Vanson Bourne Full Research Report: Directions in Tech Marketing

Directions in Tech Marketing

Intelligent Market Research

01 | Vanson Bourne - Contents

Contents

Executive Summary 2-5Trends in tech marketing management 2The changing culture of tech marketing 3From "Creatives" to Content Builders - the new tech marketer 4Multi-channel communications and the role of social media 5

Data 6-23Big Trends 6-9Has marketing communications become more or less centralised in recent years? 6What is the trend in your company in terms of outsourcing marcomms? 7Is your organisation's most senior marcomms professional on the main board? 8What 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? 11What departments/teams beyond marketing/PR/communications use your target market research? 12Which of the following are the three most important factors when measuring campaign success? 13

Marketer as researcher 14-18How do you track social media use by customers? 14In which of these ways would you say the culture of marketing communications in your business has principally changed over the past few years? 15Do you break-out the evaluation of campaign success across the di�erent disciplines? E.g. social media, print advertising, DM, PR etc. 16How do you research your target market? 17When do you research your target markets? 18

Changing skill sets 19-23Which marketing skills do you regard as most valuable in B2B/B2C technology marketing? Combination grid showing answers ranked �rst, second and third. 19Which marketing skills do you regard as most valuable in B2B/B2C technology marketing? Grid showing skills ranked as 'most important'. 20Do you run integrated campaigns; i.e. ones that use di�erent marcomms platforms/channels 21Thinking about technology marcomms, in which of the following areas do you think there is a lack of skills? 22When thinking about your organisation's ability in using tools such as data analytics, social media/analytics and insight tools, to what extent do you agree with the following statements: 23

Demographics 24-25

About Vanson Bourne 26


02 | Vanson Bourne - Trends in Tech Marketing Management

Trends in tech marketing management

The �rst 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 identi�ed 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).


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 di�cult market conditions is a greater focus on driving sales - 68% of respondents are experiencing this re-de�nition 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", identi�ed 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.

Re�ecting 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.


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 di�erent data sources", both selected by 42% of respondents, with "trends analysis" close behind on 36% (p22). These �gures suggest that the speedy changes in marketing culture have outstripped the typical tech marketer's skill set. Re�ecting back on the trends toward centralisation (which usually means headcount reduction) and in-sourcing, is this skill de�cit likely to be resolved except through the use of skilled third-parties?


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 tra�c" (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).


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

06 | Vanson Bourne - Big Trends

51%

19%

TotalBase: all respondents

It's more centralised

It's more decentralised/localised 30%It's stayed the same

59Base

51% say marketing communications has become more centralised

51%

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


56%

37%


We are moving in neither direction

The trend is towards doing more in-house

7%

The trend is towards outsourcing more of our marketing communications function

59Base

37% say the trend is towards doing more in-house

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


37%

63%


Yes

No

59Base

In only 37% of surveyed organisations is the most senior marcomms professional on the board

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 sales 53%Multi-platform access of our website/business systems

49%Consumerisation of IT 40%Rise of mobile data/the "mobile apps" economy

32%Increased competition in our primary market 21%Drive to maximise average revenue from each customer

19%Rise of cloud computing 16%Market convergence

11%Industry consolidation 9%Outsourcing customer insight/analytics

4%Increasing competition from traditionally B2C companies 7%*Other (please specify)

75%

81% say budget reduction

75% say rise in social media

75%Rise of social media

Brands to LeadsWhat are the top trends you see driving B2B technology marketing today?

10 | Vanson Bourne - Brands to Leads

81%

75%

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

Rise of social media

68%Greater focus on driving sales 53%Multi-platform access of our website/business systems

49%Consumerisation of IT 40%Rise of mobile data/the "mobile apps" economy

32%Increased competition in our primary market 21%Drive to maximise average revenue from each customer

19%Rise of cloud computing 16%Market convergence

11%Industry consolidation 9%Outsourcing customer insight/analytics

4%Increasing competition from traditionally B2C companies 7%*Other (please specify)

68% say greater focus on driving sales

Brands to LeadsWhat 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 development Customer service/customer insight

27%Board

4%

4%

Finance

4%

2%

HR

No other departments and teams use our audience insight

*Other (please specify)

55Base

* Other (please specify): Product Line Management

89% indicated that other than marketing/PR/communications teams it is the Sales department who use target market research


93%

71%

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

Sales leads

Audience engagement

42%

37%

Web tra�c Editorial coverage

25%Brand perception

19%

10%

Audience reach

2%

Social media chatter and mentions

Awards

59Base

SalesLeads

BrandPerception

25%93%

Brands to LeadsWhich of the following are the three most important factors when measuring campaign success?

