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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?
07 |Vanson Bourne - Big Trends
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?
08 |Vanson Bourne - Big Trends
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?
09 |Vanson Bourne - Big Trends
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%
TotalBase: all respondents
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?
12 |Vanson Bourne - Brands to Leads
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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13 |Vanson Bourne - Brands to Leads
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%
TotalBase: all respondents
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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Marketer as researcher
Do you break-out the evaluation of campaign success across the dierent disciplines?
E.g. social media, print advertising, DM, PR etc.
16 |Vanson Bourne - Marketer as researcher
73%27%
TotalBase: all respondents
Yes
59Base
No
73%break-out the evaluation of campaign
success across the different disciplines
73%
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Marketer as researcher
How do you research your target market?
69%68%
TotalBase: all respondents
* 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)
17 |Vanson Bourne - Marketer as researcher
7% indicatedthatthey dont research
their target market
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Marketer as researcher
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
18 |Vanson Bourne - Marketer as researcher
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?
20 |Vanson Bourne - Changing skill sets
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?
21 |Vanson Bourne - Changing skill sets
90%10%
TotalBase: all respondents
Yes
59Base
No
90%say they do run integratedcampaigns
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Demographics
0%3%
TotalBase: all respondents
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%
TotalBase: all respondents
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%
TotalBase: all respondents
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%
TotalBase: all respondents
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:enquiries@vansonbourne.com
Web: www.vansonbourne.com