The Strategic Marketing Process

The Strategic
Marketing Process
How to Structure Your Marketing
Activities to Achieve Better Results
Written by Moderandi Inc., creators of the marketing planning and management app at www.MarketingMO.com.
Second Edition – 2013
Strategy
Tools
Customer
Acquisition

The Strategic Marketing Process
SaleS ProCeSS CamPaign Planning marKeting Plan
Seo & Sem CuStomer retention
online aDVertiSing BuSineSS DeVeloPment
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Planning
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naming meSSaging iDentity
PriCing DiStriBution CHannelS
Strategy
BranD Strategy
ComPetitiVe PoSitioning
This guide was written by the team at Moderandi Inc., creator of the Marketing MOTM
planning and
management web app.
Marketers use our app to:
›› Create plans in 3 clicks for over 300 common marketing activities
›› Receive step-by-step guidance for each subject covered in this guide
›› Organize and manage their marketing activities
If you like this guide, feel free to dig deeper at www.MarketingMO.com.
Copyright Moderandi Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any
form by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission from Moderandi Inc.
ISBN PDF: 978-0-9887431-3-7

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marketing activities at www.MarketingMO.com.
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Introduction
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .”
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
The Internet has fundamentally changed the marketing function, causing the greatest shift in the field since the inven-
tion of the television.
Digital marketing, social media and mobile devices have dramatically changed how we connect with our audiences.
They’ve created a tremendous opportunity, as well as a tremendous burden.
The marketing function has become complicated.
No longer can we rely on print, publicity and a media buyer to distribute our catchy ad campaign; marketing nowadays
requires heavy IT resources and an understanding of complex metrics to effectively (and profitably) connect with our
market—busier people, who have shorter attention spans, and often suffer from information overload.
Social media, search engine marketing, email marketing, mobile devices, website optimization, content marketing . . .
it’s impossible for an individual marketer to master them all, in addition to their traditional media activities. And then
there’s strategic planning, creative development and financial measurement.
It’s overwhelming. And it has caused many marketers to specialize, focusing on a single medium as their area of
expertise.
But the reality in most small to mid-size enterprises (SMEs) is that their marketing team only has room for a handful
of specialists, if any. Most don’t have the budget to employ experts in all the necessary marketing mediums needed
to effectively reach their audience. And even if they do have the budget, they often don’t have enough work to justify
hiring full-time specialists.
If you’re not a specialist hired solely for your expertise, you’re forced to know a little about a lot—to be well-versed in
how to use a combination of digital and traditional mediums to effectively meet your revenue goals.
For the typical marketer at an SME, it’s created a quandary:
Identifying the “right things” to be doing, and then learning how to do them well
Many would argue that it’s more difficult for marketers to determine what we should be doing, instead of how to do
things right.
If we’re not sure what we should be doing, it’s easy to dive into the hot new tactic of the moment . . . without having
a strong understanding of how it ties into the rest of our revenue-generation activities.
Specialization makes it easier to perform tactics well, but specialists aren’t necessarily the best resource to determine
strategy—the “right things” to be doing. Specialists typically favor their own area of expertise.

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The 30,000-Foot Approach
This guide defines a marketing process that you can use to put structure around your daily, monthly and annual revenue-
generating activities. It will help you gain a better understanding of what you should be doing, and how it fits into your
overall strategy and departmental activities.
The guide groups common activities into three buckets, to clarify how the activities fit together in the revenue-generation
process:
›› Strategy: Your high-level conceptualization of how your offering will penetrate your market. This is your global, long-
term, go-to-market strategy, and it may cover 5 to 10 years.
›› Tools: The collateral, assets, software and processes that you use during the tactical execution of your strategies.
›› Customer Acquisition: The marketing mediums and tactics that you use to execute your strategies to achieve your
goals.
Visualizing these buckets helps to reinforce the need for strategy before tactics. Search engine marketing is a marketing
medium in the customer acquisition bucket. It’s not a strategy—it’s a tactic, supported by tools (your website, sales
literature, messaging, etc.), which should be tied to a strategy.
Our process covers more than just traditional marketing and ties together all go-to-market business activities: strategic
planning, financial planning and measurement, creative development, marketing execution and sales, and customer
retention.
Since marketing is always evolving, don’t shy away from subjects and ideas that are new. Good marketers are always
learning.
Embrace marketing, and most importantly, enjoy creating value for your market and communicating the value of your
activities to your team.

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Strategy
1 Competitive Positioning
5 Brand Strategy
8 Pricing
11 Distribution Channels
Tools
15 Naming
19 Messaging
22 Corporate Identity
24 Websites
27 Sales Tools & Literature
30 Copywriting & Graphic Design
33 Vendor Selection
36 Recruiting
39 Customer Relationship Management
42 Customer Lifetime Value
45 Return on Investment
Customer Acquisition
Planning
49 Sales Process
52 Campaign Planning
56 Marketing Plan & Budget
Traditional
59 Traditional Media
62 Direct Mail
65 Publicity
68 Telemarketing
71 Trade Shows & Events
Digital
74 SEO and SEM
77 Online Advertising
80 Social Media
84 Email Marketing
Management
87 Customer Retention
90 Business Development
93 Sales Management
96 What’s Next?
Table of Contents

The Strategic Marketing Process

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Competitive Positioning
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COMPETITIVE POSITIONINGCOMPETITIVE POSITIONING
Strategy
BranD Strategy
What sets your product, service or company apart from your competitors? What value do you provide and how is it
different from the alternatives?
Competitive positioning is about defining how you’ll differentiate your offering and create value for your market. It’s
about carving out a spot in the competitive landscape, putting your stake in the ground, and winning mindshare in the
marketplace—being known for a certain “something.”
A good positioning strategy is influenced by:
›› Market profile: Size, competitors, stage of growth
›› Customer segments or personas: Groups of prospects with similar wants & needs
›› Competitive analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the landscape
›› Method for delivering value: How you deliver value to your market at the highest level
When your market clearly sees how your offering is different from that of your competition, it’s easier to influence the
market and win mindshare. Without differentiation, it takes more time and budget to entice the market to engage with
you; as a result, many companies end up competing on price—a tough position to sustain over the long term.
One of the key elements that many small to mid-size companies overlook is how they provide value at the highest level.
There are three essential methods for delivering value: operational excellence, product leadership and customer intimacy.

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Here is a hypothetical example of each:
Operational Excellence Product Leadership Customer Intimacy
Herringer customers don’t want bells
and whistles; they just want a good
product at the lowest possible price.
Herringer focuses on operational
excellence so they can continually
offer the lowest price in the market.
For example, they just patented
a new machine that dramatically
lowers their manufacturing costs.
They’re not trying to create new or
better products; they just want to
produce more volume at a lower
cost.
Herringer’s method for delivering
value is operational excellence;
it’s a key driver of their long-term
strategy, and their positioning
reflects it.
Orange Technology’s customers
care most about quality—they want
the best product.
Orange is completely dedicated
to innovation and quality. They’re
constantly working on product
improvements and new ideas to
bring to market. They know what
their competitors are doing and are
completely focused on staying one
step ahead in order to capture a
greater share of their market.
Orange’s brand and culture is all
about product leadership; their
market recognizes it and is willing to
pay for it.
Starboard’s market is flooded with
products at all points of the price
spectrum.
Yet, Starboard’s customers want
more than a product off the shelf;
they want customized solutions.
So Starboard’s strategy is to know
as much as possible about their
customers’ businesses so they can
deliver the correct solutions over
time.
Starboard knows that they can’t
just say “We offer great service.”
Starboard delivers on their strategy
in every interaction with their market.
These companies have a complete understanding of how they deliver value to their market. It’s part of their strategy,
which makes it easier for them to win a position in their respective markets.
Here’s another way to think of it:
You can provide the best offering, the cheapest offering, or the most comprehensive offering, but you can’t provide
all three.
Another key factor in your positioning is your competition. Sure, you need to put your stake in the ground and claim
your turf. But is it turf that you can own? Can you realistically beat your competition to own it?
Rather than leaving your market positioning to chance, establish a strategy. What you’re ultimately striving for is to be
known for something—to own mindshare of the market. This is typically easier for consumer product lines than for B2B
companies, because positioning a single product against three to five competitors is a simpler task than positioning a
mid-size B2B company with numerous offerings in numerous markets.
Owning a strong position in the market is challenging for most small- to mid-size companies, but you have a better
chance of achieving it if you clearly define a strategy and build your brand around it.

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Do you see your company in any of these scenarios?
Best Case Neutral Case Worst Case
You provide a one-of-a-kind offering
that your market needs and wants;
you have strong differentiation from
your competitors.
Your market knows your name and
associates it with that “one thing”
that you’re known for.
And you continually deliver on
it—perception is reality—so you
continue to win mindshare in your
market, defending your turf and
influencing your market.
Your offering is somewhat different
from—and better than—those
of your competitors, and you
communicate that difference
(though probably not as consistently
as you should).
Some of your market knows your
name, but they describe you in
different ways; you’re not yet known
for that “one thing,” but at least
you’re occasionally recognized.
You know that you could make a
greater impact on your market with
stronger positioning.
Your market sees little difference
between you and your competitors,
and your name is not recognized.
Because of this, you have to spend
precious budget and time educating
the market at each touch point. You
often end up competing solely on
price, though your business isn’t
optimized to continue profitably
with falling prices.
You have to fight long and hard for
every sale. It’s very difficult to meet
your revenue and profit goals.
How Competitive Positioning Aligns with Strategy
The concept of positioning is entirely strategic. It’s the first element to address in strategic marketing, and everything
else is aligned to it. Jack Trout and Al Ries defined the concept years ago in their landmark book Positioning: The Battle
for Your Mind.
While the concept is simple—to be known for a single thing in the mind of the customer—the road to achieve it can
be complex. It’s best to have a clear understanding of your market—demographics, segments, their pains, how well
you and your competitors provide solutions, how you truly provide value, and your strengths and weaknesses—before
making this decision.
A fully-informed decision is vital, because you’ll allocate a significant amount of resources in your journey to achieve it.
Key Concepts & Steps
Profile your market
›› Document the size of your market.
›› Identify your major competitors and how they’re positioned.
›› Determine whether your market is in the introductory, growth, mature, or declining stage of its life. This “lifecycle
stage” affects your strategy.
Segment your market
›› Understand the problems that your market faces. Talk with prospects and customers, or conduct research if you
have the time, budget and opportunity. Uncover their true wants and needs—you’ll learn a great deal about what
you can deliver to solve their problems and beat your competitors.
›› Group your prospects into “segments” or “personas” that have similar problems and can use your offering in similar
ways. By grouping prospects into segments or personas, you can efficiently market to each group.

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Define how you deliver value
›› At the highest level, there are three core types of value that a company can deliver: operational efficiency (the lowest
price), product leadership (the best product), or customer intimacy (the best solution & service). Determine which
one you’re best equipped to deliver; your decision is your method for delivering value.
Evaluate your competition
›› List your competitors. Include any that can solve your customers’ problems, even if the competitors’ solutions are
much different from yours—they’re still your competition.
›› Rate yourself and your direct competitors based on operational efficiency (price), product leadership and customer
intimacy. It’s easy to think you’re the best, so be as impartial as you can be.
Stake a position
›› Identify areas where your competition is vulnerable.
›› Determine whether you can focus on those vulnerable areas—they’re major opportunities.
›› Make a decision on how to position your offering or company.
Select the mindshare you want to own, and create your strategy to achieve it
›› Review the components of your market and evaluate what you want to be known for in the future. Condense all
your research and analysis into the “one thing” that you want to be known for, and design your long-term strategy
to achieve it.
Next Steps
Develop a brand strategy to help you communicate your positioning and solidify your value every time you touch your
market. Together, these two strategies are the essential building blocks for your business.

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Brand Strategy
DiStriBution CHannelSPriCing
Strategy
BRAND STRATEGYBRAND STRATEGY
roiClVCrm
WeBSiteSiDentitymeSSagingnaming
toolS
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Planning
How do you define a brand? Is it a logo, a name or a slogan, or a graphic design or a color scheme?
Your brand is the entire experience that your market has with your offering or company. It’s what you stand for, a
promise that you make, and the personality that you convey.
And while it includes your logo, your color palette and your slogan, these are only creative elements that convey your
brand. In reality, your brand lives in the day-to-day interactions you have with your market:
›› The images you convey
›› The messages you deliver on your website and in your campaigns
›› The way your employees interact with customers
›› A customer’s opinion of you versus your competition
Branding is crucial for products and services sold in huge consumer markets. It’s also important in B2B because it
helps you stand out from your competition. It brings your competitive positioning to life; it defines you as a certain
“something” in the mind of your market.
Think about successful consumer brands like Apple, Disney or Starbucks. You probably know what each brand repre-
sents. Now imagine that you’re competing against one of these brands. If you want to capture significant market share,
start with a strong positioning and brand or you won’t be successful.

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If you’re B2C, it’s likely that a few brands dominate your market. If you’re B2B, there may or may not be a strong brand
in your market. But when you put two companies up against each other, the one that represents something valuable
and memorable will have an easier time reaching, engaging, and converting customers. It’s a perception—and for most,
perception equals reality.
Successful branding creates “brand equity”—the amount of money that customers are willing to pay just because it’s
your brand. Brand equity is an intangible asset that can be tracked on your balance sheet, and can make your company
more valuable over the long term.
Instead of allowing your market to brand you, strive to have their experience with your brand align with your strategy.
Your market recognizes your name,
knows exactly what you deliver,
and you’re known for that certain
“something” in their mind.
You deliver a consistent experience
that the market has come to expect,
both visually and operationally, at
every market interaction.
Customer acquisition happens
quickly because your brand
influences your market.
The market may not have a
consistent view or impression of
your offering, but you think that it’s
positive overall.
You haven’t thought a lot about
branding because it doesn’t seem
necessarily relevant, but you admit
that you can do a better job of
communicating consistently with
the market.
You’re not helping yourself, but
you’re not hurting yourself either.
You don’t have a brand strategy
and it shows. It’s more difficult to
communicate with your market and
convince them to buy. They don’t
have a clear impression of your
offering or why it’s better.
What you do, what you say, and
how you say it, may contradict each
other and confuse your market.
Competitors who communicate
effectively have a better shot at
winning customers.
How Brand Strategy Aligns with Strategy
At its title suggests, brand strategy is completely strategic; it’s your plan for how to achieve your desired positioning—
how to become known for that certain “something.” It describes the consistent experience that you desire to deliver
to your market at each touch point.
Audit your existing brand
›› If you have an existing brand, conduct a survey of your market and your stakeholders to understand how they view
your brand. This will give you an understanding of where you are and how much work needs to be done to get to
where you want to be.
›› Before creating your survey, outline what you think your brand should stand for, so you have criteria to evaluate
against the responses. If you’re not sure how to create your brand criteria, complete the next steps, and then con-
duct your audit.
Define your brand architecture
›› Evaluate the features and benefits of your product / service. A feature is an attribute—a color, a configuration; a
benefit is what that feature does for the customer.
›› Identify which benefits are emotional (instead of functional)—the most powerful brand strategies tap into emotions,
even among business buyers.
›› Review the emotional benefits and boil them down to your brand pillars—the three things that your brand should
mean to your market.

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Define your brand experience
›› Think of your brand as a person with a distinct personality. Describe him or her, and then convey these traits in
everything that you do and create.
›› Determine your brand promise—the one thing that you deliver each time you interact with your market.
Write your brand story and positioning statement
›› Write your 25-word positioning statement that conveys the essence of your brand. It conveys who you are, what you
do, for whom, and one or two emotional benefits from interacting with your brand. Use it throughout your marketing
materials.
›› Write your brand story. This should convey your personality, your purpose—the difference that you’re trying to make
with your product, service or company. It builds credibility, differentiates you from your competition, and gives the
market a reason to listen to you. Seth Godin says that the two elements that must come together in a brand story are:
›› The story you can confidently tell
›› The worldview the buyer tells herself
When those align, you win.
Define your brand visual and operational requirements
›› Choose colors, fonts and other visual elements that match your personality.
›› Determine how your employees will interact with your market to convey your personality and ensure your brand
“lives” within your company.
Next Steps
Together with your competitive positioning strategy, your brand strategy is the essence of what you represent. A great
brand strategy helps you communicate more effectively with your market, so be true to it in every interaction you have
with your prospects and customers.
For example, you’ll reinforce your brand strategy through your pricing, your distribution channels, your name and cor-
porate identity, your messages, your literature, your website and your marketing campaigns.

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Pricing
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BranD Strategy
PRICINGPRICING DiStriBution CHannelS
toolS
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marKeting PlanCamPaign Planning
Planning
SaleS ProCeSS
Price is one of the classic “4 Ps” of marketing (product, price, place, promotion). Since price is one of the 4Ps, it’s a key
element of every B2C marketing strategy. Yet in many B2B companies, marketers aren’t involved in pricing strategy.
Pricing is a complex subject—there are many factors to consider, both short- and long-term. For example, your prices
need to:
›› Reflect the value that you provide versus your competitors
›› Consider what the market will truly pay for your offering
›› Enable you to reach your revenue and market share goals
›› Maximize your profits (either short-term or long-term)
When you have a truly unique offering with little direct competition, it can be challenging to establish your price. Create
a competitive analysis and strong strategy to understand:
›› What your prospects might pay for other solutions to their problems
›› Where your price should fall in relation to theirs
When your pricing, positioning, brand strategy and distribution channels are aligned, you’re in the best situation to
maximize revenue and profits.

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Do you see your company in one of these scenarios?
Company A provides a premium
product, sold through carefully-
selected retail outlets.
Their pricing is typically 15% above
the competition—they’re the most
expensive product in their class.
Their demand curve is relatively
inelastic, meaning that their market
isn’t that sensitive to price. Much
of that results from the carefully
selected positioning and branding
over the past five years.
Company A’s products never go on
sale, and retailers strictly adhere to
pricing rules and brand guidelines.
Company B charges an average
price for an average product.
When they’re behind their sales
targets, individual reps are given the
green light to discount if needed to
meet their sales quotas.
Management doesn’t want to get
in a price war, but is willing to
ensure that they hit their short-term
numbers.
Management knows that they could
spend more in R&D to differentiate
their offering and have greater
pricing power, but they haven’t yet
committed the budget to do so.
Company C provides business
consulting services.
To grow, they drop their hourly
rates by up to 40%. This gives
them access to an entire new set of
clients.
Low rates mean they can’t afford
the same top-tier consulting talent.
The quality of their offering suffers,
and they end up providing mediocre
service for both markets.
By lowering the price of their
“prestige” brand to access a new
market, Company C has increased
its revenue, while reducing its profit
margin and damaging its brand.
How Pricing Aligns with Strategy
It’s best to define your positioning, create your brand strategy, and identify your distribution channels before you de-
velop your pricing strategy. By doing so, you’ll ensure that your pricing reflects your value and reinforces your brand.
For example, if your method for delivering value is product leadership, you shouldn’t discount heavily or compete on
price; you should also minimize pricing conflicts with any channel partners.
Your pricing influences how the market perceives your offering. If you’re perceived as a commodity, you must either
change the market’s perception via a new positioning strategy, or compete on price and focus on innovating to keep
costs low so you can still make a profit.
Align your pricing strategy to your method for delivering value
Your price sends a strong message to your market—it needs to be consistent with the value you’re delivering.
›› If your method for delivering value is operational efficiency, then your price needs to be extremely competitive.
›› If your method for delivering value is product leadership or customer intimacy, a low price sends the wrong message.
After all, if a luxury item isn’t expensive, is it really a luxury?
Understand your cost structure and profitability goals
Companies calculate these costs differently, so verify the exact calculations your company uses for:
›› Cost of goods sold (COGS): the cost to physically produce a product or service
›› Gross profit: the difference between the revenue you earn on a product and the cost to physically produce it

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In addition, understand how much profit the company needs to generate. With this knowledge, you’ll be far more ef-
fective when considering discount promotions—you’ll know exactly how low you can go and still be profitable.
Analyze your competitors’ prices
Look at a wide variety of direct and indirect competitors to gauge where your price falls. If your method for delivering
value is operational efficiency, evaluate your competitors on a regular basis to ensure that you remain competitive.
Determine price sensitivity
A higher price typically means lower volume. Yet you may generate more total revenue and/or profit with fewer units
at the higher price; it depends on how sensitive your customers are to price fluctuations. If they’re extremely sensitive,
you may be better off at a much lower price with substantially greater volume.
Estimate how sensitive your customers are to fluctuations—it will help you determine the right price and volume com-
bination. More importantly, you can estimate how a price change can impact your revenue.
Next Steps
Once you’ve finalized your pricing strategy, you can review your tools to make sure they support your strategy. Then,
dive into your sales process and campaign planning.

