Overview of a typical B2B Product Marketing Branding and Lead Generation Plan to accelerate the sales growth rate and enhance brand recognition at a low cost and high ROI. "High Impact, High ROI, Low Cost Framework"

1. B2B
Product
Marke/ng
Brand
Awareness
and
Lead
Genera-on
High
ROI,
High
Impact
and
Low
Cost
Framework
Michael
Fertman
B2B
SaaS
Product
Marke/ng
Leader
August
7,
2014

2. Typical
Assump/ons
for
a
B2B
Brand
or
Product
Marke/ng
Annual
Plan
2
• Sales
Growth
ACCELERATION
o Primary
marke/ng
goal
is
to
profitably
generate
a
‘step-­‐change’
increase
in
annual
sales
growth
o E.g.
15%
annual
growth
!
30%
annual
growth
• Brand
Recogni-on
o Eleva=ng
the
Brand
is
a
key
founda/on
in
the
achievement
of
this
goal
o I.e.
Increase
in
brand
awareness
in
close
associa/on
with
key
differen/ators
• Marke-ng
Efficiency
o Marke/ng
efforts
(i.e.
expenses)
clearly
/ed
to
outcomes
o E.g.
Repurpose
content
and
campaigns
across
mul/ple
channels

3. Typical
Assump/ons
for
a
B2B
Brand
or
Product
Marke/ng
Annual
Plan
(con/nued)
3
• Profitable,
‘step-­‐change’
increase
in
annual
sales
growth
is
the
primary
marke/ng
goal
o Accelerate
the
increase
in
penetra/on
within
exis/ng
customers
o Accelerate
the
increase
in
the
number
and
value
of
new
customers
o Reduce
cost
of
sale
by
con/nuously
evalua/ng
ROI
by
marke/ng
channel
/
program
• Brand
Awareness
improvement
is
a
key
driver
of
goal
achievement
-­‐-­‐
Examples:
Tradi-onal
o Tradeshows
o PR
o Print
• Marke/ng
Tac/cs
will
typically
Include
focus
on:
o Building
the
Brand:
See
above
o Increasing
Penetra-on:
Incen/ve
and
Loyalty
program(s),
communica/ons
plaXorms,
training,
materials
o Genera-ng
Demand:
" Integrated
Marke/ng
programs
–
e.g.
Direct
Mail
+
Email
+
Search
Engine
Marke/ng
+
Telemarke/ng
" Lead
Nurturing
–
ongoing
digital
communica/on
based
on
digital
or
offline
interac/ons
with
sales
and
marke/ng
" Clear
Value
Props
–
what
problems
does
your
product
solve?
For
whom?
And
why
is
yours
beber?
" New
Sales
Channels
–
Iden/fy
new,
less
expensive
sales
channels,
poten/ally
outside
typical
approaches
to
reaching
prospects
Digital
o Website
/
SEO
o Thought
Leadership
&
relevant
content
distributed
via...
o …
PR,
Email,
Newslebers,
Blog
Posts,
Social
Media,
Paid
Search

4. In
B2B
Marke/ng,
the
Following
Three
Principles
Lead
to
Effec/ve
and
Profitable
Growth
Accelera/on
Face-­‐to-­‐Face
marke-ng
elevates
the
brand
o Face-­‐to-­‐face
rela/onships
are
/
can
be
the
brand
in
many
cases
o Target
Customers
must
believe
that
your
product
is
an
industry
leader
and
that
you
are
too
Thought
Leadership
Drives
Brand
Awareness
and
Improves
Brand
Image
o Valuable
insight
for
target
customers
will
help
them
make
beber
decisions…
o …
and
will
elevate
brand
percep/on
…
o …
and
will
provide
‘air
cover’
for
poten/al
customers
when
selec/ng
your
product
Marke-ng
Efficiency
is
Cri-cal
o Focus:
Choose
the
20%
-­‐
25%
of
effort
that
will
drive
80%
-­‐
90%
of
poten/al
impact
o Scale:
Enhance
brand
building
with
digital
marke/ng
efforts
o Tools
and
Analy-cs
" Produc-vity:
Marke/ng
automa/on
(e.g.
Marketo,
Hubspot,
Pardot,
Eloqua)
fully
integrated
with
CRM
" Op-miza-on:
End-­‐to-­‐end
measurement
of
success
and
ROI
of
all
programs
4
1
2
3

