Gallery Book Overview

A competitive marketing strategy is built upon a deep knowledge of the market and a keen understanding of the competitive forces operating within that market.  The first chapter focuses on which resources to tap into to learn more about the market and the competition, and exactly why and how these resources are important. A marketing strategy that is rooted in knowledge about where the market is, where it is heading, and how everyone fits in, is strategic indeed.    

Organizations win when teams are aligned on key priorities and are working towards shared goals.   Chapter two discusses the importance of identifying shared priorities that exist among important marketing stakeholders, namely the Sales and Product Management stakeholders, and then embedding those shared priorities into the marketing strategy.  By doing this, marketing teams ensure their strategy is one that allows for all-round organizational success, while securing the much needed buy-in from these crucial groups

The primary purpose for any marketing strategy is to make a difference to the bottom line, that’s why it’s paramount all marketing strategies have clear revenue-centered goals.  These should be goals specific to: lead definition, lead volume, pipeline conversion, pipeline sourced amounts, and customer-life-time value; all while taking into account marketing spend.  Chapter 3 takes a deep dive into the most common and significant revenue-based goals and how to build these goals into the marketing strategy.

Effective marketing entails acquiring a deep understanding of the buyer. This is because insights gained about the buyer are embedded into the marketing message (chapter 5), the message is then embedded into the content (chapter 6), and the content is then mapped to a balanced media mix (chapter 7).  This chapter provides guidance on how to build a buyer persona profile, sheds light on other key audience personas, the Influencer and End-User, and showcases how they are all individually used within a marketing strategy.

A coherent, consistent message that is relevant to buyers, reflective of the market, and that is unique and different from that of the competition will very visibly stand out and grab attention. Chapter five provides direction on how to build a competitive and winning message for the market to achieve just that. The messaging framework created in chapter five is then weaved into the content strategy in chapter six

Content is king when it comes to B2B marketing.  And a robust content strategy is one of the most crucial elements in the entire marketing strategy. Once content has been deployed in the market its efficacy and relevancy is determined solely by those who consume it.   Chapter six hones in on how to embed the marketing message (from last chapter) into a content strategy; and it explores what the buyer journey is, and how to align content to that buyer journey. 

After creating a content strategy, marketers need to distribute that content to the specific channels where buyers are consuming information and researching solutions for their problems. Mapping content to a balanced mix of paid, owned, earned, and social media is paramount for diversifying one’s reach with their audience.  This chapter provides a well-rounded overview on what producing a balanced media mix means, what each media channel is, and why it’s important to have a balanced media mix within the marketing strategy.

Once plans have been solidified to distribute content via a balanced mix of paid, owned, earned, and social – it is then time to put the wheels in motion and execute.  Chapter eight takes a deep dive into each of the four media channels, and specifically discusses the best ways to implement on all the tactics that live under the media mix.   This chapter provides practical and actionable guidance on how to execute the media mix strategy.

A sales team that is equipped with the right resources to prospect, nurture, and close deals will by default boost the overall value of the marketing strategy. After all, there is a hand-off between marketing and sales, and qualified leads that make their way to the most capable reps means a greater likelihood of turning into closed-won deals.  In this chapter, clear direction is offered on how to deliver best-in-class sales enablement tools & technology that turn reps into  more efficient, effective, and higher-performing sales reps.

When marketing strategies are in-market and are being executed it’s critical to measure the success of the strategy on a regular basis.  This means measuring all of the individual but most pertinent components that make up the strategy – and categorizing those components by “who saw” “who engaged” and “who converted”.  Chapter ten discusses how to use goals, objectives, KPI’s, and benchmarks to effectively measure a marketing strategy and how to make adjustments for improvement.