Live Webinar: Rethink the B2B Buyers Journey

transcript

The Transformed Relationship Between

Buyers, Marketers and Salespeople

How to Engage with Us

Got a question? Submit it in the Q&A box

Recorded? Of course!

Feedback? Survey will be available at the end of the

Webinar

Follow us: Twitter: @LinkedInMktg

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/linkedin-marketing-solutions

Today’s Speakers

Sean Callahan

Senior Manager, Content Marketing

@sean_f_callahan

Michael Brenner

Marketing Insider Group

@BrennerMichael

TOP 3 TAKEAWAYS FOR MARKETERS

Rethink

Content Marketing

& Social Media

Rethink

Sales & Marketing

Alignment

Rethink

The B2B

Buying Process

ATTENTION VENDORS: BUYERS LIKE YOU!

Very Good

How Buyers Rate Their

Relationships with Vendors

Stronger

How Buyers Rate Their

Relationships with Vendors Over Time

Slightly Stronger

No Change

TRUST IS PARAMOUNT

Personal

Relationships

Responsiveness

Quality

Improvements

Value For

The Money

Lack of

Responsiveness

Financial

Speed of Delivery

Value For

The Money

Innovation

Reasons Buyers Give for Vendor

Relationships Getting Stronger

Reasons Buyers Give for Vendor

Relationships Getting Weaker

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT:

BUYERS WANT KNOWLEDGE

Understands my company’s business model 26%

Is a subject matter expert/thought leader25%

Provides valuable consultation, education, or tools25%

Knows my company’s products/services25%

The 4 Most Important Factors for Buyers’

Willingness to Engage with a Vendor

IF VENDORS AREN’T KNOWN COMPANY WIDE,

THEY’RE NOT KNOWN

IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S YOUR CONTENT

TYPE OF CONTENT BUYERS SALES Δ MARKETING Δ

Product Info, Features, Functions 35% 31% -4% 24% -11%

Demos 31% 23% -8% 18% -13%

Best Practices 20% 18% -2% 13% -7%

Case Studies 19% 24% 5% 27% 8%

Expert Opinions 18% 19% 1% 18% 0

Product Ratings/Reviews 16% 13% -3% 14% -2%

Peer Testimonials 16% 23% 7% 18% 2%

Difference between

Sales and Buyers

Difference between

Marketing and Buyers

INFLUENTIAL CONTENT CHANNELS VARY

BY BUYING STAGE

AWARENESS

SELECT

IMPLEMENT

TOP 3 CONTENT CHANNELS PREFERRED BY BUYERS IN EACH STAGE OF THE FUNNEL

Social UsageInfo Sharing Across Organization

Online Search

Info Sharing Across Organization

Online Search Social Usage

Company/Vendor Websites or Content

Social Usage

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SOCIAL

Buyers Are 7.2XMore Connected than the

Typical LinkedIn Member

Buyers Are 9.2XMore Likely to Share than the

Typical LinkedIn Member

5.8X More Likely to

Follow Companies

2.9X More Likely to

Engage With InMail

7.2X More Mobile

Page Views

THEY ARE ALSO MORE HIGHLY ENGAGED THAN THE AVERAGE LINKEDIN MEMBER

SOCIAL MEDIA HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT

ON BUYER-VENDOR RELATIONSHIPS

IMPACT OF SOCIAL USAGE ON BUYER RELATIONSHIPS

USE SOCIAL NO SOCIAL

Relationships with vendors

growing stronger versus last year

MARKETING AND SALES ARE ALIGNED,

BUT NOT COMPLETELY

86% 80%

Of Marketers Report Aligned

Relationships With Sales

Of Sellers Report Aligned

Relationships With Marketing

Marketing Does Not Provide

Enough Quality Leads38%

MARKETERS ARE A NURTURING GROUP

Building Relationships

Over Time

Delivering Prospects Relevant Info

To Move Them Through The

Purchase Process

Synchronizing Messaging And

Content Across Channels

(Multichannel Nurturing)

