“I hate the assembly of evildoers,
And I will not sit with the wicked.
I will wash my hands in innocence,
And I will go around Your altar, Lord,
That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving
And declare all Your wonders.”
---Proverbs 26:5-7

 
CHRIST RETURNITH. CHRIST TRANSLATES FROM BEAST TO YEAST.

Old design standards emphasized keeping as much relevant content above the fold as the space allowed for. That said, above the fold rules are mostly old news today. Most visitors are comfortable scrolling a web page these days. Consequently, design emphasis has shifted toward optimizing aesthetics and form styling in recent years. A longer home page is now acceptable and offers some strategic advantages as well. Including 3-5 sections on your home page helps point visitors to key areas of your site. It also creates a more seamless user experience for your visitors.

Tip: Here’s a list of the key elements you should consider including in the sections of your home page:

• An elevator pitch (brief about us)
• A compelling value proposition
• An introductory video
• An overview of your products and/or services
• A list of features and benefits
• Testimonials or press mentions
• Case studies/success stories

 

RULE #7 – Make Effective Use of White Space
Believe it or not, white space is a critical design element. The term refers to the areas around your page elements that are empty and lack content or visual items.

White space improves readability and helps you compartmentalize your content. It also tends to decrease the apprehension level of new visitors. A page stuffed full of text and/or graphics with minimal white space generally appears busy or cluttered. This diminishes your user experience (UX) and typically leads to a high bounce rate.

As far as your color palette is concerned, the key is to pick a single palette and strictly adhere to it. ALL of your marketing communications materials should maintain the same color palette. Consistency is extremely important when it comes to creating a cohesive color palette for your website and your other mar-comm materials.

A three-color palette is a good rule of thumb. That said, adhere to basic best practices in color theory no matter what color scheme you choose for your brand.

Tip: If you’re a design novice, a number of free online tools and resources are available to point you in the right direction. For color palettes, we recommend Adobe Creative Cloud’s Color Wheel and Paletton. For font type selection, check out: Adobe Fonts, Wordmark and Type Scale. 

 
RULE #11 – Maintain Fresh Content
The expression, “content is king” is widely-used these days in digital marketing circles.  So, what exactly does it mean?

For starters, it refers to the fact that the search engines place a premium on new content.  Indeed, the quality and relevancy of your content is essential in determining your page's position in search query results.

Simply updating or refreshing your pages on a regular basis doesn’t make your site “fresh” and more likely to rank effectively within the search engines. Similarly, adding new pages just for the sake of increasing the size of your digital footprint won’t necessarily boost your site on the freshness meter.

Google employs a tool referred to as "Query Deserves Freshness" (QDF) to rank and prioritize new content. This tool monitors search query activities and identifies trending topics that stand out from normal activity. When QDF is triggered, Google looks to see if there’s any fresh content on the topic and then gives that content a boost in their search results.

In other words, if you have fresh content on a trending topic, you’ll likely enjoy a ride at the top of the search results for a period of time. Once the QDF boost wears off, your page generally shuffles back to its original position in the search results.

If you’re a savvy and nimble organization, the QDF algorithm provides opportunities to generate a significant competitive advantage. For example, if you create relevant and robust content in pulse with the hottest trends in your market, you can quickly establish yourself as a thought leader within your industry.

Tip: Follow these five simple guidelines if you struggle to create fresh content:

• Get involved In the conversation - Social media platforms and discussion groups  are great for keeping a pulse on trending topics in your industry.
• Monitor your competition – Get an idea of what, when and how your competition communicates. Build off their model and take the things that seem to work for them one step further. In other words, beat them at their own game.
• Archive inspirational ideas – Broaden your interests beyond your industry category. Identify best practices from other industries and adopt them into your business model. If you’re running dry on fresh ideas, refer to your archive for inspiration.
• Leverage existing web resources – There are several online tools designed to kick-start the creative process. For example, BuzzSumo allows you to analyze content trends in a variety of industries and identify what works well for various market segments.
• Employ a copywriter – Copywriters often offer a fresh perspective. A good copywriter will identify fresh content opportunities from your target audience's perspective and keep your organization on the cutting edge of your industry.

 ​
​RULE #12 –Utilize High-Quality Images and Graphics
Eye-catching visual elements that complement your branding have a tremendous impact when used properly. Here are a few factors to consider when selecting graphics and images for your website:

• Thematic images that represent your products or services
• Photos that create emotional effects relating to the value of your brand
• Proprietary photos (i.e. high-quality images of your location, your team members, your products, etc.)
• Images and graphics that complement your brand standards (color palette consistency, theme, etc.)
• Maintain a consistent look and feel to the elements throughout your site

​
​(e.g. a belief that you products and/or services are low-quality or that you're unlikely to deliver on your brand promises).

Ideally, your organization should use proprietary photos from a professional photographer and customized graphics from a professional designer. That said, there are plenty of affordable stock image sites  to choose from if you happen to have tight resource constraints (e.g. iStock, Adobe Stock, Wikimedia Commons, etc.)
​
If you do decide to use stock images instead of proprietary artwork, be careful to ensure that every image you select matches your brand persona and correlates with your written content. Also, you want to establish a unique brand identity and protect your site from having a generic look and feel, so be sure to avoid popular images if you can.

