THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MARKETING LADDER TOWARDS BUSINESS GROWTH AND SALES SUSTAINABILLITY

A HIERARCHY OF THE SIX MAIN HEROS

A hierarchy of the six main types of marketing effectiveness from least to most commercially impactful according to a case study coming from B2B Institute at Linkedin in partnership with WARC and Lions.

It does explain well the hierarchy of marketing effectiveness which is important mostly for beginners in marketing and those who might consider themselves as advanced but they are challenged by non-effective marketing somehow in the process of their business growth.

I will cut it here into smaller digestible pieces in order to understand each step as a holistic approach to a healthy business expansion. This is what everyone wants. Right?

Let´s begin with the ladder's lower three levels emphasize smaller, shorter-term, more pragmatic, and direct marketing.

This type of marketing is effective for driving short-term sales (upcoming quarters), but it rarely makes a major contribution to long-term growth.

The top three levels are associated with larger, longer-term, more emotional, and wide-reaching marketing.

This marketing strategy promotes short-term sales while also building brand awareness and business growth over time (1-3+ years).

1.TRIGGER

A trigger stimulates any kind of response or interaction. Specifically, it is designed to generate online or offline responses, such as clicks, website visits, content downloads, event attendance, or interactions at some trade shows. These results do not yet indicate that the campaign generated a commercial return, but they do indicate that the work stood out and had an impact on the audience.

Campaigns should track and measure response metrics such as:

• Response rate • Campaign engagement (views, clicks, CTRs)
• Engagement and interactions at events/trade shows
• Interactions with the brand through website visits, app usage, and content downloads

Response metrics are typically assessed after a relatively short period of time - usually within three months of the campaign's launch.

Winning behavior tip:

#1 Don’t be a boring business

# 2 Demonstrate product benefits in surprising ways

2. LEADS

Lead Generator campaigns are intended to increase the quantity or quality of sales leads delivered to the sales team. They help sales pipelines by increasing inbound inquiries, lowering lead costs, and improving lead quality.

These campaigns work by encouraging prospective customers to identify themselves as leads by expressing an interest in a company's products or services.

Winning behaviour tip:

#3 Target insightfully

3. SALES

Of course, generating leads serves the purpose of eventually closing sales. Some campaigns aim to do this directly, without the assistance of a sales team. Others assess the success of sales leads that convert to actual revenue. Many lead-generation campaigns could demonstrate that they resulted in positive sales outcomes.

These campaigns work by converting visitors into buyers while creating demand for a company's products or services and persuading willing customers to buy them.

At this level, campaigns need to track and measure short-term sales metrics such as:

• Generation of incremental sales
• Increase in sales growth rate
• Increase in market share
• Reduction of cost per sale
• High revenue or profit ROMI

Short-term sales metrics can normally be

assessed after a relatively short period –

within three months of the campaign being

in market.

Winning behaviour tip:

#4 Prove your ongoing relevance

Short-term sales are critical for any business, but short-term sales should account for only about 54% of a B2B company's spend. The remaining 46% should be spent on long-term brand awareness, which has been shown to improve new profits and economic expansion outcomes.

Source: B2B Institute at Linkedin

4. CELEBRITY STATUS

Celebrity/Fame or Expertise Status campaigns are clearly designed to raise brand awareness by utilizing creative ideas that captivate consumers and the media in such a way that they spread contagiously and result in 'fame' for their brands.

These campaigns work when

people are naturally compelled to share their original ideas with others. It is very interesting how different companies use the different approach to reach their goals. A case study from LinkedIn B2B Institute shows you more detailed information and goes into depth with behind-the-scenes case study pieces of information.

To achieve a Celebrity level, campaigns have to track and measure celebrity metrics such as:

• increasing campaign or brand awareness through well chosen social media channels
• increasing significant news coverage
• increasing significant earned impressions and social shares

Over time, Celebrity Status results are usually used to improve the health of the brand and, ultimately sales revenue. Creating fame is a tried and true method for achieving these results in the long term. I recommend that marketers continue tracking the brand and business outcomes of such campaigns.

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5. BRAND AWARENESS BUILDER

Brand Awareness Builder campaigns are intended to improve and boost overall brand health, market position and create ongoing demand for new services and products.

Significant prior research has demonstrated that brands are most efficiently built when they involve their customers' emotions. Customers are more likely to think positively of brands with which they feel emotionally connected, and they are keen to purchase products and services much easier.

Brand health metrics should be assessed

over a longer period – by using ongoing

tracking that monitors their movements

continually over periods of 6 months

to 3+ years.

Tip: What is your brand message telling about you? Is your brand storytelling powerful, and intentional with a clear CTA message?

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Winning behaviour tip: #5 Use emotions in storytelling to connect with an audience.

6. CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Strategic campaigns are versatile and everlasting creative channels that are re-purposed repeatedly while growing the brand and business over time.

Think of evergreen webinars or course masterclasses. With a little adjustment, you can run them for several years. Throughout that time, they maintain the same creative strategy or creative work, resulting in long-term commercial results.

To achieve this level, campaigns need to track and measure long-term brand and business

metrics such as:

• Improvements in lead generation
• Improvements in brand health
• Sales and market-share growth
• Profit growth
• Long-term return on marketing investment

Long-term brand and business metrics can only be assessed over periods of at least 1 year, and should be assessed over periods of 3+ years.

THE MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS LADDER

The marketing effectiveness ladder reflects previous B2B Institute research and depth of understanding that has revealed the need for B2B marketers to switch away from typically small, short-term, reasonable, and firmly targeted campaigns - and instead spend more of their budgets on larger, longer-term, emotional, and wide-ranging campaigning.

There is no greater achievement in B2B marketing than building a flexible and sustainable strategy and brand awareness throughout all 6 levels.

In any case, you’ve set out to drive

long-term, sustained brand and

sales growth.

The source : The B2B Institute at Linkedin

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