Segmenting Audiences Based On

Demographic Or Behavioral Date

HOW SALES AND MARKETING DIFFER IN THEIR DEFINITIONS OF LEAD NURTURING

Marketing

TECHNOLOGY DRIVES CLOSER

RELATIONSHIPS AND ALIGNMENTPERCENT REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS GROWING STRONGER IN THE PAST YEAR

Knowledgeable about sales process technology

Less knowledgeable about sales process technology

Buyers With Vendors Marketing With Sales Sales With Marketing

TOP 3 TAKEAWAYS FOR MARKETERS

Rethink

Content Marketing

& Social Media

Rethink

Sales & Marketing

Alignment

Rethink

The B2B

Buying Process

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

For this research, we conducted a survey of more than

6,000 buyers, marketers, and salespeople at mid-sized

to enterprise-level B2B companies in seven countries:

The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom,

Australia, India, France and Germany. Each participant

in the survey took a 10-minute online survey.

MARKETING INSIDER GROUP

Map Content To The Buyer Journey

Michael BrennerCEO, Marketing Insider Group

@BrennerMichael

Your Brand Is Not What You Sell

Content Marketing Requires Empathy

ContentMarketing

What Brands Publish

WhatCustomers

Business Instinct CharityEmpathy

The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be

answered.

of marketing content goes completely unused?

How do we help answerour buyers questions when

All Marketing should be tied to

a business case that sales and

executives can understand.

Content Marketing programs

are assets with real value that

grows over time.

Need proof . . .

MARKETING INSIDER GROUP -

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15 Mar-15 Apr-15 May-15 Jun-15

COMPOUNDING EFFECT OF CONTENT PUBLISHING

Articles Viewed

Articles Published

Pageviews

Content Marketing programs are assets

with real value that grows over time.

1. Reach early-

stage buyers

2. Engage new buyers

with your brand

3. Conversions you would

have never reached

The Content Marketing Business Case

“The Buyer Journey Is Nothing More Than A Series of

Questions That Must Be Answered.” ~ IDC

What is / are __________?

Why is _______ important?

How to __________?Who (peers) has solved this?

How much?

Who sells it?

Where can I find out more?

Few times

a year

1-2X per

Less than

monthly

1-2X per

>1 per

Conversion Increase The More You Publish

Hubspot

• Executive PPTs into Slideshares / blogs

• Whitepapers into a blog series

• Have your team act as journalists at events

• Customer Service and Sales FAQs into articles

• Customer testimonials (talking heads) into “profile” videos

• Summarize your own, competitor and industry research and white papers

• Email experts (internal, customer, influencer) with simple questions articles

• Your email outbox contains answers to questions important to your business

Re-Use, Recycle, Re-Purpose

Product Content

Offers

Brochures

Customer Testimonials

Case Studies

BRAND MARKETING

CONTENT MARKETING

Mapping Content To The Buyer Journey

Quizzes

Infographics

Social Content

Whitepapers

Webinars

Events

Newsletters

How-To Guides

Customer Profiles

What About Gating?

CONTENT MARKETING

Quizzes

Infographics

Social Content

Whitepapers

Webinars

Events

Newsletters

How-To Guides

Customer Profiles

What About Gating? Gating is GOOD!

1.“Ultimate” Guides

2. Research Reports

3. Books / Excerpts

4. Events

5. Tips from the Pros

CONTENT MARKETING

Quizzes

Infographics

Social Content

Whitepapers

Webinars

Events

Newsletters

How-To Guides

Customer Profiles

CapGemini Content-Loop.com

• LinkedIn Sponsored updates

• Drives to branded Content-Loop.com

• Offers to deeper content

• “Connect with experts”

Results:

~1M visitors / year

+ 3K new LinkedIn followers per week

+ High-Quality Leads

+ Sales / ROI

Thanks!

Michael BrennerCEO, Marketing Insider Group

@BrennerMichael

Questions?

Thank You!