Account-Based Marketing in 2013

Transcription

1 Account-Based Marketing in 2013 A Demandbase / Ziff Davis Survey Executive Summary From August 7 to August 27, 2012, Demandbase conducted a study in partnership with Ziff Davis to analyze current B2B online marketing strategies and discover key patterns, including what tactics currently produce the best results and where B2B marketers continue to struggle. The survey results provide a broad overview of current marketing activities and help create a vision for the future of online B2B marketing namely that successful B2B companies will invest more to align strategies with resources while trying to adapt to evolving buyer behaviors and expanding their use of new buyer targeting methods. This study adds to the mounting evidence that online marketing strategies continue to evolve at the kind of rapid pace that can create gaps between stated objectives and execution. For example, many survey respondents indicated that how their companies measure results, produce content, or even use resources does not correspond to their long-term priorities. To stay competitive, such organizations must bridge this gap by testing new approaches, thinking strategically, and measuring their results. Respondents to the survey included B2B companies of all different sizes and across industries. Takeaways include: Account-based marketing (aka named account or strategic account marketing) is gaining traction in the B2B space as a smarter way to market with limited resources. Marketers are seeking new methods to market more efficiently in the face of resource and budgetary limitations. For many, goals, resources, and long-term marketing strategies are not well-aligned, suggesting a need for deeper analysis of how marketing dollars are invested. B2B companies recognize buyer persona creation as an important ingredient in their marketing mix but struggle with how best to integrate it into an effective strategy. 1

2 QUESTION 1: Which of the following strategies does your company use for online marketing? Display and banner advertising 34% Search engine marketing/ pay-per-click 41% Search engine optimization/ organic search 6 Social media marketing 60% Inbound marketing/ content creation/ blogs 5 Content syndication 16% Other 22% Social Media as a marketing tool is waxing, while tried and true B2B tactics like PPC seem to be waning. It seems that B2B marketers have heard the call for content that builds prospect trust throughout the sales and marketing process. Social media is a full player in the marketing strategy mix, ranking 2nd only to SEO. And Inbound/Content Marketing is right behind Social Media. But the proliferation of social information continues to fuel Buyer 2.0 expectations for highly personalized messages and experiences. To match this expectation, marketers will require more tools to focus their social media and content efforts so that they deliver it to the right person and at the right stage of the overall process. Of course, the ability to quantitatively measure the results of these strategies and tools will also increase in importance both in terms of understanding who responds to social and other outbound marketing efforts, and refining outbound marketing efforts to match inbound demographic and firmographic information. Similar to other recent surveys, we found that pay-per-click is less popular than social and inbound strategies indicating that B2Bs may be relying less on PPC than in previous years. Possible explanations may reside in the fact that PPC has become a better understood process in many industries, where intense competition for highly valued terms can develop and drive up prices. But others continue to question the value of the clicks, as they typically come with no control or understanding over who was just paid for. Understandably, the concern is, how can I be certain that the person who clicks is the decision maker or at least highly influential in the purchase process? Or even coming from a company that is likely to ever purchase from me? Recent surveys by Optify and Webmarketing 123 are finding similar trends for B2B PPC. We predict that banner and display advertising dollars will likely take up much of the slack particularly due to changing buyer behaviors which have increased the necessity for brand awareness initiatives. Of course, neither banner nor display advertising rank high in this chart, but as branding initiatives (and dollars) catch up to lead generation spend, display is a natural destination for increased attention. 2

