Vanson Bourne Full Report : Directions in Tech Marketing

8/13/2019 Vanson Bourne Full Report : Directions in Tech Marketing

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Directions in

Tech Marketing

Intelligent Market Research


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01 |Vanson Bourne - Contents

Contents

Executive Summary 2-5Trends in tech marketing management 2

The changing culture of tech marketing 3

From "Creatives" to Content Builders - the new tech marketer 4

Multi-channel communications and the role of social media 5

Data 6-23Big Trends 6-9

Has marketing communications become more or less centralised in recent years? 6

What is the trend in your company in terms of outsourcing marcomms? 7

Is your organisation's most senior marcomms professional on the main board? 8

What are the top trends you see driving B2B technology marketing today? 9

Brands to Leads 10-13

What are the top trends you see driving B2B technology marketing today? 10In which of these ways would you say the culture of marketing communications

in your business has principally changed over the past few years? 11

What departments/teams beyond marketing/PR/communications use your target

market research? 12

Which of the following are the three most important factors when measuring campaign success? 13

Marketer as researcher 14-18

How do you track social media use by customers? 14

In which of these ways would you say the culture of marketing communications

in your business has principally changed over the past few years? 15

Do you break-out the evaluation of campaign success across the different disciplines?

E.g. social media, print advertising, DM, PR etc. 16How do you research your target market? 17

When do you research your target markets? 18

Changing skill sets 19-23

Which marketing skills do you regard as most valuable in B2B/B2C technology marketing?

Combination grid showing answers ranked first, second and third. 19

Which marketing skills do you regard as most valuable in B2B/B2C technology marketing?

Grid showing skills ranked as 'most important'. 20

Do you run integrated campaigns; i.e. ones that use different marcomms platforms/channels 21

Thinking about technology marcomms, in which of the following areas do you think thereis a lack of skills? 22

When thinking about your organisation's ability in using tools such as data analytics, socialmedia/analytics and insight tools, to what extent do you agree with the following statements: 23

Demographics 24-25

About Vanson Bourne 26

Directions in

Tech Marketing


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02 |Vanson Bourne -Trends in Tech Marketing Management

Trends in tech marketing management

The first key trend is towards the centralisation of marketing. Half of respondents

acknowledge that this is the direction of travel, compared with only 20% who say

the opposite (p6). Perhaps the corollary to this is the slightly weaker, but still

evident, phenomenon of bringing marketing communications in-house (p7).

Somewhat more than one-third (37%) say this is how things are moving in their

marketing department; this compares with only 7% who say the trend is to

outsource more of their marcomms activity.

The next characteristics to arise here are, again, possibly related: in only just over a

third of cases (37%) is the company's most senior marketing communications

professional on the main board (p8) AND in 81% of cases, marketing budgets are

being cut (p9). The incidence of budget reduction is the main trend of a number

identified in the survey, and which will be considered later. It is certainly arguable

that the shifts we see in the next section are a consequence of budget reduction (as

are the moves to re-centralisation and in-sourcing mentioned above).

Directions in

Tech Marketing


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03 |Vanson Bourne -The changing culture of tech marketing

The changing culture of tech marketing

Respondents are virtually unanimous that the culture of marketing has changed in

their business over the past few years (p12). The weakness of the general economy

is the likely cause of budget cutting and general retrenchment, as discussed above.

And symptomatic of difficult market conditions is a greater focus on driving sales -

68% of respondents are experiencing this re-definition of marketing's role (p9).

Tech marketers also see the rise of social media as a key trend that is driving change

in B2B marketing. Close behind "budget reduction", identified as a driving trend

by 81% of our survey participants, social media is now a big factor for 75% of

respondents (p9). Whether the growth in use of social media is fuelled by the

"push" requirement to reduce expenditure or the "pull" requirement to respond to

the market's increased use of social media is debatable. It's most likely that both

play a part and, when it comes to the thrust of marketing within a respondent's

own company, 81% say that a greater emphasis has been placed on social media

(p12) - making it the top way the culture of marketing communications has

changed over recent years.

Reflecting the macro trend toward demand generation, 54% now say that

marketing communications in their business are less about brand development and

more about demand generation (p12). A hint at how far in this direction the role of

marketing has moved, when asked which departments or teams beyond marketing

use market research commissioned by marketing, 89% select "Sales" compared with

only 60% saying "Strategy/planning" (p13). By the same token, 93% say "sales leads"

are an important factor in assessing a campaign's success, versus only 25% who rate

"brand perception" as important (p14).

Other key cultural changes are in the areas of focused targeting and tracking/

evaluation (p12). This development will be considered again later.

Directions in

Tech Marketing


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04 |Vanson Bourne - From "Creatives" to Content Builders - the new tech marketer

From "Creatives" to Content Builders - the new tech marketer

"Generating relevant audience insight" and "content creation" are now the mostly

widely valued skills in technology marketing - over two-thirds of respondents

selected these attributes in their top three. This contrasts with the 39% who

selected "creativity" in their top three skills (p19). This might raise some eyebrows,

but, looking at the outcomes discussed above - lower budgets, tighter focus, the

absolute need to feed sales at the expense of brand development, it's clear that the

possibly stereotypical view of a marketer as essentially a "creative type" is

outmoded. Science has replaced art.

