Business is Child's Play

Understanding children is a challenge. As infants their only communication method is to cry. As toddlers they can begin to communicate with words, but often when communication efforts fail they revert to crying. As teens the communication gap only grows. With the evolution of slang and technology, communicating with the younger generations is still challenging and still results in tantrums. Of course, there are ways to ease this communication gap. As babies, my kids learned sign language. While I didn’t catch on to all of it, I did learn “more” and “please”. As kids age, we as parents work to better understand the slang and jargon used. Perhaps we listen to the music our kids listen to, or watch the same shows they do. It’s very much like learning a foreign language. A foreign language you must learn in order to survive, and when breaks in communication occur, so can breaks in relationships.

As marketers we hear repeatedly the importance of speaking the same language as your customers and prospects. This is absolutely true. But it’s very difficult to speak the language of customers when the language spoken between sales and marketing is so foreign that neither can communicate what needs to be communicated to the customer. I learned this first hand when evaluating the use of marketing content and sales tools.

Marketing had spent the better part of a year conducting content audits, segmenting content, and mapping content. In marketing, and in our content audits, we classify our buy-cycle stages as “Interest”, “Educate”, “Evaluate”, “Justify”, and “Purchase”. Along with the content auditing, we had launched several sales tools to our sales organization. When reviewing the activity over the previous 8 months, I found the usage of the tool was acceptable, but not completely leveraged. And while the content and tools were used, they weren’t used when they should be used. A lot of early stage content was delivered later in the buy-cycle. When speaking with those using the tools I discovered that they were unclear when “Interest” content should be used vs. “educate content”. The folder structure of our content within the sales tool was also confusing. Our problem was that sales and marketing weren’t speaking the same language.

While marketing understood the terminology and content types used in those phases, our sales teams did not. We tried to force our language on sales. Our sales teams break their buy-cycle stages out as “Try”, “Approach”, and then they classify “Work In Progress” stage 0-5. These are the stages sales reports on to upper management, and the stages classified in our CRM system. We knew we needed to adjust our terminology so it would align with our sales classifications. We decided to map our marketing stages to their buying stages and then reclassify the content mapping used by sales. Now when sales uses a template, based on the phase identified in the CRM system, they can select the appropriate buy-cycle folder and view content relevant to that specific phase.

When studying foreign languages in school I was taught the best way to learn was to completely immerse myself in that language and culture. This is still applicable when referring to learning the language of your teens, your customers, or your sales teams. Guessing about what words mean, or worse, forcing your language on someone else, will only result in confusion, un-productivity, and relationship disrepair.

Immerse yourself, learn the language, and then speak it. Do you speak the same language as others in your organization?

Fact: I don’t like to sleep with my feet under the covers. I’ll pile on the blankets, but my feet always stick out at the end of the bed.

Fact: I have 2 small children that wake up early on the weekend to watch cartoons.

Fact: They’ve developed a certain finesse in how they wake me up. They tickle my feet.

Most people don’t appreciate an early morning wake-up call but I look forward to mine. My kids know me well and they know what will make me smile. Leaving me to wake up on my own would result in an entire morning lost. Setting a loud alarm would cause me to hit snooze and eventually just turn it off. It would also create a cranky Mom first thing in the morning.

How you choose to initially communicate and engage with someone typically sets the tone for the entire relationship. This is true for a simple wake-up call and it’s true for how you engage a prospect in a buy cycle.

Recently we conducted a funnel analysis. Evaluating our CRM activity we analyzed where opportunities were leaking out of the funnel, and the cause of the leakage. We found the majority of opportunities were lost after a project opportunity was confirmed. A need was defined, interest qualified, and the prospect had budget and resources available.

