SME strategy

Your Allies awarded Marketing Agency of the Year 2018

01/12/2018 by Linsay Duncan

Corporate LiveWire’s panel of judges nodded to our dedication to SMEs and to our ethos that growing businesses should have access to the same calibre of professional marketing as larger corporations.

Outsourcing marketing responsibilities can free SME business leaders free from the ties and restrictions that come with full-time employment, or often expensive contractors. It gives our clients to access proven strategic support and professionally executed plans – always with the freedom to dial support up or down, just as they need it.

Also highlighted was Your Allies’ (formerly Marke2ing) agile approach to maximising marketing investment through pragmatic budgeting. The judges saw this as a big plus for SMEs faced with industry, economic and social changes such as Brexit.

This SME-focus and agile approach were also acknowledged last year by the UK Business Awards when we were recognised for our Excellence for SME Marketing. We are looking forward to continuing to grow our support offering for SMEs throughout 2018 and if you are interested in learning more visit our services page.

Your Allies in James Caan’s Your Business magazine on “How to choose the right marketing resource”.

12/11/2017 by Linsay Duncan

No one said it would be easy. There are tough decisions that very business owner faces in their first couple of years of building a business. You want to do everything, be seen everywhere, but know that the business doesn’t have the resource (time nor money) to do it all!

So, where should you be focusing your marketing efforts?

This is a topic we discuss often with clients and on our blog. Recently we were invited to contribute to James Caan’s ‘Your Business Magazine‘ which is designed to help entrepreneurs and growing UK businesses make more informed decisions in their early years.

For the Autumn edition, James has brought together experienced contributors to share their practical advice on how to structure a business plan, how to recruit the right people and tips on using social media to your advantage.

Your Allies (formerly Marke2ing) contributed to the feature focusing on how to grow your audience and spread your business concept like wild fire! Founder Linsay Duncan, shared insights into how much businesses should spend on their marketing activities, and on which channels investment should be made. This touches on blogging being both an essential tool for establishing authority in a marketplace and for driving quality traffic to your website. She also shared tips for intelligently using advertising and sponsorship to accelerate brand awareness. Read more of the ten tips here.

In a separate article, we share our experience of how to approach selecting the right marketing resource for your business. Whether choosing an agency, freelancer or full or part-time employee, we outline the key questions to ask. These will help you to establish not only the quality of the candidate in front of you, but also how well they will fit into your company culture. Here’s how to choose the right marketing resource.

Sources, stats & benchmarks for your 2018 B2B marketing strategies and tactics

11/19/2017 by Linsay Duncan

It’s that time of year again. Not only the busiest quarter for many B2B businesses, but one that’s also cut short by the festive period. On top of that, there’s 2018 marketing strategies and tactics to be built. If only we could buy ourselves a couple of extra weeks!

Aside from finding the time to do it, there are unique challenges that come with assessing the many pieces of information you need for your next marketing strategy. Objectives and financial targets; budgets, changes in business direction/markets/products; developments in your market (Brexit implications); evolving marketing technologies; marketing people and resource… the list goes on. A complex group of internal and external influencing factors to consider.

Your strategy must continue to support bottom-line growth and well as have buy-in from senior managers. Plus, you need to predict what will continue to be successful in the following year. But where do you start when time is not on your side?

Fast forward to the best bits (i.e. the latest B2B marketing insights)

To help short-cut some of that research and thinking time, we’ve brought together valuable, up-to-date B2B marketing research and resources that will help:

inform your 2018 B2B marketing strategies and tactics – your budget, channel mix and content strategy
demonstrate the proof behind your decision-making.

Whilst this blog post won’t offer up all the answers for your unique situation, it will give you a sound and credible base to work from.

What B2B marketing investment looks like now

According to Katapult, B2B marketing budgets are growing, now taking an 11.3% piece of the overall company budget and averaging at 7.5% of overall company revenue.

