The following presentation was given at Exact Target's Connections 2012 by myself and MECLAB/MarketingSherpa's David Green. Generating leads and attracting new customers is critical to any B2B company. Are you leveraging search to its potential? Are search and email working together for you? Learn to leverage search and other lead gen methods to boost your overall marketing ROI.

1. IMPROVING
B2B LEAD GENERATION
PERFORMANCE
Chad Pollitt
Slingshot SEO
J. David Green
MECLABS / MarketingSherpa

2. INTRODUCTION – Chad Pollitt
• Director of Marketing at Slingshot SEO
• Former Army Commander and Iraq War Veteran
• Author of The Content Marketing Manifesto
• Featured in The Wall Street Journal, Inc., PR
Daily, BtoB Magazine, on MSNBC and others
Twitter: #ET12 - @CPollittIU

3. Speaker Background
J. David Green
Director, Marketing Partnerships
MECLABS
@DaveGreenLeads
www.linkedin.com/in/davegreenmeclabs
Case study: $1B lead pipeline in 20 months

4. OVERVIEW OF SESSION: DAVE GREEN
• Lead generation challenges
• The big picture
• Lead generation economics
• Marketing channel effectiveness research
• Fundamentals:
• Targeting
• Messaging
• Key takeaways

5. THE CHALLENGES

6. GENERATING HIGH-QUALITY LEADS: #1 CHALLENGE
• Lead volume is #2
• The volume vs.
quality
conundrum

7. THE BIG PICTURE

8. ONCE SALES PEOPLE CONTROLLED INFO

9. NOW CUSTOMERS DO

10. LEAD GEN ECONOMICS

11. FOCUS ROI ON SALES PRODUCTIVITY GAINS
• How much time
19% do your sales
Lead Gen people spend
Account prospecting?
37% Research
Training
15% • How much is that
Travel
Account costing your
Service team?
18%
12%
Selling
Admin CSO Insights Sales Performance
Optimization report, 15th ed: N=1,800

12. LEAD GEN EXPANDS SALES CAPACITY
*
More Efficient
Allocated
Sales
Resources
Efficient
Less
Prospecting Nurturing Selling
Buying Cycle Stages

13. MARKETING CHANNEL
RESEARCH

14. EFFECTIVNESS OF TACTICS BY ORGANIZATIONAL MATURITY
• The best
companies
prioritize:
– Web design
– Content
– SEO

15. PRIORITIES BY MATURITY LEVEL
• Repeatable
processes are
scalable
• Repeatable
processes enable
gradual process
improvement

16. THE MOST EFFECTIVE EMAIL MARKETING TACTICS
• Targeting, subject
lines, landing page
optimization,
calls-to-action are
the most effective
tactics

17. EMAIL ENGAGEMENT TACTICS THAT WORK
• Relevant content
is king
• Triggers are
getting bigger

18. EMAIL DELIVERY TACTICS THAT WORK
• Respect
• Reputation

19. ARE YOU A HIPPO*?
• Only 21% of
Validated test
result determines
CMO or business companies use valid
unit head makes
the decision
21%
the decision
23%
tests to optimize
web design
Other
4%
Marketing
• Of those, only 40%
department
decides based on test for validity
published best
practices
16%
threats
Marketing
department
decides
collaboratively
36%
Source: ©2011 MarketingSherpa Landing Page Optimization Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded Feb ruary 2011, N=2,673
*Highest Paid Person in the Organization

20. BLOGGING AND BLOGGER RELATIONS RULE B2B
24%
Sphere size indicates level of usage
21% Blogging
• Blogging has high
effectiveness and usage
18%
Blogger and
online influencer • Social networks are the
15% relations
Effectiveness
Using social most commonly used
12% Sharing content media for SEO
on multimedia social marketing platform
sites Social
9% networks • Opportunity: blogger and
Sharing email
6%
content
Microblogging online influencer
Advertising on
3% Social news
releases
social media sites relations
0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Effort required
Source: MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded Aug 2010, N=935

21. SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACTS SEO PERFORMANCE
Social Media Users Non-Social Media Users
27%
• Organizations with an integration strategy
experienced a 59% lift in organic
conversion rates over organizations
17% without an integration strategy
• Social marketing builds trust
– More listings
– Improved rankings
– Inbound links
– Presence above competition conveys
authority
Organic search traffic
Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Survey / Fielded
April, 2010 N=2,194

22. THREE FACTORS OF A SUCCESSFUL PPC CAMPAIGN
• Relevance: Keep the goals
of the search engine in
Relevance mind
• Simplicity: Don’t confuse
your audience in the ad or
landing page
• Measurement: One of the
greatest benefits of PPC –
Simplicity Measurement
use it!

