12 New Rules for B2B Product Launch

12 New Rules of B2B Product Launch www.b2bproductlaunch.com © Advanced Industrial Marketing

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12 New Rules of B2B Product Launch © Advanced Industrial Marketing www.b2bproductlaunch.com

Why new rules? Why now? First, the internet is changing everything. Most B2B transactions now occur when the customer finds the supplier—not the other way around. If someone deep inside a prospect company can’t find you, your new product just lost to a competitor’s.

Second, B2B marketers have been following the rules of B2C marketers for way too long. Compared to their consumers, our business customers are more insightful, rational, interested and fewer in number. Advantage B2B… but only if we follow new rules. Our rules.

Third, much more rigor is needed by most B2B suppliers. Products are “released” casually, budgets are spent inefficiently, and prospects respond "underwhelmingly."

1 Be easy to find… when your prospect is ready 1

2 Link “early-stage” to “late-stage” marketing 3

3 Get inside their minds with positioning 5

4 Help prospects advance along the buying cycle 7

5 Use engagement—not interruption—marketing 9

6 Customize for industry concentration & position 11

7 Use online articles to boost “findability” 13

8 Use word of mouth to build buzz 15

9 Use powerful new online marketing tools 17

10 Integrate traditional media in your strategy 19

11 Make your sales pros look like geniuses 21

12 Pull it all together in a launch plan 23

Appendix: Training & Software from AIM 25

Rule

Table of Contents

I worked inside large corporations for 29 years, mostly in marketing positions. It was great fun, but I believe the best is yet to come for B2B marketers. I hope you’ll find some new rules here that ignite your next product launch. Meet me at the end of this e-book for more ideas. Dan Adams AIM, Inc.

12 New Rules of B2B Product Launch © 2009-2012 Advanced Industrial Marketing, Inc. This e-book—in its entirety—may be posted to your corporate intranet or blog. www.b2bproductlaunch.com [email protected]

http://www.b2bproductlaunch.com/

mailto:[email protected]


You’re about to launch a great new product and your job is to hunt down prospects and close some sales, right? Well, partly… but that’s so 20th century.

In 80% of B2B transactions today, the customer finds the supplier—not the other way around.1 What does this mean to you? For starters, you must answer new questions:

What will prompt a Google search by prospects, and what search terms will they use?

How can you hold their interest? It’s hard to avoid a sales rep, but “good-bye” now sounds like a mouse-click.

Who are your real targets… among the many job functions typically involved in B2B buying decisions?

How do you meet prospects where they are?... Some just starting to explore… others comparing specifications.

The 12 new rules in this e-book will help you answer these questions and more. So happy hunting. And being hunted.

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20%

80%

B2B transactions today…

1 For business decision makers. B2B Lead Generation Handbook, MarketingSherpa, 2008, p 99.

Supplier finds Customer Customer finds Supplier

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Rule

1 Be easy to find… when your prospect is ready


When I’m asked to explain marketing, I break it down into early-stage marketing—when you find out what customers want—and late-stage marketing, when you promote your new product to them.

The latter is more glamorous, but without solid work in the “fuzzy front end,” you’re headed for a new product belly flop. You really must do both stages well to win big.

In fact, you need to link your early-stage and late-stage marketing… by intentionally gathering customer information in the front end for later use in your launch. To do this well, replace the 4 Ps you borrowed from consumer marketing (product, price, place, promotion) with a new B2B model:

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Design Product

Develop Product

Deliver Product

Front-End Work

Heavy Spending

Product Launch

Early-Stage Marketing

Late-Stage Marketing

Deliver the Right Product to the Right Market using the Right Message through the Right Media :

To get the Right Message, data-mine your front-end interviews to uncover customers’ hot-button language. For the Right Media and Right Market, add two questions to customer interviews and surveys:

1) How does your company learn about new ideas? 2) Who decides which ideas to pursue?

The first question tells you their preferred media use. The second helps you target key prospects in the company. Of course, there’s more you can do, but these simple steps will do wonders for your next product launch.

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Rule

2 Link “early-stage” to “late-stage” marketing


Over 30 years ago, Ries and Trout brought us Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.1 Much of their thinking still applies today. Consider these principles adapted for B2B:

In B2C, advertising is too weak a force to overcome Principle #1. You can be more persuasive in B2B, but a direct frontal assault on a competitor’s position is costly.

This makes “news” a great form of promotion. Think news releases, presentations on new technology, webinars with new info, or (ahem) e-books with new rules.

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Hertz is #1

Avis is #1

Principle #1 Once a prospect’s mind is made up, it is very difficult to change it.

A ? B C

Principle #2 However, prospects’ minds are usually open to new information.

D

IBM WSJ McKinsey

Principle #3 Your goal is to be the first to occupy mind-space for your category.

