What is Always-On How LinkedIn Marketing — and Why Do Enables Effective 1 You Need to Embrace It? 4 Always-On Marketing 4 18
How to Establish a An Always-On 2 Solid Foundation 5 Approach in Action 8 27
Best Practices for 3 Excelling at Always-On 6 Conclusion 14 32 1 What is ALWAYS-ON MARKETING and WHY DO YOU NEED TO EMBRACE IT? WHAT IS ALWAYS-ON MARKETING — AND WHY DO YOU NEED TO EMBRACE IT?
An “always-on” approach to marketing delivers significant business benefits for B2B marketers. That’s because today’s B2B buyers are self- Always-On Marketing Defined educating on desktops, laptops, and mobile An always-on marketing approach means you marketing started with websites, which devices are “always-on” for business. Because engage your audience through conversations were on 24-7-365. You would never think buyers are “always-on,” your content strategy and by nurturing relationships over time, of turning off your website. It is quite must be too. After all, content never sleeps. It’s rather than sending one-sided, short-term literally always-on. Similarly, marketers consumed at work and during commutes, over messages. It means consistently delivering keep their search engine marketing coffee and in between meetings, on every possible relevant content through the buyer’s journey efforts always-on, never turning off their gadget, and in every time zone around the globe. from awareness to consideration to purchase. keywords. And now marketers, because they can precisely target their audiences, An always-on approach to marketing requires great Marketing is no longer about episodic are also including social media and content — content created for and distributed in campaigns; it’s about a continuing, always- display advertising as part of their every stage of the buyer’s journey — so this guide on dialogue. In the digital realm, always-on always-on programs. focuses heavily on content marketing. Always- on marketing is content marketing, and content marketing is always-on marketing.
B2B Decision Makers Are “Always On” For Business:
69% 73% 51% research business products are researching during spend time researching during their workday the evenings on the weekends
4 > What Is Always-On Marketing — and Why Do You Need to Embrace It? In this always-on world, always-on marketing As they search for the right destinations to find In the same way, the world’s professionals are means delivering the right content, at the the best information, buyers are gathering in coming to LinkedIn specifically to connect to right time, on the right device — at every stage fewer places in large numbers. Think Amazon brands and their networks, and engage with of the buying process. But you need a content for buying consumer goods, Google for high-quality content. And that’s good news strategy that will resonate with today’s buyers, finding information across the web, Facebook for marketers like you, because LinkedIn is who demand more and more from potential for connecting with friends and family, and the place where you can nurture relationships vendors. In a world abounding with choices YouTube for watching videos. and scale your content strategy to drive — and with the bar set high by consumer quality leads. companies — your potential customers judge you based on their experience of interacting with your brand, and that includes your content. THE 4 MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS FOR BUYERS’ WILLINGNESS TO ENGAGE WITH A VENDOR The experience they long for is one that saves them from drowning in a sea of irrelevant content and information. Understands my company’s business model
Just like you and me, B2B buyers crave a streamlined way to access the knowledge they need to make their purchasing decisions. In Is a subject matter expert/thought leader fact, LinkedIn’s global research found that the top four most important factors influencing a buyer’s willingness to engage with a vendor all Provides valuable consultation, education, or tools involved knowledge and information, as the chart to the right demonstrates:
Knows my company’s products/services
5 > What Is Always-On Marketing — and Why Do You Need to Embrace It We’re Not Just Recommending Other Companies Give This A Try — We’ve Done It Ourselves
Our LinkedIn Marketing Solutions’ team harnessed an always-on marketing approach 100,000 to reach more than 100,000 followers on our MAY 2016 LinkedIn Showcase Page in two years. How LinkedIn Marketing Ensure image always matches messaging
Solutions Surpassed Test length of updates 90,000 (found 150 characters of Since we launched our LinkedIn Marketing 100,000 Followers fewer perform best) Solutions Showcase Page three years ago, APRIL 2016 three key themes have emerged as pivotal in 70,000 80,000 creating an always on, relevant, and effective JANUARY 2016 MARCH 2016 Incorporate more A/B content strategy: testing using Direct Sponsored Content
Post 3-4 times a day Test everything 65,068 DECEMBER 2015 Visual is the new headline 60,000 Launch more Sponsored Content NOVEMBER 2015 Campaigns (mix of Incorporate more quotes lead generation, brand Organic is good. Paid is better. and stats into our imagery awareness and thought leadership plays) 40,000 50,000 JULY 2015 SEPTEMBER 2015 Experiment with themes Change social headers (e.g., ‘Monday Motivation’) every 6 months and posts without links Sponsor top-performing 24,675 organic content DECEMBER 2014 Publish only rich media posts (Visual is the new 30,000 headline!) APRIL 2015 Test posting at different times on day and watch engagement LEGEND
3 keys to engage your target 10,000 with content Test everything MAY 2014 Visual is the new headline Organic is good. Paid is better BORN JANUARY 2014
