Taking a customer journey-centric marketing approach means engaging the right target customers with the right experiences, at the right time— adding more qualified leads to your sales funnel, and ensuring that more loyal customer advocates come out the bottom. Sure, this all sounds great in theory, but how do you actually go about designing and executing an effective strategy for your organization?
Topics include:
• Understanding your customer journey: Adopting a buying stages model, and key factors to consider based upon characteristics your business, target customers and market landscape
• Mapping content strategy and multi-channel marketing initiatives to engage your audience across customer journey stages
• Lessons learned from nearly 4 years of experience practicing agile marketing to support a high volume, high velocity, B2B model
Gary DeAsi is a global digital marketing and demand generation expert with a passion for technology and thinking both analytically and creatively to overcome business challenges at every stage of the customer journey. At SmartBear, he manages the company’s corporate brand and leads the inbound/digital marketing team to drive demand for more than 15 software quality tools used by more than four million software professionals and over 25,000 organizations worldwide. His initiatives helped SmartBear earn back-to-back Marketo Revvie Awards in 2013 and 2014 for Most Dramatic Business Impact and Most Creative Integrated Marketing Campaign. Also an expert in lead nurturing and marketing automation, Gary has been honored as a three-time Marketo Champion, having presented at Marketo’s Marketing Nation Summit. Follow him on Twitter @gDAZ.
Aligning Your Marketing Team and Strategy with the Modern Customer Journey
1. Gary DeAsi
Senior Manager,
Digital Marketing & Brand
SmartBear Software
@gdaz
Aligning Your
Marketing Strategy
& Team with the
Modern Customer Journey
customerjourneymarketer.com
4. : The complete sum of experiences
that customers go through as they
interact with a company/brand across
multiple touch points over time.
Customer Journey
customerjourneymarketer.com
5. 70% of the buyer’s journey
occurs online before
engaging with a sales rep
customerjourneymarketer.com
10. Click here to learn more about this model
customerjourneymarketer.com
11. Stages/Models Tips and N2K
• Customers can enter at any stage
• Don’t think linear
• Choose the right model for your business
• Define stages by customer POV, not just yours.
Questions and barriers…
• Encompass all scenarios
• Clear definitions
• Objectives and success definitions
• Training and reinforcement!
• Get internal buy-in
customerjourneymarketer.com
12. Understanding your Customers
Individual
Job roles, personas
Motivators
Problems, pain points
Terminology & language
Buying triggers
How solve problem before?