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Distribution Channels
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DISTRIBUTION CHANNELSDISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Strategy
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toolS
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Distribution, also known as placement, is one of the classic “4 Ps” of marketing (product, promotion, price, placement).
It’s a key element of your strategy—it helps you expand your reach to penetrate your market.
B2B and B2C companies can sell through a single channel or through multiple channels that may include:
›› Direct/Internet: Selling through your own e-commerce website.
›› Direct/Sales Team: One or more sales teams that you employ directly. You may use multiple teams that specialize
in different products or customer segments.
›› Direct/Catalog: Selling through your own catalog.
›› Retail: Retailers sell directly to end-users via a physical store, a website or a catalog.
›› Wholesaler/Distributor: A company that buys products in bulk from many manufacturers and then resells smaller
volumes to resellers or retailers.
›› Value-Added Reseller (VAR): A VAR works with end-users to provide custom solutions that may include multiple
products and services from different manufacturers.
›› Consultant: A consultant develops relationships with companies and provides various types of services; they may
recommend a manufacturer’s product or simply purchase it to deliver a solution to their client.
›› Dealer: A company or person who buys inventory from either a manufacturer or a distributor, then resells it to an
end-user.
›› Sales Agent/Manufacturer’s Rep: You can outsource your sales function to a company that sells different manu-
facturers’ products to a group of similar customers in a specific territory.

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Here are three distribution examples:
Direct to End-Users Sell Through a Dealer Network
Sell Through a VAR
(Value-Added Reseller)
You have a sales team that sells
directly to Fortune 100 companies.
You have a second product line for
small businesses. Instead of using
your sales team, you sell this line
directly to end-users through your
website and marketing campaigns.
You have two markets and two
distribution channels.
You sell a product through a
geographical network of dealers,
who sell to end-users in their areas.
The dealers may service the product
as well.
Your dealers are essentially your
customers, and you have a strong
program to train and support them
with marketing campaigns and
materials.
You sell a product to a company
who bundles it with services or
other products and resells it. That
company is called a Value Added
Reseller (VAR) because it adds
value to your product.
A VAR may work with an end-user
to determine the right products and
configurations, and then implement
a system that includes your product.
To create a good distribution program, focus on the needs of your end-users.
›› If users need personalized service, you can utilize a local dealer network or reseller program to provide that service.
›› If your users prefer to buy online, you can create an e-commerce website and fulfillment system and sell direct; you
can also sell to another online retailer or distributor that can offer your product on their own sites.
›› You can build your own specialized sales team to prospect and close deals directly with customers.
Wholesalers, resellers, retailers, consultants and agents already have resources and relationships to quickly bring your
product to market. If you sell through these groups instead of (or in addition to) selling direct, treat the entire channel
as a group of customers—and they are, since they’re buying your product and reselling it. Understand their needs and
deliver strong marketing programs; you’ll maximize everyone’s revenue in the process.
You’ve used one or more
distribution channels to grow
your revenue and market share
more quickly than you would have
otherwise.
Your end-users get the information
and service they need before and
after the sale.
If you reach your end-user through
wholesalers, VARs or other channel
partners, you’ve created many
successful marketing programs to
drive revenue through your channel
and you’re committed to their
success.
You’re using one or more
distribution channels with average
success. You may not have as many
channel partners as you’d like, but
your current system is working
moderately well.
You devote resources to the
program, but you wonder whether
you’d be better off building an
alternative distribution method—one
that could help you grow more
aggressively than you are growing
now.
You probably aren’t hitting your
revenue goals because your
distribution strategy is in trouble.
With your current system, you may
not be effectively reaching your
end-users; your prospects probably
aren’t getting the information and
service they need to buy your
product.
Your current system may also be
difficult to manage. For example,
channel members may not sell at
your suggested price; they don’t
follow up on leads you deliver; they
don’t service the product very well
and you’re taking calls from angry
customers.

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How Distribution Aligns with Strategy
Your distribution channels should support your positioning and brand strategy. These methods of reaching your market
should be natural ways to access your market segments, and support the experience that your brand delivers.
For example, if you’re selling a unique product that has little competition and is considered “high-end,” you don’t want to
be carried in Walmart, where the majority of shoppers are looking for low-priced products that they’re already familiar with.
Or, if you’re an enterprise software vendor, you should be working with professional services firms who have deep
experience with complex enterprise software deployments, and are a natural fit to engage with the types of companies
that you target.
You can evaluate a new distribution channel or improve your channel marketing / management at any time. It’s espe-
cially important to think about distribution when you’re going after a new customer segment, releasing a new product,
or looking for ways to aggressively grow your business.
Evaluate how your end-users need to buy
Your distribution strategy should deliver the information and service your prospects need. For each customer segment,
consider:
›› How and where they prefer to buy
›› Whether they need personalized education and training
›› Whether they need additional products or services to be used along with yours
›› Whether your product needs to be customized or installed
›› Whether your product needs to be serviced
Match end-user needs to a distribution strategy
›› If your end-users need a great deal of information and service, your company can deliver it directly through a sales
force. You can also build a channel of qualified resellers or consultants. The size of the market and your price will
probably dictate which scenario is best.
›› If the buying process is fairly straightforward, you can sell direct via a website/catalog or perhaps through a whole-
sale/retail structure. You may also use an inbound telemarketing group or a field sales team.
›› If you need complete control over your product’s delivery and service, adding a channel partner probably isn’t right
for you.
Identify natural partners
If you want to grow beyond the direct model, look for companies that have relationships with your end-users. If con-
sultants, wholesalers or retailers already reach your customer base, they’re natural partners.
Build your channel
If you’re setting up a distribution channel with one or more partners, treat it as a sales process:
›› Approach the potential channel partner and “sell” the value of the partnership.
›› Establish goals, service requirements and reporting requirements.
›› Deliver inventory (if necessary) and sales/support materials.
›› Train the partner.
›› Run promotions and programs to support the partner and help them increase sales.

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Minimize pricing conflicts
If you use multiple channels, carefully map out the price for each step in your channel, and include a fair profit for each
type of partner. Then compare the price that the end-user will pay—if a customer can buy from one channel at a lower
price than from another, your partners will rightfully have concerns. Pricing conflict is common, and it can jeopardize
your entire strategy, so do your best to map out the price at each step and develop the best solution possible.
Drive revenue through the channel
Service your channel partners as you’d service your best customers and work with them to drive revenue. For example,
provide them with marketing funds or materials to promote your products; run campaigns to generate leads and for-
ward them to your partners.
Next Steps
If you’re creating a new channel, you’ll need a pricing strategy. You’ll also need to deliver sales tools and literature,
and a sales process.
When your channel is up and running, you can start launching marketing campaigns to channel partners and end-users,
and manage the campaigns and partners throughout the year.

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Naming
SaleS ProCeSS marKeting Plan
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Strategy
meSSaging
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CamPaign Planning
Planning
NAMINGNAMING
BranD Strategy
How important is the name of your product, service or company?
Your name is a critical extension of your brand, and it can reinforce the value you provide or distance you from it. When
you’re developing a name, you have a number of options:
›› Use the founder or inventor’s name (Hewlett-Packard)
›› Describe what you do (Southwest Airlines)
›› Describe an experience or image (Sprint)
›› Take a word out of context (Apple)
›› Make up a word (Google)
It’s important to decide what your name should mean and represent. For example, if you’re running a company that
provides naming services, your name is a sample of your work—it should be great, right?

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Here are some companies that provide naming services:
Unique Average Forgettable
These companies appear to be
more creative and better at finding
a name that stands out from the
competition:
›› A Hundred Monkeys
›› Igor
These companies all sound the
same:
›› The Naming Co.
›› Brighter Naming
›› Tradebrand
›› Catchword
›› Namebase
›› Lasting Names
›› Name One!
These naming agencies have
forgettable names:
›› Werner & Stevens
›› Wollenski Associates
(While they are hypothetical
examples, there are a lot of naming
companies named after their
founders!)
All of these companies may provide great services, have many years of experience, and have terrific track records. If
you needed to select three companies to bid on your naming project, which companies would you contact? Are you
more likely to call a company with a unique name, an average name, or a forgettable name?
This example reinforces that you have one chance to make a first impression. Many of your potential customers might
know virtually nothing about your company, product or service, and a great name can make a positive impression and
open doors. A weak name can close them.
The name selection process is especially challenging because there are more than 26 million businesses in the United
States. U.S. trademark law protects business names, so when you find one you like, make sure you can use it. If you
infringe on a trademark, you could be forced to abandon your new name after investing a lot of time and money in it.
Also think about your internet marketing goals, since you may have to find a URL to match your name. There are almost
200 million domain names registered worldwide, and some experts believe that over 98% of words in the dictionary
are registered as domain names.
Don’t let these challenges stop you from finding the best name you can—there’s a lot at stake.
A great name can create buzz,
position you as a true leader and
innovator, and reinforce your
positioning and brand in a word
or two.
That’s powerful. It can convey a
culture, a position, and differentiate
the company from the rest of the
market.
You look and sound like everybody
else.
You’ve missed an opportunity to
convey an important message, but
at least you’re not hurting yourself.
A poor name can neutralize or even
negate the work you do to build a
position in the market.
You may have trouble generating
interest in your company, product
or service, forcing you to spend
more time and money educating the
market about your value.
A poor name can also limit your
opportunities if you expand into
other markets.

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How Naming Aligns with Strategy
Your company name is the anchor for your brand strategy—typically the first thing that the market sees and hears.
Your name, logo, packaging (colors, fonts, and design), location (if the market visits your store or offices), tagline or
slogan, and unique ownable specialty (your mindshare) all work in concert to create a perception.
When launching a new consumer product, seasoned marketers often create their positioning, brand, distribution and
pricing strategies before they select a product name, to ensure that all are aligned at launch. With tens of millions of
dollars at stake, it’s important to get it right the first time.
Most small-to-midsize companies select a name to open their business, then build their brand, distribution and pricing
over time. That’s fine, but it’s important to work to align them, to give you the best chance at delivering a repeatable
brand experience and owning a unique perception in the mind of the market.
Do you need to hire a consultant or agency to help with your name?
With a good process and strategy, you can probably develop a good name on your own. However, you may not have
the resources or desire to handle the project internally. While it’s no guarantee that a firm or consultant will develop a
better name, they may do it more quickly and objectively.
There are a number of factors to consider, including:
›› The stakes—if you’re investing a lot of money into launching a new product to a major market with established
competition, the stakes are high.
›› Your confidence in your team’s creative firepower or objectivity.
›› The amount of time and energy you have to devote to the project.
›› Whether you can afford to bring in an outside resource.
Develop a strategy
›› Determine what your name needs to accomplish.
›› Decide how it will work with existing product or service names (if applicable).
›› Determine what kind of name to develop—descriptive, invented, founder’s name, etc.
›› Develop objective criteria to evaluate the names you generate.
Generate plenty of potential names
If you’re competing beyond your local area, you may find that many of your potential names (or URLs) are already
taken, so you’ll need to create a long list. Invite a variety of people to a brainstorming session. Plan it well and capture
every idea for further evaluation.
Evaluate the list against your criteria
Your goal is to objectively find the name that meets your criteria, so be careful about asking friends and family whether
they “like” a name. For example, a name that raises eyebrows may do so because it’s different—and it may be the
most memorable and powerful one in the bunch.

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Also test the name to make sure it:
›› Sounds good over the phone
›› Won’t be constantly mispronounced or misspelled, which defeats the purpose of a name
›› Isn’t confusing
›› Conveys what you need it to convey
›› Has a URL that works with it
Protect your name
It’s important to protect your name to the appropriate degree. If you choose a name that infringes on another com-
pany’s trademark, you could receive a cease-and-desist letter and have to go to court and/or change your name after
months or even years of use.
By protecting your name, you also gain the ability to prevent future competitors from using it.
Next Steps
After you select a new name, you can create your logo and corporate identity, and then begin creating the messages
to use throughout your sales tools and literature, and your campaign creative.

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Messaging
CuStomer retention
SaleS management
management
Crm ClV roi
iDentity
literature
WeBSiteSMESSAGINGMESSAGING
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
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eVentS
email marKeting
SoCial meDia
online aDVertiSing
Seo & Sem
Digitaltraditional
traDitional meDia
CamPaign Planning
Planning
toolS
Strategy
BranD Strategy
naming
How do you respond when someone asks “what does your company/product/service do?” Do all your team members
answer the same way? Is your response compelling enough to make the listener want to learn more, or do you sound
like everyone else?
“Messages” are written and verbal statements that quickly describe what you do and how you’re different. They’re used
throughout your interactions with your market such as:
›› The “elevator pitch”—the 30-second response to “what do you do?”
›› Sales and marketing materials—sales literature, websites, presentations and campaigns
›› The introductory statement in a phone call
›› Press releases—the blurb at the bottom of the release that explains what the company does
›› Slogans
›› Your mission statement
Good messages emphasize and support your positioning and brand strategy. They hone in on what’s important to your
market and communicate it consistently and effectively.

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By carefully crafting your messages,
you can strengthen your positioning,
your brand and the reasons your
markets should buy from you.
It’s easy to communicate your value.
The market “gets it” very quickly,
speeding up the sales process.
Ho-hum messages don’t help you
stand out, but as long as they’re not
inaccurate or poorly written, they
probably won’t hurt.
You are missing out on the
opportunity to strengthen your
position.
Without a set of documented
messages, individual team members
do their own authoring. The results
are inconsistent and rarely good.
Weak and inconsistent messages
confuse the market and can
contradict the other strategies
you’ve worked hard to implement.
How Messaging Aligns with Strategy
Consistent messaging is essential to communicating the ideas and concepts of your competitive positioning and brand
strategy to your market. It allows you to effectively communicate what you stand for and the value that your offering
provides.
Your messages should have a personality, a tone, and a purpose, and should align with the elements of your brand to
be most effective.
Define your writing style and requirements
Before you start writing, define your style requirements—tone, voice, style, vocabulary—to ensure the writing will be
consistent and match your brand strategy.
Create an elevator pitch
The elevator pitch describes who you are, what you do, who your customers are and why they should buy from you.
After you’ve written it, read it out loud to see how it sounds and how long it takes (no more than 30 seconds).
Create your positioning statements
Write statements of various lengths—25, 50 and 100 words—so you have a message length that fits a variety of materi-
als. The shorter statements focus on the value and positioning; the longer statements also include features and benefits.
Create a tagline/slogan
Your tagline/slogan is a more succinct phrase used in campaigns. It can be a few words or a short phrase—and for
most business writers, it’s harder to create. You may want to hire a copywriter for this one.
Create your mission statement
An average mission statement describes why you’re in business. A great mission statement is compelling, shows why
you’re different and conveys your company’s personality.
Determine where to use the messages
Make sure to use your new messages consistently. Train your team to use the messages and audit your materials
periodically to make sure they’re still working in the future.

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Next Steps
Your messages feed all of your communication with your market. Use them in your sales tools and literature, your
website and in your marketing campaigns.

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Corporate Identity
email marKeting
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Planning
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Strategy
VenDorSDeSign & CoPy
toolS
IDENTITYIDENTITY
BranD Strategy
naming
When was the last time someone gave you a fantastic business card? Did you turn it over and look at it closely? Did
you comment on it? And did you generate some sort of impression of that person and company?
Corporate identity is an extension of your brand and includes everything that has your logo or contact information on it:
›› Business cards
›› Envelopes
›› Letterhead
›› Mailing labels
›› Email templates & signatures
›› Fax covers
›› Proposal/quote templates
›› Invoices/statements
›› Memos
›› Signage
›› Promotional items
Many companies spend time and money on things like business cards yet overlook proposal templates, invoices and
email signatures—items that your prospects and customers see more frequently. When an employee customizes an
email template with unusual designs or fonts, it can contradict an expensive and serious business card—and convey
a far different impression to the customer.
Each element in your identity should use the same fonts, colors, and layout. The design itself may not be incredibly
important unless you’re in a creative field, but consistency and professionalism make an impression. In many cases it
may be a first impression, so why not make a good one?

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Every touch with your prospects
and customers is consistent and
professional. They see a simple,
effective design that conveys your
brand and delivers a consistent
experience.
Some of your identity is great
and other things, like invoices or
shipping labels, don’t match up.
Prospects and customers probably
notice, but you don’t think it’s a
problem.
Your prospects and customers see
a mishmash of poorly-produced
identity. They may wonder how you
can deliver the product or service
you’re selling if you can’t produce a
professional-looking document.
How Corporate Identity Aligns with Strategy
Your corporate identity represents your company brand. It should support the visual brand requirements of your brand
strategy, and be consistent throughout all of your print and digital materials.
Evaluate your current identity usage
If you’re already in business, does all of your identity reflect your brand?
Check everything from invoices and shipping labels to email signatures. Make sure that your logo is used correctly
(sometimes they get re-sized) and that all of your materials are consistent with your positioning and brand strategy.
For example, if you’re focusing on innovative, expensive new products but you have flimsy business cards, you’re not
reinforcing your brand.
Create professional, consistent templates for every touch point with your market
Use a consistent style for everything your company sends out. It may take only ten minutes to create a better template,
and that template may be seen by hundreds or thousands of prospects and customers over time.
Keep inventory
Templates can be altered or misplaced. Make sure that your team knows how to use them and check them regularly.
Next Steps
Once you’ve finished evaluating your identity, the typical next step is to focus on your sales tools and literature, as
well as your website.

