Building Capabilities for B2B Marketing Leadership Insights from Building Product Manufacturers

Transcription

1 Perspective Matthew Egol Yogesh Pandit David Perpich Building Capabilities for B2B Marketing Leadership Insights from Building Product Manufacturers

2 Contact Information Amsterdam Peter Mensing Chicago Matt Ericksen Cleveland Les Moeller Steven Treppo John Jullens Principal Dallas Jose Gregorio Baquero London Richard Rawlinson Mumbai Abhishek Malhotra Munich Gregor Harter New York Matthew Egol Yogesh Pandit Principal David Perpich Senior Associate San Francisco Douglas Hardman

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The nature of business-to-business (B2B) marketing is changing. What was once primarily a tactical function supporting the sales force is transforming into a strategic partner. Even as B2B marketers are under significant pressure to do more with less, they must address a broad set of requirements beyond brand advertising, trade shows, and getting the company s product catalog in front of target customers. In addition to these core activities, leading B2B marketers are now playing a more strategic role in building customer insights, developing integrated campaigns across traditional media and new digital platforms, and supporting relationship-building programs with key purchasing decision makers and those that influence product specifications. The economic downturn has accelerated these shifts, as leading B2B marketers seek to not only cut costs but also grow stronger. Despite cost pressures, an emerging set of B2B marketing leaders are preserving their focus on building new capabilities to position themselves for superior performance as the economy bounces back. To build insights into B2B marketing leadership, recently studied building product manufacturers (BPMs) to better understand shifts in their marketing objectives, spending priorities, and focus on capabilitybuilding efforts. BPMs were chosen for this initial wave of research because the residential and commercial construction sectors have been hit particularly hard by the recession. 1

4 Key Findings Successful marketing investments focus on building sustained capabilities, as opposed to executing a series of campaigns. Building product marketers with more advanced capabilities have graduated from playing a tactical role to driving growth strategy for their companies, but even leaders recognize that there is much room for improvement. Leaders are focusing more than non-leaders on driving traffic to their websites and building direct relationships with customers to drive leads for their dealers and distributors. As companies increase their spending on digital platforms, they expect media companies to become more important partners. COST CONCERNS HASTEN CHANGE Efficiently and effectively reaching a fragmented set of customers has historically been a challenge for B2B marketers. For years, companies relied on brand advertising, direct mail of their product catalogs, and a network of dealers and distributors to reach their diffuse customer segments. While the emergence of digital media platforms has opened up new opportunities to interact directly with end customers, many B2B companies have been slow to react, compared with business-toconsumer (B2C) marketers. When the economic downturn began in the fall of 2008, B2B companies came under intense pressure to cut costs. After all, the recession hit the B2B sector with full force; business spending plunged 19 percent between June 2008 and June 2009, compared with a 1.9 percent drop in consumer spending. 1 These cost pressures helped expose the capability gaps between leading and average B2B marketing organizations. C-suite directives to do more with less forced marketers to prioritize their investments, accelerating an ongoing shift to digitalenabled marketing programs that promise higher returns on investment by generating more efficient and effective ways of distributing product information to end customers and influencers, while creating higher-quality leads for dealers and distributors. The recession also brought a new level of awareness inside B2B organizations that new capabilities are needed to manage the integration of traditional marketing platforms, such as print trade journals, with emerging digital channels. Today, B2B firms are taking their cue from leading marketers in developing these capabilities: Cross-functional processes to manage integrated marketing programs Database marketing and other technology skills to personalize interactions with customers, distributors, and those who influence purchasing decisions Collaborative approaches with agencies and media companies to generate branded content is working with clients to develop a better understanding of how leaders are building these new capabilities and what is required to successfully navigate the transformation. In late 2008 and early 2009, we teamed with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), with which has enjoyed a 2

