CHANNEL AND LOCAL MARKETING

Transcription

1 Marketing Software Survey 2014 CHANNEL AND LOCAL MARKETING A snapshot of the current software products & platforms made for and used by marketers across industries.

2 CONTENTS Channel/Local Marketing: Mini Report 5 on Top categories of Marketing Operations 3 Channel/Local Marketing Stats Channel/ Local Marketing: what it means and why it matters 5 Channel/ local marketing technology solutions: what s available out there? 7 What users are saying? Survey Results 8 Key Takeaways 9 Footnotes 10 About MTA 11 Page 2

3 CHANNEL/LOCAL MARKETING: Earlier this year, we released the QEDBaton B2B Marketing Technology Spend Report 2014 an overview and trend analysis of the investment choices marketers are making in key areas of marketing technology. ¹ Needless to say, B2B marketers are spoilt for choice with a plethora of investment options to support any and every marketing initiative. This is an opportunity, because it means there is a solution for everything. This is also a challenge, because making an investment choice is that much riskier and complex. Our report surveyed a large sample of B2B marketers to reveal key investment trends in each of the key areas of marketing technology ², with the aim of making your choices more informed. Marketing Operations emerged among the key areas of marketing technology investment at the present time. In this series of mini reports, we have been deep diving into the five most important ³ categories of Marketing Operations. The mini reports till now have been exploring why targeted sub-categories of marketing operation are seeing traction, critical features of technology solutions in each category and survey results about the technologies being deployed by B2B marketers around the world. In this report we will divulge into the options and need of utilizing channel and local marketing automation platforms Enables seamless marketing across geographically diverse local markets via channel partners and local stakeholders Page 3

4 MARKETING DATA FACTS % of Google searches have a local intent. 50% of searches on mobile device are local. Nearly 97% of all consumers use online media to shop locally. 88% of consumers who search for a type of local business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours. Page 4

5 CHANNEL/ LOCAL MARKETING: WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT MATTERS Distributed marketing management. Channel marketing. Local marketing. Partner marketing. No matter what you call it, any business that uses local channel partners or representatives for the last mile sales closure will ignore channel/local marketing automation at its peril. B2B marketers who manage an extensive national or even international network of channel partners will be familiar with the nightmares that brand consistency and campaign execution can become when conceived centrally and executed locally. From channel partner loyalty programs to POS marketing activities that need local execution, help is at hand with the arrival of a new category of marketing automation. Channel/ local marketing technology platforms enable seamless marketing across geographically diverse local markets via channel partners and local stakeholders. The advantages of using a single platform that can empower local channel partners to execute complex central marketing campaigns include: 1. Central message, local delivery 2. Faster time to market for new campaigns 3. Widening channel partner reach 4. Larger potential customer base ŸCentral message, local delivery - consistency in brand identity and central marketing message, combined with flexibility to customize for local preferences ŸCrashed time to market for new campaigns and tacticals ŸLeveraging the familiarity of local partners to the customer while remaining true to the central brand personality ŸImproving channel partner loyalty to the brand ŸWidening channel partner reach and potential customer base ŸReal time tracking of local sales and customer feedback at the center Page 5

6 CHANNEL/ LOCAL MARKETING: WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT MATTERS ŸSingle window reporting which gives a unified picture of what is happening across markets and geographies ŸGiving local partners access to the latest online and offline marketing capabilities without capital investment ŸGiving customers and prospects a seamless and consistent brand experience across geographies. In essence, with channel/local marketing automation, national brands provide a web-based marketing portal or marketing resource center for local marketing success. Sales people, franchisees, local distributors, channel partners, local branches no matter who is in control of the last mile sales, channel marketing automation empowers the center to remain in control of marketing, tracking and measurement. 5. Real-time local sales/ customer tracking 6. Seamless and consistent brand experience across geographies Page 6

