Greysmoke's 11 Maxims on B2B Demand Generation Campaigns

Copyright © 2013, C. B. Egerton, Jr. All rights reserved.

Greysmoke’s11 Maxims

On Demand Generation CampaignsFor the Business-to-Business Enterprise


About Maxims.

Maxim [noun] An expression of a truth or principle. Especially a truth that has been distilled from many years of experience.


About Greysmoke.

Greysmoke

An icon in the world of business-to-business marketing. Literally. He’s a symbol, not a real person.

Because he’s an elder marketing campaigner with decades of experience, he’s at the point in both life and career where he can say, do or think whatever he damn well pleases.


Why 11 MaximsOn B2B Demand Generation?

It could have been 1100.

Campaigns are complex business processes that span every marketing discipline

Crushed between complexity and urgency, shortcuts are a frequent occurrence

It’s helpful to remember the steps we should be taking with an eye towards making our campaigns progressively stronger and more productive.

Demand generation is not pretty.


Know the Change.MAXIM

#1

Feel Think Do

Change.


Know the Change.MAXIM

#1

DoFeel Think

B2B Reality


Chamber the Message.

MAXIM

#2Chamber, in the martial arts,

means to prepare for an action by drawing a limb or weapon to a position where it may be charged with kinetic energy.


BrandYour universal promise of value.

It remains true regardless of what you sell or to whom.

Product / Service / SolutionWhat is it? Why does it exist?

What is it good for? Whom does it help?

Features / BenefitsHere’s what your product, service or solution does,

and what makes it valuable to your buyers.

Proof PointsDon’t take our word for it: here’s proof. A customer story for example.

Advantages / DifferentiatorsHere’s how your product or solution changes the business lives of your buyers.

And why it does so in a better or at least unique way, compared to your competitors.

Begin with your message architecture.(If you don’t have one, by the way, you’re in serious trouble. Your campaigns will almost certainly underperform.)


MAXIM

#2


CampaignWebsite.com

Customer Testimonial: Proof

Point

Cautionary Tale #1: Disadvantage

Customer Story:Proof Point

Product / Service / Solution

Social Media Post:Differentiator

CautionaryTale #2:

Disadvantage

Social Media Post:Advantage

Bran

d M

essa

ges

White papers


MAXIM

#2

And then, develop tactics from the message “stack”



MAXIM

#2And please don’t over-exert your campaign or your audience (or yourself)!

Do use copy sparingly

Don’t imagine you’re writing poetry

Do tell a simple story repeatedly, but

use diverse communication channels

Don’t make your audience jump

through hoops before presenting an offer


Know the Fullness of Strategy.

MAXIM

#3

Sales Alignment Target

Audience

Campaign Budget

Campaign Name & Offering

Message Source Campaign

Objectives

Campaign Offers


Here’s an actual quote from a meeting to set campaign objectives:

“Oh, this will be an awareness campaign. It’ll just have ‘soft’ objectives.”

Awareness activities have metrics, too. Measure everything, or nothing will deliver measured value.

Traps for the

Unwary.

Then, Know the Plan.

MAXIM

#4



MAXIM

#4

Timeline Budget Allocation

Fixed Events

Project Plan

VehiclesMetrics

Database


Here’s an actual quote from a meeting on campaign budgets:

“We won’t budget for this campaign. We’ll just do emails to our own database.”

Email almost never has the power to meet campaign objectives on its own. No budget means no value!

Traps for the

Unwary.


MAXIM

#4


Be Where Less is More.

MAXIM

#5Ta

rget

Aud

ienc

es: I

ndus

try

& R

egio

n

Product & Solution OfferingsTa

rget

Aud

ienc

es: I

ndus

try

& R

egio

nProduct & Solution Offerings

Campaigns rely upon progressive iteration.

They are likely more successful when fewer in number, but encompassing more touch cycles.


Be Where Less is More.

MAXIM

#5Which means your campaigns can look to your customer like this:

?

Your customer sees her relationship with your company like this:

But your sales & marketing teams

may see it like this:

BU1 BU2 BU3

BRAND

Never let your customer think about your organizational structure!Her relationship should be governed by your brand.


MAXIM

#6Know thy Ammunition.

There is no silver bullet.There is no perfect tactic. But

there are many quite good ones. Use as many as are available to you for reaching your target audiences.

One thing has never changed: campaigns that rely on a measured mix of tactics perform consistently better than those that don’t.


