DeeBee and the Intelligence League Versus the Diabolical MISTER E!
The story so far:
The B2B go-to-market (GTM) world is under siege from an insidious threat: The mystifying, mysterious MISTER E! This fearsome foe makes clouds of fog that causes account blindness, obscures buyer intent, and undermines account-based experiences.
Pressed to their limits, marketers cry out for a hero. And DeeBee is here to answer the call! Read on for their incredible origin story, a gripping tale full of action, adventure, and advice from marketing and sales experts of every stripe.
Our story begins….
Four brilliant scientists: Demandbase, Engagio, InsideView, and DemandMatrix, combined their powers to create the ultimate hero helper!
With DeeBee’s Account Intelligence superpowers, even the most mild-mannered marketer can beat MISTER E
and become a hero to their audience!
“I… I can’t see anything!”
Any town. Any city. Present day.
Marketers peer through the gloom, trying in vain to pierce the mind-numbing fog of MISTER E and get closer to their prospective buyers.
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a helicopter… no, it’s a really big pigeon…
No, it’s… the superlative Dr. Natalie Petouhoff and Jay Baer!
Jay Baer
Founder, Convince & Convert
"The best way marketers can get smarter about personalization is to combine it with segmentation.
Too often, marketers hear that consumers desire personalization, and then try to conjure it by customizing a tiny slice of a mass-market communication execution.
A better approach is to use data to not only personalize WHAT you’re saying, but to WHOM you’re saying it.
The less-effective way is emails that are just a mail merge. This is “Pointless Personalization."
A better way is an ad, email, landing page, chat bot utterance, et al. that says “65% of customers who own the software you bought six months ago add these
two options within 60 days. Would you like to hear
about them?”
The ONLY people who see that message are the customer(s) who are in that exact scenario. That’s “Personalization with a Purpose.”
The key is capturing information about customer behavior and scenarios, not just basic data points. And then, integrating that information in 1:1 communications that transcend the typical batch-and-blast."
Use Data to Personalize Your Audience, Not Just Your Message
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“Getting smarter about personalization means overcoming fragmentation — of processes, software, departments, and individuals!”
MISTER E is always expanding his clouds of confusion… but Justice never sleeps! Automation can dispel the mystery mist — but how can you automate without losing the human element?
It’s the Amazing Carla Johnson and Mighty Michael Brenner!
I’m sending out messages, but I can’t tell if we’re reaching the right people!
There’s no response!
We’re doomed!
Look! It’s the uncanny Mario Martinez and the oracular Lee Odden, using ACCOUNT INTELLIGENCE to find the right people!
Look, kids! It’s Mighty Margaret Molloy
Personalization has to go deeper than mail-merge mad libs!
Automation works better when you
put people first!
Automation can actually help build customer relationships!
Account Intelligence helps make an amazing first impression!
Use predictive analytics to be the best answer!
It’s working!
At least… I think it’s working?
That’s one of the most insidious things about fighting MISTER E! Your degree of success is a mystery as well!
But how can we EVER know for sure?
I can help with that!
“Measurement should be built into your marketing from the ground up — see what you can measure and set goals accordingly!”
“I work alone.”
“I work alone.”
“I work alone.”
“I work alone.”
“I work alone.”
Integrate or fall behind!
Make sales and marketing a true team!
This all looks amazing… But I could never
do it. Where would I even start?
We’re glad you asked….
Great Caesar’s ghost! It’s Robert Rose, Ann Handley, AND Gerry Moran!
You know your audience…
but do you understand them?
Answer these four questions first!
Thanks, DeeBee!
With a little help, anyone can be a Smarter GTM™ superhero!
To Smarter GTM™!
Up, up, and away!
“That’s right! Understanding buyer intent
is all about understanding people — automation just makes it more efficient.”
Like Koka says, sales and marketing need to move beyond alignment and all the way to integration. Share goals, KPIs, data, and even your breakroom snacks! Well, maybe not that last one.
