The Use of Content in the Middle of the Funnel

CARLOS HIDALGO ANNUITAS

Carlos Hidalgo Chief Executive Officer

Twitter: @cahidalgo

Email: [email protected]

The Use of Content in the Middle of the Funnel

How Do You Utilize Your Content?

No Defined Lead-to-Revenue Process

"Fewer  than  one-­‐fourth  of  [B2B  organiza4ons]  have  defined  a  lead-­‐to-­‐revenue  management  process  that  their  marke+ng  and  sales  teams  follow.  Included  in  that  number  are  only  5%  who  claim  that  every  prospect  interac4on  is  orchestrated."  

Source:    Forrester  (J.  Ernst),  “The  State  Of  B2B  Demand  Genera<on:  Disjointed,”  2011  @cahidalgo  

Most Organizations Struggle With Nurturing

Source:    Bulldog  Solu<ons/Frost  &  Sullivan    @cahidalgo  

Lack  of  Demand  Process  =  Mid-­‐Funnel  Gap  

‘Awareness’  +  automated  lead  gen  

Sales  Ed.  

?  

Engage

Nurture

Convert

@cahidalgo  

Still a Big Gap Between Buyers & Sellers

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A Tactical Frame = Our Greatest Challenge

“Which Tactic” Is the Wrong Question

“[M]arketers  are  juggling  too  many  tac4cal  balls.    A  full  75%  of  respondents  reported  they  were  using  15  of  the  26  techniques  we  surveyed.”    “The  reported  use  of  tac+cs  was  consistent  across  various  company  sizes,  from  small-­‐to-­‐medium  businesses  (SMBs)  to  large  enterprises.”  

Source:    Forrester,  “2012  Tech  Marke<ng  Planning  Guidance,”  December  2011.  @cahidalgo  

Demand Generation = Strategic

Taking a strategic (not a tactical) approach to Demand Generation

@cahidalgo  

Strategic Demand Generation is ……

•  A perpetual process •  Engage, Nurture, Convert •  Prospects + customers •  Buying-process-driven •  Educate + qualify •  Marketing + sales activities •  Operationalize + optimize

•  To drive sustainable revenue, CLV

@cahidalgo  

What’s Really Going On?

Source:    Needles,  Balancing  the  Demand  Equa<on,  2012.  

@cahidalgo  

The Need to Meet the Buyer’s Needs and Speak to Challenges

A Collaborative Approach to the Buyer

Organizations need to align around their customer. It is more than just marketing and sales – it is an organizational approach to being customer centric

Field  Sales  

Buyer  Needs  &  

Pain  Points  Partner/Channel  

Customer  Service  

Product  Mgmt/Mktg.  

Inside  Sales  

Customers  

@cahidalgo  

Building Blocks for Nurture Success

Nurture is Part of Demand Generation – Not a Separate Activity

Engage

IR2   IR3   IR4   IR5   IR6   IR7   IR8   IR9  IR1  

Buying Process

Nurture Convert

Engage targeted buyers – via both inbound and

outbound channels – in dialogue via top-of-mind

issues, interests and pain points; capture them as a

‘Nurture-able’ contact / Engaged lead; outbound

Engagement often is periodic; inbound

Engagement is perpetual; improving performance of Engagement is via both targeting and Content Offer relevance and

tuning.

Continue dialogue – moving from top-of-mind issues, interests and pain points to potential solution

categories to specific offerings in these

categories – progressively profiling and scoring buyer

throughout; Nurturing is perpetual; improving

performance of Nurturing is via optimization of

Content Offers, program logic and scoring.

Leverage profiling and scoring to escalate the

dialogue at the right time – identifying and driving

purchase behavior; improving performance of Conversion is via better aligning upstream ‘signs’

that are assessed via segmentation and scoring

with specific purchase behavior; Conversion

requires a combination of automated and live

interactions.

@cahidalgo  

Tying Together Top of Funnel to Mid

QUALIFIED  ENGAGED  ENGAGED   QUALIFIED  LEAD  

E-­‐CO  1A:      "Top  Five  Opera+ng  Challenges  in  the    [X  Segment]  of  the  

Industry"  

E-­‐CO  1B:      “Industry  

Performance  Benchmark  Study"  

N-­‐CO  2.1.0:      "Common  Traits  of  High  Performing  Opera+ons"  

E-­‐CO  1   N-­‐CO  2  

E-­‐CO  1.1:      "Top  Five  Opera+ng  Challenges  in  the  

Industry”  (Video  Summary)  

N-­‐CO  2.2.0:      "ROI  Analysis  of  

Making  Improvements  to  

Cost"  

N-­‐CO  2.2.1:  "Managing  Vendor  Rela+onships  to  

Improve  Performance"  

N-­‐CO  3.0:      "Client    Customer  Case  

Study    

N-­‐CO  3   N-­‐CO  4  

N-­‐CO  2.2.2:      "User  Error  or  

Product  Failure:  How  to  Know"  

N-­‐CO  3.1:  "Client    Customer  

Service  Difference  for  Precision"  

N-­‐CO  4.0:    “  Challenge"  Offer  

OR OR

HOT  LEAD  WARM  LEAD  Note:    Response  to  any  of  N-­‐CO  2  content  offers  will  move  buyer  

forward  to  N-­‐CO  3.  

BUYING  TRIGGER  

ROOT  CAUSE  ANALYSIS  CLIENT  

SOLUTION  MOVE  TO  DEMO  

N-­‐CO  2.1.1:      "Selec+ng  the  Right  Product  for  the  Right  

Job"  

N-­‐CO  2.1.2:      "Improving  the  

Produc+vity  of  Your  Business"  

N-­‐CO  3.2:        "Selec+ng  the  Right  Technology  Guide"  

N-­‐CO  4.1:      "Client    30-­‐day  Demo"  

OR

INFLUENCE/COMMITTEE  

DECISION  MAKER    

@cahidalgo  

Manage to the Buyers Preference

@cahidalgo  

Content Geared To The Middle of the Funnel

@cahidalgo  

Closing Points

•  Think Strategically for Demand Generation •  Align around the Buyer •  Make Nurture Part of your Perpetual Demand

Program and Strategy •  Constantly Optimize

@cahidalgo  

THANK YOU

Carlos Hidalgo Email: [email protected] Phone: 719-966-7548 Twitter:@cahidalgo

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