The Customer Path: From Lead Gen to Customer

1/28/20121/28/2012 Technology, Inc. – Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.Manticore Technology - Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

The Customer Path:From Lead Gen to Customer

January 26, 2012 – Content Marketing RetreatJeff Erramouspe, President@jefferramouspe

1/28/2012 Manticore Technology - Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

Implementation

Referrals

Online Research

Social Media

Outbound

Sales

B2B Buyer’s Journey


B2B Purchasing Behavior

Prefer to utilize Web and social media to create a shortlist Resistant to sales calls/messaging during this phase Without 1:1 interaction, seller has no control of the process


Evolving Role of Marketing

Marketing now has responsibility for early stage selling

Must use content to engage prospects and drive them through buying process

Must use technology to track behaviors and automate interactions

Marketers have become Publishers – must tell compelling stories


Understanding Your Process

Define personas &

phases

Map content to personas &

phases

Identify content holes

Fill holes w/ new content

Integrate w/ sales process

& tools

Track usage by persona &

phase

Understand your buyer’s process

Think analytically & systematically

Use existing sales data to prime the pump

Interview closed buyers about their process


Persona & Stage Based Messaging Personas

Decision maker Economic buyer Influencers Approvers Users

Buying Stages Awareness Education Consideration Validation Decision


Telling a Compelling Story

Address the unique needs of prospects at different buying stages

Early content should start a conversation and address business issues

Later content should be product specific and focus on purchasing concerns

Consider your cadence; you don’t want to be annoying, but you don’t want to be forgotten

Develop content that progresses and accelerates the prospect’s buying cycle


Why Content Marketing Works

Leads the prospect through his buying cycle Creates a dialogue with prospects that

matches the way they want to buy Provides a clear indication of where prospect

is in buying cycle Reduces sales cycles and provides more

predictable sales pipeline


The Role of Marketing Automation

Symbiotic Relationship

ContentMarketing Automatio

n

Tracks prospect behavior

Automates prospect interactions

Measures content efficacy

Integrates with sales process

The Customer Path: From Lead Gen to Customer

Documents

content marketing works

buying cycle

sales cycles

sales callsmessaging

existing sales data

throughbuying process

prospects thatmatches

persona stage