High-performing B2B marketers were surveyed and found to differ from underperformers in key ways:
1. They have complete executive commitment to their marketing strategy and receive full executive support.
2. They plan significant budget increases, especially for tools/technology, and allocate less to traditional channels than underperformers.
3. They use on average 13 marketing tools compared to just 5 for underperformers, enabling a single customer view.
4. They extensively use 15 channels on average to create seamless customer experiences, gleaning more value from each channel.
5. They focus on creating personalized, connected customer journeys and leading customer experience initiatives across the business.
1. #CNX16
State of B2B Marketing
What the latest research says about the current
and future state of B2B marketing
Mathew Sweezey
Principal of Marketing Insights
Author of Marketing Automation for Dummies
msweezey@salesforce.com
@msweezey
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3. The Question
1,158 B2B marketers were surveyed from around the world
to answer the question:
“What makes a high-performing B2B marketer?”
7. The Answers
What is the difference between high performers and underperformers?
8. Executive Buy-In is #1
This must happen FIRST before anything else will change
9. 82% of high-performing B2B
marketers have their executive team’s complete
commitment to their marketing strategy.
@msweezey #cnx16
10. Executive Support
High performers are more than
twice as likely to have full
executive support compared to
underperformers.
Gaining buy-in is also the
hardest obstacle to overcome,
since modern marketing is
vastly different than what has
been previously done.
This is the main driver
@msweezey #cnx16
11. Budget is #2
It’s not just about more, it’s about a different budget
12. Budgetary constraints is the top reason B2B
marketers give for not adopting a customer journey
strategy.
@msweezey #cnx16
13. 73% of high-performing
B2B marketers plan to increase their traditional marketing
budgets in 2016, while only 18% of underperformers plan
on doing the same.
@msweezey #cnx16
14. The Breakdown on Budgets
Tools and Technology
High performers plan on
significantly increasing their
budgets on tools and
technology over the next two
years, a rate
2.9x greater than
underperformers.
Traditional Channels
Underperformers spend a
higher percentage of their
overall marketing budget on
traditional marketing
channels compared to high
performers (37% vs. 26%).
Social Spending
Social spend – advertising
on social platforms, social
media engagement, and
social media marketing – is
where most B2B marketers
plan to increase spend
over the next 12 months.
Where the money will go?
@msweezey #cnx16
15. The Breakdown on Budgets (cont’d)
7 out of 10 B2B marketers plan
to increase their digital
marketing spend over the next
two years.
22% plan to substantially
increase their traditional
marketing spend – by 25% or
more – over that same period.
Digital marketing spend continues to rise
70%
39%
59%
39%
39%
Digital Marketing Spend
Traditional Marketing Spend
Marketing tools and technology
Marketing consulting
Marketing headcount
Increase in Spending
@msweezey #cnx16
17. High-performing B2B marketers
use, on average, 13 tools and
technologies in their marketing
execution, compared to only 5 by
underperformers.
@msweezey #cnx16
18. Tools Enable a Single Customer Experience
High performers are 19.4x
more likely to say they excel at
creating a single customer
view.
62% of high-performing teams
excel at creating a single
customer view. This allows
them to create an omni-
channel customer experience.
This is critical
@msweezey #cnx16
19. High performers are 7x more
likely to be able to create a
single customer view than
underperformers.
@msweezey #cnx16
20. B2B Technology Breakdown
High performers versus moderate and underperformers
56%
57%
61%
48%
49%
51%
28%
21%
18%
18%
21%
17%
12%
5%
4%
5%
11%
4%
Marketing analytics
Web personalization
Emerging technology (e.g., wearables, IoT)
Social listening tools
Marketing automation
Guided selling
Percentage who currently use extensively
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
@msweezey #cnx16
21. Channels and Tactics is #4
High performers are gleaning at least 1.4x the value compared to underperformers
22. High performers are able to see at
least 2X-3X the value from the
same channels as underperformers.
@msweezey #cnx16
23. The Channels of High Performers
15 Channels on Average
High performers report
extensively using 15
channels to create a
seamless customer
experience whereas
moderate performers use 6
and underperformers use 3.
Traditional + Digital
The shift away from
traditional is obvious; yet,
the channel will not die. High
performers use this channel
when it is appropriate to do
so, but they rely on digital
the majority of the time.
Social
Facebook (54%) is the
number one most
extensively used social
channel by B2B marketers,
followed by Twitter (49%),
then LinkedIn (44%).
Where to invest and what works
@msweezey #cnx16
24. Best-in-Class Tactics
High performers versus moderate and underperformers
57%
53%
52%
52%
49%
49%
41%
45%
45%
21%
22%
21%
19%
19%
17%
13%
22%
18%
5%
6%
6%
6%
10%
7%
5%
15%
6%
Web personalization
Advertising on social platforms
Account-based marketing
Lean/agile methods
Lead nurturing and scoring
User-generated content
eBooks
Whitepapers or case studies
Infographics
Percentage who currently use extensively
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
@msweezey #cnx16
25. Tactic To Do Today:
Email Onboarding Program(s)
Only 50% of B2B marketers use email
onboarding of any type.
Onboarding costs you $0, and you
already have the tool for it.
Create a partner onboarding program, a
customer onboarding program, and an
employee onboarding program.
@msweezey #cnx16
26. Tactic to Do Today:
Employ Agile Methodologies
52% of high performers say they
extensively use agile methods
compared to only 6% of
underperformers.
Agile Marketing Manifesto
The agile marketing manifesto
(expatiated from the Agile
Manifesto):
• Individuals and interactions over
processes and tools
• Initial value over comprehensive
documentation
• Customer collaboration over
subjective opinion
• Responding to change over
following a plan
That is, while there is value in the
items on the right, we value the
items on the left more.
http://agilemarketingmanifesto.org/
@msweezey #cnx16
28. 65% of high performers rate
themselves as excellent at being
able to create a personalized,
connected journey, compared to
only 1% of underperformers.
@msweezey #cnx16
29. Customer satisfaction is their most
important metric they use to
measure the overall effectiveness
of their marketing efforts.
85% of high performers say
customer journey strategies are
critical to the success of their
overall marketing.
High-performing marketing teams
are 7.8x more likely than
underperformers to strongly agree
they’re leading customer
experience initiatives across the
business.
Biggest Business Challenge Customer Journey Cross Department
They lead the company towards itIt is their focus They build tactics around it
Customer Experience is BIG
It’s the number one factor
@msweezey #cnx16
30. Creating a Holistic Experience
High performers are 7.8x
more likely to strongly agree
they are leading the customer
experience across their
organization.
Marketing is no longer
a department.
It is a mindset.
@msweezey #cnx16
32. The Big Differences
A New Idea and Buy-In
High performers have a new
idea of marketing. They
believe in creating a holistic
experience, and get the buy-
in from the top to move in
this direction.
Executive buy-in gets you
the budget and the approval
to create a new idea of
marketing.
They Constantly Test
When reviewing the data it’s
clear to see high performers
are the first to adopt new
tactics, and techniques.
They have the budget to do
so and see the value in
reaching new consumers in
new ways.
Agile allows them to move at
the required speed.
Experience Is a Focus
They focus on how to use
channels and tactics to
create a cohesive
customer experience and
collaborate with other
areas of the company to
ensure all experiences are
supporting the goal.
Marketing is more than a
department.
Between high performers and everyone else
@msweezey #cnx16