Building a Revenue Engine: Demand Gen, Funnels and Smarketing

BUILD A REVENUE ENGINE DEMAND GEN, FUNNELS & SMARKETING Hana Abaza, @hanaabaza #SAASNORTH

ASSUMPTION: YOU’VE ACHIEVED PRODUCT / MARKET FIT

If you don’t, 90% of this presentation is not applicable to you.

YOU NEED MORE THAN A GREAT PRODUCT TO SCALE

You need effective system for improving process and expanding

revenue operations.

3 Phases of Evolution

WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

Wizard of Oz

Scooby Doo

Oceans 11

Marketing

Sales Customer Success

B2B SAAS REVENUE ENGINE

SALES & MARKETING ARE ON THE SAME SPECTRUM

Sales Sales Sales

Demand Marketing + Sales

*Brand & Demand + Sales

Support (reactive)

Support & Success Support, Success, Advocacy

CUSTOMER SUCCESS IS THE KEY TO GROWTH

WHERE DO YOU BEGIN & HOW DO YOU EVOLVE?

Where you focus first depends on your model, your market and your

core strengths.

POSITIONING

If you think this is a marketing thing, you’re doing it wrong.

“Marketing is about making it easy for people to find, evaluate and buy your products. Positioning is

figuring out what your product is in the first place.”

More April: rocketwatcher.com

- April Dunford, CEO of Sprintly

“Marketing can polish a turd. Positioning can turn turds into fertilizer.”

More April: rocketwatcher.com

- April Dunford, CEO of Sprintly

HOW DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT?

Are you a turd or are you fertilizer?

WHAT’S THE CONTEXT IN WHICH PEOPLE THINK ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT?

Price, customers, competition, brand, channels, message.

WHAT LANUAGE DO PEOPLE USE TO TALK ABOUT ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT?

How do your customers explain your product to their colleagues?

PERSONAS

These are your new BFFs – find out everything you can about them

“By not deciding on one of these personas, we paid a gigantic, invisible ‘optionality’ tax.”

Source: readthink.com

- Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot

THE PROBLEM WITH MOST STARTUPS ISN’T A LACK OF IDEAS, IT’S A LACK OF CLARITY & FOCUS.

Hana Abaza | @hanaabaza #SAASNORTH

MARKETING

Marketing in B2B SaaS requires different grow levers and processes.

DEMAND GENERATION IS A CORE ELEMENT OF DRIVING GROWTH

But it’s poorly understood and badly implemented.

BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS DEMAND GENERATION?

It’s about creating urgency with buyers that are complacent.

Demand generation is the engine that generates leads, identifies and

nurtures qualified prospects, and optimizes conversion throughout the buyer cycle.

These people are different!

Messaging, tactics and channels change. You need to generate

demand.

TACTICS THAT FUEL DEMAND

CONTENT EVENTS PAID

CORE DRIVERS

PARTNERS

ORGANIC ACCOUNT BASED MARKETING

FOCUS ON WHERE YOUR PEOPLE ARE.

CONTENT

will produce more content than they did in 2015

77% of B2C marketers 76% of B2B

marketers

CONTENT

ENVIRONMENT

COMPLEX

Over 841,000 “Mind-Blowing” Marketing Posts

Almost 563,000 Ultimate Guides to Marketing

Too many to count.

CONSUMERS ARE CREATING MORE CONTENT THAN EVER

DESPITE THE NOISE

CONTENT CAN BE A POWERFUL GROWTH DRIVER

Define your brand, generate leads, nurture prospects, persuade buyers, and empower advocates.

WE NEED TO CHANGE HOW WE THINK ABOUT CONTENT MARKETING.

Content needs to be more targeted, relevant and engaging.

HOW CAN WE GET MORE TRAFFIC?

HOW CAN WE GET MORE TRAFFIC?

HOW CAN WE HIT OUR GOALS WITH LESS TRAFFIC?

Blog Articles “Snacky” Content

Long Form

Premium (gated) ebooks/whitepapers

Webinars

WHAT CONTENT TYPES DO YOU FOCUS ON?

Visual Content SlideShare, Videos

Infographics

THE CONTENT MARKETING POWER LAW

A small portion of your content is responsible for the majority of your

results.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF CONTENT UNDERPERFORMS

Buzzsumo analyzed one million random B2B blog articles.

