11 Tips to Optimize Your Multi-Channel Marketing Campaigns
1. 11 Tips to Optimize Your Multi-
Channel Marketing Campaigns
Presented by Tom Judge
•VP Strategy, Direct Marketing Partners (DMP)
•VP Co-Chair, Direct Marketing Association of Northern California
•Chair, NorCal BMA Sales Lead Roundtable
4. CMO Council: Reports the Cause
“It is clear that companies do not manage business
leads in a way that optimizes their quality or value.
After spending large sums on their initial acquisition
through costly media campaigns and multi-channel
content marketing programs, only a small percentage
of companies effectively act on, nurture, convert,
close, recover, or re-qualify leads over time.”
The CMO Council 2011 State of Marketing Report
6. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 1: Clearly define a “Sales-Ready Lead”
Action item: Define each type of type of sales lead and stage
in your end to end funnel. Write it into the plan AND get
management and stakeholders to sign the document.
7. Sample of “BANT+ Sales-Ready” Leads
Detailed background information on the prospect and the
selling opportunity helps drive more productive sales results
8. DESIGN LEAD SPECS SO THEY MEET THE
SALES TEAM’S REQUIREMENTS
Profile
Segment
Trigger events
Compliance
Access to funding
Size of opportunity
Time frame
Urgency
Willingness to move forward and engage with sales
team?
9. Low Quality Leads Create Problems
Marketing generates a lead with basic interest, not ready to engage a sales rep
Sales teams reject unqualified leads, feels disconnected, requests “sales-ready” leads
The numbers are unsustainable
Current marketing focus The B2B lead Current sales focus
development gap
Reach Interest Desire Convert Enrich Retain
Gap in The Middle of the Funnel is
Warm leads leak out
Costing Time & $ Money
Issue 1: Marketing hands off Issue 2: Sales cherry picks leads, letting
Leads too early. Unqualified Issue 3: Marketing spends longer-time-frame leads leak out.
Leads waste sales’ time. More $ to replace lost leads.
Source: October 2006, Best Practices “Improving
B2B Lead Management”
Symptoms: Few conversions into customers 9
10. Tip 2: Map the end-to end process
• Know your prospect’s buying process
• Map and document the end-to-end buying, selling and
demand gen processes
11. Start With the Sales Process
Reverse Calculate the Sales Lead Requirements
Project Name: ABC Co. Sales Lead Strategy
Scenario A
1. SALES REVENUE: 1,300,000/yr
Sales Revenue Goals/QTR $325,000
Annual Revenue per sale $60,000
5.4
# Sales Required/QTR
40%
Estimated Closed Rate on Pipeline Opps.
14
# Qual Leads Convert to Proposal / Pipeline/QTR
Est. forward conversion to Proposal Pipeline Rate on Sales-Ready Leads 33%
# Qualified Sales -Ready Leads Required @ A/B Level
Quarterly (Prospects meeting sales-ready criteria) 41
# Qualified Sales-Ready Leads Required @ A/B Level
Per Month (Prospects meeting sales-ready criteria) 14
11
12. Three Segment Example:
Lead to Sale Touch Metrics
BroadSoft Market to Sales Lead Funnel Plan
Project Name: Seat Sales Lead-to-Sales Strategy
A: Large Ent. B: SMB C: Very SMB
1,000,000 Seat Scenario Segment Segment Segment
1. SALES REVENUE: Goal 80% Goal 10% Goal 10%
Annual Sales Goal in Units 100,000 800,000 100,000
Estm. Units per sales 5,000 30 5
# Sales Required 20 26,667 20,000
Estimated Closed Rate on Pipeline Opps. After Demo 25% 33% 33%
# Qual Leads Convert to Demo & Proposal / Pipeline 80 80,808 60,606
Est. forward conversion rate from qualified lead to Demo & Pipeline 50% 67% 67%
# Qualified Leads Required @ A/B Level & Demo
160 120,609 90,457
Annual (Prospects meeting qualification criteria)
# Qualified Leads Required @ A/B Level & Demo
13 10,051 7,538
Per Month (Prospects meeting qualification criteria)
