Everything Data in Business, Government & Institutional Markets

B-to-B Direct Marketing
Section Title

Ruth P. Stevens
Cyndi W. Greenglass

Introducing your
seminar leaders…

We look forward to
working with you.

Cyndi W. Greenglass Ruth P. Stevens
cgreenglass@dmsolutions.com ruth@ruthstevens.com

Our agenda today, in 4 parts
Everything data in Developing and
business markets. delivering compelling
1.
motivational offers.
2.

Lead
generation, conversio Integrated, multi-
n, tracking and touch multi-channel
management. marketing. 4.
3.

Direct marketing, defined:
Any marketing communication
designed to generate a response.
• The purpose may be: • Key direct marketing
– A direct purchase applications:
– A sales lead – E-commerce/mail order
– A visit to retail or an event – Lead generation
– Driving buying behavior, e.g.,
store traffic or event attendance
– Renewals/retention/repeat
purchase
– Data analytics, for research
or campaigns

Top priorities
for business
marketers.

Where B2Bs spend their budgets

6

Most-used marketing channels

7
July 2012 survey results

Challenges:
What’s
keeping B2B
marketers up
at night?

8

Case example: Berendsen Textile reverses its fortunes
with direct marketing
Background:
• A long-established Danish supplier saw declining sales of
its hygiene products to industrial and institutional
sectors.
– Berendsen rents, washes, and delivers textiles and other
hygiene products like hand towel rolls, foam soap
dispensers, and air cleaners for communal toilets.
– Berendsen installs the equipment and afterwards delivers
clean towels, soap supplies, and service of the equipment.
• Category was commoditized. Buyers didn’t appreciate
quality and were unwilling to pay a premium.
• Field salespeople and channel partner reps were
frustrated at their inability to get sales appointments.

Lead generation campaign
Marketing objectives:
• Overcome institutional lack of interest in the category.
• Educate buyers on the importance of better hygiene in
communal toilets.
• Generate leads to increase sales 30%.

Campaign objectives
• Educate buyers on the importance of better hygiene
in communal toilets.
• Generate leads for field and partner reps to increase
sales 30%.
10

Campaign strategy

1. Identify and qualify the target audience.
– Telemarketing identified 3,000 qualified
prospective buyers
2. Understand their needs.
3. Create a positioning that differentiates the
product.
4. Use dimensional mail to capture attention and
gain involvement.

Multiple touches to capture and inform

• Mailed a “Germ Ball”
character, with a letter and
brochure
– Encouraged recipients to put the
ball out on their desks
– Explained the way germs spread
around a company when hand
hygiene is poor due to insufficient
equipment in the communal toilets

Source: The DMA. Gold Echo Award
and USPS Gold Mailbox Award.

Do you dare take up the Germ Ball?
Dear Ms. Smith:
Are you sure that you have the most hygienic toilet solution?
Did you know that many people don’t wash or dry their hands well enough after
a visit to the toilet because of insufficient, unpleasant or inadequate toilet fittings
in communal toilets. This is the way things are in most companies, even when
you have invested in a hand dryer or paper towels. This isn’t so good, especially
when you consider that many infectious bacteria and other micro-organisms are
spread through skin contact.
Let the Germ Ball pass through as many hands as possible . . .
To illustrate this, we’ve enclosed a little figure we call the Germ Ball. Place it on
your desk and let as many people as possible touch it.

. . . and then test your Germ Ball
Next week you will get a DIY test kit from Berendsen. With this test you can
measure the amount of bacteria on your Germ Ball and get a quick indication of
how good hand hygiene is in your company. And you’ll get an idea of how
suitable your existing toilet solutions are.
Do you want an offer of a good hygiene solution now?

The next touch, a week later

• The following week, mailed a
test kit to measure the level
of micro-organisms on the
ball.
• Included a reply card and 3-
months’ free trial offer.

Everything Data in Business, Government & Institutional Markets

Germ Ball campaign results
• 42% of recipients agreed to a meeting.
• Number of meetings needed to close was
halved.
• Sales per rep up 74% over prior year.
• Average order per customer more than
doubled.

EVERYTHING DATA
IN BUSINESS MARKETS

The marketing database:
The recorded memory
of the customer relationship

A collection of information about customers and
prospects and their interactions with the company,
organized to be:
– Accessible
– Sortable

Data types
Behavioral data Descriptive data
“what they do” “what they’re like”
• Response data • Demographic, lifestyle, at
• Transactional data titude
• Household vs. individual

How databases are organized:
Database file structures

Flat files Relational
• Built around a single central • Built around a series of
record. No ability to cross- tables, connected by a unique
reference to other data sources record identifier
• Designed primarily to store data • Designed to use and analyze, as
• Easy to use; handles high well as store data
volumes • Minimizes redundancy; files are
• Uses less computer power easier to access, more scalable
and more portable
• Cheaper to build
• More costly to build
• Limited analytic ability
• Easier to use in unplanned ways

B-to-B
relational
data
architecture
example

Direct Marketing Association 21
Source: ARGI

How to decide between database architectures
Is your business information dynamic?
Ask yourself How quickly is the amount of data you collect growing?
these Is your data used by multiple areas of the company?
questions: What is the size of your current database?
How many people will need access to the database?
Will you have much need for ad hoc reporting and queries?

Flat Files Relational Files
Simple data that changes very little over time Complex data that changes often over time
Limited computer power required Greater computer power required
Limited data access Nearly unlimited data access
Low to medium database development cost Medium to high database development cost
Medium development time Low development time
Less specialized technical expertise required More specialized technical expertise required
More difficult end user access Less difficult end user access
Less user friendly More user friendly
Little ad hoc query capability More ad hoc query capability

Deciding between in-house vs. outsourced
database management

Advantages to outsourcing: Disadvantages to outsourcing:
 No additional staff is needed to  Database management and
build, maintain or enhance the functions is in the hands of the
database
vendor, not the client
 Your internal IT staff will not
assume additional work load  Systems and solutions may not
be proprietary to client and
 Responsibility for database build
and maintenance is in the hands could be shared
of an experienced vendor  Outside database team and
 R&D costs, leading edge company is not controlled
technologies more accessible to directly by client company
client using an outside database  More expensive over the long
vendor term

Database management options
1. DIY
– Install and create your own environment.
– Run by IT.

2. Outsourced
– Engage with a Marketing Services provider.
– Allant, Epsilon, Merkle, Experian, to name a few.

3. The Cloud
– License or subscription service.
– Salesforce.com.
– Aprimo.

Database differences in B2B

• Hierarchical data adds complexity.
– Enterprise
– Headquarters
– Site
• One-to-many relationship of contacts to the company
level.
• Contacts need to be maintained based on their role in
the decision process.
• Transaction data and “decision” data may be very
different.
– P.O.’s, ship to and bill to addresses
– Business vs. home contacts
– Email addresses

How the D&B DUNS # can create corporate
linkage in diverse families

Building your database: Have you tapped these
sources of customer and prospect information?
Internal sources External sources
• Sales contacts • Business
• Billing systems, credit partners/channels
files • Prospect lists
• Ops/fulfillment systems – Compiled files
• Customer service – Response files
systems – Prospecting databases

• Web data • Surveys
• Inquiry files, referrals • Database append

Essential fields that B-to-B marketers want to
have in their databases
(italic fields from internal sources)

• Account name, address • Credit score
– Phone, fax, website • Fiscal year
• Contact(s) information • Purchase history
– Title, function, buying role • Purchase preferences
• Parent company/enterprise • Budgets, purchase plans
link
• Survey questions
• SIC or NAICS
• Qualification questions
• Year started
• Promotion history
• Public v. private
• Service history
• Revenue/sales
• Source code
• Employee size
• Unique identifier

Business-to-Business data sourcing challenges

What you want, but can’t get
from a data supplier Data problems we all face
• Actual titles • Mail rooms
• Job functions • Data at a global level
• Levels • Missing names,
• Buying role especially at lower than
• Global data C-level
• Wallet share
• Choice, preference,
compliance

4 steps to clean, accurate data acquisition

1. Identify the data elements you need.
2. Append elements available from third-party suppliers.
3. Fill in the gaps with “data discovery.”
– Outbound telephone to target accounts
– Probing on buying roles and contact info
– Fill in the blanks in your database
4. Focus on key accounts.