6 > What Is Always-On Marketing — and Why Do You Need to Embrace It 2 How to ESTABLISH A SOLID FOUNDATION HOW TO ESTABLISH A SOLID FOUNDATION
Before you devise an always-on content Sales and marketing alignment. While it Content Types that Are Effective According to B2B strategy, you need to figure out where you are was once up to the sales team to nurture Marketing Ececutives Worldwide, by Stage of the Buying Cycle, Jan 2015 today. And if you’re like most marketers, you leads, marketing plays a major role here % of respondents need to carefully consider three main elements as the buyer’s journey has moved online. of your strategy: Forrester Research estimates that as much as 90 percent of the buyer’s journey The B2B buying process. Buyers want is complete before a prospect reaches to gain insights into the forces and trends out to your sales team. That means your transforming their industries. But you’re marketing team must find ways to inject not just talking to a single person within a itself into the process from start to finish. company. Because B2B buying decisions are Simply put, your content is standing in often made by a team of people, you need to for your sales team until buyers in the deliver those insights and knowledge across target account are ready to speak to a the organizations you’re targeting. salesperson. Moreover, recognizing that B2B purchases are made by accounts Content and social media distribution. rather than individuals, you need to get While buyers need product information, in lockstep with sales and their account- they also want deeper knowledge in the based approach. form of thought leadership. As you develop and distribute this useful information — and a variety of content — don’t overlook the “Content marketing was deemed power of social media. According to a Regalix study, social media factors into the most effective marketing every stage of the purchase process, from tactic by a group of B2B marketers awareness to implementation to advocacy. surveyed in North America, In fact, B2B buyers don’t just work with receiving a rating of 7.8 out of 10.” colleagues inside their companies when – eMarketer making purchase decisions — they also consult their peers on social media.
8 > How to Establish a Solid Foundation As you think through these issues, rate yourself How much of your content is educational/ on these key indicators for success: thought leadership vs. company specific? Your content needs to accompany How well do you understand your buyers’ prospects down the path to purchase, research/purchase process, information and that means it needs to address their needs and preferences? issues, concerns, and needs at every stage. A content strategy is worthless unless it’s In the early stages, they’re usually most based on satisfying the wants and needs of interested in educational content and the target audience. thought leadership, while they tend to look for company-specific content as they move How frequently do you publish content? further down the path. The goal is to deliver You need to keep prospective buyers a mix of all content types. engaged until they are ready to make a purchase. And that means you need to How do you empower your sales team deliver a steady stream of relevant, useful with content? content throughout the buyer’s journey. Once prospective buyers are ready to engage with your sales reps, the Which of your content is gated vs. ungated? conversation changes hands — it’s no Research shows that buyers are not always longer between marketing and the buyer; willing to register for content, often due it’s between sales and the buyer. That to the fear of being inundated with phone means you need to make your sales team calls and emails from vendors. As a result, aware of all the content being consumed some leave without registering, while throughout the buyer’s journey. That way, others provide false information. With that your salespeople can ensure a seamless in mind, you need to carefully determine transition as they guide the buyer through which of your content will be freely the final stages to purchase. available and which you will put behind a gate.
9 > How to Establish a Solid Foundation Is your content available across channels? How much and what type of content do you You can’t possibly predict when and where provide to existing customers? potential customers will want to consume It’s easy to forget that existing customers your content. So you should make sure it’s require nurturing too. In some cases, available in all the channels where they they may be prime targets for additional spend time. And make sure your content purchases. At the very least, they are one — including your landing pages — is step away from being your biggest fans — if optimized for mobile. you help them effectively use your solution. With that in mind, develop a content What is the site visitor experience with your strategy that also addresses landing page forms? existing customers. Just like they do in their personal lives, businesspeople want a simple experience Do you test and optimize the content interacting with potential vendors and consumption experience? consuming their content. To that end, make One thing is certain: you can always sure it’s easy to fill out a form in exchange improve. So once you’ve devised and for your content. launched a content consumption experience, continually test and iterate to drive better results.
Three steps to develop thought-leadership content: 1. Understand what stakeholders in target companies believe. 2. Develop and articulate a well-informed point of view. 3. Frame a story in terms of the value delivered to help buyers see new possibilities.
