b2bMarketology - Harris CMO Partners

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P1 Learn How To Write a Project Brief!

Creating A Plan - Where To Start For 2018

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B2B Webinars & Conferences Sept - Nov 2017

Links to 12 new articles from experts around the web

b2bMarketology A publication by Harris CMO Partners

September 2017

Getting Bad Results from Agencies?

Learn How To Write a Project Brief! Why B2B Companies Get Poor Results from Agencies Here’s a short list of reasons why you may get bad results: 1. You didn’t give proper guidance 2. You expected the agency to read your mind 3. You waited for the agency to tell you what you want

Creating a new B2B website design, video or advertisement is not complicated for the agency. It is complex, however, because there are so many moving parts and opinions that go into it. This is why B2B marketing projects break down. The busier-than-heck client believes that once the agency is hired, their problems are solved and that shiny new website-video-ad is in the bag. Many vendors back away from telling clients beforehand that there is a lot of work involved on the client’s part. So it’s up to the B2B

marketer to understand that a lot of detail and prompt feedback will be needed to get the best results from an agency. The only sure fire method we’ve discovered to get great results from an agency or vendor is to create a project brief for you need. A project brief is a starter kit that explains what you want in that new website-video-ad. That document, then, serves as a discussion guide for your initial chats >> CONT. NEXT PAGE

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Learn How To Write a Project Brief!... continued from page 1 with the agency. Many B2B marketers feel they’re too busy to create a project brief but it saves time and money in the long run. A project brief will guide you to think through the details of your project. It will also give you something to share with colleagues to get their input. The more direction and specifics you can give to your agency up front, the faster your project will go and the fewer headaches.

Website Example: Questions To Ask Yourself

Let’s be honest. Your CEO and CFO don’t give a fig about website traffic or impressions. They care about the way the company’s story is presented plus sales and revenue. So ask yourself these questions prior to reaching out to agencies for conversations and quotes.

Mike Harris is founder of Harris CMO Partners. He enjoys writing about B2B demand gen trends, social selling and market strategy. http://harriscmopartners.com

#1 - Why isn’t my current website delivering qualified prospects? If the answer is content-SEO-conversions, for example, a new website isn’t going to fix that.

platforms on the market today.

First, seek advice from someone who understands the B2B demand gen ecosystem. Everyone knows someone in marketing.

Today’s demand gen ecosystem is a living, breathing creature that sucks up a lot of time and resources.

#2 - How much do I really know about what I’m doing? The biggest marketing disasters happen when a B2B chief puts someone in charge who lacks the skills and experience to give clear, technical direction. Are you that person? If yes, some self-education is in order. Skip a night of GoT or MNF and catch up on current best practices for website development (or whatever). #3 - What associated software or platforms are involved? Most B2B companies are using 3rd party apps like MailChimp, Salesforce, Google Analytics, marketing automation or one of the million other demand gen

It’s critical that you, not the agency, think through your demand gen ecosystem integrations before changing or adding a component.

If you get the small parts right, like creating well-thought-out project briefs, the big parts will come together nicely.

Final Thoughts

There are scads of project brief examples available on the web for free. Most of them are way more detailed than anyone actually needs so weed out the items that are non-starters for you and your project. Find one you like and tailor it to what matters most: attracting qualified audiences and converting them to sales leads. Good luck. If you have a question or need a new project brief drop me an email: [email protected].

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B2B Demand Gen How-To’s Creating a Plan: Where to start for 2018

Stay Current Webinars Sept. 26 High Impact Webinars

AMA Oct. 11 Measuring Social Media ANA

By now you have enough data on 2017 demand generation activities to know what’s working and what’s not.

Technology Improvements

Now it’s time to lay out the framework for developing your 2018 plans.

Decide what improvements you want to make in 2018. Which modules or features have you not used so far? What functionality do you need to add? The more you use technology the more campaigns you can launch at highly segmented targets.

First Steps

Start with the metrics. The most important ones for demand generation are: •

MOC - marketing originated customers

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M%-CAC - marketing’s share of customer acquisition costs

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MOP - marketing originated pipeline of sales qualified leads

Next Steps

Decide on your improvements for 2018. These need to dovetail with your company’s business plan. If your CEO is insisting on a 20% increase in deals your MOC and MOP should be at least 30%. Create a budget for those improvements. A 30% increase in MOP means you’ll need a far larger increase in campaigns. Which campaigns and how will you pay for them?

Where is your company with sales and marketing technology?

Next Steps: Know The Trends

Once you’ve reviewed and set goals for demand gen infrastructure, turn to the market. Ask yourself these questions: 1. What are the trends in my industry and market space? 2. What’s driving these trends? 3. How are our competitors addressing the trends? 4. How have we been addressing the trends? 5. How should we be addressing the trends to increase sales and profits? Metrics and trends. That’s where planning starts for 2018. Get these two right and you’re on your way.

ON DEMAND Optimizing Your Website for Lead Generation Pardot Virtual Marketing Innovation Summit DEMANDBASE Marketing Data Management eMarketer

Conferences Oct. 3, Boston Marketing Nation Roadshow Marketo & MARTECH Oct. 3-6, Boston B2B Marketing Forum 2017 Marketing Profs

Oct. 4, Chicago Marketing Nation Roadshow Marketo & MARTECH Oct. 18-20, Las Vegas

Adobe MAX Creativity Conference Adobe

Nov. 5-8, Portland, OR

Lavacon 2017

Content marketing & technical Nov. 6-9, San Francisco dreamforce Salesforce.com

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Great Demand Gen Articles from Around The Web Marketing Technology

Small Businesses Have Big Marketing Technology Ambitions - eMarketer Optimizing the Marketing Operations Function Martech Advisor

Website & SEO

5 Examples of B2B Brands Winning at Website UX B2B Marketing

The Top Digital Channels for Generating B2B Leads MarketingProfs

10 Best Practices for Better B2B Website Exerience

How To Leverage SEO for B2B Lead Generation Marketo

Harvard Business Review

Make Your New Marketing Hire Read This Collection of Articles

CXL

eConsultancy

B2B Lead Generation: 33 Strategies, Ideas, Examples WishPond

How B2B Sellers Are Offering Personalization at Scale

Making Marketing Technology Work McKinsey

B2B Lead Generation

How SEO is Different for B2B Companies B2B Marketing

How To Fix Broken B2B Lead Generation TrackMaven

About Harris CMO Partners B2B companies turn to us to create or improve demand generation including marketing automation, campaigns and metrics. We offer CMO services, marketing upgrades and demand gen improvements. Based in Phoenix, AZ.

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Need to review your demand generation and/or establish benchmark metrics for 2018? • • • • • • •

Marketing Results Inventory Key Metrics Capabilities Inventory CRM & Marketing Automation Scores Email, Website & Social Media Scores Content Performance Metrics Lead Scoring

Fast, Affordable This 2-week project audits your entire demand generation function. We score your email, website and social media results. We’ll also score the results from sales and marketing automation if you use it. Plus a lot more!

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