ClickInsights: What was your "Aha" moment in 2009? - Part 2

Posted by Ambal Balakrishnan December 17th 09

It’s almost the end of the year and we will soon start a fresh one. What is amazing about the end of the year is the festive mood it puts us in. It also puts us in a reflective mood as we ponder over what has transpired and how we have come out of this year stronger than we went in. I have invited our Panel of B2B Marketing Experts to reflect on 2009 and answer the following question: What was your aha moment in 2009? Read on to get their insights.

 

Ardath Albee

Blog Marketing Interactions Twitter Ardath421

"Don’t let prospect assumptions limit marketing effectiveness."

Ardath Albee's Bio

Ardath Albee is a B2B Marketing Strategist. Her company Marketing Interactions helps companies with complex sales and quantify marketing effectiveness by using interactive e-marketing strategies driven by compelling content. She empowers her clients to create customer-centric nurturing programs that leverage strategic story development to engage prospects until they are sales ready. Ardath’s book, eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale is now shipping! 

Ardath Albee's Tip

In much of the work I’ve done this year with corporate marketers, it’s become clear that much of what they think they know about their prospects is limited or has become outdated. It used to be that once you knew your prospects, it took a long time for that knowledge to become obsolete. That’s no longer true. The buying environment is shifting—faster than ever. The changes are as much about who is involved in the buying decision as in how they facilitate it.

The “aha” moment for me was the discovery that many marketers know enough to generate leads, but not enough to drive engagement over the length of time it takes for buyers to agree to—and be ready for—sales conversations. There’s a tremendous gap between lead generation and sales readiness for a complex sale that can be bridged with active nurturing programs.

In filling this gap, marketers need to expand their reach – not only to engage with decision makers, but to satisfy the needs of all the people who influence the sale. Buying committees are growing in number and the “aha” moment for marketers should be that influencers may not be able to say yes, but they can definitely derail the sale by saying no.

The best way to overcome this deficiency is through continuous listening, research and refinement of marketing programs based on prospect and customer intelligence. The speed of change requires that marketers keep their content development process fluid over time. Plan your editorial calendar to cover the buying process, but develop it incrementally, adjusting as needed to match your buyers’ shifting perceptions and priorities.

Several tools for prospect intelligence:

• Lead scoring provides real-time insights.
• Google alerts pull a wide variety of information to you.
• LinkedIn Groups and Answers can give you a quick read on viewpoints.
• Twitter Search can reveal top-of-mind concerns and perspectives for specific topics.
• Sales rep feedback from the streets must be collected and factored into marketing programs.
• Customer interviews can help with understanding the true impact of issues.
• Customer service insights can help you learn what’s working and what’s not, as well as what may be of increasing importance in the future.

Ardath Albee Recommends

• Mapping Content to the Buying Process - Slidecast
• Marketing and Sales Alignment – Marketo eBook (New!)
• Creating Sales Opportunities with Lead Scoring – Genius.com white paper by Ardath Albee
• There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute – Esp. in Social Media Measurement – Anna O’Brien (Random Acts of Data blog)
• The High-Tech Direct Marketing Handbook – Howard J. Sewell

Rebel Brown

Blog Phoenix Rising Twitter RebelBrown

"Twitter!"

Rebel Brown's Bio

Rebel Brown is go-to-market strategist and Spin Doctor specializing in start ups, turnarounds and start-arounds in the high technology arena. She has helped to define, position and launch over 75 individual products and companies since she began consulting 20 years ago. Her clients who are technology vendors and venture firms leverage her strategic marketing and go-to-market expertise. She identifies and transforms differentiation - customers crown jewels - into compelling, customer-centric value that sells. Her blog is Phoenix Rising and her business is People Who Know.

Rebel Brown's Tip

I avoided Twitter until May of this year.  Like many, I was skeptical.  From the outside, Twitter looked like a new-fangled chat room for people who had time on their hands – which I don’t.   But at the insistence of some friends, I joined Twitter as I launched my blog, Phoenix Rising.  I wasn’t sure why I needed, or wanted, Twitter in my life – but I joined. What a delightful surprise awaited me!  Yes, there are characters in the stream that are pretty silly, thinly veiled MLM pitches and those ‘used car’ sales approaches.  And yes, SPAM is as much a part of the Twitterverse as it is with our email.

But there is so much more! Once I learned how to sift through the chaff to find the wheat – what amazing kernels of wisdom I found.  Powerful business lessons, thought provoking perspectives and a community of professionals whose generosity astounds me every day.

I’ve met my speaking coach and mentor, two new clients, more new business associates and partners than I can count – all on Twitter. We are a virtual business team! We brainstorm together, share expertise and lessons learned, offer recommendations for new contacts, marketing and sales approaches, speaking and book writing, personal learning and more.  Then there are my new friends – people who astound me with their grace, intelligence and generosity.  My Twitter family is as diverse as it is global.