Prospecting:
The state of B-to-B lists available in the U.S.

Business lists available 18,500
“Mainstream” B-to-B lists 1,600
Lists with phone numbers 5,000
Lists with email 4,100
List pricing (postal) $100-$250
List pricing (email) $300-$450

Source: David Gaudreau, InfoGroup

Types of prospecting lists
available in B-to-B
Response lists contain Compiled lists contain
names of people who have people who have not taken any
interacted in some way action
• Purchased a product or • Telephone directories
service • Clubs and associations
• Attended a seminar or – Dun &
event Bradstreet, InfoGroup, Jigsa
– Catalog/e-commerce w
buyers – Resold by
– Publication subscribers others, Acxiom, Experian
• Controlled versus paid Most response lists are rented for 1-time use.
– Seminar/training attendees Then, responder names can be added to your
database.
• Email lists, telemarketing Compiled lists may sometimes be purchased for
lists multiple use and imported into your database.

Specialized lists may be available in your
industry category
List provider Audience
MCH Institutions: Churches, schools
and government
MDR Schools, administrators,
teachers
Harte-Hanks Market Installed technology at
Intelligence companies
A.M. Best Insurance
Judy Diamond Associates Pension and benefit managers

The evolution of B-to-B list rental:
Prospect databases
List specific databases Membership databases
• MeritDirect’s MeritBase (72 • Abacus’s B-to-B Alliance (75
million names at 22 million million names from 350
sites, from 1400 lists) companies, with 1.5 billion
• Direct Media’s BTB Data transactions)
Warehouse (78 million net
names from 900 lists) • b2bBase, built by MeritDirect
• BRAD, Business Response and Experian (70 participants
Alliance Database, managed and 55 million transactions)
by Edith Roman (963
response files)

What’s new in B-to-B data sourcing

• Shared contact databases
generated by sales and
marketing people in B-to-B

• Data generated automatically
by sweeping corporate
websites

• Data captured on site and
made available online

Filling in the gaps in your data: Data append
• Most common overlay data fields:
– sales volume
– number of employees
– SIC/NAICS (industry codes)

• Method:
– Only append after exhausting all internal sources
– Clean your database
– Identify the elements you want to append
– Pre-test the match rate
– Test appended data for validity and response

• Consider compiling custom data

Data append: The types of data elements
available from outside providers
Actual Number of Businesses at Multi-Tenant Code MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) Code and Description
Affluent Neighborhood Location Indicator NAICS and Description
Block Group New Business Code
Business Status Code (HQ, Branch, Subsidiary) Number of Employees (Site and Total Company)
Census Tract Number of Personal Computers
City Population Size Office Size (Employees, Square Footage)
Contact Name, Title, Salutation, Gender, Ethnicity Own/Lease Code
Credit Rating Phone Number
Entrepreneur Indicator Population Density
Fax Number Post Office Box
Female Executive/Owner Indicator Public/Private Indicator
Foreign Parent Indicator Public Filing Indicator (Bankruptcy, Lien, Foreclosure)
Fortune Magazine Ranking Sales Volume (Site and Total Company)
Geo-code SIC and Description
Government Segment Code Size of Yellow Pages Ad
(Federal, State, County, Municipal) SOHO Business Indicator Elements
Growing/Shrinking Indicator Stock Exchange Ticker Symbol
High Income Executive Indicator Toll-free Number available in
High-tech Business Indicator Web Site URL
Import/Export Code White Collar Indicator the U.S.
Location Property Manager Year Established

Source: InfoGroup

Reports at: http://ruthstevens.com/white-papers.html
Buyer beware:
Data compilers vary in quantity and quality

Source: Online Sources of B2B Data: A Comparative Analysis 2010

New databases offer more contact-level data

Source: Online Sources of B2B Data: A Comparative Analysis 2010

DATA HYGIENE
Keeping your customer information clean and fresh

Data degrades quickly
B-to-B Consumer
• Business data degrades • American households
by 4-6% per month. move at the rate of 20%
per year.

The lesson? Invest in data hygiene.

Decisions made on bad data are more dangerous
than on no data at all.

B-to-B data decay, in context
In the U.S., in the next two hours…
706 firms will move 120 new businesses will
open
578 businesses will change 60 businesses will shut down
their phone numbers
250 business phone 514 suits, liens or judgments
numbers will be will be filed against
companies
disconnected
120 D&B credit ratings will 120 corporate CFOs will
change change
60 companies will change 10 firms will file a bankruptcy
their names petition

Source:D&B

Decay rates differ by element
# Employees 36.3%

Sales Volume 23.9%

Decay rates of
Add'l Exec 21.5%
key business
CEO Name 21.2% data elements
Physical
over a one
20.7%
Address year period
Phone Number 18.0% (US data).
--From an internal study
conducted by D&B.
SIC 16.0%

Business Name 17.4%

Mail Address 15.8%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0%

Bad data is an expense you don’t need

Source: Sirius Decisions, “The Impact of Bad Data on Demand Creation”

7 tactics for B-to-B data hygiene
1. Standardize data and train key-entry personnel.
2. Train and motivate customer-facing personnel to
update the data.
3. Use data-cleansing software, internally or externally.
4. Eyeball the data regularly.
5. Allow customers access to their records on your web
site, so they can make changes.
6. Validate business addresses via the postal service.
7. Outbound phone or email to verify, especially to top
customers.

The danger in customer-entered data

Segment your hygiene strategy

Case example
Mrs. Beasley’s makes
annual outbound calls
every August to
accounts who bought
>$250.

Invest in clean-up
on your top
customers first.

Benefits of clean data
• Improve response by reaching more people
• Lower costs with less waste
• Improve customer satisfaction and company
perception
Bad customer data costs U.S.
For recent white businesses more than $600
papers on data billion a year in
hygiene best
practices, visit postage, printing and staff
ruthstevens.com/ overhead—not to mention lost
whitepapers. opportunities.
--The Data Warehouse Institute

CRM, SOCIAL CRM, MARKETING
AUTOMATION AND DATABASE
MARKETING

CRM and Social CRM

CRM Social CRM
– Maintaining preference, – Monitoring engagement
choice – Building loyalty
– Maintaining transaction
– Monitoring sentiment
history
– Maintaining demographic – Web based
and psychographic
appends
– Maintaining firmographic,
function, titles
– Linear based

CRM Systems: How to get the most value
• Marketing automation is on everyone’s radar screen:
– 54% of CMO’s have either begun or completed implementation of
marketing automation software
– 17% intend to begin implementation Source: Marketing Sherpa
• Success requires a clear articulation of the value to be gained and
a roadmap to implementation.
• Successful automation requires:
– Financial and Senior Executive endorsement
– A well thought out migration model
– Alignment and collaboration on lead management definitions and scoring
– Hygiene processes and business rules
– KPI’s that matter
– Focus, refine, focus , refine, focus

CRM systems: How to get the most value
Your Reality Checklist
1. Get key stake holder buy in.
2. Train for transformation, training, and learning curve.
3. Find the right people in the organization – or trade up – to
power users.
4. Map out key integration points..
5. Never, ever, over-promise.
6. But always, always over-communicate.
7. Hold back on those “suspects” until they are qualified – no
matter what the cost.