5. Mapping
the
Marke/ng
Mix
to
These
Guidelines
Can
Profitably
and
Efficiently
Generate
Sales
Growth
Accelera/on
5
Marke-ng
Approach
Descrip-on
Face-­‐to-­‐Face
Marke-ng
Trade
Shows
and
Industry
Events
Goals:
Generate
new
rela/onships
with
thought
leaders
and
prospects,
advance
exis/ng
rela/onships,
build
Brand.
Client
Advisory
Panel
Goal:
Increase
value
for
large
current
clients
• Share
best
prac/ces
• Understand
addi/onal
services
and
ROI
Thought
Leadership
/
Face-­‐to-­‐Face
Marke-ng
Roundtables
with
exis-ng
and
target
customers
Goal:
Establish
your
company
and
product
as
a
thought
leader
on
relevant
topics.
Increase
posi/ve
brand
awareness.
Company
Leaders
on
Industry
Panels
Goal:
Establish
your
company
as
a
thought
leader
within
relevant
ver/cals.
Build
brand
awareness.
Thought
Leadership
/
Remote
and
Electronic
Topics
relevant
to
the
problems
your
company
solves
Goals:
(1)
Establish
your
company
and
product
team
as
a
thought-­‐leader
on
important,
‘key
word
rich’
topics.
(2)
Develop
‘rela/onships’
with
prospects
whom
you
would
otherwise
not
reach.
Delivery
Methods
Webinars,
Teleconferences,
Ar/cles
/
Blog
Posts,
Newslebers
Goal:
Package
content
in
a
manner
that
can
be
mass-­‐
distributed
and
‘re-­‐purposed’
Marke-ng
Efficiency
Distribu-on
Methods
Electronic
–
press
releases,
email,
social
media,
website,
Newslebers
Goal:
Build
Brand
and
generate
inbound
leads
–
inexpensively
and
efficiently.
Face-­‐to-­‐Face
Marke-ng
• Trade
Shows
&
Sponsorship
• Advisory
Panels
• Topical
Thought
Leadership
• Topics:
Focus
on
problems
that
product
solves
• Formats:
Roundtables,
panel
discussions…
Roundtables
• Speaking
on
Panels
…White
Papers,
Blog
Posts,
Webinars,
Teleconferences,
Independent
surveys
Marke-ng
Efficiency
Low
cost
distribu/on:
Press
Releases,
Email,
Social
Media,
Website,
Newslebers,
YouTube
,
Slideshare

6. Example:
Up-­‐Front
Planning
and
Analysis
for
a
company
with
few
tools
and
processes
already
in
place
• Add
Site
Analy/cs
• Website
SEO
• Audit
materials
/
gaps
• Close
major
gaps
(website,
materials)
• Compe/tor
Monitoring
• Plan
marke/ng
automa/on
sooware
• Con/nue
closing
major
gaps
• Implement
marke/ng
automa/on
sooware
• Assemble
data
on
exis/ng
customers
• ID
key
clients
and
prospects
to
interview
ID
differen/a/ng
characteris/cs
• “New”
Clients
• “Growing”
Clients
• “Lost
/
Declining”
Analyses
to
develop
models
for:
• Abri/on
warning
• Likely
upsell
/
Cross-­‐sell
Align
on
KPIs
PR
Planning
/
Calendar
• Iden/fy
‘Influencers’
&
Awards
• Create
General
communica/ons
calendar
Align
on
KPIs
Create
Marke-ng
Calendar
• Trade
shows
• Client
outreach
• Incen/ve
/
Loyalty
programs
• Topics
for
‘content
marke/ng’
calendar
Implement
Calendar
Align
on
KPIs
for
2015
Con-nued
Execu-on
(see
Q2)
Rplan
Planning
for
Next
Year
• Full
year
ROI
analysis
• Map
opera/onal
readiness
to
marke/ng
poten/al
• Full
Year
Marke/ng
Calendar
6
Cri-cal
Tools
to
Increase
insight,
reach
and
efficiency
Key
Insights
to
Drive
Cross-­‐Sell
and
Upsell
Customer
Segmenta-on
&
Targe-ng
Planning
Planning
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Tools
and
Enablement
TOOLS,
ANALYSIS
AND
PLANNING

7. • Add
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Site
Analy/cs
• SEO:
Directories
• SEO:
Website
changes
• SEO:
Case
studies
• SEO:
Inbound
Links
TBD
• New
/
enhanced
materials
for
target
segment(s)
• Design,
send
branded
‘desk
items’
to
clients
TBD
• Newsleber(s)
• Integrated
mktg
campaign(s)
• Email
• Paid
Search
(LinkedIn)
• PR,
Social,
webinar
• Targeted
outreach
• Design
loyalty
program(s)
• Client
Advisory
Panel
• Ramp
up
campaigns
• Improve
targe/ng
• Develop
repor/ng
&
scorecards
for
acquisi/on,
calculators,
scorecards
• Begin
targeted
PR
campaign
towards
key
influencers
–
‘road
show’
• Ongoing
applica/ons
to
relevant
industry
awards
• Tradeshows
• Bi-­‐Weekly
‘content’
and
campaigns:
white
papers,
webinars,
infographics,
etc
via
email,
SEM,
social,
blogging,
PR
• Trade
shows
Example:
Execu/on
Calendar
7
Website
and
Collateral
Website
Marke-ng
Collateral
Penetra-on
Increase,
Acquisi-on,
Branding
TACTICAL
EXECUTION
Increase
Penetra-on
Acquisi-on
and
Branding

