How to create content that is aligned with your sales pipeline

Philip McGuin – Director of Demand Generation

www.stickyeyes.com

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Webinars Presentation Objectives

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About Todays Presentation

• Create the right content

• For the right audience

• At the right stage in the buying process

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What factors influence your content strategy?

• Shaping your acquisition infrastructure.

• Understanding the type of sales acquisition objectives.

• Defining your target persona group.

• Developing content that is relevant to your personas.

• Understanding & defining the customer buying journey (CBJ)

• Understanding & defining the sales life cycle stage (LCS).

• Aligning your content strategy onto these processes

• Aligning your content with your acquisition methods.

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Shaping your acquisition infrastructure

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What are the basic component of an acquisition process

Structure of the life cycle process:

• MQLs

• SQLs

• Customers

Sales process

The blend of acquisition type:

• Traffic

• Leads

• Sales

Acquisition Goals

Acquisition & sales targets:

• Leads

• Meetings

• Sales

KPIs & Targets

Composition of the buying journey:

• Awareness

• Consideration

• Decision

Buying Journey

Content topics, tactics, volume, format & types

Acquisition Infrastructure

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Defining your KPIs & acquisition objectives

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Definition of acquisition?

Customer acquisition refers to a range of processes & techniques for gaining new consumers.

Acquiring new customers involves informing & persuading consumers to purchase products and/or services at various stages within the buying cycle.

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Up & CrossSell

What are the main type of acquisition strategies?

There are 5 basic types of strategies

Direct Sales

ConversionsTrafficAwareness

Acquisition Spectrum

Soft Hard

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Top, Bottom and Middle of Funnel

Top of Funnel = Awareness Stage

Middle of Funnel = Consideration Stage

Bottom of Funnel = Decision Making Stage

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Acquisition KPI’s & Targets?

Lead C’st

% Conversion Process

MQL SQL

% C’vr

Op

% C’vr % C’vr % C’vr

How many sales do I need?

How many leads do I need to generate?

Over what time frame?

Key Questions

What methods I am going to use?

How much content do I need?

What content will maximise conversion

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Defining your persona groups

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Defining your persona groups and their content habits

Why is it important?What is a persona?

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How do you build your personas?

Type of personas & hierarchy

What are your persona groups & how many?

Breakdown of specific persona

information

What is the composition of each persona?

Process for building your persona profiles

Prioritization of personas

What are your most important personas?

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Creating your persona hierarchy & influence pool

Persona Influence Pool

Decision Makers

Directors Heads of

Decision Influencers

Managers Assistants

Persona Hierarchy

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Developing content that is relevant to your persona groups?

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Location, Motivation & Participation

What motivates purchase?

Does your audience need to resolve a problem or need to be educated on a solution?

How do purchase?

How does you audience engage with brand information and how do they consume content i.e. visual, Demos etc

Location

Participation

Motivation

DemographicsWhere do they purchase?

What media do they consume, what do they read, which platforms they use and at what time.

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Using a question matrix to build your content & persona profiles

Persona Questions to Ask

Job Role / Function • What is your job role & your title?

• What is your job function KPIs / measurement criteria?

• What is a typical day-to-day role?

• What skills are required to fulfil this role?

• What knowledge and tools do you use?

• Who do you report to? Who reports to you?

Company / Sector Information • What industry/industries does your co. work in?

• What is your co. size (revenue/employees)?

• What product, solutions and or services do you provide

Business / Function Objectives & Goals • What are you responsible for?

• What does it mean to be successful in your role?

• What are your main barriers to success?

Challenges / Barriers to Success • What are your biggest business challenges?• What are you departmental and functional challenges?

Information Sources / Techniques • How do you learn about new information for your job?

• What platforms and devices do you use to find information

Personal Background • What is your demographic profile i.e Age, status, family, education etc

Engagement Preferences • How do you prefer to interact with vendors? (email, phone, in person)

• Do you use the internet to research vendors or products?

• How do you search for information?

