STATE OF B2B SEARCH MARKETING 2015€¦ · among B2B marketers today. So we spoke to senior marketing professionals in B2B companies to get their perspectives on Search Marketing

Research Report - July 2015

STATE OF B2BSEARCHMARKETING 2015

keyword

WHO WE SPOKE TO

Given the continuing importance of search in driving online

traffic, we wanted to understand the state of Search Marketing

among B2B marketers today. So we spoke to senior marketing

professionals in B2B companies to get their perspectives on Search

Marketing and what the commonly followed best practices in the

industry are.

We got in touch with both product & service companies. While the

survey was done globally, a sizeable number of companies in our

survey were from the US (46%) and India (26%).

© REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B SEARCH MARKETING 2015 / 01

KEY FINDINGS:

76% respondents consider both SEO and SEM as part

of their search marketing strategy» tweet this «

66% marketers rate organic search over paid

search in terms of performance» tweet this «

56% respondents say they expect their

search marketing budget to increase

over the next 12 months

» tweet this «


73% respondents say their companies invest in

search marketing» tweet this «

67% marketers use social media channels to

boost their SEO efforts» tweet this «

MAJORITY OF COMPANIES SAY THEY INVEST IN SEARCH MARKETING


73 percent of respondents said their companies invest in Search Marketing; but a

surprisingly high number of respondents (27%) also said their companies did not.

Does your company invest in Search Marketing?

73% 27%NoYes

TWO-THIRDS OF COMPANIES WE SPOKE TO, ARE USING SEARCH MARKETING FOR OVER 3 YEARS

In fact, 37% of companies said they have been using Search Marketing for over 5 years now.


How long has your organization been using Search Marketing?

33% 30% 37%Less than 3 Years 3-5 Years More than 5 Years


MAJORITY OF RESPONDENTS FIND THEIR SEARCH MARKETING EFFORTS TO BE SOMEWHAT EFFECTIVE

As high as 72% of respondents rated their Search Marketing efforts as being somewhat

effective; only 21% chose to rate it as being very effective.

Encouragingly, only 7% of respondents felt their efforts were not at all effective.

How effective has Search Marketing been for your organization?

7% 72% 21%Not at all effective Somewhat effective Very effective


ONLY 29% OF COMPANIES OUTSOURCE THEIR SEARCH MARKETING ACTIVITIES

71 percent of respondents, on the other hand, said they do not outsource their

Search Marketing activities.

Given the numerous possibilities that exist in Search Marketing and the increasing role

that analytics play, we feel there is a place for external agencies to fill in a need here.

Do you outsource your Search Marketing activities?

29% 71%NoYes


COMPANIES ROOT FOR BOTH SEO & SEM76 percent of marketers we spoke to, said they considered both SEO & SEM as part of their

Search Marketing strategy.

Which of the below Search Marketing strategies do you consider for your organization?

10% 14% 76%SEM SEO Both


38 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS SAY THEIR SEARCH MARKETING STRATEGY IS VERY WELL INTEGRATED WITH THEIR OVERALL MARKETING PROGRAM

55 percent of respondents said their Search Marketing strategy was somewhat integrated

with their marketing program. Only 7% felt their Search Marketing strategy was not at all

integrated with their marketing program.

How well integrated is your Search Marketing strategy with your overall marketing program?

7%55%38%Very well

integratedSomewhat integrated

Not at all integrated

ORGANIC SEARCH WINS OVER PAID SEARCH BOTH IN THE PRE-SALES & POST-SALES STAGES

66 percent of marketers we spoke to, rated organic search over paid search in terms of

performance both during the pre-sales and post-sales stages of the customer buying cycle.


Which type of Search Marketing performs better in the pre-sales stage of the customer buying cycle?

66% 34%Paid SearchOrganic Search

Which type of Search Marketing performs better in the post-sales stage of the customer buying cycle?

66% 34%Paid SearchOrganic Search


INCREASE LEAD GENERATION TOPS LIST OF KEY SEARCH MARKETING OBJECTIVES

90 percent of respondents chose increase lead generation as the key objective of their

Search Marketing strategy. Increase website traffic came in next with a 50% response rate.

What are the key objectives of your Search Marketing strategy?

25%Increase offline sales revenue

40%Improve brand awareness

15%Complemente offline marketing efforts

50%Increase website traffic

25%Integrate search marketing data with CRM and other systems

30%Increase online sales revenue

5%Improve public relations

90%Increase lead generation


REMARKETING & DYNAMIC REMARKETING SCORE OVER OTHER TACTICS IN TARGETING CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE BEEN TO THE WEBSITE

50 percent of respondents said they use remarketing while 45% said they use dynamic

remarketing to target people who have already visited their website.

Among the respondents who said they used remarketing, AdWords came out as the

most popular platform with an 80% response rate.

Which of the following Search Marketing tactics do you use to target people who have already visited your site?

10%Mobile Ads

Only search 40%

45%Dynamic remarketing

Only display 25%

50%Remarketing


Do you use retargeting as a search tactic? If yes, which of the following do you use?