This aligns with advice from Forbes & entrepreneur that suggests that established business invest between 6-12% of their gross revenue in marketing. Higher levels of investment should be considered (up to 20%) if you’re in a younger business.

For more guidance on figuring out on the right budget for your business read “Just what should my B2B marketing budget be?”.

2017 best performing B2B marketing channels

As well as a bottom-down approach in calculating necessary investment levels, there’s thinking to be done on how to allocate that across your channel mix. Using past performance is a good place to start but what if your data is incomplete, unreliable or you’re planning a complete marketing pivot?

Whilst, marketing spend is increasing, what that budget is spent on is highly varied across the B2B space. Thankfully BizBible shines some light on this, revealing the best performing channels in 2017 across different B2B industries.

(Image source: BizBible’s best performing B2B marketing channels article)

No big surprises seeing content marketing & SEO and WoM/referrals up there. These must be high up on any B2B marketers list of marketing priorities for 2018. But you’ll know best how to apply your own experience here and weigh these benchmarks up against the results you’ve seen each channel deliver.

Can’t get away from ABM and Growth Marketing

Account Based Marketing has exploded this year, but has actually been around for yonks. Key account marketing being one of its previous guises. Essentially, this is focusing marketing efforts on specific “hot” accounts. Growth marketing has received a lot of airtime in 2017 too. This means not just focusing on filling the top of your lead funnel but on concerted efforts to nurture the rest, in a measured way.

If ABM will feature in your mix and you want to better track performance, BizBible’s download is full of practical pointers: How to Measure ABM.

And PropelGrowth is an excellent port of call if you need to remind yourself of conversion rates for B2B marketing leads as they move from marketing inquiry, to marketing qualified lead (MQL), to sales accepted lead (SAL), to sales qualified lead SQL), through to sale.

(Image source: PropelGrowth’s B2B lead conversion rate article)

Getting your content marketing mix right

We’re advocates of inbound marketing being the backbone of any robust B2B marketing strategy. What’s more, this is backed up by data from PropelGrowth (and a host of other sources) which shows that content marketing and SEO is by far the most effective channel for B2B lead conversions. This is especially true for tech and software businesses. It’s also highlighted in this research infographic neatly presented by Bubblegum Search.

Not content with your content mix? (What type is most effective?)

Once clear on the part inbound marketing strategy will play in your overall strategy, next is to decide how to do this effectively. With so many different content options where should you focus your efforts for maximum return?

(Image source: Marketing Prof’s Top Digital Channels for generating B2B leads article)

According to Marketing Professionals, white papers drive the most leads for B2B businesses (at 53%) these are closely followed by webinars (50%) and case studies (44%).

Similarly, SmartInsights reveals that research reports are the most effective content type for lead generation. Closely followed by video (at 44%) and social media content (42%).

(Image source: SmartInsight’s Which content type generates the most leads article)

That said content marketing isn’t a clean-cut marketing tactic with VenueHarbour reporting that 48% of businesses have long buying cycles. And so, it’s likely that your B2B customer’s journey is complex, involving many touchpoints and potentially involving more than one person in the decision-making process. We cannot stress enough therefore, how vital it is to prioritise lead nurturing and follow-up processes. The B2B marketer ready to serve up answers, in the right format, to buyer questions at each stage of the cycle is well ahead of the game.

Good news here! HubSpot offers up sane, backed-up steer on the types of content which are useful at different stages of the B2B buying cycle.

Calculating the effectiveness of your lead generation activities

Early on in strategy building you’ll be setting KPIs, measurements and targets. There are three ways B2B marketing directors typically approach this:

Using in-house benchmarks based on reliable results from previous marketing performance.
Where in-house intelligence is lacking, industry and/or B2B marketing benchmarks can be applied to estimate likely leads, sales, ROI etc (see resources section below).
If approach 1 or 2 throws up some gaps, or leaves you with uncertainty (if the figures don’t look right go with your gut-feel), combine the two approaches and make some sane thumb-in-the-air estimates. Having something to begin benchmarking performance against is better than having no checkpoint!

