'Intent -Driven' Sales & Marketing Campaigns – The New B2B Buzz Word!

Marketing Automation as an industry has witnessed some phenomenal growth in the recent years. The existing solutions have changed the way B2B companies do business today. Traditional, B2B marketing techniques like  cold calls, direct mails etc. now have more data and insight to support. Also, the B2B websites have transformed into a fertile ground for companies to find interested prospects.

In many ways marketing automation solutions have added the much needed momentum to a sector which has a lot at stake, when it comes to making a sale.

The other area in which marketing automation solutions have added value to B2B companies are by helping them measure some aspects of their marketing ROI – especially the contribution marketing makes towards the sales in an organization.

In the last two decades, the marketing automation industry has evolved and found solutions for many problems faced by the B2B sector. Finding more qualified Leads, deploying customized Lead nurturing programs and overall better Lead management is now a reality.

However, the advent of social media and the availability of content rich information has changed the way people buy and sell these days. Marketing itself has undergone a sea change with marketers engaging prospects on a one-on-one basis. B2C companies quickly adapted to this change and have thrived on their new found closeness with their customers – but B2B companies are still not there. They need a more substantial solution to deepen their engagement with their prospects and customers which in turn will generate more business opportunities.

LeadForce1 Offering an Integrated Marketing Automation2.0 platform

LeadForce1 a marketing automation2.0 solution which was launched today,  is a solution which will help B2B companies cope with the changing dynamics of B2B marketing.

LeadForce1 offers the unique benefit of being able to determine an online visitor’s interests and intent, using advanced behavioral analysis. Marketing and sales teams can now precisely manage lead nurturing programs and effectively target messages and offers that are customized around the interests of each individual lead. The result is marketing campaigns with greater impact, larger sales pipelines, and improved sales productivity.

LeadForce1′s greatest differentiator is its ability to find the intent of a website visitor – this information and deep insight into a prospect’s mind, challenges – the existing process of generating, qualifying and nurturing Leads. With the intent of the visitor known, each of these processes take lesser time, are more accurate and customized and promise better results and higher conversions.

The other problem LeadForce1 tries to address is the marketing & sales divide. It provides both the sales and marketing teams with a single opportunity or ‘Lead View’. Giving ‘intent’ – driven insights on individual Leads and Enterprise Leads (gives single view of the behavior patterns of different visitors from the same enterprise).

The solution also offers elements of Web2.0 by incorporating the benefits of social networking and single platform collaboration – allowing all stake holders in a company – the marketing guys, the sales guys and other decision makers to collaborate, share, discuss, deliberate and decide, in real-time – ensuring shorter sales cycles and perusal of only qualified business opportunities – thereby maximizing the ROI.

As a PR & Marketing professional, what I personally liked about LeadForce1, is the fact it can accurately measure not only the ROI on marketing spends but also provide enough data on which marketing channels, what kind of marketing content is bringing in the Leads. This is a great add on for those B2B companies whose marketing spends are focussed on attracting Leads and prospects to their sales funnel. Also, knowing which channels of communication best serve my Company’s needs is great information to have – not only to optimize my reach but also to ensure I achieve my end goals as a marketer.

There are many players in the Marketing Automation space, each offering something – LeadForce1 – is a platform which integrates all – ‘from identifying a visitor to making the live connect’. How the new solution and the 2.0 platform will change the marketing automation industry is yet to be seen, but one thing is guaranteed, B2B companies can now think of engaging with their elusive prospects on a one-on-one basis. Reading their minds, and providing them with sales pitches and lead nurturing materials which will be relevant and truly assist in the decision making process.

Is Your Company Engaging its Promoters???

The Net Promoter Scoring system is a fairly well known concept in the marketing circles.

What makes NPS work is its simplicity, based on the ‘fundamental perspective that every company’s customers can be divided into three categories: Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. By asking one simple question — How likely is it that you would recommend [Company X] to a friend or colleague? —  a company can get a clear measure of its performance through its customers’ eyes. Customers respond on a 0-to-10 point rating scale and are categorized as follows:

• Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer others, fueling growth.
• Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings.
• Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.

To calculate its Net Promoter Score (NPS), a company can take the percentage of customers who are Promoters and subtract the percentage who are Detractors.’

The results derived are not only indicative of the goodwill that exits in the market for your company but is also reflective of your growth in profits and going further the areas within your company which might require improvement.
The decision to recommend a company is often influenced by a lot of factors – from the quality of the product being sold to the sale experience and after- sales service. Enough reason to prioritize and measure customer satisfaction at each level of customer interaction.

