The Marketing Trailhead
The Marketing Playbook
The Marketing Playbook
  • Introduction
    • The No-Fluff Marketing Playbook
    • Author
    • Join the Conversation
  • The Foundations
    • Know Your Playground
    • Marketing Team
    • Marketing Technology Stack
    • Lead Flow
    • Objectives and Channels
    • Content Production
    • Professional Survival
  • Marketing Channels
    • Outbound Sales
    • Referrals
      • Designing Referral Systems
      • Sample Referral Communication
    • Email
      • Webinar promo email
    • Content Marketing
      • Sample Content: An Article
      • Sample Content: A PR Release
      • Sample Content: A Legal Notice
    • Events
    • SEO
    • Facebook Ads
    • LinkedIn Organic in 6 Lessons
  • Marketing Frameworks
    • 4 Ps Growth Framework
    • Enterprise Marketing
    • Go-to-market [enterprise]
    • Growth Marketing
    • Small Business Marketing
  • Bringing It All Together
    • Marketing Strategy Sample 01
    • Marketing Strategy Sample 02
  • Good Stuff Collection
    • Marketing Mental Models
    • Advertising Mental Models
    • Marketing Principles
    • Growth Marketing Wisdom
      • Examples: Offer + Landing Pages
    • SaaS Wisdom
  • Business Wisdom
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Marketing Challenges
  • Target Customers
  • Competitors
  • Value Proposition
  • Messaging
  • Campaign Brief
  • Content
  • Revenue Targets
  • Marketing Budget
  • Sales Funnel
  • Marketing Initiatives
  • Channels
  • One Year Plan
  • Weekly Tracking
  • Hiring / Re-organising
  1. Bringing It All Together

Marketing Strategy Sample 01

A sample marketing strategy plan for a 'marketing technology' consulting firm helping businesses build connected customer experiences. | [use navigation bar on the right side for easy reading.]

PreviousSmall Business MarketingNextMarketing Strategy Sample 02

Last updated 1 year ago

Marketing Challenges

  • With new offerings added, a unified and coherent value proposition is missing.

  • Some marketing channels such as webinars are failing to get results.

  • Grow Sitecore implementation revenue to US $10M in the next 12 months.

Target Customers

Industry Verticals > Accounts (companies) > Prospects (Individuals)

In practice, this need not be a linear selection process. Marketing needs to plan this along with sales and executive leadership to arrive at target accounts.

Other approached could be:

  • Start with existing customer base >> Seek similar customers.

  • Start with ICP >> Apply some criteria to refine the list.

Target Industry Verticals

"Core verticals for us are manufacturing, heavy assets, retail, healthcare, banking" - Steve Tzikakis, CEO Sitecore, Sep 1, 2020.

The firm can identify its sectors based on:

  • Alignment with Sitecore's vertical focus to maximize channel partner support.

  • Sectors with customers offerings higher gross margin projects.

  • Competitive insights suggesting to either skip, collaborate for or enter in sectors addressed by its competitors. For example, ValTech seems to be focused on retail, finance, manufacturing, and CPG companies.

Target Prospect Accounts

Within the selected verticals, the firm can then segment and target customers basis:

  • Company size

  • Revenue growth.

  • Marketing platforms/technology in use.

  • Estimated investment in marketing technologies.

  • Higher need to build connected customer experiences.

  • Pain points.

A hypothetical example of a target customer account could be:

  • Retail companies

  • With more than 250+ branches

  • Across North America

  • Frustrated with mid-size MarTech solutions.

  • Actively looking for enterprise solutions.

  • New CMO or Customer Experience leader joined.

  • Known for technology adoption.

Target Prospect Personas

  • CMOs.

  • Brand Marketers.

  • Customer Experience Leaders.

  • CTOs, CEOs.

Competitors

Tear-apart the competitors' websites and communication. Make a live document out of it. Include the following points in the marketing tear-downs:

  • What are their key solutions (value props) and benefits?

  • What are the headlines, sub-headings; what body copy do they use?

  • Where do you lag or where do you stand a good chance to win?

Possible competitors (and collaborators):

  • MarTech Consulting Firms: ValTech, Horizontal, Epsilon, Publicis-Sapient.

  • Large IT Consulting Firms: Accenture, PWC.

  • Large Agencies: Digitas, Ogilvy.