This calculator by PropelGrowth can help create your own benchmarks for the number of prospects needed in your sales and marketing funnels in order to achieve your company’s revenue targets. All based on current B2B marketing conversion stats.

STOP! Ironpaper points out some important considerations if you’re basing lead estimates purely on industry benchmarks. As this is not a fool proof approach, be aware of the risks and consider their sane advice.

Time running out or have you hit a brick wall?

If time is slipping through your fingers and an extra set of hands pulling your marketing strategy together would help – drop us a line. Or if you’ve hit a brick wall with your planning, or are tackling a B2B marketing strategy for the first time, we can help. Just a few hours of our time might be all you need to be 2018-ready.

And finally… a bunch more B2B marketing insights

Sources on 2017 B2B marketing channels

The Top Digital Channels for Generating B2B Leads – Mar17, MarketingProfs

B2B digital marketing: the statistics & benchmarks that will impact your strategy – Sep17, by Your Allies

B2B Marketing resources – updated regularly with all sorts of juicy B2B marketing insights, by B2BMarketing.net

Sources on pipeline marketing and ABM

The 2017 State of Pipeline Marketing Report – 2017 by BizBible

In here you’ll find insights on budgeting and planning, marketing data management, top revenue generating channels, performance measurement and sales and marketing alignment. Phew!

How to Measure ABM – by BizBible

The 2017 State of Pipeline Marketing Report – 2017, by BizBible

Sources for B2B conversion rates and lead calculations

B2B Lead Conversion Rates – by PropelGrowth

B2B marketing tools and resources (including B2B lead calculator) – by PropelGrowth

What is a Good Conversion Rate? A Guide for B2B Marketers – Apr17, by Ironpaper

NB We strongly recommend you read this if you’re building lead estimates from scratch, based on industry benchmarks. This article points out the flaws in this approach and offers up considered ways in which to tackle this.

Sources on B2B marketing budgeting and investment

Five wise ways to invest your B2B marketing budget – Mar17, by Your Allies

Sources on B2B content marketing & lead nurturing

Which content type generates the most leads? – Sep17, by SmartInsights

How to Create Content for Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey – Aug16, by HubSpot

20 Lead Nurturing Statistics & Charts for 2017 – Sep17, by Venture Harbour

You’ve upgraded your marketing – now what?

07/19/2017 by Linsay Duncan

Your Allies guest blog from Jonathan Peachey, Metis

If you’re in the enviable position of already having marketing up and running, the leads starting to flow in, turning into new clients – then you may now be facing the challenge of how to deliver more work. How do you manage that growth? What processes do you need to take you from leads through to the delivery stage? Our colleagues at Metis have a few sound ideas about how to tackle this. Read on…

How’s your working life going? Are you finding that either you’re flat out delivering work or you’re desperately looking for more to do? We’ve seen feast and famine in many businesses. Getting the balance right is really tough. It’s because businesses don’t have enough information.

Under-8s soccer

Blaming feast and famine on lack of information seems a bit of a stretch. Especially when it looks like an under-8s soccer match, where everyone rushes around the pitch chasing the ball.

But we’ve seen this many times, including with the consultancies we serve at Metis, and we know that to get a steadier stream of leads and business through the door, you need to make the right decisions. And that depends critically on information.

Running hot and cold

For example:

To decide whether sales need to go faster or slower, you need a live view of the amount of work that will be delivered over the next, say, 3 months.
That information also affects resourcing – run too hot, and you’ll need to be planning ahead to bring in temporary or freelance staff. Lose sales momentum, and you may have people sitting around doing nothing.

And not all client work delivers the same profit. Let’s say that your marketing activities are bringing a constant stream of leads. If you know which projects and clients/customers are most profitable, you might decide to use the new business to replace less profitable accounts, rather than try to keep selling to them.

We usually find that the consultancies we serve actually do have all the information they need. The problem is it’s squirrelled away in spreadsheets and systems that don’t talk to each other and get out of sync.