23. WEBINARS SUCCESS DEPENDS ON CONTENT
• Relevant content
is still king
• Lead generation
and lead nurturing
tactic
• Great for reaching
personas

24. LEAD GEN TARGETING

25. TARGETING TACTICS THAT WORK
• Identify (which?)
Ideal Customer Ideal Customer • Size (how many?)
Account Buyer Persona • Stratify (how much
Characteristics Characteristics
effort?)
Ideal Customer
Opportunity
Characteristics

26. TARGETING TACTICS THAT WORK
Who to ask:
Ideal Customer Ideal Customer
Account Buyer Persona
• Sales (Lead Roundtable)
Characteristics Characteristics • Solution Management
• Professional Service
Ideal Customer • Customer Service
Opportunity
Characteristics • Best customers (duh!)

27. TARGETING TACTICS THAT WORK
Think about your
Ideal Customer Ideal Customer media strategy and
Account Buyer Persona content strategy in
Characteristics Characteristics
terms of these
characteristics.
Ideal Customer
Opportunity
Characteristics

28. MARKET PYRAMID: INBOUND PITFALL
There aren’t
1K+ Employees: 23K Accounts many large
accounts.
Ideal Customer 100 to 999 Employees:156k Accounts . . . but large
Account accounts have
Characteristics more decision
10 to 99 Employees: 1.7MM Accounts
makers and
influencers . . .
1 to 9 Employees: 21.9MM Accounts
Source: D&B/Hoovers

29. VALIDATE QUALITATIVE WITH QUANTITATIVE
Start with
Ideal Customer Ideal Customer
Account Buyer Persona
Qualitative
Characteristics Characteristics
Validate with
Ideal Customer Quantitative
Opportunity
Characteristics

30. LEAD GEN MESSAGING

31. VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER PLAYBOOK I
• Conversational interviews:
– From each department, 7 to 10 internal thought-
leaders with deep customer insight
– 7 – 10 buyer persona types for each solution
(start with your most important solution and
persona) from ideal current customers
– Go on sales calls and use the phone
• Open-ended questions, probes (oh? ROI?), silence so
they can think

32. VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER PLAYBOOK II
• Confidential
• Record – video/audio – the conversations (with
permission)
• Draft a report with key findings and the
transcript, including gaps between departments and
with customers
• Look for case study material
• Start a customer council

33. MARKETING MONEY QUESTIONS
• What motivated you and others to look for our solution?
• What problems / challenges were you trying to solve?
• What was your process for researching and making a
decision?
• What channels, search phrases did you use?
• What challenges did you face in making a decision?
• Why did you select our solution?
• What else should I know.

34. KEY TAKE-AWAYS
• Lead generation
scales sales teams
• Relevant content
matters in all
channels
• Focus on the right
customers and
prospects

35. THANK YOU!
J. David Green
Director, Marketing Partnerships
MECLABS
@DaveGreenLeads
www.linkedin.com/in/davegreenmeclabs
(904) 372-2302

36. Chad Pollitt
Slingshot SEO

37. AGENDA: Chad Pollitt
• The Role of SEO & Social Media
• Online Lead Generation in Context
• The Inbound Campaign Structure
• Inbound’s Effects on Traffic & Leads by Channel
Twitter: #ET12 - @CPollittIU

38. THE ROLE OF SEO & SOCIAL
1» BRAND
2» CONTENT
3» DISTRIBUTION
4» ENGAGEMENT
Twitter: #ET12 - @CPollittIU

39. TAKEAWAY #1
Social Media and Search Engines
are Content Distribution Platforms

40. #ET12 - @CPollittIU

41. #ET12 - @CPollittIU

42. #ET12 - @CPollittIU

43. ONLINE LEAD
GENERATION IN
CONTEXT
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

44. TAKEAWAY #2
Expect Demand Generation to Create
Demand for Your Content and NOT
for Your Products or Services

45. INBOUND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

46. TAKEAWAY #3
The Inbound Campaign Structure
is a Lead Gen and Nurture Process

47. EFFECTS ON TRAFFIC & LEADS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

48. EFFECTS ON TRAFFIC & LEADS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

49. EFFECTS ON TRAFFIC & LEADS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

50. EFFECTS ON TRAFFIC & LEADS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

51. EFFECTS ON TRAFFIC & LEADS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

52. EFFECTS ON TRAFFIC & LEADS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

53. EFFECTS ON TRAFFIC & LEADS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

54. EFFECTS ON TRAFFIC & LEADS
#ET12 - @CPollittIU

55. TAKEAWAY #4
Inbound Marketing Positively Effects
ALL Inbound Lead Gen Channels

56. TAKEAWAYS
1. Social Media and Search Engines are Content
Distribution Platforms
2. Expect Demand Generation to Create Demand for
Your Content and NOT for Your Products or Services
3. The Inbound Campaign Structure is a Lead Gen and
Nurture Process
4. Inbound Marketing Positively Effects ALL Inbound
Lead Gen Channels
Twitter: #ET12 - @CPollittIU

57. FINAL TAKEAWAY
Right Content + Right Person
+ Right Time + Right Channel
= Wider Sales Funnel + Acceleration Through it

59. THANK YOU
Chad Pollitt
director of marketing
Chad.Pollitt@SlingshotSEO.com
OFFICE » 317.575.8852 ext. 256
MOBILE » 260.255.4006
WEB » SlingshotSEO.com
Twitter: #ET12 - @CPollittIU