In Virus Disruption, Direct Mail Offers Advantages

As the majority of American adults hunker down at home, with all but essential businesses closed or working remotely because of the COVID-19 crisis, AccuList reminds marketers of the unique advantages of targeted direct mail, which takes promotions right into homes, has the highest response rate of any channel, and has the ability via print technology to connect with digital, too. A post by direct-response agency SeQuel Response notes that since the majority of American have responded to the crisis by increasing online shopping, many direct marketers have flooded the digital zone with new e-commerce sites, digital advertising, social media promotions, and e-mail. With online channels overcrowded, direct mail offers a way to reach consumers in their homes and rise above the noise. The agency provides some good tips: 1) Ensure creative elements and messaging align with consumer sentiments for positive brand awareness; 2) reconsider mail frequency and timing if warranted but make sure not to lose touch with the audience; 3) solidify existing customer relations, with increased focus on retention and brand awareness to help survive on the other side of the crisis; 4) integrate direct mail with digital marketing, a proven way to boost response and reduce CPA, including use of print technology, such as QR, AR and VR; and 5) plan for the post-crisis world, recognizing that a campaign takes six weeks from list development to mail drop, to make sure messaging can evolve post-crisis. Given current disruption of buying processes, “optichannel” campaigning, meaning supporting a customer’s buying process via the channel best for them, becomes essential for ROI. Direct mail adds special advantages to an optichannel mix, especially when combined with modeling and digital integration, argues a recent Target Marketing magazine article. Among the article’s examples is Galileo Learning, which operates children’s summer camps in California and Illinois. The company used response-lift customer modeling to identify higher-response prospects on external lists and then put the resulting savings toward even better creative. As a result, response surpassed expectations by bringing in 155 new campers and $66,000 in new revenue. In another Target Marketing case study, Meals on Wheels, in the Diablo region of California, mailed a holiday donor appeal that garnered $230,000 in donations and 43% new donors. The charity attributes the 75,000-piece mail campaign’s success to, first, defining more-responsive list segments for existing donors, lapsed donors and prospects via demographics and customer-look-alike modeling, and, second, adding targeted digital advertising (e-mail, social and online display) that delivered a 600% increase in campaign impressions over the mail-only control. For more, see https://www.acculist.com/amid-virus-disruption-direct-mail-has-optichannel-advantages/

Are Wrong B2B Lead Concepts Hurting Sales?

Sales reps are key to converting business-to-business leads into sales for many firms. But most sales reps are completely wrong in their thinking about leads, asserts a recent HubSpot post by Ali Powell. First of all, sales reps should realize that a B2B lead is about a company, not just a specific individual contact, and any given company has many people involved in purchasing decisions. In fact, an average of 5.4 stakeholders are involved in each B2B sales deal per CEB data, Powell notes. So using an account-based approach, sales reps need to find multiple contacts at a company and engage each of them. But even before beginning to chase a company lead, it is important to research that company to make sure it is a good fit for the product or service promoted. Powell offers 12 places to start that research, from LinkedIn to news releases to internal CRM. Then compare the lead organization to the target customer profile, or at least to best clients. Sales reps can use two basic questions as a litmus test for lead pursuit, she suggests: Why am I working this lead and how can I help them? Be sure there are solid answers based on research and fit with client profile before moving forward. Reaching out to multiple contacts at a company doesn't mean a single one-size-fits-all approach, however; the sales pitch should be tailored to each individual contact's needs and roles, she advises. To tailor outreach, find a reason or trigger event to start a conversation. Here are steps suggested by Powell: Follow each contact and the company on LinkedIn; create a Google Alert to catch news and mentions online; follow the company on AngelList and Crunchbase; create a dedicated private Twitter list of contacts and company; and subscribe to the company blog if it exists. And, since leads are so valuable, be dogged in pursuit and don't quit before a definitive yes or no response, adds Powell. For the whole post: http://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-reps-are-thinking-about-leads-all-wrong