Value Proposition

Click on each tab below to read the content within.

I have included two value propositions as a sample; more should be explored.

Enterprise marketers are struggling to create consistent digital experiences for their customers across multiple channels using marketing technology platforms suitable for mid-market firms.

Digital-native, as well as non-tech-savvy customers, who have adopted digital, are experiencing fractured brand presence across digital and offline channels making them indecisive about purchase decisions.

Use a single technology platform Sitecore - to create connected digital experiences across multiple channels - thoroughly aligned with the customer's journey.

Customers have a consistent brand experience, emotionally relate more with the brands (both conveying resilience), and can confidently make purchase decisions or engage in brand advocacy.

Marketers are struggling to make the most of their investments in enterprise marketing technology platforms.

As a result, their technology adoption timeline is longer than required, increasing overall technology adoption cost and loss of revenue due to delayed benefits of technology.

Work with us and experience complete transparency in Sitecore implementation projects and costs.

Faster Sitecore implementation, 100% utilization, and faster go-to-market with campaigns and customer experience programs.

Messaging

1) Use competitor marketing tear-downs, and value proposition design, to fine-tune the core messaging.

Example:

Create superior connected experiences for new world customers. | Achieve the highest ROI with your Sitecore implementation.

2) Keep the messaging consistent across:

  • blog

  • website

  • sales collateral

  • existing key content assets

3) Align the campaigns with the core messaging and value propositions.

Campaign Brief

Customers are showing resilience to come out stronger from the ongoing economic slowdown. Marketers are experiencing new consumer behaviors such as the adoption of digital technologies by a wider audience. At the same time caution is being exercised by digital-natives while engaging with digital experiences such as touch screens in public places. Brands can navigate this changing landscape successfully by building connected customer experiences using Sitecore.

With similar such themes, in alignment with the core value proposition, marketing campaigns can be run to generate demand.

Content

Once messaging is clear, along with keyword analysis, the following blocks of content can be developed.

  • Organize existing content systematically

    • example: separate out industry thought leadership work from "work from home" blog posts.

  • Create thought leadership content in the form of

    • White papers

    • Books

  • Re-purpose this thought-leadership content in

    • thousand of other avatars (blog, social media posts, videos) and distributed.

  • Customer enablement content

    • to drive product adoption - this includes internal emails, product nudges.

  • Pillar-Cluster content

    • Pillar pages include content around several sub-topics.

    • Cluster pages include detailed content on those sub-topics.

    • Pillar and cluster pages are then linked together.

  • Landing pages with detailed content for large-scale campaigns.

For an even more detailed take on content for marketing, read a separate section:

Revenue Targets

Grow revenue to US $10M in 12 months for Sitecore implementation services comprising of Sitecore Experience Platform, Sitecore Experience Commerce and Sitecore Content Hub.

Marketing Budget

Please note that this is a broad level distribution. The next level of distribution should by marketing initiatives. I would avoid a budget framed by the channel as it doesn't provide the right control.

Sales Funnel

A lead enters the funnel due to efforts on two fronts:

  1. Outbound sales.

  2. Marketing programs.

Leads via Outbound Sales

  • SDR (sales development rep) runs outbound campaigns using targeted emails, LinkedIn messages, and telecalls.

    • to generate leads

    • and qualify generated leads [ "do they fit the ILP - ideal lead profile?"]

  • These qualified leads are passed on to Account Executives (AEs)

    • to convert leads into opportunities.

    • and to convert opportunities into customers.

SDR-AE Lead Flow:

An outbound campaign by SDR ---> Lead generated and qualified by SDR ---> Lead assigned to AE ---> converted to an Opportunity ---> converted to a Customer.

Leads via Marketing Programs

Marketing programs -

  • use two sources:

    • Earned attention - content marketing, word-of-mouth, etc.

    • Bought attention - paid ads, sponsorships, etc. to generate leads.

  • which are qualified by MRR (market response rep) to either pass on to

    • an Account Executive (AE) to convert (then it goes to 'SDR - AE Lead Flow' (see above)

    • or worked upon by Marketing to nurture via emails to warm up for sales.

Outbound leads or marketing leads which don't get converted into customers are nurtured via 'stay-in-touch' campaigns. And whenever they show signs of 'ready-to-purchase', then they are put back into the sales funnel for AEs to re-contact (enterprise leads).