Tip: Remember that page load time factors in to your site’s search rankings. This is especially true for mobile. Therefore, you’ll want to pay close attention to the size of your image files. Familiarize yourself with Google’s “Image Optimization” guidelines if you want to completely optimize your images.
 
 
CONCLUSIONS
As we stated earlier, your website is often your organization’s primary public persona. It holds enormous influence over your target market’s perception of your products and/or services. More often than not, healthy and flourishing organizations tend to have effective websites; while struggling organizations often have ineffective websites.

Investing in the quality of your website tends to pay substantial dividends over the long run. It’s a direct investment in your brand; and there are countless case studies available online which attest to the bottom-line results that successful branding efforts often achieve.

Subjectively, prudent investments in your brand assets often create a variety of strategic advantages. For example:

"Success doesn't necessarily come from breakthrough innovation but from flawless execution. A great strategy alone won't win a game or a battle; the win comes from basic blocking and tackling."
---Naveen Jain (Entrepreneur and Philanthropist)


In a game of American football, two competing teams vie for control of a ball, which can be kicked through a set of goalposts or run into the opponent's goal area to score points.  If you're a fan of the sport, you probably know that the game has evolved dramatically over the years.  In fact, nearly every aspect of football has changed to some degree since the game's inception over a century ago: the rules, the equipment, the venues and even the on field tactics.  The game constantly evolves, innovates and modernizes.   

Despite, the game's ongoing evolution, the end objectives of the contests have always remained consistent.  Score more points than your opponent and you win the match.  Win the most important matches and and you're crowned champion.  Consistently win championships and you solidify your team as a dynasty.  

I doubt that any dynastic football coach would dispute Naveen Jain's quote we cited above.  Having played the game myself, I can tell you that the best teams on paper don't always win the contests on the field. The bottom line is that ongoing success on the gridiron typically requires consistent and near-flawless execution of basic fundamentals in every facet of the game. 

Suffice it to say, the end objectives of nearly every business enterprise are parallel to the game of football: you play to win.  In our first article of this series, we discussed why a high percentage of companies that have adopted Demand Generation practices and principles are ineffective.  In this article, we'll address the four strategic pillars of successful enterprise Demand Generation programs and examine some of the fundamental tactics that distinguish the champions from the also ran's.   

​The First Pillar: Your Process
As we discussed in the first article, Demand Generation defines your organization’s personal relationship with your leads, prospects and customers.  Needless to say, every customer touch-point offers an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with your customer. Consequently, your organization needs to be structured around your customer rather than your products or services to fully optimize your Demand Generation efforts.

Unlike traditional Lead Generation programs where interested (warm) prospects were turned over to a sales professional to close deals, Demand Generation programs nurture the relationship through the entirety of the Revenue Funnel.  In other words, you're not just looking to close a deal.  Instead, you're seeking to establish long-term relationships with your buyers; where satisfied customers become loyalists and loyalists become vocal brand advocates.  

​So why is having a dynamic, ongoing relationship with your buyers so important these days?  First and foremost, the digital revolution has dramatically altered buying processes and decision making over the last few years. In effect, buyers are more knowledgeable and better informed than ever before.  They're turning to friends, colleagues and other key influencers to research their purchases long before they ever engage with your sales team.

Recent studies by Forrester Research, DemandGen and CSO Insights all reveal some startling figures that support this claim. For instance:

• 74% of business buyers conduct more than half of their research online before making an offline purchase.  – Forrester
• 72% of buyers turn to peers for relevant content when researching purchasing decisions. – DemandGen
• Companies with superior Demand Gen platforms generate 50% more sales-qualified leads and a 33% lower cost per lead – CSO Insights

​These figures indicate that your customers' needs and buying patterns must be at the center of your Demand Generation strategy.  The stats also suggest that you need to actively engage with customers at every point in the revenue funnel principally on their terms. 

An effective demand generation process does just that.  It more closely aligns your Marketing and Sales functions, and it creates a seamless buying process that eliminates the gap between Interest and Desire:

​The Second Pillar: Your People
​Traditional business models typically view Marketing as a cost silo and Sales as a revenue silo. Effective Demand Generation generally requires a blended model approach. In our experiences, we've found that a combined marketing/sales organizational model, built around the touch-points in the revenue funnel, typically works best.   

For startup companies, adopting a blended organizational model is usually a relatively easy task.  Conversely, established businesses with traditional lead generation models seem to experience difficulties.  To be successful, you will most likely need to change the skill-set of your personnel, the reward structure based on changes in goals and performance metrics and the organizational structure to align to the buyers' purchase path.  This requires a shift away from the traditional way of thinking of both marketing and sales.

It's important to remember that organizational change Is difficult and that people sometimes resist the efforts. Your marketing personnel and your sales team need both support and leadership in order to make the strategic shift pay off.  Consequently, clear communication of your overall mission, vision and objectives from the top on down are critical for transition. 