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Websites
SaleS management
ClV roi
iDentity
PriCing
Strategy
toolS
Crm
management
CuStomer retention
Digital
Seo & Sem
online aDVertiSing
SoCial meDia
email marKeting
eVentS
telemarKeting
PuBliCity
DireCt mail
traDitional meDia
traditional
Planning
SaleS ProCeSS
WEBSITESWEBSITES
BranD Strategy
DiStriBution CHannelS
meSSagingnaming
Your website is potentially the most powerful sales and marketing tool in your arsenal.
A good site plays an enormous role in your sales process and can help you to reinforce your brand, generate leads
and support customers. Think of your site as your storefront that serves different groups and converts visitors into
prospects and customers. It can help you:
›› Generate leads
›› Nurture existing leads and move them closer to purchase
›› Build brand awareness
›› Deliver information about your products and services in a compelling way
›› Process orders, cross- and up-sell, and run special promotions
›› Communicate with existing customers and distribution channels
›› Communicate with partners, investors and potential new employees
›› Generate publicity
Although a good website can be a substantial investment, it doesn’t have to be expensive. It just needs to effectively
communicate with your market and support your brand. When you develop your site with rich content and some basic
marketing functionality, you gain broad and potentially lucrative marketing capabilities.

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Your site is more than a brochure—
it sells. You use it for a variety of
internet marketing campaigns:
search, social, email, webinars,
ongoing communications, publicity
and more.
Your content is relevant; you know
how many leads your campaigns
generate and what those leads cost.
You can quickly create landing
pages for campaigns so you can
convert traffic into prospects.
You have a standard site with
basic information plus a few press
releases and newsletters.
You’ve tried some internet
marketing with mixed results. You
know your prospects look at your
site and it could be better, but it’s
no different than your competitors.
There are bigger priorities than a
site redesign, but you suspect that
more content and functionality
would give you more marketing
power.
Your site works against you. It may
be the design, content (or lack of),
writing, or functionality. It doesn’t
support your positioning and you
can’t use it any internet marketing
campaigns.
You wince when prospects ask for
the URL; you know that they don’t
get a good impression from your
site and your competitors look
better and stronger.
You can’t quantify whether you’ve
lost any business—but you know
that you probably have.
How Websites Align with Strategy
Before building (or redesigning) a website, make sure that you’ve reviewed your competitive positioning and brand
strategy. Your website should support them. The copy on your website should reflect the consistent messages that
you’ve developed.
For many businesses, their website is their most important marketing tool—it is often a customer’s first experience
with the brand. Your website may also play an integral role in your sales process and customer retention programs.
Develop your project team and timeline
›› Work backwards from key deadlines to create your project timeline. Give yourself plenty of leeway since website
projects can easily hit snags.
›› If you’re launching a sophisticated site, make sure you’ve included all of the relevant departments in your project team.
Define your needs
Before you hire a designer or developer, decide what your site needs to accomplish:
›› Your major goals.
›› How the site will support online and traditional marketing campaigns.
›› How the site will help you generate leads, nurture prospects, communicate with your market, process orders and
provide customer service.
›› The information and functionality you believe you’ll need.
›› Whether a basic design is fine or whether you’ll need something more unique and customized.

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Develop your content
›› Determine a preliminary game plan for your internet marketing efforts so that your site can support them.
›› List the “users” who will visit your site: new prospects, existing prospects, customers, partners, media, job applicants,
vendors, etc.
›› Develop a list of the information and tools (“content”) that each user wants to find on your site.
›› Review competitor and industry sites for additional ideas.
Organize the content
Organize your content so users can quickly find what they need. You’ll also need to incorporate search engine optimiza-
tion (SEO) techniques to help with search engine rankings. For example, your home page is most important to search
engines; if you don’t get that page optimized for specific keywords, you won’t rank as highly.
Identify the functionality you’ll need
Different types of functionality often require different programming solutions.
›› Determine whether you want to allow customers to do things like view product details, process orders, and access
their records on the site.
›› Evaluate other functionality such as support forums, search, calculators, streaming video, etc.
›› Determine the type of content management system you need to support your SEO and SEM needs.
Develop your design requirements
Like your sales literature, your site should support your brand. Use your regular color palette, typefaces and personality
traits as much as possible.
Identify any last requirements
›› Requirements for updating and managing the content
›› Programming technologies you do and don’t want in the site
›› Reporting requirements
Qualify and hire vendors
Unless you have an in-house web development team, hire vendor(s) for design, programming, copywriting and/or SEO.
Review their past work and talk with recent clients to make sure that you’re comfortable with their strategy and skills.
Next Steps
Once you’ve finished your site, use it in your marketing campaigns to communicate with your market.

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Sales Tools & Literature
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LITERATURELITERATURE
CamPaign Planning
Planning
SaleS ProCeSS
Strategy
BranD Strategy
Do you know many B2B companies that can sell their product or service without literature or other supporting materials?
Sales tools and literature help you communicate and strengthen your messages. They’re also known as “marketing
communications” or “collateral” and may include:
›› Brochures
›› Product data sheets
›› Case studies
›› White papers
›› PowerPoint presentations
›› Websites
›› Newsletters
›› Reference lists
›› Proposal templates
›› Calculators
The printed word carries a lot of credibility, so your materials are important tools in your arsenal. They reinforce your
brand and can create a lasting impression on your prospects. A single printed or digital piece can reach multiple deci-
sion makers when your primary contact passes it along, and can even go viral if distributed on the web.
Sales tools and literature are more common in B2B than B2C (which relies more on marketing campaign messages
and branding) but many B2C companies use sales tools and literature to promote their offerings to wholesalers, dis-
tributors and retailers.
Good literature and tools should be tightly integrated into your sales process. Rather than inundating a prospect with
all of your information at once, break out the information into distinct pieces that answer a prospect’s key questions at
a specific stage in the process. As a result, your prospects can quickly absorb what’s most relevant, make decisions
quickly and move to the next stage.

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Your sales literature and tools
are strong components of your
marketing arsenal. They convey
your brand, speak directly to your
market, and deliver the right amount
of information at the right time.
They truly help you move prospects
through the sales process as quickly
as possible.
Your literature and tools are typical
and general.
They convey much of the
information your prospects need,
but lack the singular focus to be as
effective as they could be.
Your literature and tools
don’t support your brand and
positioning—they’re working
against you.
You haven’t defined your typical
selling process for moving
prospects through the buying
process, and haven’t created
sales tools to address the typical
questions buyers have as they
evaluate your product or service.
How Sales Tools and Literature Align with Strategy
Your sales tools and literature should support your positioning, brand strategy and messaging. They’re used to drill
down into more specific areas of your offering.
Analyze your current materials
If you feel that your existing literature and tools could be more effective, take inventory:
›› Review each piece to determine its sole focus.
›› Ask your sales team and others for feedback on whether the piece is effective.
›› Make sure that the piece supports your positioning and brand strategy.
›› Make sure that each piece is delivered at the right time.
Determine what materials you need
List the steps of your sales process, then:
›› Brainstorm about the materials you could use to answer a prospect’s questions at each step.
›› Define a singular purpose for each piece of literature or tool.
Write, design & print your materials
To develop your content, focus on the singular purpose of each piece.
›› Outline the content that should be included in each piece.
›› Hire vendors for design and writing if needed.
›› Research and write the content.
›› Develop your design requirements.
›› Design the piece.
›› Get quotes and work with your chosen printer to ensure that you’re happy with the final outcome.

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Train your team to use the materials
Make sure that everyone understands the purpose of each piece and when to use it.
Next Steps
Determine where and how to use your sales tools and literature—on your website, with your sales team, and in your
marketing campaigns.
Your sales tools should align with your sales process, to provide the granular details that prospects need as they move
through the steps of their buying decision.

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Copywriting & Graphic Design
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VenDorS reCruitingDESIGN & COPYDESIGN & COPY
Planning
CamPaign Planning
Strategy
BranD Strategy
meSSaging iDentity WeBSiteS
literature
Design and copy are essential tools for any brand. They play a major role in supporting positioning and shaping a
brand experience.
Brands are built by what we see, hear and touch. Our sensory experiences work together to create feelings and emo-
tions, which create perceptions. These perceptions sometimes capture a piece of our mind—when we decide what
something is “known for.”
Think about the elements of your brand that are defined by copywriting and graphic design:
›› Logos and corporate identity
›› Product packaging
›› Websites
›› Interior and exterior signs
›› Campaign messages and creative (delivered via websites, search engines, social media sites, print publications, radio,
television, email, direct mail, and in-person via events, store displays, telemarketing and sales)
These account for a substantial part of most brands’ experience—everything but the people who represent your brand,
your product or service itself, your physical locations, and music or audio that you use.
Most companies use an array of copywriters and designers throughout the year. Since writers and designers typically
have strengths in specific areas, the challenge is to find the resources for the right projects.

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For example, copywriters can specialize in ad print ad copy, website copy, TV and radio copy, articles and blog posts,
press releases, creative storytelling, white papers and brochures, presentation writing, technical writing, or persuasive
sales copy.
Designers often specialize in logos and corporate identity, digital design for websites, print ad design, print brochure
design, digital presentation design, illustration, photography selection, or interactive design.
A great web designer might produce mediocre print ads; a great ad copywriter might produce thin website copy.
The key to maximizing the effectiveness of your copy and design is to understand what types of skills you need for
different projects, and have access to a talent pool (or be able to find the right talent for the job). Once you have the
right resource in place, a well-written creative brief (which includes detailed brand guidelines) should give your creative
resource the understanding they need to do their job.
Your copy and design are powerful;
they communicate your objectives
simply, in a memorable way and are
consistent across all mediums.
This doesn’t mean that all the copy
is the same; it simply means that
the design and copy consistently
work together to convey your
personality and create a consistent
experience.
Your market “gets it” quickly . . . and
you leave a lasting impression.
Your copy and design aren’t bad—
some is really effective and some
isn’t.
You realize that your team has
strengths and weaknesses, but you
don’t have alternative options so
you make do with what you have.
You know that you could create
a more consistent and effective
experience, but you don’t feel that
it’s hurting you too much.
Naturally, the worst case scenario
is that your copy is poorly written,
and your design unappealing. Your
materials are inconsistent, and often
create a negative impression with
your market.
You have scant copywriting and
design resources, either due to lack
of budget, or an inability to find the
right resources for the right project.
Your competitors’ brands are
stronger, and you feel that you’re
losing market share because of it.
How Copywriting and Graphic Design Align with Strategy
It’s difficult to build a strong brand without effective and consistent copy and design. They play a major role in shaping
your brand, affecting most of the touchpoints with your market.
They’re a critical tool for executing your positioning and brand strategy—they’re a key part of your tactics—this is
where you “do things right.”
Identify the strengths of your resources
Review the skills of your in-house team and pool of contractors and create a list or database that identifies who excels
at specific types of work.
Create a project timeline for each marketing piece
Provide a reasonable amount of time between each step so each team member can deliver on schedule. The earlier
you get started, the better your results.

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Determine what content will be in the piece
Content should drive the design, not the reverse. If you start with design and try to fill in content later, the piece may
not be nearly as effective. Identify the copy, graphics, photos or charts that you’ll need in your piece before starting
the design process.
Use a creative brief
A creative brief is an overview for a project. It can be simple or lengthy, depending on the complexity of the project
and the amount of background information your team needs. A good creative brief defines:
›› Deadlines
›› Goals, including the action you want the recipients to take after seeing the piece
›› Audience
›› Content
›› Background information about the product, service, audience, company, etc.
›› Branding requirements including the desired color palette, logo usage, fonts, voice, tone and personality to convey
Establish criteria for the designs
It’s much easier to evaluate design concepts when you have specific criteria to measure against. Establish those cri-
teria upfront so your design team understands what they need to deliver, and then use them to choose concepts and
provide feedback.
Pay attention to proofs and the press check
Make sure that you have a very thorough review process in place—a typo in an ad or brochure can be an expensive
and embarrassing error. And conduct a thorough press check so your printed materials completely match your re-
quirements and vision; you wouldn’t want your brochure printed on the wrong paper or your colors to be mismatched.
Next Steps
Keep looking for good copywriters and graphic designers with strengths in different areas.
With a good team of resources, you’ll have someone to call on, no matter what type of campaign idea or tool you
dream up.

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Vendor Selection
CuStomer retention
reCruiting
ClV roi
Strategy
Crm
toolS
VENDORSVENDORS
management
SaleS management
email marKeting
SoCial meDia
online aDVertiSing
Digital
Seo & Sem
eVentS
telemarKeting
PuBliCity
DireCt mail
traditional
traDitional meDia
Planning
CamPaign Planning
BranD Strategy
naming meSSaging iDentity WeBSiteS
literature DeSign & CoPy
Vendors play a key role in most company’s marketing activities. The explosive growth of the Internet has fundamentally
changed the marketing function, giving marketers a tremendous amount of new avenues to use for connecting with
their audiences.
The downside for marketers is the challenge of choosing which new digital mediums to use, and executing the tactics
in these new areas.
Some marketing leaders have decided to focus their departments on designing strategies and carefully managing
outsourced vendors that handle execution. Outsourcing allows marketers to gain deep expertise across a number of
different areas, providing better results at a lower cost than if they hired the talent for in-house execution.
For example, a seasoned marketing director and a team of a few marketing managers and coordinators could leverage
vendors to:
›› Build and execute digital marketing campaigns, including social media campaigns, online advertising, and SEO and SEM
›› Design and build websites, microsites and mobile apps
›› Purchase traditional media in print, radio and television
›› Write persuasive copy for sales tools and presentations
›› Design brand elements, including logos and corporate identity
›› Generate online and offline publicity
›› Create print collateral, including brochures, data sheets, posters and signage
›› Use telemarketing to reach their audience

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›› Create product packaging and displays
›› Design and fulfill direct mail campaigns
›› Manage events
The most successful marketing departments using this “outsourced” model understand what types of vendors they
need to execute their strategy, have a well-defined vetting and vendor selection process, and carefully manage vendor
deliverables, timeframes and costs.
You have a clear understanding of
the specific types of vendors that
you need, and have either a pool
of well-qualified vendors to choose
from, or understand how to select
and manage a new vendor.
Your team requires vendors to
adhere to strict project scopes,
deadlines and costs, and you always
have a clear understanding of a
vendor’s performance.
As a result, your vendors
consistently deliver great results
that are on time and on budget.
This gives you time to focus
on developing strategies and
measuring results. Your vendors
truly enhance your business.
You use some vendors for specific
activities. Some perform well, and
others don’t, extending deadlines,
producing mediocre work and going
over budget.
After handing off a project, you
check in occasionally to see how
the vendor is progressing, but as
the deadline nears, you’re a bit
nervous—hoping for good results.
Often times you get them, but it
doesn’t surprise you when you don’t.
If you had more reliable vendors,
you’d be able to contribute
more efforts to measuring and
improving campaign performance,
and designing new strategies to
enhance your positioning and build
your brand.
You rarely use vendors, trying to get
as much done in-house as possible,
but you wish you could outsource
more to increase your bandwidth,
and get better results.
When you do outsource a project,
it’s a crapshoot whether you’re
going to get what you expect.
You wish that your team did a better
job managing vendors’ progress,
or at the minimum, could get the
vendors to deliver decent work on
time.
You shy away from using new
vendors, because you never know
what you’re going to get, and when
you spend precious budget and
receive poor results, you end up
looking bad to your executive team.
How Vendor Selection Aligns with Strategy
Some vendors can be very helpful creating strategies in their areas of expertise, but others might develop strategies
to promote the service that they’re selling (i.e. to win or expand the engagement), so it’s important to have a strong
understanding of your goals before engaging a vendor on a big project.
Additionally, most vendors’ work directly represents your brand, so make sure that these vendors have a strong under-
standing of your positioning and brand strategy, and ask them to show how their work supports it.
Define your needs and timeline
Determine exactly what you’re looking for before you start your vendor search. You may want to set an initial budget,
and then develop a timeline for your search, especially if you have important deadlines to meet. If you don’t address
this beforehand, certain vendors may drive this process, adhering to a schedule that fits them, instead of what fits you.

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Identify and analyze vendors
Use the Web and ask for referrals to find a list of qualified vendors. Develop a list of qualifying questions and narrow
the field to a handful of companies.
Create your RFP
If you’re looking for very simple, straightforward services, you can ask bidders to provide a proposal and quote. For
more complex or intangible projects, it’s better to create a Request for Proposal (RFP) that asks bidders to respond to
very specific questions in a consistent fashion. A standard RFP is especially helpful when:
›› The vendor is providing a comprehensive service
›› The project is intangible or has many elements, such as a website
›› You have very specific evaluation criteria and need to compare “apples to apples”
›› You’re evaluating a large number of bidders (more than four)
Then, evaluate, negotiate and award the project:
›› Rate your bidders on the important criteria and narrow the field.
›› Negotiate pricing and terms with your finalists, but remember the adage “You get what you pay for.” Don’t just
choose the lowest bid—choose the vendor that best meets your criteria for success and fits within your budget.
Next Steps
Continue to improve your vendor research, RFPs, and vendor management. If you rely on vendors for collateral and
customer acquisition activities, treat them as key members of your team. Good vendor selection and management will
help you improve results.

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Recruiting
SaleS ProCeSS
Seo & Sem
online aDVertiSing
SoCial meDia
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
Digitaltraditional
WeBSiteS
literature DeSign & CoPy VenDorS
Crm ClV roi
toolS
RECRUITINGRECRUITING
Strategy
SaleS management
management
CuStomer retention
marKeting Plan
Planning
CamPaign Planning
BranD Strategy
Many CEOs have gone on record saying “Our people are our greatest asset.”
For many companies, their people heavily influence their brand. Think of a service company—the people delivering the
service have the most interaction with the marketplace, and sometimes define the entire brand experience.
In some product companies and in most B2B companies, the sales and customer service teams play a heavy role in a
customer’s experience with the company.
The simplest way to build your team, department or company with good people who will represent your brand is to
have a well-defined recruiting program.
Like marketing, recruiting is both an art and a science:
›› Art: Getting to know a candidate to understand whether s/he is the best fit for the job.
›› Science: Defining detailed job requirements so you can search for the right candidates; conducting a wide search;
using a process for evaluating candidates; and measuring results.
Marketing leaders need to recruit talented people to help them turn their strategies into reality—coordinators, designers,
managers, account reps, sales reps, telemarketers, and business development reps.
If you’re a marketing leader, you might not currently influence hiring decisions with the sales team or in other areas
of the company. While you don’t have to become a human resources expert, if people in ANY area of your company
represent your brand, it’s a good idea to have your hiring teams evaluate your market-facing candidates against your
brand personality traits.