2. MKTG. INQUIRIES and CONTACTS:
A/B Qualification Rate of 1:1 OB Contacts/IB Inquiries into Sales-Ready
10.0% 10.0% 10.0%
Leads
# of 1:1 Touches OB/IB Contact Interviews Required per Month (Scripts
Completed w/ More In depth BANT+ Profiled Needs Gathered in this 133 100,508 75,381
Model)
13. Formalize the Multi-Channel Lead Gen Campaign
Plan & Touch Metrics
# Qualified Leads Required @ A/B Level & Demo
Per Month (Prospects meeting qualification criteria) 67
3. MKTG. STRATEGY to FILL the PIPELINE:
Campaign #1: E-Mail + OBTM (to tele-qualify & set appt.) 26
Campaign #2: Dir. Mail + OBTM (to tele-qualify & set appt.) 0
Campaign #3: OBTM Teleprospecting Alone (non-responders) 15
Campaign #4: PPC Paid Search Adv. No Telequalification. 6
Campaign #5: SEO Organic Search + OBTM (to tele-qualify & set appt.) 0
Campaign #6: Trade Show + OBTM (to tele-qualify & set appt.) 15
Total Pre-qualified field sales force ready Leads/ Mo. 62
Difference -5
15. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 3: Ensure prospect data accuracy
Action item: Make the courageous move to fix and
standardize the prospect database. Hint: This is a never
ending task.
16. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 4: Segment your target markets into smaller
more manageable target sub segments.
Action item: Compare campaign performance by segment to
identify better performing markets to focus resources better..
17. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 5: Implement a system & lead mgmt. team that
gives you full visibility into all of your campaigns
Action item: Have the right talent and an executive dashboard
reporting tool to manage your lead funnels
18. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 6: Sync up relevant content, personalized
messaging to tell your compelling story & differentiate
Action item: Create a sequence of relevant content to deliver to
prospects over time to earn the right to ask the qualification
questions.
19. Optimize with Personalization
Optimizing a landing page ADDITIONAL 30% LIFT IN LEADS
can increase conversion
SIMPLE INTEGRATION
rates 2.3 times
(TO PRE-FILL FORMS)
2.3X 30% Pre-Fill
Forms
NO INTEGRATION
Personalization In REQUIRED
60%
Landing Page
100% LIFT IN LEADS
Personalization In
40% Outbound Medium
Average Optimized
Landing Page Landing Page
26. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 7: Include tele-qualification in the touch process
Action item: We suggest running a three-month A/B test using
email + telemarketing in the lead nurturing and qualification
process and measure the ROI.
30. Metrics – Email Alone
EM Broadcast to 14,769
EM Click Through @ 1%= 161
Conversion to Demo @ 10% = 16
Qual. Lead = Interest & Registered for Demo
.1% conversion ratio of EM sent to qual. demo lead
31. Metrics Email with Outbound
Telemarketing Integrated
OBTM follow up calls to non-responders
@ 7,513
Prospects Contacted & Graded
@ 33%= 2,511
Now cleaned & captured, most are now in the opt-in
database
Prospects Scripts Completed & Needs Captured
@ 26%= 662
1:1 relationships now established
Conversion to Demo Sales-Ready Leads
@ 32% = 217
Qual. Lead = Interest & Registered for Demo
2.9% conversion ratio of Calls to qual. demo lead
32. Results: Multichannel Boost of 13X
Conversion to Demo:
From 16 via em alone to 217 via combined em+tm
217
Multi Channel Boost
Email Telemarketing
Email, Conversion to
Demo, 16 13.6
33. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 8: Prospect Nurturing is critical
Action item: Use your multi channel lead management touch
metrics dashboard to track response as you make multiple
contacts and thus identify the best combinations to optimize
conversions to “sales-ready”. AKA, that “sweet spot”.
