A Marketers Must Read: FULL FUNNEL MARKETING
Matt Heinz is one of today’s truly great sales and marketing thinkers. I caught up with him recently to talk about his new book, “Full Funnel Marketing.”
JEFF: Thanks, Matt, for taking the time to talk with us about your new book. Could you start by giving us a summary of the primary message in your book?
MATT: The most successful B2B marketers today think like their sales team does – they focus on the sale. Everything else is a means unto the ends.
Unfortunately, many B2B marketers traditionally have focused exclusively on the top half of the funnel, treating metrics like clicks and retweets and leads as their primary goal.
Leads are great, but opportunities are better. Opportunities are fantastic, but closed deals is when everyone gets paid.
“Full Funnel Marketing” encourages and empowers marketers to think and act at every stage of the buying journey and sales process, directly helping their sales teams convert more business faster.
It’s a tight, integrated partnership that marketing can drive, converting their organizations into profit centers as a result.
JEFF: Is there one section of the book that you’re particularly proud of?
MATT: I love the format of this book, which can be read front to back or tackled by topic.
If you’re struggling with your marketing technology strategy, scan the table of contents and find a topic that speaks to you. Same for sales enablement. What is that? How do you measure it? Where do you start?
The book is intended to be comprehensive yet highly accessible and action-oriented.
JEFF: You talk about the disciplines of advertising, marketing, and sales. How much overlap is there within these disciplines?
MATT: There’s quite a bit of overlap when it’s done right. Rarely in today’s selling environment are there truly separate, linear stages anymore.
I’ve heard advertising described as what you buy, and marketing described as what you do. That’s a good direction to take, but none of it works unless it’s buyer-centric, unless it tells a story that drives action among your target customer.
The lines between sales & marketing are similarly blurring, and we’re seeing more organizations lean into that.
Full Funnel Marketing can be used as a guide to get sales & marketing, finally, on the same page – working from the same objectives & definitions and coordinating their efforts like never before.
JEFF: Is there one common mistake marketers routinely make that drives you up the wall?
MATT: Focusing on activities and not outcomes.
Marketing may be the only department that still shows up to leadership meetings and reports on activities.
Sales talks about the pipeline, product talks about the development roadmap, finance talks about the balance sheet and P&L – then marketing gets up and talks about the upcoming email campaigns and trade shows.
It’s not always this bad of course, but no wonder marketers get the reputation as the arts & crafts department so often. Focus on results, make yourself accountable for revenue. That’s the challenge for B2B marketers today.
JEFF: In the book you talk a lot about content marketing. Is there a shortcut or hack that can help make this process easier?
MATT: Listen to your customers. Figure out what they’re talking about. What they’re seeking.
Don’t ask them what they need, ask them about their objectives and the obstacles they face to get there.
If you can’t immediately access your customers, as a marketer, go talk to your customer-facing teams. Your sales reps, your customer service reps.
Find the commonalities, find the outcomes you can speak to to pique your prospect’s interest.
Great content isn’t about the execution, it’s about the story.
JEFF: Thanks Matt for giving my readers a sneak preview into your new book “Full Funnel Marketing”. I found it both informative and inspirational.
MATT: Thanks Jeff!
You can get this must-read book here…
Prolific author and nationally recognized, award-winning blogger, Matt Heinz is President and Founder of Heinz Marketing with 15 years of marketing, business development and sales experience from a variety of organizations and industries. Matt is a repeat winner of Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management and Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers. He is lives in Kirkland, Washington with his wife, Beth and three young children.
