What Works in B2B Marketing?

Insights from MarketingProfs’ latest research:

What Works in 2011: B2B Marketing

Presenter

Matthew T. Grant Managing Editor, MarketingProfs 15 Years in B2B marketing

The Research

How were people bouncing back from 2008/2009?

How were they allocating budget?

What did they perceive as most effective?

High Level Findings: Budget

Budgets Are Bouncing Back

High Level Findings: Budget

Budgets dropped more in 2009 than 2008

46% saw budgets increasing in 2010 66% see increases for 2011

High Level Findings: Priorities

Generating Leads and Building Brand Awareness are Top Priorities

High Level Findings

B2B Marketing is still about Lead Gen

Other Priorities: Brand Awareness

Customer Insights

Qualifying Leads

Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

High Level Findings: Tactics

Traditional Tactics Still Widely Used

High Level Findings: Tactics

Value for Lead Gen Shifting

High Level Findings: Tactics

Inside Sales and Telemarketing Tradeshows/Conferences Executive Breakfasts and Sponsored

Events

High Level Findings: Online

What about Online Channels?

High Level Findings: Online

Most Effective Online Channels

High Level Findings: Online

Webinars, Search Marketing, and Corporate Website ranked most highly effective

Not deemed as highly effective as traditional channels

High Level Findings: Branding

Drivers of Brand Awareness: Offline

High Level Findings: Branding

Drivers of Brand Awareness: Online

High Level Findings: Branding Brand Awareness

● Traditional tactics remain important Inside Sales seen as improving

● Webinars seen as most effective online tactic Bumped websites to second place

High Level Findings: Branding Brand Awareness

Search Marketing also playing a role

Smaller companies tend to rank social media more highly for brand awareness

Other Insights: Spend

Spending Trends: Offline

Other Insights: Spend

Spending Trends: Online

Other Insights: Spend

Online channels seeing greatest increase Only a third plan to increase budget allocations

for traditional tactics (executive breakfasts, inside sales/telemarketing, PR)

Larger companies are more willing to increase spend on social networks/online communities and webinars

Smaller companies are focusing spend on search

Other Insights: Tactics

Some Tactics Remain Universal Everybody (94.5%) relies on their corporate

website and most (87.7%) engage in email marketing

Other Insights: Tactics

Some Tactics Rapidly Gaining Ground

Social networks and online communities have doubled in usage

Less expensive digital channels have a continuing appeal

Other Insights: Tactics

Of the top 10 marketing tactics respondents plan to use more, 8 of them involve digital media

Other Insights: Marketing Automation Marketing Automation Adoption Still Slow

● Proliferation of channels and tactics ● Increasing complexity of marketing function● Still, companies remain cautious

The Golden Rule

Tactics must map to the buying cycle

Map to Buying Cycle

Key focus of content marketing

Map to Buying Cycle

Critical role of peer recommendation places emphasis on blogger outreach and influencer marketing

Map to Buying Cycle

Lead nurturing grows in importance and with it the need for marketing automation

Photo credit:Stuart Richards

Period of Transition

B2B Marketers need to blend

What About ROI?

Measurement remains essential yet challenging

Photo credit: Annna

B2B Marketing Lessons

Content Marketing

Increased spend on websites and webinars = Increased spend on content

Photo credit: Nick Ares

Content Marketing

Content marketing requires both strategy and resources (content producers)

Curate Sponsor

Content Marketing

Content can be both “for” and “about” clients

From: service.PRWeb.com

Content Marketing

Beyond the White Paper Content is more than words Extend, repurpose, reuse

Community Engagement

Engagement begins with listening

User groups, developer communities, and forums

Photo credit: russelljsmith

Community Engagement

Identify the influencers

Photo credit: Theogeo

Community Engagement

BYOC: Build Your Own Community SAP, small enterprises, and education Kinaxis, serving and entertaining the supply

chain management industry

Social Networks

Facebook and Turn-key Communities LinkedIn as a relationship hub The Wikipedia option

Search

B2B buyers use Google for research 93% of B2B buyers use a search engine to

begin the buying process

Search

Content creation improves search ranking

More articles posted more frequently = better results

Photo credit: spadgy

Search

Search is social Buyers “search” by asking questions on social

networks An Anecdote from Avaya

Metrics

What’s in a number?

Measuring “influence”

Photo credit: sidelong

Metrics

Below or Above the Bottom Line? Tie marketing tactics to specific objectives

rather than dollar amounts:

● Brand Awareness● Leads● Web Traffic● Conversions

Conclusion

Final Thoughts

Lead generation remains central to B2B marketing

Some traditional tactics continue to deliver but need support from—and integration with—new tactics

Importance of online research in buying process drives demand for content strategies

The only “silver bullet” is experimentation