34. Value of Nurture: Business Case
Prospect
Contact # 1 50% of sales people have given up
Contact # 2 65% of sales people have given up
Contact # 3 79% of sales people have given up
You harvest
low hanging Contact # 4 89% of sales people have given up
fruit Just now you are becoming a factor in your
Contact # 5 prospect’s mind
Contact # 6 Nurturing slowly, your prospect
You are
gets to know you
earning top of Contact # 7
mind
awareness Contact # 8 You are probably the only
person to make 8 contacts
At this point when you Contact # 9 with this person
prospect is ready to
buy, you have a 90% Contact # 10
chance of being called
Contact # 11
Contact # 12
Customer
*Microsoft study
42. BTS Master Campaign % IB Response Rate Metrics
Metrics: Combined Email and Direct Mail Results
Qualification
IB Response Landing Page Rate on LP
Broadcast Drop Date Delivered Rate Capture Rate Submissions
DM-BTS PURL EVDO 9/08 679 6.63% 3.83%
DM-BTS PURL WCDMA 9/08 679 7.36% 4.27%
DM-BTS PURL WiMAX 9/08 59 13.56% 3.39%
57 = 4.02% of 28 = 49% of
TOTAL 1,417 103 = 7.27% TTL Delivered LP
55% of LP Submissions
Response to direct mail & email broadcasts was outstanding. Industry norm qualification rate = 5% to 10%.
7% visited the PURL, and 4% filled out the contact form or The BTS Master campaign’s multi-touch strategy improved
55% of those going to LP conversion to sales-ready lead five fold.
43. BTS Master Campaign % Outbound TM
Touch Metrics
Target Calling Metrics: For 57 IB responders & 1,410 non-responders
Project Metrics Overview
Comple Compl Call
Remai ted eted Hrs/De
Funded Hours ning List Number Record Script Calls/H Record Script mo Demo %
Call Hrs Called Hours Size of Calls s s our s/Hour s/Hr Reg. of TCS
170.0 170.00 0.00 1,467 3,862 876 244 22.72 5.15 1.44 1.39 49.18%
Leads Campaign Results
Inapprop
Total Inappro riate
Leads % priate contact,
& Uncalla Uncalla Contact
Future Future New ble ble No
Opportu Opport Recor Record Record Opt- Referral Referral
A+ A- B C nities unities ds s s Out given given
31 34 53 2 2 122 111 298 34.0% 8 104 120
44. BTS Master Combined Campaign Touch Metrics
Combined IB & OB Calling Metrics & Results
Presentation
Prospects Completed Qualification
Engaged/ (TCS) TTL into Sales-
Updated Completed Ready Lead
Broadcast Drop Date Targets Validated Scripts from TCS
DM-BTS PURL EVDO 9/08 667 484 = 73% 126 =26% 70 = 56%
DM-BTS PURL WCDMA 9/08 626 390 = 62% 102 = 26% 47 = 46%
DM-BTS PURL WiMAX 9/08 37 19 = 51% 3 = 16% 0 = 0%
Addtl Others 9/08 137 34 = 25% 13 = 38% 3 = 23%
TOTAL 1,467 927 = 63% 244 = 26% 120 = 49%
Industry norm qualification rate = 5%
Total targets to pursue to 10%. The BTS Master campaign’s
multi-touch strategy improved
response five fold.
45. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 9: Use a compelling offer with staying power.
Action item: ALWAYS OFFER something of perceived value.
46. Business to Business Offers
Responsivenes Optimum
Offer Qualified(1-5)
s (1-5) Offers
ROI calculators 3 5 15
Whitepapers/ Guides 3 4 12
Case studies 4 3 12
“Relevant” giveaways 4 3 12
Video clips or demo 4 3 12
Webinars 2 5 10
Live events 1 5 5
Free giveaways 5 1 5
Tradeshows 2 2 4
47. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 10: Make your call-to-action progressively more
urgent as the campaign proceeds.
Action item: Emphasize urgency as an upcoming compliance
or deadlines approach. You can also use discounts with
limited time offers as your deadline.