To ensure you get value of the NPS system it is important to make it a part of your day to day company processes. If the goal of every employee in your company is to ensure customer satisfaction both in principal and action, rarely can you go wrong.

In this era of social media, the NPS system can give a whole new meaning to marketing. Drawing your promoters to help you with the process of brand building by sharing their brand experiences with a larger audience can be a great add-on to any marketing strategy. This also increases the chances of turning the Passives into active Promoters.

I personally see the NPS system as a great value add for the PR and branding team of any company.  This can be a two level process –

Engaging your Promoters & Converting the passives

1. Create campaigns which encourage your promoters to share their positive feedback about your company with others on and across the social mediasphere.
2. Reward them for their loyalty by either recognizing their efforts or by providing them with a more premium service offering. Their happiness should be your company’s ultimate goal; these are your walking, talking assets, your investors and advertisers.
3. Create campaigns which offer value to the Passives in turning Promoters of your brand. It could be seasonal discounts, opportunities to participate in contests, priority redressal of complaints, referral programs etc. which ensures they see value in sticking to your brand and also of promoting it to others. Remember these groups of people have used your product and probably like using it but may switch brands if something better comes along – so the idea is to hold them and offer them value in sticking to the brand that goes beyond just your product.
4. At the engagement level it will help to identify the channels most commonly used by your Promoters, so that you can optimize your presence there. Also, since these are channels your promoters are used to, they would be more comfortable sharing their experiences here than anywhere else. If the sites and networks are different to those, you use for your promotions, its best to come up with a plan on how you will interlink the two, so that your existing networks can get a peek into your promoters endorsements.

Engaging your Detractors

1. Engage them to understand the cause of their dissatisfaction. This insight is critical for your future plans. Also, it will inform you about areas and processes within your company which need a re-look. Working on these will also reduce the number of Detractors you might have in future.
2. Most people feel unhappy about a company, when they feel the company is not bothered with the issues they have faced when dealing with the company. So it is important to build an image of your company which listens and responds to the complaints of its customers. Ensure your website has a complaint and suggestions address and a prompt response system in place – it says a lot about your willingness to address the issues raised by your customers.
3. Winning back people can be a difficult task and a long drawn process – but sometimes it is worth the effort because then the loyalty towards a brand is much more. Invite your Detractors to re-use your product or service, assure them that you have tried to address the issues raised by them and this time around if you can ensure them a fulfilling experience, you will have a customer who will talk about “how you cared to look into his concerns and made him feel important.”

The effectiveness of the Net Promoter Score has been a topic debate among marketers, market researchers and marketing professors ever since it was first developed by Fred Reichheld in 2003. But the concept continues to find believers and has been successfully adopted and implemented in big organizations like Microsoft, GE, Intuit etc.

It is a great brand growth measurement tool – and also one that helps in deciding the way forward.

When you should just go out and make a public announcement !

Make that announcement now..

Press release is one of the best marketing tools – because it lets you speak your version of the story, gets across your company’s news updates to your relevant audience (Stakeholders, potential investors and customers) and in the online space, helps you build credible backlinks.

If you search the term Press Release on Google – it throws up thousands of articles and posts which tell you how to write that perfect press release. I am sure on that front you will find a way out there – either yourself or with some hired help.

While most companies use press releases to announce their big moments, very few realize that press releases need not be restricted, to just the big moments but are more effective when used for all the significant moments in a company’s lifespan.

Let me put down some of these obvious and not so obvious moments for your future reference. You can always add to this list depending on the needs of your company.

Since the opportunities of going public with a news update vary in each company – this list cannot and should not be treated as the end of all thought and discussion – but more as the beginning of one…

So here you go – Occasions and reasons for you to go out with a Press release…

1. Launch – Any kind of launch, your company, product, service, new division etc.

2. Client Acquisitions

3. Partnerships

4. Mergers

5. Quarter and Annual results

6. New feature updates

7. New Appointments

8. Awards and accolades for the company and for those in the management team

9. Chartering new markets

10. Diversification

11. CSR initiatives

12. Green initiatives

13. Positive Industry Analyst reviews

14. Change in Location of your head office

15. Event/Webinar announcements – those you organize and those you are participating in

16. Published Reports / Whitepapers

17. Any offline or online conference your are hosting

18. If a company spokesperson is speaking at an event – you can have a post event release – focusing on the main points in his speech (provided they are significant)

19. Comment on a significant Industry development – in support or in opposition

20. Announcing your entry into the social media space – Opening your Company’s Twitter or Facebook account (It’s a great way of telling people where to find you on social mediaphere)

And before I close this post here are some must remember tips -

Tip #1 – If you are holding a press conference or an event – remember to have a pre – event and post-event press release.