5 multiyear relationship focused on building successful marketing models, to conduct a joint survey of marketing effectiveness across B2B sectors. 2 To extend this initial research, Booz & Company recently partnered with Hanley Wood, a leading B2B media and information company serving the construction market, to conduct a marketing leadership study of 72 BPMs. BPMs were our first choice for an industry-specific treatment because they represent a large and leading component of U.S. economic activity. In addition, the sheer magnitude of the downturn in construction markets has forced BPMs to move rapidly in making budget and marketing mix adjustments. This being the case, BPMs provide potential ahead-of-the-curve insights for other B2B sectors. As part of our BPM research with Hanley Wood, we developed the Marketing Leadership Index to help B2B marketing executives identify the capabilities that distinguish leaders from non-leaders (see Research Methodology, page 12). Given their excellence in marketing, leaders provide insights into marketing best practices and establish forwardlooking trends in strategic priorities, spending, and investments in new capabilities. For our marketing leadership study, we defined BPM marketing leaders as those who excel at both foundational and exceptional capabilities. We defined foundational capabilities as those that represent the table stakes attributes of traditional marketing programs: sales and marketing collateral, dealer/distributor programs, customer training and development, event marketing, and customer insights (see Exhibit 1). Exhibit 1 Foundational Marketing Capabilities SATISFACTION WITH STRENGTH OF COMPANY'S FOUNDATIONAL MARKETING CAPABILITIES (% AGREE/DISAGREE) Sales & Marketing Collateral Dealer/Distributor Programs Strongly Disagree Disagree Somewhat Customer Training & Development Agree Somewhat Event Marketing Strongly Agree Customer Insights Note: n=72. Neutral responses are not included. Totals may vary because of rounding. Source: Marketing Leadership Study (2009) 3

6 Exceptional capabilities are the leading-edge skills required to take advantage of the shift to digital multi-platform media campaigns, data/lead management, search engine optimization/search engine marketing, and direct marketing (see Exhibit 2). The Marketing Leadership Index scored BPM survey respondents based on the sophistication of their foundational and exceptional capabilities. While companies scored higher on average for foundational capabilities, there was still significant room improvement among all BPMs. The range in scores for exceptional capabilities was even wider. We defined leaders as those with positive scores on both dimensions of the Marketing Leadership Index (i.e., for both foundational and exceptional capabilities). Based on this criterion, roughly one-third of BPMs were classified as marketing leaders (see Exhibit 3). With these findings in hand, we were able to distinguish how leaders differed from the rest of the pack when it came to setting priorities for marketing innovation, balancing marketing budgets, and planning their spending levels for the near term. Exhibit 2 Exceptional Marketing Capabilities SATISFACTION WITH STRENGTH OF COMPANY'S EXCEPTIONAL MARKETING CAPABILITIES (% AGREE/DISAGREE) Multi-Platform Media Campaigns Strongly Disagree Data/Lead Management Disagree Somewhat Search Engine Optimization/ Search Engine Marketing Agree Somewhat Direct Marketing Strongly Agree Note: n=72. Neutral responses are not included. Totals may vary because of rounding. Source: Marketing Leadership Study (2009) Exhibit 3 Marketing Leadership Index INDEXED SUM OF INDIVIDUAL SCORES (STRONGLY AGREE = +2, AGREE +1, DISAGREE -1, STRONGLY DISAGREE -2) Exceptional Score 100 Leaders values Source: Marketing Leadership Study (2009) Non-Leaders Leaders Foundational Score. 6 values 75% lin 4 75% 75% 25% lin

7 PRIORITIES FOR MARKETING INNOVATION Although most B2B marketers have historically struggled with customer fragmentation, few have been as challenged as those in the building products industry. Potential customers number in the hundreds of thousands, and direct contact with end buyers is often impeded by multi-tier distribution networks of distributors, dealers, and retailers. In addition, BPMs also need to market to influencers architects and others who recommend specific products. BPM marketers currently seek to reach these customers and influencers primarily by taking out ads or by developing sales and marketing collateral such as catalogs to be handed out at trade shows or distributed via direct mail. But over time, BPMs have begun to refine their focus for marketing innovation. The emergence of the Internet has allowed them to expand the scope of their interactions with end customers and influencers by building direct conversations through and companyowned websites, where they can acquire information on customers and publish virtual versions of their catalogs and other targeted content. Today, the vast majority of BPMs we surveyed agree on the most critical marketing objectives driving traffic to their website (85 percent), increasing brand awareness through advertising (83 percent), and building direct relationships with customers (83 percent). To support these objectives, BPMs are investing in a broad set of marketing programs, including a diverse mix of paid media advertising and other below-the-line marketing programs the marketing services industry s term for anything in the marketing budget that historically fell below the line item for paid media. For BPMs, belowthe-line marketing accounts for 5

