NATE PRUITT<\/b>, Senior Director, Demand Generation at Shoretel<\/a>:<\/p>\n 1. Fully understand what it means to be an inbound marketer. \u00a0<\/b> MEAGEN EISENBERG<\/b>, Vice President of Demand Generation at DocuSign<\/a>:<\/p>\n 5. Measure effectiveness of all spend:<\/b>\u00a0 Draw a quadrant out on a slide and place the programs within the quadrant based on ROI, awareness.\u00a0 If they are not in the leaders\u2019 quadrant showing enough return, axe the program.\u00a0 Show the programs being cut and those that you will double down on.\u00a0 Having command line item by line item on what is working to drive revenue and what is not is very strong when asking for budget. \u00a0SUSAN VITALE<\/strong>, Chief Marketing Officer at <\/strong>iCIMS<\/a>:<\/p>\n 8. Analyze failure<\/b>:<\/b> More often than not, demand generation leaders are too focused on the next best thing without looking at the past. The key to future success is clear failure analysis. If you don\u2019t know how you have failed, then you won\u2019t be able to dodge those same pitfalls. Analyze and report back. Give your budget proposal a spine with data to support your claims. JAY MILLARD<\/b>,Chief Operating Officer at Amadeus Consulting<\/a>:<\/p>\n 13. Demonstrate they have a clear content and lead generation strategy.<\/b> JOHN SARICH<\/b>, Vice President Corporate Strategy at VUE Software<\/a>:<\/p>\n 19. Know the strategic direction of the business. <\/b> UMESH MALHOTRA<\/b>, Director of Demand Generation at Arena Solutions<\/a>:<\/p>\n 26. Share campaign metrics that cost the least and converted the most<\/b>, campaigns with the highest ROI. ALICE LANKESTER<\/b>, CMO\u00a0at\u00a0Friend2Friend<\/a>:<\/p>\n 31. Defend the budgets assigned to social and mobile:<\/b> US consumers\u2019 enthusiasm for social media is showing no signs of relenting, and time spent online continues to increase. \u00a0Social is no longer just Facebook and Twitter. For brands looking to drive awareness, it’s a social patchwork of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, What\u2019s App, SnapChat, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube and more \u2014 each with its own zeitgeist and rules of engagement. So marketers must first defend the budgets assigned to social and mobile and over traditional media and explain why assignments are made. Understanding, and showing, how the social ecosystem works for a brand\u2019s specific audience will both look brilliant, and be actionable too.<\/p>\n MARCIA KADANOFF<\/b>, CMO at\u00a0Bislr<\/a>:<\/p>\n 33. Change your metrics focusing on opportunities cost.<\/b> Measure an opportunity cost and percent of opportunities created \u2013 not just number of leads or cost per lead generated. HEIDI BULLOCK<\/b>,Senior Director Marketing at Marketo<\/a>:<\/p>\n 37. Tie your programs and initiatives to the key business goals and objectives<\/b> for the coming year.\u00a0 Identify the outcomes you expect to come from this investment.\u00a0 For example, if I am given \u2018x\u2019% more increase in budget, I will be able to deliver \u2018y\u2019 results. It is critical for marketers to begin to talk about investment, as opposed to cost.\u00a0 Your job is to grow the business, not be a cost center. JIM VAN MEER<\/b>, Creative Director, API<\/a>:<\/p>\n 42. Do your homework:\u00a0 <\/b>Make sure you have the facts and figures you need before you start. SARAH NOEL<\/b>, Product Marketing Manager at Flexera Software<\/a>:<\/p>\n 47. Show that your plans have the ability to produce clear results <\/b>on each and every activity. SHOW THE ROI! MILES BARRY<\/b>, Head of Marketing\u00a0at\u00a0MDSL<\/a>:<\/p>\n 51. Show that marketing contribution is tangible:<\/b> Have at least one copper-bottomed example of how a marketing programs or campaign generated tangible, measurable new business. Make sure Sales agree with your analysis. RANDY LITTLESON<\/b>, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Flexera Software<\/a>:<\/p>\n 53. Make sure you are 100% aligned with sales <\/b>on who you wake up every day targeting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What\u2019s the most frightening thing about this time of year? Is it ghouls, goblins and Halloween? Rich food and relatives? Another year having raced by? No, it\u2019s budgeting time for businesses. So before you head into the boardroom with your wish list, decide whether you\u2019re going to be like former President, George W. Bush who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,67,69,6,3,10,20,9,21],"tags":[44,92,83,43,47,37,75,98,76,77,46,25,85,38,22,72,23,28,94],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-branding","category-content-marketing","category-demand-generation","category-digital-pr","category-engagement-strategies","category-journalism","category-leadership","category-marketing-communications","category-sales","tag-apple","tag-b2b-marketing","tag-b2b-sales","tag-branding-2","tag-building-brand","tag-business-development","tag-content","tag-content-marketing-2","tag-demand-generation-2","tag-lead-generation","tag-leadership-2","tag-marketing","tag-mobile","tag-richard-grehalva","tag-sales-2","tag-sales-leads","tag-selling","tag-speaker","tag-thought-leadership"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n2. Marketers need to educate senior executives on how to make the transition from old outbound tactics to content marketing<\/b> and 100% focus on inbound.