10 > How to Establish a Solid Foundation ALWAYS-ON MARKETER MATT HEINZ President, Heinz Marketing
LINKEDIN: How do you define Always-on marketing has knowing that early stage always-on marketing? expanded from the website to engagement with prospect is search (you’d never turn either of critical. It’s now starting to build MATT HEINZ: This is a world where those off). And now it’s expanded some awareness in connective tissue ‘‘We’ve buyers have more control and more to include display, retargeting, between our brand, our messages, power than they ever did. They are been very paid social advertising as and a story that might resonate not going to be confined to the 45 components of always-on internally for that prospect. So, you successful minutes of the webinar you’re doing marketing. Have you expanded know, LinkedIn certainly makes that a next Tuesday or the 15 minutes your with using your definition of always-on and lot easier with a pretty precise ability sales team wants to have with them are you using these additional to get in front of the right prospect. LinkedIn to next week to talk about capabilities. tactics as part of always-on Your prospects are working all hours, get in front programs that you’ve worked on? Tell us a little more how you’re and they want to access information using LinkedIn for marketing. of the right in real time. So, your ability to manage HEINZ: Yeah, we certainly have and people at the that relationship is far more difficult increasingly so. We’ve got a number HEINZ: We have many clients that than it used to be, but if you take of clients that are doing enterprise are actively using LinkedIn Sales right time. advantage of the combination of the sales, and they’re doing account- Navigator. I personally use it as a daily right content in the right place with based marketing. We’ve been very part of my process and can’t imagine the right psychology, you can ensure successful with using LinkedIn to get doing sales without it right now. that your prospects are researching as in front of the right people at the right And we certainly are using the they’re learning. time. We are very much engaged in marketing solutions on LinkedIn trying to develop a set of targeted awareness with the right prospects (Continued...)
11 > Always-On Marketer: Matt Heinz ALWAYS-ON MARKETER MATT HEINZ
(Continued)
as well. If you’re using LinkedIn and putting the right Ideally, you’re creating constant value far earlier than messages in front of the right people, then I honestly the buying process when they’re simply researching and think it’s as close to on-to-one marketing as you can get. learning and educating themselves. You have to be ready In many cases we have a very narrow, very precise idea of not just on your own site and your own channels, but be who we want to target, and we can get very precise with available wherever they may be. It could be searching, it our messages. Sometimes it’s just getting reinforcement could be on a trade publication, it could be at an event. of a particular message or brand or vision or story line, It’s all part of a buyer-centric, customer-centric marketing so that (prospects) are more apt to engage in the sales program. Clearly, you increase your ability to connect conversation. I think sometimes in B2B marketing, we and convert by being always available and always-on. have lost the art of brand awareness. We’ve lost the idea and the prioritization of earning the attention not just What’s working when it comes to being always-on? now, but in the future. HEINZ: I will say that the commonality is the increased efficiency at generating many opportunities at a lowering Is always-on a term that resonates with the cost of new opportunities. In many cases, I am actually marketers you’re working with these days? seeing my cost really go up. If I am being precise, if I HEINZ: We don’t often use always-on marketing as a am doing enterprise sales, if I am doing account based term, although I like the concept. The way we think marketing, my cost per impression, my cost per lead may about it is just a buyer-centric approach to sales and go up, but I really don’t care about cost per lead. I care marketing. We don’t control when we have access to the about my pipeline contribution, I care about buyer; we don’t get to control when they have access to closed deals. us. We need to be ready when they are ready, and ideally it’s not just when they want to learn about your product.
12 > Always-On Marketer: Matt Heinz 3 BEST PRAC TICES for EXCELLING at ALWAYS-ON
BEST PRACTICES FOR EXCELLING AT ALWAYS-ON
As a B2B marketer, it’s never been more Once you’ve pinpointed the right company buy and can benefit by using your solution. In important to invest in — and optimize — your types, focus on identifying the people within other words, you’ll be focused on generating content engine. But how do you stand out in those target companies who will be involved high-quality leads. Finally, you’ll want the most a sea of content? How can you fully embrace in the purchase. Interview a sampling of fitting prospects to choose your solution — and always-on in a way that provides utility for existing and potential customers, as well as perhaps do so more quickly over time. both you and your customers? We’ve done the anyone within your company who interacts With this in mind, audit your existing content heavy lifting and gathered best practices that with your customers. Your goal is to learn what to determine how well it maps to the buyer’s will help drive your approach. information buyers need at each stage of the journey and addresses the needs of your buying journey and what will trigger them to buyers. A good rule of thumb is to figure out Know your audience. move from one stage to the next. the key questions prospects need answered The foundational element of any content before moving from one stage to the next. strategy is a deep understanding of the Create great content throughout Also remember to consider their content audience you’re trying to reach — both the way the buying cycle. format preferences. your prospects go about researching solution You will associate many goals with your options and the information they need to content, likely aligned with the different stages Next you need to develop a plan for creating or make that purchase. Figuring out the topics of the buying cycle. At the start of the cycle, curating new content, and refreshing existing to cover is a matter of understanding what you’ll be focused on generating awareness and content for all key stakeholders on the buying information your buyers want and need. And interest, perhaps by positioning your company committee. An editorial calendar, for your you uncover that information by developing as a thought leader. At the next stage, you’ll blog and any other content you’re planning to buyer personas, which are composite be focused on helping buyers understand produce, can help you keep track of not only representations of your ideal buyers — the and compare their options — with the goal of the content you want to create but the content people you must engage and convert in order zeroing in on those who are truly looking to you want to repurpose. Remember that it’s to make a sale. The first step is to identify not solely up to you to produce all the content your ideal customer. Begin by isolating which needed to engage prospects at every stage of company types make the most fitting targets the buying journey. Instead, call upon a mix of for your offering. resources including colleagues in other areas of marketing, outside agencies, freelance writers, and third-party content.