CRM systems: How to get the most value
KPI’s to measure yourself against benchmarks from
DemandGen/Eloqua study:

1. 20% of pipeline can be directly attributed to nurturing
programs.

2. 5% more qualified leads is the accepted increase for sales to
make a significant improvement in conversion.

3. Nurturing programs through the database lead to 3X open
rates over general email deployment.

Top benefits of marketing automation
60

Lead Generation
50

Increasing marketing ROI
40
Automated lead process
30
Improved sales & marketing
20 alignment
Improved nurturing
10
Personalize Communication
0
Percent

2012 Marketing Outlook: B@B, January 2012

What can you do with your database?
Top database marketing applications
• Research/analysis
– Purchase patterns
– Product patterns
– Trends
• Promotion
– Campaign targeting/selection
– Cross-sell/up-sell
– Reactivate dormant/lost customers
• Measurement
– Campaign results
– ROI, optimize marketing investments
– Lifetime value, Managing customer segments

Top B2B database marketing techniques
• Segmentation
• Penetration analysis
• Profiling
– To understand customer needs; to find look-alikes
• Modeling
– To predict behavior, like response or purchase
• Targeting/campaign selection
• Recording results of marketing activity

Typical B-to-B segmentation variables
• The relationship existing today between the company
and the buyer (“life-cycle” or “life-stage”)
– Prospect, first-time buyer, core customer, defector
• Geographics
• Demographics, “firmographics”
– Company size, industry, purchasing behavior
• Purchase history Segmentation techniques
– Product • Cross-tab analysis
– Revenue, LTV • RFM
• CHAID
• Cluster analysis

Profiling: Describing the
characteristics of a customer segment
• Customer data is cleaned and then
matched against a large database of
names.
• Variables are assessed for their similarity
to or difference from the general
population.
• Profiling allows marketers to:
1. Understand their customers’ characteristics
2. Find “look-alikes” in the general population

Profiling U.S. small businesses

Method
•Upload a list of your best (or
worst) customer names and
addresses via the online tool.
•Profile customers by ZIP, credit
risk, annual sales, number of
employees, etc.
•Create a custom list of
prospects that resemble these
best customers.

Source: e-BizInsight.com

Comparing customers to the market as a whole

Source: BizInsight Business Profiling,

Exercise: Creating a Data Strategy

• Create a 3-part data strategy for your
company/division/product/service.

Data Field/Element Source Marketing use
Fields to be Internal and The marketing use
maintained for external. Where to which the data
each customer will the company will be put. How
and/or for each get the data are you going to
prospect. elements? get business value
Exactly what out of each field?
elements need to
be collected?

B-TO-B DIRECT MARKETING
BENCHMARKS AND METRICS
Response rates, conversion rates

Email
Caution: Note
small sample
sizes.

Source: DMA 2012 Response
Rate Study

Source: Eloqua Marketing
Automation, Trends, Bench
marks and Best Practices
2011

66

Direct mail
Caution: note small
sample sizes.

Rate Study

67

Paid search
Note: Respondents
reported 46% of the
campaigns were for lead
generation, and 50% were
for direct sales objectives.

Rate Study

68

Telemarketing


Banner ads, overall Rate Study

Banner
ads, by
industry
Note: 94% of the actions are
“post view” (occurring days
or weeks after a click) ; only
6% are “post click.”

Sample size: 2 billion
impressions.

Rate Study

70

Direct marketing campaign metrics
Pre-campaign calculations Results calculations
• Cost per thousand (CPM) • Response rate
• Allowable cost per • Cost per response/lead
response/lead • Conversion rate (for leads &
• Break-even analysis other two- step programs)
• Average order size
• Customer lifetime value
(LTV)
• Campaign revenue/ROI

Expense to Revenue (E:R)

72

Marketers are raising their level of
measurement sophistication

73

A word about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Relevance: How program adds value to the business.
Alignment: Proof that department is focused on the success of the
business, not the size of its budget.
Rigor: Fact-based, disciplined approach to strategy and execution.

Otherwise, management gets “The Question”:
“Can you be trusted to spend the company’s
money wisely?”

In short, accountability is about effectiveness, not
merely about what is being measured.

Businesses use data and analytics to make
decisions and predict results of decisions made

• The use of data and analytics has been accompanied by a
measurable improvement in productivity and performance.
– A one-standard-deviation increase in the use of data and analytics was
correlated with a 5% – 6% increase in profitability
• Businesses need 3 fundamentals to become data driven.
1. Technological infrastructure … The ability to measure things in more detail
than before
2. The resources and skill sets necessary… analytical and business skills
3. Cultural change to use the data to learn the right answers

Source: Research from MIT

DEVELOPING AND DELIVERING
COMPELLING MOTIVATIONAL
OFFERS

The incentive offer in direct
marketing, defined

“What you’re going to get,
and
what you have to do to get it.”

(This is a two-way
exchange of value.)

What’s a B2B offer’s function?
To move the prospect to ACTION.
• To overcome inertia.
• To imitate the persuasiveness of
face-to-face sales.
• To get an order, or move the
prospect along the buying cycle.
• To attract a profitable customer.

A cautionary tale about
advertising, especially online
• If you are looking for response:
– You NEED AN OFFER to overcome
people’s natural inertia.

And keep in mind:
• Even in business markets, it’s people who
buy.
• It’s self-interest that motivates people.
• An incentive substitutes for the personal
persuasive power of a salesperson.
79

Characteristics of a great offer
A great offer should:
1. Be something of value to the prospect.
2. Be tangible, something the prospect can
visualize.
3. Be unique, something the prospect can’t get
anywhere else.
4. Relate to the product or the main benefit.

Offer types: Hard versus soft
Hard offers Soft offers
• Stress the business • Attractive, low risk
value • High perceived value
• Less personal appeal • Examples:
• Examples: – Free t-shirt, mug
– Seminar invitation – Product sample
– Request for a sales call Best use: For building
Best use: Toward the end database, or when
of the selling process. universe is highly
qualified.

Five Steps to Developing a Superb Offer
Step 1: Look at what others are doing
Type of incentive B-to-B B-to-C
Free gifts 3.43 3.59
Free information 3.64 2.78
Free/reduced shipping 2.20 2.60 Effectiveness
Free sample 3.00 2.92 rating on a
scale of 1 to 5
Free trial 3.13 3.00
Sweepstakes 2.83 2.67
Discounts 3.33 3.47
Buy one, get one free 2.00 2.94
Frequent buyer/loyalty program 2.20 2.77
82
Source: The DMA ―Getting Creative‖ study

Step 2: Generate offer ideas
• Ask customers what they want and need
– Surveys
– Focus groups
– Advisory boards
• Ask your sales and service people what customers are
looking for
• Review what your competitors are doing
– But don’t necessarily mimic them
• Analyze results of previous offers

Step 3: Get inside the mind of your prospect
Lead generation for a software product targeted to
engineers:
1. Free! Your choice of white papers from The
MathWorks technical library
2. Send for your free technical kit now!
3. Get the latest articles in any one of these 3 areas:
signal processing, visualization, or control design.
4. Free! The 5 most-requested technical briefs and
articles from The MathWorks company.
Source: Pushing the Envelope, by Alan Rosenspan

Get inside the mind of your prospect

What motivates sales people?