Pre- Event press release – Should explain the reason for holding the event – (Launch, Partnership announcement etc.). Names of individuals, who would be addressing the event and their brief introductions, date of the event, details of your company.

Many companies and PR professionals today give pre-event releases a miss – but it is significant because it might give a journalist enough reason to write a heads-up report on the event, also it helps in getting your event listed under the upcoming events section by the various media publications – ensuring better attendance at your event.

Post – Event press release – Should elaborate on the announcement made at the event, significant quotes of those who address the gathering. Since, this is a more thought after release – PR professionals should think through the most significant development at the event which has news significance and build their release around that news peg or angle (use quotes that add to that point).  This will ensure your release has a better rate of coverage.

Tip #2 – We are aware that press releases are your company’s mouth piece – still it is best not to overplay (do not underplay either)  your achievements and appear very promotional when writing them. Those press release which appear balanced in their approach have a better chance of getting carried by the media

Tip # 3 – Remember to post a copy of the releases on your company website and on free Press Release submission sites.

If you can think of any more reasons or occasions for issuing a press release, write in and I will update this list further 

Press release is considered one of the best marketing tools – as it lets you publish your version of the story, gets across your company’s news updates to your relevant audience (Stakeholders, potential investors and customers) and in the online space, helps you build credible backlinks.

If you search the term Press Release on Google – it throws up thousands of articles and posts which tell you how to write that perfect press release. I am sure on that front you will find a way out there – either yourself or with some hired help.

While most companies use press releases to announce their big moments, very few realize that press releases need not be restricted, to just the big moments but are more effective when used for all the significant moments in a company’s lifespan.

Let me put down some of these obvious and not so obvious moments for your future reference. You can always add to this list depending on the needs of your company.

Since the opportunities of going public with a news update vary in each company – this list cannot and should not be treated as the end of all thought and discussion – but more as the beginning of one…

So here you go – Occasions and reasons for you to go out with a Press release…

1. Launch – Any kind of launch, your company, product, service, new division etc.

2. Client Acquisitions

3. Partnerships/tie-ups

4. Mergers

5. Quarterly and Annual results ( if your are profitable its good to let your stakeholders know)

6. New feature updates in your product or service

7. New Appointments at the senior management level

8. Awards and accolades for the company or for those in the management team

9. Launching in new markets

10. Diversification

11. CSR initiatives

12. Green initiatives

13. Positive Industry Analyst reviews

14. Change in Location of your head office /Website address

15. Event/Webinar announcements – those you organize and those you are participating in

16. Published Reports / Whitepapers

17. Any offline or online conference your are hosting

18. If a company spokesperson is speaking at an event – you can have a post event release – focusing on the main points in his speech (provided they are significant)

19. Comment on a significant Industry development – in support or in opposition

20. Announcing your entry into the social media space – Opening your Company’s Twitter or Facebook account (It’s a great way of telling people where to find you on social mediaphere)

And before I end this post here are some must remember tips -

Tip #1 – If you are holding a press conference or an event – remember to have a pre – event and post-event press release.

Pre- Event press release – Should explain the reason for holding the event – (Launch, Partnership announcement etc.). Names of individuals, who would be addressing the event and their brief introductions, date of the event, details of your company.

Many companies and PR professionals today give pre-event releases a miss – but it is significant because it might give a journalist enough reason to write a heads-up report on the event, also it helps in getting your event listed under the upcoming events section by the various media publications – ensuring better attendance at your event.

Post – Event press release – Should elaborate on the announcement made at the event, significant quotes of those who address the gathering. Since, this is a more thought after release – PR professionals should think through the most significant development at the event which has news significance and build their release around that news peg or angle (use quotes that add to that point).  This will ensure your release has a better rate of coverage.

Tip #2 – We are aware that press releases are your company’s mouth piece – still it is best not to overplay (do not underplay either)  your achievements and appear very promotional when writing them. Those press releases which appear balanced in their approach have a better chance of getting carried by the media

Tip # 3 – Remember to post a copy of the releases on your company website and on free Press Release submission sites.

If you can think of any more reasons or occasions for issuing a press release, write in and I will update this list further