14 > Best Practices for Excelling at Always-On Make your content work as hard as possible. before they are ready to engage with a sales The key to getting the most out of your representative. Here are three proven ways to content is having an aggressive distribution drive early-stage prospects to the next stage: and promotion plan that will ensure that your content gets seen. You must also select Driving site traffic using search, social distribution strategies that differ based on media, and advertising “B2B marketers who consider where the buyer is in the customer journey. Offer engaging content, such as blog posts, the long-term payoff of When engaging with prospects in the early white papers, eBooks, videos, and webinars content marketing upfront stage of their path to purchase, you are trying are seeing greater return on to gain mindshare with those not ready to Gate valuable content in exchange for investment (ROI) over time. purchase. With that in mind, your brand- contact details building activities should include a mix of Understanding that the buyer online and offline marketing strategies — so Measure it carefully and purposefully. journey is a long one, these you can reach prospects wherever they may be It’s critical to understand how your content marketers are taking the spending time. Think public relations, content will help you move prospective customers flywheel approach to content marketing, social media, blog posts, and along the path to purchase. Put another way, display advertising. it’s important to track and measure how well marketing. Spinning the you are answering prospects’ questions at flywheel means, first of all, In the later stage, you “nurture” prospects who every stage of their journey — and ultimately making the effort to dedicate have expressed an interest in your company or converting them to customers. Once you start resources to the program offering. Your goal is to educate and influence measuring the effectiveness of your content, and researching the target them once they are aware of your brand but your most relevant and engaging content will surface to the top. In other words, you’ll be audience — all before creating clear about the content that resonates with a single piece of content.“ your audience and triggers them to – eMarketer take action.
15 > Best Practices for Excelling at Always-On ALWAYS-ON MARKETER MEAGEN EISENBERG CMO, MongoDB
LINKEDIN: How do you define with more data and ability to create Can you talk about some always-on marketing? business rules and segmentation, specific always-on tactics that it’s more about the right persona, are effective for you at MongoDB? MEAGEN EISENBERG: Real-time channel, stage of the funnel, and right ‘‘You target targeted marketing is the definition I EISENBERG: We learn about every offer. I really think that’s only been would use. For us, at least in the B2B person that comes into our funnel. with them available to mainstream in the last world, it’s persona based. It’s very We collect information on their five to seven years. the right targeted. You know the size of their title or job function, their industry, business, you know the pain they’re interests and company revenue. As message How do you think of the buyer feeling, and you target them with the far as interests, we see what content journey and its relation to this at the right message at the right time. or product they download. Did they concept to this concept of always- trial or go direct to buy? If they are right time. on marketing? To what degree is always-on a customer, what kind? All that data something new? EISENBERG: I think you can segments them to the appropriate accelerate their journey if you use targeted nurture program and signals EISENBERG: It’s new in the sense always-on marketing in the right to us intent. We don’t want to spam that it’s only been in the last five, six, way. So, if you use the right channels you – we want to deliver the offer seven years that all size businesses and content, and you deliver at that you need and want. So, from had access to technologies and the right time, I think you improve an e- mail standpoint, the system is databases where we could get the their journey and hopefully you get checking all that data before it sends necessary information and act on it. more people along the way. And the next e-mail. It is always checking Ten years ago you would just send you shorten the sales cycle while the data and making sure it sends a bunch of e-mails out (what you retaining them longer. you the right content based on your would call spray and pray). Now persona and interests, and where you are in the buying process.
