Are you forming a marketing plan for 2013? Below are my thoughts on doing it well; you can also get a PDF of these tips.
1. Own it.
… Or not. If you get the right B2B marketing pro in your corner, their advice should more than cost-justify. But you don't necessarily need a pro to develop a sound b2b marketing plan. You might reasonably self-serve if you place very high importance on, for example:
2. Soak it up.
… The data, that is. Hopefully you've been looking at least weekly at your analytics, and know what's resonated and reached your audience the best. If not, it's time to dive into those numbers. (And if you don't have such numbers at all, that's a Problem. You may need to switch your marketing platform and methodology so you're able to see what's working.)
See what is working and what isn’t measuring up -- what you can measure, you can improve. The Hubspot Calculator is a great way to sort out what you need to do and what might not be worth the time or money. Consider your growth goals:
Try to get a handle on what percentage of new revenue comes from inbound marketing now, e.g.:
Once you figure your lead-to-conversion rate, you can better calculate:
The best is to base answers on examples and statistics from your analytics. If you need sign-off on the plan, beef up your case by drawing case studies, examples, and data from Hubspot and MarketingSherpa. That way you will justify spending using real-life results and plan new programs based on actual trends.
3. Win
… The more spread out you are, the more resources you need to ‘win’ at execution. So keep it tight.
Which tactics are likely to be losers? Be wary of these, in general:
Factor in the effect of combining several tactics. Assuming your website is a hub for lead generation, consider building traffic and leads by combining search engine optimization with compelling blogging and social media promotions. Added together, these three tactics are much more than the sum of their parts. On the flip side:
Hubspot makes the case that companies that blog have 55% more website visitors than those who don’t, especially if SEO optimization and social media promotion is used effectively. So start sharing your knowledge with the world of potential clients.
Eyes on prize
Marketing is a means to an end. You need the quickest path to improved visit-to-lead ratios and improved profitability. That requires creating compelling offers that live behind landing pages designed to collect qualified leads. This can come in the form of:
Beware fluff
… It will be very hard to hit the targets if, after all the careful planning, the actual content offered is fluffy, boring, or obviously dated. It will be feasible to hit the targets if the content rocks and you put it behind a hard-working landing page then use a respectful drip email campaign to follow up.
Tell me how it goes
Hope these tips help you nail planning for 2013. Let me know.