48. 11 Tips to Optimize
Your Multi-Channel Campaigns
Tip 11: Analyze KPI metrics in light of the original
touch plan & make refinements during campaigns
Action item: Analyze results metrics from end to end. Adjust
tactics to improve each metric.
49. Track Sales Pipeline KPIs and ROI
View sales pipeline results & ROI from your sales leads
Sales Won:10 Sales Lost:20
Total CY Value Total Lifetime Value Total CY Value Total Lifetime Value
$ 299,507.00 $ 651,445.00 $ 120,800.00 $ 308,800.00
$38,750.00 $61,100.00
$5,500.00 $6,000.00
$34,100.00 $61,200.00
$69,503.00 $103,648.00 $5,970.00 $11,940.00
$73,050.00 $99,600.00
$ 103,450.00 $ 417,400.00 $ 25,000.00
$ 7,010.00 $ 12,120.00
$ 86,975.00 $ 145,900.00
$ 185,463.00 $ 539,168.00 $ 238,845.00 $ 404,740.00
ROI 2012 on Deals Won Reported Win Plus Loss
Actual Lifetime Value Pipeline Revenue
of Deals Won Amount Invested Analysis
$539,168.00 $ 78,000.00 5.9:1
11.1:1
Housekeeping announcements:Tom Judge Speaker Credentials: A 15 year practitioner in b2b sales lead industry. On both the end client side and the service agency side.VP Strategy & Bus Dev at Direct Mktg Partners. We operate a multi touch multi channel contact center, firms hire us because we specialize in planning, generating and qualifying sales-ready leads to businesses that need to feed sales teams to make their sales quotas.I taught a course in Sales Lead Management at SJSU and UC in conjunction with DMA-nc.I also currently run the NorCal BMA Sales Lead roundtable in the Silicon Valley, where our members meet and explore cutting edge lead generation and management.
Context: My background and case examples are B2B. One of which won an ECHO award at the DMA. I’ll insert action items for you.When you print the presentation be sure to select the Notes Page view.Most of my examples will be from firms with a complex sale process and a high lifetime value.My company manages many sales lead programs and measures all their KPIs, so the examples will be very relevant to these best practice tips that we see working.My assumption, is that you are all doing demand generation now in your jobs, and are running multi touch campaigns of some magnitude. And that you want to improve.
The big problem
In other words, the CMO Council survey indicates that that firms are not hitting their sales numbers because they do not optimize their end to end lead-to-sales process!They appear to be doing a great deal of demand generation campaigns but they don’t bring it home.Yes, we as a lead management firm see this quite frequently.This can be improved. My objective is to provide you with some proven tips that will shorten your learning curve, and boost your results.
Source Marketing Sherpa, also concurs with the challenges of optimizing the lead-to-sales process. I’ll focus on top 2.Other issues: Not enough of the “qualified sales-ready leads” that will close into dealsLengthening buy & sales cycleFalling response rates to most all mediaHaving to market to multiple decision makersManaging multi-media touch points
Sales and marketing teams must collaborateYes, create formal definitions of every stage in the lead to sales process and the “sales-ready” lead.Then get agreement, then get everyone to sign off!
Each is a category of several background questions under each of the BANT that will provide more detail.Here is an example of those categories.Then, you go into the additional background to find out more on the opportunity.
Here’s why:Today’s sales-ready lead profile has been expanded to help reduce the more expensive and time consumption of having the sales teams develop a prospect. This is now done for them, so they can focus on selling.Sales ready criteria is defined by the sales organization, not the marketing team. Nowadays, it goes well beyond basic web traffic scored leads. Be open minded to sales needs!Time frame to purchaseSize of opportunityWhether the purchase is budgetedJob title or buying roleWhether the respondent would like to see a sales rep or move forward in the sales process.