Organization
Industry vertical
Company size
Business model, strategy
Technology stack
Org structure
Geo locations
customerjourneymarketer.com
13. 1313
Using Competitor XYZ
not actively looking to
switch solutions
Using Competitor
XYZ actively looking
to switch solutions
Has a pain/problem,
has never used a paid
solution before
Doesn’t know they
have a problem yet
Has used a competitor
before, new company
doesn’t have a solution
Using a free tool,
recycled lead now
actively looking for
solution
14. Understanding your Business
Product or Service
Value propositions
Key features, capabilities
Differentiators
Complexity of solution
Use cases
Technical specifications
Technology partnerships
Sales
Pricing model
Sales model
Length of sales cycle
$ ASP
Barriers & objections
Complexity of buying decision
Market
Market maturity
Demand type
Market share
Competitive landscape
Positioning
Market trends
customerjourneymarketer.com
15. 1515
Demand
Type Characteristics Objectives Requirements
Established
Market
• Majority recognize as
necessary
• Well-defined, contested
market with established
solutions
• Battling for market share
• Differentiate solution
features/capabilities
• Quantify incremental value vs
competitors
• Calculate total cost of ownership
advantages
• Competitive
positioning and
differentiation
• Overcome cost of
switch
New
Paradigm
• Retools/optimizes existing
process
• Solves known current
problem better
• Replaces current line item
• Educate buyers there is a better
way solve problem than current
legacy solutions
• Quantify the cost of status quo
doing nothing
• Justify the cost of new paradigm vs
status quo legacy solution
• Process/solution
change
• Hone in on pitfalls and
risks associated with
existing legacy
solutions
• Focus on innovation,
change, future
New
Concept
• Disruptive
• No budgetary line item
• Requires issue/problem
creation
• Illuminate issues buyers may not
be aware they had and/or
associate with pain points
• Help buyers prioritize opportunities
• Make buyers aware solutions exist
and the value in solving problems
• Market Leadership
• Evangelism
• Early adopters
• Target influential,
motivated prospects
16. 1616
Information
• Search and browsing behavior
• Research and nurture needs
• Messaging
• Barriers to overcome
• Questions to answer
INTELLIGENCE
17. How do you get all this information?
Online Surveys
Interviews
Networking
Data & Research
customerjourneymarketer.com
24. 2424
Content Audit: Identify Content Gaps
SmartBear Confidential and Proprietary
Number assets / stage
Types of assets / stage
Performance of assets
Age of content
Location of content
Distribution strategy
Optimization, enhancement,
and re-purposing
Keyword research
26. 2626SmartBear Confidential and Proprietary
? ?
“Why do I have a problem?!"
“What solutions are available?
What factors should I consider?”
“Does this product solve my problem(s)
& meet my needs/requirements?”
"Why should I choose this? How can I get
my boss and team members on board?”
“Hello, brand, do I like you, are you relevant to me?”
“How do I get it? How difficult will it be to
implement and change current process?”
37. 3737
*Scoring, Behavioral Data + Segmentation
Engagement
Education,
Research
Evaluation
Justification,
Purchase
Adoption –
Advocacy
Closed Won, Renewals
a) Completed Trial (Open, working)
b) Open Opportunity
a) Scored QL (100+)
b) During trial
Score = 10-99
Score < 10
43. Current Sprint System
Demand Gen CreativeWeb Operations
Teams
Team Managers
Market Manager (x4)
Customers
customerjourneymarketer.com
44. Current Sprint System
Length: Two weeks (10 business days)
Delivery Vehicles:
• Epics: Overarching project (multiple sprints)
• Stories: High level summary of problem sent to Manager
• Tasks: Execution items with hours attached (assigned to sprint)
Meetings:
• Retrospective/Review – how did we do? What went well? What
can we improve? Big wins?
• Mid-Sprint “Half-time show” – how are we tracking? Blockers?
Priority changes? Have what we need for H2?
• Sprint Commit – What does everyone have on our plates?
Priorities? Details and deadlines? Can we commit?
45. 4545
“I _____________, take you
_______________________ ,
to be my lawfully wedded JIRA issue, to
honor and cherish you, for better, for
worse, in sickness and health until we
are parted by ____________”
Honor Thine Commitments!
SmartBear Confidential and Proprietary
[~gary.deasi]
MTD-577 Team Customer Journey Training
Due: 7/July/16
47. Current Sprint System
• Backlog: “To do” list of tasks not assigned to a sprint
• Execution hours: time spent actually executing tasks
• “Personal Problems”: OOO/PTO, Doctor’s, Travel, Interviews, Meeting
• “Flex” time: time planned in sprint for incoming unplanned tasks, or
to be used for ideation, experimentation, optimization, or backlogged
tasks
• “Flex” tasks: unplanned tasks assigned to sprint after commit session
• “Gypsy” tasks: a task that keeps getting pushed back sprint after
sprint
customerjourneymarketer.com
50. Agile Lessons Learned
Get organizational buy-in
Mold system to your organization, not the other way around
Iterative, collaborative process - feedback, evolution
Sprint length = 2-4 Weeks
Benchmark your bandwidth
Build in flex time. Plan for the unpredictable, time-sucks (20-50%)
Minimize upkeep – low touch
Specificity, break down tasks into bite size pieces
Review and commit before sprint
Sprint and backlog to deflect unnecessary requests – use the backlog!
If it’s not in the sprint it doesn’t exist.
customerjourneymarketer.com