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When your company hires people that naturally represent your brand, it’s a lot easier to deliver a consistent brand
experience in the marketplace.
And when you use a standardized recruiting process for people involved in marketing and sales, you should end up
with more consistent results.
Every market-facing employee
understands your brand personality
traits and the experience that you
want to deliver. You have a strong
marketing and sales team with the
right skill sets to build the marketing
tools and execute the customer
acquisition activities that support
your strategy.
Before each hire, you develop a
solid job description, compensation
plan and job profile so you’re
sure about the qualifications and
personality type you need for the
position.
You screen and interview your
candidates efficiently and when you
hire someone, s/he’s excited about
the job. You have little turnover and
your employees are truly a valuable
asset to the company.
Some of your market-facing
employees represent your brand
well, but others don’t. The people
in charge of your hiring have your
brand guidelines, but you’re not
sure whether they’re adhered to—
you control the hires on your team,
but not in other departments,
including sales.
You create job descriptions before
you recruit and you usually receive
an acceptable number of résumés.
Sometimes the process drags
out longer than it should, and
you’ve hired some candidates
that weren’t a great fit. You do
have some average performers on
your team, but there are no major
issues.
You haven’t outlined your brand
personality traits, but if you did, you’re
sure that not all of your market-facing
employees would fit them. There are
simply too many different types of
personalities. And if you did define
your brand and share it with your
executive team, you’re not sure
whether they’d even buy into it.
You have some team members who
aren’t qualified for their roles. They
require a great deal of management
and you’re concerned about the time
that it’ll take to replace them.
It’s difficult to find qualified
candidates, especially because
experience is expensive. Morale
isn’t great and people view their
job as tedious—there isn’t a lot of
excitement and positive energy in
your team.
How Recruiting Aligns with Strategy
Every market-facing employee contributes to your brand experience, so getting the right people aboard directly affects
the execution of your brand strategy.
You need talented people in your department to help you shape your strategies and manage execution, so good recruit-
ing practices are an essential element in any high-performing marketing department.
And, if your positioning is clear and your brand is strong, candidates that support what you stand for will come to you;
recruiting for a strong, well-defined brand is far easier than recruiting for an unknown, or poorly-defined brand.
Share your brand guidelines with your entire leadership team
›› Have all of the people in your company understand your brand’s personality traits, and the experience that you wish
to deliver.
›› Use these during your screening and interviewing process. If people don’t fit them, don’t hire them.
›› Incent your people to refer potential new employees who fit your criteria.

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Define the position
›› Evaluate the job responsibilities and prioritize the skills and experience that your candidates will need.
›› Develop specific criteria you’ll use to evaluate your candidates.
Write a compelling ad
›› A good ad inspires qualified candidates to apply for the position. It needs to stand out among the ads they’ll be
reviewing, and it needs to convey credibility, your brand and your personality.
›› Think of your ad as a sales pitch to a prospect and write it carefully.
Cast a wide net
›› Referrals are a great source for qualified candidates. Encourage everyone in your company to contact vendors, cus-
tomers, friends and family about open positions. Create a job description that they can pass around.
›› Advertise in appropriate publications and websites. If you’re concerned about cost, measure your cost per applicant
and per hire, and then use the best-performing sources the next time around.
›› If you’re not finding qualified candidates, keep investing . . . don’t settle for mediocre applicants just because you
don’t want to spend more money looking.
›› If you’re doing a lot of hiring, make sure to post open jobs on your website and include content that speaks to ap-
plicants. Good candidates will look at your site to learn about the company.
Follow your process
›› Create a process and follow it: résumé review, phone screen, interview, second interview, reference check, and of-
fer. A good process saves time—for example, don’t invite a candidate for live interviews if you haven’t completed a
good phone screen. You may find that they’re not a good fit during the phone call.
›› Respect the time and talent of all your candidates. Thank them for interviewing and let them know when you’ve
extended an offer to someone else. You never know when you’ll cross paths again.
Next Steps
After you bring aboard new marketing and sales employees, make sure that they understand your positioning, brand
strategy and messaging so they can deliver on them every day.

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Customer Relationship Management
Seo & Sem
SoCial meDia
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
Digitaltraditional
literature DeSign & CoPy reCruiting
ClV roi
PriCing
toolS
CRMCRM
SaleS management
management
CuStomer retention
Planning
SaleS ProCeSS
BranD Strategy
Strategy
WeBSiteS
VenDorS
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term that refers to two things:
›› A company’s strategy for managing customer relationships and information
›› Software that manages that data
In its simplest form, CRM is a database where sales, marketing and customer service teams store critical account data:
›› Contact & account information (contact names, emails, phone numbers, SIC code, address, etc.)
›› Lead information
›› Sales rep name and activity history (calls, emails sent, inquiries, etc.)
›› Purchase history
›› Customer service tickets
›› Sales pipeline information
›› Marketing campaign data
CRM can also be an important reporting tool. For example, you can use it to:
›› Generate revenue projections for a product, a sales rep, and your company as a whole
›› Tie revenue to a marketing campaign
›› Pull up lists of leads and activities by sales rep
›› View the number of leads you have at each step in your sales process

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›› Track your progress against your goals
›› Manage marketing campaigns
›› Capture leads from your website
›› Minimize the time your team spends creating manual sales & activity reports
Here are three examples of how different companies can use CRM:
Enterprise CRM Mid-Market CRM Small Company CRM
Company A is a national insurance
company that sells direct to
consumers and uses a single CRM
system.
Thousands of sales reps across the
country log in, enter prospect data
and use the system to manage their
sales activities.
At regional and corporate offices,
many departments use the data
to run-real time reports—revenue
projections, sales metrics, customer
growth, customer satisfaction, and
ROI for marketing campaigns—to
effectively manage the business.
Company B’s 60 employees use
CRM to manage 8,000 customer
records and thousands of prospects.
The system links to the “request
information” form on the company’s
website. Leads are intelligently
routed directly to the sales rep for
that territory.
The CRM links to the company’s
accounting software. When orders
appear in the CRM system, they
also appear in the appropriate
financial reports. The operations
team uses the system to fulfill
orders and track shipping and
service history.
Company C has four sales reps, two
account managers and a marketing
manager. They use a web-based
system and pay per user per month.
They started with a simple version
and upgraded when they needed
more functionality.
Their system tracks leads by
campaign, assigns leads to sales
reps, tracks account activity,
estimates revenue, launches and
measures marketing campaigns,
and stores templates for sales
letters, emails and presentations.
Every company needs to store this information somewhere, and there are CRM products with very simple functionality,
as well as complex multi-million dollar versions to handle almost any need. When you use the right CRM system, you
gain knowledge and power to keep your team on track and measure progress against goals.
Your CRM matches your marketing,
sales, customer service and
retention strategies.
It’s easy to use and provides reports
that eliminate the need to generate
tedious manual reports. It integrates
with other software like accounting
and inventory, enabling your entire
team to view important data and
reports in real time.
Your CRM meets your basic needs.
Your team uses it fairly regularly,
but you have to keep on them to
update data.
It doesn’t have all of the reporting
capabilities that you’d like, and
revenue reporting tends to be
manual, so there’s some lost sales
productivity.
It’s fine, but it probably isn’t the
best solution.
You don’t have a solid system for
managing customer information—
it’s kept in various files or databases
that aren’t linked.
It’s difficult and time-consuming to
create revenue projections, sales
reports and marketing campaign
reports.
The result is lost revenue,
productivity and opportunity.
How CRM Aligns with Strategy
When you define your positioning and brand strategies, part of your strategy might be to provide excellent customer
service and build customer relationships. This would require a powerful CRM system.

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Analyze your needs
If you’re new to CRM or have a system that could be improved, define what you need.
›› Decide what information your team should be able to access and how they’ll use it.
›› Identify who needs to use the system and where they’re located (i.e. in different offices).
›› Determine what reports you’ll want to generate, particularly your revenue and pipeline reports.
›› Identify the marketing programs that you’d like to be able to run and how that information can help you better man-
age your accounts.
If you’ve outgrown your current system, you may be able to purchase add-ins to give your existing system more power.
You may also decide to evaluate new systems to gain the true functionality you need.
Evaluate and compare CRM software
Once you’ve defined your requirements, look for a CRM package that satisfies them. Remember that many systems
come in several versions. You can start with a basic version and upgrade as you grow, but make sure the upgrade
process is seamless.
Implement and monitor your system
When you’re nearing the end of your selection process, prepare for implementation.
›› Create an implementation team.
›› Develop a schedule for key tasks: configuring fields, migrating data, creating reports, training users.
›› Create a solid training plan.
›› Launch the software.
›› Perform follow-up training to ensure that your team uses the software as planned. Most implementations fail because
employees don’t use the software properly.
›› Gather feedback and modify the software configuration as needed—make it as intuitive and powerful as possible.
Next Steps
Many CRM systems have evolved to include marketing modules that you can use in your marketing campaign execu-
tion. CRM software can dramatically improve your sales process and sales management, so make sure that your entire
team understands how to effectively use the software.

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Customer Lifetime Value
SaleS ProCeSS
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
WeBSiteS
Crm roi
BranD Strategy
Strategy
CLVCLV
toolS
marKeting Plan
Planning
CamPaign Planning
Do you know what an average customer is truly worth to your company? By calculating your Customer Lifetime Value
(CLV), you’ll be able to answer that question.
CLV is the amount of profit that a customer delivers to your company for as long as the customer is buying from you.
It’s typically calculated as the net present value (the value in today’s dollars) of the profit that you’ll earn from all of
a customer’s purchases over time. When you know your CLV, you have an extremely powerful tool that helps with:
›› Acquisition: You’ll have a better understanding of what you can spend to acquire customers.
›› Targeting: You’ll know which customer segment delivers the most profit to your company and you can focus mar-
keting efforts on that segment.
›› Return on investment: By using CLV in your ROI calculations for marketing campaigns, you’ll have a much more
accurate measure of campaign performance.
›› Customer retention: You can determine how much you can spend to profitably retain customers.
›› Single-customer profitability: You can calculate the profitability of an individual customer.
CLV becomes more important as your marketing budget rises and your customer base grows. Yet even an early-stage
company can benefit by using simple CLV estimates.

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You know how much an average
customer in each of your segments
is worth to you.
You focus your acquisition efforts
on your most valuable segments,
and you know how much you can
spend to profitably retain your
customers.
You have an idea of who your most
valuable customers are, but you’re
not really sure how much you
should spend to acquire or retain
them.
Your ROI measurements for your
marketing campaigns are probably
very general, though still helpful.
You don’t know how much a
customer is worth or how much
you should spend on acquisition or
retention.
You’re not sure what your marketing
budget should be, and you’re
not confident in the quality of the
investments you’re making.
How CLV Aligns with Strategy
Knowing your customer lifetime value is helpful when evaluating your market segments to determine which are the
most profitable. This information can be used when evaluating your positioning strategy to determine if you should
strengthen your position within a particular segment or market, or target entirely new segments.
Confirm your formulas
There are several figures you’ll need for your CLV calculations:
›› Cost of goods sold (COGS): the cost to physically produce a product or service
›› Gross profit: the difference between the price of your product and the COGS
Companies calculate these figures differently, so your first step is to confirm the formulas your company uses.
Determine your customer segments
The CLV calculation is most valuable when you measure it by customer segment—similar groups of customers who
use your products/services in a similar way.
For each segment, determine how long an average customer stays with you—their “life-
time”
Review your customers’ buying patterns and calculate the total number of purchases they make and the time between
those purchases.
Calculate your CLV for each segment
Once you know the average lifetime, you’ll calculate:
›› The total profit you earn on all of their purchases.
›› The probability that they’ll make successive purchases.
›› The value of future revenue if you had the cash today.

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Use CLV to improve your acquisition and retention marketing
Once you have a CLV for each customer segment, you can:
›› Set a maximum budget to acquire a particular type of customer.
›› Calculate whether a particular deal will be profitable.
›› Look at current customers who haven’t purchased according to the pattern you estimated in the calculation. They’re
more likely to defect, so launch a retention campaign to those customers.
›› Plug it into your ROI projections. It’s more accurate to calculate your return on a campaign when you use the total
profit the customer represents over time, not just the profit you earn on the first sale.
Next Steps
CLV is a powerful tool to use during the campaign planning process. Use it when projecting ROI before running a cam-
paign, and after the campaign to see how well you performed.
It’s also a valuable tool to use with customer retention, to determine how much to spend on your segments and cus-
tomers, and when to let individual customers go.

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Return on Investment
SaleS ProCeSS
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
WeBSiteS
Crm
ClV
PriCing
BranD Strategy
Strategy
toolS
marKeting Plan
Planning
CamPaign Planning
ROIROI
Marketing campaigns and initiatives are best treated as investments, not expenses. You’re investing in enhancing your
brand, building awareness, generating leads and driving sales. And like any smart investment, they should be measured,
monitored and evaluated against other marketing investments to ensure that you’re spending your money wisely.
Return on investment (ROI) is a measure of the profit earned from each investment. Like the “return” you earn on your
portfolio or bank account, it’s calculated as a percentage. In the simplest terms, the calculation is:
(Return – Investment)
Investment
To express it as a percentage, multiply your result by 100.
ROI calculations for marketing campaigns and initiatives can be complex. With many variables on both the return side
and the investment (cost) side, understanding your ROI formula is essential in order to produce the best possible results.
For example, marketers may consider varied definitions of return, including:
›› Total revenue (or gross receipts or turnover, depending on your organization type and location) defined as the top
line sales generated from the campaign.
›› Gross profit (or a gross profit estimate) defined as revenue minus the cost of goods to produce/deliver a product or
service. Many marketers simply use the company’s COG percentage (say 20%) and deduct it from the total revenue.
›› Net profit, which is gross profit minus expenses.

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On the investment side, it’s easy for marketers to input the media costs as the investment. But what other costs should
you include? When executing your campaign, you might include:
›› Creative costs
›› Printing costs
›› Technical costs (such as email platforms and website coding)
›› Management time
›› Cost of sales
Basic Marketing ROI Formulas
One basic formula uses the gross margin for units sold in the campaign and the marketing investment for the campaign:
Gross Profit – Marketing Investment
Marketing Investment
You can also use the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) instead of gross profit. CLV is a measure of the profit generated
by a single customer or set of customers over their lifetime with your company.
Customer Lifetime Value – Marketing Investment
However, some companies deduct other expenses:
Gross Profit (or CLV) – Marketing Investment – *Overhead Allocation – *Incremental Expenses
*These expenses are typically tracked in “Sales and General Expenses” in overhead, but some companies deduct them in ROI calculations to
provide a closer estimate of the true profit that their marketing campaigns are generating for the company.
The components for calculating marketing ROI can be different for each organization, but with solid ROI calculations,
you can focus on campaigns that deliver the greatest return. For example, if one campaign generates a 15% ROI and
the other 50%, where will you invest your marketing budget next time? If your entire marketing budget only returns 6%
and the stock market returns 12%, your company can earn more profit by investing in the stock market.
Understanding ROI helps you improve your ongoing campaigns. When you tweak your offer or launch a campaign using
a different list, you can compare ROI and focus on the version with the best performance.
Finally, ROI helps you justify marketing investments. In tough times, companies often slash their marketing budgets—
a dangerous move since marketing is an investment that produces revenue. By focusing on ROI, you can help your
company move away from the idea that marketing is a fluffy expense that can be cut when times get tough.

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You measure and track the ROI of
all of your marketing investments.
Your campaigns deliver the highest
possible return and you’re able to
improve them over time.
Your organization understands
and agrees with the choices you
make because there is solid data to
support your investments.
You calculate ROI on some
investments, but because it can
get complex, you don’t attempt to
measure it at all times.
You have a general idea of how your
investments perform relative to each
other, but you can’t pinpoint the
exact return you’re generating. And
in tough times, your budget is cut.
You don’t measure the performance
of any of your investments.
In fact, marketing is viewed as a
cost, rather than an investment.
Your company isn’t sure what works
and what doesn’t work, and it’s a
struggle to meet goals.
How ROI Aligns with Strategy
Return on investment calculations are powerful tools to use in campaign planning and execution. Use them to determine
whether you can execute short-term marketing strategies profitably. ROI can be heavily influenced by the strength of
your brand and your pricing. Strong brands can typically acquire customers at a lower cost than weak brands, increas-
ing marketing ROI.
Confirm your formulas
There are several figures you’ll need for your ROI calculations:
›› Cost of goods sold (COGS): The cost to physically produce a product or service.
›› Marketing investment: Typically you’d include just the cost of the media, not production costs or time invested by
certain employees. In certain cases, it may be better to include all of those figures.
›› Revenue: It can be tricky to tie revenue to a particular campaign, especially when you run a variety of campaigns
and have a long sales process. Your finance team may have some suggestions for estimating this figure.
Companies calculate these figures differently, so confirm the formulas your company uses—your finance team or ac-
countant can guide you.
Establish an ROI threshold
Set an ROI goal for your entire budget and individual campaigns. Set a floor as well. By doing so, you gain more power
over your budget. If you project that a campaign won’t hit the threshold, don’t run it. If you can’t get an ongoing cam-
paign over the threshold, cut it and put your money elsewhere.
Set your marketing budget
When you have an ROI goal and annual revenue/profit goals, you can calculate the amount of money you should spend
on marketing—just solve the ROI formula for the “investment” figure. You’ll be more confident that you’re spending
the right amount of money to meet your goals.
Calculate ROI on campaigns; track and improve your results
Tracking ROI can be tricky with complex marketing campaigns. With a commitment and a good reporting process, you
can build solid measurements, even if you have to estimate during the process.

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It’s not feasible to track ROI on every marketing investment, though, as some, such as branding and PR are not worth
the effort tracking. Many marketers simply separate their budget into two buckets—strategic spend, and campaign
spending based on ROI projections.
Next Steps
By having a strong understanding of marketing ROI, you’re able to better understand where to allocate your marketing
budget—on the tools and campaigns that will produce a positive return.
Use your ROI calculations to continually improve your campaigns; test new ways to increase your ROI and spend your
money on the campaigns that produce the greatest return for your company.

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Sales Process
marKeting Plan
SoCial meDia
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
Digitaltraditional
WeBSiteS
ClV roi
PriCing
BranD Strategy
Strategy
management
SaleS management
CamPaign Planning
Planning
SALES PROCESSSALES PROCESS
literature
Crm
toolS
How do prospects decide to purchase your product or service? Does a single decision maker find your product or ser-
vice and buy on the spot, or does s/he go through many steps and approvals first? Perhaps there are multiple people
or departments involved in the decision, each with their own needs?
A sales process is a defined series of steps you follow as you guide prospects from initial contact to purchase. They’re
far more common in B2B than in B2C, but many high-ticket B2C items (such as real estate or autos) to have a distinct
sales process.
Your sales process begins when you first identify a new prospect or the prospect engages with you. Here’s an example:
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5
A prospect
responds to
a campaign
and requests
information.
A sales rep calls
the prospect
to explain your
product.
An in-person
meeting and
product demo
takes place.
Your team submits
a proposal to the
prospect.
The prospect signs
an agreement
and makes first
payment.