Step 4: Think “gain without pain”
High perceived value, low actual cost

Examples
– Extended returns period for best customers
– Special privileges, e.g., President’s Circle
– Special 800# for high-value customers
– Product upgrades
– White paper or newsletter

Step 5: Map your offer sequence to
the buying process
Stage in sales cycle Hard offers Soft offers

•Awareness Reference workbook Book, premium
•Consideration Expert content white Curiosity quiz
paper
•Develop Implementation guide Download
•Trial/evaluation ROI calculator Survey results
Online event, seminar Article reprint
•Short list Market analysis Discount
•Purchase Case study Tickets/passes

Source: Keith Sullivan, PARTNERS + simons

Multiple offers can appeal to different target audiences, in this
case, different stages of the buying process.

The #1 offer in B-to-B today:
Information-based products, aka “content”
• white paper
• research report
• case study
• brochure
• newsletter
• article reprint
• video or book
• demo CD
• “10 Tips” document
Why is information so effective?

ComputerCare sells ERP
inventory management
software to mid-sized
apparel importers and
manufacturers.

These businesses are eager
to improve their profitability.

How ―10 Tips‖ document is
used:
•Lead generation at the
website
•Direct mail offers
•Collateral material

Checklist of proven B-to-B offers
• More information • Self-assessment tool
• Premium (gift, book) • Seminar or webinar
• Trial period • Demonstration
• Sample • Discount
• Sales call
• Free shipping/handling
• Free lunch
• Drawing/contest
• Consultation or audit
• Free installation • Estimate
• Continuity/replenishment • ROI calculator

“Merchandise” your offer
• Your offer is what it is. But it also can be
positioned more powerfully than it really is.
• How you state the offer can vastly enhance its
effectiveness.
Which presentation is more powerful?
Which presentation is more powerful?
Half
off Two for the price of one
50% Buy one, get one free
off

The 3 most common offer mistakes
What not to do… …And why

1. Complicated offers Don’t make them think.
Keep it simple and easy
to grasp, quickly.
2. Vague or generic offers Be CLEAR.
Give enough detail.
3. Too good to be true Credibility is essential,
especially on the Internet

What’s wrong with these offers?
5-Year Service Guarantee*
*subject to location and availability

Go to our website Our product is so great, you
should have it!
and get a free iPad

Get a $100 discount on your first purchase
when you sign up for our Premier Customer
program, and get an extra card for colleagues.

In
email, state
the offer
often, and
above the
fold.

In banner
ads, focus on the
headline and call
to action.

B-to-B goes YouTube: “Love that Glove”
• Kimberly-Clark’s Kimtech Science Sterling
Nitrile lab gloves used YouTube to
generate excitement among users (lab
technicians) and sales reps.
• Created a contest inviting people to
– Show how they loved the product and used it
in their labs
– Do something crazy with the product
– Let their imaginations run wild
• Got 10 entries. Spent $15,000 including
prize money.
In social media, get a
• 4,000 prospects visited the microsite. bit crazy with offers—
Videos watched thousands of times.
Sold $1.4 million of the new product, like contests—to go
30% over forecast. viral.
99

CREATIVE STRATEGY:
DELIVERING THE OFFER

B-to-B ads are generally ineffective

74% Message gets lost
66% Audience needs are ignored
39% Full of “chest-pounding”
38% Too product-focused

Source: Crain’s BtoB Magazine

The 9 principles of motivating response
1. Analyze the beliefs, feelings and desires of your
audience.
2. Stress benefits, versus features.
3. Drive the offer.
4. Make a clear call to action.
5. Create a sense of urgency.
6. Make it easy to respond.
7. Eliminate risk.
8. Design for clarity, over beauty.
9. Use a personal, “me-to-you” tone.

1. Analyze the beliefs, feelings and desires
of your audience
To promote enrollment in an IT seminar, the
copywriter analyzed the IT professional:
– Beliefs: I’m smarter than anyone else.
– Feelings: Frustration, about a lot of things.
– Desires: To be left alone. Post-analysis headline

Inside: Important
Original headline
Information for Any IT
Interpersonal Professional Who
Skills for IT Wanted to Say to an
Professionals End-User: “Go to Hell!”

Source: Bob Bly, bly.com

The best B-to-B message platforms
• Save time. Get to market • Increase efficiency or
quicker. productivity. Do more with
• Save money. Sell more. less.
Spend less. • Exclusivity. Be part of an elite
• Reduce manufacturing group.
overhead. • Greed. Make money.
• Grow the business. Increase sales. Increase
Penetrate new markets. profits.
• Find new customers. Sell • Make your job easier. Avoid
them more. stress or hardship. Get help.
• Job security. Help you look • Fear of the unknown, or
good in your job. “No one regulators, loss, or failure.
ever got fired for buying
IBM.”

2. Stress benefits, along with features

• Features are about you and the product. Benefits are
about the customer.
• Put yourself in the place of the prospect
– Ask: “What’s in it for me?”

Feature Benefit
Our service You’ll rest easy, knowing
center is that help is available 7
staffed round by 24 to help you solve
the clock by any problems.
highly skilled
specialists.

3. Drive the offer
• Remember the key objective of direct
response communications:
To get them to ACT.

The offer is the motivator to action.
• State the offer prominently and frequently.
• Make the offer the hero of the creative
treatment.

In lead generation, sell
the offer, not the
product or service.

4. Make a clear “call to action”
• Tell them what you want them to do. Don’t be shy!
• Tell them clearly, and tell them often.
• Make it highly visible.
• Make it very specific.

5. Create a sense of urgency
A sense of urgency
stimulates action.
• Limited time offers
– Respond before (date)
or the offer goes away
– Early bird discount
• Limited number offers
– Limited edition of an
item.
– The first 50 to respond
receive a…

6: Make it easy to respond
• Remove obstacles.
– Reduce click steps
– Ask for minimal data
• Offer multiple response media
options.
– Phone, fax, URL, email
• Add involvement devices.
– See-through envelope window
– Survey

Avaya goes for volume, asking for minimal data.

RightNow goes for quality over quantity

PPC ad’s landing page with all fields optional
lifted response by 31%

Source: WhichTestWon.com

PURLs (personalized URL) lift response
• Recipients can’t resist visiting a website with their own names in
the address.
– PURLs lift response by 2-3x.
• Visits a customized landing page that continues the messaging
begun in the direct mail or email.

119

How to personalize an email subject line

7: Reduce risk
Include a strong guarantee
• Money-back guarantee
• Satisfaction guarantee

Make it LOOK like a guarantee

Reduce risk:
Use testimonials and endorsements

8. Design for clarity, over beauty

• Direct response design is:
– less about “creativity.”
– more about delivering the message clearly.

• So the first rule of direct response design
is:

Don’t get in the way.

Ad units are
more
creative
than ever.

When does “creative” become “annoying”?

