Kickstart Your Marketing ROI — Part One
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Embrace the buying process
It's vital to understand the buying process for your product. That is, know who your buyers are and how they think. Without a firm grasp of this, your company cannot expect to make an impact on the prospect with the marketing message. In the b-to-b world, "considered purchases" typically have a longer, more complex buying process than consumer products. Given this dynamic, you can expect more time between the buyer becoming aware of the product – through vehicles like direct mail – and the buyer actually making the purchase decision. This longer process is one reason that single-shot direct-mail initiatives typically net very poor results. The ability to nurture prospects over time is essential to obtain the desired traction.
It's vital during this nurturing process to communicate effectively with the primary decision maker as well as other key influencers in the decision-making process. In business marketing, there are typically several people involved in the decision, and generally the number of people increases in direct correlation with the purchase amount.
Take the time to map this out very clearly at the outset, along with what each member of the buying center needs in order to be satisfied. In a recent initiative, we worked with a client to bring clarity to the buying center and developed clearly defined value propositions for each member so the messaging would effectively resonate with each. In this specific case, the engineers clearly had different requirements than the general manager, and we were able to adjust the messaging accordingly.
Build your database
The key to your demand-creation effort is the quality of the list or database of targets. Experts agree that as much as 30 percent of your success is tied directly to the quality of your list. Your list should be composed of companies that profile well – firmographics – for your current products, as well as individual names whose titles and/or functions match the buying center.
There are numerous database sources that can provide you with what you need. Once you have purchased these, compile them into a single repository and give your list a good scrub. One thing to keep in mind – business data does degrade fast, about one percent a month. Conduct outbound calling early to ensure the integrity of the data.
In our next issue, slated for publication on June 1, we'll cover the three remaining steps:
- Evaluating and utilizing customer acquisition
- Implementing an effective inquiry process to create high quality leads
- Developing a nurturing and tracking process to convert leads to sales.
Craig O'Neal
President/CEO
Market Like You Mean It
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If your company falls into this category, take time to consider how you allocate your marketing investment against your business objectives. The following illustration shows the role marketing can play in acquiring and retaining customers. While percentages will vary for each company, this should give you a starting point.
At VantagePoint, we can help you think through this process. We would be happy to sit down with you to determine how your budget can be best allocated and implemented to achieve the desired sales outcome and ROI. If I can be of service, please do not hesitate to call me at 864.331.1260.
Show and Sell: How Zoom Pays Off
A picture can be worth 1,000 sales, especially online. For example, www.delightfuldeliveries.com increased sales 90 percent when it added a zoom feature so prospects could magnify parts of a product.
Other companies use photos and diagrams to show products in context and from different angles. If you can't add zoom, you may want to load large images.
To showcase its commercial and consumer products, www.mannington.com loads larger images than usual. It also has a virtual designer to show prospects what different floorings look like in a range of settings, from offices to kitchens.
Source: The Marketing Report, February 14, 2005
Where Business Prospects Go to Research Purchases