8 three-quarters of spending, encompassing spending categories such as direct marketing, events, trade programs, sales and marketing collateral, company websites, and the purchase of keywords from Google and other search platforms (see Exhibit 4). As marketers step up their efforts to get closer to the customer, the marketing mix is shifting in favor of digital advertising, search, direct marketing (including digital forms such as ), and company websites. However, despite recent pressures on traditional advertising, paid media s share of the budget is expected to remain stable, underscoring the essential role that advertising plays in promoting brand awareness and driving audiences to company websites. In fact, parallel shifts in marketing mix are occurring. First, paid media is migrating to digital, but as part of an integrated marketing campaign that combines print, digital, and events for maximum impact in building brands and driving sales. Second, BPMs are simultaneously pursuing other initiatives through their spending on below-the-line marketing programs. This shift is even more pronounced for leading BPM marketers (see Exhibit 5). For instance, leaders place a much greater emphasis on driving traffic to their own or dealer/ distributor websites. Similarly, building customer contacts and expanding their customer database is a much higher priority for leaders than non-leaders. Given leaders strengths in data management and direct marketing, this is not surprising. Leaders also focus more effort on digital innovation, as they invest in new capabilities to fully tap the potential of online and mobile marketing to forge deeper customer relationships and better target the delivery of information and promotional offers to decision makers and influencers. In terms of overall investment, the majority of leaders currently spend the equivalent of more than 4 percent of sales on marketing. By comparison, two-thirds of nonleaders spend the equivalent of only 1 to 3 percent of sales on marketing, a significant difference. Leaders are sustaining higher levels of spending on marketing in the downturn, recognizing that building winning capabilities requires investment and that they have an opportunity to grow stronger even as they cut costs. Moving forward, both groups expect their marketing budgets to increase as the economy rebounds and the construction market recovers (see Exhibit 6). 6

9 Exhibit 4 Shift to More Direct Points of Contact BPMS MARKETING BUDGETS 2010 VS (ESTIMATED % ALLOCATION OF TOTAL MARKETING BUDGET) Paid Media 20% 19% Traditional Advertising Below the Line (i.e., other than paid media) 4% 8% 9% 14% 18% 3% 5% 9% 11% 13% 19% 6% Digital Advertising Paid Search Direct Marketing Company Websites Trade Programs & Promotions Events 21% 17% Developing Sales & Marketing Collateral % 2% 2012 Other Source: Marketing Leadership Study (2009) Exhibit 5 BPM Leaders Marketing Priorities. 1 value KEY FOCUS OF FIRMS MARKETING OBJECTIVES LEADERS VS. NON-LEADERS (% WHO REPLIED AGREE OR STRONGLY AGREE TO EACH STATEMENT) Difference between Non-Leaders Leaders Leaders and Non-Leaders Driving website traffic through print/digital adv. 69% +31% Increasing brand awareness through advertising 79% 91% +12% Building direct relationships with building pros 82% 85% +3% Building customer contacts and growing our database 62% 85% +23% Driving qualified leads for our sales force 67% 85% +18% Training and professional education programs 72% 85% +13% Developing custom content for branding 74% 82% +8% Building deeper insights into our customer base 69% 82% +13% Event and face-to-face marketing 69% 79% +10% Building innovation around digital media 62% 73% +11%. Driving 3 values traffic to dealers/dist. through print/dig. adv. 46% 70% +24% Building trial and repeat usage 54% 61% +7%. 6 valu 75% Note: BPM leaders n=33, BPM non-leaders n=39. Source: Marketing Leadership Study (2009) 75% 75% 25% Exhibit 6 Marketing Budgets as a Percentage of Sales: 2010 vs % 69%. 4 values 24% 75% % 30% 75% 10% Leaders 25% Non-Leaders. 7 values 15% 18% 75% 25% 1% 3% 4% 6% >6% 1% 3% 4% 6% >6% 46% 51% 31% 39%. 6 va. 1 value Note: BPM leaders n=33, BPM non-leaders n=39. Source: Marketing. 3 values Leadership Study (2009) 75% 25% 75% 25%. 2 values 75%. 5 values. 8 values 7 75% 75% 25%