9. Use a personal, “me-to-you” tone

• Create a personal
relationship.
– You are not talking to the
world. You are talking one to
one.
• Use of the most powerful
word : “you.”
• Create an emotion.
• No jargon.
• Use personalization
technology.

Medical Group Management Association recruitment campaign

Avoid trendy
“gobbledygook”
in your copy.

http://gobbledygook.grader.com/

How to convert brand advertising into
direct response advertising
• Insert an offer.
• Stress the call to action.
• Create urgency.
• Make response easy.
– Multiple response media options
– Remove barriers to response
– Add a tracking device (key-code)
• Plan the “next step” in advance.
• “Mystery shop” the response process.

Attention-getting words
• Advice • Proven
• Announcing • Revolutionary
• At last • Save
• Because • Secrets
• Confidential • Smart
• Congratulations • Special invitation
• Free • Success
• Guaranteed • Wanted
• How to • Which
• Introducing • Who else
• Limited-time • Why
• New • Yes
• Now

Sources: Tested Advertising Methods, by John Caples; Response!, by Lois K. Geller

Use as many
words as you need
in the headline.

Symantec packs a
wallop in this
headline.
•Call to action
•Offer

Top copy mistakes
Avoid being… And why…
Clever Be clear instead
Humorous Too risky
Poetic “The star sapphire is like a cup of night blue…”-not!

Unbelievable “Get rich! Work less!”—not!
Cool or cold No way to begin a relationship
A creative writer This is selling, not literature

Leads for headlines and letter copy
News Here’s a way to increase your sales, fast.

Emotional Doesn’t it drive you crazy when a customer service rep puts you on
connection hold?
Problem/solution Is your factory floor covered with dangerous greasy film? We can help.
Testimonial Just listen to what our satisfied customers say about us
Compelling Would you like to sell more and spend less, in the very next quarter?
question
Guarantee Sixty day free trial, and your money back if you are not completely
satisfied.
Benefit Here’s an idea that you can put to use tomorrow.
Fear What would you do if you lost your job tomorrow.
Greed I want to give you this special free gift, just for reviewing my helpful new
guide to human resource management.
Source: Creative Strategy in Direct Marketing, by Susan K. Jones.

Exercise: Evaluate a failed campaign
• A Microsoft reseller wanted to get local-area
business people to attend a seminar.
• They sent a 3-postcard series to 1,000 names
from 2 local chambers of commerce.
• The campaign netted one (1) response. Ouch.

• How would you analyze their creative strategy?

LEAD
GENERATION, CONVERSION, TRACK
ING & MANAGEMENT

The case for supporting your sales effort with lead
generation programs
• The sales function is your single most
constrained resource.
• You can triple sales productivity by reducing the
number of cold calls sales people need to do.

Just heading
out for a round
of cold
calls, Boss!

141

Defining “what is a lead”
Lead generation Identifying prospective customers and assessing
their likelihood to buy, in advance of making a
sales call
A sales lead The name, contact information and background
information on a prospective buyer, preferably
someone who has expressed interest in your product,
service, category or company
A qualified lead A prospect who is ready to see a sales person

142

Badges zapped at a trade show are not qualified
leads

How many leads do you need?

Revenue quota per rep $3,000,000
Percent of quota self-generated 40%
Quota requiring lead support $1,800,000
($3M*1-.40)
Revenue per order $60,000

Converting leads required ($1.8M/$60K) 30

Conversion rate 20%
Qualified leads required per rep (30/.20) 150

Lead generation is a process
Inquiry generation
Response handling
Lead qualification
Lead nurturing
Hand off to sales
Sales closure
Tracking
Continuous improvement
The company with the best process wins.

It’s a numbers game
• Of 100 inquiries…20% will
qualify (that’s 20 qualified
100 inquiries
leads)
• Of 20 qualified…50% can be
contacted (that’s 10 20 qualified
contacted)
• Of 10 contacted…20% will 10 contacted
convert (that’s 2)
• So we may just end up with 2 2 sales
closed sales.

The 5 critical lead generation metrics
Metric Considerations
Response rate Useful against industry benchmarks. Not of much
value in actually assessing campaign effectiveness.
In email, best proxy is “click-to-open” rate.
Cost per lead/cost per qualified Campaign cost divided by number of leads that
lead resulted. This allows you to compare campaigns
over time, compare media options and compare
offers.
Inquiry-to-lead conversion rate This will show inquiry quality. Did you perhaps use a
weaker list? Is the offer too generous?
Lead-to-sales conversion rate Assuming the lead quality is not declining, this shows
sales productivity.
Expense-to-revenue ratio (E:R) Allows you to evaluate campaigns overall, against
each other or over time.

Lead conversion rates
Source: Sirius Decisions, as reported by PointClear

148

1 in 63 inquirers converts to a sale

149

Use the most productive
inquiry generation media
Top techniques today
• Solicit leads at your website
• Ask your customers for referrals
• Search engine marketing
– SEO
– SEM
• Outbound telemarketing
• Direct mail, including dimensional mail
• Trade shows, if the audience is highly qualified

Turn your website into
a lead generation machine
Motivate visitors to leave behind
their contact information.

A new technique in B-to-B for
de-anonymizing website visits

• Matching data from the visitor’s browser
with offline business data, and flagging the
account as a prospect.
– IP address identifies company
– Company data is sourced from B-to-B
databases
• Providers:
– VisitorTrack, from NetFactor
– Demandbase Stream
– LEADSexplorer

Ask for referrals at every opportunity
• Let your customers help you with your
marketing
– They will, but ONLY IF YOU ASK THEM
• Where to ask for referrals
– On your home page
– As a P.S. in your emails and direct mail letters
– On your billing statements
– Inside your sales collateral
• Copy suggestion
“Our business grows primarily through referrals from our
satisfied customers. If you are happy with our work, please tell
your friends and colleagues. Thank you!”

Ramping up your referral marketing

What’s new: Domain-based ad serving
Sophisticated B-to-B website publishers, like Forbes, Business Week
and The Wall Street Journal, are offering advertisers a way to
serve their ads only to visitors from particular companies, based
on their company IP address.

Case: The consulting giant Accenture wanted to sell $5 to $10 million technology
outsourcing deals to 30-50 among the top 100 electronics and technology
corporations. They made their target selections, and provided the list to
several business sites, who then served up the Accenture outsourcing ad only
when visitors from those top companies appeared.

usage

effectiveness

Lead generation media that are
less productive
• Cold email to rented lists
• Broadcast advertising
• Print advertising (with exceptions)
• Trade shows, all other

• And what about social media?

Social media is ramping up in B-to-B

About 90% of
businesses
report they are
using social
media today.

How to apply social media
to lead generation objectives
Objective Medium Application
Inquiry generation Add an offer.
Drive to landing page.
Collect data.
Lead qualification Supplement outbound
communications with
research on networks.
Lead nurturing Keep in touch with
unqualified prospects via
every possible medium.

Landing page best practices
• Visually connect the landing page to the ad.
– Landing pages specific to the outbound message
improve response by 48% according to Marketo
• Deliver on the ad’s promise.
• Ask for only the data you need.
• Pre-populate forms where possible.
• Test!

Example of what not to
do, from Ion Interactive.

163

Be sure to test. In this
landing page test Ion
Interactive found the
video lifted conversion
by 300%.

In this test Ion
Interactive found the
simpler headlines
(More/Less Tech) lifted
conversion by 300%.

Fulfill fast
• Be ready to deliver on the offer you made.
– Send out the white paper…
– Deliver the demo…
• Don’t make them wait!