If you “plant your flag” first in the customer’s mind, it’s easy turf to defend. Don’t abandon your position by letting clever ad agencies stray from your core message.

If you don’t already own a category, look for an unoccupied category you can claim. Webex, for example, claimed web-conference-based business collaboration.

Create a simple message and keep beating the same drum… in every medium you use. Think FedEx speed, Cisco connectivity or DuPont miracles of science.

1 Al Ries and Jack Trout, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981)

Principle #4 If you can’t be first, create a new category where you can be.

Your Brand

Principle #5 In an over-communicated society, use an over-simplified message.

Simple

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Rule

3 Get inside their minds with positioning


In the good old days—when suppliers found prospects instead of the other way around—you knew how to pitch your product. There was a time to cultivate, a time to compare, a time to close. You knew which time it was if you knew how to listen to your prospect.

But what if your prospect finds you on the internet, and you have no idea where her head is? She could be at any of these stages…

1. Oblivious to the problem you’d like to solve 2. Thinking about the above problem 3. Aware of your product 4. Considering buying your product 5. Ready to negotiate for your product

A one-size-fits-all marketing message won’t work, so what do you do? Let the prospect decide when to move to the next stage. Provide a stream of “offers” that prospects can accept when they are ready. Here are some examples…

Price Estimator Calculator Technical Paper In-Depth Brochure Webinar Technical Consultation Case Study White Paper Product Sample

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Purchase

Negotiation

Consideration

Product Awareness

Need Awareness

Oblivious Prospect isn’t thinking about the problem you’d like to help solve

Prospect recognizes a problem or opportunity worth addressing

Prospect is aware of your solution to his problem

Prospect actively evaluates best way to address need

Prospect wants your solution … under the right conditions

Prospect agrees to buy your solution

Time

1

2

3

4

5

6

Buying Cycle Stages

2

3

Make it easy for prospects to move to the next stage by providing “offers”… such as white papers & webinars.

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Rule

4 Help prospects advance along the buying cycle


Got an exciting product? Can’t wait to tell prospects how amazing it is? Steady now: If your prospect is at an early stage in the buying cycle, patiently employ engagement marketing. Don’t rush in with interruption marketing.

Interruption marketing occurs when the supplier barges into the prospect’s world. It’s an ad unrelated to the magazine article the prospect is reading… an e-mail during the prospect’s busy day ranting about a new product.

In engagement marketing, the supplier is invited into the prospect’s world. More than anything else, engagement marketing is useful content from the prospect’s perspective.

Think how this works for you. You don’t appreciate commercial hype. But how about a free white paper or webinar concerning your problems, your interests, your industry? And if the sponsor drops a slide or page in at the end suggesting how they might “help you more,” you’re OK with that, right? (Ever eager to be helpful, we’ve provided an example at the end of this e-book.)

That’s engagement marketing. You’ll have time later in the buying cycle to tell prospects about the wonders of your new product. For now, it’s all about them.

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Case study on how a company used a product

New research on some aspect of your industry

How-to guide for using a

product better

Top-10 list of ways to improve business

Interview with top analyst on

state of industry

Interview with top executive on state of industry

# Prospect Responses

Content Prospects Find Most Interesting1

Prospects are interested in their problems & industry… not you

1 Source: B2B Lead Generation Handbook, MarketingSherpa, 2008, p 315.

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Rule

5 Use engagement—not interruption—marketing


So which media will you use? How will you spread your limited budget between 9 traditional and 9 online media?

Four factors should influence your decision:

1) Prospects’ media preferences 2) Your resources 3) Industry concentration 4) Your industry position

#1 can be easily determined in your front-end work. (See 2-Question Survey in Rule 2). #2 is about your budget and existing capabilities (e.g., sales force vs. distributors).

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Industry concentration considers the number of potential buyers. Your industry position is determined by whether you are currently a key supplier to this market or not. While this oversimplifies the matter, think of four quadrants:1

Quad 1: Your sales force can easily reach prospects. Invest in sales training & tools; reinforce them with online media.

Quad 2: To build credibility with a few prospects, use media such as customer seminars & helpful white papers.

Quad 3: Too many to reach with direct sales. Use news releases & search marketing to drive them to your website.

Quad 4: Use your database—and others’—to build a “community of users” via e-mail and other online methods.

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1 We use 20 scenarios—not 4—in our LaunchStar® software (shown on last page of e-book).

Rule

6 Customize for industry concentration & position


Many people think the reason to write a press release is so the press will write a story about them. But that’s following the old rules. The main reason today is to attract prospects to your website. Here’s how it works…

1) You write a news release loaded with valuable content editors believe their online readers will love.

2) Your article is published on the web… and includes your embedded keywords and links to your website.

3) The prospect Googles using one of your keywords, and your article appears in his Google results page.

