BtoB Research Insights : The State of B2B Event Marketing

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1 BtoB Research Insights : The State of B2B Event Marketing

2 The State of B2B Event Marketing 1 BtoB Research Insights : The State of B2B Event Marketing TABLE OF CONTENTS 2. The state of B2B events 4. Challenges and opportunities 5. What marketers want 6. Value propositions 6. Exploring possible solutions 8. Appendix! Methodology! Contributors! About BtoB! About Marketo NOTES & RESOURCES BtoB and Marketo Inc. conducted an extensive survey in June 2011 of 309 b-to-b marketers and other executives about their views on event marketing, and how their efforts can be improved. This white paper presents those findings, as well as suggestions for the future. See the appendix for further details on the methodology.

3 The State of B2B Event Marketing 2 THE STATE OF B2B EVENTS From in-person events to virtual shows, event marketing is a critical aspect of a savvy marketing mix. In-person events are still extremely important to marketers, while the flexibility and simplicity of virtual events has made them increasingly prevalent. All told, event marketing represents one-fifth of the marketing budget. Events are natural lead generators that provide unmistakably measurable ROI. But while lead-gen reigns supreme, many marketers expect much more from events. Event marketers also use events for brand building, customer engagement, and customer training, alongside a host of other goals. What drives a successful event? remains far and away the superior method for drawing leads, but social media is playing an increasingly larger part in driving attendance. And, when it comes to event production, third party-produced events seem to perform markedly better than those that are self-produced. See the chart on the following page:

4 The State of B2B Event Marketing 3 There is an increasing trend of measuring every step of the sales lead funnel, from acquisition to close. It should also be recognized that different marketers measure success in different ways but, whether conducting in-person events, webinars or virtual shows, positive ROI plays a major factor in reckoning success versus failure. There is also an increasing trend toward measuring every step of the sales lead funnel, following prospects from acquisition to close.

5 The State of B2B Event Marketing 4 Finally, with online events commanding an increasingly larger part of the marketing mix, marketers need to better understand how such tools as marketing automation can streamline the lead nurturing process, while appreciating best practices and key performance indicators (KPIs) that can help achieve and measure success. Primarily marketers want to generate leads from their events. But there are other goals as well, including enhancing customer engagement, building the company s brand and exposure, and more: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES As with many marketers today, budget constraints and lack of resources are difficult to overcome. Marketing staffs are stretched thin and forced to do more with less. Such belt-tightening is leading marketing departments to seek solutions that can extend budgets and resources. When weighed against measureable ROI, tools such as marketing automation are receiving strong consideration from management.

6 The State of B2B Event Marketing 5 To enable them to accomplish these goals, some penetration is being seen in the employment of full-fledged marketing automation solutions, like those provided by such companies as Eloqua and Marketo: Marketers are relying on solutions that may not satisfy their needs, or complete the marketing circle. For events overall, including live events, other data in the survey show that customer relationship management applications are the tools of choice of 83% of respondents to the BtoB/Marketo survey, followed by webinar and virtual event solutions, at 31% and 11%, respectively. Payment tools, an event management deployment, is being used by 17% of respondents. Marketers want to gain customer information about those who are invited to their live and virtual events. And they perceive that the easy tactics of invitations and reminders are critical. More sophisticated goals, such as tracking registrants, parsing their social activities and segmentation are important, and yet what do we see? A reliance on solutions that may not suit marketers needs, and a paltry (24%) deployment of true marketing automation solutions. What marketers are not doing, in general, is completing the circle: Using powerful engagement solutions before, during and after the event, and employing a comprehensive nurturing solution that makes the most of an inherently expensive marketing channel.

7 The State of B2B Event Marketing 6 VALUE PROPOSITIONS Let s review the key value propositions in deploying automation in support of live and virtual events. These, let it be said, are ideals what marketers would like to achieve, and could achieve with measuring ROI topping the list, followed by driving attendance and deploying post-event campaigns. See the chart below: EXPLORING POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS In summation, marketers are determined to measure their event ROI, and attribute their own contribution to the sales lead funnel. It is clear that marketers want more from their event marketing efforts than they are getting. Consider the following takeaways based on this study:! Marketers are eager to gain ROI results from live and virtual events. Live events in particular are an expensive marketing channel, and can t be viewed as simply a must exhibit opportunity for non-marketing reasons. Virtual events, while relatively less expensive to mount or participate in, present a commensurate challenge in tracking prospects and qualifying leads for the sales handoff.! Marketers want to gain knowledge of automated solutions. Lack of understanding of the marketing automation frontier is no longer an excuse for failure to act on this important digital marketing resource.