• You’ll be way ahead of your competition.
– An experiment of 1,000 responses to trade
advertisements resulted in only 39%
fulfillment over 60 days.

Checklist of fulfillment options

Web-based download
Traditional flat mail piece
Multi-dimensional mail piece
E-mail
Fax
Telephone follow-up call
Sales call

A philosophical question
What is the objective of your
lead gen campaign?

1.Quantity
2.Quality

For most marketers, the objective is to generate enough
qualified leads so that each sales territory is optimally
busy, productive and fulfilling its quota.

Qualify the leads
• Not all leads are created equal.
• You must find out if the prospect is ready to
see a sales person, according to pre-
determined qualification criteria.
Method 1: Ask the qualification questions on
your response form.
Method 2: Use follow-up communications to
qualify.
– Email
– Phone
– Mail

Adding qualification
questions to the
response form saves the
time and expense of
outbound contact.

But it reduces response.

Sample courtesy of The
Hacker Group

Categories of qualification criteria
1. Demographics
– Company size, industry, geography
– Individual and corporate
2. Activity/behavior
– Recency, frequency, significance (download, demo)
– Lead source (search term, offer, ad medium)
3. BANT
– Budget, authority, need, timeframe

B-A-N-T
Classic large-enterprise qualification criteria
 Budget. Is the purchase budgeted, and what size of
budget does the prospect have available.
 Authority. Does the respondent have the authority
to make the purchase decision?
 Need. How important is the product or solution to
the company. How deep is their pain.
 Timeframe. What is their readiness to buy. When is
the purchase likely to be.

Additional qual criteria to consider
 Potential sales volume. How many departments in the
company might use this product? How much of, or how
often, might they need the product?
 Predisposition to buy from us. Are they past
customers of ours? Are they similar to our current
customers? Would they recommend us to their
colleagues? Are they willing to call us back?
 Account characteristics. Company size, whether
number of employees or revenue volume. Industry.
Parent company.

Case example
Custom qualification criteria
King Industries, Inc., a specialty
chemical manufacturer, uses
trade shows to generate leads.
 5-year sales cycle.
 Key criterion is sample
requests.

Inquiry qualification IS THE
critical success factor
Rule #1 in lead
management:
Never, ever, pass an
unqualified lead to sales
175

B-to-B marketers are slow to follow qualification best
practices

Budgeting for qualification
• Include funding as part of the campaign
budget.
– Calculate the cost of expected outbound
touches, by medium, and multiply by expected
response rate.

Use a lead scoring system
• A: the prospect is ready to see a sales rep.
• B: the prospect still needs nurturing, but the
contact is to be done by the sales team.
• C: the inquiry still needs nurturing, to be done
by marketing.
• D: an inquiry that is not worth nurturing. Put the
inquiry into the marketing database for ongoing
communications, or throw it away.

Lead scoring: The weighting method
Criterion Score Score Score Score Score

Budget $0-50k 2 $50-100k 3 $100-250k 4 $250k+ 5

Authority recommend 4 specify 3 use 2 approve 5 purchase 1

Time frame 1-3 months 5 3-6 mo. 3 6-12 mo. 1

Rep call? yes 10 no 0

Budgeted? yes 5 no 0

Example
Sales wants any lead with a 15+ score to be sent to them immediately.
They would receive a lead representing an inquirer with:
•a budget of $80,000 (3 points), approved (5)
•who is planning to buy this quarter (5)
•who is the end-user of the solution (2)
They would also receive a lead representing an inquiry:
•from a purchasing agent (1 point)
•for a prospect with an urgent need (5)
•who wants to see a sales person (10), but has no budget approved yet

Custom scoring based on fit and behavior
Fit Behavior
In a target vertical where you have 5 Visited our website 3
domain expertise Attended webinar 2
In a target vertical where you have 3 Came in from a referral 5
no domain expertise
Not a target vertical 0 Participated in web-based 4
Your product is ideally suited to 5 demo
solve their problem
Your product will solve their 3
problem with some customization

Your product will not solve their 0
problem without major investment
in customization

Adapted from Laura Patterson, VisionEdge Marketing

Scoring elements used by Aberdeen
“best in class” companies

Source: Aberdeen Group: Lead Prioritization and Scoring, May 2008

Lead scoring pays off

A study from Eloqua showed that companies who use
lead scoring improve their results as much as 30%,
without additional campaign expense.

Source: Eloqua, Grande Guide to Lead Scoring, 2009, as presented in
Maximizing Lead Generation: The Complete Guide for B2B Marketers.

Nurture inquiries that are unqualified
• 45% of all business inquiries result in a sale—
eventually. Don’t let your competitor get the
business.
• Institute a nurturing process
– A series of communications to build awareness and
trust, and maintain contact till the prospect is ready to see
a salesperson
• Some nurturing tactics:
– Email newsletters
– Outbound telephone
– Event invitations
– New product announcement

The case for nurturing:
Buyers need multiple touches

Source: Understanding the Industrial Buy Cycle, a white paper by GlobalSpec

Email is the top medium for nurturing

Why does nurturing pay off?
Qualified
Campaign Responses Leads

Responses generated 100

Immediately qualified 5 5
Unqualified 95

Post-campaign
Lead pool 95
Contacts reached (60%) 57
Qualified via outbound 11 11
Cumulative campaign
communication (20%)
lead total: 41
Nurturing pool 84
Qualified via nurturing 25 25
(30%)

Case example: Multiple
nurturing touches dramatically
increase the volume of qualified lead output
# of
Touch/Pass Lead % of Total Cumulative % of
es s 'A' Leads Leads (right axis)

1 57 26.1% 26.1%

2 50 22.9% 49.1%

3 29 13.3% 62.4%

4 26 11.9% 74.3%

5 18 8.3% 82.6%

6 12 5.5% 88.1%

7 12 5.5% 93.6%

8 5 2.3% 95.9%

9 4 1.8% 97.7%

10 3 1.4% 99.1%

14 1 0.5% 99.5%

15 1 0.5% 100.0%

Source: Direct Marketing Partners, Inc.

Checklist of nurturing tactics
• Email newsletter • Podcast
• Outbound telephone call • White paper
• Event invitation (seminar, • Case study
trade show, webinar) • Reprint
• New product • Personal communication
announcement (holiday or birthday card)
• Press release • Letter from the CFO or
• Online video other senior executives
• Tweets • Letter from various
• Blogging departments (customer
• Catalog mailing service or relevant area,
such as IT or engineering)
• Survey or market research
questionnaire

Nurturing flow: Example
Day from Message Medium
inquiry
1 Thank you for your inquiry Phone
7 Research report relevant to request at Email
inquiry
30 Case study of success from company in Email
inquirer’s industry
45 Seminar invitation Phone
60 Customer testimonial and personalized Mail
letter
75 Link to article from trade journal Email
90 Personal note from sales engineer to Email
schedule online demo
105 White paper and personal cover letter Mail
125 Invitation to breakfast seminar at trade Email
show

Marketing automation becoming essential to
lead management

Automation vendors, assessed by Gartner

Marketers still have improvements to make in
lead nurturing

Source: IDC tech marketing study, as published in BtoB magazine

Deciding who gets the lead
 By territory.
 By skill or qualification.
 By rotation.
 By cooperation level.
Lead transfer options
• Warm transfer by phone
• Email
• Web-based systems
• Lead management software

Lead gen campaign results metrics
Activity-based metrics: Results-based metrics:
• Cost per thousand • Conversion-to-sales rate
• Response rate • Sales revenue per lead
• Cost per inquiry • Campaign ROI
• Campaign turn-around • Campaign expense-to-
time revenue ratio
• Qualification rate
• Cost per qualified lead

Seven methods for tracking sales
from lead gen campaigns
1. Closed loop system
2. End-user sampling
3. Data match-back
4. Control groups
5. Exclusive offers
6. Product registration
7. Activity-based metrics

Treat your leads as gold
 Each lead costs hundreds—perhaps
thousands of dollars—to generate.
 Each lead may represent
thousands—perhaps millions of
dollars—in sales potential.
 Develop a plan to instill within your
company an appreciation for the
value of the inquiries and the
qualified leads they later become.