3 QUESTION 2: Which of the following marketing targets are most important to your company? (Choose your top 2) Prospect Title (i.e. Manager, Director, VP) 46% Prospect Department (i.e. Marketing, Finance, HR) 26% Industry/Vertical 56% Size (annual revenue or employee count) 22% Geography 18% Named Accounts 30% Many B2B executives report targeting named accounts as a key marketing focus. The top answer is not surprising. Going after more vertical business is widely considered to be the quickest way to leverage past success. The reality is, prospect companies that are similar to those already within your client pool are exponentially more likely to be interested in your product or service than others with different pain points, needs, and buying specifications. Plus, as shown by recent DemandGen Report research, 65% of B2B buyers say they respond best to case studies and other demonstrations of solid results in businesses that look a lot like their own. Respondents listed targeting by prospect title as a high-return strategy because it speaks to common sets of shared concerns, and can be a good guide for individuals authority to influence buying decisions. But B2B marketers would do well to be careful with such assumptions. While targeting by title can be effective in marketing a narrow niche product or service or for the creation of buyer personas, it can also limit the efficiency of marketing efforts by failing to better define what the title really means within the context of a particular company or where that company exists in the context of your buying universe. Are they likely to ever buy from you or is it a case of right person, wrong company? Context is key. Such cautions may explain in part why the relatively new concept of account-based marketing was in the top three, scoring ahead of even targeting by size or geography. This result points to a burgeoning perception in B2B marketing: the untapped value of more contextual lead generation. As such, the growing appeal of an account-based strategy is that it allows for the very quality and precision that general lead demographic approaches lack, both in terms of the quality of the leads and in delivering a precise message to the prospect. The unexpectedly low numbers for targeting by size or geography can perhaps be explained by the trend toward investments in Software-as-a- Service, as well as businesses of all sizes that are more willing to outsource tasks to other geographic regions. 3

4 QUESTION 3: Which of the following marketing targets consume the most marketing resources (e.g. budget, staff time, other resources)? (Choose your top 2) Prospect Title (i.e. Manager, Director, VP) 42% Prospect Department (i.e. Marketing, Finance, HR) 34% Industry/Vertical 49% Size (annual revenue or employee count) 25% Geography 15% Named Accounts 26% B2Bs are failing to use resources in a way that matches their goal targets. When comparing the data from the previous question to the answers shown here, there seems to exist a disconnect between resource allocation and goal targets. For example, named-accounts scored 3rd in the previous question, but drops to fourth in importance here, barely nosing out targeting companies by size in consuming marketing resources. A well-planned B2B marketing strategy aligns marketing resources seamlessly with marketing targets in order of priority. (And priority, of course, should be based on ROI). That being said, one example of resource waste resides in the disparity between the 26% of respondents who rank targeting prospects by department in their top two choices, and the 34% who report that this type of marketing as a top two priority for resource consumption. B2Bs would be better served by more closely matching resources to targets to wring more efficiency from their marketing dollar. The responses to the next survey question suggest this problem is not isolated. 4

5 QUESTION 4: Which of the following target qualifications does your company use for lead qualification or lead scoring? (Select all that apply) Prospect Title (i.e. Manager, Director, VP) 4 Prospect Department (i.e. Marketing, Finance, HR) 48% Industry/Vertical 58% Size (annual revenue or employee count) 45% Geography 39% Named Accounts 35% B2B executives need to align lead scoring with marketing targets and resources. If the last survey question indicated a mismatch between targets and resources, lead scoring shows an even larger gap. This disparity between answers suggests either a failure to create a coherent lead scoring strategy or a significant need for a more careful selection of tactics. Several of the most obvious examples of misalignment between stated priority targets and lead scoring include: While prospecting by geography scores near the bottom for targeting and resource use, it surpasses named or strategic accounts as a category for lead scoring. This could be a carryover from previous lead scoring criteria that made more sense when the world was less connected. The question becomes: are B2B lead scoring strategies keeping pace with new marketing realities? Similarly, prospecting by department scores quite low as a target, but moves all the way to #2 as a lead scoring criteria. Named accounts drop to the very bottom of the rankings for lead scoring despite being a top three target. Why aren t B2Bs doing a better job of making this priority a priority? Shouldn t all leads from strategic accounts be automatic A1 leads? The future of lead generation and qualification will hinge on marketers abilities to harness vital, common firmographic information from their customer lists and utilize that information as a component of their lead scoring criteria. Too many B2B marketers are satisfied with demographic or behavioral lead scoring strategies that don t focus enough on identifying whether an engaged prospect actually works from a company that is likely to buy. 5

