Crescendus™ | Making Marketing Programs Matter Most Marketing Programs are all about activities and they usually lose focus concerning their company's central strategic goals. Here, we list how to bring back marketing programs to relevance and highlight some of the following issues- 1. Linking to Strategy 2. Learning Tradeoffs 3. Dynamic Experimentation of Hypothesis 4. Soliciting Feedback 5. Quantifying ROI We believe that this presentation will be relevant for all Sales & Marketing departments at all companies (B2B or B2C). In addition, CEOs and CFOs may also use this presentation to have an open dialogue with Marketing regarding their expectations and how to streamline things between tangible and intangible metrics.

1. © Crescendus™ 2012-2014. All Rights Reserved.
Preparing your Business for Whatever is Ahead™
Making Marketing Programs Matter

2. Crescendus™
Most Marketing Programs : Busy with Activities
© Crescendus™ 2012-2014. All Rights Reserved.
Preparing your Business for Whatever is Ahead™
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Social Media
• Twitter, Facebook,
Pinterest, Google+ etc.
• Focused on increasing
Engagement!
Conferences
• Launch of new initiatives
(Products/Services etc.)
• Prospect interactions &
collecting leads
Website
• Branding, Product &
Services information
• Rich content with Call to
Action elements-Forms,
Whitepapers, Podcasts,
Webinars, PDFs
Campaigns
• Email marketing with call
to action features
• Press Releases
• Advertisements
Common
Marketing
Program
Activities
Most marketing
programs are so busy
with activities that
they forget what their
primary goal is.

3. Crescendus™
Marketing Programs- Remember your Primary Goal !
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Brand Awareness &
Smart Positioning
Achieving Top of
Mind of Customers
& Prospects
Creating
Sustainable &
Profitable Demand

4. Crescendus™
Marketing Programs- Learn to Integrate with Strategy!
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• Channel Action
Plans
• KPIs
• etc.
Yearly
• Grow Market Share
• Strengthen
Competitive
Advantage
• Increase Brand
Awareness
• Increase CRM
Scores
Mid
Term
• Brand Leadership
• Market Share
Leadership
• New Market Entry
• Leading
Competitive
Advantage
• CRM Leadership
Long
Term
DO NOT FORGET THE BIG PICTURE (Balance the Short with Long Term!)
1. MULTI-YEAR GOALS- Start firstwith multi-year strategic goals and then break it down into manageable yearly goals
and activities. Don't forget that all the yearly activities should link clearly with your multi-year objectives.
2. YEARLY GOALS- Clearly link all your marketing program activities to your annual strategic targets. This way, you can
clearly explain "why you are doing" this activity/channel vs. other & how it contributes to your tangible/in-tangible
KPIs.

5. Crescendus™
Marketing Programs- Learn Tradeoffs
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Channels
• Digital
• Conventional
• Partners
Marketing Materials
• White Papers, PPTs,
PDFs, .DOCs
• Webinars, Podcasts
• Videos & Interactive
Multimedia
Call to Action
• Remote
• Onsite
• Sales Handover
TRADEOFFS
1. Use "Why" a lot during yourtradeoff discussions.
2. Understand how yourcustomersare accessing information and what they are looking for. That should
influence your channel and marketing materials tradeoffs.
3. Limit the use of Forms when the customer is trying to access information. If they are serious, they will
follow-up.
4. Managers need to step up and challenge all activities & their ROI impact.

6. Crescendus™
Marketing Programs- Learn to Qualify Opportunities!
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Website,
Digital Blasts
Landing
Page
White
Papers
Webinar
Forms
2nd Tier
Documents
Conference
Calls
Information
Requests
Lead (?)
WHAT IS A LEAD?
1. Have clear consensusbetween Sales & Marketing regarding "What is a Raw Lead" vs. "Qualified Lead"?.
2. Use ranking levels to gauge initial Prospect interest (e.g. what, quantity & quality of information accessed)
3. Use internal Sales resourcesto follow-up with the Prospect and check their initial interest level.
4. If there is interest, then hand it over to a field Sales representative(who should have access to all the
prospectinteractions).
5. Keep refiningthe definition of a lead based on initial set of prospect data & Sales input.

7. Crescendus™
Marketing Programs- Learn Dynamic Experimentation!
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Hypothesis 1
Outcome 1
Hypothesis 2
(Refinement)
Outcome 2
Hypothesis 3
(Refinement)
Outcome 3
etc.
Learn to mix Tradeoffs
with dynamic
Experimentation
Focused Trial & Error
Campaigns are OK!
TIPS FROM PAST EXPERIENCE
• Focus your efforts more on Customer Segmentation.
To do this, you need to invest in Customer, Market &
Competitive Intelligence & Insights.
• Most Marketing Programs fail because they focus
more on busy tactics (activities and more activities)
rather than understanding the Upstream
Segmentation issues.
• Integrate both Upstream and Downstream Marketing
functions, and let both members have a say in all
aspects of Marketing Programs.
• Don't take your eye off your Competitors. Monitor
their Marketing Programs and their Positioning
activities, and launch countermeasures to each of
them.

8. Crescendus™
Marketing Programs- Learn to Solicit Input
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EXTERNAL
Past Customers
Current Customers
Management Teams of
Customers
Industry Groups & Events
Key Opinion Leaders
etc.
INTERNAL
Finance
R&D and Product
Development
Sales
Business Development
Operations & Supply
Chain
Legal
etc.
Do not limit your focus only on the External
environment and your Sales team.
Solicit input from all areas, including your
various internal departments.
Regular 1:1 interactions with your internal
departments will help mitigate some of
their skepticism regarding marketing
expenditure and activities, and will also
provide you with valuable insights for
planning your next set of campaigns.

9. Crescendus™
Marketing Programs- Learn to quantify ROI !
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What is NOT an ROI
• # or type of Campaigns
(Digital, Conventional,Mobile
etc.)
• User Interactions with
Content
• Clicks, Views, Request for
Information etc.
• Raw Leads
• # Documentation generated
(e.g. White Papers, Podcasts,
Videos, Brochures,etc.)
• etc.
Tangible ROI
• Creating Demand- # Leads
that led to Revenue(not
originally forecasted by Sales)
• % Increase in Customer
Retention
• ForecastAccuracy vs. Sales
Accuracy of Prospects
• % Slowdown in Price Erosion
• etc.
Intangible ROI
• Increase in Brand Awareness
• Increase in Active
Engagement across Channels
that leads to Amplification
Effects (e.g. Referrals)
• Competitor Conversions
(beyond Pricing)
• Increase in Loyalty
• etc.
Remember-
• CEOs, CFOs & the rest of the Executive Team demand actionable results since a lot
of resources are invested in marketing programs.
• By breaking it down into the above elements, you are going beyond a black box &
into metrics that the rest of the organization can understand & appreciate.
• Map the ROI on a multi-year roadmap so that everyone can see the big picture.

10. Crescendus™
Need Help? Contact Us
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Contact@crescendus.com
www.crescendus.com
Knoxville, TN, USA