MAD Perspectives Blog

OK.  We're almost one month into the new year.  How's it going for you?  Have you been buried in snow?  Awash in floods?  Bemoaning the loss of budget dollars and resources to pursue effective marketing and communication strategies?  I've been looking at the plethora of data provided by marketing firms such as Marketing Sherpa and Marketing Profs related to B2B marketing budgets for 2011.  Just in case you have not seen their reports or presentations, I'm going to share some highlights.

The good news is - marketing dollars are on the upswing.  Of course, this is an increase after 2 or more years of dramatic cuts, so we're not really back to normal.  But then, what is normal?  The past few years have seen a marked shift from offline marketing to online marketing.  The question is, where is the money being spent and how effective are the different marketing strategies.  The key metric for ALL B2B marketers is Lead Generation. 

Offline marketing activities such as executive breakfasts, PR, tradeshows and insides sales/telemarketing are still big parts of the budget, yet their effectiveness is shifting.  Inside sales is considered one of the most effective strategies for improving the number and quality of leads, yet companies continue to limit the budgets allocated to this valuable effort. At the same time PR budget may be stagnant, but these agencies are increasingly asked to expand their capabilities to include social media.

This leads us to the discussion of online marketing.  This segment is seeing budget increases for 2011.  The key areas for investment are corporate website, search, webinars and social media.  Despite many statements in the past year that social media and Facebook in particular, will displace the need for a corporate website, B2B companies place their website as the fulcrum of their overall online marketing strategy.   This is a smart decision by B2Bs.  Their websites are the validation of themselves as a meaningful, differentiated, competitive business.  Optimizing the website for search, ease of use, availability of relevant content and interactive discussion requires ongoing investment and a cohesive strategy.

Note the topics related to the corporate website.
  
     - Search - this is more than keyword analysis.  This is development of content and web pages that will improve organic search on Google (where 93% of B2B buyers start their research).  This is also social search.  How, when and where are B2B buyers seeking recommendations about the solutions they need.  Are they on LinkedIn?  Twitter?  What terminology do they use to search?

     - Content - There is simply not enough that can be said about creating and delivering the right content at the right time to the right audience.  while the corporate website can become a repository for piles of information, it is important that prospective buyers can find the content they need easily and quickly.  

    - Social Media - Social platforms enable a company to increase their reach.  They allow companies to become more personal.  They also allow companies to understand their customers better.  It is about more than just listening to what their customers are saying.  It's about engaging, resolving, promoting, inciting and inspiring.

    - Webinars - This is the MOST effective online tactic as reported by Marketing Profs.  This is also one of the leading areas for increased online marketing investment.  This technology has become more sophisticated (incorporating social chat, polling and survey capabilities) and more affordable, enabling even the smallest B2B company to inform and educate its target audience.  Bottom line (as I've mentioned repeatedly), video is memorable.

The challenge is to balance your marketing budget across the most effective marketing channels.  Sometimes the less effective channels consume an inordinate amount of budget.  Understanding your customers and where they will be physically or virtually may help justify shifts in budget allocation.  Understanding how your customers are talking about your company will help you develop a content marketing strategy that leverages online and offline channels.  Check out both Marketing Profs and Marketing Sherpa (yes, I'm a member of both groups) to see their 2011 projections and the details that I allude to here.  The online marketing landscape continues to shift and evolve.  Will 2011 be the year for B2B breakthroughs via social media?

What's your perspective?

What actions do you take to encourage your customers to make a purchase?

The goal for any company is to drive revenue, manage expenses and earn profits.  Companies employ a variety of strategies to encourage customers to purchase their products or services.  These strategies increasingly incorporate different types of digitial media, from online advertising, SEM and SEO to social media, from online video to video conferencing.  Use of any of these customer centric efforts is to motivate customer action.  The ultimate desired action is for the customer to make a purchase, however, there are many other actions that may lead to that purchase.

Much emphasis is placed by B2B companies on lead or demand generation.  The basic premise is that the larger the funnel of opportunity, the greater the number of closed deals.  However, how does a B2B company inspire action through social media?  B2C companies offer special promotions or discounts to their fans and followers.  B2B companies have not, generally, seen increased sales directly related to limited time offers or discounts.  However, they have seen increased webinar attendance, increased whitepaper downloads and website visits when using social networks to enhance the visibility of the companies' programs.

North Plains, a digital asset management vendor (see North Plains case study), participates in many DAM related LinkedIn Groups.  By promoting their educational webinars in the groups, they increased anticipated attendance at their webinars.  Increased attendance equates to increased awareness and potentially increased sales.

The goal is consider what phase of the sales cycle your audience  is in.  Are they building knowledge?  Are they assessing vendors and options?  Or, are they in the decision making phase?  Aligning your content efforts with these different phases can help drive a desired action.  TechTarget shared the following findings in 2009 as related to IT buyers interest in online content based on stage in the buying process. 



This study provides some interesting insights that can help you target your content efforts to drive the desired action.  It reinforces the need for an integrated marketing strategy that incorporates social media, streaming media, marketing collateral and whitepapers, shared across a combination of your corporate website and social outlets.  It reinforces the need for a strategy that aligns content development efforts with all phases of the buying cycle.  It reinforces the need to understand your customer's needs when creating content to drive a specific action.

Social networks are a relevant source of information.  They can help a potential customer increase his/her knowledge of your company and its products.  They can faciliate community discussions.  They can inform a potential customer on where or how to find more detailed information, but can they actually convince a cusotmer to make a purchase in the B2B space?   In my opinion, the jury is out on this topic at this time.  While there have been many reports indicating that B2B marketers have found success increasing awareness and knowledge, I have not seen clear evidence that shows Twitter or LinkedIn, much less Facebook, are driving significant sales of B2B products and solutions.  Companies such as IBM claim to have sophisticated listening tools to help them uncover leads, however that is not a sale.  Perhaps it's a matter of time.  Perhaps it is dependent of understanding key drivers influencing the buying decision and aligning that understanding with the right social networking.

How well do you know your customers?  Stay tuned for further discussion on this topic.

What's your perspective?