Demand Generation in the Age of Intent

Transcription

1 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS Demand Generation in the Age of Intent A Data-based Approach to Fueling Pipeline By Dara Such

2 Modern demand generation is in the midst of a major transformation. Marketers want quality leads that fuel pipeline, yet are simultaneously seeking volume at lower cost. Marketing automation and martech have gone mainstream, yet some marketers still structure lead gen campaigns the same way they have in the past with lots of filters and, in some cases, limited content variety. Many lead providers are advising they add even more filters and requirements to ensure quality. That sounds good on the surface, but it implies that all lead sources are inherently poor quality, requiring firmographic or demographic parameters to be placed on an otherwise untargeted audience. However, when the lead source is highly targeted in the first place, this approach can have unintended consequences. In a pre-intent world, filters helped demand gen marketers compensate for unknowns. In today s world, over-dependence upon title and company size filters as a proxy for lead quality can limit your access to real buyers and force providers to obtain leads through means that have little to do with their interest or need for your solutions. The downstream impact can be pretty harsh, impacting both marketing and sales efforts. Direct impact on marketing... Dilutes CRM and marketing automation systems Limits insight required to power nurture streams Lowers response rates on campaigns and nurture efforts Lowers conversion rates to MQL Diminishes long-term value of database Direct impact on sales... Harder to isolate the right prospects Wastes time of valuable qualification resources: BDRs and Inside Sales Results in longer sales cycles Strains relationship with marketing because ROI is questionable TechTarget has been observing and applying purchase intent insight since 2005 and have recognized five key elements to smart lead generation construction. Let s look at what we ve learned: 1. Apply Common Sense To Achieve a Balance Between Volume and Quality Don t set aside common sense when partnering with 3rd party providers to drive lead generation. Within B2B there s a finite amount of prepurchase technology research happening at a given time. Lead generation capacity shrinks or expands based on a few key campaign parameters factored into the size of the active, in-market audience. 1. Audience size 2. Content volume, variety and quality 3. Duration in market and frequency of list drops When any one of those factors is ignored there is a direct and pretty drastic impact on lead volume. Here s a look at how this can compound in a sample lead generation effort: Suppose we have a three month, three asset program targeting an audience of assets x 3 months x 300 contacts = 27 leads1 1 TechTarget Publisher Data, November 2016 Demand Generation in the Age of Intent 2

3 Remove just one asset and lead capacity drops by 33% (18 leads) Shrink duration by one month and lead capacity drops even further to 55% less (12 leads) Add a single demographic or firmgraphic filter which reduces audience by 1/3 and capacity drops by 70% (8 leads) Marketer Takeaway: A campaign constructed without regard to audience size, adequate assets volume and variety, or enough time to execute, will suffer. If you don t have a large enough list of interested prospects or you lack quality assets or sufficient time in market, the only way to deliver is by marketing to or supplying contacts that are less likely to be in-market. If your lead providers support any lead volume regardless of campaign construction or audience size there could be questionable tactics in play as the provider seeks to expand the pool of contacts that meet your requirements independent of their interest in your solution. You might end up with a nice list of C-suite contacts, but you have to question if they are legitimate prospects. Read more about Why All Leads Are Not Created Equal. 2. Remember R&Rs: Relevance and Recency The right kind of purchase intent can make or break the success of a lead generation campaign. Sounds obvious but engaging users that have been recently researching solutions like the ones you sell with highly targeted topically relevant offers is the most effective way to produce pipelinegenerating leads. Even further, doing so ensures your demand generation efforts enable a positive customer experience with your brand before leads are generated by engaging prospects based upon their interest versus over-messaging them based upon their profile. TechTarget executes campaigns optimized with these elements of purchase intent insight: Relevance: level of topic granularity of the prospect s purchase research Recency: When they conducted that research The Power of Aligning Relevance & Recency Activity Timeframe & Topic Targeting 0-30 days Sub-Topic (Copy Data Management) days Sub-Topic (Copy Data Management) 3-6 months Sub-Topic (Copy Data Management) 0-6 months Topic (Backup) 0-6 months Tech Group (Storage) 6-12 months Topic (Backup) 6-12 months Tech Group (Storage) How much less responsive n/a 2.89x 5.06x 5.50x 8.15x 11.81x 16.25x Demand Generation in the Age of Intent 3

4 Filters require targeting audiences who are less receptive to content offers: Relevance: 65%+ higher response rate when targeting users with Copy Data Management activity versus General Storage activity Recency: when targeting same audience active in last 90 days alone, conversions increase an additional 77%+ Total impact of focusing on highly targeted, recently active users results in more than 16x stronger response rates The impact on performance declines exponentially when campaign parameters such as title and company size filters push targeting further away from the center of the bull s-eye of recent and relevant activity. Like digital ad retargeting, if messages are misaligned or delivered too frequently, it can harm your brand or worse prevent the prospect from buying from you at all. Marketer Takeaway: Structure campaigns to allow unrestricted ability for your organization to reach accounts which are in-market for your solution while ensuring a positive branded content experience for prospects. This provides a greater number of actual prospects, with more relevant information about your solutions, allowing you to address their current pain points in a customercentric way. Only filter out those companies whose characteristics (industry, location or size) truly preclude them from buying your solution. 3. Long-term Value of Targeting Active and Engaged Prospects If they end up getting leads anyway, why should B2B marketers care whether their demand-gen partner applies the principles of recency and relevance? It s all about engagement with you after the lead is generated. Leads generated based on recent, relevant activity, allow you to assert greater influence earlier and throughout pre-purchase research cycle: Highly targeted, recently active users are more engaged by 7x+ These engaged users download an average of 9 additional assets in next 90-days same topic Avg. Activity Per Lead post conversion Avg. Continued Downloads post conversion Days Subtopic: Copy Data Management Days Subtopic: Copy Data Management 3-6 Months Subtopic: Copy Data Management 0-6 months Tech Group: Storage months Tech Group: Storage 2 TechTarget Research Demand Generation in the Age of Intent 4