THE MEDIAN NUMBER OF SHARES FOR B2B CONTENT?

THE MEDIAN NUMBER OF SHARES FOR B2B CONTENT?

8

THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SHARES FOR AUTUMN’S VIDEO?

THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SHARES FOR AUTUMN’S VIDEO?

16

FOCUS ON HIGH-VALUE CONTENT AND WATERFALL THE HELL OUT OF IT

High-value content is relevant, data-driven and unique to you.

WATERFALL CONTENT ACROSS MANY CHANNELS

PR Strategy

Guest blogging

Webinars

eBooks/Whitepapers

Blog Posts

IRL Presentations

SEO

EVENTS

WHEN DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO DO EVENTS?

New Category Innovative Product High Price Point Hard to Access Buyer

PAID CHANNELS

ARE PEOPLE READY TO BUY?

Ready to buy?

Yes Acquisition

focused (demo/signup)

Handoff to Sales

Ready to buy?

No Lots of

Education Required

Content Focused Approach

Capture & Nurture Leads

Yes Acquisition

focused (demo/signup)

Handoff to Sales

Handoff to Sales

PARTNERS

WHEN SHOULD YOU DO PARNTER MARKETING?

Complimentary Products Overlapping Audience Targeted Topic

PARTNER MARKETING IS ABOUT ALIGNMENT & AUDIENCE

Agree on goals, promotional plan, topic and targeting upfront.

DEFINE YOUR FUNNEL

YOUR FUNNEL

Lead

Customer

Lead

Customer

Lead

Qualified Lead

Customer

YOUR FUNNEL

Lead

Customer

Lead

Qualified Lead

Customer

Lead

Marketing Qualified Lead

Sales Accepted Lead

Sales Qualified Lead

Opportunity

Customer

YOUR FUNNEL

Opportunity

Customer

Sales Qualified Leads

Sales Accepted Leads

Marketing Qualified Leads

Leads

YOUR FUNNEL

Opportunity

Customer

Sales Qualified Leads

Sales Accepted Leads

Marketing Qualified Leads

Leads

YOUR FUNNEL

Campaigns, Programs, Data,

Nurture, Scoring

Opportunity

Customer

Sales Qualified Leads

Sales Accepted Leads

Marketing Qualified Leads

Leads

YOUR FUNNEL

Lead Qualification and

Management

Campaigns, Programs, Data,

Nurture, Scoring

Opportunity

Customer

Sales Qualified Leads

Sales Accepted Leads

Marketing Qualified Leads

Leads

YOUR FUNNEL

Lead Qualification and

Management

Sales / Sales Enablement

Campaigns, Programs, Data,

Nurture, Scoring

Opportunity

Customer

Sales Qualified Leads

Sales Accepted Leads

Marketing Qualified Leads

Leads

YOUR FUNNEL

Lead Qualification and

Management

Sales / Sales Enablement

Campaigns, Programs, Data,

Nurture, Scoring

Customer Marketing/Sales

Opportunity

Customer

Sales Qualified Leads

Sales Accepted Leads

Marketing Qualified Leads

Leads

YOUR FUNNEL

Lead Qualification and

Management

Sales / Sales Enablement

Campaigns, Programs, Data,

Nurture, Scoring

Customer Marketing/Sales

Bi-directional

Funnel, Feedback

Loops

HOW DOES IT WORK WITH SALES?

SALES

3 KEY ELEMENTS OF GOOD SMARKETING

Qualifying Criteria, Lead Handoff, Funnel Operations

Lead Qualifying Criteria

Lead Handoff Process

Funnel Operations

WHAT MECHANISMS ARE IN PLACE TO RE-ENGAGE LOST LEADS?

Funnel operations are core to scaling your engine and improving

efficiency.

LOST TO A COMPETITOR?Automated follow-up at 5 and 11 months

LOST DUE TO BUDGET?Long-term nurture, re-engage with promotions/campaigns

HOW DO WE PUT IT ALL TOGETHER?

REMEMBER THESE CORE PRINCIPLES.

Smarter Smarketing

Smarter Smarketing

Can You Funnel?

Smarter Smarketing

Can You Funnel?

Go Where Your People Are

Smarter Smarketing

Can You Funnel?

Go Where Your People Are

Death and (optionality) Taxes

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF ALL...

vs.

Are you fertilizer or a turd?