\n3. It\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0happen overnight, but\u00a0the\u00a0vision of how to do it needs to be clearly outlined. \u00a0<\/b>
\n4. Once the “flywheel” gets going, it’s amazing how much you can lower your CPA rates and turn the company into a predictable revenue machine<\/b>.<\/p>\n
\n6. Show three budget options – Flat, Increase, Decrease<\/b> from prior budget cycle – and what you will be able to deliver with each.
\n7. Bucket by Acquire, Keep and Grow:<\/b>\u00a0 These decisions are all-important for marketing and the company to be effective in demand gen.\u00a0 When you are asked to start cutting, even if by line item, stop the conversation and ask:\u00a0 \u201cDo you want me to spend less on acquiring customers, keeping or growing existing ones?\u00a0 You tell me which bucket, and I will use my expertise and metrics to decide which line items to cut\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"training-how-to-become-better-sales-marketing-manager-leader-boss\"](\"http:\/\/socialagendamedia.com\/digital-pr-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/training-how-to-become-better-sales-marketing-manager-leader-boss.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n9. Identify leaky \u201csuccess\u201d buckets<\/b>:<\/b> Straightforward failures are easy to fix, but successful campaigns need to be analyzed as well. More often than not, demand generation managers are happy with initial ROI successes. They need to start looking at a longer time periods to see if it is consistently successful rather than just assuming it is, based on the initial numbers. Managers might be missing out on campaigns that could perform even better by not identifying areas of lead drop off somewhere in the sales cycle.
\n10. Know your benchmarks<\/b>:<\/b> It is amazing how often this is overlooked. Data means nothing without historical or industry data to compare against. Show off your success through comparison.
\n11. Audience is everything<\/b>:<\/b> As marketers, deep down we know what \u201cknowing your audience\u201d means. Well the same applies here – remember your audiences and to whom you are talking. If you want a plan approved or quick feedback, provide the feedback they want to hear. What does your budget proposal mean to them – not in dollars spent, but in dollars gained. How will your presentation benefit the company as a whole?
\n12. Enlist the troops: <\/b>You\u2019re not alone. If your staff is held to a portion of the team goal, enlist their help. While the Demand Gen Manager is the leader, it takes a team to get there. Have them pull the numbers you need and help create your proposal. This will help you build a better story to present with the ability to compile more data points in less time and your team will feel involved in the longer-term strategy goals. (You just renewed their engagement levels.)<\/p>\n
\n14. Focus on measurement through the funnel<\/b> and maintaining seamless tracking of the client experience.
\n15. Connect customer acquisition efforts to the actual sale.<\/b>
\n16. Measure ROI.<\/b>
\n17. Have an intelligent forecast for expectations.<\/b>
\n18. Own outcomes.<\/b><\/p>\n
\n20. Get into the financial #\u2019s and get detailed metrics<\/b> on the value of each and every marketing initiative.
\n21. Drive for perfection. <\/b>
\n22. Intimately know how each of your top competitors is doing<\/b>. Are you beating them or losing to them? Is their business growing faster\/slower than yours? What are the win-loss #\u2019s for each deal that you won or lost?
\n23. Know what marketing campaigns worked and why<\/b>, what campaigns didn\u2019t measure up and why.
\n24. Decide what you are going to different <\/b>in the New Year.
\n25. Plan how you will achieve the pipeline goals<\/b> for the New Year.<\/p>\n
\n27. Show the value of opportunities created in the pipeline<\/b>, which are rated with a higher chance of converting next quarter.
\n28. Use quarterly lead growth percentage to show the trend.<\/b>
\n29. Compare the budget planned with the budget used.<\/b> Was the entire budget used? Do we need an increased budget? If yes \u2013 why?
\n30. Change campaigns that worked to top gear and multiply<\/b> spend on those specific campaigns.<\/p>\n
\n32. Look for ways to bridge audiences across social experiences:<\/b>\u00a0 Marketers should work to understand where their social audiences are most likely to be found and focus their efforts accordingly, and then looking for ways to bridge audiences across social experiences. It’s not only possible, but also highly effective to fuse experiences from myriad platforms together. When brands let each social platform do what it does best (cool mobile photos – Instagram; inspirational ideas in photos – Pinterest; shareable “as it happens” life content – Twitter; in-depth social conversations – Facebook and LinkedIn), and then work to allow sharing of the results across channels, the social impact is maximized. Just because the social fan base is hanging out in different places, doesn’t mean brands can’t build effective campaign bridges between those fragmented audiences.<\/p>\n
\n34. Create a \u201cdo not nurture\u201d control group that is truly representative<\/b> \u2013 this is the single best way we know of to answer the question \u2013 what difference does lead nurturing make?
