Insights from B2B Leaders

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Today’s agenda

#1. Top priorities

#2. Brand transformation

#3. Mobile and social

#4. Sales and marketing collaboration

#5. Bridging the Boardroom gap

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Some fuel for debate

100 interviews

On, or report to, senior leadership team

Average 15 years in profession

Control budgets of £188 million

Variety of industry sectors

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Top priorities

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B2B marketers’ five highest priorities

Senior level buy-in

Resource management• Getting budget• Reducing costs

Team development

Approach in-line with marketing trends

Generating leads

External

Internal

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Is there too much internal focus?

How have they changed in the last 12 months?

Are these your priorities?

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B2B marketers’ five highest priorities

Senior level buy-in

Resource management• Getting budget• Reducing costs

Team development

Approach in-line with marketing trends

Generating leads

External

Internal

8

79% feel their team has skills gaps

Data analytics and reporting (41%)

Customer or market insight (34%)

Digital marketing techniques (31%)

Marketing technology (28%)

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Time, money and process are barriers

Only 48% have a development programme for majority of team

47% have problems finding budget for training

68% say team too busy to take time out for development

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B2B marketers’ five highest priorities

Senior level buy-in

Resource management• Getting budget• Reducing costs

Team development

Approach in-line with marketing trends

Generating leads

External

Internal

11

Average B2B marketing budget

=

4% of turnover

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1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10% 11%+

28%

14%

20%

4%

12%

3%

0%

3%

0%

8% 8%

62% spend 3% or less of annual turnover on

marketing

Two thirds spend 3% or less of turnover on marketing

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Majority of spend still on ‘traditional’ activities

OtherBrand identity

Online advertisingTelemarketing

Marketing researchMarketing strategy

SEO/PPCSocial media

Content creationPR

Direct salesWebsite development

PrintEmail

Direct mailTrade shows

2%1%

3%3%3%3%

4%4%

6%7%7%

9%9%

11%12%

15%

Digital‘Traditional’

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It’s much less than needed

16%

It’s less than needed

59% It’s about right22% It’s a little

too generous3%

Three quarters feel their marketing budget is insufficient

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Ideal B2B marketing budget =

7% of turnover

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Rarely or not at all

Some of the time

About half of

the time

Most of the time

All of the time

17%

25%23%

29%

6%

42% struggle to measure ROI

35% can measure ROI

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A vicious cycle?

“It exacerbates the divide between marketing and sales. It is very difficult to quantify awareness and

brand activities if you are a sales person, all you see is money flowing away from the business.”

“Although the business is beginning to understand that there are some things we just can't measure in short-term financial returns there is still not 100% conviction that this is or should be the case.”

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Brand transformation

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77% feel that brand is key to success

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Most have the pieces in place

80% say brand clearly defined

85% have sound understanding of customers and market

72% say brand is differentiated

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But the challenge is in execution

Resources - lower priority than revenue generating activity

Positioning which…• appeals to all segments• is flexible enough to evolve• gets internal agreement

Delivery – front line don’t live brand

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IBM and Salesforce held in highest regard

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The secrets of Salesforce’s success

#1. It’s not your brand

#3. Don’t just state it, live it

#2. It’s not marketing’s brand

#5. Have a clear, bold and simple central idea

#7. Be obsessively customer centric

#9. Continuously evolve to stay relevant

#10. Always push the boundaries

#6. Be authentic and true to yourself

#8. Never breach their trust

#4. Lead from the top

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Sales and marketing collaboration

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The impact of mis-alignment

Tension damages morale (34%)

Bottom line hit as leads not fully nurtured (61%)

Brand suffers as messages inconsistent (43%)

SALESMARKETING

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The solution?

Setting shared goals (67%)

Tracking performance to raise visibility and accountability (48%)

Aligning resources around goals (47%)

MA

RK

ET

ING

SA

LE

S

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Bridging the gap to the Boardroom

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Only 33% feel marketing is a key priority for the Board

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A B2B marketing leader is…

A visionary

A B2B leader is…

A statesman

An expert

An entrepreneur

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• Strategic, big picture thinker with clear vision• Business acumen and commercial focus• Analytical yet creative

• Mindful of non-marketing colleagues’ agendas• Able to navigate organisation and join-up siloes• Outstanding communication and influencing skills

• Deep market understanding• Insight into customer motivations• Experienced in all key marketing disciplines

• Open-minded, forward-thinking, embraces new ideas• Leads by example and gets hands dirty when needed• Determined, tenacious and fights their corner• Gutsy and takes calculated risks

Visionary

Statesman

Expert

Entrepreneur