6 QUESTION 5: Which of the following strategies would best describe your primary long-term focus for online marketing? Increased focus on the SMB segment 5% Other 5% Increased focus on geographies 8% Increased focus on the enterprise segment 9% Increased focus on named account lists/target lists 19% Increased focus on individual prospect types/buyer personas 29% Increased focus on industries or vertical markets 25% Buyer persona is clearly a guiding B2B marketing concept, but can under-deliver and waste resources when not matched with an account-based strategy. An emphasis on buyer personas as the top strategy in 2013 seems to indicate that the primary longterm focus of B2B marketing is nurturing existing leads over generating new ones. This surge in interest in buyer personas could be a by-product of the increasingly widespread usage of marketing automation, as it is a common discussion point amongst the vendors and users of these tools which are primarily utilized to market to leads and prospects which have already been identified. If so, companies with competitive marketing automation technology have put themselves in an enviable position, since the technology can effectively match the right content to specific buyers at critical times in the buying cycle. Something to consider, however, is how much of this winning match hinges not just on clearly defining buyer personas, but also matching these personas to account profiles that are in line with your existing customer base. In other words, an engaged prospect might have the right title (director level or above), might work in the right department, and might be extremely active in response to your campaigns. Clearly there is an interest in what you have produced. However, if this individual works at a company that does not match the criteria for what you have identified as the type of company most likely to buy from you, it is very likely that any cycles spent trying to sell to them could be wasted. It is vital for B2Bs to incorporate account profiles into their long-term strategy as they are the cornerstone of any account-based marketing effort. 6

7 QUESTION 6: Which of the following would best describe your understanding of your target markets? Other 1% We believe we can sell to anybody 8% We have a complete understanding of our target market, including account types by industry or company size 31% We do not yet understand our target market 10% We have a basic understanding but we are still evaluating our markets 50% More than half of respondents say they need help targeting specific accounts. With 50% of the respondents who say they have only a basic understanding of their target market, and another 10% who say they don t yet understand their target at all, this area indicates room for ample growth. B2Bs can significantly strengthen their understanding of their targets by testing responses to new content and using social media not just as a message channel, but also for close listening. Named account marketing also presents an efficient route for thoroughly understanding target buyers, where specific messages produce higher returns than vague segmentation that doesn t contextualize buyer personas, buying stage, or account demographics and firmographics. There is an interesting correlation between those who state they have a complete understanding of their target market (31%) and those who listed named-accounts as a top marketing target approach (35%). This percentage similarity may indicate that B2B companies that use a named-account approach have more success in getting a crystal clear picture of their marketing targets. 7

8 QUESTION 7: Which of the following marketing challenges apply to your company? (Rank from 1-6 with 1 being most important) Lack of budget Lack of marketing personnel or resources Effective program selection/resource allocation Reliable marketing intelligence/ acquisition of lists Measuring return on investment (ROI) Poor sales and marketing alignment around common targets and goals B2B executives face tough choices between resource and headcount acquisition and reallocation. There certainly is some good news here B2B executives are getting better and more confident in their ability to measure ROI. It is likely that technology and software that measure campaign performance, tie it to revenue and also examine online activity have increased confidence in measuring the tangible results delivered by marketing. While at first glance some may celebrate the fact that sales and marketing alignment is not listed as a top concern, others might intuit that perhaps the low priority is not in fact a reflection of departmental synergy but instead, an indication that misalignment merely does not rank as highly as other burning concerns. The truth is, marketing feels pressed from many sides. Personnel, resources, and budget all are under strain. B2B executives face a decision: either free up more resources and increase staff, or become more efficient with resource allocation and gathering marketing intelligence. The growing use of named-accounts is possibly a byproduct of the need to find this efficiency. As technology makes named-account marketing both easier and less expensive, B2Bs who want to acquire the most highly qualified leads without significantly increasing their costs will increase investments in namedaccount strategies and technology. It all boils down to the well-known 80/20 principle investing the bulk of your time where you know you will produce maximum efficiency and results. 8