Marketing Initiatives

Four Buckets

Marketing objectives to be bucketed under the 4 headings:

  1. Demand Generation: Activities to drive sales in specified timelines.

  2. Customer Equity: Activities to make the most of acquired customers.

  3. Branding and Awareness: Activities to drive awareness to a larger audience.

  4. Shaping Markets: Activities to make the larger audience receptive via third-party recommendations.

Spiral Up

Generate demand, acquire customers >> serve acquired customers well, build and make use of customer equity to >> create further awareness to reach among a new audience >> make use of customer equity, and awareness to shape markets to further drive demand, acquire customers.

Three Owners

These marketing objective buckets are owned by three specialists in product marketing, demand generation, and brand marketing.

If the team size is small, then one individual may wear multiple hats. However, this distinction is important to maintain.

Without a good 'A' set-up i.e...

  • product marketing (customers, competitors, value proposition, messaging)

  • marketing technology stacks

  • the core thought leadership content and subject matter content (in pillar - cluster) format

...it is difficult to start with the objectives in 'B' i.e.

  • demand generation

  • customer equity

  • branding and awareness

  • shaping markets .....in that order.

This structure should sustain and accommodate a growing marketing function without causing chaos.

Channels

Here is a comprehensive list of channels for each of the four typical marketing objectives.

Paid For

  • Offline ads [ this should be under Brand and Awareness ]

  • Direct mail.

  • Paid ads:

    • Ad platforms:

      • Google Ads

      • LinkedIn ads

      • Facebook ads

      • Instagram ads

      • Native content ads

    • Retargeting

    • Other aspects that go with paid ads:

      • Ad copy and creatives

      • Landing pages

      • Ad optimization

Via Product / Website

  • SEO [includes content marketing].

    • On-page optimization - technical and content.

    • Offline optimization - content marketing.

      • Manual link outreach.

      • Automated link outreach.

      • Broken link outreach.

      • HARO.

      • Guest posting.

  • ASO.

  • ☛ Growth loops.

  • Widgets, free tools, games, quizzes, calculators, browser plugins.

  • Webinars, virtual events:

    • Webinars, virtual events. [ need to source speakers, email market] [tricky ]

    • Offline micro-events (product demos via customers)

CRO

  • Onboarding flow

  • Conversion tracking

  • User surveys

Sales Focused (Marketing's intervention required)

  • Platform integrations [ a big effort in itself].

  • Affiliate programs (could go with bloggers, influencers)

  • Offline micro-events (product demos via customers).

  • Referral programs

Channels Excluded:

  • Outbound Sales - excluded out of 'sales focused' demand gen channels since this is a fairly independent channel.

  • Business Development: Partnerships, re-sellers not included since these are sales driven channels.

Empower the advocates

  • Customer enablement to drive product adoption.

  • Customer engagement programs, product newsletters.

  • Create customer case studies, engage approvers (CMOs, legal, agencies at the customer's end).

  • Drive customer reviews on third-party review sites.

  • Forming and nurturing a customer council.

  • Reseller Advisory Council. [sales involvement].

  • Give company awards to customers.

  • Customer events. [overlaps with PR agency work area].

  • Drive NPS.

Voice Out

  • PR, Unconventional PR

  • Print ads, Outdoor media

  • Speaking, Evangelizing

  • Sponsor podcasts, newsletters, webinars, with media portals, industry bodies.

  • Events:

    • customer events*

    • industry events (booth, delegation, speaking, prospects meetups).

[*covered under 'customer equity as well]

Shape Opinions

  • Analyst relations

  • Win industry awards

  • Participate in industry benchmark surveys

  • Engage experts, advisors, independent analysts.

  • Contribute to initiatives by various industry bodies.

  • Reviews on third-party review sites. [included under customer equity as well]

  • Get listed on Product Hunt [ typically for early-stage SaaS products].

Build a Tribe

  • Build an email list, engage.

  • Organic social media marketing

  • Build a community

  • Crowdfunding

Join Other Tribes

  • Engage bloggers

  • Engage influencers.

  • Buy out a complimentary product/audience aggregator having an engaged audience.

One Year Plan

First, Demand Generation:

Address Bottom-of-the-funnel >> Middle-of-the-funnel >> and then Top-of-the- Funnel prospects.