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A documented sales process is a flowchart that explains:
›› Each distinct step a prospect takes
›› Knowledge the prospect needs to move to the next step
›› Literature and tools you provide to help the prospect move forward faster
›› The length of time a prospect needs at each step
›› Conversion rates: the percentage of prospects who move from one step to the next
With a documented sales process, you have a powerful tool that enables you to:
›› Sell more efficiently
›› Generate more accurate sales and revenue reports
›› Estimate the revenue and return on investment (ROI) of your marketing campaigns
›› See which stages take the most time and find new ways to move prospects forward
›› Create better sales tools and literature
›› Minimize the amount of time your reps spend on estimates and forecasts
Do you see your company in one of these scenarios?
You have a well-designed sales
process that measures the number
of prospects you have at each stage,
how long they stay in each stage,
and the revenue that your entire
pipeline represents.
You deliver the right amount of
information that prospects need at
each step, which helps them make
decisions quickly and move to the
next stage.
You use your sales process to
create more successful marketing
campaigns because you can predict
how many leads will become
customers and what those leads will
be worth to your company.
You may or may not have a defined
sales process. You generally
follow the same steps to create a
customer, but there’s a big variance
in the amount of time it takes to
close each one. In fact, even your
strongest reps have trouble closing
certain types of prospects.
Your forecasts are probably all
manual and generally accurate, but
you wish that you had a reliable
snapshot to show exactly how
many accounts are at a certain
stage and what you need to do to
close.
You don’t have a process or you
use one that doesn’t match how
prospects want to buy.
You deliver all of the information
about your offering but then seem
to lose control of the prospect.
Some prospects end up buying,
but you don’t know why the others
don’t.
It’s a constant battle to figure out
how many real prospects you have
and what they’re worth. Your sales
team often spends valuable time
creating manual reports instead
of selling, which further hurts your
marketing and sales performance.
How Sales Process Aligns with Strategy
If you have multiple distribution channels, you might find that you have a different sales process for each. And, you
could have a different sales process for each offering you provide within an existing channel, so it’s valuable to docu-
ment the buying steps that your market prefers to take for each offering within each channel combination.
Your sales processes are also influenced by your positioning, brand strategy and pricing. Your brand personality should
be evident at each step in the process. For example, if you’re delivering a luxury experience, don’t use pushy and ag-
gressive sales tactics, and don’t use price discounts to convert prospects to customers.

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Determine how your prospects buy
List the steps that you think prospects logically take from the time they recognize a problem to the time that they pur-
chase a solution. Talk with customers or ask your sales reps for more insight. Figure out what steps they take, what
they need to know at each step, and how you can deliver that information most effectively.
Create your process
For each step your prospects need to take, list:
›› What the prospect needs to learn
›› Sales tools and literature that you can provide to help the prospect move forward
›› The length of time that a prospect needs at that step
›› The percentage of prospects who move from each step to the next (your “conversion rate”)
Integrate your process into your CRM
It’s helpful to add each sales process to your customer relationship management (CRM) software so that each account
is assigned to a stage at all times. That allows you to run reports to measure your progress and improve your sales
management.
Project campaign results and revenue
When you have a sales process with conversion rates, you can quickly generate solid pipeline and revenue reports. For
example, if you have 50 prospects at the presentation stage, your conversion metrics may show that 20% will become
customers. That means those 50 prospects should deliver 10 new customers. Your conversion metrics will also tell
you when that should happen and how much revenue those prospect represent.
You can use a similar calculation to project results from new marketing campaigns. For example, if a campaign should
produce 100 qualified leads, you can estimate the number of meetings, presentations, and new customers that the
campaign will generate.
Improve your process to maximize revenue
When you have a defined process, it’s easier to test ideas for improving results. For example, you can:
›› Identify spots where prospects get “stuck” in the process and try new materials or messages to help them move
forward
›› Measure how well different reps convert at each step and help those that aren’t doing as well
›› See how leads from different marketing campaigns convert, and use that information to improve your campaigns
›› Create campaigns to “recycle” leads that fall out of the process at various spots
Next Steps
After you’ve documented your sales process, decide which sales tools and literature should be delivered at each step.
You’ll also use your sales process in your sales management to measure the success of your marketing campaigns: for
each campaign, you will be able to see how many leads entered the process and made it through each step.

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Campaign Planning
reCruiting
naming iDentity
SaleS management
management
CuStomer retention
email marKeting
SoCial meDia
online aDVertiSing
Digital
Seo & Sem
eVentS
telemarKeting
PuBliCity
DireCt mail
traditional
traDitional meDia
marKeting Plan
Planning
CAMPAIGN PLANNINGCAMPAIGN PLANNING
Strategy
BranD Strategy
SaleS ProCeSS
toolS
meSSaging WeBSiteS
literature DeSign & CoPy VenDorS
Crm ClV roi
PriCing
For many companies, marketing campaigns are the main method for both communicating with their market to reinforce
their positioning and for customer acquisition.
Good campaigns follow a theme and include a series of touches with the market. It’s noisy in the marketplace, and a
message delivered once through a single medium rarely makes a difference. While there’s no magic number regarding
the best frequency for a message to make an impact, opinions range from three to twenty times, with seven being an
old marketing adage.
Many marketing campaigns contain an overarching theme, which can be leveraged over extended periods of time with
multiple variations, or different elements, to tell an entire story.
An example would be The Duck campaign launched by the American Family Life Assurance Company in 2000. While
the company had been in business since 1955, it had only a 12% brand recognition rate before the campaign launched.
The company used the Kaplan Thaler Group to improve its name recognition. Kaplan created a new character, the
Aflac Duck, who appeared in ads featuring customers who had trouble remembering the insurance company’s name.
In the ads, the duck appeared in the background and quacked the name “Aflac” (while usually ending up in a funny
predicament).
You’ve seen them, right? As a result of the long-running campaign, Aflac’s brand recognition jumped from 12% to 90%,
and increased sales catapulted Aflac into a leadership position in the supplemental insurance market.

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Large consumer marketers typically use ad agencies (both traditional media and digital media agencies) to design their
campaign creative, handle the media buys, and track results. These are often multi-million dollar endeavors, and have
brought us such memorable advertising campaigns as:
›› “Just Do It” – Nike
›› “The Most Interesting Man in the World” – Dos Equis
›› “Where’s the Beef?” – Wendy’s
›› “We Try Harder” – Avis
›› “Absolutely, Positively Overnight” – FedEx
While most small- to mid-market companies can’t afford the multi-million dollar ad budgets from the Madison Avenue
agencies, they can create effective and memorable campaigns leveraging different media such as:
›› Online media, including interactive ads and
banners on website
›› Print media
›› Social media
›› Publicity
›› Direct mail
›› Email
›› Radio
›› Television
›› Telemarketing
›› Events and trade shows
›› Search engines
›› Outdoor media
True marketing campaigns are more than just advertisements. Complex campaigns leverage multiple mediums, use a
sequence of messages over an extended timeframe, support positioning, define a brand experience, and handle the
campaign fulfillment and selling.
Campaigns can also be simple—using a single medium, with a single message and call-to-action. Here are three ex-
amples of very simple campaigns:
Generate New Leads
Drive Existing Prospects to
Your Trade Show Booth & VIP
Reception
Promote an Offer for a Special
Occasion
1. Use a paid search ad promotion
with a special theme or call-to-
action to generate traffic to your
website.
2. Receive information requests
from prospects via a landing
page form.
3. Email the requested information.
4. Call the prospect; qualify the
prospect further and determine
next steps.
1. Mail a postcard to attendees 3
weeks before the show; invite
them to your booth with an
intriguing incentive.
2. Mail a special invite to key
prospects and customers for a
VIP reception. Ask them to RSVP
by phone, email or URL.
3. Call key prospects and customers
as a second effort.
4. Send an email to all confirmed
attendees 3 days before the
event.
5. Email the non-respondents one
last time.
1. Run banner ads on industry
websites and targeted email
newsletters, driving traffic to
a special landing page to take
advantage of a special offer such
as a sale, or free promotion.
2. Send out a special email to your
house list to promote the offer.
3. Create an intriguing story and tie
it to your offer. Write a search-
optimized press release and post
it on your site; distribute the
release and pitch the story to a
key industry reporter.
4. Run paid search ads driving
traffic to the landing page.

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It’s good practice to start with your company’s annual goals and work backwards to develop campaigns to meet those
numbers. For example, when you know how many new customers you need, you can calculate how many leads you’ll
need, and then design campaigns to generate that number of leads over the course of the year.
With solid planning, a jolt of creativity, and a focus on measurement, you’ll be in a strong position for success.
You plan and execute your
campaigns to hit specific goals. You
don’t always hit them, but you test
and improve different elements; the
ROI on your overall budget is above
your goal.
You focus on an offer and call-
to-action, and you touch your
prospects several times and follow
up when appropriate.
You recognize the challenges in
measuring results, but you do what
you can; it helps you improve the
next time around.
Your campaigns aren’t the most
creative or the splashiest, but
you’ve hit many of your marketing
goals. You don’t test, but your
response rate is fine. You don’t
know your ROI, but you know
generally which campaigns work
best.
When you’re faced with ambitious
annual goals, you have problems
gaining budget approval. Since you
stick with the same campaigns, year
in and year out, it’s also difficult
to figure out how to generate
additional leads.
Your marketing programs tend to be
reactive—suddenly you’re low on
leads or falling short of your goals
and you launch a campaign to fix
the problem.
Since your programs don’t seem
to work, it’s difficult to gain budget
approval for future campaigns
that could be better-planned and
executed.
It’s a vicious cycle and you don’t
know how to get out of it.
How Campaign Planning Aligns with Strategy
Your marketing campaigns are the vehicles for connecting with your marketplace, to generate leads and sales, and to
position you as that certain “something.”
Campaign copy and creative should always support your brand strategy and messages, even if you’re running a tacti-
cal lead generation campaign. They’re one of the most effective customer acquisition tactics in your marketing arsenal.
Quantify your goals
›› Plan your campaigns to meet your annual revenue and volume goals. For example, if you’re trying to generate 100
new customers, use your sales process conversion rates to figure out how many leads you’ll need and when you’ll
need them.
›› Think about how you’ll use different media. For example, if you’re B2B, your sales team may be able to generate 30%
of your leads through prospecting; the rest may come from telemarketing, email, social media, direct mail, search
marketing, webinars, trade shows, etc.
Generate campaign ideas and strategies
›› Identify all of the business goals that will need marketing support. You may need campaigns to generate and nurture
prospects, to sell direct or through a channel, or to market to existing customers.
›› Evaluate ideas and options (traditional sales activities, Internet marketing, social media, telemarketing, direct mail,
email and publicity) to determine which ones are most effective for meeting a particular goal.

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Target your audience
›› With more specific targeting, you can speak more directly to the prospect and raise your response rates in the process.
Deliver one or two key messages and your call-to-action
›› If you include every detail about your offering, it’s easy for prospects to become overwhelmed. Move a prospect
just one step at a time.
›› Be creative—your market is bombarded with messages daily, so grab their attention and engage them.
Create your budget and estimate your return on investment
Projecting campaign ROI is a powerful exercise that forces you to think through and estimate results for the important
metrics of your campaign:
›› Impressions, or exposure to your campaign creative
›› Conversions, or those who take action from the impression
›› The steps required to move from a conversion to a customer
›› The number of units sold, and the profit from each
›› The items of your campaign budget
›› The estimated ROI of your campaign
Plan your fulfillment
›› Your fulfillment processes can help or hurt your close rate, so be sure you outline your requirements. For example,
if you’re running a campaign where prospects request a software demo, and it doesn’t arrive for a week, your pros-
pects may lose interest.
Plan to measure
When you measure your campaigns, it’s easier to gain budget approval the next time around. You’ll also know exactly
which programs produce the highest return.
›› Establish how you’ll measure the success of each campaign. If there are variables you can’t measure, decide how
you will account for those results.
›› Identify how you’ll capture the data you need to track responses to your campaign—unique phone numbers, unique
URLs, etc.
Continually test and improve
›› Even on a small campaign, you can evaluate your ad, your copy, your list or other factors before you spend your
entire budget.
›› Choose a subset of your list or two versions of an ad; test them in small quantities and choose the best one for rollout.
Then you can test a second variable against the winner of the first test.
›› Keep the testing cycle going and track your results over time. You’ll improve your response rates and your return
on investment.
Next Steps
After you plan your campaign, it’s time to focus on tactical execution. That means having a deep understanding of
the media you’re using, carefully planning your media buys, tracking your results, and following the best practices and
steps for each media you use.

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Marketing Plan & Budget
SaleS ProCeSS
WeBSiteS
Crm ClV roi
toolS
SaleS management
management
CuStomer retention
email marKeting
SoCial meDia
online aDVertiSing
Digital
Seo & Sem
eVentS
telemarKeting
PuBliCity
DireCt mail
traditional
traDitional meDia
Planning
MARKETING PLANMARKETING PLAN
BranD Strategy
Strategy
CamPaign Planning
A marketing plan is a detailed roadmap that outlines all of your marketing strategies, tactics, costs and projected re-
sults over a period of time. The plan keeps your entire team focused on specific goals—it’s a critical resource for your
entire company.
A good marketing plan typically includes:
›› Positioning strategy
›› Brand strategy
›› Product/service overview
›› Detailed goals by product, distribution channel
and/or customer segment
›› Sales plan
›› Major marketing campaigns
›› Detailed budget
›› Dates to review progress
It takes time to develop a solid plan, but it’s important because it ties all of your activities to tangible goals. It’s also a
great opportunity to focus on the future, generate new ideas, and inspire your team. Even a simple plan is better than
none, but when you invest more effort upfront, you’ll have a better roadmap toward your goals.

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Your marketing plan is a detailed
roadmap to meet your goals.
You recognize that the time you
invest to create a solid plan is
perhaps the best time you’ll invest
all year—it helps you work through
new strategies, issues, ideas and
numbers.
When it’s done, your team
focuses on executing the plan and
measuring your progress all year
long.
As a result, you’ve been able to hit
your goals, grow your business, and
enjoy the journey.
You’re incredibly busy, so it’s
difficult to invest the time in a
detailed marketing plan. Instead,
you develop a basic plan that’s
based on last year’s version.
You include general revenue goals,
general sales strategies, and basic
campaigns; you stick with proven
techniques. Budgets are based on
last year’s numbers.
You could be more ambitious with
your revenue goals if your company
was willing to try new things,
but each year you stick with the
tried-and-true.
You don’t typically create a
marketing plan. You have a budget,
but the numbers are haphazard.
Things change so quickly—why
spend the time?
You take a similar approach with
the strategies that should drive
a marketing plan. You probably
don’t have a positioning or
brand strategy; you’re missing
out on distribution channels or
partnerships; your campaigns are
ineffective and you may not invest
in customer retention.
A plan is a compass. Without one,
you may be traveling in the right
direction, but it’s incredibly difficult
to stay on course—and that can
drastically limit your success.
How Your Marketing Plan and Budget Align with Strategy
Some statistics have shown that up to 85% of small- to mid-size companies create an annual marketing budget, but
without a concrete plan to accompany it. This explains why so many marketers are tactically focused—they’re figuring
out how to spend a defined budget, instead of thinking about goals and strategies.
Creating an annual marketing plan, if done properly, forces you to think through your positioning and brand strategy,
along with your pricing, distribution, sales and customer retention strategies.
After outlining your strategies and setting your goals, begin outlining campaign ideas to bring your strategies to life.
Writing a comprehensive marketing plan can be a challenging exercise for many, but it’s a powerful one that is worth
investing in.
Set your annual goals
Build your entire marketing plan to achieve the goals that you define:
›› Quantitative (numeric) goals such as total revenue, profit, number of customers, units sold, and breakdowns by
product or channel as needed.
›› Strategic goals—for example, you may want to expand into a new market with a new distribution channel, or you
may need to reposition your brand to reflect a change in your business.
Emphasize your positioning in the marketplace
›› Your positioning strategy defines how you’ll differentiate your offering from those of your competitors.
›› Your brand strategy defines what you stand for and how you’ll communicate with the market.

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Outline any plans for product or service improvements
If you need to do anything to strengthen your product line and better deliver on your positioning, address those issues
in your plan.
Develop your tactical sales plan
›› The number of sales reps you’ll need and the markets they’ll target
›› Whether you’ll need to develop new compensation plans, or hire and train new personnel
›› Top priority markets, industries or customer segments; if you have a list of key prospects, include them
›› Your plan for managing current customers
›› Plans for launching any new distribution channels and driving revenue through existing channels
Outline your major marketing campaigns
You don’t need to list every campaign—just outline your major promotional plans for the year. You’ll need to set your
budget too, so the more planning you do now, the better. Your plans should include:
›› The top three campaigns you’ll run to generate leads, nurture customers, close, and/or market to existing customers
›› The media you’ll use (for example, email, social, online, print, telemarketing, trade shows, publicity, etc.)
›› Tools, technologies or resources you’ll need—for example, a new website, an email service provider, or a new piece
of software
›› Your estimated ROI and other financial goals
Develop a budget
›› Budgeting can be a difficult process. Many companies just estimate or base it on their previous year’s spend. An esti-
mate is better than nothing, but if you’ve defined your major campaigns and needs, you can develop better numbers.
›› You can use ROI to determine the appropriate total budget for your marketing efforts.
Revisit your plan regularly
›› The planning process itself is immensely valuable, but if you don’t review the plan regularly, it’s easy to lose focus.
Periodically revisit the plan, and measure your progress.
Next Steps
When you’ve finished your plan, it’s time to execute. You may need to create new messages, literature, websites or
other tools and processes for your campaigns, but after that, focus on customer acquisition.

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Traditional Media
email marKeting
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
managementDigital
WeBSiteS
literature VenDorS reCruiting
ClV
naming iDentity
traditional
TRADITIONAL MEDIATRADITIONAL MEDIA
BranD Strategy
Strategy
CamPaign PlanningSaleS ProCeSS
Planning
marKeting Plan
meSSaging
DeSign & CoPy
Crm roi
toolS
Marketers have used traditional media such as print, radio, TV, yellow pages and even outdoor ads to reach consumer
markets for the last 50 to 100 years.
Traditional media can also play a role in the marketing mix for many B2B companies. These media often reach a broad
audience and thus can be relatively expensive. Yet in your industry or region, they may be very effective in helping you
reach your market. For example:
›› In many industries, print ads in monthly trade journals are an important vehicle to reach decision makers.
›› If your company sells to a certain geographic region, directory listings and ads may be crucial for reaching buyers
when they’re searching for solutions.
›› You may need to reach a wide variety of prospects in different industries, so you may advertise in a regional or na-
tional business publication, newspaper or radio program.
You can use these media to generate leads, build visibility, share your message and/or drive specific promotions. They’re
especially helpful when you use them in conjunction with other media in a larger campaign.

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Here are two sample campaigns that incorporate traditional media:
Use Print & Online to Generate Leads Use Radio to Generate Leads & Awareness
To generate leads, you run a print ad in an industry
journal and a banner ad on the publication’s website and
in their monthly subscriber email.
The prospect calls to take advantage of your offer, or
visits a unique landing page on your website and fills out
a form.
A sales rep calls and sets up an in-person presentation.
You run a schedule of :30 ads on a talk radio show that
reaches a broad base of businesspeople in your industry
or region.
As part of your package, you buy exclusive sponsorship
of the show. You receive special mentions throughout
the show, and you use the entire campaign to drive
traffic to a specific landing page on your website. The
page continues your message, captures the prospect’s
information or encourages a phone call.
Your telemarketing team qualifies leads and transfers hot
prospects to your sales team.
It’s important to treat these programs as longer-term investments because responses tend to come in gradually—they
aren’t as immediate or measurable as internet marketing, telemarketing or direct mail. Targeting may be an issue and
you may not be able to measure the branding impact of your campaign, but they’re solid vehicles when they’re in line
with your goals or used in a larger campaign.
You understand the strengths and
limitations of traditional media,
and you use them effectively in
campaigns to drive awareness and
response.
You test your campaigns to improve
them over time and you measure
the campaigns to the best of your
ability. While you don’t measure the
value of your brand-building, you
do adjust your ROI calculations to
incorporate an allowance for that
value.
You run a sprinkling of traditional
media campaigns and generally
track the number of responses
that they generate. You know they
work to some degree, but you
can’t quantify the results. The ads
themselves are mediocre, but you
rarely test them to improve.
You know it’s important to be in the
vehicles you choose, and you stick
with the same tactics because your
competitors are doing the same
thing.
You don’t evaluate your media
buys very carefully. You don’t
have specific goals and thus can’t
measure whether you’re successful
or not. You don’t really test your
ads either—they offer a lot of
information and you can’t really
say whether they work either for
branding or direct response.
You’re wasting your budget and
time on programs that could be
vastly improved.
How Traditional Media Aligns with Strategy
Campaigns using traditional media should support your positioning and brand strategy, contributing to the experience
that you wish to deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own.
Additionally, make sure that your traditional media campaign is aligned to the goals that you’ve established in your
campaign plan.

