8
What works where in B2B? 2012 How marketers are marketing. How buyers are buying. #wwwb2b In association with The Marketing Society and Circle Research
What works wherein B2B? 2012How marketers are marketing. How buyers are buying.
#wwwb2bIn association with The Marketing Society and Circle Research
What works where in B2B 2012? Page 2 of 8
Introduction
For the second year running, Omobono has partnered with The Marketing Society to produce an authoritative report on what senior marketers view as effective when it comes to spending their budgets on B2B digital marketing. And this year we’ve also looked at views of effectiveness from the buyer side – at whom all the marketing activity is aimed.
So for the first time we can see not only what works where from the marketer’s perspective, but how B2B buyers want to be approached (not always the same things).
We’ve got excellent information on how buyers react to different channels when used by both potential and existing suppliers. We can quantify the importance of recommenders (peers within the organisation or externally).
It’s an Aladdin’s cave of data. Whilst overall there are many indications that marketers are getting it right – some surprising results have emerged in terms of what really makes the difference between success and failure.
Once you’ve enjoyed the highlights here, feel free to contact us for the detailed data that backs it up by emailing: [email protected]
Theme One: Building relationships
What works where in B2B 2012? Page 3 of 8
3
Where do buyers go for information?
93% 91%
Buyers are using information from current suppliers to stay informed But buyers are
twice as likely to receive useful information via email from prospective suppliers than from existing onesSupplier
websitesSupplieremails
Deepening customer relationships
Over 75% of marketers saydeeper customer relationships arein their top 3objectives
Marketers who think extranets are good for deepening relationships
Amount of budget allocated to them
But only 16% think it’s achieved by helping the organisation ‘live the brand’
24
%1%
Direct relationshipsstill matter
The bigger the company, the more notice they take
of influencers
BUT
42%largeco’s
18%SMEs
36% of B2B buyers are more likely
to buy from face-to-face
contact
Social media
Buyers are
20% more likely to engage with existing suppliers on Twitter
Theme Two: Thought Leadership
What works where in B2B 2012? Page 4 of 8
4
Challenges of delivering thought leadership
Creating cut-through, staying innovative and creating quality content are all significant issues for marketers
And only 1 in 6 marketers think their organisation is ‘living the brand’ – making co-ordinating thought leadership even harder
Measuring ROI
Managing resources
Cut-through
Internal buy-in
Targeting right
audience
Staying innovative
Quality content
Internal expertise
Finding right
approach
Priority challenges facing marketers delivering thought leadership
14% 12% 12% 11% 10% 10% 9% 9% 9%
Thought Leadership and Social Media
But a third of buyers don’t use social as an info source
Marketerswho think social media effectively builds thought leadership
Social media spend continues to rise, second only to corporate website and email budgets
Corporatewebsite
Email marketing
Social media85%
22%18% 13%
Marketers want to be known for something
For companies bigger than £150m, thought leadership is their
No2 priority
Search: is it being overlooked?
% of buyers use search to find info
% of budget allocated by marketers to SEO
58
6
Theme Three: Use of digital channels
What works where in B2B 2012? Page 5 of 8
5
Choosing the right channels
Marketers keep with the same channels even
though objectives change
But buyers use of channels changes depending on where they are in the buying cycle
Pe
rso
nalisa
tio
n
Buying cycle
Keepinginformed
Makingcontact
Activelylooking
Digital is important. But it’s not everything.
94% of marketers view digital as critical or important
But digital is only allocated
40% of budget
Which channels lead to sales?
Pers
onal v
isit
s
Pers
onalis
ed
em
ail
Tra
de e
vents
Besp
oke
eve
nts
Lin
ked
In
Digital’s good. Personal’s better.
41% of buyers say
personal visits are the best way to reach them
Three of the top four ways to get buyers to act rely on face-to-face contact
Buyers are more likelyto be visited
by prospective suppliers than existing ones
Buyers react most positively to digital content tailored to theirrequirements
BUT
Theme Four: Spend vs effectiveness
What works where in B2B 2012? Page 6 of 8
6
What are marketers spending on?
Co
rpo
rate
web
site
d
evelo
pm
en
t 22%
Mo
bil
e
op
tim
isati
on
3
%
Mo
bil
e
ap
ps
3%
Aff
ilia
te
mktg
2%
Extranets 1%
SMS/MMS 1%
Other 1%Em
ail m
ark
eti
ng
18
%
Social media 13%
Video/podcast/webinar 9%
Display advertising 7%
SEO 6%
PPC 6%
Microsites 10%
What marketers think’s working
Social media highest riser year on year
Extranets the biggest faller
SEO & email are felt to be less effective
but buyers don’t agree
+10%
-9%
To measureor not?
BUT
14% of marketers say ROI is a key challenge
15% don’t (nor have plans to) measure it
Social – marketers vs buyers
74%
65%
Marketers who say social is effective
Those doing it in-house
Buyers using LinkedIn regularly
Buyers who say Facebook is no use to them
65%
21%
Focusing on video
of buyers like it as a form of contact. In tech sector 20%
bought as a result
5% of buyers
Only
use YouTube
The majority prefer video to be hosted on the supplier’s website
63%BUT
Mobile orimmobile?
BUT
Average mobile
marketing budget
Buyers who
would never use mobile to access a supplier website
7%
40%
About the Research
About Omobono
What works where in B2B 2012? Page 7 of 8
7
The research was conducted in spring 2012 with 96 senior B2B marketers, responsible for budgets totalling over £70 million. Many of these are heavyweight marketers from big companies.
In addition, 224 senior B2B buyers responded with their views, spread across business & professional services, financial services,
engineering & manufacturing and technology & telecoms. Collectively they have a buying power of £150m.
The survey was conducted during February and March 2012 by Circle Research on behalf of Omobono Limited. We would particularly like to thank the team at Circle, and The Marketing Society, for their invaluable input.
Omobono is an award-winning digital agency. specialising in brand engagement for large corporates and government.
Omobono works with some of the world’s largest companies to drive their relationships – with customers, employees and stakeholders. Which leads to increased sales, loyalty and share of voice.
Our combination of business expertise, creativity and technical delivery is unique.
We offer a full service, from strategy and communications planning to creative delivery and implementation of complex, dynamic websites, through to mobile and social media marketing.
www.marketing-society.org.uk
www.circle-research.com
www.omobono.com
8
To find out more about how Omobono can help you maximise the effectiveness of your digital activities:
please call Fran Brosan on 01223 307000
or email [email protected]
www.omobono.com