4) The prospect reads your article, thinks you’re clever, and hits the embedded link to your website. Ta-dah.

The key is to write content that online magazine and trade journal editors believe their readers will love. That’s your real audience—not “the press.”

So that’s how it works… Here’s when this “clicked” for me: I wanted to use the term “B2B Organic Growth” for my newsletter, and figured I’d better Google to see if someone else was using it. Every single hit on the 1st Google results page belonged to me! Why? Most of the articles my publicist and I had written used this keyword phrase. I called her and said, “OK… I think we can start using some other keywords now!”

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Article

Keyword

Link

Article

Keyword

Link

Article

Keyword

Link

You issue news

releases

Articles are published …with your embedded

keywords & links 1

2

How to boost your internet “findability”

Prospect Googles using keyword and finds your article

3

Link takes prospect to

your website 4

Bonus: Links from popular sites boost the everyday ranking of your website

Rule

7 Use online articles to boost “findability”


Research by MarketingSherpa reveals that more business executives are impacted by word of mouth than anything else.1 Here are six tips for building buzz:

1) Identify and promote to industry thought leaders. Use communications to VIP editors & bloggers.

2) Promote to people already in groups—e.g., trade shows & conferences—so they can discuss your product.

3) Seek opinions from industry experts: Commission lab tests… seek evaluations… create advisory panels.

4) Gain testimonials from respected early adopters. Get advance samples in the hands of willing customers.

5) Use front-end interviews to find decision influencers at prospect companies. Build relations with key contacts.

6) Make it easy for these decision influencers to tell their colleagues about your product, with…

• Leave-behind presentations & sales aids

• E-mails with links to interesting videos, etc.

• Newsletters and literature rich in content

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Let your prospects work for you:

• Be easy to recommend (Rule 8) • Be easy to find (Rule 7)

1 B2B Lead Generation Handbook, MarketingSherpa, 2008, p 73.

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Rule

8 Use word of mouth to build buzz


Online marketing has exploded in the last 15 years… in both B2C and B2B (especially IT, e.g. web-conferencing & data backup). Online marketing offers strong benefits:

We can’t do them proper justice here, but let’s take a quick tour of these 9 online media…

Online Advertising: You pay per click, with search engine ads or contextual ads (displayed next to related articles).

News Release: Used to be called a press release. Great for leading prospects to your website (see Rule 7).

White Paper: Rich in non-commercial, useful content. Often used to develop leads early in the buying cycle.

E-mail Marketing: 21st century version of direct mail. There’s a science to this: Seek professional help.

Online Presentation: Slideshow & video embedded in a website for online consumption. Very persuasive.

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Social Media: Interactive dialogues using web-based and mobile technologies. Linked-In is especially good for B2B.

Webinar: Good for connecting with hard-to-reach prospects, e.g. executives and marketing. Efficient way to relay info.

Web Microsite: A part of your corporate website focused on the needs of one audience, e.g., your target market.

Search Marketing: Everything you do to rank high in Google searches (aka Search Engine Optimization).

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Online Advertising

News Release

White Paper

Email Marketing

Online Presentation

Social Media

Webinar

Web Microsite

Search Marketing

9 Online Media

Rule

9 Use powerful new online marketing tools

Benefits of Online Marketing

Lower cost per lead

generated

Easier to measure

effectiveness

Helps prospects

find supplier


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Online marketing is powerful, but if you drop traditional media, you’ll lose 3 dynamics: 1) Traditional branding breeds familiarity. 2) Face-to-face word of mouth is highly influential. 3) Prior relationships boost buying decisions.

Consider 9 traditional media (and integrate them with online):

Print Advertising: Helpful for keeping your brand familiar…and to popularize keywords for online searches.

Press Kit: Pre-packaged promotional materials sent to members of the media to announce news.

Print Article: Articles and technical papers in journals now end up online as well… so use keywords & web-links.

Direct Mail: Can still be effective. Many internet users have a printed publication in their hands while searching.

Trade Speech: A well-delivered presentation conveys lots of complex info well… and to an undistracted audience.

Trade Show: Powerful… but complex and costly. Make sure your staff is trained & your lead follow-up is strong.

Road Show: A multi-city tour with your technical staff. Great for nurturing leads in fragmented markets.

Customer Seminar: Like a road show… but your staff visits one key customer at a time, using multiple presentations.

Sales Visit: Usually the most effective—and expensive—approach. Use disciplined lead nurturing & great sales tools.