10 LEADERS STRESS CAPABILITIES OVER CAMPAIGNS Leaders are defining themselves not by the success of single campaigns, but by the achievement of greater sophistication in the development of marketing capabilities. As a result, they are beginning to play a more strategic role that goes beyond delivering on their historical focus on brand building, events, and traditional direct marketing. Thanks to a study of B2B marketers across industries broader than construction that we conducted recently with ANA, we know that investments in best-in-class marketing capabilities generate substantial market share gains. Some 40 percent of above-average B2B marketers were found to have gained market share, compared with 26 percent of those with below-average capabilities, representing a market share gain premium of 54 percent. Marketers in the top quartile enjoyed an even more pronounced advantage, as 56 percent of those companies recorded gains over the three-year period studied. The ANA study revealed that B2B marketers that build more advanced capabilities are much more likely to play a strategic business role within their companies. Most marketing organizations are generally confined to performing tactical functions that support strategic decisions that have already been made. More tactically focused marketing organizations exhibit the characteristics of one of three models: Service provider: Provides advertising, promotion, and public relations services at the request of the brand and product/service teams Some 40 percent of above-average B2B marketers gained market share, compared with 26 percent of those with below-average capabilities. 8

11 Best practice advisor: Works with the individual businesses to maximize marketing effectiveness and efficiency by bringing best practices to advertising, promotion, public relations, and other activities Marketing master: Develops and leads large company-wide marketing efforts and helps set the company s priorities For a marketing organization to be classified as strategic, the research found that it must fall into one of the following three models: Brand builder: Provides efficient marketing services, from communications to creative output and campaign execution, in support of the company s brands Senior counselor: Serves as a primary advisor on marketing strategy to the CEO and the individual businesses, and leads major advertising, promotions, and public relations campaigns Growth champion: Drives the company s priorities, and leads the development of its brands, products, and new businesses Generally speaking, marketing organizations that fulfill one of these roles are highly influential in affecting the company s strategic decision making. In the marketing leadership study focused on BPMs, conducted with Hanley Wood, close to threequarters of marketing leaders were identified as playing a strategic business role within their organizations. This is substantially higher than for non-leaders and for other B2B industry marketers studied in the earlier ANA study (see Exhibit 7). As B2B marketers continue to experiment with their marketing mix and seek innovative approaches, even leaders see room for improvement in their development of winning capabilities. Almost threequarters of the BPM leaders surveyed in the marketing leadership study said they were looking to further scale up their marketing activities beyond traditional focus areas such as advertising, trade shows, and direct mail. A number of obstacles potentially stand in their way. The shift to digital marketing requires Exhibit 7 Leaders Have a Seat at the Strategy Table THE MARKETING ORGANIZATION'S ROLE IN THE COMPANY (RESPONDENTS COULD SELECT ONLY ONE OPTION) 73% 44% 56% 27% BPM Leaders BPM Non-Leaders ANA B2B Average Strategic Business Role Tactical Functional Role Note: BPM leaders n=33, BMP non-leaders n=39, ANA B2B average n=130. Source: and ANA B2B Survey of B2B Marketers (2009); Marketing Leadership Study (2009) 9

12 significant investments for example, in websites, in databases, and in unique content. Moreover, organizational inertia that has set in around traditional marketing methods can often prove difficult to change. With the recession bringing a renewed focus on operating efficiency, many BPMs are embracing a do it yourself approach to building new capabilities across their organizations, and marketing departments are no exception. Although this might seem to pose fundamental challenges to media companies relationships with their advertising clients, the reverse is proving true for media companies that are taking a new approach to partnering with marketers. Indeed, many media companies are striving to reinvent themselves to help advertising clients leverage their digital assets and develop privatelabel media, or their own branded content and electronic media assets. 3 Collaborating with and outsourcing capabilities to media companies and agency partners instead of hiring the necessary talent and making the required investments in new technologies is one way BPM marketers can better stretch their scarce resources. The increasingly important role that partnerships play in building new capabilities was underscored by a recent study with the ANA, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA). 4 This research program, called Marketing & Media Ecosystem 2010, included input from more than 250 marketing executives at many B2B and B2C marketers, as well as more than 100 media executives and 100 agency executives. More than half of the marketing executives surveyed said they expected media companies to become even more important direct partners in the future (see Exhibit 8). The Marketing & Media Ecosystem 2010 study also showed that 91 percent of media companies were already engaging in integrated campaign development, lead generation, and other services that went beyond selling traditional advertising. Exhibit 8 Media Companies Perceived as Important s WHICH DIRECT PARTNERSHIPS WILL BE MORE IMPORTANT IN THE FUTURE? (MARKETERS' RESPONSES) % of Respondents EXAMPLES OF MARKETING SOLUTIONS PROVIDED BY MEDIA PARTNERS 52% 52% 52% - Integrated campaign development - Custom/exclusive content 40% - Consumer insights 30% 27% - Behavioral targeting - Database marketing 20% - Lead generation 10% - Word of mouth - Event marketing 0% Media Companies Media Planners Communications Planners Agency of Record - Training and education programs Note: n=450 (250 marketers, 100 agencies, 100 media companies) Source: Marketing & Media Ecosystem 2010 study, February 2008; analysis 10