Carla Johnson
Global Keynote Speaker, Author, Marketing & Innovation Strategist
“Understand the customer experience you want to enhance or the problem you’re wanting to solve through automation first, then look at technology. When you keep what matters to your customer front and center, it’s a constant reminder that all of this work is about people first, and tech second.”
Start with Customer Experience to
Guide Automation
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Michael Brenner
CEO, Marketing Insider Group
“When it comes to automating marketing, there are 2 areas that are a real challenge: social media marketing and content marketing. Social media is filled with so much noise and the major platforms are really making it difficult to automate sharing to try and keep the bots at bay. When it comes to automating content marketing, I just don't think
AI-produced strategies, articles or videos have matured enough to produce measurable programs or meaningful content.
The priorities for marketers when it comes to automation are in lead nurturing and new customer onboarding / upselling. Lead Nurturing journeys should be created (and tested) in your email marketing platforms and automated with a trigger from your CRM. If you don't have a marketing automation platform that can tie these together, even simple tools like Zapier can kick off these automations. The same exact process should occur with new customers. An onboarding series of emails should kick off from your CRM helping new customers learn how to use your products, how to excel, and ultimately, how to discover other products you may sell.”
Focus Automation on Lead Nurturing and Onboarding
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Mario Martinez, Jr.
CEO, Founder, and Modern Sales Evangelist, Vengreso
The key to leveraging insights from either of these methods during the sales prospecting phase is for a seller to become interested in the buyer, so they can be interesting. How? Imagine a seller reviews all the insights from an account intelligence tool which shows the buyer’s interest is X, but a seller sends a template-based prospecting email which discusses Y. The result? The seller then loses the buyer on the first click of their message.”
Be Interested to Be Interesting
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1. Account intelligence tools
2. Buyer’s individual hand-raising signals
“To discern a buyer's intent, sellers should leverage:
Lee Odden
CEO, TopRank Marketing
“With competition for digital first business customers at an all-time high, demand for more relevant and personalized experiences is driving brands to find more effective ways to elevate their marketing. With predictive analytics, marketers can leverage data and advanced marketing technology to better target customers with more personalized offers and messaging across the customer lifecycle. Using predictive models to optimize campaigns, brands can become "the best answer" for their customers creating impact and driving marketing ROI.”
Use Analytics Insights to
Intelligently Optimize Campaigns
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Margaret Molloy
Global CMO, Siegel+Gale
“It is critical to simplify. Begin with clear business goals and map programs accordingly. Relevant goals include growth and stakeholder engagement. Track to a simple measurement framework and cadence.
Tips: Pay attention to the numbers, but don’t neglect qualitative data. Remember that stories bring the metrics to life and improve understanding of impact, especially outside the marketing department. Resist the temptation to track every metric.
Always ask: What will we do with this metric? Finally, dedicate 20% of resources to experimentation and expect some “poor” metrics.”
Experiment with Metrics and Tell a Data Story
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Koka Sexton
VP of Client Services and Marketing Technology,
Spear Marketing Group
"Goals need to be identified first and both sales and marketing should align all activities around those goals. By focusing on integrating marketing and sales systems for better analysis, your teams will see the entire buyer’s journey. See how many opportunities there are and how fast they’re moving. Conduct full-funnel reporting and ROI measurement. Identify what is and what isn’t working so they can work as a unified unit to resolve it.”
Start at the Beginning for Sales and Marketing Alignment
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Pam Didner
Sales Enablement & Content Marketing Keynote Speaker & Workshop Coach, Relentless Pursuit
“One of the easiest ways to align sales and marketing is to invite each other to planning sessions: Have sales present at marketing planning sessions and vice versa. During marketing's planning sessions, teams can identify joint initiatives or sales can provide feedback on marketing campaigns and content planning. Marketing may not need to act on all the feedback, but it's important to understand where sales is coming from.”
Swap Planning Sessions to Align Sales and Marketing
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Robert Rose
Founder and Chief Troublemaker,
The Content Advisory
“The first step is to understand what audiences are asking for, rather than what the brand wants to answer. Too often, B2B marketers assume that the asymmetric relationship between a buyer’s research needs and the desire to fulfill it, makes the buying process easier.