Exercise: Setting qualification questions
• Your company sells custom-engineered
turbines to owners of industrial boilers, to
convert wasted steam to electricity.
• Your target audience is plant managers at
food manufacturing companies, universities
and paper mills around the world.
• Identify 3 qualification questions that might
make sense for lead generation campaigns.

To Review: Your action plan
• Lay out your lead generation process.
• Calculate lead requirements.
• Select your campaign elements.
– Most effective media.
– Strongest offer.
– Response-driving creative.
• Set up a referral program.
• Plan for response handling
• Pick qualification criteria.
• Establish a nurturing program.
• Measure results.

INTEGRATED MULTI-TOUCH, MULTI-
CHANNEL MARKETING

Only 7% of industrial purchases are
made by one person alone

Percent of
decision
made by
respondents

Source: Understanding the Industrial Buy Cycle, GlobalSpec 2010

Buying groups are growing in size

Higher ticket means more
decision makers

Source: Understanding the Industrial Buy Cycle, GlobalSpec 2010

The riskier the purchase,
the more parties are involved

Examples
Repeat=supplies, raw
materials
Modified=computers, p
hone systems
Blank=new
technology, capital
expenditures
203

What’s on the mind of the target?
Specifiers How is this thing better than the
competition?
Influencers Make my job easier.

Users Easy to install and use.

Decision makers Bottom line results.

Gatekeepers Protect the executive from sales people.

Purchasing agents Save money.

Talking their language

Tech buyer Easy to install. No downtime. End-users won’t
complain. I can look like a hero.
“Spend less.”
LOB buyer Easy to use. Will save us time and money. Help
me get the job done. I can look smart.
“Sell more.”

Example: Creative segmentation
Line of business buyer

Tech buyer

Both online and offline sources
are important to buyers

Source: “Maximizing
Your Touchpoints”:
Enquiro.com/b2bRese
arch

207

What does this mean for marketers?
• Companies have the chance to meet their prospects
earlier in the process than ever.
• Set yourself up to respond to buying signals in real
time.
• Marketing must keep the relationship moving forward
– for a longer period
– synchronizing their communications throughout the buying
process
– with multiple parties who have different agendas
– through a wide variety of media

Average number of media channels used in a
direct marketing campaign
How many different types of media does your company use for a
typical direct marketing campaign?

Mean = 3

N = 518 Source: Capturing the Cross Media Direct Marketing Opportunity, InfoTrends,

Multiple touches drive higher response
40%

34%

30% 28%

20% 19%

10%

0%

Print & Web
Print & Web Print &
Landing Page, email and
Landing Page email
Mobile Marketing

Source: Multi-Channel Communications Measurement & Benchmarking. InfoTrends

How B-to-B direct marketing is evolving
Traditional approach The new B-to-B direct
• Generate a lead marketing
• Qualify • Communications across a
• Hand off to sales long sales cycle
– Multiple touches, media,
• Cross-sell/up-sell offers
• Messaging relevant to
multiple parties
• Marketing
responsiveness to buying
signals in real time

Where we end up…

Mprofs.com

Buyers rely on content more than ever
“Very” or “extremely” influential over final purchase decision.

Source: Eccolo Media 2011 B2B Technology Collateral Survey

Checklist of content assets
A library that can serve different needs

• Case studies • Articles
• White papers
• Data sheets
• Archived webinars
• Customer stories
• Podcasts
• eBooks
• Videos
• Research reports • Executive interviews
• Blog entries, Tweets • Presentations
• Infographics
• Press releases

To deliver value consistently
Develop a content strategy

1. Map buyers’ information needs to their
stage in the process.
2. Assess current content assets.
3. Fill any gaps with appropriate content.

Top B-to-B content uses

1. Thought leadership.
2. Lead generation
offers.
3. Search engine
rankings.
4. Lead nurturing
touches.

Make your content relevant
and non-salesy
Nurturing materials Usage
Educational materials (white 78%
papers, research, etc.)
Webinar invitation 72%
Links to customized landing pages 72%
Product or service information 67%
News and events on the company 44%
Source: Aberdeen Group

Source: DemandGen/Genius study 2011

Content loses value at different rates

Source: Bulldog Solutions

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN B2B
DIRECT MARKETING

90% of the world’s
data created in the
last two years

Big Data Means
Big Changes
80% of new data
growth is
unstructured
content

Big Data, defined

“Techniques and technologies
that make capturing value from
data at an extreme scale
economical.”

Forrester Research, 2012

Unstructured data is the
fastest growing enterprise data category
 Unstructured data can't be
stored in rows and
columns, e.g. E-mail files,
word-processing text
documents, PowerPoint
presentations, JPEG/GIF
image files, and MPEG
video files
 Stored as Blobs (Binary
Large Objects) in relational
databases

Why Big Data is like crude oil
It needs filtering and refining to unlock its value and
make it usable.

• Only small percent of social media streams data is relevant,
e.g., for sentiment analysis.
• Less than 20% of all tweets include a link that needs to be
opened to understand its context.
• The question is:
– Are you a consumer of oil (i.e., gasoline, jet fuel, heating oil), or do
you want to build exploration sites and refineries?
– Are you a data consumer or a data service provider?


Big Data will do well in the cloud

• Big data requires a spectrum of advanced technologies, skills,
and investments.
– Do you really need/want this all in-house?
• Big data includes huge amounts of external data.
– Does it make sense to move and manage all this data behind your firewall?
• Big data needs a lot of data services.
– Focus on the value of your differentiated data analysis instead of
big data management.


How to make sense of Big Data

Think of customers and prospects as Tribes
• DEMOGRAPHICS
– Who they are and where they live
• PSYCHOGRAPHICS
– What they buy and what they like
• INFOGRAPHICS
– What they read and how they communicate
• SOCIOGRAPHICS
– Where they hang out

Four steps for making use of Big Data
1. Define your customer.
– Who is the buyer? Who influences the sale? Who authorizes it? Create a
multilevel picture of each company, and fill in any information gaps.
2. Cleanse and standardize your data.
– Standardize mailing addresses, check email addresses, and validate
domains.
3. Match data.
– B2B matching is complex because of the variations in company naming
conventions and sites that can span addresses
– Continually test and refine your matching rules.
4. Generate insight.
– Leverage BI tools
Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2451/four-steps-to-taming-wild-b2b-data#ixzz24rUSCcE6

Starting to gain traction: Online trade shows
• Benefit to attendees: Go to a show from your
desktop
• Benefit to exhibitors: Vastly reduce costs, but
still interact with qualified buyers

