Forrester`s “Message Framework”

Valuable Message Development & Delivery
in the Context of Sales Enablement
Peter O’Neill
Forrester Research, Inc.
Jim Mooney
RO|Innovation
Cynthia Hester
VMware
Rhett Livengood
Intel Corporation
Featured Speakers
Peter O’Neill
Vice President, Research Director
Forrester Research, Inc
Rhett Livengood
Director of Enterprise Solution Sales Development
Intel Corporation
Cynthia Hester
Director, Global Customer Reference Program
VMware
Jim Mooney
CEO
RO|Innovation
Agenda
1. Forrester Research Message Framework
2. Real World Examples
– VMware
– Intel Corporation
3. Sales Enablement Technology
Valuable Message Development In
The Context of Sales Enablement
Peter O’Neill, Vice President, Research Director
Forrester Research, Inc
RO|Innovation Webinar,
August 2014
@poneillforr
Message
Messenger
+
Audience
What do buyers think of your messages?
“… Considering the material you receive from sales people, how much do you agree with the
following statements about the content you are provided?”
I usually scan the information, then throw it
in the trash.
Vendors give me too much material
to sort through.
Much of the material is useless.
Business decision makers (N=159)
IT decision makers (N=160)
Combined “agree” and “strongly agree” responses
Base: Senior-level IT and business executive decision makers at companies with 1000 or more employees.
Source: Forrester’s Q4 2013 North America and Europe Executive Buyer Insight Study
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Marketing is context-based in the Age of the
Customer
Traditional campaigns
Interactions based on
offers
Seller
Buyer
Context-based marketing
Interactions based on
needs
Seller
Buyer
Need
Offer
Respond
Match
Engage
Fulfill
O-R-F
N-M-E
Source: May 7, 2008, “Community Marketing: A New Discipline For Business Technology Marketers” Forrester report
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
7
Agenda
Profiling your buyers is the basis for your message
development.
A framework to ensure your message sticks in the
right place.
Message and content auditing as a standard
operating process.
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Agenda
Profiling your buyers is the basis for your message
development.
A framework to ensure your message sticks in the
right place.
Message and content auditing as a standard
operating process.
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Remember your audience is a combination of
various buyer types
Offer Complexity
The buying process ranges
from…
Negotiating a routine
procurement
to...
Driving a business
transformation
Aggregator
Driver
Negotiator
Decider
Knowledge transfer
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Messages have archetypes, too.
Message
2. Map
Messenger
3. Match
Audience
1. Model
You need to agree on your archetype descriptors.
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Agenda
Profiling your buyers is the basis for your message
development.
A framework to ensure your message sticks in the
right place.
Message and content auditing as a standard
operating process.
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
O-R-F depends on familiarity
ENGAGE
DISCOVER
EXPLORE
ASK
USE
BUY
Offer-Respond-Fulfill
Marketing (“old“)
April 14, 2014, “The Customer Life Cycle: A Blueprint For Customer-Obsessed Enterprises” Forrester report
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
N-M-E starts with the fine art of being found
ENGAGE
DISCOVER
EXPLORE
ASK
USE
BUY
April 14, 2014, “The Customer Life Cycle: A Blueprint For Customer-Obsessed Enterprises” Forrester report
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
N-M-E continues with content that bonds
ENGAGE
DISCOVER
EXPLORE
ASK
USE
BUY
Buyer Engagement a la “N-M-E“
Leveraging the L2R process to bond
digitally with buyers as they prepare for their
buying decision.
April 14, 2014, “The Customer Life Cycle: A Blueprint For Customer-Obsessed Enterprises” Forrester report
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
The content portfolio varies by archetype
Offer Complexity
Business transformation
• Company brand values
• Thought leadership/education
• Case studies
• Business decision makers
• Many content consumers
Product functions
• Plus business benefits
• Lower level decision maker
• Few content consumers
Knowledge transfer
Source: July 29, 2013, “Establish Your Content Marketing Life Cycle” Forrester report
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
While the content-conversation mix varies
Conversation
Conversation
Conversation
Conversation
Content
Content
Content
Content
Conversation tunes marketing content to the buyer‘s scenario
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Link marketing content and sales conversations
 Account managers are in the role of “content concierge”
 Create (internal) content about the marketing content
 Tag each content asset: audience, sales stage, next step.
 Provide sales guides/battlecards around content programs.
• Thought leadership: What is the thought? Who? Why?
What?
• Forrester Wave™ reprint: Where are we good/not so good
— why, what do we say about it?