8. Mission:
Know
that
trade
group’s
mission
and
how
it
relates
to
your
brand,
product
and
differen/a/on
Know
membership
Know
compe/tor
rela/onship
Annual
Conference
(Date,
Loca?on)
Compe=tor
is
Silver
Sponsor
Gold
Sponsor:
$6,500
Silver
Sponsor:
$3,200
Eastern
Regional
Mee?ng
(Date,
Loca?on)
Western
Regional
Mee?ng
(Date,
Loca?on)
Same
as
Above
Industry
Summit
Summit
(Date
and
Loca?on)
Exhibitor:
$1,650
+
T&E
2014
Industry
Symposium
(Dates,
Loca?on)
Exhibitor:
TBD
Example:
Brand-­‐Building
–
Industry
Events
8
Industry
Events
Industry
Trade
Associa-on
#2
Overview
Q2
‘14
Q3
‘14
Q4
‘14
Industry
Trade
Associa-on
#1
Industry
Sponsorship
Opportuni/es

9. Michael
Fertman
–
About
the
Author
Michael
Fertman
is
a
B2B
Product
Marke/ng
Expert
whose
20+
year
career
has
included
leadership
roles
in
B2B
Corporate
Marke/ng,
Product
Marke/ng
and
Product
Management
primarily
for
SaaS
and
Informa/on
Services
companies
and
products.
He
is
currently
providing
product
marke/ng
consul/ng
services
to
B2B
firms
with
10-­‐200
employees
and
$0mm
to
$50mm
in
annual
sales.
Previously,
as
CMO
of
an
interna/onal
market
research
firm
serving
the
Investment
community,
he
built
the
marke/ng
func/on
from
the
ground
up.
During
his
tenure
the
firm
generated
double-­‐digit
growth
in
a
flat
market
two
years
in
a
a
row,
taking
share
from
the
compe//on.
Before
his
CMO
role,
He
held
a
variety
of
Product
Marke/ng
roles
at
D&B,
where
his
teams
more
than
doubled
the
growth
rate
of
six
different
product
lines.
His
career
also
includes
marke/ng
strategy
consul/ng
at
Booz
&
Company
and
Strategic
Marke/ng
for
New
York
Life.
He
began
his
career
as
a
Naval
Officer,
serving
as
Navigator
of
a
Nuclear
Powered
Cruiser
during
the
First
Gulf
War
aoer
abending
the
Wharton
School
of
the
University
of
Pennsylvania
on
a
Navy
ROTC
Scholarship.
He
also
holds
an
MBA
in
Marke/ng
from
the
University
of
Chicago
Booth
School
of
Business.
9

10. Michael
Fertman
–
Areas
of
Exper/se
• Search
Engine
Op/miza/on
o Gain
first
page
Google
and
Bing
rank
for
3
to
5
cri/cal
keywords
o 5x
to
10x
increase
in
keyword-­‐driven
site
visits
o Strategy,
Planning
and
Execu/on
o Examples:
Primary
Research
Firms
(Guidepoint
Global);
B2B
SaaS
CMO
NYC
(Michael
Fertman)
o Engagements
ranging
from
2
days
to
3
weeks
• Sales
Growth
Strategy
-­‐-­‐
Diagnos/c
and
Ac/on
Plan
o Company
must
have
200+
clients
o Customer
Segmenta/on
by
growth
category
(new,
growing,
lost,
declining)
o Root
cause
analysis
o Priori/zed
ac/on
plan
o Plan
execu/on
• Integrated
CRM
and
Marke/ng
Automa/on
procurement
and
implementa/on
o Suitable
for
companies
with
$10mm+
annual
sales
and/or
200+
clients
o Map
sales
process
to
CRM
and
Marke/ng
automa/on
o Procure
suitable
systems
based
on
company
maturity
and
growth
trajectory
o Manage
implementa/on
and
rollout
(requires
some
outside
programming
support)
10

11. Michael
Fertman
–
Areas
of
Exper/se
(con/nued)
• Product
Launch
Management
o Crao
comprehensive
launch
plan
" External:
PR,
Adver/sing,
Customer
and
Prospect
Communica/ons,
Case
Studies
and
Tes/monials
" Internal:
Internal
launch
communica/ons
plan,
sales
enablement
o Launch
Plan
Execu/on
" Marke/ng
Materials
(see
above)
" PR
" Website
changes
o Engagements
ranging
from
weeks
to
months
11