Here are 7 best practices from 2014 B2B top performers that you should consider as you plan for 2015.

1. B2B
marketing:
7
best
practices
as
you
plan
for
2015
by
Mary
Gospe
The
Direct
Marketing
Association
of
Northern
California
hosted
speaker
Ian
Michiels,
Principal
&
CEO
of
Gleanster
Research,
at
its
November
2014
meeting.
The
topic,
“B2B
tactics
that
worked
in
2014
and
how
to
prepare
for
2015.”
Gleanster
gathers
benchmark
data
by
surveying
business-­‐to-­‐business
(B2B)
companies
and
determines
the
marketing
strategies
and
tactics
of
top
performers
–
the
top
25%
of
companies
based
on
revenue
growth,
response
rates,
lead-­‐to-­‐sales
conversion
percentages
and
number
of
qualified
leads.
According
to
CMOs
surveyed
by
Gleanster,
the
top
marketing
priorities
for
2014
were
to
1)
increase
revenue,
2)
retain
profitable
customers,
3)
reduce
costs,
and
4)
leverage
customer
data
to
better
understand
who
is
buying
their
products
and
why.
Here
are
7
best
practices
from
2014
top
performers
that
you
should
consider
as
you
plan
for
2015:
1. Continually
cleanse
and
augment
prospect
and
customer
data
The
most
successful
marketers
are
five
times
more
likely
to
cleanse
and
enhance
their
prospect
and
customer
database
at
least
twice
per
year.
Clean
data
allows
for
more
laser-­‐focused
personalization
and
messaging,
and
augmentation
reduces
the
amount
of
information
you
need
to
ask
propects
to
fill
out
on
forms.
These
companies
leverage
data
from
thier
customers
to
understand
who
buys
and
why
and
tune
their
messaging
accordingly.
Consider
sharing
budget
for
these
ongoing
data
projects
among
marketing,
sales
and
IT.
2. Invest
in
and
optimize
marketing
automation
tools
There
is
continued
growth
in
the
adoption
of
marketing
automation
tools.
However,
top
performers
are
four
to
five
times
more
likely
to
implement
and
optimize
native
features
such
as
lead
scoring,
trigger
campaigns
for
lead
nurturing
and
multi-­‐channel
attribution.
3. Segment
your
audience
and
develop
buyer
personas
Stay
laser-­‐focused
on
key
verticals
and
buyers
to
get
the
most
out
of
your
budget
and
resources.
Develop
buyer
personas
to
help
you
get
inside
the
head
of
your
best
prospects
so
you
can
create
engaging
messages
and
relevant
content.
For
tips
on
creating
personas
and
customer-­‐ready
messaging,
visit
Mike
Gospe’s
blog,
theMarketing
High
Ground.
4. Broaden
campaign
programs
beyond
lead
generation
In
addition
to
programs
for
lead
generation
and
prospect
nurturing,
top
performers
spend
50%
of
their
budget
on
influencing
continued
customer
growth
via
up-­‐selling
and
cross-­‐selling
programs.
Adjust
your
budget,
if
needed,
to
support
customer
marketing
programs.
5. Use
a
mix
of
inbound
and
outbound
tactics
B2B
companies
use
a
mix
of
inbound
and
outbound
marketing
tactics
to
attract,
engage,
nurture
and
retain
prospects
and
customers.
Inbound
(or
“pull”)
tactics
allow
your
company
to
be
found
when
prospects
are
looking
for
solutions.
These
include
pay-­‐per-­‐
click
(PPC)
ads,
search
engine
optimization
(SEO),
blogs,
landing
pages,
content
marketing
(including
white
papers,
infographics,
videos
and
webinars),
and
social
media.
Outbound
(or
interruptive)
tactics
enable
you
to
“push”
your
message
to
your
audience
via
email,
phone
calls,
traditional
advertising,
direct
mail
and
events.

2. 6. Develop
relevant
and
engaging
content
Content
marketing
is
key
to
the
success
of
both
inbound
and
outbound
marketing
programs.
But
it
can
be
time-­‐consuming
and
expensive
to
produce.
Stay
focused
by
creating
2
to
3
pieces
of
content
that
are
really
relevant
to
your
personas,
and
include
webinars
and
videos.
According
to
comscore,
75%
of
executives
watch
business-­‐related
videos
weekly.
Try
to
educate
and
entertain
vs.
“sell”
especially
for
those
early
in
the
buying
cycle,
and
demonstrate
the
challenges
your
audience
is
facing
and
how
your
product
or
service
can
help
them.
7. Take
credit
where
credit
is
due
Marketers
are
under
pressure
to
prove
in
the
value
of
their
campaigns
and
programs.
Marketing
attribution
is
a
challenge.
Measure
and
compensate
on
key
KPIs,
including
marketing
qualified
leads
(MQLs)
and
closed
deals.
Consider
attributing
a
percentage
of
revenue
(such
as
5%
or
10%)
from
each
cross-­‐sell
or
up-­‐sell
deal
that
marketing
influenced
back
to
marketing.
This
would
need
to
be
agreed
to
ahead
of
time
by
the
management
team.
Getting
it
all
done.
B2B
marketing
talent
can
be
hard
to
find
and
expensive.
Many
marketing
teams
struggle
with
creating
enough
relevant
content
to
attract
and
nurture
prospects
and
customers.
Consider
augmenting
your
staff
with
consultants
and
agencies.
For
more
information,
or
help
with
planning
and
executing
your
marketing
strategy,
contact
Mary
Gospe,
Co-­‐founder
and
Principal
with
KickStart
Alliance
at
maryg@kickstartall.com.