Continuing the "marketing sciences" theme, the third most highly-regarded

marketing skill in B2B is now the "ability to evaluate and prove ROI/value of

marcomms" (p19). This reinforces the view, discussed earlier, that tracking and

evaluation have become major trends in a tech marketing environment haunted

by tight budgets and the need to deliver enough quality leads to tick at least one

ROI box.

93% of respondents research their target market and a wide array of data sources

are used to support the focused targeting, to develop meaningful content and to

measure impact (p17). And 69% are doing this continuously (p18), doubtless

producing reams of data that requires analysis and interpretation. This element of

the process seems likely to be causing tech marketers their biggest headache. How

so? We asked in what areas of tech marcomms is there a lack of skills; the top

responses are "data analysis" and "making sense of different data sources", both

selected by 42% of respondents, with "trends analysis" close behind on 36% (p22).

These figures suggest that the speedy changes in marketing culture have

outstripped the typical tech marketer's skill set. Reflecting back on the trends

toward centralisation (which usually means headcount reduction) and in-sourcing,

is this skill deficit likely to be resolved except through the use of skilled third-parties?

Directions in

Tech Marketing


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05 |Vanson Bourne - Multi-channel communications and the role of social media

Multi-channel communications and the role of social media

Social media has permeated all aspects of the tech marketer's role. 61% now say a

"working knowledge of the burgeoning array of marcomms channels, including

social media" is one of the key marketing skills (p19). 90% of respondents run

integrated campaigns across multiple platforms and channels (p21), whilst 73% are

required to evaluate campaign performance across the platforms separately (p10).

When judging campaign performance, only 10% measure "social media chatter and

mentions" in and of themselves, but "audience engagement" (71%) and "web

traffic" (42%), which are arguably outcomes of good social media campaign

practice, are seen as important campaign KPIs (p14).

In the context of researching the market, particularly keeping track of customers,

44% are now using "social media/analytics" and 31% "social media customer insight

tools" (p17). In the context of the in-house versus outsource picture, 58% of

respondents that are using social media use in-house tracking tools, compared with

only 16% that use an external specialist of some kind. Nearly all the others are not

tracking social media at all (p15).

Directions in

Tech Marketing


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Big TrendsHas marketing communications become more or less centralised in recent years?

06 |Vanson Bourne - Big Trends

51%19%

TotalBase: all respondentsIt's more centralised

It's more decentralised/localised

30%It's stayed the same

59Base

51%say marketing communications

has become more centralised

51%


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Big TrendsWhat is the trend in your company in terms of outsourcing marcomms?


56%37%

TotalBase:all respondents

We are moving in neither direction

The trend is towards doing more in-house

7%

The trend is towards outsourcing more of our marketingcommunications function

59Base

37%say the trend is towards doingmore in-house


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Big TrendsIs your organisation's most senior marcomms professional on the main board?


37%63%

TotalBase: all respondents

Yes

No

59Base

In only 37%of surveyed organisationsis the most senior marcommsprofessional on the board


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Big TrendsWhat are the top trends you see driving B2B technology marketing today?


81%TotalBase: only asked of respondents from organisations with a B2B focus

* Other (please specify): With email marketing and social media there is a perception that marketing can be done

quickly and easily from sales; 50% of the decision is made before contacting a company via online research, content

based marketing, digital marketing

Budget reduction

57Base

68%Greater focus on driving sales53%Multi-platform access of our website/business systems

49%Consumerisation of IT40%Rise of mobile data/the "mobile apps" economy

32%Increased competition in our primary market21%Drive to maximise average revenue from each customer

19%Rise of cloud computing16%Market convergence

11%Industry consolidation9%Outsourcing customer insight/analytics

4%Increasing competition from traditionally B2C companies

7%*Other (please specify)75

%

81%say budgetreduction

75%say rise insocial media

75%Rise of social media


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Brands to Leads

In which of these ways would you say the culture of marketing communications in

your business has principally changed over the past few years?

11 |Vanson Bourne - Brands to Leads

81%69%


A greater emphasis has been placed on social media

59Base

A greater emphasis has been placed on targeting specific audiences

54%

54%

Keeping track of customers has increased in importanceIt's less about brand development and more about demand generation

A greater emphasis has been placed on evaluation, especially calculatingROI in communications

We've adopted B2C communications principles/We've adoptedB2B/corporate communications principles

19%Traditional marcomms now not perceived as delivering ROI

2%It hasn't changed

47%

14%

54%say it's lessabout brand

development

and more about

demand

generation


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Brands to Leads

What departments/teams beyond marketing/PR/communications use your

target market research?