We also discovered that the reason they were disqualified was because they emotionally disengaged. We never heard from them again. After all of that qualification we stopped hearing from the prospect. We met with one of our sales managers to understand the close confidence level at each stage of the buy cycle. He felt that if a prospect converted to what we call “WIP3″ the sale would ultimately close. Our prospects were disengaging at what we call “WIP1″. Additionally, we calculated that the average conversion time of a prospect from WIP1 to WIP3 is 10 weeks. No wonder our funnel was leaking. Engaging an opportunity for 10 weeks is a challenge.

When pouring over CRM notes it appeared that we took one of two tactics when trying to wake up a prospect. We either hoped they’d wake up on their own, or we blasted loud music until they finally turned us off. We needed to gently re-engage them. We needed to tickle their feet. So we came up with an idea. Given that we had a 10 week gap to manage, we decided to develop a 10 week mid-stage nurture campaign. Each week a prospect will receive a personalized communication, from the sales rep, that contains industry relevant information. Through our content audits we’ve defined content that is relevant to mid-stage activity. These communications are not pushing product. The content simply provides information about industry trends so prospects can feel informed and equipped to make smarter decisions.

Our hope is prospects will engage and view our sales reps as information advocates. Because we’re running this program through our Eloqua and MSCRM systems we’ll also have data to track the engagement. We may not receive returned phone calls, but if the prospect is interacting with the content then we’ll know they’re still engaged in the buy cycle.

If we see a 10% increase in our funnel conversion to WIP3, according to our sales manager, we’ll probably see a 10% increase in business won. Not too shabby. We’re scheduled to launch this initiative in early June. I look forward to updating on this progress.

How do you tickle the feet of disengaged prospects?

This week I had the privilege of participating in a webinar with BtoB Magazine and Eloqua on “Modern Marketing”. As part of a 4 person panel I shared how marketing analytics can contribute to effective marketing content development. One webinar attendee posed a question I hear often. How can small organizations with few resources keep up with content demand? Great question.

It was later in the week that I watched as my kids played at a park. This particular park has a horrific climbing apparatus made of rope and wire. It’s the type of activity that beckons kids, and terrifies parents. For 2 years my 4 year-old has attempted to climb this mountain, never getting far and often needing rescue assistance. On this particular afternoon I watched as he studied the other more experienced climbers. He circled the contraption, tested the tautness of the ropes, and measured the initial reach necessary to get from one level to the next. Then he began to climb.

Of course I quickly darted over to discourage another climb I was certain would end in failure. He reassured me he could do it. That kid was so determined. He very quickly climbed 3 levels to a resting spot. He sat down and raised his hands in victory. I caught my breath, congratulated him, and suggested he return to safer ground. No such luck. He wanted to reach the top. With a bit more caution but a heck of a lot of ambition he reached the summit.

Developing a content strategy can be a very daunting task. You watch as larger more experienced companies nimbly climb their way to the top. Honestly, they started out just like smaller organizations. Content marketing as we know it is a relatively new practice. There’s no need to be discouraged. With the right discipline and planning any organization can develop effective content. Below are 6 content tips for smaller organizations.

1. Know what climbing equipment you have at your disposal. Look beyond webpages, collateral, and blog posts. Document saved emails with customers, sales presentations, and notes from both internal and external meetings. Interview those on your sales teams, pre and post sales teams, customer service representatives, and even HR.

2. Test the ropes. Identify a strong support system. Content development is not something that has to be tackled by a single individual. Explain the “why” of content marketing to your organization. Smaller companies and more agile teams typically have an easier time gaining buy-in. Split up the content work and identify potential thought leaders. Learn from your customers. They will be your greatest source of content.

3. Measure the reach. With a small team you need to understand where you should focus your efforts. Understand your buy-cycle and what content is needed at each phase. Where are the gaps in content and where is your sales funnel leaking?

4. Practice makes perfect. Not every content initiative will be a success. Develop, but also test your content. What can you derive from content performance? Why do you think it performed the way it did? What changes can you make to enhance performance? With a nimble team, you can make decisions and implement changes fast. Act smart, and act quickly, based on what the data says.

