Overcoming Three Challenges Facing the Direct Marketer

Overcoming Three Challenges
Facing the B-to-B Marketer
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
B-to-B lead generation is a balancing act that requires marketers to:. Balance lead quality with lead quantity. Manage competing demands for website real estate. Reconcile corporate branding guidelines with campaign performance goals.In this white paper, we outline practical approaches for addressing these three challenges.It is only through testing and optimization that marketers can begin to understand thetrade-offs associated with their decisions. Why? Because testing and optimization is themost practical way to be certain of your customers' preferences.Get ready to embrace the differences between your colleagues and yourself and adopt the maxim "Let's test it!" Your customers (and your executives) will be glad you did.
Learn more at www.offermatica.comOVERCOMING THREE CHALLENGES FACING THE B-TO-B MARKETER P A G E 2
INTRODUCTIONEvery marketer faces unique challenges, but ultimately, marketers' goals are the same: 1) to improvesales performance by generating customer interest, and 2) to maintain or enhance perception of thecompany's brand. Oftentimes these goals seem at odds with one another, resulting in internal con?ictand debate.Members of B-to-B customer acquisition teams traditionally focus on improving "bottom line" metrics like return on investment (ROI), cost per lead, or cost per sale. Their counterparts in brand marketing teams typically focus on goals that are inherently more dif?cult to quantify like brandawareness, brand perception, and brand recall. With increasing pressure to prove the value of marketing activities, it is crucial to understand thetrade-offs between different tactics. Only by understanding trade-offs can businesses make informeddecisions about where to focus marketing resources.
CHALLENGES FACING THE B-TO-B MARKETERB-to-B lead generation is a balancing act that requires a keen understanding of user behavior, exten-sive knowledge in one's ?eld, and sharp quantitative skills to accurately identify and measure promis-ing opportunities. But, even the most talented direct marketer must come to terms with real obstaclesto succeed. While the obstacles are numerous and often complicated by internal politics, three com-mon challenges facing B-to-B marketers include:. Lead quality versus quantity: How to balance "high-volume, low-quality" lead activities with"low-volume, high-quality" lead activities.. Website real-estate allocation: How to create the optimal balance in website real estate betweendifferent products and/or services.. Corporate or campaign approach: How to respect corporate guidelines while still testing boldsteps to improve campaign performance.In this white paper, we propose three practical approaches for addressing the above challenges. Whilethe ?nal decision on how to resolve these challenges rests with your organization, it is critical that youunderstand the bene?ts and costs associated with your decision. Testing and optimization allows mar-keters to deliver the best content and creative to meet business goals. (See page 3 for more on testing andoptimization.) Applying testing and optimization to decision-making allows your target audience to tell you what itprefers. With testing and optimization, you can begin to answer these (and many other) questions:. Would a signi?cant increase in raw (i.e., unquali?ed) lead volume help or hurt my organization? . How do we decide whether website real estate is allocated based upon sales contribution, thoughtleadership goals, or forecasted revenue expectations?. How important are our corporate brand elements at driving leads and sales? Is it better to focusmessaging on product features or campaign elements?
PRACTICAL WAYS TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES FACING A B-TO-B MARKETERLet's explore, in detail, three practical ways that B-to-B marketers can face and conquer the threechallenges outlined above.
Learn more at www.offermatica.comOVERCOMING THREE CHALLENGES FACING THE B-TO-B MARKETER P A G E 3
Goal #1: Strike a Balance between Lead Quality and Lead QuantitySolution: Find balance by testing lead generation forms
B-to-B direct marketers often describe the lead generation process using the analogy of a funnel.Lead generation funnels have different shapes: when they're wide at the top but narrow at the bottom, it indicates that a company is casting a wide but unfocused net, pulling in unquali?ed... [download for more]