\n35. Stop arguing about attribution and hunker down on position-based attribution.<\/b>\u00a0 Showcase what marketing activities contributed to the most opportunities at first touch, at last touch. \u00a0How many marketing touches (on average) were required to get to a close\/won opportunity?\u00a0 What kinds of activities were these?
\n36. Simplify your lingo.<\/b> Forget about Chinese food. Terms like \u201cTOFU\u201d and \u201cMOFU\u201d make sense to a technical demand gen leader but don\u2019t link marketing activities to either revenue or opportunity created.\u00a0 They have no place in the boardroom.<\/p>\n
\n38. Create a content map that supports the yearly initiatives: <\/b>This should include a mix of thought leadership pieces and product-specific content.
\n39. Illustrate how your plan supports the goals\/initiatives: <\/b>\u00a0Show, which channels and content are best for top of funnel, mid funnel, bottom funnel.
\n40. Identify what you are going to do differently in the coming year:<\/b>\u00a0 For instance, identify programs, etc. you would not run again.\u00a0 Identify areas you would spend less on.\u00a0 It is important to be critical of programs or initiatives that did not perform and learn from them.
\n41.\u00a0Show how you measure your programs and overall progress.<\/b><\/p>\n
\n43. Don’t sweat the small stuff:<\/b> \u00a0Picayune items and the number of decimal points may interest the bean counters, but the executives making the call want the 50,000-foot level presentation.
\n44. Be short and sweet:<\/b> Don’t waste time getting to the crux of the matter. You need X amount of money to accomplish X amount of work, which will give X amount of results. Tie the results into dollars and watch their eyes light up.
\n45. Answer the six basic questions the board has before they have a chance to ask them: \u00a0Who, what, where, when, how and why?<\/b>
\n46. No fear:<\/b> You’ll never get to where you need to go if you fear what someone might say, do or think. You have to do what’s right, and if you do what’s right, what’s there to fear?<\/p>\n
\n48. Show a clear understanding of the target audience<\/b> and how you\u2019ll reach them at the right time with the right message.
\n49. Show how much revenue marketing has contributed<\/b> to the company\u2019s annual revenue figures.
\n50. For those organizations where it\u2019s important, give a clear insight into % increase in market share<\/b>.<\/p>\n
\n52. Know your figures and have a clear understanding of the marketing budget<\/b>, classified under specific headings (Events, SEO, Website Development, PR etc.) and separate activities. This will allow you to refute claims that \u201cthe marketing budget is out of control\u201d, \u201cmarketing spend has risen disproportionately since last year\u201d etc. by demonstrating clearly which sectors have increased or decreased and, by referring to specific sales achievements, why. Make sure \u201cBusiness travel\u201d (other than for trade shows, etc.) has been removed from the marketing budget.<\/p>\n
\n54. Make reporting relevant to the audience: \u00a0<\/b>If the boardroom is your audience, speak in terms of pipeline, bookings and ROI.\u00a0 While clicks, leads, etc. are all important \u201ctop of funnel\u201d metrics for marketing to understand and pay attention to, it\u2019s all about revenue growth in the boardroom and ROI.\u00a0 What works \u2013 Know what works (based on ROI and bookings generated).\u00a0 Understand which programs are working and which one\u2019s aren\u2019t and have plans to shift investment accordingly.
\n55. Understand the relationship between awareness and demand generation: <\/b>There are reasons to invest in some less performing campaigns from a direct measurement of ROI if you can show they increase awareness based on other metrics.
\n56. Understand your mix of investment in People vs. Programs<\/b> compared to industry norms.\u00a0 Demonstrate that you can deliver results in an efficient manner.
\n57. Marketing is still a bit of a mystery to many in the boardroom \u2013 especially to those who don\u2019t come from a marketing background.\u00a0 Don\u2019t lose sight of the forest for the trees <\/b>\u2013 demonstrate that marketing is contributing to the top-level metrics (bookings\/revenue) in a cost-effective (ROI) way.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get bogged down in a lot of details that the board isn\u2019t worried about \u2013 that\u2019s your job to manage and they expect that.<\/p>\nSo, it\u2019s budgeting time. Just how much marketing ROI, sales leads, conversions, content and tracking is enough and what should it all cost? Sleep on it, but don\u2019t lose sleep over it.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09<\/h3>\n
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Also read:<\/h2>\n
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