9 QUESTION 8: Which of the following factors does your company consider when creating new content? (Select all that apply) Thought Leadership content based on broad industry awareness 47% Content based on the industries or company types you are targeting 64% Content based on specific business needs and solutions 74% Product-based descriptive content, brochures or product guides 48% Content focused on individual user profiles or buyer personas 36% Sales-driven content, sales enablement pieces like ROI calculations or vendor comparisons 31% Other 7% Though buyer persona was the clear #1 long-term focus for B2B marketers earlier in the survey, it ranked low in consideration when creating new content. Content marketing that delivers results must match a company s long-term focus for online marketing, so this disparity in content creation results reveal potential danger ahead areas for B2B online marketing. The previous question indicated that sales and marketing are getting along fine. But how can marketing-created content help sales if long-term goals are not being factored into the creation process? Furthermore, the fact that thought leadership ranks fourth as a content creation priority indicates a possibility that some B2Bs may be guilty of over-focusing on product features, which detracts from the overall value perception that they create for their brand. In short, focusing too much of your content creation on the people who might buy next quarter jeopardizes your ability to sell to the people who might buy next year. Meanwhile, respondents ranked buyer persona as their fifth consideration in creating content, though it was the first-listed long-term goal earlier in the survey. Collectively, these results show respondents grasp the importance of content, but have significant area for improvement if their content creation and distribution methods are to product desired results. 9

10 CONCLUSION The responses in this survey suggest three practical steps B2B marketing executives can take to improve marketing. 1. Align targets, resources, lead scoring, and content creation. Long-term goals and areas of focus should serve as a guide. 2. Consider diving deeper into data you have collected about your existing customers as the shortest path to a more thorough understanding of who your new customers will be. 3. Limited budget and resource concerns lend themselves to a renewed focus on account-based marketing techniques, combining what you know about the companies most likely to buy with your tactical campaign selection, lead scoring, lead nurturing, buyer persona creation and content strategy. ADDENDUM SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN: IT/Hardware/Software Manufacturing Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals Advertising/Marketing Banking/Financial/Insurance Construction/Architecture Other Media/Entertainment Financial Services Education Distribution/Wholesale Telecommunications Non-Profit Food/Beverage/Hospitality Computer/Internet Travel/Tourism Consumer Services Consulting 21% 7% 7% 5% 4% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 12% 19% EMPLOYEE SIZE: Small (1-49) 56% Large (1000+) 15% Mid-Size (50-999) 29% FUNCTIONAL ROLES: President / Executive / CEO Other Marketing Manager Director of Marketing VP of Marketing Product Marketing Manager Marketing Consultant Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Online Marketing Manager Marketing Associate 9% 9% 6% 4% 4% 4% 24% 34% 10

11 Demandbase is a Real-time Targeting and Personalization platform for B2B. Demandbase works by identifying the companies that are visiting a website, and then by making that insight actionable in Demandbase Marketing and Sales programs and technologies. Real-time identification means Demandbase can make targeting decisions as well as personalize the content or web experience based on otherwise unavailable attributes of the visitor, such as specific company, company size, number of employees, industry, or 1st party and CRM based attributes such as existing Demandbase customers, strategic accounts, pipeline status, or even Demandbase competitors. Demandbase offers Companytargeted display advertising, website engagement and conversion modules, and CRM integration for a consistent view of accounts from spend to revenue. Demandbase is where Digital Presence and Account-Based marketing intersect, allowing B2B marketers to target their most valuable audience and personalize the experience to make engagements more effective and more measurable. 11

12 San Francisco Headquarters Demandbase, Inc. 301 Howard Street, Suite 1800 San Francisco,CA Demandbase Support Facebook Twitter YouTube Blog facebook.com/demandbasemarketing twitter.com/demandbase youtube.com/demandbasemarketing demandblog.demandbase.com/ 2012 Demandbase, Inc. All rights reserved.