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10 questions to think through to help ensure your B2B marketing communications plans are smart and set up for success. It's derived from: Beginner's Checklist for the Corporate B2B Marketer at http://goo.gl/c1bdVV NOTE: I've moved to http://www.slideshare.net/LydiaMarketing. Feel free to follow me there for more frequent updates. About Lydia's Marketing: I help companies develop effective brand, marketing and content strategies. Affordable B2B marketing and communications consultation and support for startups, small and medium businesses, and marketing agencies. -Brand, marketing and messaging strategy -Marketing planning and implementation (inc. digital marketing and social media) -Content and communications -General advice and guidance
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Visit Lydia’s Marke/ng Consul/ng at www.lydiamarke/ngconsul/ng.com
Contact informa/on: LYDIA VOGTNER lydia@lydiamarke/ngconsul/ng.com 415-‐672-‐1870
Introduction
Are you tasked to develop a launch plan or a fully integrated marketing plan to drive leads?
Introduction
Are you new to B2B marketing and unsure of best practices and/or the sales process?
NEW?
If so, consider asking yourself the following questions before developing tactics
Introduction
These are some of the high-level areas to think through to help ensure success...
Think it Through
Do you have a solid understanding of the business vision and financial goals?
1
Think it Through
If not you should obtain it before doing anything else
If not, what do you need to do
to develop it?
Think it Through
Do you have a point-of-view (POV) on how marketing can help meet those goals?
2
Think it Through
Do you have a POV on which tactics within the marketing mix will have the strongest impact?
3
Think it Through
Do you have the necessary budget and resources to effectively execute them?
Think it Through
If not make the business case to get what you need and if that’s not possible
Think it Through
Encourage discussion about your barriers up front to help ensure the marketing team prioritizes effectively
Think it Through
Do you have a framework for the marketing communications strategy…
…that allows stakeholders to
weigh in on objectives and
contribute tactical ideas?
4
Think it Through
Are stakeholders aware of dependencies that may require their active participation?
Think it Through
Make sure key people and areas are aligned with you and ready to do their part because if they’re not
Think it Through
It could have an adverse effect on your results as well as internal relationships (and possibly the respect and morale of your staff)
Think it Through
Do you have a Messaging and/or Brand Toolkit that everyone can work from when crafting communications such as…
5
Think it Through
emails scripts
video promotions Websites
presentations product co
llate
ral bl
ogs
Think it Through
It can be a rough draft that will evolve but at least some type of brand and messaging strategy is critical
Think it Through
to ensure your message is relevant, engaging and consistent
This is a Company that gets me!
Think it Through
Do you have a Measurement Strategy figured out across tactics?
6
Think it Through
Have you figured out how all the metrics will come together to determine whether or not the plan is delivering?
Think it Through
If not, get ahead of that and encourage dialogue early so that everyone is on the same page to determine... .
Think it Through
How well the plan is set up to measure and
How best to address key gaps or potential risks in determining ROI
Think it Through
Have you assessed where various components of the plan need to integrate to be effective?
For example...
7
Think it Through
Is there a messaging framework that needs to be implemented simultaneously across the web, sales collateral, email, videos, etc.?
Are the dots connected to activate, manage and measure social media?
Understanding this could help you consider the necessary resources and execute in a timely manner
Think it Through
Think it Through
Have you thought about third parties that are a dependency for certain tactics?
8
The sooner you can research and engage vendors and agencies necessary for implementation
Think it Through
Such as for campaigns, design, research and lead management the better
This often takes longer and is more complicated than you think
Think it Through
Think it Through
Have you determined who in your organization needs to be trained and educated about what the marketing team is doing?
9
Thinking about this ahead of time will help you gain respect
Think it Through
as it ensures everyone is comfortable with what’s going on
and that key stakeholders are part of the process
Think it Through
Think it Through
Have you established milestones to assess how the plan is doing?
10
Think it Through
Do you have resources that can pull together the necessary data and information?
Always think ahead about how you will respond to a demand from Senior Management to...
Think it Through
Show me how our marketing communications efforts are driving business and/or at a minimum supporting the sales process
Think it Through
You’ll be considered a leader if you demonstrate you are proactively thinking this way
Think it Through
. Here are some great training resources if you want to stay current on B2B marketing trends and best practices ongoing
Membership Training Courses
Think it Through
Community
Webinars Learning
Let me know if I can help. Visit http://www.lydiamarketingconsulting.com Contact information: LYDIA VOGTNER [email protected] 415-672-1870