Marketing Development Funding (MDF) is usually constrained by time i.e. the funds need to be spent within a certain timeframe (usually a quarter). The spend also needs to be evidenced and the results also need to be good to be assured of future funding.
It feels like fighting a losing battle doesn’t it? The time constraints and the results expectations dramatic limit what you can do with a campaign. And often, due to the time it can take to get funding approved, mean the time you have is actually even shorter. Below is the scenario we often see with quarterly-based funding (quarterly is the most common timeframes we see).
The time you actually end up with for a campaign ends up being really short which dramatically reduces your campaign options.
What marketing campaigns can you run in a short MDF window?
- Paid social media advertising (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter Ads) with landing page
- An email marketing campaign offer with a landing page
- A webinar with promotion via email and social media
- An event or attendance (booth etc) at an event (not possible during COVID-19)
- The creation of collateral such as a brochure or datasheet
- Creatives such as a video or infographic
These are just a few examples of what you may spend you MDF on in a short window. Looks pretty good right?
Actually wrong. If the expected result from the campaign is the generation of leads, with the exception of paid advertising and the event or webinar, the potential for the creation of leads with the above options in the window you’ve got is very small indeed.
And, in our experience, the leads you may generate from the paid advertising in particular, aren’t those that are ready or in position to buy.
How can you extend your marketing campaign and generate leads with your MDF?
More time means more options. But more importantly, more time means your campaign can be more buyer-focused i.e. align to the different stages of the buyers’ journey. And, with a longer life, your campaign can benefit from things like:
- SEO – the content will be picked up and indexed by search engines
- sharing and referrals – your content is more likely to be shared or linked to by other websites
- lead nurturing – your content can be selectively assigned to individuals according to their interest levels through automation
- potential lead generation beyond the MDF period
But how can you go about extending your MDF beyond the usual timeframe?
Step 1: Formulate a solid campaign plan
You need to be aiming at a longer timeframe for your campaign, ideally one that covers a whole year (4 quarters) or even beyond. Your plan should include:
- Some SMART (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) goals upfront
- Identification of the target audience
- A focus on a particular product or service (focusing on too much can dilute the outcome)
- A list of creative and content deliverables (assets) – a campaign is empty without content
- Key messaging
- A content calendar and timelines
- Communications methods and tactics
- Lead handling, nurturing and visibility
- Reporting touch points
Step 2: Talk to your MDF provider
Present and discuss your plan with your MDF provider emphasising the benefits of a longer, stickier campaign. Stickier because the content and assets you’ll create will continue to be engaged with beyond the traditional quarter and continue to generate awareness and leads even after a year.
To help the campaign still be assessed by quarter but with different metrics e.g.
| Quarter | Description | Measurement Goal |
| Q1 | Setup phase | Assessment of the content created, messaging, communication strategy/timeline, templates. |
| Q2 | Startup phase | Assessment of landing pages, emails, social posts and other communication touch points. Reporting of initial engagement data. Findings, tactics to tweak and optimise the campaign. |
| Q3 | Main phase | Reporting of engagement data and leads generated. Findings, tactics to tweak and optimise the campaign. |
| Q4 | Main phase & Reporting | Reporting of engagement data, leads generated and the overall success of the campaign against original SMART goals. |
Step 3: Agree a quarterly budget and evidence points
The above table helps to both identify the budget distribution and also what evidence is required to demonstrate progress, success and guarantee future investment. It might be that the first quarter requires the biggest investment due to the creative effort required. Although this could be counterbalanced by the paid advertising, for example which might feature in Qs 2-4.
Reviewing the campaign needs to occur prior to the end of each quarterly so that aren’t any delays in the budget being available for the following quarter. Setting these review points in advance will help with this.
A shift to Inbound Methodology rather than the traditional Outbound approach
Traditional short-term, quarterly MDF marketing projects fall very much in to the outbound marketing reactive style approach where the focus is often to try generate leads in very short space of time and make as many sales as possible. The focus is on the need to sell rather than turning through 180 degrees and making the focus on the potential buyer out there.
Your potential buyers are all at different stages of their buying journey. They aren’t all ready right now. Catering for all those buyers and the needs at the current time i.e. whether they in an ‘awareness’ phase and research a challenge or issue they have or at a ‘consideration’ phase where they are looking for a solution to solve a problem or at a ‘decision phase’ where they are actively comparing products, reading reviews and looking out for demonstrations and offers.
With short term quarterly MDF campaigns you can only really go for buyers in the decision phase. But with a longer game plan, with longer investment to can cater for your buyers in all stages, nurturing each along delivering the right content to them at the right time and get much better results over the course of a full year.
More time, more options, more buyers and more success – go Inbound with your MDF marketing!