There are three steps to plan out. Buying process/ selling process/ demand generation-lead generationThere will be multiple models for multiple market segments or solution/product lines.Have management sign off on these models!Run the numbers both bottom up and top down and create several models in your plan: Start at the buying processHow do they buy? Why would they buy any solution? Where do they research? How do they know they are in pain or have problems?? What are their triggers??Are they even aware they may have problems??Map the sales steps and current conversion rates to a saleCreate the multi touch demand generation, nurturing and lead qualification plan to feed that funnel. Create touch quotas for each touch metric.You will Measure all demand gen activities and compare back to these quotasAcknowledge that it takes multiple contacts before they decide to buy in most cases.
Here is a multi segment requirements calculator.The main difference in calculators is:This shows multi segments A/B/C and their variablesHave different sales conversion rates
Here we move into the demand gen/lead generation planning models.This is a summary of the “sales-ready” lead flows from each of the lead generation touch streams. Here we have 6 lead gen campaigns under one solution plan.This starts with the need for 67 sales-ready leads to feed the sales team to hit their sales numbers.You’ll want to monitor these numbers daily and or at least weekly.
CRITICAL: This is one of a series of tactical funnel plans, that must include the multiple incoming inquiry lead sources as well as the outbound and nurturing efforts to make up the shortfall.Multiple models for each touch stream track: All Inbound sources and activities is key. SEO, PPC, Social, email broadcasts, content syndication. You can budget off of this metrics model.Note: As the CMO Council pointed out earlier, inbound leads often fall short on their touch quotas! Most firms are unaware of this until it’s too late and sales quotas are missed! Overcoming this deficit can be planned for using this modeling approach.Have all plans signed off on by senior management.Congratulations, These numbers are now your touch quotas!Now you’re ready to execute against your plan lead gen campaigns, remember, once under way compare your touch metrics daily/weekly to your plan to look for any shortfalls.
Clean accurate prospect data is key. Significant gains will be made as a result.Rarely does an organization build a database from the ground up. More likely a new system is implemented on top of existing data. This is where the holes and gaps can develop, if different groups are collecting different data.Plug the gaps and inconsistencies in your marketing tools, database and CRM system.Create a formal data assessment and cleaning processHave all potential prospect records pass through it. Enable both small and large list submissions and one off inbound web inquiries.
History indicates that smaller better focused solution campaigns outperform larger less focused campaigns.Messaging can be more focusedPenetrate the smaller numbers are easier and less costlyConversion rates are higherHint, filter inbound responses into your segments and monitor the touch quotas. Story of the 450,000 database but only a few thousand were in the target market segment.Web inquiries are hard to control and shortfalls often occur
This is a critical inflection point for many companies. Get the manual process working first before you automate. Some firms reported that they purchased the software tools before establishing their processes, only to later find that they did not buy the package that could best fit their needs and they did not know their process.Multi-channel touch marketing is complex and some prospects will be touched dozens of times by multiple touch media vehicles. Track them all.Note, some marketing automation tools are limited to online activities only and do not track the critical off line touches. Plan for this.Lead management is critical to staying on your touch plan and metrics quota.Use a skilled team along with the right tools to do your lead management.Monitor the touch stream quotas closely and fix any stalls or under quota scenarios…ID Which go to market methods worked? What should be repeated? You don’t know what to budget for if it’s not being tracked and reported.
I will not speak too much on the topic of content as others here at the show are on that. Do invest here.However, use clear relevant content and messaging as you will receive minimal mind share otherwise.Then use messaging across all the lead gen touch point media. Tie it all together as you may only have one chance to break through.Leverage the content to earn the right to gather the qualification information.Make your messaging relevant through the buyer's eyes and sequence it with the buyers journey.Your identity needs to be memorable. I loved an exhibitor at a recent DMA conference who themed their marketing around cupcakes with bright orange icing. The company offered hard-to-explain cloud computing solutions. They repeated the theme in collateral and web site and afterward tele-qualification reps called saying “we’re the folks with the orange icing, remember...”