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Develop a strong strategy
First, determine what you need to accomplish. For example, you may need to generate a specific number of leads, raise
your visibility in a certain industry or geography, or communicate a key message across different media. Set tangible
goals for your traditional media plan.
Each traditional media vehicle has benefits and drawbacks. When you’ve defined your goals, you can decide which
vehicle will work best. Make sure you plan how to measure your campaign as well.
Decide whether to buy media in-house or through an agency
Media buying can be a tricky and time-consuming process. If you have a lot of media to buy, you may want to hire
an agency. You’ll pay for their services, but they may also have more buying power to negotiate better deals and find
ways to reach your target market more cost-effectively.
Consider targeting when comparing costs
Media sales reps may quote you a flat rate for a particular ad or they may quote a cost per thousand (CPM) impressions.
You may pay a higher CPM for a more targeted media than a general one, but if you calculate your cost per targeted
impression instead, you can truly compare apples to apples.
Create a compelling ad and call-to-action
Your ad needs to grab the attention of your market—be creative, but keep your message simple and clear. Include a call-
to-action—encourage prospects to call or visit a special landing page to learn more about a particular offer or program.
Continually test, refine and improve
It’s wise to test any campaign before spending your entire budget. If you’re considering multiple publications for print
ads, run the same ad in two different ones to see which generates the best response. Or test different headlines and
offers. Your goal is to find the ads and publications that generate the best response, and then run them for the remain-
der of your campaign.
Next Steps
As you design and manage campaigns using traditional media, evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used in the
campaign, measure your results, and focus on continuous improvement.

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Direct Mail
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
managementDigital
WeBSiteS
ClV
naming iDentity
Strategy
BranD Strategy
DIRECT MAILDIRECT MAIL
traditional
SaleS ProCeSS CamPaign Planning
Planning
marKeting Plan
meSSaging
DeSign & CoPy
Crm
toolS
roi
For many years, direct mail has been an important marketing vehicle. Even though many companies have turned to
email and internet marketing, a targeted and well-produced mail campaign can still be highly effective.
Direct mail campaigns can generate leads, promote special offers, support other campaigns, communicate with cus-
tomers and raise your visibility in your market. You can be very simple or wildly creative depending on your goals—for
example, you can use a:
›› Handwritten note
›› Simple but effective sales letter
›› Postcard with a four-color image on one side and a printed message on the back
›› Digitally-printed brochure with the prospect’s name printed in the headline and body copy
›› Dimensional piece that you develop for a specific purpose
Direct mail can be an effective vehicle for a B2B company if you focus on strategic, targeted mailings instead of large
bulk mail campaigns, which draw very low response rates at much higher costs than online marketing. Instead, consider
using mail to:
›› Invite current customers and top prospects to an event you’re holding at a trade show
›› Send product literature with the prospect’s name and custom specifications printed into the brochure itself (via
digital printing)
›› Announce a compelling sale

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Here are three sample mail campaigns:
Generate New Leads Nurture Existing Leads Cross-Sell Current Customers
Mail a personalized, hand-signed
letter to targeted prospects. Quickly
introduce your value proposition;
invite prospects to call or visit your
website to view a demo, download
a special report, or request a quote.
Follow up with a phone call a week
later.
Mail a quarterly “industry update”
or case study with graphs and
reference info—more than you’d
be able to provide in an email
newsletter. Focus the piece on a
typical objection prospects have
before they buy.
Develop a piece that delivers a
compelling case for your current
customers to buy related products
and services. Include a strong call-
to-action; encourage customers to
call or visit your website to learn
more and buy.
If you’re B2B, it’s better to think about mail as an integral part of a larger campaign. Don’t just mail and wait for the
phone to ring. Instead, plan a campaign that starts with an introduction via mail, then perhaps a follow-up phone call
from a sales rep and a demo delivered via email or via social media.
When you use the right strategy and execution, direct mail can be a strong addition to your marketing arsenal.
You’re happy with the ROI on your
mail campaigns.
You design each piece to grab
attention, convey a simple message
and move the prospect toward
action.
You test your mailings and tweak
the headlines, envelopes or offers
to increase response, and you use
targeted and current lists.
You’ve had some success with mail
campaigns. Sometimes they’re spur-
of-the moment; you know that you
could do a better job of planning
ahead and focusing your message.
You typically use mail in conjunction
with a phone call.
You don’t really test your campaigns
and try to improve results, but your
response rates are acceptable.
You’ve used mail in the past but
felt that it was a waste of money.
The list was expensive and didn’t
necessarily have the right contact
names. The mail piece and postage
were expensive and contained a lot
of information, yet it didn’t generate
the response you planned.
You had counted on it generating
a lot of leads that you ended up
having to find elsewhere.
How Direct Mail Aligns with Strategy
Campaigns using direct mail should support your positioning and brand strategy, contributing to the experience that
you wish to deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own.
Additionally, make sure that your direct mail campaign is tied to the goals you’ve established in your campaign plan.
Define your goals
Tie your campaign to a specific objective—for example, the number of responses that you need or the number of
customers you want to generate. Then design your campaign to meet your specific goal.
Narrow your audience as much as you can—you’ll be able to speak more directly to your prospects with better results.
You’ll also save on postage and production.

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Focus on the offer
Don’t overwhelm your audience with every detail about your product and company. Focus on the offer itself—the
purpose for the mailing, the call-to-action. For example, if you’re promoting a software demo, explain what the demo
will help them learn and why they should request it now. Touch on the key benefits, but don’t muddy your message
by including every detail about the software and the history of your company.
Develop your content, then your creative
First determine how much copy you’ll need, what kind of graphics or photography you’ll include, how to promote the
offer, etc. Once you’ve defined the content you’ll need to achieve your goals, start the design process. If you’re work-
ing with a design and/or writing team, explain your requirements in a creative brief so you’re all on the same page.
Tackle the campaign logistics
Make sure that you plan how your piece will be folded, stuffed, addressed, stamped, mailed, etc. If you’re running large
campaigns, you may want to hire a vendor to handle this step.
Test, measure and continually improve
Mail is a terrific media for testing—you can select a random set of records from your list, send your mailing, measure
your response, then tweak the mailing and send it to another subset. You can improve the list targeting, your offer,
the envelope design, the copy and the design itself. Commit to continuous improvement and use what you learn in all
future campaigns.
Next Steps
As you design and manage campaigns using direct mail, evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used in the campaign,
and focus on continually improving your tactical execution.

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Publicity
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
telemarKeting
eVentS
managementDigital
WeBSiteS
ClV
naming iDentity
Strategy
BranD Strategy
PUBLICITYPUBLICITY
traditional
Planning
toolS
meSSaging
DeSign & CoPy
Crm roi
Have you ever read a story about a company and then contacted them to learn more about their product or service?
Or listened to a CEO deliver a speech and found yourself researching the company later on?
Publicity in the media can be extremely valuable in building credibility and awareness for your company, product or
service. For example, a legitimate news story acts as an endorsement that can reach a wide audience for very little
cost beyond your own creativity and time. There are many forms of publicity including:
›› News stories and interviews in trade journals, industry sites, newspapers, magazines, etc.
›› “Expert” quotes in a story written by a journalist or blogger
›› Self-authored stories published on websites or in industry publications
›› Speaking engagements
Publicity is a cost-effective medium that can:
›› Build awareness about your brand, products or services, expertise and people
›› Drive prospects to your website
›› Drive event attendance or participation in a promotion
›› Educate the market about problems your company can solve
›› Create an ongoing dialogue with the market
The key to success: create newsworthy stories. They should be interesting, relevant and timely. They should educate
and inform, and provide your prospects with insight into how to solve a problem.

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Even if you don’t think you have newsworthy content to share with the world, you can benefit by implementing small
newsworthy programs (such as charity work) that will raise your visibility. At the very least, you should include news
releases on your website; they help improve search engine rankings and enable prospects to see what you’ve been doing.
Publicity isn’t about luck—it’s about investing in a good PR program, and it can really pay off over time.
Your company is very well known in your
industry. When you launch a product or
release a newsworthy story, important
publications write about you, and you’re
often quoted in industry articles.
You capitalize on the role the Internet
plays in publicity—your press releases
drive prospects and customers to your
website. You also use blogs or other
online publicity techniques to create a
strong presence on the Internet.
You use PR sporadically with
mixed results—an occasional
blurb in an industry journal, a
miscellaneous quote as an expert.
You put press releases on your
website and distribute them online,
knowing that they make your site
more interesting to prospects, but
you’re not sure whether you’re
gaining the full benefit from your
efforts.
You don’t use any form of public
relations. You may be a startup
or an established company, but
you’re not known by journalists
in your industry. You see your
competitors featured in industry
publications even when your
solution may be better; your
company doesn’t seem to have
that level of credibility, and
you’re not sure how to get it.
How Publicity Aligns with Strategy
Campaigns using publicity should support your positioning and convey your brand’s personality.
Additionally, make sure that your publicity campaign is tied to the goals that you’ve established in your campaign plan.
Create a publicity strategy
Don’t just “shotgun” press releases when you need to drum up some attention. Plan your publicity strategy as you
would any marketing campaign:
›› Develop a calendar that ties story ideas to key events and spreads your content out over the year.
›› List events that may offer good speaking opportunities.
›› Identify publications, reporters and bloggers who cover subjects that are relevant for your company.
›› Create traditional and online press materials to give reporters supporting and background information for their stories.
›› Know the audience for each story and carefully target your media.
Develop newsworthy story ideas
Every day, journalists are bombarded with press releases touting new product launches, business alliances, research
discoveries, etc. But journalists don’t just make announcements—they need to tell compelling stories that their readers
will find interesting and useful. A trade journal may run a one-paragraph blurb about a new product, but to get headlines,
photos, interviews and full-page coverage, you need to develop real stories.
Like movies, good news stories are often about conflict. An endless stream of positive information is boring. Instead,
develop stories with substance: Good vs. Evil, Nature vs. Nurture, Race Against Time, Company A vs. Company B,
Employee Against the World, Company vs. the System.
In addition, good stories can “go viral” when you distribute them on the web.

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Market your stories and expertise
Journalists need stories. When you have a story, you have something to offer. With a quick, courteous phone call and
a simple pitch, you may find a journalist who says, “Yes, I’m interested in that story, send me your material.” That
three-minute phone call could make a substantial difference in your campaign success.
Reach out when you identify a potential speaking engagement or find a journalist or blogger who may want to quote
an expert from your company. Be sure to prepare a short pitch and support materials as well.
Use the Internet
Many PR experts say the traditional press release is dead. These days, a worthwhile PR strategy has to capitalize on
the Internet.
›› Write a second version of your normal releases with rich keywords and a format that helps search engines easily
find the release.
›› Post your search-friendly releases on your site—they should be represented as an actual page on the site, not a PDF.
›› Send your release to Internet news distribution services.
›› Consider adding an RSS feed to your site—it will send updated content to other publishers.
›› Distribute your releases via Twitter, Facebook, Digg and other social media sites.
Next Steps
As you design and manage publicity campaigns, evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used in the campaign, and
focus on continually improving your tactical execution.
It’s difficult to measure the return on publicity, but if you’re really focused on creating stories and reaching out, you
have sound potential for success. One big story or important speaking engagement could generate fantastic results,
so keep at it!

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Telemarketing
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
eVentS
managementDigital
WeBSiteS
literature VenDorS
ClV
naming iDentity
Strategy
BranD Strategy
TELEMARKETINGTELEMARKETING
traditional
DiStriBution CHannelSPriCing
roiCrm
reCruitingDeSign & CoPy
toolS
meSSaging
Planning
SaleS ProCeSS
The phrase “cold calling” sends chills down the spines of many businesspeople. It’s often viewed as an intimidating,
difficult, and boring process . . . and that means it doesn’t get done as often as it should.
Telemarketing campaigns help companies reach a group of targeted prospects or customers to communicate a mes-
sage, gather feedback, and determine a next step for the relationship. Telemarketing can be an important part of any
marketing strategy—for example, you can use it to:
›› Qualify prospects who have downloaded information from your website or attended a webinar
›› Follow up on a direct mail or email offer
›› Take orders for special promotions
›› Keep your marketing database current
›› Conduct marketing research
In many companies, sales reps should make hundreds or thousands of cold calls every month to set appointments
and/or generate leads. But busy reps usually prefer to work on closing their existing pipeline. Prospecting often slips
on the priority list; as a result, the sales pipeline isn’t always filled with new prospects.
If cold calling is an effective way to introduce your company to new prospects, don’t ignore it. Instead of forcing a sales
team to devote time to prospecting, many companies use an in-house or outsourced telemarketing group to make a
high volume of calls, find decision makers and qualify leads for the field sales group.

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When telemarketers handle prospecting, salespeople can spend 100% of their time selling and closing. Your company
can produce more revenue in the same amount of time; your reps earn more commission, they’re doing what they love,
and they’re more satisfied with their jobs.
You can use a telemarketing team in a variety of campaigns:
Outbound Lead Generation Outbound Campaign Support Inbound Sales Support
Company A’s telemarketers call
targeted lists. They identify the
decision maker, ask qualifying
questions, and gauge the prospect’s
needs and interest level. If a
prospect meets certain criteria,
the telemarketer sets a follow-up
appointment for a sales rep.
Company B increases their
response rates by including a
phone call in campaigns. For
example, when they hold an event
at a trade show, they call prospects
before mailing an invite to lift their
response rate. They also follow up
with those who don’t respond.
Company C makes sure that
prospects who visit their website
can call and speak with someone
immediately. They use an inbound
sales support team to answer
questions and probe callers. The
reps send follow-up materials and
a field sales rep follows up with the
most qualified prospects.
With the right strategy and proper management, a good telemarketing operation can produce great value for your
company.
You have a team or vendor to
prequalify leads and handle inbound
and outbound calls for marketing
campaigns.
Your team successfully represents
your brand to your market. You
have strong management in
place and can easily report on key
statistics: contacts per hour, stats
by rep, etc.
You set goals and hit them
consistently.
You have a vendor or in-house
team and their performance is
average.
If they’re in-house, you have some
statistics, but not enough, and
there’s a fair amount of turnover on
the team.
In fact, you’re always training
someone new. You see the value in
using telemarketing and you think
your operation could improve.
You don’t have a telemarketing
operation. Sales reps make their
own cold-calls but they simply don’t
make enough.
When prospects call from your
website, there frequently isn’t a
person available to talk with them live.
And when you need to include a
phone call in a marketing campaign,
it’s an enormous battle to get reps
to make calls.
How Telemarketing Aligns with Strategy
Campaigns using telemarketing should support your positioning and brand strategy. Most of this is conveyed through
each individual telemarketer, so write your scripts and train your reps to adhere to the personality traits of your brand.
Set your goals
You can use telemarketing in many ways; brainstorm the campaigns that will work best for your company. For example,
you may need to generate leads for your sales team or use telemarketing to support other marketing campaigns.

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Forecast and budget; determine whether to build in-house or outsource
›› Estimate your call volume, and then think about hours of operation, fluctuations in call volume, and the skill set you’ll
need in your reps.
›› Your call volume also drives your headcount, software, phone system and the office space you’ll need.
›› These requirements will help you decide whether to use a vendor or hire and manage a team in-house. If you reach
out to vendors, having these requirements ready will make your discussions easier and faster.
›› Budget for everything including headcount, software licenses, bonuses and management.
Develop good scripts
Reps will need to capture attention, build value, and close; a good script will help them do it consistently.
›› Make your scripts conversational, simple, and focused on the end goal.
›› It helps to make and listen to calls as you’re developing and refining your script. What looks good on paper may not
work on the phone.
›› Get feedback from your team as well.
Train and coach your team
Regular coaching and quality assurance is crucial.
›› Engage your reps, role-play and guide them through calls.
›› Listen to calls regularly, evaluate your reps and coach them to improve their performance.
Report your results
›› Define the reports that you’ll need—your system may not be able to provide all of the data, but you can probably
find an alternate solution.
›› Use reports to consistently evaluate progress and improve your campaigns.
Next Steps
As you design and manage telemarketing campaigns, evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used in the campaign, and
Once your campaign is running, it’s all about execution, so manage your team and devote the resources necessary
for success.

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Trade Shows & Events
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
managementDigital
WeBSiteS
ClV
naming iDentity
Strategy
BranD Strategy
EVENTSEVENTS
traditional
Planning
meSSaging
DeSign & CoPy
toolS
Crm roi
There’s an old saying in business that “people buy from people.” If that’s the case, it’s a good idea to get people to-
gether as often as possible!
Trade shows and events are gatherings for people with common interests to achieve a goal. B2B and B2C companies
use them to generate leads, nurture prospects, build brand awareness, conduct training, or enhance relationships with
existing partners and customers. Options include:
›› Trade shows: You can have an exhibit booth, sponsor roundtable discussions or speeches, arrange for one of your
executives give a presentation or sit on a panel, advertise in show publications and/or host your own reception.
›› Seminars or conferences: Sponsor an industry conference or create a seminar and market it to your prospects.
›› Networking meetings: Participate in and/or sponsor industry or local meetings; you can also create a one-time or
ongoing breakfast or lunch meeting series for your prospects to attend.
›› Webinars: Webinars are online seminars with slides and audio; you can use them to generate leads and communicate
with large groups at a lower cost than a live meeting.
›› Events for the arts, sports or charities: You can participate in these events as a sponsor with advertising, blocks
of tickets, promotions and a reception for your VIPs.