89%60%

TotalBase: only asked of respondents who do research their target market

Sales

Strategy/planning

38%

33%

R&D/Product developmentCustomer service/customer insight

27%Board

4%

4%

Finance4%

2%

HR No other departments and teams use our audience insight*Other (please specify)

55Base

* Other (please specify): Product Line Management

89% indicatedthat other than

marketing/PR/communications

teams it is the Sales departmentwho use target market research


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93%71%

TotalBase: only asked of respondents who do research their target market

Sales leads

Audience engagement

42%

37%

Web trafficEditorial coverage

25%Brand perception

19%

10%

Audience reach2%

Social media chatter and mentionsAwards

59Base

Sales

Leads

Brand

Perception

25%93%

Brands to Leads

Which of the following are the three most important factors when measuring

campaign success?


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Marketer as researcher

In which of these ways would you say the culture of marketing communications in

your business has principally changed over the past few years?

15 |Vanson Bourne - Marketer as researcher

81%69%


A greater emphasis has been placed on social media

59Base

A greater emphasis has been placed on targeting specific audiences

54%

54%

Keeping track of customers has increased in importanceIt's less about brand development and more about demand generation

A greater emphasis has been placed on evaluation, especially calculatingROI in communications

We've adopted B2C communications principles/We've adoptedB2B/corporate communications principles

19%Traditional marcomms now not perceived as delivering ROI

2%It hasn't changed

47%

14%

69%say a greateremphasishas

been placed on targeting specific

audiences

54%say that keeping

track of customershas

increased in importance

47%say a greater emphasishas

been placed on evaluation

especially calculating ROI in

communcations


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Do you break-out the evaluation of campaign success across the dierent disciplines?

E.g. social media, print advertising, DM, PR etc.


73%27%


Yes

59Base

No

73%break-out the evaluation of campaign

success across the different disciplines

73%


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How do you research your target market?

69%68%


* Other (please specify): Usage in the cloud

Market data reports

59Base

Formal customer feedback (survey)

64%We commission market research61%Informal customer feedback (anecdotal)

44%Social media/analytics31%Social media customer insight tools

31%We run surveys in-house surveys22%Big data/customer analytics

7%We don't research our target market2%* Other (please specify)


7% indicatedthatthey dont research

their target market


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When do you research your target markets?

69%20%

TotalBase: only asked of those respondents who do research their target markets

We are constantly gathering insight from our target market

55Base

We only gather audience insight for planning campaigns

11%Don't know


69%

69%say they are constantly gatheringinsight from

their target market


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Changing skill setsWhich of the following marketing skills do you regard as the most valuable in

B2B/B2C technology marketing?

19 |Vanson Bourne - Changing skill sets

Base: all respondents

* Other (please specify): Ability to do many and varied things at the same time

Base

Combination grid showing answers ranked first, second,

and third61%say aworkingknowledgeofthe burgeoningarray ofmarcommschannels,includingsocial media

Ability to generate relevant audience insight

Content creation

Ability to evaluate and prove ROI/value of marcomms

Working knowledge of the burgeoning array of marcomms channels,including social media

Creativity

*Other (please specify)

61%

69%

66%

Total

59

63%

39%

2%


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Changing skill setsWhich of the following marketing skills do you regard as the most valuable in

B2B/B2C technology marketing?


Base: all respondents

Base

generate relevant

audience insight

evaluate and

prove ROI/value

of marcoms

creativity

27% 24% 10%

Total

Ability to generate relevant audience insight

Ability to evaluate and prove ROI/value of marcomms

22%

17%

Content creation

Working knowledge of the burgeoning array of marcomms channels,

including social media

Creativity

0%Other (please specify)

59

27%

24%

10%

Grid showing which skills ranked as most important.


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Changing skill setsDo you run integrated campaigns;

i.e. ones that use dierent marcomms platforms/channels?


90%10%


Yes

59Base

No

90%say they do run integratedcampaigns


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Demographics

0%3%


Less than 1 year old

1-3 years

0%3-6 years14%6-12 years

83%Older than 12 years14Average age of organisation (years)

59Base

24 |Vanson Bourne - Demographics

7%10%


Fewer than 50 employees

51 - 250 employees

12%250 - 1,000 employees

71%More than 1,000 employees

59Base

How many employees work in your organisation?How old is your organisation?


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Demographics

25 |Vanson Bourne - Demographics

36%24%


Software

Services

12%Cloud computing

59Base

8%7%

NetworkingSecurity

5%Storage2%

6%

Telecoms and related

*Other (please specify)

Which of the following is your organisation's

main focus?

97%3%


B2B

B2C

59Base

Does your business mainly sell to businesses

or consumers?

* Other (please specify): Hosting x2; Payment Gateway; Security; Software, services, cloud and hardware


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About Vanson Bourne

26 |Vanson Bourne - About Vanson Bourne

About Vanson Bourne

Vanson Bourne is an independent and specialist market research provider for the

global technology sector. We have a demonstrable track record of helping our

clients better understand and communicate more effectively in their target

markets, providing market research with real statistical rigour. Our expertise in

sampling, design and assured project management combine with informed

data insights and market context to deliver highly effective technology marketing.


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Intelligent Market Research

Vanson Bourne

Construction House

Winchester Road

Burghclere

NewburyRG20 9EQ

Tel:+44 (0) 1635 550 449

Email:[email protected]

Web: www.vansonbourne.com

Vanson Bourne Full Report : Directions in Tech Marketing

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