4. Commit and Execute. You’ll never make it to the top if you don’t try. Define your objectives and how content will help you achieve them. Create a plan. Set content milestones, define work effort, identify resources needed, and put dates to everything. With a smaller team you need to set realistic expectations of what can be delivered, and when.

5. There’s no such thing as “too small”. It’s not the size of the organization or the number of resources available that equates to success. With the right people involved, you can execute an outstanding content strategy. Identify the skills needed for your content development team and recruit people that have them. Don’t forget, if you feed quality revenue opportunity to your organization, it will grow.

6. Celebrate your success. Baseline your current content performance. Any incremental improvement should be communicated and celebrated. Understand why it performed well, and with what audience it resonated. Learn from the failures but leap forward with the successes.

With few resources, how do you keep up with content demand?

There’s much debate over which type of content is more effective and more persuasive. I decided to conduct my own focus group. I gathered together several colleagues and ran a few scenarios by each. I then conducted a similar experiment with my kids. I wanted to know, what content is preferred.

When meeting with my colleagues I presented the following scenarios. Below each scenario I’ve summarized the various responses.

Scenario 1: You want a job promotion. You would consume information on “How to Request a Promotion” through which of the following?
a. An eBook entitled “5 Ways to Request a Promotion”
b. A White Paper entitled “A Business Guide to Job Promotions”
c. A Video with role playing “How To Approach Your Boss”
d. An infographic showing stats on % promotions received, cost of living, etc.
e. A Workbook entitled “Questions to Answer Before You Request a Promotion”

The group was split across every option. One person preferred the video because it’s a high stress situation and they’d prefer to see someone walk through the scenario. Someone else preferred the eBook because the information is easily consumable. Another preferred the infographic because of the data available to support their case. The White Paper was selected by someone because they simply prefer to read and they’re skeptical of data and the room for interpretation that can accompany an infographic. Lastly, a colleague selected the workbook because taking notes and interacting would stimulate thoughts and ideas.

Scenario 2: You have a problem you need to solve related to your line of work. Where do you go first for information?
Not surprising almost everyone agreed they would start with a search engine. Most identified Google but someone did prefer Bing. One colleague, however, referenced himself as a “Digital Hoarder” and said he’d look through archived content in his email and hard drive folders. If he couldn’t find the information there, he would turn to Google. Secondary options referenced included books and peer networks.

Scenario 3: You would be more likely to engage with which of the following?
a. Something that scored your performance
b. Something that guided you through performance self improvement
c. Something that discussed trends in business performance

I had one brave colleague admit to the tool that scored performance because they care what people think. Someone else selected content outlining trends in business performance because they want to learn and they don’t care what others think. The others chose a tool that would guide performance improvement.

Scenario 4: What was the last piece of content, business related, you consumed, and why did you read it?

Again, the responses were incredibly varied. Someone consumed business association content via a PPT because they needed a refresher on a previous information dump. Another person read a best practices article that was pushed to them through an email. One colleague read an article on LinkedIn that appealed to them as they were skimming headlines. Someone else selected a user guide from a support site.

I then decided to conduct a similar exercise with my kids. I didn’t run them through scenarios, however, I did place 4 pieces of content in front of them. They could choose between a coloring book, a seek and find book, a Dr. Seuss Book, or a text book on how to write a screenplay. You can view the video below to see which they picked.

When initially approaching this project my hypothesis was that interactive content would always outperform other content mediums. I thought workbooks, games, assessments, and coloring books would dominate amongst the content options. I discovered I was wrong. Not surprisingly, the content that is most effective is the kind that is most relevant to your audience. You need to understand your audience and how they prefer to consume information. You need to deliver information in a manner they want to receive it, and you need to place it where they can also find it. You need to develop content options and create a preference center for your audience. Your audience alone will identify content effectiveness.

How would you have responded to these scenarios?