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Many shows and events are major investments with numerous logistics:
›› Event planning
›› Travel
›› Shipping
›› Set-up
›› Exhibit booth design and materials
›› Promotion
›› Sales materials
›› Sales follow-up
›› Measurement
When executed properly, a great event could produce a large percentage of the leads that a company needs to gener-
ate over an entire year. With a halfhearted strategy, companies usually get lackluster results.
You use trade shows, special
events and/or webinars to
generate new prospects and reach
out to existing prospects and
customers.
You stand out from your
competitors, deliver compelling
information and create meaningful
dialog with your market.
You set goals and measure
them, and you know your ROI
validates the investment. You also
implement marketing programs
and continue dialog after the event
so that leads don’t fall through the
cracks.
You regularly attend trade shows
and you’ve tried a few webinars
with mixed results—there’s a lot
of competition for your prospects’
attention.
At shows, your team does a
decent job of qualifying leads and
following up; you know that you
generate new business but you
don’t know how much.
It seems like you could be
generating a lot more business
from these programs, but you’re
not sure how to do it.
You exhibit at trade shows and you’re
never satisfied with your results. It’s
hard to stand around for days and you
know that leads fall through the cracks
in the weeks afterward.
Your competitors are always doing
something big at the shows but you
haven’t been able to afford anything
but your booth.
You haven’t tried any other events
because they’re an enormous effort for
very little payoff. You’ve never really
been able to measure the results from
the shows that you attend—you get a
handful of leads and that seems to be it.
With a solid strategy, plan, investment and measurement, events can be an exciting marketing medium for B2B or
B2C marketers.
How Trade Shows and Events Align with Strategy
Your events and presence at trade shows should support your positioning and brand strategy. For events, your location,
theme, visuals, host or MC, refreshments, and entertainment or giveaways all work together to create an impression
of your brand. For trade shows, it’s your booth, materials, giveaways, and people that create the impression.
Choose an event that matches your need
›› Define your marketing objectives: generate leads, nurture existing leads, build relationships, train and educate, or
raise visibility/brand awareness.
›› Focus on the types of events that will help you meet your goals: industry events and shows, networking events,
seminars and conferences, sponsored events, charity events, webinars and more.
›› Brainstorm to create a list of events and themes that will fit with your goals.

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Outline your event strategy
Understand what your prospects need and how you can deliver it during the event. For example, think about the content
that your prospects want and how you should structure the event.
Create your event plan
›› Once you have a strategy, start the planning process: time, date, location, theme, event flow, materials, script, re-
sponsibilities and more.
›› Plan for sales-related activities: what happens with new leads, how you’ll prioritize leads, follow-up timing, materials
they should receive, etc.
Promote your event
›› To drive attendance or participation, develop a thorough promotional campaign with a strong call-to-action.
›› Use multiple media to touch your market frequently and consistently.
›› If you’re sponsoring another company’s event, be sure to promote your participation—don’t leave it up to someone
else to drive your traffic.
Script your event and execute
A good event script and plan will help you execute without problems. Create a detailed timeline; rehearse appropriate
activities with your team; make sure everyone clearly understands their responsibilities.
Measure your event’s success
›› Review your goals-to-actual measurements and share the results with your team.
›› Document everything you learned so you can use that information next time.
Next Steps
Trade shows and events typically generate new relationships or foster existing ones. It’s important to set solid follow-
up procedures with your team so that valuable leads don’t fall through the cracks.
As you design and manage events and attend trade shows, evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy and focus on
continually improving your tactical execution.

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SEO and SEM
CuStomer retention
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
managementtraditional
ClV
naming iDentity
Strategy
BranD Strategy
Digital
SEO & SEMSEO & SEM
Planning
marKeting PlanCamPaign PlanningSaleS ProCeSS
WeBSiteS
DeSign & CoPy
meSSaging
toolS
roiCrm
Search marketing is about gaining visibility on search engines when users search for terms that relate to your business.
For most companies, ranking high in the search results isn’t luck—it’s a result of solid effort in one or both categories
of search marketing:
Organic search (SEO): When you enter a keyword or phrase into a search engine like Google or Bing, the organic
results are displayed in the main body of the page.
When your market searches for information about your products and services, you want to rank highly in search engine
results. By optimizing your site, you can improve your ranking for important search terms and phrases (keywords).
You can also improve your rank by getting other important sites to link to yours.
Paid search (SEM): Paid search enables you to buy listings in the “sponsored” area of a search engine. There are
a variety of paid search programs, but the most common is called pay-per-click (PPC), meaning you only pay for a
listing when a prospect clicks your ad.
In search marketing, companies focus on driving more traffic to targeted areas of their website. They use search to:
›› Generate new leads
›› Sell products
›› Build their brand
›› Divert traffic from their competitors

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Studies show that most people—both business people and consumers considering large purchases—research their
problems, potential purchases and vendors online and use a search engine in the process. And the higher the price of
the product/service, the earlier in the research process they use a search engine.
For many B2B companies, generating only a handful of additional serious prospects can make a substantial difference
in revenue. Using search marketing may efficiently produce these additional prospects.
You’re generating very targeted
prospects through your search
marketing programs. Your site is
optimized and you’ve built a lot
of important incoming links, so
you rank well in organic results for
targeted keywords.
You use paid search to supplement
that traffic and you create custom
landing pages for your campaigns
to convert visitors into prospects or
sales.
You’ve built a new website and
it’s been optimized for search,
but you don’t rank in the top 10
for any keywords other than your
company name.
You’ve tried some paid search with
good success; your conversion
rates on the traffic are okay but
could be better.
You know that search marketing
is a solid opportunity—you’re just
figuring out how to improve your
results.
Your website isn’t optimized for
search and you’re nowhere to be
found on search engines, even for
very targeted terms.
In fact, you may not even rank for
searches on your company name.
Unfortunately, your competitors show
up on the first and second pages for
the terms your prospects use.
As a result, your competitors are
winning new business and furthering
their lead in the market.
How Search Engine Marketing Aligns with Strategy
Campaigns using search engines should support your positioning and brand strategy, contributing to the experience
that you wish to deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own. This includes your ad copy, landing pages, and page
descriptions that appear in organic results.
Create your search strategy
Review your short- and long-term goals to help determine whether to focus on organic or paid search (or both). It takes
time to improve your organic search rankings, but you can launch a paid search campaign today. However, there are
other considerations: the amount of traffic that you need, your budget, and your marketing objectives. Once you’ve
reviewed the pros and cons of each, you can select the search strategy that’s right for you.
Generate a list of keywords
Before you can optimize your site or launch a paid campaign, generate a list of keywords—terms your prospects use
when looking for information that you can deliver. You can brainstorm, copy keywords from competitors, or use online
tools (such as Google’s Keyword Tool) to generate a list and estimate traffic.
Optimize your website
›› Rewrite your content and code your pages so that they’re optimized for search engines.
›› Make sure the content is organized in the best possible manner.
›› Eliminate any technologies that prevent search engines from reading your content (for example, search engines
can’t read graphics or Flash content).

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›› Register your site in important directories that play a vital role in search engine results.
›› If you don’t have anyone on staff that is an SEO expert, hire an outside specialist.
Generate inbound links
Search engines reward you when sites link to yours—they assume that your site must be valuable and you’ll rank higher
in search results. The higher the “page rank” of the sites that link to you, the more they help to raise your own ranking.
You want links from popular industry authorities, recognized directories, and reputable companies and organizations.
Implement additional Internet campaigns
These programs can improve your search results:
›› Using social media, online advertising and online PR to generate traffic and links
›› Including a blog on your site
›› Distributing search-optimized press releases on the web
›› Creating RSS feeds to distribute updated content from your site to other websites
Start testing paid search
To begin using paid search, you’ll:
›› Develop targeted landing pages for each campaign
›› Write your ad(s)
›› Create an account with a search network
›› Set up your campaign with the network
›› Set a daily or monthly budget
›› Start tracking your results
Next Steps
As you design and manage campaigns using search engines, evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used in the cam-
paign, and focus on continually improving your tactical execution.
Pay close attention to click-through rates and conversion rates; for most paid search campaigns, the difference between
positive and negative ROI is thorough testing and detailed management.

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Online Advertising
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
ClV
naming iDentity
Strategy
BranD Strategy
Digital
ONLINE ADVERTISINGONLINE ADVERTISING
toolS
meSSaging WeBSiteS
DeSign & CoPy
roiCrm
Planning
Internet marketing isn’t just for consumer marketers or large B2B firms—it’s a powerful vehicle for companies of all sizes.
Online advertising offers marketers an opportunity to reach very broad or very targeted prospects to generate leads,
communicate a message and raise visibility. The term refers to three general types of campaigns:
›› Banner ads placed on other websites
›› Ads or sponsored content on targeted email newsletters
›› Affiliate programs that enable you to put your ad on another company’s website and in return you pay a commission
on clicks or sales
While a B2B marketer has a smaller universe of prospects than a consumer marketer, the value of each prospect is
typically far greater. With a targeted campaign and a good offer, you may only need to generate a handful of highly
qualified prospects to produce substantial revenue.

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Here are three examples of online ad campaigns:
Generate New Leads Direct Sales Increase Your Visibility
Promote a white paper, webinar
or demo that can help prospects
who are in the early phases of their
research. Drive them to a special
landing page where you provide
details about the offer and capture
key pieces of data so you can follow
up when the prospect is ready.
Run ads to sell a particular product
or service. Drive prospects to a
special landing page that describes
your offer in detail. You create
supplemental pages to provide
additional information if needed.
You focus on converting those
prospects into sales.
Run a campaign to share a message,
promote an event or offer, or raise
awareness about your products.
Your goal is twofold: Drive click-
throughs and generate awareness.
You use landing pages designed to
convert a visitor into a prospect or
customer.
What are the benefits of online advertising?
›› Timing: Reach people when they’re actively looking for information and solutions.
›› Immediacy: You can test and launch very quickly and generate response almost immediately.
›› Targeting: You can deliver your message to very specific audiences.
›› Lead generation and nurturing: You can capture prospects early, provide valuable information, and nurture them
throughout the sales process.
›› Cost: You can reach a large audience quickly and at a lower cost than many other types of media.
›› Scalability: You can run campaigns of any size, at any budget level.
As with any marketing program, it’s important to develop a good strategy, target your audience, test, measure and
improve—especially because it’s easy and inexpensive to test different aspects of your campaigns in order to generate
the best possible results.
Your online ad campaigns
are a strong element in your
marketing mix.
You use them to generate
prospects and customers,
but gaining visibility is also
important. You calculate ROI so
you can compare the return of
these investments compared to
your other programs.
You continually test your ads
and landing pages to maximize
your response rates.
You run campaigns periodically and
they’re moderately successful. Prices are
high, but you reach a targeted audience.
You occasionally test and tweak your
ads, but it isn’t a priority.
Since you use cost per click to measure
success, you can’t accurately calculate
ROI, but you’re satisfied with what you’re
paying for traffic.
You think you can generate even more
traffic, but without better metrics,
you can’t divert more funds to these
campaigns.
You’ve advertised on a few sites
and generated some traffic, but
you don’t have data to indicate
whether your campaigns are
successful beyond initial visits.
You don’t create special landing
pages—you drive visitors to your
home page, and you rarely test
your ads.
You cringe at the prices for the
sites you’d really like to use, and
you think you’re wasting money
since you’re paying for impressions
not clicks.
How Online Advertising Aligns with Strategy
Campaigns using online media should support your positioning and brand strategy, contributing to the experience that
you wish to deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own.
This includes your ad graphics, copy, as well as your landing pages and conversion process.

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Before you launch an online campaign, it’s important to have a good website that can measure your traffic and convert
visitors to prospects or customers. It’s also helpful to address your online campaigns in your annual marketing plan
and budget.
Develop a tangible goal
For example, determine how many click-throughs or leads that you need to generate, and then estimate your response
rates to figure out how many impressions you’ll need. Make sure that you know how you’ll measure your campaign
as well.
Profile and target your audience. You can reach a large audience with your ad, but that doesn’t mean you should—nar-
row targeting means you can speak more directly to the needs of your target market.
Create a good offer and compelling call-to-action
Your ad needs to generate interest and get people to click through to your website to learn more—give them a reason,
a benefit. Keep your message simple and clear.
Focus on conversion
When you run a great ad, continue the message and momentum on your website. Don’t drive prospects to your home
page—instead, create unique landing pages that focus on the topic you used to generate their interest. Focus and sell!
Test your ad variables
It’s easy and inexpensive to test your online campaigns. You can test the offer, the design of your ad, the size and loca-
tion of the ad, or the sites that you choose. Start with the element that’s most important—for example, the offer—and
create two versions of the ad. Then run them against each other to see which one performs best.
Next Steps
As you design and manage campaigns using online media, evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used in the campaign,
Keep refining your online campaigns and your website to drive and convert traffic.

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Social Media
SaleS management
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
ClV
naming iDentity
Strategy
BranD Strategy
Digital
SOCIAL MEDIASOCIAL MEDIA
Planning
toolS
meSSaging WeBSiteS
DeSign & CoPy
Crm roi
By now, everyone is probably familiar with social media. But how many marketers truly understand how to use social
media to achieve business goals?
Social media describes the category of websites that allow people to connect, communicate and share information
in real time on the Internet. Social media allows almost anyone to be a publisher—to disseminate information quickly
without controls.
Social media has become a powerful tool that marketers can use to:
›› Interact directly with customers and the market
›› Launch promotions
›› Distribute news
›› Monitor competitors
›› Build links
›› Connect with thought-leaders
›› Find out how the market perceives you
›› Establish thought-leadership
›› Gather market research
›› Facilitate sales

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Social media evolved from the “Web 2.0” technologies in the early 2000s—blogging platforms and wikis. The number
of social media websites—or from a marketers’ perspective, social media tools—is immense. From 2006 to 2012, it
was estimated that there were over 300 popular social media websites. There are probably thousands of others, and
over 100,000,000 blogs.
Since most social media websites are free, it’s easy to “go social” and start interacting with others. There are substantial
costs to make it effective, however, such as graphic design, content development, publishing and account management,
listening to the conversation, responding to feedback and monitoring and managing performance.
Social media works well for certain types of business goals, but not so well for others. Since the barriers to start are
so low, many marketers begin using social media without a carefully crafted plan and without the proper commitment,
which typically leads to wasted time and a lost investment. Worse yet, the crowd can be a harsh critic and negative
information moves through the Web instantaneously, punishing bad social campaigns or a company’s negative behavior.
The good news is that most social media sites fall into a handful of different categories:
›› Social Bookmarking: Interaction by tagging websites and searching through websites bookmarked by other people.
›› Social News & Voting: Interaction by voting for shared articles and content and commenting on them.
›› Social Content: Blogs, micro blogs (Twitter), wikis, presentations, documents, photo and video sharing. Interact by
sharing information and commenting on user submissions.
›› Social Networking: Interaction by adding friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups and having discussions.
A number of these sites include features from the other categories.
If you’re just starting with social media, thinking about the categories instead of all the individual sites (Facebook, Twit-
ter, Slideshare, LinkedIn, Tumblr, etc.) makes it easier to understand how to use them to achieve your business goals.
Social media isn’t just a promotional
channel for Julie’s Chocolates; it’s a
way to interact with their customers
and enhance their brand.
Julie’s marketing director commits
25% of her marketing budget to
social media. She uses Facebook
to launch promotions and gain
customer feedback, Twitter to
interact with fans and promote
sales, and YouTube and Vimeo to
distribute humorous videos about
how the team comes up with ideas
for new candy shapes.
Social media plays an integral
role in Julie’s brand strategy. It
adds personality to the brand and
connects it directly to their market.
Encompass Healthcare is a large,
multi-state healthcare agency. They
have a substantial marketing budget,
focusing mostly on traditional media
such as print, radio and television.
The company has created a
Facebook page and regularly
tweets on Twitter, but the content
is generally a rehash of the ads and
promotions from their traditional
media campaigns.
The marketing team knows
they should have a social media
presence, but no one is dedicated to
using social media to interact with
the market and bring their brand
directly to members; they simply
view it as another place to promote
themselves.
Digital Training & Distribution
creates and delivers industry-
specific training videos for a variety
of technical products.
The company uses its sales reps
as the primary delivery channel for
information about what’s happening
in the industry. And, the sales reps
handle the marketing function,
generating new leads and turning
prospects into customers on a one-
to-one basis.
Years ago, the company launched a
quarterly newsletter and, while their
market appreciated the information,
the company didn’t make a
concerted effort to keep it alive.
Since the company focuses little
effort on marketing, it has no
interest in dedicating time and
resources to interacting with its
market using social media.

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As you’re considering how you might use social media, here’s a helpful tip: think of social media as a cocktail party . . .
online. You can mingle and share information and participate in a global conversation. But remember that once you
publish something socially, whether it’s a comment or piece of content, you’ve lost control of it and it can be indexed
by the search engines, sometimes forever.
Since you have no control over how the crowd speaks about your company or brand, an unhappy customer can gener-
ate quite a buzz. An example is United Airlines, who damaged a customer’s guitar and refused to replace it, spawning
the hit YouTube song United Breaks Guitars, decrying United’s customer service and brand.
How Social Media Aligns with Strategy
Campaigns using social should support your positioning and brand strategy, contributing to the experience that you
wish to deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own.
This includes the graphic design of your social media sites, but more importantly, it’s influenced by the communication
from your people—the responses, tone, and messages that they convey.
Key Concepts and Steps
Most social media campaigns use multiple social media websites and are tied into your own website. Make sure that
your site is updated and can handle social media success (i.e. a lot of traffic) if you achieve it. And make sure that it
reflects your brand.
Develop your campaign around specific business goals
Don’t go social just because everyone else is. Determine your specific business goals and decide if social media can
help you accomplish them.
Research and listen
Since social media is a conversation, the first step before planning any campaign is to take the time to listen to the
conversation. See what’s happening on numerous sites, identify the influencers and think about the conversation:
›› Should you participate?
›› How can you participate and add value?
›› Will participating help you achieve your business goals?
Create a social media plan
Few campaigns will be successful without a plan, and it’s just as important with social media. Carefully target your
audience, determine the message you desire to communicate, secure the creative and technical resources you need,
and plan the time on your calendar to execute.
Invest in quality content
Most social media campaigns involve content, whether it’s commentary, excerpts, thoughts, presentations, pictures
or video. The Web is cluttered, so distribute the highest-quality content possible.

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Commit the time to manage and interact
While some social media campaigns become instant hits, they’re the exception, not the norm. B2C marketers can typi-
cally create more interesting campaigns that garner immediate feedback. Most B2B marketers find that the nature of
their content requires more hard work to distribute and generate conversation. Many successful B2B campaigns have
taken months of laborious work, day-in and day-out, to build a following and generate buzz.
Be respectful and follow best practices
Online conversation moves quickly, and sometimes feedback can be harsh. It’s a good idea to avoid negativity, and be
respectful of others, especially your critics. Be transparent, admit mistakes, and handle your online conversations with
great care—you never know how they can influence public perception about you or your brand.
Measure and refine
Whether you’re measuring specific metrics like number of followers, links, group interactions or web traffic, or a return
on your social media investment, review your data to see how you’re progressing and what adjustments you might
need to make. This will help you see if one element of your campaign is working better than another, enabling you to
shift resources there for better performance.
Next Steps
As you design and manage campaigns using social media, evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used in the campaign,
Social media has evolved faster than almost any other medium in history. What’s hot today isn’t always popular tomor-
row. Remember Friendster? There’s no guarantee Facebook and Twitter will stay on top . . . keep up-to-date on the trends.

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Email Marketing
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
ClV
naming iDentity
Strategy
BranD Strategy
Digital
EMAIL MARKETINGEMAIL MARKETING
Planning
WeBSiteSmeSSaging
DeSign & CoPy
Crm roi
toolS
Email marketing has been a staple for consumer marketers since the mid-1990s. A few years later, B2B marketers
discovered its value, and email campaigns have become an important tool for businesses in all stages and industries.
Email marketing enables you to cost-effectively communicate with your market in a way that’s immediate and relevant.
With email, you can:
›› Nurture leads
›› Obtain prospects
›› Build customer loyalty
›› Generate sales
You can usually launch a campaign and measure your results quickly, making email a great option for time-sensitive
programs. It’s easy and inexpensive to test different aspects of your campaign on a segment of your list, so you can
hone your creative and your offer to generate the best possible results.