16 > Always-On Marketer: Meagen Eisenberg 4 How LINKEDIN ENABLES EFFECTIVE ALWAYS-ON MARKETING HOW LINKEDIN ENABLES EFFECTIVE ALWAYS-ON MARKETING
To succeed with always-on marketing, you need to get four things right: 1 2 3 4 AUDIENCE INSIGHT CREATIVE STRATEGY DISTRIBUTION TACTICS HOLISTIC MEASUREMENT Know Your Audience Create Great Content Make Your Content Work Measure Carefully Throughout the Buying Cycle as Hard as Possible and Purposefully
And with LinkedIn, you can accomplish all four of these elements. Here’s how.
1. Audience Insights: Know Your Audience. and make a purchase, potential buyers have 2. Creative Strategy: Create Great Whatever your brand’s potential audience, little reason to pay you a visit. But LinkedIn, Content Throughout the Buying Cycle. the reality is that most of that audience isn’t with its more than 433 million members, Ultimately you want your prospective buyers visiting your site. Until they need to research can help drive more of them your way. By and existing customers to view your company observing their habits and understanding as the experts on a certain topic. In other their interests, we can help you unlock secrets words, you want them to see you as “owning that spark ideas for engagement and give you the conversation.” So what’s the topic on which a competitive marketing edge. And with a you can share lots of expertise and offer an LinkedIn tag on your website, you gain insight interesting perspective? As long as this topic is 74% into who is seeing your content. Plus, because top of mind for your audience, you’ve identified of buyers choose the the tag identifies visitors by job title, industry, something to build a “content franchise” around. company that was first to add company, seniority, and more, you can tailor value as they are defining content to specific audiences. The next step is to get your perspective out there their buying vision. using a variety of content types and formats, aligned with the buyer’s journey. This can mean creating a range of content assets from scratch,
18 > How LinkedIn Enables Effective Always-On Marketing or repurposing content as the marketing team advertisements, to name a few) to extract 3. Distribution Tactics: Make Your here at LinkedIn has done successfully. One the most life possible from it. To that end, Content Work As Hard As Possible. highly effective tactic is to create what we reimagine your Big Rock in many different Once you develop content, you need to refer to as a “Big Rock” – or a deep dive on formats. Some people may prefer to read a promote it so prospective buyers find and a topic you want to own – often in the form short blog post or glance over an infographic. consume it. The professional publishing of an eBook, white paper, or other guide of Others may prefer to scroll through a LinkedIn platform on LinkedIn offers a prime opportunity some sort. This single piece of content can SlideShare. Still others may want to tune in to post your company’s original content power your always-on engine for months on for a webinar that walks them through all your and showcase your expertise. LinkedIn is end. Once you’ve developed your Big Rock, insights. Your job is to deliver your insights to increasingly a content marketing platform. you promote it using all the tools at your your target audience in the format they prefer, Plus, you will boost the impact of your content disposal (think PR, sponsored content, native in the channels where they spend time. when you publish in the professional context that LinkedIn provides. And you’ll amplify that impact through the social sharing that happens naturally on LinkedIn. EACH MAPPED TO THE BUYERS JOURNEY AND TIED Start by sharing your content in the places TOGETHER BY A RETARGETING STRATEGY where you publish content, such as your Company Page, Showcase Pages, and employee profiles. From there, multiply the impact by calling upon a combination of organic and paid media. Your brand generates free impressions via its followers on LinkedIn when you share Identify Needs Spec/Fund Vendor Choice Implement Manage Renew content via long-form posts, status updates, and SlideShare. (Remember: SlideShare is not
19 > How LinkedIn Enables Effective Always-On Marketing just a place to post your slide presentations— leadership content focused on provoking And don’t forget to build loyalty by continuing it’s a social channel where you can establish new ways of thinking, sparking discussions to provide helpful content once an account has your brand as a thought leader and authority and debates, and inspiring action. Once you converted to a customer. around topics and keywords.) To then expand earn your audience’s trust, expose them your targeted reach and get this content into to your products using case studies, best It makes good business sense to choose the hands of your target audience using paid practices, and other product-related content. LinkedIn as the foundation for your always- media, including LinkedIn Sponsored Content, And start capturing leads in exchange for on strategy. Our mission is to connect the LinkedIn Direct Sponsored Content, LinkedIn high-value content, using LinkedIn Autofill world’s professionals to make them more Sponsored InMail, and LinkedIn Display Ads. to streamline the process of filling out your productive and successful, and our vision (For more insight into how to get the most landing page forms. Keep in mind to share is to create economic opportunity for every from your LinkedIn campaigns, based on how content strategically, offering resources member of the global workforce. And that the marketing team on LinkedIn uses the such as infographics and webinars first, and makes us an appealing platform for the world’s platform, download the guide, “Spotlight on subsequently gating more substantial content professionals to spend their time. It should also Best Practices: An Insider’s Guide to Effective like eBooks. Until prospective buyers are ready make LinkedIn an appealing platform for you LinkedIn Campaigns.” to talk to sales, nurture them with content that as a marketer. After all, we are laser focused matches their interests and information needs. on creating a platform that will help you To further increase content reach and establish thought leadership, encourage your employees to share your content and their subject matter DATA: WE HAVE THE RICHEST PROFESSIONAL DATA SET expertise. To make all this as easy as possible, you can use Elevate, a LinkedIn product that helps your employees be social and share content across LinkedIn and Twitter.