5 This continued engagement directly impacts MQL acceleration: Most B2B marketers score leads based on both initial and continued content consumption and engagement with your brand, making recent and relevant leads essential to any revenue marketer s pipeline. Conversely, campaigns constructed with excessive filters force your lead generation partners to deliver less engaged leads (even if they manage to get them to download your content). Of course this isn t a factor for suppliers that use means other than promoting your content to an active and engaged audience in the first place. Marketer Takeaway: Partner with providers that can provide leads with proven recent activity on relevant topics, to hack your MQL and pipeline development. 4. Don t Buy Into the Big Company, Big Deal Myth Commonly held thinking suggests that only the largest enterprise companies can afford complex IT purchases. In the age of intent, we know that s not true. TechTarget Research has tracked and confirmed the details on more than 3,500 Data Center purchases in past 12-months. Here s a look at what we ve discovered about the market reality of deal size vs. size of organization: 70% of all transactions originate from companies of less than 1,000 employees Six-figure deals not bound by company size 53% of $1M+ deals from sub-1000 companies 46% of $250K-$1M deals from sub companies Limit targeting to company size and exclude up to 69% of in-market audience Marketer Takeaway: What we ve learned is today s market defies the belief that large deals come from large companies. Prioritize Purchase Intent Insight to better identify and influence deals and fuel pipeline by accessing companies that are actively researching what you sell instead of restricting your access to likely buyers based upon company size. This allows for maximum reach into active pre-purchase research for deals of all size, including large technology investments and ensures you don t miss out on a large percentage of prospective buyers. 5. Maximize Deal Points of Entry: Target Full Buying Team Buyer roles have changed and team-buying is the acknowledged reality for B2B technology purchases creating a need to engage at all levels of buying teams rather than focusing demand gen efforts solely on senior titles. Purchase Intent insight tells us that aspirational thinking regarding the desirability of targeting top titles must be adjusted to gain greater access to B2B technology deals. We have learned through our many years of identifying and confirming actual tech purchases that as technology evolves so do the titles most often influencing those purchase decisions. Here is how the numbers shake our based upon 7,000+ confirmed purchases across Data Center and Storage markets in past 12-months.3 Targeting less relevant, less active users can be up to 94% less responsive. 3 TechTarget Research Post-Purchase Market Insight Data, Data Center Technologies, Fall 2016 Demand Generation in the Age of Intent 5

6 #1 most efficient path to revenue is via IT Management role IT Management is nearly 3x more involved in technology purchases than Director + titles IT Management involved in 52% of tech purchases vs 19% for Director+ titles Lead-for-lead IT Management titles are 50% more likely to provide access to a planned purchase Focusing on Director level and above titles Title reduces points of entry into live deals by a whopping 81% Marketer Takeaway: Don t restrict your access to live, in-market deals based upon misconceptions of roles involved in purchases. Embrace buying team influence to maximize points of entry to deals relevant to your market. Percentage of Total Deals Percentage of Total Audience Director+ 19% 20% IT Management 52% 35% IT Staff 22% 21% Other non-it 7% 24% Summary With the rise in use of alternate demand generation channels and tactics that has witnessed even familiar suppliers sourcing contacts from unknown audiences, ensure you know what you re getting. Don t fall victim to the unintended consequences of flawed lead generation practices that undermine the very quality you seek Take a common sense approach to lead generation programs for B2B technology markets: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is Measure lead generation efficiency based on both short and long-term value of leads: Inexpensive leads that never convert cost exponentially more over time Partner with providers who can provide rich insight into lead activity to accelerate nurture and MQL generation efforts Embrace purchase intent insight as your first line of defense for uncovering in-market active buyers from sources you trust; avoid the temptation to attempt to dictate quality via demographic or firmographic restrictions Rather than restrict lead generation to when you are in market, consider an always-on, persistent lead generation strategy to access buyers when they are in market Demand Generation in the Age of Intent 6

7 About TechTarget TechTarget (Nasdaq: TTGT) is the global leader in purchase intent-driven marketing and sales services that deliver business impact for enterprise technology companies. By creating abundant, high-quality editorial content across more than 140 highly targeted technology-specific websites, TechTarget attracts and nurtures communities of technology buyers researching their companies information technology needs. By understanding these buyers content consumption behaviors, TechTarget creates the purchase intent insights that fuel efficient and effective marketing and sales activities for clients around the world. Dara Such is Vice President of Sales Enablement at TechTarget. Contact her at TechTarget has offices in Beijing, Boston, London, Munich, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney. For more information, visit techtarget.com and follow us on 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA TechTarget. All rights reserved. The TechTarget logo is a registered trademark of TechTarget. All other logos are trademarks of their respective owners. TechTarget reserves the right to make changes in specificationsand other information contained in this document without prior notice. The reader should in all cases consult TechTarget to determine whether any such changes have been made. Revised 12/19/16