We couldn’t find a ready-made solution for that when we ran our own businesses, so we built one. Metis’ award-winning cloud software brings together sales tracking, resource management, job financial control, timesheets and expenses. Because all the information is in one place and is up to date at all times, it can give you answers immediately, taking the drudge out of information-gathering and cutting the risk of taking decisions based on partial or conflicting data. It’s quick and easy to set up and use and comes with a high ROI.

Playing like champions

Now your people can play like the champions they are. You’ve picked the right formation, based on the team’s availability and what you know about the profitability of each customer. You can go out and market yourselves without feast and famine to contend with. The right software will be a foundation for growth and a means to get rid of the clutter of spreadsheets.

This, of course, is where marketing agencies like Your Allies come in. They can advise on all the different ways you can reach your target audience, and how to use each one to its best effect. And you can do lots for yourself, with services such as HubSpot.

Photo by Jonathan Petersson on Unsplash

How to choose the right marketing resource: 10 questions to ask

06/29/2017 by Linsay Duncan

Finding transformational B2B marketing resource

It’s time to decide. If you’re gearing-up to boost your B2B marketing investment through an agency, freelancer or in-house team, you need to get the screening process bang-on so you can be confident in your hiring decisions. But with a raft of potential options (and suppliers) at your disposal, not to mention a market awash with freelancers, how can you assess what’s best for your business?

Our outsourcing vs inhouse marketing guide may help, however no matter the type of B2B marketing services you choose, you need to truly believe in the people you entrust with your marketing. It’s too important to risk to amateurs. So you need to be satisfied that they’re experienced in helping businesses like yours, in your sector, at your growth stage, with your budget.

You’ll also need reassurance that they’re right for you on a cultural level. Bring in a big hitter used to chunky budgets and teams of specialist agencies and you might end up with great strategy but little hands-on support. Go too far the other way and your marketing could lack leadership, direction and effectiveness. Hmmm…

Questions, questions…

So what are the questions to ask before hiring a marketing consultant or staffer? The ten cracking interview conundrums we’ve come up with will help you bottom-out the calibre of the marketing professional in front of you. It’s not a full agency brief or marketing job description. And we won’t cover all the detailed checks you need to ensure your chosen marketer has the right paperwork – that’s one for you.

Read on and you’ll arm yourself with the killer questions that’ll separate the shiny but fluffy marketer from the down-and-dirty ROI-deliverer… and enable truly stellar B2B talents to shine through. Here we go…

Question 1: Tell me where you’ve done this before…

Start by looking to put your brand, business and precious marketing budget in safe hands. This question is your chance to dive headlong into your candidate’s background, creds and experience. Focus on whether they know what’s important for a B2B business at your stage of development. Ask them to quote examples of previous B2B successes and outline the real cost of B2B marketing. Can they offer a strategic steer as well as rolling their sleeves up and mucking in?

Question 2: What’s your core area of expertise – and where will you need external support?

Let’s be honest. It’s rare to encounter the full marketing deck of cards in one person. However, to pick up the marketing reins and build high performing B2B marketing from the get go, you’re going to need someone with a broad skillset, able to manage multiple marketing disciplines, either on their own or through trusted suppliers. Look beyond your current position and imagine what’s coming next. Don’t just focus on skills that address your current pressure points – you’ll need to hire the talent to catapult you beyond your current travails and into your next phase of development.

Question 3: How will you get to know my brand and my business?

Here’s your chance to see how your candidates or agencies propose to get under the bonnet – and their willingness to get to grips with the details. This is where agencies and in-house contractors might differ. Marketers with in-house experience should seize the opportunity to show how they’ll walk the walk, seeing key stakeholders, taking road trips with Sales, talking to customer services and product development and getting stuck into competitor and client research. This is not a job for someone who loves their desk…

Question 4: What does ‘accountability’ mean to you?

In B2B, there’s no room to hide. And with every pound of budget to be cherished, accountability matters. So you’ll you need to feel confident they know how to track, measure and report success. Have they done this before? If so, how? Ask for details. After all, it’s their chance to stand up and be counted… and demonstrate they’re a rain-maker, not a big spender.