Remember, an always-on marketing approach means your marketing never stops. To drive maximum performance at each stage of the buyer’s journey, continuously refine your message and your audience targeting. Earn prospective buyers’ trust with thought
20 > How LinkedIn Enables Effective Always-On Marketing meaningfully engage the people that platform for building relationships with the matter most to your business, so that you’re world’s professionals — at massive scale. in position to make the biggest impact on Increasingly, web traffic is concentrating your business. around a few indispensable sites, such as Google for search, Amazon for commerce, Because LinkedIn is the world’s largest Facebook for socializing, and YouTube for professional network with more than 450 video. LinkedIn is an indispensable site for the million members, it’s the most effective world’s professionals, and that’s crucial as you work to reach the buying committee across a company. In fact, on LinkedIn you can take advantage of powerful capabilities that allow you to target just the right people among that Three Reasons to Publish audience of professionals and start influencing Long-Form Content on LinkedIn them to make a purchase. Simply put, your brand adds to the LinkedIn experience, 1. The content you publish is attached because it provides more of the professional to and becomes a part of your content that is associated with the LinkedIn LinkedIn profile and positions you platform over any others. A survey by Content as an expert and thought leader. Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs found that marketers consider LinkedIn to be the 2. You can create an always-on strategy most effective B2B platform for reaching with your C-level team, subject matter their audiences. experts and employees by delivering your message with credibility and authenticity. Until prospective buyers are ready 3. Your posts have the potential to be to talk to sales, nurture them featured on LinkedIn Pulse and with content that matches their recommended to a much broader interests and information needs. group of members.
21 > How LinkedIn Enables Effective Always-On Marketing 4. Holistic Measurement: Measure Apply “test, learn and optimize” to your Carefully and Purposefully. measurement as well, calling upon the Finally, you want to measure the impact of following best practices to build and refine your always-on approach. While it’s perfectly your testing strategy: acceptable to track engagement and efficiency metrics — such as cost per click (CPC) — it’s Evaluate your team’s sales saturation also vital to track quality and impact in the level, i.e. the degree to which your sales form of conversions, marketing-impacted team has more leads than they are able pipeline and marketing-impacted revenue. to follow up on. Determine your sales You can use first-party data from LinkedIn to team’s capacity and adjust your lead validate engagement trends, website traffic operations accordingly. and lead form conversions. In addition, you Beta test new approaches to measurement can engage LinkedIn to run research that using the LinkedIn Insights Tag and explore helps you track changes in perception and audience validation of your website traffic. measure efficacy among those not engaging with your content. Run research to track changes in perception, like a Sponsored Content Brand Impact Study, which will measure efficacy among non-clickers.
Share insights around Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), Marketing Impacted Pipeline and Marketing Impacted Closed Deals with your lead gen partners to help optimize the targeting and content strategy.
22 > How LinkedIn Enables Effective Always-On Marketing LinkedIn Introduces Conversion Tracking for LinkedIn Sponsored Content and Text Ads
LinkedIn recently launched conversion With LinkedIn conversion tracking, you can: Record every conversion, every time: You tracking, a set of capabilities built directly can track conversions on your website from into LinkedIn Campaign Manager that enables Track the metrics that matter most: With desktop and mobile, whether members you to easily measure leads, sign-ups, content conversion tracking, you can track website converted after clicking on — or even after downloads, purchases, and other desired conversions from your LinkedIn programs just viewing — one of your ads. actions on your LinkedIn Sponsored Content directly in Campaign Manager. At a glance, and Text Ads campaigns. With conversion you can understand your LinkedIn advertising Optimize your campaigns to drive even better tracking, you can understand more about the ROI, conversion count, cost-per-conversion, performance: Monitor the specific campaigns, specific ads and even the unique LinkedIn conversion rate, and return on ad spend. You ads, and the nature of the audiences that audiences that are driving your conversions. can even track which audience segments are are driving conversions. You can use this What’s even better, this allows you to identify driving the most conversions. information to improve your Sponsored the seniority, industry, job function, location Content and Text Ads targeting, creative, and and company size of the people who are offers to maximize the downstream impact of becoming leads. lead and opportunity pipeline goals.
