrote and produced some of the most successful films of the 1980's including Ferris Buhler's Day Off, several of the National Lampoon franchise and Home Alone. The story behind one of his most popular movies, Pretty in Pink, contains a valuable lesson for all B2B marketers.
Here's the story.
In the original ending of the movie, Molly Ringwald's character ends up with her eccentric best friend - a character named Duckie played by John Cryer - rather than the rich guy she was pursuing the entire movie. This ending made sense, sent the right message and ended the movie on a high note.
Unfortunately there was one problem. The test audiences for Pretty in Pink hated this ending. The film's producer was horrified. They thought the movie was perfect for their demographic. So they showed it to another test audience. Same results - the audience hated it.
The producer pulled her team together and after careful reflection decided to rewrite and reshoot the ending. When asked why the film's producer said:
"We decided we were making the movie for them - the audience."
What does this have to do with B2B marketing? Everything.
The starting point for all your marketing activities must be your audience. Who are you trying to engage, what is important to them, and how can you reach them. Too often we get caught up in the latest marketing technology or trend that we lose focus on the basics.
- It starts with your ideal prospect profile. What are the characteristics of the buyers who have the highest probability to buy from you?
- Then you need to truly understand and internalize their business challenges. What keeps them up at night?
- Finally, you need to create messaging and content relevant and aligned to their challenges - and then deliver it to them.
If you do this successfully, you will have an ending your audience and your sales team will like.
Sales Engine International is a Sales 2.0 Prospect Engagement and Marketing Campaign Execution Company. Clients come to us for inbound and outbound marketing strategies, tools and services that engage and move your prospect through the funnel, result in more qualified leads, and offer complete marketing spend transparency.
Posted by Frank Candio on Wed, Feb 03, 2010 @ 11:04 AM
Fans of the TV show Mad Men know that Don Draper is the quintessential ad man. He is cool, creative and smart.
The show takes place in the 1960's and there are many vestiges of an era long passed:
- The characters all smoke - in their offices
- Drinking is encouraged and condoned during office hours
- The women in the office are objectified
So office life has changed dramatically since the 60's. But what about Don Draper's job? Back then he was focused on big ad placements and media buys.
Today, the spend in the traditional media outlets has plummeted as companies look to market digitally.
Unless Don adjusts, he's a dinosaur.
Posted by Frank Candio on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 @ 12:15 PM
Last night I received a call from Eddie. Eddie mentioned my friend Mike said I might be interested in seeing a presentation for his product. He then gave me a little pitch and closed for the meeting.
Cold calling is a tough business in any economy. It is difficult to get a "live" voice on the other end of the phone and when you do -you have less than a 20 % chance of getting your meeting.
How do you improve your odds? Through referrals. C-Level Executives are three times as likely to take a meeting with someone referred by a colleague or business associate.
Working influencer channels can pay big dividends.
Posted by Frank Candio on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 @ 08:04 PM
Most Sales Executives I speak with believe once the economy turns around, their revenue numbers will be once again achievable. Budgets will be funded…people will start buying and happy days will be here again.
The economy is not a like a light switch that is either on or off. Economic downturns like the one we recently experienced have broader consequences. And as conditions improve over the next 12 – 18 months, it is critical for Sales Executives to recognize what has changed and adjust their strategies and approaches accordingly.
We are now in a necessity based economy and this will not change anytime soon. What is a necessity-based economy? For your prospect this means the pain of not having your products and services must override the pain of paying you for them.
Most companies have cut staff, slashed their budgets to bone and improved the productivity of their remaining employees. Surviving the trauma of the recession, they will not be quick to staff up, spend and return to their old ways.
Here are some things to consider as you plan your go forward strategy:
1. To be better salespeople your Reps must become better businesspeople. In this new environment, your prospect will expect no less.
2. Differentiation is critical to success. Your prospects will always opt for the low cost solution if they see no difference.
3. Know when to walk away. Sales Reps must fully appreciate the opportunity cost of pursuing business they are not likely to win.
Posted by Frank Candio on Mon, Jan 18, 2010 @ 05:31 PM
Interesting case study on social media as a B2B marketing tool:
http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100118/FREE/100119928/1173/FREE
Key takeaway: Social media is not a standalone activity. It should be integrated into all campaigns.
Posted by Frank Candio on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 @ 08:26 AM
Take a look at this link:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=119518
No surprise Facebook has surpassed MySpace (once my kids stopped using MySpace a few years ago I knew it was over).
The headline here is Facebook will account for 1/4 of all the spend in this category.
Posted by Frank Candio on Tue, Jan 12, 2010 @ 07:07 AM
Over the weekend I spoke with a friend who is marketing a sports related product. We were throwing ideas back and forth when I asked him how many website visitors he gets each month. He said about 6,000. I then asked how many email addresses he harvests from those visits. He said none.
One of the biggest opportunities most companies miss is converting website visitors into leads. Your visitors have some interest - that's why they are coming to your site. The goal then is to capture their credentials through offers.
Here's why:
1. You'll be able to execute one to one marketing to these visitors
2. You'll organically build your prospect list
3. You'll learn what offers / messages are resonating with your prospects
It is the biggest bang for your marketing buck. Do it.
Posted by Frank Candio on Mon, Jan 11, 2010 @ 02:44 PM
The whole premise of lead nurturing campaigns rests in the concept that all prospects are not ready for "buy now" sales messages.
This does not mean you have to be passive in your approach. Accelerator campaigns attempt to move prospects along in your process based on their previously identified behavior. By recognizing and analyzing their behavior on your website, the frequency of visits, and the information they have downloaded - for example - you can (and should) adjust your nurturing approach. For our clients this often means we begin one to one marketing.
Prospect digital behavior is telling us something. We need to listen.
Posted by Frank Candio on Wed, Dec 16, 2009 @ 02:12 PM
Interesting report from research firm Outsell:
http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091216/MEDIABUSINESS/912169998/1078/newsletter011
$60 billion moving from traditional advertising - print and TV ads - and moving to the web. Much of that investment is going into the company website.