Question 5: How will you support and work in partnership with Sales?

This should be one of the most important relationships in your business – a partnership, not a rivalry, designed to generate revenue growth. So quiz your candidates on how closely they’ve worked with Sales in the past. Ask about the closeness of Sales and Marketing teams in their previous roles. Listen out for use of sales language and familiarity with the sales process. And if it sounds like Sales are the enemy, they’re probably not for you…

Question 6: What’s the biggest marketing challenge in a growing business?

Listen up for an issue that will resonate with you and your growing pains. Any marketing professional worth their salt will tackle this one gleefully and reflect the kinds of challenges that are keeping you up at night. Most importantly, they’ll show you that they know how to solve them – and use examples that draw on their previous problem-solving experience. P.S. A marketing challenge isn’t “I can’t find the right print supplier”.

Question 7: If we’re not cutting through, how will you turn things around?

Time to turn to the dark side. Don’t just imagine wins and strengths. Pick out challenging situations to bring out your candidates’ true colours. Stuff happens. Things go wrong. Strategies fail. So see how your potential marketer approaches cock-ups with remedies that’ll give you an idea of what really makes them tick. And because hypothetical questions aren’t always helpful – try and keep it real; around you, your businesses and your real world issues.

Question 8: How will you connect to my market, competition and clients?

Time to separate the outsiders from the candidates who’ve done The Knowledge. So find out how close they are to your audience, your competition and your space. A skilled B2B marketer can reel-off a host of channels and sources. But will those be relevant to you? How do they keep pace with market evolution in your sector? Deep down, how much do they really know? Remember, you’ll rely on them to stay current and move ahead at the speed of change.

Question 9: How will you help grow my business?

This is the question that gets nitty with the gritty. Because what you need now might look very different in 6, 12 or 18 months’ time, test whether they’re sufficiently adaptable and capable of delivering beyond the next financial year. Find out how they’ll approach your longer-term marketing strategy, planning and execution. Ask for insights about current trends. Then introduce some of your more distant goals and assess whether they’ve got what it takes to get you there.

Question 10: How will you market marketing?

Investing in your marketing team means making it more visible and accountable, whether it’s in-house marketing or outsourced marketing. And your leadership team might need some convincing along the way. So your chosen marketer or agency will need to earn respect, demonstrate resilience, prove their worth (literally) and show they’re adding value to your business. What will they do to achieve this, and grow the profile of marketing (as a team and a discipline) sometimes in the face of internal resistance…

Get your essential guide to making B2B marketing work

A new approach to your B2B marketing, with a fresh infusion of talent, energy and expertise, can do more than sharpen your approach and focus your brand. The right people, whether they’re in-house or outsourced marketing specialists, can transform an unproductive line on your budget into an engine of growth at the heart of your business. It’s all down to you – and the people you choose. Download our free essential guide now for insight into how to build high-performing B2B marketing!

And one final question for you…

If you’re thinking of investing in professional B2B marketing services, there’s no time to lose. Why outsource B2B marketing? As a leading B2B marketing supplier in London we’ll be happy to enlighten you. To turbocharge your B2B marketing investment with our insight and experience

Additional reading

If you’re planning on interviewing B2B marketing agencies, take a look at Hubspot’s “7 Questions Every Client Should Ask Before Signing an Agency” (Jul 2014) and Entrepreneur’s article: “10 Questions Every Entrepreneur Needs to Ask Suppliers”.

How to grow your B2B business with professional marketing

04/10/2017 by Linsay Duncan

Transform your business into an engine of growth

So you’re in B2B, focused on serving other businesses. It’s possible you’ll be a small manufacturer, but it’s more likely that you’re a service business, in IT, marketing, property or professional services like management consultancy, finance or law. How’s it for you? How are you dealing with the post-Brexit vote, post-Trump, post-financial crisis world? And, in particular… how are your sales holding up? Not easy, is it?

