B2B campaigns are tough to execute. We work with many skilled, experienced marketers who still struggle to balance competing objectives for their company, customer needs, and the costs to create and promote programs. That’s why we hosted our first “Become The Ultimate Campaign Tycoon” workshop at the B2B Summit in Phoenix on April 1 — but it won’t be the last time. We found that participants enjoyed interacting with peers around a shared task that teaches them how to make the right calls for effective campaign programming. We aim to do more of these with our customers.

Here’s the play-by-play: Teams were asked to complete a 12-month campaign execution calendar based on one of two market scenarios: existing customer retention and expansion or growth via new logo acquisition. Each team was given a $360,000 budget (in Forrester “bucks”) to use to buy programs and content.

We focused on encouraging the use of each of the four campaign framework program families (reputation, demand, engagement, and enablement) and on extending content use across multiple programs to avoid the expensive production of content that is only used once.

Our plan when crafting the workshop was to gather the teams’ completed campaign calendars, take some time to study them, and then name a winner. In reviewing the calendars, however, we were pleased to see that there were notable results and smart moves across many of the teams, and we decided not to choose a single winner. Instead, here are highlights from some of the teams:

Team one did a nice job of mapping content evenly across reputation and demand programs for the growth marketing scenario and planned well for content and program reuse.

Team two focused on engagement with a mature market while making a modest investment in demand to support upsell and cross-sell initiatives as well as attract potential net new buyers. They also funded enablement programs to produce reference stories designed to both train sales teams and reinforce customer relationships.

Team three effectively distributed programs across the reputation, demand, engagement, and enablement program families. They created core, primary content assets early in the campaign year and reused or adapted derivative versions to sustain subsequent programs.

Team four dedicated their demand spend for the mature market scenario to focus on intent tracking and paid social media to support upsell and cross-sell activities. They then invested a substantial portion of their budget in executive engagement efforts and other customer engagement activities.

Team five demonstrated an understanding of best practices through the use of primary and derivative content across all program families. Since content is one of the most expensive components of a campaign budget, this approach is a dependably effective strategy.

Campaigns are a balancing act.

Working through the scenarios with the teams gave us a chance to talk through some strategic campaign management advice that we can encapsulate in a single world: balance. Successful campaigns have the right balance across the four program families. Under almost all circumstances, no single program family should be left unleveraged; they work together to deliver results.

Even in cases where the focus is on demand, for example, brand programs are necessary to “surround” prospects and customers with a company’s unique story that sets the stage for that demand. Engagement programs for existing customers ensure that they understand the value of your relationship, which is especially important in retention-dependent businesses. Finally, too often we find that sales enablement programs get short shrift while campaign teams invest their energy in external audiences. In fact, arming sales and other revenue team players with campaign messaging, assets, and activities is critical for their use when they reach the point in deals where they must share information to help close business, as well as to drive loyalty and retention. The alignment of sales and marketing to support the selling process is an additional benefit that a campaign framework provides to B2B revenue teams.

Could your company benefit from a workshop on building balanced, integrated campaigns? We’re seeking opportunities to customize the details to meet clients’ specific needs. Reach out to us if you’re interested. We’re always happy to provide clients with guidance sessions on campaign strategy and implementation.