Sample of a highly personalized and intriguing campaign.Rovi Corp provides meta data services to firms that sell on line or are entertainment media using digital media.Small number of target markets.High $ spendersKey= Target prospect list was pre cleaned and tele-validated by the presales team in the contact center.Package: Gold looking coins with serial numbers on them + printed collateral was personalized and mailed.Followed up with PURL email.Followed up with a tele-qualification call.Trivia campaign about Rovi. Go on line and participate…
Then aPersonalizedEmail sent, serial numbered targets
Online banner ads
Online banner ads
Landing page allows them in to register and then play the trivia game.Very successful at using a fun contest and trivia to drive traffic, but minimal qualification questions are harvested! This was ok because we planned for it.So we tele-qualified them with a personalized call . Which a majority gladly accepted and discussed their needs and applications and provided qualification profile information.That leads us to the next tip.
The DMA Reports that the telephone medium, (AKA telemarketing) when used properly, has the highest response rate of all the direct marketing media.Fact: People are busy and distracted and discontinue their online activity. Trying to get them to engage with you online all the way through the qualification cycle is getting harder and harder. Email response rates are falling and this is a major stall point in for many firms. This is the root problem that the CMO pointed out in our problem slide.In many business cases, not all, a telemarketing personalized touch is very effective at qualifying inbound responders to gather the remaining qualification questions.But more importantly, it is very effective at engaging the non-responders to engage them, listen and reply and convert more overall qualified leads out of a target list. The number one advantage of the personalized call is that you can listen to the prospect. Listen to prospects and exchange information that they require BEFORE they answer the qualification questions. We see significant volumes of prospects stuck in marketing automation. The human touch can be an accelerator.If a target market is segmented, and the response rate is several percent (i.e. 2%), then there are a great deal of non-responders (i.e. 98%) that you don’t know about. This is a major stumbling block for many marketers.Some marketers drop their inbound responders into a drip and forget campaign. For some, this works, however reports now show that many get stuck there.By not engaging in a tele-nurturing process, firms often can not earn the right to have the personalized conversations that allows you to ask the tough qualification questions.
In May 2012, Sirius Decisions updated their demand gen process graphic and content to expand on the tele-qualification process as a key to the lead qualification process. It was found that many of the prospect stall points can be resolved by listening to prospects on the phone as they progress down funnel. Many times the human touch and dialog can uncover hidden objections and misconceptions that clog some prospecting funnels.Digital body language is sufficient for some types of businesses, but for many b2b firms online activity does not enable capture of the more advanced qualification criteria.
Note the qualification to “Sales-ready” rate is only .1% of the prospect base. Monitor this in light of your touch stream metrics plan.
We called half of the non responders.Significant boost in prospects engaged (33% vs. the 1% response rate), profiled the lead qualification conversion rates 217 sales-ready leads and demos.This was 2.9% vs. 0.1%
Comparison. The boost rate was 13.6 X times using this 1-2 punch!
One and done are history, so just do it!Lead nurturing is quickly becoming the big leverage point for successful firms. If they do it right…History indicates people won’t respond to a message until they have been exposed to it several times.Have a pre-sales focused lead nurturing group do this for you. Sales People will NOT do Pre-sales nurturing and qualification work as it does not pay commissions and they have poor data quality skills. To do it right, many firms are consider outsourcing this module. This can often improve speed and quality over limited in house resources.
This is direct marketing: you want people to DO SOMETHING rather than simply absorb your message.Use the offer to differentiate your company.Make a tangible offer such as an ROI calculator, webinars, white papers, and fact kits that they can use AND that indicates your company is an industry leader, capable of solving their issues.
Classic marketing will start with an introduction, expand into specifics, then qualify harder as a sense of urgency increases.
This is continuous improvement 101.Many times marketers are going at such a fast pace, they don’t stop to measure, learn and adjust from their efforts. They wait till someone tells them they are in trouble.Think of this as a financial retirement model.Set up your campaigns with the idea of testing, benchmark campaign result metrics, then make tactical changes where needed to hit your funnel lead quotas.Constantly monitor prospect lead conversion rates and the sales conversion numbers compared to the master plan and sales goals. Test the important things: offer, lists, creative, messaging, content and touch sequence conversions.