B2B Buying Differs for Millennials, Gen X, Boomers

If you want your business-to-business marketing to work across generations, you may need to change things up. Millennial buyers are distinctly different from previous generations, namely Gen X and Baby Boomer purchasers, in their B2B buying preferences, according to a MarketingProfs report of recent IBM research. IBM analyzed data from a survey of 704 people who influence or are responsible for B2B purchasing decisions of $10,000 or more for companies in 12 countries and 6 industries. The study found that, when researching products and services, Millennials (born 1980-1993) want to interact directly with vendors' representatives far more than Gen X (born 1965-1979) or Baby Boomers (born 1954-1964). Gen X buyers rely most on third-party articles/blogs/reviews to research products and servcies, while Baby Boomers rely most on trade shows. But before you send a rep out to knock on Millennials' doors, note that Millennials opt for remote over face-to-face vendor interactions, with some 69% of Millennials saying they prefer e-mail communications compared with only 24% who prefer in-person meetings. And when it comes to the vendor attributes most likely to impress potential B2B buyers, there is another generational divide: Millennial buyers value ease of doing business most highly, while Gen X buyers look for assurances that they'll be satisfied with their purchase, and Baby Boomers prize a vendor's ability to respond quickly. For more details of the study, see http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27408/b2b-buying-millennials-vs-gen-x-baby-boomers

In B2B Content Marketing, Message Trumps Format

In business-to-business content marketing, substance beats format, or what you say is more important than how you say it, advises a leading B2B strategist. Consider how that affects implementation of findings of the 2015 B2B Technology Content Survey by Eccolo Media. Eccolo Media's survey respondents rated the helpfulness of 10 types of content at each of four stages in the technology buying process: pre-sales, initial sales, mid-sales and final sales. The two most highly rated content types for the pre-sales phase were blogs and e-newsletters. Tech buyers tapped white papers and case studies as most useful in the initial sales phase. By the mid-sales phase, content preferences shifted to detailed tech guides and videos. And detailed tech guides and e-books were most desired in the final sales phase. That's good information for both B2B tech marketers and general B2B marketing, but, to succeed, each content type stills needs to meet some key criteria, advises B2B marketing consultant David Dodd in a recent Business2Community post. The three attributes of successful content, in descending order of importance, are right message, right length and right format, Dodd summarizes. First, comes the right message, meaning content that meets the needs of a potential buyer at the appropriate stage in the buying process. So the right message at the pre-sales stage, whether delivered in a blog or e-letter, will focus on making the prospect aware of the problem or challenge that the product or service can address, for example. Next in importance is the right length of content. Continuing with the example of the pre-sales phase: When the potential buyer may be unaware of the problem, content needs to be delivered in bite-sized pieces that engage without a big time investment. Finally, successful content marketing uses the right format to engage the buyer. Because buyers have such different preferences, the best tactic is to present the same message in multiple formats, Dodd advises. Hopefully, coupling basic content criteria with buyer preferences will set B2B marketers on the road to more sales. For the full article: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/content-marketing-substance-matters-format-01144993

Poor Map of B2B Buyer Journey Leads to Lost Sales

If inbound marketing fails to guide the buyer’s journey with relevant content, traffic and leads fail to become sales. Business-to-business marketing faces a special challenge because a purchase may involve a team of prospects--each with different personal and professional concerns--points out a recent Hubspot blog post by business consultant Ed Marsh. When B-to-B marketers don't have one decision-maker to woo, they must build content for the role and concerns of each prospect "persona" at different points in the buying process. Plus, marketing must choreograph segues between personas to prevent sales from slipping through the cracks, creating a "series of 'yeses' that keeps buyers moving" to the close. Marsh suggests what he calls a "3D corporate buying journey" framework. Start with a good understanding of your prospective buyers' industry--the hand-offs, push-back and analysis to which projects are subjected--and get the details by conducting real interviews with each persona at target companies, he advises. When you do so, make sure to get the objections on the table so your content can address them. Then map the buying process like a GANTT chart, a linear process that is full of interdependency, precedent and constraining factors. Note the hand-offs and create content for a smooth transition. This requires content that helps your prospects sell on your behalf and that overcomes finance, legal, production, HR, IT or other departmental hurdles by resonating with each discipline. For the whole post, see
http://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/why-your-existing-buyer-personas-might-not-be-working