Spoiler alert: it often makes it harder. We find that today’s successful marketers are focusing on providing less information to make the research process fuller, and more content designed to make the buying process easier. But to do that, you must first understand your audience’s real needs.”
Make the Buying Process Easier for Your Audience
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Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer,
MarketingProfs
"A GTM strategy should crystalize step-by-step how an organization will engage with customers to convince them to buy a specific service or product, generally with an eye toward gaining market share, a competitive advantage, world domination. (LOL on the last one) (But not really)
Or so popular thinking goes.
“What if a better GTM strategy is not about "convincing"—but instead starts with something
more fundamental: Who will use it? Who will buy it? Why does this product/service matter to them? And why are we the best choice to deliver it?
Answering those 4 questions first makes the path less about convincing and more about crafting your story as truly the only choice.”
Answer the Whos and Whys
to Guide Your GTM Strategy
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Smarter Go-To-Market
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But don’t take our word for it: DeeBee’s assembled a top-notch team to help make the case. Read on for the thrilling, informative adventures of DeeBee and the Intelligence League!
TM
Measurement starts with clear goals!
Marcus Sheridan
President/Partner, Marcus Sheridan International/IMPACT/River Pools
One of the metrics I care most about as a
marketer is this:
Average content consumed per customer vs average content consumed per lead (that does not close).
Interestingly enough, most companies don't actually know what this delta is, but as soon as they do, it creates the perfect target for sales teams to say,
"OK, I know that if this prospect consumes __________ content, then closing rates will dramatically increase. So here's my plan to make sure my prospects do
just that."
Ultimately, the only way this work is if sales:
1. Knows the content that is available in their toolbox for sales enablement.
2. Has easy access to it.
3. Has been trained on how to intentionally and
strategically integrate it into the sales process.
As you might imagine, few sales teams can check all three boxes.
Find Your Content Marketing Delta
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Gerry Moran
Founder and Principle, Marketingthink Consulting, LLC
“Teach people how to fish, and they'll figure out you are selling fishing poles—and buy yours. Good content is needed to set up and reel in the sales. It's the right bait.
Sales and marketing teams need to collaborate on content development, organic and paid social media plans, social selling programs, and SME development. A brand-to-demand approach supported with educational content, social-selling skilled sales professionals, and internal influencers will help teams succeed.
Focus on fishing with the right bait—valuable and well-timed content—to catch the best prospects at the right time.”
Sales and Marketing Should Collaborate End-to-End
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Valuable and timely content is the key!
TM
Dr. Natalie Petouhoff
Chief Empathy Strategist, Genesys.com
“Start the sales process by selling directly to your best-fit, highest-value accounts by having your marketing and sales team collaborate to determine who those customers are and how to create highly personalized buying experiences tailored to meet their pain points as well as drive their business growth right from the start—this will make them customers for life!"
Sell Directly to Your Most-Valued Accounts
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Here’s how to get a clearer picture of your prospective customers!
"We can help with that!"
MEANWHILE...
Account Intelligence is your indispensable ally in smarter sales GTM! For even more punch, add predictive analytics that can analyze buyer signals!
Technology makes amazing acts of sales and marketing possible. But it takes teamwork to save the day!
Alas, MISTER E is frequently accompanied by his nefarious sidekick, E NERTIA! Change is hard… but it’s not optional!
Reveal Natalie's Superpowers
Reveal Jay's Superpowers
Reveal Michael's Superpowers
Reveal Carla's Superpowers
Reveal Mario's Superpowers
Reveal Lee's Superpowers
Reveal Margaret's Superpowers
Reveal Marcus's Superpowers
Reveal Michael's Superpowers
Reveal Koka's Superpowers
Reveal Pam's Superpowers
Reveal Robert's Superpowers
Reveal Ann's Superpowers
Reveal Gerry's Superpowers
Look! Up in the sky!
It’s a helicopter… no,
it’s a really big pigeon…
No, it’s… the superlative Dr. Natalie Petouhoff and Jay Baer!