13 IMPLICATIONS FOR B2B MARKETERS Although the preceding insights highlight potential best practices and trends in B2B marketing, company priorities and strategic situations can vary widely. Depending on their current competitive positioning, resources, and priorities for driving growth, B2B marketers have to identify the most effective marketing solution to meet their needs. To forge the best path forward, B2B marketing leaders should engage in a three-step process: The first step is to identify the specific marketing priorities that will be most valuable for driving the company s growth given its unique positioning, and to establish the best way to integrate new approaches into marketing campaigns. Next, marketing leaders should devise plans for investing in the key capabilities needed to address these priorities. Leaders recognize that a capability is a combination of analytics, processes, technology, and organization. Building winning capabilities requires addressing all four elements. This demands not only better cross-functional alignment internally but also new ways of working with external partners. The last step involves determining which capabilities are best handled in-house and which are best managed through partnerships with media companies, agencies, and other specialized service providers (e.g., database marketing, marketing mix modeling). Thought must be given to how the company s organization will adapt to the complexity of managing multiple agency and media company relationships. B2B marketing organizations are now being held to a higher standard with respect to establishing connections with customers and measuring the effectiveness of campaigns in driving sales. Leaders that take this opportunity to invest in new, market-leading capabilities won t see the benefits only in terms of increased short-term sales and brand building. They will take their position at the strategy table in shaping their companies growth agenda to achieve and sustain superior performance. 11

14 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY As part of our research sponsored by Hanley Wood, we developed the Marketing Leadership Index. The research included survey input from 72 building product manufacturers in varied product categories (e.g., roofing, lighting, electrical, windows), company sizes, residential and commercial focus, and distribution channels. An online survey was used to assess the BPMs sophistication in developing nine key marketing capabilities. Five of these were defined as foundational capabilities: sales and marketing collateral, dealer/distributor programs, customer training and development, event marketing, and customer insights. Four others multi-platform media campaigns, data/lead management, search engine optimization/marketing, and direct marketing were considered exceptional. We then developed a foundational and an exceptional score by adding up each respondent s scores in both groups of capabilities. Finally, we developed an exceptional score and a foundational score by adding up each respondent s scores in both groups of capabilities. These scores were then indexed for a maximum possible score on either dimension of 100 and a minimum score of In order for a company to be designated a marketing leader, it had to register positive scores for both foundational and exceptional capabilities. 12

15 Endnotes 1 U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, ectedtable=5&firstyear=2008&lastyear=2009&freq=qtr. Accessed November 13, Matthew Ericksen, John Jullens, Gaurav Katarla, The New B2B Marketing Imperative, uploads/new_b2b_marketing_imperative.pdf. 3 Matthew Egol, Leslie H. Moeller, and Christopher Vollmer, The Promise of Private-label Media, s+b, Fall 2009, b&tid= &pg=all. 4, Marketing & Media Ecosystem 2010: ANA Annual Meeting CMO Roundtable, October 2008, About the Authors Matthew Egol is a partner in s consumer, media and digital practice, and is based in New York. He focuses on growth strategy and sales and marketing effectiveness for clients across the marketing and media ecosystem. Yogesh Pandit is a principal in s consumer, media, and digital practice and is based in New York. He focuses on growth strategy, capability building, and sales and marketing effectiveness for clients in the media and consumer industries. David Perpich is a senior associate with in New York. He specializes in growth strategies and sales and marketing capabilities development for the consumer, media, and digital practice. 13

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