Katie MartellCo-Founder, CMOCintell@KatieMartell@MyCintell
Revitalize Your Buyer Personasfor Real-World Results
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Dan BriscoeVP of MarketingHCSS@DFBriscoe@HCSS
Hi! This session appeared live during the 2015 MarketingProfs
B2B Forum in Boston, MA.
Please visit mpb2b.marketingprofs.com
to purchase on-demand.
Agenda:1. What’s happening in B2B marketing?2. Our role as marketers3. The state of buyer personas4. Why personas fail (and what to do about it)5. Real-world revitalization (Dan Briscoe, HCSS)
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About me:I market to B2B marketersI’m from BostonI co-founded Cintell
My desk
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The B2B marketer in 2015:
More technology
(2,000 vendors)
More budget(up 4% in 2015)
More of the purchasejourney (50-90%)
More buyers(5-7 average)
More content across morechannels
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of B2B companies admit they do not understand their buyers.
60%
-SiriusDecisions
NOPEYEP
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Content output in past 5 years:
78% -TrackMaven
Content engagement:
60%
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The role of marketing is changing to becomethe customer advocate within a company.
The rise of the marketer: Driving engagement, experience and revenueEconomist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by Marketo
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Your #1 job responsibility in 2016:
Study: B2B Marketers WorldwideITSMA “The New Architecture of Marketing Talent,” Dec 9, 2014
Understanding buyersMarketing technology toolsMarket/competitor analysisThought leadershipLead generation
85%76%
75%74%
73%
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CUSTOMERCENTRIC
“Inside-out” product-driven marketing, or “outside-in” customer-centric marketing?
PRODUCTORIENTED
Which are you?
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3XMore profitable
2XFaster getting new products to market
20%Higher customer satisfaction
Customer-centric organizations:
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The marketer that understands their buyers best, wins.
(PSST: this is a really tweetable moment.)
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To winin the age of the customer, B2B marketers need to drive customer intelligence into all areas of the business.
- Laura Ramos Forrester
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Personas: a history
1990s“Persona” created to humanize softwaredevelopment byAlan Cooper
1990s – 2000sBuyer personas become popular among marketing consultants and agencies
2000s – todayIndustry standard best practice used bybest-in-class B2B organizations
65 MYADinosaurs roamthe Earth
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Evolution and innovation in marketing tech
2011 2012 2013 2014 20150
200400600800
100012001400160018002000
The rise of marketing technology
$32.4B in marketing
software spend by 2018
# of technology vendors
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1. Have personas and confident in them
2. Have personas but they need work
3. Don’t have personas – but want to
4. No personas – no plans to right now
POLL
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Of B2B companies have personas or a related initiative in place.
-ITSMA
73%@KatieMartell #MPB2B © Cintell
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Reason #1: PDF PURGATORYReason #1: They’re too shallow.
“IT DIRECTORS”
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Reason #2: PDF PURGATORY
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Reason #3: They’re out-of-date
Ch-ch-changes• Regulatory (new laws)• Economic (hard times)• Demographic (new/retiring
buyers)• Environmental (new tech,
influencers) @KatieMartell #MPB2B © Cintell
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Reason #4: Created with internal opinion ONLY
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of personas deemed “extremely” or “very effective” are based on new external research.
77%of “ineffective” personas are created from existing data only.
72%- B2P Partners 2015
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Reason #5: Created without collaboration / buy-in
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1. Build trust2. Show them the WIIFM3. Start with your sales BFF4. Remind them of your
common goal
“Sales won’t let us near their customers.”
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Reason #6: They don’t account for the committee.
At least 7 influencers in B2B tech buying decisions- IDC
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Reason #7: They contain irrelevant B2B information.
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What Goes Into a Great Persona?
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Ardath Albee Tony Zambito Adele Revella SiriusDecisions• A Day in the Life
• Objectives / Problems
• Orientation
• Obstacles
• Questions
• Preferences
• Keywords & Phrases
• Engagement Scenarios
• Who buyers are
• What they’re trying to accomplish
• What goals drive their behavior
• How they think
• How they buy
• Why they makebuying decisions
• Where they buy
• When they buy
5 Rings of Buying Insight™
• Priority Initiatives
• Success Factors
• Perceived Barriers
• Buyer’s Journey
• Decision Criteria
Functional Attributes• Job Role• Common Titles• Position on Org Chart• Buying Center• FirmagraphicsEmotive Attributes• Initiatives • Challenges• Buyer Need• LexiconDecision Process Attributes• Buyer Role• Level of Engagement• Decision DriversBehavioral Attributes• Content Asset Types• Interaction Types• Watering Holes
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Reason #8: They don’t translate to tactics.
Can you: Map contact records to persona? Organize / tag content by persona? Use personas to inspire content
(your muse)? Understand account coverage by
personas?
Perceived value of personas Practical application
of personasYou (ouch)
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1. Get the marketing team in lock step2. Expand into sales enablement, service3. Segment by persona4. Build a centralized repository w/ assets5. Open the lines of communication
5 Ways to Operationalize Buyer Insights
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Owner/Exec
“I need better information in real-time to make better decisions.”
About Owner/Exec
Has a lengthy career in construction and is now running his own business.• Male• Age 45 – 65• Conservative• Expert on construction industry• Not tech savvy, but competent
Issues
• More competition, fewer jobs, tighter margins• Costs are rising, especially health insurance• Must do more with less
• Make every employee efficient / accountable• Eliminate waste• Prevent accidents• Automate where it makes sense
• Trying to keep up with regulatory changes• Need to please customers keep employees happy
Owner’s Questions
• How can your software help my business?• How much is it going to cost me? Any hidden costs?• How long will it take to implement?• How risky is it? What are our odds of success? Is there a guarantee?• How quickly will this investment payoff?• What could go wrong?• Why should we buy from you?• Do I really need all of this software?• Who else has done this and what was their experience?
Our Answers
• Our software will help you work smarter and do more with less• Our suite will provide you the information you need in real time so you
can make better decisions• We’ll give you an accurate quote for the right amount of software, clear
SOW with no surprises• We have a [proven process] with over 500 successful implementations,
backed by a 12 month money back guarantee.• Estimate your ROI and payoff times using our [calculator]• Here are things that can go wrong and how we address those in our
[proven process]• 27 years in business, 40,000 end-users, world-class customer support,
continued innovation using customer feedback• Most customers continue to expand their software suite. We can help
you implement at your desired speed with pilots.• Here is a complete list of customers in your area
Problems with our personas:• Our perception of them and in our words• Too many, too complicated• No differentiation between
– Buyers– Users– Customers
• Buried in Google Drive• Stagnant• Not using them to segment 41,000 contacts
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1. Got some help
Samantha Stone
Persona Coach, CintellFounder, Marketing Advisory Network
Kristin Farwell
Director of Customer Experience, Cintell
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3. Qualitative & quantitative research
• Email surveys• Followed up with
phone interviews
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Leads self-identifyand segment by persona
4. Form optimization
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“What’s your biggest business problem?”
3 Takeaways
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1.Primary research is powerful.
2.It’s not about us.
3.Make your customer the hero.
Questions?What’s your POV? Got a story to share?
bit.ly/persona-guide
Intelligent Guide to Buyer Personas
Ardath Albee
@DFBriscoe #MPB2B © Cintell
Liberate personas fromPDF purgatory
app.cintell.net/signup
Katie MartellCo-Founder, CMOCintell@KatieMartell@MyCintell
Dan BriscoeVP of MarketingHCSS@DFBriscoe@HCSS