 You need a platform to make your content
available to your sales force – ideally on the road
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Forrester’s Messaging Reference Model
MESSAGING
MESSAGING
Your
message tells buyers what they want to know (goal, value
MESSAGING
MESSAGING
perception)
MESSAGING
Your
message
tells
buyers
what
they
want
know
(goal,
value
Your
Yourmessage
messagetells
tellsbuyers
buyerswhat
whatthey
theywant
wanttototoknow
know(goal,
(goal,value
value
perception)
It
positions who you are (initiative type)
perception)
perception)
ItItpositions
type)
Documents
why
you
are
different
unique (value perception)
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whoyou
are(initiative
(initiativeand
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type)
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(value
perception)
It
is tuned towhy
the
of and
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Based
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tuned
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each
involved
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Based
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and
ininfixing
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Moving
them
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journey
(value
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Basedon
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their
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Moving
along
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(value
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Addressing
their
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outcomes
(goal)
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them
along
theirbuying
buyingjourney
journey
(value
horizon)
Addressing
their
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outcomes
It
could be supported
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Leadership
content
Addressing
theirdesired
desired
business
outcomes(goal)
(goal)
ItItiscould
designed
both for use
in sales Leadership
conversations
and buyer’s
be supported
by Thought
content
research
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Install a content audit process
› You need to continually review your content library
regardless of size or market
›
In addition to message consistency:
• All content pieces should have a “use by“ date
• All content asset should be tagged: audience, sales
stage, next step.
› Record usage and withdraw unused pieces
› Measure effectiveness and rework ineffective pieces
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Content audit checklist - message
Each piece of content must pass these audit test questions
Message Effectiveness Questions
Has the content piece expressed a unique vision - an achievable end-state?
Is the “message” implicitly but clearly positioned?
Is one target-role audience clearly being addressed?
Does the content piece address the buyer's impact proposition with clarity?
Can the content piece be used in more than one buyer journey stage?
If not, is the content piece matched to the appropriate buyer journey stage?
Is there a “call to action”/trigger to move the buyer along their journey?
Does the message align to other content pieces?
If the content piece references products, is that justified?
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Content audit checklist - effectiveness
Content Delivery Effectiveness Questions
Title
Call to action
Channel(s) used
Last Audit
Buyer-Role(s)
Expiry Date
Content Delivery Effectiveness Questions
Is the content piece being used by buyers?
Is the content piece being recommended/distributed by Sales?
Is the content piece improving revenue velocity or conversion rates?
Do you know how the content piece performs by content channel?
Have you optimized the content piece with A/B tests?
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Also audit your organization and process
Nine key indicators of maturity in organization and process
1. How do you research the buyer journey: their needs and preferred channels?
2. Do you map your marketing content against the buyer journey?
3. Do you use buyer personas to guide your content creation?
4. What resources are involved in your content creation? (mix external/internal)
5. Do you manage an editorial calendar for your content?
6. Does your company have a “chief content officer” role?
7. How many of these 13 content types have you used in the past six months?
8. Do you tag your digital content for search engine optimization (SEO)?
9. Do you maintain a library of keywords and tags?
Score each answer from +2 to -2
Source: October 17, 2012 “Content Management Process And Organization Capabilities Assessment”
© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
You know: Some things just don‘t change
Customer magazine first published by
the John Deere Corporation in 1895.
Now available in more than 40 countries
and in 12 different languages
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© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Mobile first?
Image source: Todaymade (https://todaymade.com/)
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Thank you
Peter O’Neill
+49 (0)69.959.29839
poneill@forrester.com
Twitter: @poneillforr
blogs.forrester.com/peter_oneill
© 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
Now Speaking…
Cynthia Hester
Director, Global Customer
Reference Program
VMware
Intel Testimonial
Intel ‘Have It Your Way’ Reference Content
Three main
tabs
Dynamic
“What’s New”
content
Special
interest subsections
Browse your
own way: by
business
challenge,
geo, industry,
or technology
Content
delivered by
persona
30
Registration, Chat, Personalization, Communities
Bridging the Gap
Sales and Marketing Leaders Bridge the Gap with a
REVENUE BRIDGE
Chief Sales
Officer
Chief Marketing
Officer
•
Traditional Approach:
–
–
•
CMO creating content, Case Studies, Videos
CSO always asking for more
Issues with this Approach:
–
–
73% of Marketers believe that Sales doesn’t use their content
Over 48% of the time Sales is making their own marketing
materials to send to prospects
Driving L2R with
Sales & Marketing Alignment
“RO|Innovation is the global sales enablement platform for
Misys. With its link to Marketo it’s the holy grail of B2B
Marketing: automated Account Based Marketing on the fly
by sales. Really cool!”
-Chris Adlard, Misys
• Centralized repository & analytics
• Integration with Marketing Automation systems
• Fostering conversations that “bridge the gap”
Voice of the Customer
Right Info, Right Time
Send the right asset at the right rime with pre-filtered,
recommended customer references & marketing assets
within the Opportunity record in Salesforce.com
Disseminate Content
Reading Digital Body Language
Real-time alert emails let sales reps know when a prospect engages with your
sent materials for more timely, relevant follow up.
v
Tailor follow up
conversations by knowing
WHO engaged, WHEN they
engaged (and for how long),
and WHAT assets they
engaged with.
And Mobile Too!
Q&A
THANK YOU!
www.ROInnovation.com
sales@roinnovation.com
Twitter: @RO_Innovation