Cost Marketing Sales Marketing Revenue Per Lead Qualified Leads Qualified Leads Impacted Pipeline Per Opportunity
23 > How LinkedIn Enables Effective Always-On Marketing ALWAYS-ON MARKETER JENNIFER HWANG Director, Online Marketing, Salesforce
LINKEDIN: How do you define HWANG: The transformation has Talk a little bit about how you are always-on marketing? been channels, such as the social using LinkedIn and how it fits into and display, starting to develop an always-on program? JENNIFER HWANG: I call it evergreen a technology to be more direct ‘‘You can marketing. If you have something that HWANG: We’ve historically been response-focused, so that they you constantly have to deliver — for in direct response mode. We have actually can also be seen as a multi-brand example, for us it’s leads, we constantly been using LinkedIn as always-on channel. I think another thing that’s measure have to keep the lead flow going — we lead generation program. It definitely important about these traditionally have to keep that marketing program does drive quality B2B leads for us. success and upper funnel channels is that they going to deliver those quality leads. help fuel the intent upsurge. So, understand if I think it’s important to be always- What kind of tactics on LinkedIn running a LinkedIn campaign, a on, because especially in digital, you do you use: LinkedIn Sponsored this program Facebook campaign, or for example need to constantly be learning and Content? LinkedIn Sponsored an eBook offer, something that’s is delivering optimizing, and if you have sporadic InMail? higher in the funnel, will then fuel what I want campaigns it’s really hard to do that. somebody to turn into a HWANG: Most of what we do is it to deliver. real opportunity. Sponsored Content. Some of our With search, online display, social programs have found success with advertising and more, there’s been traditional Text Ads on the desktop. a transformation that enables And we’ve been dabbling more and marketing departments to build more with the LinkedIn Sponsored always-on programs. How are you InMail product. using the availability of always-on marketing at Salesforce? (Continued...)
24 > Always-On Marketer: Jennifer Hwang ALWAYS-ON MARKETER JENNIFER HWANG
(Continued)
Why do marketers have to have always-on How critical is mobile to an always-on program? programs these days? HWANG: I mean I think it’s definitely very critical to be on HWANG: The number one reason is because more and mobile, just because that’s where my people are these more people are on digital channels. They are online, days. We don’t have a specific mobile strategy per se, but and that’s where you can really reach them. And online we are on all of the paid social channels like LinkedIn is where you can really actually target them instead of and Facebook and Twitter. having just big, general, demographic information like on TV. You actually know more about these people (who are online), so you can try to reach the right people at the right time. You know they have consumed this content or they have been to my website or they have done X, Y, Z, so I want to show them this messaging, which is more specific targeting. There’s also the measurement piece of it. You can actually measure success and understand if this program is delivering what I want it to deliver. And you can turn programs on and off, usually fairly easily.
25 > Always-On Marketer: Jennifer Hwang 5 An ALWAYS-ON APPROACH in ACTION AN ALWAYS-ON APPROACH IN ACTION
It’s one thing to talk best practices and recommendations; it’s another to see what happens when you put them into practice. Here is how Intel used an always-on approach to drive results..
ALWAYS-ON CASE STUDY INTEL Intel Uses a LinkedIn Showcase Page to Connect with its IT Audience
IT managers and executives seek information authentic conversations. By creating a from a wide range of resources — social dedicated LinkedIn Showcase Page for the media, industry news publishers, review sites, Intel IT Center, Intel could more effectively company websites — to keep pace with the reach a network of over 11 million information rapidly changing business and technology technology leaders and business professionals. landscape. In this disruptive world, brands must increasingly cultivate authentic This always-on Intel IT Center Showcase relationships with IT leaders and professionals Page features content to drive relevant in order to be successful. conversations and encourage an exchange of ideas between IT, business leaders and Intel had a large reservoir of quality content, industry experts. By connecting the showcase and the brand was seeking new and innovative page to the Intel IT Center website, Intel was ways to deliver these insights to business able to expand the always-on aspect of leaders in an authentic, easily digestible, the program. engaging, and always-on way. Intel saw that the LinkedIn platform could help deliver insightful information and spark valuable,
27 > Case Study: Intel ALWAYS-ON CASE STUDY
“Utilizing LinkedIn to reach B2B IT leaders and The Showcase Page has more than 80,000 professionals helped us facilitate a dialogue, followers — proof that the Intel IT Center was build stronger relationships and better delivering by igniting quality conversations connect to the needs, wants and pain points of and matching user interests and our customers,” said Christopher Peters, Global skillsets with the right content. The Intel IT Business Marketing Strategist for Intel. Center showcase page is now the number one page followed by IT professionals in eight To optimize the Showcase Page content topics different global markets. and direction, Intel implemented a strategic listening campaign to identify the biggest Commenting on this always-on, content-driven areas of interest for IT leaders. effort, Peters said, “Content is an essential To promote the Intel IT Center, Intel deployed tool in connecting Intel to our customers. LinkedIn Sponsored Content to drive LinkedIn provided a unique way to facilitate awareness and engagement with the brand a dialogue and build new relationships and its growing IT community. LinkedIn’s with IT professionals about topics they care precise targeting facilitated the delivery of about. Content was the medium — but it relevant content to business and information was the social interactions, content sharing technology leaders, and the degree of and conversations that served to build a engagement was massive. social community of business leaders and IT professionals on the Intel IT Center.”