The idea is to focus on demand generation first to meet revenue targets. And even within demand generation, reach out to those to the prospects first who are actively looking out to buy solutions (i.e. bottom of the funnel) and then move up using relevant channels to reach out to middle-of-the-funnel prospects and then top-of-the-funnel prospects.

And then, spiral up:

Demand Generation >> Customer Equity >> Brand and Awareness >> Shaping Markets >> Leading to even more demand.

Once demand generation is working to deliver on revenue targets, then activate the other three marketing objectives.

The progressive introduction of objectives and channels

The below table outlines the progressive introduction of channels and initiatives over a 0, 3, 6, and 9 months timeline to achieve those objectives. If you see new, it means that initiative and channel are added newly during that timeline.

Click on each tab below to read the content within.

Basic requirements ('A' in image above) are first to be put in place which will determine the success or failure of various marketing programs ('B' in image above).

Product Marketing

  • Customers - industry verticals, target accounts, prospect personas.

  • Competitors - ongoing tracking, marketing rip-apart, identify vantage points.

  • Value propositions - Fine-tune and document.

  • Messaging - Consistent messaging across the website, sales collaterals, social channels, LinkedIn, and build campaigns around those.

Marketing stack

Make changes only upon seeing the actual lead flow and talking to users. Current stack possibly in use:

  • CRM: Salesforce.

  • CMS: Sitecore.

  • Outbound Prospecting and Contact Builder: Seamless.ai.

  • Email tool: Mail Chimp / Mailjet + Stripo.

  • Analytics: Amplitude / Segment and GA integrated.

Demand Gen: Sales Funnel, Tracking, Analytics

  • Lead flow.

  • Conversion tracking.

  • Daily, weekly analytics reporting. Note down metrics at the beginning.

Clean-up and Enrich Marketing Database

  • Use a contact provider to acquire the entire set of relevant contacts at target accounts. Also, link the contact provider to the CRM for an always-updated database.

  • Import the list into the CRM database as leads; connect leads (individuals) to accounts.

  • Thus get a holistic view of relevant leads (individuals) at target accounts (companies).

  • This is perhaps the single most important aspect which is often ignored at many firms.

Basic Content Assets

  • Prepare sales collaterals.

  • Prepare all of the case studies - preferably in video format as well.

  • Pillar-Cluster content around key terms and the product.

  • Work on the website.

Outbound Sales

  • Set up or fine-tune outbound sales team.

  • Match outbound efforts and marketing programs.

  • Set up metrics and reporting.

Mistake to avoid: Few, ill-trained SDRs generate, qualify, and then pass on leads to many, well-paid AEs. Solution: SDRs are the first point of contact with customers. Reverse the team size. More well-trained, well-paid SDRs to generate, qualify, and then pass on leads to few AEs. 1 SDR to 1 AE doesn't work always.

Hiring / Re-alignment

[ see separate header ]

[ scroll up to view content in rest of the tabs ꜛ ]

Demand Generation.

Demand Gen.

Paid Channels (bottom of the funnel)

  • Continue to make the most of existing channels.

    • LinkedIn organic, ads.

    • Google Ads, Retargeting.

  • Revisit:

    • Ad copy and creatives.

    • Landing pages.

    • Ad optimization.

Outbound sales (bottom of the funnel)

  • Ramp up SDRs and AEs.

On-page SEO

  • Focus on content and technical optimization.

  • The company as well as product websites.

CRO

  • Carry out user surveys.

Customer Equity

  • Drive product adoption - webinars, email campaigns.

  • Engage stakeholders at the customer's end - their approval will be required for publishing case studies - online events, calls, emailers.

[ scroll up to view content in the rest of the tabs ꜛ ] .

Demand Gen. + Customer Equity new

Demand Generation

Paid channels (bottom of the funnel)

  • Continue with old channels; a channel or two may get dropped.

  • New channels could get added - FB, Insta ads, native content ads.

Outbound sales (bottom of the funnel)

  • Fully ramped up SDRs and AEs.

SEO (middle of the funnel) new

  • Continue with on-page technical optimization.

  • Ramp up offlline optmization:

    • Manual link outreach.

    • Automated link outreach.

    • Broken link outreach.

    • HARO.

    • Guest posting.

Customer Equity

  • Drive product adoption - get it automated, perfected.