MAXIM


Email

Collateral Customer Stories

CampaignWebsite.com

SHO

RT C

OPY

LON

G CO

PY

Search Engine Keywords

Advertising “Air Cover”

Press Announcements

Social Media Posts

Online Advertising

Blog Posts

Each tactic has its own art & science …and each has a contribution to make to the whole campaign.


MAXIM


Save 20%Click here to tell us you’re interested

This productcan saveyou money!

Hello! It’s us.BrandThis is who we are.

OfferingThis is what our companywants to sell.

OfferThis is an incentive to encourage audience response.

Call to ActionThis is the action that we want the audience to take.


MAXIM

#7No Offer. No Campaign.

Offers are themost

neglected of all campaign assets.

Yet, they’re easily one of the most powerful.

(see Maxim #9)

Save 20%Click here to tell us you’re

interested


Hello! It’s us.


Click Here.Why? Well, because we’re

nice people and we want to sell you something. Please?

Hello! It’s us.


MAXIM


Offers are not gimmicks.They’re transactions.

“Do you really expect me to believe someone’s going to buy my $1.5 million solution because I offer them a free T-shirt? Don’t be absurd. I have no budget for trinkets & trash, or gewgaws & gimcracks!”


MAXIM


Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

KnowledgeOffer

Incentive Offer

Personal Premium

Offer

Training Offer

Act Now!Free

T-shirt!!!

Best used for contacts about whom little is known.

White paper /

Webcast

For contacts known to be within the target audience, but not known to be in a buying cycle.

10% off!(act now)

For contacts known to be in a buying cycle(or for those who are already customers).

We’ll throw in

free training

Leverage training courses to sell new products to customers, or to prospects deep in a buying cycle, such as PoC stage.


Hear the Audience.

MAXIM

#8So… you’ve responded to my campaign, have you?

Now what?

I’m interested. Let’s talk further.

Hand over to Sales.

Immediately exit the campaign database.

Maybe some day.But not right now.

Nurture.

Nurture.

Nurture.

Cease your communications at

once!

Unsubscribe.

Monitor for campaign optimization and database erosion.


Hear the Audience.

MAXIM

#8

Touch 1n = 1,000(r = 150)

Touch 2n = 850(r = 50)

Touch 3n = 800

Touch 2n = 150(r = 50)

Touch 3n = 100

Touch 3n = 100

n = size of contact listr = number of responses

150 Responses

50 Responses 50 Responses

In this example of a 3-touch campaign, audience members who accept an offer at each touch point are moved to a different “swim lanes” where they receive different offers.


If a campaign

fails and no one is there to measure

it, did it ever really fail?

MAXIM

#9Go Where Uplifting Begins


MAXIM


PrimaryCampaign Variables

Performance Uplift

Potential

List 35%

Offer 30%

Vehicle 20%

Creative 15%If a campaign

fails and no one is there to measure it,

did it ever really fail?

If you believe creative content is the most important part of a campaign, you’re only 85% wrong.

Decisions about campaign optimization should be governed by Performance Uplift Potential.


MAXIM


I Beseech Thee:Send Cheaper Leads!Is it better to be efficient or effective?

Both – but each in its proper turn.

Don’t be trapped by the lure of CPL.

And don’t optimize a broken campaign. Either fix it, or discard it.


MAXIM

#10

The Campaign Is Master

Campaign Databasen = 10,000

Group An =

4,500

Group Bn =

4,500

Controln =

1,000

“Hit ’em all!

We’ve no time for

extravagant testing. Our

entire company

depends on you launching

that email now!”

Campaigns are complex and time-consuming, so please never forgo the opportunity to learn from them.


MAXIM

#10

The Campaign Is Master

Campaign Databasen = 10,000

Group An =

4,500

Group Bn =

4,500

Controln =

1,000

NoMessage

Offer #1Free White

Paper

Offer #215%

Savings

r = 10 r = 150 r = 225

Here’s why…

Offer #2, a 15% discount, has generated a 5% response vs. 3% for Offer #1. This is a significant difference that should affect future campaign tactics.


Be the Campaign.

MAXIM

#11

be the campaign

be the campaign

be the campaign

be the campaign

be the campaign

be the campaign

be the campaign

Do you love your campaign?

Then be the campaign!

Unheralded heroes of commerce!

Emerge from your cubicles.

If you are proud of your campaigns, speak of that pride.

If you love your campaigns, you must share that love.

And now you can….


Be the Campaign.

MAXIM

#11Hey Network!

Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately, but I’ve been crunching like mad.

I just launched this killer new campaign. Please check it out and

tell me what you think.


Because campaigns are cool.— Greysmoke