MarketingProfs virtual event uses ever-improving
technology

Online testing:
A secret to success in multi-touch programs
• A/B testing (Split Testing)
– Compares the performance of two different pages
– Good when a web site has fewer than 1,000 page views per week
– Can help when moving sections around or changing the overall look of web
pages
• Multivariate Testing
– Compares the performance of content variations in multiple locations on a
page
– Good when a web site receives more than 1,000 page views per week
– Can help optimize multiple content changes in different parts of multiple
web pages simultaneously

Multivariate testing
Test multiple variables at a time
Test A Test B Test C

Headline 1 Headline 2 Head line 3

Image A Image B Image C

Body Copy a Body Copy b Body Copy c
Offer 1 Offer 2 Offer 2
Call to Action I Call to Action II Call to Action III

36 Variables (3x3x3x3x3x3) = 729 Tests

The “last ad” standard

Atlas Solutions, Microsoft Advertising

Engagement mapping across channels

Atlas Solutions, Microsoft Advertising

Case example of multi-variate testing:
Palo Alto Software
Background
• Business Plan Pro, a shrink-wrapped planning software package,
sold online and priced at $99.95
• Wanted to improve conversion (sales rates) at the landing page
from marketing campaigns
• 11 variables were considered, e.g.,
– layout
– images at top and bottom
– product description copy
– submit button placement

Palo Alto Software, cont’d.
Solution
• Used Optimost’s hosted solution
(Optimost’s leading competitor is Offermatica—but Google has introduced
free optimization tools)
• 11 variables meant 41 million permutations
• Set up 5 waves of 15,000 page views each, with a control group
of 29,000
• Eventually Palo Alto identified the optimal page version, which
raised overall conversions 41.3%, from .75% to 1.06%

Landing page optimization results

Optimized
landing page
lifted
conversions
by 41.3%.

Additional insights from optimization
• The multi-variate campaign
identified the variables that Lift
had the most impact. generated
Top image 16.8%
Bottom layout 12.3%
Product 11.9%
description
area

Heat mapping for website optimization
The Perceptual Map
Shows what users will see on the page within the first few seconds of their
visit. Websites that make sure that users see important messages right away
exhibit lower bounce rates, higher engagement and ultimately higher
conversion rates.
The Attention Map
Shows how a user’s attention is distributed within the first 3-5 seconds of
viewing a landing page. Deep red areas attract the most attention, while blue
areas attract the least.
The Hot Spots
Shows the 10 most salient points on the landing page. The bigger the
circles, the more eye catching the underlying elements. More than one circle
on one element indicates that the area will most probably be viewed several
times.

Google webmaster tools & analytics
• Google Webmaster Tools - See which phrases you’re ranking well for, what
pages are causing problems for Google when crawling your site, which
pages are getting the most links, RSS subscribers, etc.
• Enterprise class web analytics measure and understand engagement on
your website, find your site’s top content, understand how mobile impacts
your site, see the full path to conversion with multi-channel funnels and
measure the impact of social media on your business.

• Website Grader – Website Grader by Hubspot is a
free tool that measures the marketing
effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that
incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social
popularity and other technical factors.
• EyeQuant heatmap neurotechnology that helps
you optimize user attention on your websites.
It predicts within seconds where users will
look and what users will see, enabling rapid and
cost-efficient conversion optimization. In contrast
to other approaches, EyeQuant delivers more
than 90% of an Eye-Tracking study’s performance.

Visual Website Optimizer offers enterprise tools for
A/B & MVT Testing .
• Concept A|B testing: Split-run or A|B tests that compare
radically different page layouts.
• Simple ultivariable testing: Individual single elements such
as offers, price points, images, or content
• Full multivariable testing: Any combination of online
elements, anywhere, including dynamic content and rich
internet applications like AJAX and Flash. Ability to control
for interactions and other complex testing scenarios
• Behavioral Targeting: Show personalized content/offers to
your visitors to increase conversion rate
• Usability Testing: Get feedback on your landing pages to
discover usability issues and get improvement ideas
• Heatmaps

3 types of heat maps
Perceptual Attention

Hot Spots

Source: Diamond Marketing Solutions

Stanford
University
alumni
program
promoting a
summit
meeting in
India.

Attention
map for
Stanford
University
email
campaign.

5 reasons your business must be mobile
1. Your Audience is Mobile
Business professionals live by their smartphones today. 91% of mobile workers use a smartphone
for work. What’s more, many say they would be emotional (59%), disoriented (40%) or distraught
(34%) if they worked without a smartphone for a week. Additional stats are in the infographic
below from [x]cube labs.
2. B2B Mobile Traffic Matters
ComScore reported 8.2% of US traffic in 2012 was from mobile devices, and Walker Sands tracking
shows mobile traffic increased by 102% from Q4 2011 to Q4 2012. Participants from B2Bchat
reported mobile traffic of up to 27%, with most between 10% and 20%, all on B2B websites.
3. Email is Mobile
By the end of the year, ReturnPath predicts mobile clients will subplant desktops and web mail as
the top email clients. If you are not already designing your emails for mobile screens first, start
now. For marketers making this switch today, start looking at comps or tests of mobile emails
first, before looking at desktop versions.
4. Social is Mobile
People now spend more time with Facebook and Twitter from a mobile device than from laptops
and desktops. (source).
5. Search is Mobile
By December 2012, Marin Software predicts 25% of all paid search clicks will be from mobile
devices, more than doubling over December 2011. (source)

New ways for business professionals to interact
with your B-to-B brands

Create “personas”
• Persona: A fictional character representing a target
segment.
– Aka “profile.”
• Useful in crafting relevant messaging and
motivational offers.
Meet Joe. He's owner and CEO of a growing, mid-sized stock
brokerage company. Joe is a gregarious guy, married, with two
children. His wife works, so there’s always more to get done in the
day than they can handle. Joe wears a suit to the office, but is
actually more comfortable in casual clothes. He drives a roomy 4-
door. In the downturn, his company took quite a hit, so he’s looking
for ways to get back on track and run the business more
efficiently, using technology.

Tech influencer persona

Meet Stan. He's database administrator at a large
manufacturing company in suburban Illinois. Stan is
single, and lives in a rental apartment with his two dogs. On
weekends, he favors day hiking and watching his favorite
sports teams on Internet television. He’s a gadget-lover, and
early adopter of consumer electronics. He never wears a suit
to the office. He drives a late-model SUV. Stan appreciates
how people in his company are always asking him for tech
advice. His company understands the value of technology in
gaining a competitive manufacturing edge.

Triggered communications

Top B-to-B triggers
• Automatic generation of an
• Inquiry follow-up
outbound message, based on
predefined decision rules • Order confirmation
• Key benefits: • Product usage tips
– Improved relevance • Download acknowledgement
– Better ROI • New product announcement
• Job/company change
• Site visit follow-up
• Warranty expiration
• Event attendance
management

Best application of trigger
marketing: e-nurturing

• Example: Web-based request for a case
study is followed by a series of emails
– Deliver the case studies
– Additional content based on
• Their stage in the sales cycle
• Actions the customer has taken
• Result: Shorter lead conversion cycle

Source: Microsoft Solomon
division e-nurturing campaign,
from MarketingSherpa

The thorny “attribution” question

255

Where is B-to-B direct marketing
heading?
• More complexity.
– More parties involved.
– More media options.
• New tools.
• Globalization.
• Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Digital integration.

Thank you

ruth@ruthstevens.com cgreenglass@dmsolutions.com

Everything Data in Business, Government & Institutional Markets

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