28 > Case Study: Intel ALWAYS-ON MARKETER CARA TABATCHNICK Senior Director, Global Digital Strategy, AIG
LINKEDIN: How do you define How have you implemented What results can you share from always-on marketing at AIG? always-on marketing at AIG? your always-on programs? CARA TABATCHNICK: Being present, TABATCHNICK: Content. Content. TABATCHNICK: We’ve reached more ‘‘It’s important active, and serving relevant content Content. We’ve built a three-year than 100,000 professionals through to our target audience, when they are partnership with LinkedIn and have their LinkedIn inboxes in a six-month to us to using the LinkedIn platform. been a huge fan of the LinkedIn period. We’ve added more than serve our Sponsored Content tool. We’ve taken 270,000 followers to our LinkedIn Why is always-on marketing an our content (all created in-house, via Company Page. We’ve had more than clients with imperative; is it simply because the our risk expertise), and turned it into 68,000 interactions with our content content and buyer is always-on? smaller “snackable” pieces of content on LinkedIn. We’ve had five No. 1 with engaging, eye-catching visual rankings for our LinkedIn Sponsored information TABATCHNICK: For a majority of our assets for LinkedIn. Content, where our Sponsored buyers, purchasing an AIG policy is a that adds Content was the best performing in longwinded process and done through Would you like to expand your five separate weeks. value. our insurance broker partners. We always-on marketing program? aspire to be our clients’ most valued Are there more initiatives you (Continued...) insurer; so it’s important to us to could be taking to build on your serve our clients with content and always-on approach? information that adds value. We know our clients utilize the LinkedIn platform, TABATCHNICK: We are already! so it’s important to us to constantly We are starting to leverage our provide them with valuable content. subject matter experts i.e. our CEO.
29 > Always-On Marketer: Cara Tabatchnick ALWAYS-ON MARKETER CARA TABATCHNICK
(Continued)
How do marketing regulations and restrictions in the financial services sector impact your always-on marketing, if at all?
TABATCHNICK: We go through a very rigorous review process on each and every piece of content (all reviewed by multiple businesses internally, legal, and compliance). We have context guidelines that were provided to us via our legal team — specific terminology that we need to use. But besides all of those restrictions — we’ve been able to build a pretty robust program at AIG — with LinkedIn playing a huge part.
30 > Always-On Marketer: Cara Tabatchnick 6 CONCLUSION
X > The Sophisticated Marketer’s Crash Course in Always-On Marketing CONCLUSION
Always-on marketing is about delivering a off in both the short and long term, converting help you deliver the right content, at the right steady stream of valuable content to your prospects into customers who ultimately time, on the right device — at every stage of the target audience. And it’s a must to engage become your biggest advocates. buying process — and measure the impact of today’s B2B buyers. With a solid understanding your efforts. of your audience’s most pressing challenges To achieve this goal, it’s vital to publish your and biggest aspirations, you can supply content wherever your audience spends time Ready to supercharge your always-on marketing? your prospective and existing customers and engages with content. In the B2B world, with compelling content that keeps them the LinkedIn platform appears high on that engaged throughout the purchase process list in survey after survey. But LinkedIn offers and beyond. By doing so, you develop the more than a publishing platform. LinkedIn GET STARTED type of reputation and relationships that pay provides a range of tools and solutions that
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32 > The Sophisticated Marketer’s Crash Course in Always-On Marketing Today, LinkedIn members number more than 450 million professionals. That’s more than two-thirds of the 600 million professionals on the planet, representing the largest group anywhere of influential, affluent, and educated people.
For more information, visit marketing.linkedin.com