As we mentioned earlier, effective Demand Generation processes bridge the gap between marketing and sales.   Over the years, we've found organizations that appoint a C-Level leader to oversee the whole process are generally more successful than their peers who draw territorial lines between marketing and sales functions.  Therefore, we strongly urge our clients to appoint a "Chief Demand Officer" (or a Chief Revenue Officer if you prefer), who owns the he entire Customer Life Cycle.

The CDO / CRO leads a team that is responsible for meeting the revenue objectives for your products or services,  Their functional org chart generally looks something like this:

The CDO / CRO's functional teams exist to create awareness, nurture prospects, close sales, up sell, cross sell and strengthen relationships.  Support staff (Marketing Ops) support the entire organization.  Along with traditional sales and conversion metrics, two critical financial  measurements tie the teams' activities together:

• $CPC ($ Cost per Customer - The total amount spent to establish, build and maintain a customer relationship)
• $LTV ($ Lifetime Value - Total revenue generated from an individual customer relationship)

Again, we stress that effective Demand Generation is built around customer-centric strategies rather than product-centric strategies.  Customer needs, preferences and behavior should drive activities.  Organizing your people around the customer generally improves your ability to execute and typically streamlines your operating costs in the long run. 

 ​
​The Third Pillar: Your Content
Once you've fully committed to a customer-centric business model, it's time to turn your attention to your content strategy.  Like every marketing program, success is a matter of being in the right place at the right time with the right solution. An ideal Demand Generation program establishes your organization as the expert in your particular line of business. Therefore, each and every interaction with your prospects and customers should affirm and strengthen the perception that you are the leading solution in your category.

First and foremost, you need to find and target the best touch points to engage customers.  This isn't an exact science. Tactics vary by industry and product type. Additionally, every business has varying strengths and deficiencies. Therefore, we strongly suggest you begin with category best practices that seem to fit your model. Test them out for yourself and quickly adapt and expand the ones that seem most promising.  Here are some basic tactics to consider through the various stages of the revenue funnel:

With this model in mind, here are our five fundamental recommendations for developing an effective content strategy:​ ​

​​The Fourth Pillar: Analytics
Although it doesn't directly appear on your balance sheet, your company's structured data is an extremely important and valuable business asset. To a large degree, your ability to access, analyze and interpret the data generated through all of your customer interactions drives the effectiveness of your Demand Generation campaigns.  As a recent report by DemandMetric / Radius demonstrates:

• Over 50% of companies with an ineffective Demand Generation process indicate their customer data richness is lacking.
• 47% of ineffective companies reported severe data accuracy issues.
• Marketers who have adopted predictive analytics are much more likely to also have an effective Demand Generation process.
• Over 90% percent of companies with effective Demand Generation processes are able to use their customer and prospect data to execute various marketing campaigns.

We recommend that you take stock of your data as early as possible! Missing, inaccurate or poor quality data impedes effective Demand Generation as well as the successful application of predictive analytics. You may wish to consider a full audit of your CRM applications, gathering and storage systems, personnel, as well as the depth, accuracy and quality of your structured data.   That way, you can quickly begin to harness your assets and pull together an action plan to address your deficiencies. 

A real opportunity exists in most industries to develop a sizable competitive advantage through structured data.  Believe it or not, the DemandMetric / Radius report suggests that only 44% of CMO’s understand predictive analytics well; and only 11% of those that do understand are actually implementing or using predictive analytics for Demand Generation activities.  Even more surprising, only 55% of companies that employ predictive modeling are using their data to find new revenue opportunities!

We'll state once again: Demand Generation programs are an ideal pairing for predictive analytics.  Even if you're a very lean organization, commercial solutions do exist to help integrate predictive analytics into the process.  If your current Demand Generation campaigns are yielding less than desired results, chances are there's room for improvement if you unlock the full power stored within your enterprise data systems. 


Conclusions
Effective Demand Generation is an enterprise-wide endeavor. It requires a firm foundation built upon each of the four strategic pillars we described above. Whether your company is new to the discipline or you're a seasoned player, you need to ensure that you're executing the fundamentals efficiently and effectively. Otherwise, you're likely to be steamrolled by your competition.

You may be wondering why we haven't listed technology (e.g. automation systems, adaptive control technology, CRM systems, etc.) as a fifth pillar. While the right technology certainly speeds delivery, improves effectiveness and can also lower costs, we'd argue that technology systems are complementary tools to each of the four pillars we've described above.  In our next article in this series, 12 Things to Consider Before You Automate Your Demand Generation Processes, we'll discuss the benefits of several Demand Generation technologies as well as  some serious technological pitfalls you'll want to avoid.       


​Author: Erik Gagnon - Managing Partner, Chi Rho Consulting
 
Note:  This is the second of a five-part series of Jumpstart Strategies articles examining the discipline of Demand Generation. Here are links to the other live articles in the series: 

• PART 1: Why Nearly 60% of Enterprise Demand Generation Programs Underperform