8 The State of B2B Event Marketing 7 Marketers know that tracking prospects touches on such digital imperatives as Web analytics, business intelligence, dynamic interaction, segmentation and social media marketing.! Today s world of integrated marketing is too complex to rely on gut feelings or spreadsheets to understand what is successful or not, and where to spend the next round of marketing dollars. Events are particularly complex, especially with the complementary nature of live and digital events working in tandem, and the necessity to understand how the offline and online worlds work together. Marketers understand that tracking of the universe of prospects touches on such digital imperatives as Web analytics, dynamic interaction (including triggers), segmentation, business intelligence and social media marketing, to name a few.! Marketers also know that solutions in support of events go far beyond invitations and reminders. They rely on advanced solutions that track registrants, help determine how attendees interact with event landing pages, and engage with social media to reinforce the desire to attend an event. They also are aware that true nurturing practices that tackle the complexity of live and virtual marketing events have the potential of producing more and better qualified leads via rigorous drip-marketing techniques.! If marketers are to overcome the objections of management to augment their event marketing efforts, they may wish to develop interim opportunities or case studies that make their case, and demonstrate real ROI to the C-suite. The gradual implementation of automated solutions in single modules may facilitate a proof of ROI, with more modules to be added later as marketing sophistication increases.

9 The State of B2B Event Marketing 8 APPENDIX Methodology The State of B2B Event Marketing, by BtoB and Marketo Inc., is based on an online survey conducted in June 2011, resulting in 309 completed responses from b-to-b marketers heavily invested in events. The respondents averaged about 28 events per year each, with a slight edge (16 to 12, on average) given to the number of live events versus virtual events. Among industry sectors, technology companies predominated, represented by 37% of all respondents, with manufacturing companies (15%), financial services companies (10%), consulting firms (9%), and wholesale trade and publishing organizations (4% each) also well represented. As for the general size of the marketing departments of respondents, 57% reported that staffs totaled fewer than five. Most respondents (63%) were senior level marketers, directors or coordinators of marketing communications, with others including CEOs/presidents, CFOs, CIOs, COOs or CTOs of their companies, as well as senior sales personnel. Company size was diverse. Smaller companies predominated, with 36% of respondents representing organizations with less than $10 million in sales. Companies with revenue of $500 million or more were represented by 18% of respondents, with organizations of $100 million to $499 million in revenue (12%), $25 million to $99 million (17%), and $10 million to $24 million (17%) also responding, broadening the scope of the study. Contributors Contributors to this report include the following:! John DiStefano, research director, BtoB: [email protected]! Christopher Hosford, east coast bureau chief, BtoB: [email protected]! Maria Pergolino, senior director-marketing, Marketo Inc.: [email protected]

10 The State of B2B Event Marketing 9 ABOUT BTOB BtoB is dedicated to integrated business-to-business marketing. The magazine is read by 100,000 b-to-b marketers, with every issue filled with game-changing strategies and tactics needed for success, including news, analysis, benchmarks and best practices. BtoB also publishes a wide variety of e-newsletters addressing specific areas of b- to-b marketing, and hosts webinars, virtual trade shows and live events. BtoB is published by Crain Communications Inc., which publishes more than 20 business, trade and consumer publications and related websites in North America, Europe and Asia.! Advertising offices 711 Third Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY [email protected]! Editorial offices 360 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL [email protected]! Corporate headquarters 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI

11 The State of B2B Event Marketing 10 ABOUT MARKETO Marketo is the global leader in Revenue Performance Management. Marketo s powerful yet easy-to-use marketing automation and sales effectiveness solutions transform how marketing and sales teams of all sizes work and work together to drive dramatically increased revenue performance and fuel business growth. The company s proven technology, comprehensive services, and expert guidance are helping corporations around the world to turn marketing from a cost center to a business-building revenue driver. Marketo has been recognized by CRM Magazine as the 2011 CRM Market Leaders Awards Winner for Marketing Solutions ; the 2010 CODiE award for Best Marketing Solution ; the Best Sales and Marketing 2.0 Solution from SellingPower; and the Best Marketing Automation Application by Salesforce customers on the AppExchange. As of September 2011, more than 1,300 enterprise and mid-market clients globally have adopted Marketo solutions. For more information, visit or subscribe to Marketo s awardwinning blogs at blog.marketo.com.! Marketo headquarters 901 Mariners Island Blvd., Suite 200, San Mateo, CA ! Marketo EMEA Ltd. Arena House, Arena Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18, Ireland ! Sales (fax) [email protected]! Support [email protected]