Twitter is more than chatter. It’s a powerful place to connect with fellow business professionals who can propel our ideas and businesses to the next level of growth.  We simply must take the first step -  to connect on a personal, open and honest level. The rest happens naturally with Twitter.

Rebel Brown Recommends

• Charlene Li's and Josh Barnoff's book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies

Tom Pick

Blog Webbiquity Twitter TomPick

"How to use technology to really make relationship marketing work?"

Tom Pick's Bio

Tom Pick is an online marketing executive with KC Associates, a marketing and PR firm in Minneapolis , Minnesota , focused on b2b technology clients. He helps clients improve business results through search engine optimization (SEO), search marketing, interactive PR and social media programs. Tom also writes the award-winning Webbiquity, a blog about B2B lead generation, social media, interactive PR, SEO and search engine marketing.

Tom Pick's Tip

The concept of one-to-one marketing, also called relationship marketing, has been around for more than a decade, at least since Don Peppers and Martha Rogers wrote The One to One Field Book back in 1999. Unfortunately for the authors, the technology to support such programs really didn’t exist at the time. But that issue was resolved just a few years later when the first marketing automation software suites came to market.

So, given that the theory of targeted marketing has been around since the last century, and the tools have been available for several years now, why are so many marketing messages so un-targeted? I’m not alone in seeing this in both b2c (I receive membership materials from AARP and offers for Medigap insurance—hey, I’m not THAT old!) and b2b (for example, I get email blasts about cloud computing conferences; I had a cloud computing client a while back, but other than that have no relationship to the industry).

My “a-ha” moment came earlier this year in conversations with some very smart people in the marketing automation market, including Kim Albee of Genoo and Steve Woods of Eloqua. The problem isn’t a lack of theory or tools, but rather the challenge of figuring out how to use the technology to really make relationship marketing work.

It isn’t easy; it requires proper identification of granular market segments, understanding their unique needs (is this the functional or economic buyer?), creating content to address each audience, and coordinating all efforts carefully with the sales force to avoid working at cross-purposes.

Fortunately, there are parties at every level working to address the issue. At the thought-leadership level, Ardath Albee provides a roadmap for content creation and targeting in her new book, eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. At the vendor level, Genius has released its Essential Marketing Automation Handbook and Marketo has its Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing, both designed to help customers use their software more effectively. Savvy marketing automation resellers are also beefing up their consulting side to help customers, on an individual basis, use the technology more effectively.

Hopefully the culmination of these efforts will mean less spam and junk mail for buyers, and less wasted, untargeted efforts by marketers.

Tom Pick Recommends

• B2B Lead Generation Blog
• Marketing Interactions
• Phoenix Rising
• Marketing Edge podcast

Seamus Walsh

Blog B2BContentMarketing Twitter SeamusWalsh

"The right content at the right time to the right people."

Seamus Walsh's Bio

Seamus Walsh founded VAZT Global Inc. in January 2008. Seamus' passion for sales, sales process and excellence enabled him to develop a platform that "finds, cares and feeds" prospects until they are ready to buy. Prior to forming VAZT, Seamus worked in sales and strategic account management for The Hackett Group, a strategic advisory and management consulting firm in Atlanta, For Gartner, a research, advisory and consulting company in Stamford, CT and Cambridge Technology Partners, a web development company, prior to its acquisition by Novell. Seamus resides in Essex Junction, VT with his wife and four children.

Seamus Walsh's Tip

My 2009 aha moment was when I realized the target market I was aiming for basically ceased to exist, and publishers, content creators and VP of sales and marketing were fast becoming “social media experts”.  At the same time, implementations of marketing and sales information portals were strong, despite the sluggish economy.

Now that "fast track" implementers and early adopters alike need content that is fresh, has a point of view and is actionable to their reader, a content strategy and taxonomy standards like Dublin Core and DITA bring a process and methodology that can enable companies to serve "the right content at the right time to the right people".

Seamus Walsh Recommends

• Kristina Halvorson's Content Strategy for the Web
• Seamus Walsh's 'Assessment to measure how well your content is aligned to sales' 

Related Articles  

• ClickInsights: How to make your marketing messages memorable?
• ClickInsights: What ROI metric should B2B marketers use in this digital marketing era?
• ClickInsights: How B2B marketers should forge customer relationships by providing compelling content?
• ClickInsights: How can B2B marketers use content effectively for demand generation?
• ClickInsights: What is the biggest mistake to avoid in B2B Content Marketing?
• ClickInsights: Tips on how B2B marketers should leverage social media
• ClickInsights: Tips on how B2B marketers should do Content Marketing    

Over to you

What was your "Aha" moment in 2009?

posted in ClickInsights: Expert Interviews

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