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New Report Spotlights Expanding Role Of Marketing In Relationship Building

Focused on the changing buying cycle trends, a new report from Raab Associates, Inc., spotlights the new roles of marketing and offers tips on the type of information that should be made available to prospects at different phases of the engagement process.

The report “Lead Management: Get Started with a New Strategy for Buyer-Centric Marketing and Selling,” indicates that the way prospects receive information about companies has evolved over time. In the past, salespeople were the primary information distributors, while marketing’s job was to find and qualify prospects.

This concept has shifted, and today potential customers no longer need to go directly to a company to attain information, according to the report. Prospects find their information from the Internet:  corporate  Web  sites,  industry  forums,  expert  (and  non-expert)  bloggers,  and  an “ ever­expanding  galaxy of social  media  where  buyers  communicate directly with each other.”

The report, sponsored by Silverpop, advises BtoB marketers to maximize relationship-building at every stage of the buying process.

“This requires a conscious effort to design dialogues that both distribute   information about the company and  gather  information  about  prospective  buyers,” advises David M. Raab, author of the report.

Marketing’s new role is to establish credibility and build relationships, according to Raab, which was formerly the salesperson’s job.

New Strategy for Buyer-Centric Marketing
The report emphasizes the importance of buying patterns, and that few buyers will follow the simple, linear path presented in a buying process diagram. “In practice, they move at their own pace and ask questions in the sequence that occurs to them,” Raab says.

The report offers points to consider when sharing information with prospects:

  • Remember that prospects get information from other external sources.
  • Offer quality information, answer the expected questions,
  • Be well­organized, engaging and attractive.
  • Prospect time is limited, so keeping information items specific is essential

“By this point it should be clear that managing a true dialogue is nothing like the one­ sided email barrage of   a  typical  “drip  marketing”  campaign—which  not  so  long  ago was  considered  the  epitome  of  advanced lead  nurturing,” Raab says. “Drip marketing still has a role in building awareness among prospects who are  not  yet  ready  to  engage  in  an  active dialogue. But it’s subsidiary to the larger goal of building a strong relationship.”

The report emphasizes transparency in order to help salespeople take advantage of the relationships that marketing has created. In order to accomplish this, marketing must define the process to shepherd prospects through the sales funnel; agree on the specific rules to govern each process step; enable each group to verify that rules are being followed; and empower salespeople to intervene in the process when appropriate.

“[Relationship building requires a conscious effort to design dialogues that both distribute information about the company and gather information about prospective buyers,” Raab says. “Several key technologies are needed to execute these dialogues and make sure there are results. Above all, these technologies must allow marketing and sales departments to view each others activities so they can work together in an effective relationship of their own.”

 

Please click here to download the full report.

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