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March 2010, Issue 73 |
The Four Foundations of Sustainable Demand Generation: Don't Leave the Boardroom Without Them (Part 1) By Amy Bills, Director of Field Marketing, Bulldog Solutions 
Quickest way to end a meeting that's been running long? Start talking about process. Eyes glaze over. Fingers wander to smartphones. The world slows down and suddenly, everyone develops a pressing need to wrap up.
Marketing process isn't the sexy stuff, but it's the motor oil that enables high-performing marketing departments to get the best performance out of the technology and people they've invested in. "The impact of missing or bad process can be huge," notes Frost & Sullivan Director of Marketing Naylor Gray. "For marketing to play a core role, it needs to begin with process." This is why, earlier this month, we proudly introduced the Demand Acceleration Framework™, a methodology for scalable, repeatable demand generation developed and used by Bulldog Solutions and our partner, Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company. The Demand Acceleration Framework isn't an untested academic concept. Nor is it, on its own, a product. Rather, it guides how we diagnose marketing program weaknesses, implement specific solutions to address them, and measure outcomes so we can validate and improve. Clients such as Intel Health, LexisNexis and Experian, among others, have benefited from it.
And then what? Think about where your own organization is strong, and where you could use some reinforcement. The Executive Benchmark Assessment referenced in the box to the right can help. Four Foundations A sustainable demand-generation program is built on four foundations: Strategy, Technology, Content and Data. Working with some of the best business brands in the world on complex pipeline acceleration programs, we've long understood that without these elements, it's almost impossible to build something that will last. Strategy dictates "North" on your compass. In this set of exercises, you set program goals and detail an action plan that will deliver those goals. It includes setting baselines, defining key performance indicators, defining what the stages of your demand pipeline look like and ensuring you have the keys in place to manage change and align process. How do we know when strategy is missing? When a marketer isn't sure what a specific campaign is trying to accomplish; when the sales and marketing teams fundamentally disagree on what makes a good lead; when nobody is certain how to measure whether a campaign was successful (high-fives in the hallway don’t count). Technology enables all of that whiz bang activity you need to accomplish to have effective demand generation. The stuff of marketing conferences—data segmentation, lead scoring, dynamic messaging, lead routing, lead nurturing—these require CRM (think Salesforce.com, SalesLogix) and marketing automation, such as Eloqua, our marketing automation partner. SiriusDecisions says 50% of BtoB marketers will have marketing automation by 2015; and our own research bears that out. Not only do you need the technology, but you also need an understanding of how to leverage it. And that leads to... Content, the fuel where technology is the engine. If the goal of demand generation is to attract, engage and convert prospects, marketers need compelling information to back up calls to action designed to move people through those stages. If you have nothing to say, all the technology in the world doesn't do much good. "Early adopters of marketing automation cited better content as a top priority they would change if they were to lead a rollout at another organization," noted industry publication DemandGen Report. 1 "Industry experts point out that new adopters of marketing automation often overlook the need for and the importance content will play in the success of their campaigns." Data is the information that enables insight into your prospects—insight that is critical to communicating with them in a meaningful way. Data also enables reporting that helps validate decisions and guides improvement. For this reason, data quality is critical. Data needs to be standardized so you have apples-to-apples information to feed reports; it can be augmented to present a more robust picture; and it needs to be hygienic. What does it look like when organizations don't have this right? House lists that perform dismally; inability to segment because there is no standard for indicating an industry or a title; a lot of resources wasted on buying leads that can’t be leveraged. Next month: Nine practice areas to attract, engage and convert prospects to closed deals.
1 "Content Emerging as Critical Factor to Feed Successful Demand Gen Programs," DemandGen Report, September 2009 Return to MWJ Home Amy Bills is director of Field Marketing at Bulldog Solutions. Marketing Watchdog Journal is a monthly newsletter from Bulldog Solutions, an online marketing agency that changes the way BtoB companies define demand-generation strategy, engage prospects and convert leads to customers. We welcome your feedback on this newsletter's content and design, and encourage you to share your ideas for topics you would like us to cover in future issues. Please send your comments or questions about Bulldog Solutions to Amy Bills, director of Field Marketing. |
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