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Individual persona deck

NameJob Title

- Where he / she works- Details of his / her job role

Demographics

- Age- Gender- Salary- Location- Education- Family

Watering holes

BusinessChallenges

ValuesFears

MarketingMessage

Shopping preferences

Elevator pitch

Decision Maker

C-Level / Directors

Heads of

Managers

Executives

- Content Preferences- Topics & Interest Areas

- Engagement Preference- Sources of Information

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Individual Persona Content Profile

Content Format

Infographic / Video

Press Release / Slideshow

Articles / White Paper

Event / Webinar

Content Type

Review / How to Guide

Update / News

Trends / Checklists

Thought Leadership

Content Mediums

Website / Blogs

White Papers

Sales Collateral

Email Campaign

Content Triggers / CTAs

Downloads

subscription

Meetings / Webinars

Request Demo

Persona Content Profile

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Mapping your content onto thecustomer buying journey

&life cycle stages

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Defining the buyers journey & Sales Life Cycle

What is the customers buying journey? What is the sales life cycle?

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Why mapping is important?

• An understanding of how your customers actually buy.

• An understanding of the type of research needs at the various buying stages.

• An understanding of the type of content consumed.

• Provides a structured process of mapping this on to your sales cycle.

• Provides insight into what content can be used at specific stages within the pipeline.

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Key stages of your customer buyer journey

Awareness Stage

Consideration Stage

Decision Stage

Post Purchase Stage

Customer Buying Journey

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Key Sales Life Cycle Stage

Visitors Stage

Leads Stage

Marketing Qualified Leads Stage

Sales Qualified Stage

Opportunities

Customer

Ad

Time

Visitors

Lead

Marketing Qualified Leads

Sales Qualified Leads

Opportunities

Customer

Retention

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Putting it all together

Funnel Stage TopFunnel

Middle Funnel

BottomFunnel

Life Cycle Stage Visit Lead MQL SQL Op’r C’st Retention

Buying Journey Awareness Consideration Decision Post Purchase

User Behaviour Experiencing symptoms of problem

Clearly defined name to their problem

Decided on their solution strategy or approach

Evaluating the adequacy of original need

Content Type ArticlesBlogsNewslettersVideos / AudioEditorial Content

Analysts ReportsResearch ReportWhite PapersTool Kits

DemosTrialsWebinarsBespoke AnalysisProduct LiteratureCase Studies

Product ComparisonFeature ChecklistStrategic ReviewsBespoken enhancements

Buyer Motivations Identify unknownTroubleshoot problemsResolve specific issuesPreventive measureImprove current solutionDrive efficiency

Understand solution or service Identify application / software or toolUnderstand suppler capability

Checklist pros / consCompare vs competitionBenchmarkingBuild trust and credibility

Future proofingReturn on InvestmentBenchmarkingFeature refinement

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Aligning your content and acquisition methods.

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Developing your Acquisition strategy

Acquisition Objectives

KPIs & Targets

Target Persona

Customer Buying Journey

Sales Life Cycle Stage

KEY STRATEGIC ELEMENTS

Content Marketing Strategy

Paid

Acq

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Earn

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cqu

isit

ion

Ow

ned

Acq

uis

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ACQUISITION METHODS

Key Strategic considerations

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PaidSolus EmailMulti Vendor Emails3rd Party List DevelopmentContent SyndicationCall Content SyndicationSearch MarketingProgrammaticBiddable Media

Types of Acquisition Methods

Acquisition Methods

Earned PR / CommsBloggers / VloggersEditorial ContentMedia RelationsJournalistInfluencer / Outreach

Owned

Database CleaningDatabase EnhancementNewslettersEmail

Webinars / EventsBlog / Website Organic SocialCommunities

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Acquisition Techniques & Key Content Considerations

Key Consideration

Top of Funnel

Leads

MQLs

Methods / Techniques

• Email Marketing

• Call Generation

• Content Syndication

• List Development

Content that balances the following:

• Segmentation / Relevancy

• Content breadth & depth

• Lead Volume vs Quality

Middle of Funnel

SQL

Op’r

1. Appointment Booking

2. Sector Specific Campaigns

3. Comparison Campaigns

4. Proof of Concept (Demos)

Content that address the following:

• Specific sector / company relevant solution

• Specificity / Tailored Meeting Material

• Builds trust and credibility – i.e. case studies

Bottom of Funnel

Customer

Retention

1. Tailored Lead Nurturing

2. 1-2-1 Insights Campaigns

3. ROI Campaigns

Content that address the following:

• Demonstrates ROI

• Provides for future proofing

• Maintains best-class-status

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