Up to now, perhaps you’ve placed too much reliance on your sales team or account managers to find and retain clients. You exhibit at conferences, issue the occasional press release, tweet now and then. You might even have someone in-house who does a bit of marketing when they can find the time around their real job. So far so good, but is this low B2B marketing impact enough to cut through the endless noise from your competitors?

Passionate founders and skilled sales people can always find early adopters for new services. But there comes a point in your growth cycle when you need to create B2B brand awareness to reach a wider pool of new clients. And cold calling isn’t going to cut it.

Just think. Given the competitive pressure on your business, and current market uncertainty, isn’t it time to build a bolder and more impactful presence – so you’ll be more visible when your prospects are on the hunt for solutions. That’s where targeted, effective professional marketing is your best bet.

Introducing professional B2B marketing

Professional B2B marketing is the well-planned and structured variety normally found in larger corporates. A dedicated, quality resource – all focused on you and your brand. Too expensive? Think again.

Easier market access through digital and mobile channels, and more plentiful choice of skilled self-employed marketers has now leveled the playing field… assuming that forward-thinking SMEs play their cards right and use the playing field. Few do. And that’s your opportunity.

Of course resources, time and budget can get in the way. Or SME founders can’t find the right people to fit with a growth-stage business. But left ignored, it can lead to the creation of a growth gap. Referrals slow. The B2B sales pipeline is empty. Stagnation sets in.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Professional B2B marketing: transforming prospects into customers

Without dedicated professional marketing support, websites go out of date, social media gets patchy, PR opportunities are missed and there’s no-one to produce relevant content for potential customers.

All of which slows down the process of getting your word out there. Slows down educating customers about your expertise. Slows down building trust in your quality. And slows down turning the goodwill of existing, happy customers into referrals. In a 24/7 world, you feel like yesterday’s 9-5 brand.

Today, 24/7 is everything. Long before the decision stage, your prospects are out there, educating themselves about the challenges they face. It’s an overwhelmingly online task. Then, they’ll go on to find solutions – and assess suppliers. So much so, it’s said that by the time a potential customer gets in touch with you, as much as 70% may have already decided to buy (Source: Survey by Consumer Executive Board (CEB). In other words, you only need to push the remaining third of the way.

A professional marketing team will give you the strategy, talent and systems to make you more relevant, visible and helpful all the way through the buying cycle. So that when customers are ready to buy, you’ll be front of mind. And beat larger B2B competitors.

Professional B2B marketing: driving your sales

Sales people should sell. Get on calls, jump on planes, organise demos and attend meetings with potential customers. Yet all too often they spend far too much valuable time rectifying your lack of sales leads: sourcing contact details, cold calling, building Powerpoint decks and trying to deliver the most basic information about who you are and what you do. What a waste.

One of the most valuable (and quantifiable) effects of professional B2B marketing is time – the time your marketers give back to your sales team, by providing them with a sales toolbox so they don’t have to spend time on building sales materials.

Professional B2B marketers work hand-in-hand with Sales, identifying and profiling your buyers to understand their questions and business challenges, and stamping out poor lead management. Properly targeted B2B marketing investment will produce articles, videos, infographics and more – in formats that suit your target market – that get you found early in the buying cycle. All of which helps to add qualified leads to your sales funnel.

Professional B2B marketing: growing your business

From the outset, dedicated B2B marketers use the right tools from the marketing box to get you better known by your most relevant audiences. They develop persuasive case studies, shout about your successes, keep your digital channels current, stimulate referrals and more – increasing your presence and reputation in the market while enhancing sales leads and efficiency. In short, the net effect of fully resourced professional B2B marketing is growth. See how Your Allies has helped professionalise other B2B businesses’ marketing.

Set your marketing free to perform

Is your B2B marketing an engine of growth in your business? Time to find out. Our quick Self-Assessment tool is a tailored B2B marketing audit that’ll help you see where your B2B sales challenges could be lurking.