1.
5 Tips
for Solving Today’s B2B
Multichannel Marketing Challenges
Ruth P. Stevens
ruth@ruthstevens.com
@RuthPStevens
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2.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
The good news—
97% of B2B
marketers plan
to grow or hold
budgets in 2014.
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3.
Investment
increases are
heavily in
digital.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014

4.
But we also have big problems
On the customer side
• Ever-lengthening sales cycles.
• More individuals to be
influenced.
• Customers don’t want to see a
sales person until the last
minute.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
On the marketer side
• Silos.
• Confusion about campaign
tactics.
• Expectations around marketing
automation.
• Data availability and accuracy.
• Measurement problems.
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5.
Tip 1: Map the buying process
• How does your market buy?
• Break down the process into steps.
• Analyze the elements by
AKA the buyer “journey”
– The “who,” and what they care about.
– The “when.”
– The “where.”
• Your optimal contact strategy will
emerge from this analysis.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
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6.
Typical B2B buying process
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
Buying process stages
Identify need
Research solutions
Develop short list
Request proposals/quotes
Review proposals/quotes
Negotiate
Select vendor
Install and use
Upgrade

7.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
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Sales objectives at each stage
of the customer’s buying process
Buying process Seller’s objective
Identify need Arouse interest
Research solutions Be known to the research team
Develop short list Be selected for short list
Request proposals/quotes Submit winning proposal
Review proposals/quotes Create preference
Negotiate Preserve margins
Select vendor Win!
Install and use Satisfaction and usage
Upgrade Up-sell, cross sell

8.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
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Marketer’s optimal tools at each stage
Seller’s objective Marketer’s tools
Arouse interest Advertising, PR, content syndication
Be known to the research team Advertising, PR, search engine, trade show, retargeting
Be selected for short list Direct mail, email, telephone, website, trade show, social
media, IP address identification
Submit winning proposal Face-to-face sales, inside sales
Create preference Face-to-face sales, inside sales, direct mail, webinar, road
show, RSS
Preserve margins Face-to-face sales, telesales
Win! Face-to-face sales
Satisfaction and usage Support, website, e-newsletter, user group, client
conference, social media
Up-sell, cross sell Telesales, direct mail, trade show, webinar, social media

9.
Tip 2: Use proven campaign media
Top B2B media for inquiry generation.
1. Your website (registrations; IP address ID).
2. SEM and SEO.
3. Telephone.
4. Direct mail.
Top B2B media for current customer marketing.
1. Email.
2. Telephone.
3. Social media.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
IP address ID
providers
VisitorTrack
VisualVisitor
Demandbase
Visistat

10.
Tip 3: Understand your target by buying role
Specifiers How is this thing better than the
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
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.
Buying groups
average 21 people,
in large enterprise.

11.
Message segmentation by buyer type
Technical buyer
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
Line of business buyer

12.
Lay out a contact strategy by buyer type
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
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Day from
inquiry
Message Medium
1 Thank you for your inquiry Phone
7 Research report relevant to request
at inquiry
Email
30 Case study of success from company
in inquirer’s industry
Email
45 Seminar invitation Phone
60 Customer testimonial and
personalized letter
Mail
75 Link to article from trade journal Email
90 Personal note from sales engineer to
schedule online demo
Email
105 White paper and personal cover letter Mail
125 Invitation to breakfast seminar at
trade show
Email

13.
Tip 4: Keep your customer data clean
# Employees
Sales Volume
Add'l Exec
CEO Name
Physical
Address
Phone Number
SIC
Business Name
Mail Address
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
36.3%
23.9%
21.5%
21.2%
20.7%
18.0%
16.0%
17.4%
15.8%
Decay rates of key
business data
elements over a
one year period
(US data).
0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0%
--From an internal study
conducted by D&B.

14.
5 steps to B2B 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. Allow customers access to their record on
your web site, so they can make changes.
5. Outbound phone or email to verify,
especially to top customers.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014

15.
Tip 5: Use creative ways to measure
multi-channel, multi-touch campaigns
• Data matchback.
• Did You Buy study.
• Exclusive offer.
• Pre/post survey.
• Market mix modeling.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014

16.
Data matchback: Cheap and easy
Method
• Select accounts promoted or
accounts responding to the
campaign (preferable).
• After a period akin to typical
sales cycle, compare sales (of
product promoted) in those
accounts.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
Caveats
• Not suitable to situations where
a channel partner owns the
relationship.
• Matchback captures all sales;
therefore it overstates
marketing’s impact.

17.
End-user sampling: “Did You Buy?”
…perfect for channel marketers
• Conduct survey after a period the length of a typical
sales cycle.
• Questions to ask:
– Did you buy?
– Who did you buy from?
– How much did you pay?
– Were any marketing tactics influential?
• Caveats:
– Do not ask if they received the campaign message.
– Do not over-survey any group of customers.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014

18.
Alternative: Focus on activities
controlled by marketing
Activity-based metrics
 Cost per thousand
 Response rate
 Cost per inquiry
 Campaign turn-around
time
 Qualification rate
 Cost per qualified lead
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
Results-based metrics
 Conversion-to-sales rate
 Sales revenue per lead
 Campaign ROI
 Campaign expense-to-revenue
ratio

19.
Bonus tip: Don’t think you can go entirely digital
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
Both online and
offline sources
are important to
buyers.
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Source: “Maximizing Your Touchpoints”: Enquiro.com/b2bResearch

20.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
Thank You
ruth@ruthstevens.com
@RuthPStevens
Visit
MaximizingLeadGeneration.com
for a free sample chapter.

21.
© Ruth P. Stevens 2014
Issue 1: Complexity
• Only 7% of purchases are made by one person alone.
• Buying groups average 21 people, in large enterprise.
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