7 CHANNEL/ LOCAL MARKETING TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS: WHAT S AVAILABLE OUT THERE? There is a wide range of channel and local marketing automation platforms to choose from. For B2B marketers, such platforms become even more crucial as the options for brand interaction with the prospect are often limited to trade events and forums. The last mile execution is almost completely dependent on the delivery partner. A comprehensive channel/ local marketing automation platform should allow for: ŸEasy integration with existing marketing automation systems ŸFlexibility for localization of campaign material without compromising on brand fidelity ŸRobust dashboard that provides big picture as well as local performance evaluation ŸClosed loop marketing campaigns ŸAbility to execute online - especially social media, and direct mail campaigns for local partners ŸMobile integration ŸDigital asset management and distribution system ŸOnline store for local partners to order brand literature and collaterals easily and efficiently ŸLead distribution system for local partners Page 7

8 WHAT USERS ARE SAYING: SURVEY RESULTS An online survey ⁴ conducted by QEDbaton polled senior B2B sales, marketing and business development executives from around the world on their use of marketing operations technologies. Only close to 40% of respondents had any specialized channel/local marketing automation tool in place. A whopping 60% of them however did not know or were unsure of what exactly the solution deployed was. Usage Trends of Partner Relationship Management Platforms 30% Smal Inhouse/Others, 47% Don't Know, 31% 40% Nielsen, 10% 60% MarketShare, 6% 70% Large Size of Business Marketing Evolution, 3% ComScore, 3% Top Partner Relationship Management solution providers Page 8

9 KEY TAKEAWAYS B2B marketers who rely on indirect sales are yet to truly adopt the power of channel/local marketing automation platforms. Considering that the respondents would be primary users and beneficiaries of the platform, one can only conclude that adoption and engagement rates of automation solutions deployed were woefully low. Educating B2B marketers on the potential of channel/local marketing automation to streamline last miles sales as well as feeding back diverse prospect and customer into a centralized system could go a long way in driving awareness, adoption and ROI. Page 9

10 FOOTNOTES 1.The structure of the report and survey was based on Scott Brinker s super graphic on the same topic which divides marketing technology into six super categories, each with a set of sub-categories. 2.Key areas of marketing technology: Our report built upon Scott s work, which divided marketing technology into 6 key areas, each of which was further divided into sub-categories. The 6 areas were: Marke ng Experience Marke ng Opertaions Middleware Backbone Pla orms Infrastracture Marke ng Enviroment Each key area was further divided into sub-categories. 3.Technologies serving Marketing Operations can be classified into 9 sub-categories. These are: Marke ng analy cs Marke ng data Business intelligence Channel/ local marke ng Web and mobile analy cs Dashboards Digital asset management Marke ng resource management Agile and project management In the survey conducted for the QEDBaton B2B Marketing Technology Spend Report 2014, 5 of these subcategories (in bold) enjoyed the most investment or intent to invest, as well as seemed the most crowded in terms of technology products available. This series of mini reports delve deeper into these 5 sub-categories to understand why they are attracting the maximum B2B marketing investments and what the wide ranging solutions encapsulate. 4. About the survey: an online survey with 135 plus responses. Respondents profile: ŸSenior sales and marketing professionals or senior management executives ŸPrimarily based in USA, UK, Canada, Australia, India, Germany ŸOrganizations are either B2B or both B2B and B2C marketers, ranging from small to medium and large firms (<$10 million to over $1 billion ) ŸPrimarily in the IT/Software, manufacturing, advertising or media/pr, construction/ engineering or telecom sectors ŸFor more information on the survey, please XYZ@qedbaton.com Page 10

11 ABOUT MARTECH ADVISOR MarTech Advisor is the world s Leading Source of Marketing Technology News, Unbiased Research, Product Reviews & Expert Commentary. MarTech Advisor reaches and informs a world-wide audience of over 250,000 sales & marketing professionals via its newsletters and LinkedIn group. Our focus at MarTech Advisor is to help the sales & marketing professional stay on top of the multitude of rapidly evolving marketing software products. Our content assists our readers in comparing, researching and selecting the right products and platforms to meet their marketing objectives. Contact Us: On the web info@martechadvisor.com Twitter: Twitter.com/MarTechAdvisor Join the world's leading sales & marketing group on LinkedIn: Page 11