1. Buying has changed forever
The B2B buying process has fundamentally changed.
Prospects are spending more time on the web doing independent research, obtaining information from their peers and other third parties.
Engaging early-stage leads is premature, prospective buyers only want to meet in the last third of the buying process.
Nurturing leads allow brand to build trust and authority

2. Buying Stages Awareness: Identifies a business need Consideration:
Determine possible solutions
Research:
Evaluate different solutions
Purchase:
Select a solution & negotiate purchase

3. Buying has changed Information Scarcity Information Abundance
1960’s - recent
Information Abundance
Today
Awareness
Consideration
Research
Purchase
Media
Media
Sales Team
Sales Team

4. Marketing & Sales Collaboration
3 key areas for Marketing and Sales alignment:
The definition of a sales-ready lead derived from co-defined lead scoring values
The appropriate type of customer communication, associated cues and optimal timings
The lead profile and history that is most interesting and valuable to sales, especially for recycled leads

5. Lead Nurturing – What is it?
Most leads that are generated are not yet ready to buy or engage with sales reps
Lead nurturing is the process of developing relationships with qualified prospects regardless of their timing to buy, with goal of earning their business when they are ready.
Customer willingness to buy = Your willingness to sell to them

6. Lead Scoring
We need to agree a common scoring strategy that acknowledges the importance of all leads
We need assign values to the attributes of potential leads not exclusions
There are two types of scoring we can apply to leads:
Explicit Lead Scoring: Based on information the prospect tells you or otherwise directly identifiable information.
Implicit Lead Scoring: Based on information that you have observed about the prospect, such as their online behaviour

7. Marketing & Sales - Revenue Cycle
All names
Engaged
Prospects & Recycled
Lead
Sales Lead
Opportunity
Customer
Nurturing Database
Recycle Prospect
MQL
SAL
SQL
Marketing
SDR
Sales

8. Revenue Cycle Stage Description Example All names
Names are just names – they are not leads
Bought lists
Engagement
Meaningful interaction with us
View key web content, subscription, RSS
Prospects & Recycled
Qualified, engaged potential buyers
Demographic, Firmographics, Lead source, BANT, behavioural attributes
Nurturing
Do we have permission to nurture relationship
Lead processing, Stay in touch, Accelerator, Lead Life Cycle Campaigns
Lead
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) - Showing buying signs or significant engagement
Lead scoring (e.g. Data profiling, response to s, “high value” web pages, colleagues)
Sales Lead
Sales Authorised Lead (SAL) - Qualified as sales-ready by human
Lead Hand-off, lead status qualified by Sales Team and either feedback for recycling or taken to Sales.
Opportunity
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) Accepted & actively worked by sales
Lead Hand-off, Sales engagement, Timely engagement SLA, Lead Recycled if required
Customer
Sales closed – time to work on up/cross-sell etc.
New Customer campaigns, product & service education, cross/up-sell opportunities

9. Lead Nurturing Campaigns
Incoming Lead Processing Campaigns
Stay in Touch Campaigns

10. Incoming Lead Processing Campaign

11. Lead Scoring
Define the profile of a ideal customer and lead scoring methodology. For example:
Demographic attributes (company size, role, industry)
Lead source & offer
Budget, Authority, Need & Timeline (BANT)
Completeness of data profile
Behavioural Attributes (number of responses, overall engagement, etc.)
Lead scoring enables you to qualify and categorise leads to help determine if the are sales-ready or not

12. Automated Marketing
Automated Marketing technology can be configured to score leads. For example:
Does the prospect visit your site?
What search terms did the prospect use to find more information about you?
Have other prospects come from the same company visited your website?
How has the prospect responded to your campaign or offers?
What interactions has the your sales team had with the prospects and when?

13. Explicit Scores

14. Implicit Behavioural Scores (1 of 2)

15. Implicit Behavioural Scores (2 of 2)

16. Lead scoring framework
Explicit
What the prospect tells you
Inferred
What you observe or infer
Fit
Are you interested in them?
Demographics
Firmographics
BANT
Data Quality
Corporate vs personal
Data.com data
Interest
Are they interested in you?
- BANT
Latent Behaviour (Engagement)
Active behaviours (Sales readiness)

17. Establishing Permission for Nurturing
Pros
Cons
CAN-SPAM Only
- Minimal effort
- Lead source and offer
“Legal” in the eye’s of government regulators (USA Law)
Grows database quickly
Risks poor deliverability score and bad reputation
despite database growth, relationship quality will not improve
Single Opt-in Approach
Demonstrates pro-active concern for permission
Prospects might remember that they opted-in
Increase deliverability and sender reputation scores
- Still assumes that just because prospects requested information once, they want to hear from you again
Double Opt-in Approach
Demonstrates the most concern for privacy and relevancy
Subscribers truly want to hear from you
Increases deliverability rates and send reputation score
- Adds another layer of complexity and communications with potential subscribers
- Risks losing subscribers in the confirmation process

18. Determine Preferences
How often would you like to receive communications from us?
Which types of communications would you like to receive? (e.g. , direct mail, text messages, etc)
What are your primary interests? (offer multiple check boxes that apply to your products or services offerings)

19. Staying in Touch Campaign
Buyer Roles
Buyer Stages
Content
Timing

20. Buyer Roles
Identify the clients “Buying Committee” – the people who will be involved in the purchase decision
Champion: a user with purchasing authority
Influencer: a person without purchase authority but with significant input (e.g. Consultant, middle manager or user)
C-Suite: a member of the executive staff
Layer additional content as required (e.g company information, what content they consume)
Produce content for each role

21. Buying Stages Awareness: Identify a business need
Consideration: Determine possible solutions
Research: Evaluate different solutions
Purchase: Select a solution and negotiate purchase

22. Content
Buyer Role: Prospects find content targeted to their role or industry much more valuable than generic content.
82% of prospects say content targeted to their specific industry is more valuable
67% say content targeted to their job function is more valuable
49% say the same for content targeted to their company size
29% prefer content targeted to their geography
SOURCE: Marketing Sherpa

23. Content
Buyer Stage: The content someone would find relevant changes as they move through the buying process.
Educational pieces work well during the early awareness stages. With these pieces, you are simply educating and sharing best pratice
Industry-oriented pieces work well just as prospects start looking for a solution. Examples can be industry overviews, analyst reports, buyers guides.
Solution oriented and company-focused materials are appropriate for prospects engaged in an active buying cycle.
Educational
Industry
Orientated
Solution
Oriented

24. Goals for Content Marketing
Brand awareness 78%
Customer retention/Loyalty 69%
Lead Generation 63%
Website Traffic 55%
Thought Leadership 52%
Sales 51%
Lead Nurturing 37%
Source: MarketingProfs

25. Biggest Content Marketing Challenge
Producing Engaging Content 36%
Producing Enough Content 21%
Budget to Produce Content 20%
Lack of C-Level Buy-in 11%
Producing a variety of Content 9%
No Answer 3%
Source: MarketingProfs