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Here are three sample email campaigns:
Generate New Leads Direct Sales Build Brand Awareness
Rent a list and send a short,
compelling message to generate
interest in your product. Drive
prospects to a special page on your
website to download a white paper,
a demo or other offer. Capture basic
information and follow up via phone
several days later.
Create a special offer for your
current prospects and customers;
compel them to click to your
website to learn and buy.
Use email to keep in touch with
prospects and customers. Deliver
timely, valuable information that
makes them want to read your
messages. Add news about your
company, special offers, etc., but
focus on content and information
rather than pure sales.
Email is more editorial than advertising, and it’s powerful because it can support and even drive a sales process. Yet,
like any medium, it has its challenges. B2C email marketing to cold lists has a terrible response rate. Social media is
reducing people’s reliance on email. Businesspeople often still receive hundreds of emails (or more) each day, so B2B
marketers need to get past spam filters and give people a reason to read. You’ll also need a strong offer, valuable
editorial content, appropriate design and a good fulfillment and measurement process.
While you can reach a wide audience with email, that doesn’t mean you should. It’s most effective when you really
target so you can speak to specific needs. Think of it as a one-to-one communication—personalized, relevant and
timely—not a blast.
If you’ve used email in the past, do you see your company in one of these scenarios?
You have a strong email program
with very specific goals.
You use technology to deliver
your messages effectively. Your
campaigns offer strong content
and messages; you create custom
landing pages to convert clicks to
prospects.
You continually test your designs,
copy, list and offer to improve your
response. As a result, you usually
meet your ROI and business goals.
You perform some email marketing
and are generally satisfied with the
results. You send announcements
about products and offers; you
occasionally use email to generate
leads or keep your name in front of
existing ones.
You occasionally test a campaign
before launch, but it isn’t a major
priority. You know that your
campaigns could be stronger, but
you haven’t had time to improve
them.
You use email as a quick-fix—when
you’re low on leads, you do a blast
message; if you haven’t reached out
to customers in a while, you create
a quick newsletter.
You generally don’t target your
prospects—you blast one message
to your entire list. You don’t test
your campaigns, and you don’t
know how many of your messages
are actually delivered.
How Email Marketing Aligns with Strategy
Campaigns using email should support your positioning and brand strategy, contributing to the experience that you
wish to deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own. This includes your email design, copy, delivery frequency,
CAN-SPAM compliance and opt-out procedure.

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Use email to meet the goals you set in your annual marketing plan; you can also use them as part of a broader market-
ing campaign. You’ll also need to make sure your website is strong enough to support your campaign.
Develop your campaign around specific goals
Take the time to strategize and plan your campaign:
›› Develop a tangible objective—for example, to generate a specific number of leads, demo requests, meetings, or
purchases.
›› Profile and target your audience.
›› Create a good offer and compelling call-to-action, and present it early in your message—readers skim.
›› Plan a series of emails to create an ongoing campaign—it takes multiple touches to generate response.
›› Don’t forget fulfillment—if your prospects expect a phone call or email, deliver it quickly or you could lose their interest.
Invest in good content
You probably don’t want all of your emails to focus on product or service promotions. Readers will tire of them. Instead,
offer information that’s relevant to your recipients. It’s an investment to develop that content, but it’s the content that
gets people to open your messages and continue to read them over time.
Choose the right technology
If you’ve never launched an email campaign, you’ll probably need to use an email service provider (ESP), typically a
web-based service. Choose a reputable ESP to help you stay compliant with spam legislation and get your messages
to your prospects’ inboxes—a major challenge in email marketing. A good ESP can raise your delivery rate, manage
your opt-in and opt-out process, keep your email list clean and provide reports that can help you improve your results.
Be respectful and follow industry practices
Make sure that you’re following accepted industry practices—you’ll improve your probability of success.
›› Mail to your house list regularly—even corporate emails change rapidly. The more time between campaigns, the
higher your rate of bad addresses—and those “bounces” could trigger spam alerts.
›› Make sure your recipients can easily opt-out of future communications.
›› If you’re buying or renting a list, make sure it’s an “opt-in” list.
Continually test, refine and improve
It’s always wise to test before launching a campaign. If you’re working with a new ESP or list, evaluate your delivery
and response rate before you roll out. Keep testing and improving your subject lines, headlines and copy, design, offer,
landing pages, even the delivery timing. You’ll improve all your campaigns in the process.
Next Steps
As your use of email increases, keep learning about open rates, subject lines, list fatigue, and other ways to improve
your campaigns.

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Customer Retention
SaleS ProCeSS
Seo & Sem
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
Digitaltraditional
WeBSiteS
Crm roi
Strategy
BranD Strategy
management
CUSTOMER RETENTIONCUSTOMER RETENTION
toolS
ClV
marKeting Plan
Planning
CamPaign Planning
How much have you invested in your marketing programs over the last few years? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
Millions? Tens of millions?
Customer retention is about keeping the customers that you already spent money to acquire. And if you’re in an industry
where your customers make multiple purchases over the years, your entire team should be very focused on retaining
those customers by:
›› Delivering service that’s consistent with your brand
›› Cross-selling, up-selling and asking for referrals from existing customers
›› Developing programs to increase customer loyalty and decrease turnover
›› Knowing the lifetime value for different segments and using that data to improve your marketing
›› Prioritizing retention as a major focus in your annual marketing plan
Studies show that it costs ten times more to generate a new customer than to maintain an existing one. If you have a
small number of customers, losing a few could cripple your company. Even if you have a large number of customers,
a small increase in your retention rate should dramatically increase your profits.
In his book The Loyalty Effect, Fred Reichheld writes that “a 5% improvement in customer retention rates will yield
between a 25% to 100% increase in profits across a wide range of industries.”

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With strong retention marketing, it’s much easier to grow your revenue and profitability. Do you see your company in
any of these scenarios?
Your company is focused on
customer retention and it has paid
off. Renewals are high; you put a lot
of effort into campaigns and service
for existing customers. Incentives
encourage sales and support reps
to keep customers happy, and you
use financial modeling and surveys
to identify problems and focus on
vulnerable customers.
Your revenue has grown
substantially each year because
you’re adding new customers
without losing current ones.
You know how important it is
to retain customers. The reps
who service existing customers
are good, but you’ve lost some
customers that you shouldn’t have.
You’ve sent out some surveys
but haven’t done much with the
data from them. And you struggle
with the commission on sales to
existing customers—some people
argue that you shouldn’t pay at all
because they’re house accounts.
As a result, you have to replace
numerous current customers
each year.
You don’t formally market to your
current customers. You know that
your service could be better, but you
haven’t had the time to develop an
improvement plan. You definitely
have more turnover than you’d like.
As a result, you’re continually
investing to generate new customers.
Your revenue and profit margins are
much lower than they could be, and
the churning takes its toll on your
organization.
How Customer Retention Aligns with Strategy
Customer service, retention activities and campaigns to existing customers should support your positioning and brand
strategy, contributing to the experience that you wish to deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own.
You can work on your customer retention strategy at any time, and marketing campaigns to them may be an important
part of your strategy. You may also decide to increase your focus on retention when you’re writing your annual market-
ing plan. But if you’re losing customers, don’t hesitate to focus your energy on retention right now.
Determine your retention strategy
Your positioning and brand strategy should drive your retention plan. For example, if your method for delivering value
is customer intimacy, your customers are expecting great customer service. If they’re buying on price, you’ll usually
focus more on automating service to minimize costs.
Build your team
In some B2B industries, the original sales rep is the best person to manage an existing client—for example, the account
may require ongoing selling. In other cases, it’s better to transition the customer to an account rep who focuses on
day-to-day management.
Once you’ve decided how to structure the team, determine how many people that you’ll need and start recruiting.
Pay commission for renewals and growing the business
Your current customers are your most valuable asset—if your sales reps don’t earn commission on renewals, they’ll
have more incentive to spend their time chasing new business instead.

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Market to existing customers
Put as much effort into your current customer campaigns as you put into the rest of your marketing programs. Know
your audience, grab their attention, focus on the offer, measure your results. Use campaigns to:
›› Nurture your customer relationships
›› Encourage customers to buy again
›› Expand your relationships by cross-selling, up-selling and asking for referrals
›› Identify customers who are at risk of defecting
›› Continually deliver on your brand promise
Measure purchase intent and loyalty, not “satisfaction”
Customer feedback can help you improve your products and enhance your relationship with your customers. However,
it’s not effective to measure “customer satisfaction” because it’s so vague. “Satisfied” doesn’t mean they intend to
keep buying. Instead, focus on behavior: Ask whether they intend to buy again and why or why not. Ask what three
things you can improve upon and whether they’ll provide referrals. These questions provide more actionable insight
than “satisfaction.”
Use data to evaluate large groups of customers
If you don’t have personal relationships with your customers, use data to identify customers who haven’t purchased
in the normal timeframe. They may be at risk of defecting and you can launch retention campaigns and encourage
them to stay.
Next Steps
Refine and improve your customer retention strategy and execution—it may deliver the highest ROI of all of your mar-
keting programs.
Service and manage your customer base, evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used, and focus on continually improv-
ing your tactical execution.

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Business Development
SaleS ProCeSS
online aDVertiSing
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
Digitaltraditional
WeBSiteS
Crm ClV roi
toolS
Strategy
BranD Strategy
management
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Planning
CamPaign Planning marKeting Plan
Organizations apply the term “business development” (a.k.a. “biz dev”) to a variety of activities.
In this section, “business development” refers to high-level partnerships that generate revenue, create better products
and/or increase efficiency. These partnerships can help you:
›› Access new markets
›› Increase sales to existing markets
›› Improve your access to technology
›› Boost your productivity
›› Gain capital (human or financial)
In a true partnership, companies collaborate to achieve a common goal. It’s more than a short-term promotion, such
as a special offer or marketing to each other’s customers. Instead, it’s an agreement to do business together while
sharing responsibilities, resources, risks and rewards.

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Here are three examples of true partnerships:
To Create New Products To Increase Efficiency To Create New Services
A computer manufacturer enters a
partnership with a fashion designer
to create a limited-edition laptop
and matching case.
They create a team of employees
from both companies to design and
market the product. The computer
manufacturer produces the
computers, the designer creates the
bag, and they share revenue fairly
based on their contributions and
cost structure.
A software company has a fantastic
new product but is inundated with
customer service calls that they
can’t handle. They approach a
telemarketing firm that specializes in
the software industry.
Instead of just hiring the
telemarketing firm, they create a
partnership. The telemarketing
firm provides service for a greatly
reduced fee, then receives a
substantial commission for selling
the software company’s other
related software. The partners work
closely together to maximize their
revenue on the sales program.
A design firm partners with a direct
mail fulfillment firm to offer each
other’s services to their respective
clients.
Each company promotes the
partnership to new prospects and
existing customers. They offer
the service with a single point of
contact—if a design client needs
mail services, the design firm
manages the implementation rather
than just referring the client to the
mail firm.
Each company bills the other at
special rates so there’s room
for a fair markup, providing each
company with additional revenue.
In these examples, each company has distinct responsibilities in the partnership. They each devote resources (either
time or money) to the program, and if it fails, they have similar levels of risk. They’ve also fairly divided the rewards.
The first step in a successful partnership is structure; the right arrangement aligns both companies toward an important
common goal. The second step is execution; a partnership should be managed like any business with careful attention
to detail, solid communication and focus on the end goals.
With the right structure and management, your business development deals have the greatest potential for success.
The partnership is balanced and
productive for both parties.
You share responsibilities, resources,
risks and rewards, and the
partnership delivers substantial
revenue, cost savings or new
opportunities for both companies.
Your partnership isn’t balanced—
perhaps you have more
responsibilities and resources
allocated or you don’t share fairly in
the rewards.
It produces value, though not what
you had expected; you hope that
the situation will improve with time.
You enter into a partnership and
invest substantial resources, but the
partnership goes awry.
Your “partner” isn’t delivering as
needed and you don’t have much
recourse—your partner isn’t really
providing resources or sharing risk.
As a result, you end the partnership
and lose valuable time and money
on the deal.
Since these partnerships involve multiple departments in each company, there are usually a number of people involved
in the deal. It’s often an executive or high-level “biz dev” person leading the process for each company, although in small
companies, a sales or marketing executive will typically take the reins. However, creating a partnership is more complex
than pure sales—it requires a solid understanding of the business and operational objectives of multiple organizations.

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How Business Development Aligns with Strategy
Partnerships that you create from your business development efforts should support your positioning and brand strategy,
contributing to the experience that you wish to deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own.
Choose partnerships carefully; the wrong one can hurt your perception in the marketplace and damage your brand.
Identify potential partnerships
Brainstorm to identify partnerships that can help you meet your goals. For example, there may be related companies
with customer relationships in a different market; you may have vendors or suppliers who can help you improve your
products or firms that can help you round out your services.
Think about structure as well—the resources that each party would provide, how the partnership would be managed
and what each party would invest and earn.
Identify the right “biz dev” person to lead the project
A good “biz dev” person has a broad understanding of business strategy and operations; s/he can also negotiate and
close a complex sale. It’s a different skill set than many sales reps offer, but you may have a rep or executive on your
team who can do these kinds of deals—or you may tackle it yourself.
Pitch a partnership
Develop a strong pitch to capture the attention of your potential partners; focus on the high-level benefits for each party.
As you move through the sales process, cover all aspects of the partnership including detailed structure and terms.
Share responsibilities, resources, risks and rewards
You have a much stronger chance of success when a partnership is balanced. As you negotiate the deal, make sure
that your interests are completely aligned and that each party is contributing in all areas.
Next Steps
As you set up partnerships resulting from business development activities, evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership,
Make sure that your company manages and executes its responsibilities, so that you’ll reap the full benefits. As part
of the partnership you may launch new marketing campaigns—treat them as you would any other marketing program.

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Sales Management
marKeting Plan
SoCial meDia
email marKeting
traDitional meDia
DireCt mail
PuBliCity
telemarKeting
eVentS
Digitaltraditional
WeBSiteS
DeSign & CoPy VenDorS
ClV roi
Strategy
BranD Strategy
management
SALES MANAGEMENTSALES MANAGEMENT
SaleS ProCeSS
Planning
CamPaign Planning
toolS
Crm
Improving your sales management is one of the easiest ways to increase your revenue and profitability.
Sales management is about leading the people and process your company uses to sell to prospects and convert them
into customers. Responsibilities include:
›› Building the right sales strategy
›› Hiring the right team
›› Creating the right compensation plans,
territories and quotas
›› Setting the right projections
›› Motivating your team
›› Tracking revenue against goals
›› Resolving conflicts
›› Training and coaching sales reps
›› Managing processes
›› Getting the sale!
Why are we talking about sales management in a marketing book?
›› Sales and marketing serve one purpose: to generate revenue. They should be completely aligned in their understand-
ing of customer needs, their messages, and in the process they use to identify, sell, close and manage prospects
and customers. They should work together as a unit, providing valuable feedback to each other to improve all of
their strategies.
›› If you’re B2B, your sales team is the voice of your company. In fact, your reps may be the only people with direct
customer interaction. They may be responsible for prospecting, selling and managing existing customers. They control
the dialogue with your market, gather feedback, and deliver much of your brand experience.

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›› The sales team will make or break your marketing efforts. Even if you’re not personally responsible for the sales team,
it’s important to understand their role and draw on that knowledge to create better marketing programs.
›› When departments aren’t aligned, your company wastes time and opportunity. For example, when salespeople rewrite
literature and tools to their liking, your messages are diluted and salespeople are doing something other than selling.
Small improvements in your team’s skills and processes can often produce substantial results. Even great salespeople
can benefit from coaching; if your team is struggling, there’s room for improvement. And with the right attention to
your pipeline and goals, you can make sure that you’re on track to hit your numbers and make adjustments as needed.
Your sales team is a revenue-
producing machine. They have the
right skills and experience; they’re
motivated to come in each day and
close business.
You coach them regularly to
improve their performance. When
problems arise, they’re dealt with
swiftly.
The sales team does a great
job delivering the company’s
brand experience, messages and
personality.
There are strong and weak players
on the sales team.
Some require a lot more hand-
holding than you’d like; there isn’t
always time to give them the help
they need.
As a result, their close ratios are
much lower. They’re probably not
hitting their quotas, but they’re not
a major liability to the company.
Your sales team isn’t strong.
You may not have a dedicated
sales manager to help improve
performance. They may not have
enough experience, especially if
you’re a small company that can’t
yet afford the big hitters.
You have a pipeline but don’t know
what’s happening with prospects; it
takes longer than it should to close
deals. You suspect that you need an
entirely new sales operation.
How Sales Management Aligns with Strategy
Your sales team should support your positioning and brand strategy, contributing to the experience that you wish to
deliver and the mindshare that you wish to own.
This is accomplished by good hiring, training and strong management. Have your team represent the personality traits
of your brand, and look to hire people that fit them well.
Create the right compensation plan and tie it to your revenue goals
Great salespeople want to make money. Tie the plan to your revenue goals and make sure that you’re compensating
your reps for the right things. For example, if your reps don’t earn commission for managing “house” accounts, they’ll
spend their time going after new business, and you could lose valuable existing customers.
Set realistic quotas
Be realistic about what a salesperson can accomplish in a set timeframe. Good salespeople can be demotivated by
unrealistic quotas, which can lead to turnover.
Hire the right people
To build a great team, start with a strong recruiting effort. Create a detailed job description so you know exactly what you
need in your candidates. Cast a wide net, use a thorough interview process, and go after the candidates you really want.

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Coach and provide feedback
A good manager actively works with the sales team. Train your reps thoroughly and coach them to improve their skills.
Go on calls, establish performance measurements, and provide feedback. If a rep has trouble in a particular area, cre-
ate an action plan and measure improvement.
Generate good reports
You’ll need good sales reports to measure team and individual progress. Yet you don’t want your sales reps to spend
valuable sales time creating manual lists and reports. Instead, develop automated reporting processes—for example,
create reports in your CRM system. With good reports, you can identify problems early and take action quickly.
Motivate!
Good sales reps want to get better—encourage them to read, attend seminars, network, and keep refining their skills.
Next Steps
As you manage your sales team throughout the year, evaluate the effectiveness of your people, process and tools, and
Hire the right people, manage them well, and celebrate their success!

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What’s Next?
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations!
Hopefully you’ve identified some opportunities to improve your marketing by clarifying strategies, evaluating which
tactics to use, and adopting new ways to improve your tactical execution, keeping a balance of focus on understanding
what to be doing, and doing things well.
As you and your team explore ideas for new marketing programs, think about where they fall in the process, and how
they can support your strategy in the marketplace.
Continue learning and improving all of your marketing programs; strive to land in the “best case” scenarios used
throughout this guidebook.
Good luck!
To download plans for the activities in this guide, and access a set of “standard operating procedures” for completing
each marketing task, visit www.MarketingMO.com.

The Strategic Marketing Process

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The Strategic Marketing Process