Marketer as researcherHow do you track social media use by customers?

14 | Vanson Bourne - Marketer as researcher

58%

13%

TotalBase: only asked of respondents whose organisation uses social media methods to research target markets

We use social media tracking tools in-house

Our social media agency does it

3%We have hired a specialist agency for this purpose

23%We don't track social media use by customers

3%* Other (please specify)

31Base

* Other (please specify): Apollo report

Nearly a1/4 say we don't track social media�use�by customers

Marketer as researcherIn which of these ways would you say the culture of marketing communications in your business has principally changed over the past few years?


81%

69%


A greater emphasis has been placed on social media

59Base

A greater emphasis has been placed on targeting speci�c audiences

54%

54%

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

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

We've adopted B2C communications principles/We've adopted B2B/corporate communications principles

19%Traditional marcomms now not perceived as delivering ROI

2%It hasn't changed

47%

14%

69% say a greater emphasis has been placed on targeting specific audiences�

54% say that keeping track of customers has increased in importance

47% say a greater emphasis has been placed on evaluation especially calculating ROI in communcations

Marketer as researcherDo you break-out the evaluation of campaign success across the different 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 di�erent disciplines

73%

Marketer as researcherHow 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 research 61%Informal customer feedback (anecdotal)

44%Social media/analytics 31%Social media customer insight tools

31%We run surveys in-house surveys 22%Big data/customer analytics

7%We don't research our target market 2%* Other (please specify)


7% indicated that they don’t research their target market

Marketer as researcherWhen 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 gathering insight from their target market

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 �rst, second, and third

61% say a working knowledge of the burgeoning array of marcomms channels, including social 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


61%

69%

66%

Total

59

63%

39%

2%

Changing skill setsWhich of the following marketing skills do you regard as the most valuable in B2B/B2C technology marketing?



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”.

Changing skill setsDo you run integrated campaigns; i.e. ones that use different marcomms platforms/channels?


90%

10%


Yes

59Base

No

90% say they do run integratedcampaigns

Changing skill setsThinking about technology marcomms, in which of the following areas do you think there is a lack of skills?



42% 42% 36%

data analysis

making sense of different

data sources

trendsanalysis

42%

42%

Total

Data analysis

Making sense of di�erent data sources

36%Trends analysis

32%

32%

Evaluation

Creativity

29%Social media

12%None of the above

59Base

Changing skill setsWhen thinking about your organisation's ability in using tools such as data analytics, social media/analytics and insight tools, to what extent do you agree with the following statements:

We are having to outsource increasing research aspects of our job to suppliers/agencies


9%

29%

Total

Base: only asked of respondents whose organisations use social media/ analytics, social media customer insight tools or data analytics to research target markets

1 - strongly disagree

2 - disagree

31%3 - neither agree nor disagree

26%

6%

4 - agree

5 - strongly agree

2.91%Average

35Base

32%

Demographics

0%

3%


Less than 1 year old

1-3 years 0%3-6 years 14%6-12 years 83%Older than 12 years 14Average 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?

Demographics

25 | Vanson Bourne - Demographics

36%

24%


Software

Services 12%Cloud computing

59Base

8%

7%

Networking

Security 5%Storage

2%

6%

Telecoms and related


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

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 e�ectively 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 e�ective technology marketing.

Intelligent Market Research

Vanson BourneConstruction House

Winchester RoadBurghclere

NewburyRG20 9EQ

Tel: +44 (0) 1635 550 449

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.vansonbourne.com

Date post:	20-Aug-2015
Category:	Marketing
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