  • Generate new case studies - PDF, web, video + get testimonial videos. new

[ scroll up to view content in rest of the tabs ꜛ ]

Demand Gen. + Customer Equity + Brand & Awareness new

Demand Generation

Paid channels (bottom of the funnel):

  • Fairly proven channels - continue full throttle.

  • Offline micro-events (product demos via customers). new

Outbound sales (bottom of the funnel)

  • Continues.

SEO, Content Marketing (middle of the funnel)

  • Continue with earlier action items.

  • Major case studies written, approval received, published. new

  • Webinars. new

Platform integration (top of the funnel)

  • Not applicable to consulting services.

Customer Equity

  • Driving product adoption continues at all stages. Gets perfected.

  • Continue to generate case studies and video testimonials.

  • Form a customer council of those who have succeeded with the product. new

  • Drive campaigns to gain reviews on third-party review sites. new

Brand & Awareness new

  • Drive PR around case studies.

  • Unconventional PR.

  • Seek speaking, evangelizing opportunities - tech, customer campaigns.

  • Sponsor podcasts, newsletters, webinars, with relevant media portals.

[ scroll up to view content in rest of the tabs ꜛ ]

Demand Gen. + Customer Equity + Brand & Awareness + Shaping Markets

Demand Generation

Paid ads (bottom of the funnel)

  • Fairly proven channels - continue full throttle.

Outbound sales (bottom of the funnel)

  • Continues.

SEO, Content Marketing (middle of the funnel)

  • SEO

    • Continue with on-page optimization.

    • Continue with off-page optimization.

Platform integrations

  • Continue acquiring new users.

Customer Equity

  • Conduct branded customer events - geography-specific. new

  • Launch customer awards - best use of our platform. new

Brand & Awareness

  • Continue with earlier activities.

  • Major content assets produced - preferably a book. new

  • Participate in physical events (Post-pandemic). new

Shaping Markets new

  • Start investing in analyst relations.

  • Nominate for winning industry awards. This should be done whenever the opportunity comes.

  • Engage experts, advisors, independent analysts, and consultants. Build content out of this.

[ scroll up to view content in rest of the tabs ꜛ ]

Weekly Tracking

Hiring / Re-organising

The below format can be referred to build a marketing team. In practice, existing skills and budget to be taken into consideration.

1) Product Marketing [ 1 person ]

  • A1: Product marketing - Competition tracking, analysis, customer analysis.

  • B4: Shaping markets - Analyst relations, expert/influencer relations.

2) Demand Generation [ 4 people ]

A2: Marketing stack

  1. Coder, web-developer - MarTech, On-page SEO (tech), Sales funnel, CRM, Database, Growth loops.

B1: Demand Generation

  1. Paid ads

  2. Lead nurturing

  3. SEO - Off-page + On-page (content)

3) Brand Marketing Content [ 5 people ]

A3: Content and Creative

  1. Generic content writer - deep content.

  2. Content re-purposing - writing skills + creative

  3. Industry analyst (agency, retail, or MarTech background)

  4. Creative - web and print creative, video editing.

B2: Brand and Awareness

  1. PR, social, events, digital sponsorships.

B3: Customer Equity

  1. Drive all activities related to customers:

    • Drive product adoption, ensure new case-studies are built, stakeholder engagement, customer council, customer events, customer testimonials, product newsletters. [ * can take the help of content team - overlap].

    • Customer deal analysis.

    • Customer reviews on third-party review sites # [ # overlap with 'Shaping Markets']

4) Outbound Sales [10 people]

  • Lead (1)

  • SDRs (6)

  • AEs. (3) (one for each customer segment)

[above numbers are merely indicative]

-end of document-

[Please scroll through the below-embedded file to see all the details or ] The file outlines customer targets (vertical-wise) and the marketing budget. Additionally, I have also calculated no. of AEs required in outbound sales.

Use the following chart to track details on a weekly basis. Scroll around within the embedded file to view data and graphs. All are dummy numbers. [ . ]

visit the original file
link to the original file
Targets, and Budget Distribution
Weekly tracking of MQLs, SQLs, Opptys, and Deals.
LogoGitBook
Distribution of marketing budget.
[image credit: Unsplash. Edited. Dummy image for demo purpose only]
Four marketing objectives owned by three specialists.