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Print Advertising

Press Kit

Print Article

Direct Mail

Trade Speech

Trade Show

Road Show

Customer Seminar

Sales Visit

9 Traditional Media

Rule

10 Integrate traditional media in your strategy

Benefits of Traditional Marketing

Familiarity from

branding

Face-to-face word of mouth

Prior relationships

built


Sales Tools Company Presentation Company Profile

Product Background Sheet Product Data Sheet

Product Specifications Product Safety Data Sheet

Product Brochure Product Reviewer’s Guide

Product Presentation Presentation to Distributors

Leave-Behind Presentation Technical Report/Study

White Paper Competitive Comparison

News Release Reprint Customer Testimonials

Case Study Frequently Asked Questions

Product Video Customer Evaluation Guide

Web-Based Education Selling Guide

Qualifier Form Proposal Template

If you want a sales force full of new-product selling virtuosos, work hard on 1) sales tools, 2) sales training, and 3) a lead qualification system.

Sales tools: 24 Popular sales tools are shown to the right. When planning which to use, make sure you engage representatives of the sales force.

Sales training: Break your training into 3 categories:

1) Launch strategy… include messaging, positioning, product overview, pricing, offers & media strategy.

2) Measuring success… describe sales goals, reward & recognition, tracking system and lead scoring.

3) Using sales tools… cover each of the planned sales tools; conduct role-playing to boost effectiveness.

Lead Qualification: Don’t squander your most valuable resource—the sales force—on the wrong prospects. Instead, create a matrix based on firmographic scoring (how important is this prospect?) and behavioral scoring (how ready is this prospect?). Then agree whether marketing or sales “owns” each cell in the matrix. Finally, decide specifically how prospects will be advanced to the next stage of the buying cycle… closer to “sales-ready.”

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Rule

11 Make your sales pros look like geniuses


Great launch planning—generally started 10-12 months before your launch date—will do 4 things for you:

1. Collect: Keep track of all your data in one place… action plan, media contacts, budget, lead scoring, etc.

2. Plan: Provide all the tools and aids for your team to plan a great launch… without reinventing the wheel.

3. Communicate: Inform key stakeholders of your plans—management, sales force, ad agencies, etc.

4. Measure: Provide metrics and a dashboard to measure progress… and to build corporate learning.

AIM’s LaunchStar® software provides a 2-page Executive Summary that ties the whole plan together and communicates the Strategy, Team, Activities and Results.

Strategy: Market (who to tell), message (what to tell) and media (how to tell).

Team: Members of the core team, supporting team, and external agencies.

Activities: Summary of a detailed Gantt chart showing timing and responsibilities for tasks… plus budget.

Results: Post-launch performance against the sales plan and other metrics.

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Rule

12 Pull it all together in a launch plan


All we do at AIM (Advanced Industrial Marketing) is provide training in B2B new product development. That’s not as boring as it sounds. Our focus on just B2B has led us to some exciting, new-to-the-world practices… and a strong competitive edge for our clients.

Everything you’ve read in this e-book is part of a 1-day workshop and an online training program. But training that is hard to apply or easy to forget is rather useless. So we include LaunchStar® software, which lets you…

Design Product

Develop Product

Deliver Product

Front-End Work

Heavy Spending

Product Launch

Early-Stage Marketing

Late-Stage Marketing

1 Excel is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation

Create a 2-page Executive Summary (Strategy-Team-Activities-Results)

Develop a Prospect Profile Deploy the 2-Question Launch Survey Optimize a strong value proposition Develop your Message Brief Answer key positioning questions Plan and justify pricing Plan using the Media Strategy Matrix Learn over 140 tips for 18 media Choose from 25 sales tools Plan comprehensive sales training Organize team tasks with a Gantt chart Utilize the Agency Screening Tool Develop & analyze launch budget Create a lead scoring & nurturing plan Move prospects along the buying cycle Monitor sales results & other key metrics

We haven’t talked about early-stage marketing so far… we’ve just assumed you’ve done a great job in the “fuzzy front end.” Turns out this is usually a very bad assumption.

For years, New Product Blueprinting has been used to improve B2B front-end work all around the world. With our training and Excel-based Blueprinter® software, your team will…

How to Learn More:

• visit www.b2bproductlaunch.com • E-mail [email protected] • Call 330-715-8709

How to Learn More:

• www.newproductblueprinting.com • Download free chapters (at above) • Same e-mail & phone as at left

Learn fundamentals of B2B interviewing (avoiding the pitfalls of traditional VOC)

Conduct qualitative Discovery interviews Use customer-centric probing methods Improve listening skills (PEAR method) Conduct effective customer tours Perform post-interview debriefing Conduct quantitative Preference interviews Get customer input on test procedures Set up competitive side-by-side testing Use 6 visual tools to plan the new product Calculate Market Satisfaction Gaps Identify over- and under-served markets Conduct remote, digital brainstorming Perform secondary market research Screen market segments for attractiveness Use KAI to build team effectiveness Build a 4-page, 12-point business case

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Appendix Training and Software from AIM

http://www.b2bproductlaunch.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.newproductblueprinting.com/

Documents

12 New Rules for B2B Product Launch