80% 20%Retargeting with 3rd party tools(AdRoll, Retargeter, Fetchback, Chango)

Regargeting with AdWords


GOOGLE SEARCH NETWORK IS BY FAR THE MOST POPULAR CAMPAIGN TYPE

90 percent of marketers voted Google Search Network campaigns as the most effective; with

LinkedIn campaigns coming in second place at 30%. Google Display Network campaigns &

Facebook campaigns came in third with 25% each.

Which of these Search Marketing campaigns do you find most effective?

15%YouTube video campaigns

Google Display Network campaigns 25%

30%LinkedIn campaigns

10%Google Shopping campaigns

Facebook campaigns 25%

90%Google Search Network campaigns


SEO LANDING PAGES & META TAGS TOP THE LIST OF SEO TACTICS EMPLOYED BY ORGANIZATIONS

While SEO landing pages & Meta tags topped the list of SEO tactics employed by

organizations, with a response rate of 80% each, organizations were also seen taking

various other initiatives, including content creation (70%), social media integration

(65%), and blogs (65%), amongst others.

Which of the following tactics are deployed by your organization as a part of your Search Engine Optimization?

65%Blogs

35%Asset tags

40%Link building

Content creation 70%

80%Meta tags

50%Responsive design

10%Rich snippet tags

Social media integration 65%

80%SEO landing pages


USING GENERIC INFORMATIONAL KEYWORDS GIVE THE BEST RESULTS, SAY MARKETERS

44 percent of respondents said using generic informational keywords as a keyword

strategy gave them the best results; 39% of respondents chose gaining editorial traction in

third party publications.

In your opinion, which of the following keyword strategies generates the best results?

22%Using keywords directing prospects to comparison pages on site

33%Specific features such as cost, benefits etc

11%Special offers and discounts

39%Gaining editorial traction in third party publications

22%Using placement targeting

33%Creating blog posts

44%Using generic informational keywords


TWO-THIRDS OF MARKETERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS TO BOOST SEO EFFORTS

67 percent of marketers we spoke to, said they used social media channels to boost their

SEO efforts; the remaining 33% said they didn’t.

Do you use Social Media channels to boost your SEO efforts?

67% 33%NoYes


RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN DOMINATES MOBILE SEO EFFORTS OF MARKETERS

81 percent of respondents chose responsive web design as the tactic they used as part of

their mobile SEO efforts; while 44% picked on mobile XML sitemap. Interestingly, there were

no takers for an exclusive sub-domain for mobile.

76 percent of respondents also said ‘no’, when asked whether they ran advertising

campaigns for mobile devices.

Which of the following tactics do you use as a part of your Mobile SEO efforts?

0%Exclusive subdomain for mobile

High page speed 38%

44%Mobile XML sitemap

81%Responsive web design

Do you run advertising campaigns specially for mobile devices?

24% 76%NoYes


GENERATING LEADS & BRAND AWARENESS ARE THE KEY BENEFITS SEEN IN SEARCH MARKETING

Generating high quality leads (56%), and more exposure, branding & awareness (50%)

were voted by our respondents as the top benefits of Search Marketing.

What are the key benefits of Search Marketing?

39%Easily measurable

17%Lengthens sales cycle

Easy to track 39%

50%More exposure, branding & awareness

28%Quick results

Generates high volume of leads 39%

56%Generates high quality leads


CONVERSION RATE & INCREASE IN WEBSITE TRAFFIC MEASURE THE SUCCESS OF SEARCH MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Conversion rate (72%) & increase in website traffic (61%) were the most popular metrics

used by marketers to measure the success of their Search Marketing campaigns.

Cost per acquisition & number of leads generated at 56% each, came in next.

What are key metrics used by your organization to measure the success of Search Marketing campaigns?

44%Cost per click

17%Ad position

56%Cost per acquisition

28%Increase in sales revenue

17%Tracking the performance of your branded v/s non-branded keywords

61%Increase in website traffic

39%Quality score

17%Increase in brand awareness

56%Number of leads generated

22%Improved ranking on search pages

6%Building calendar of search data

72%Conversion rate


MAJORITY OF MARKETERS SEE RISE IN CONTENT CREATION AS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SEARCH MARKETING TREND

74 percent of respondents said they see the rise in the quantity & quality of content

creation as a Search Marketing trend that is highly significant to them; 61 percent of

respondents also felt the increasing importance of knowledge graph and semantic SEO

as being significant.

Continued growth of mobile ads and mobile

content

32% 36% 32%

Deeper convergence with social media

(targeted ads, contextual suggestions etc)

37% 47% 16%

Rise in the quantity and quality of content

creation

74% 21% 5%

Surge in video searches

39% 22% 39%

Increasing importance of knowledge graph and

semantic SEO

28% 61% 11%

Local SEO

25% 40% 35%

Rank the following Search Marketing trends in order of significance for your company/brand in the year 2015.

Highly Significant Not SignificantSignificant

In your opinion, what are the key challenges of Search Marketing?

22%Bid management

33%Difficult to work with an overwhelming amount of data

17%Leveraging new technologies within search strategy

44%Needs an expert knowledge

17%Regular updates

33%Difficulty in integrating search marketing data with marketing programs

44%Expensive

COST & EXPERTISE - KEY CHALLENGES FACED BY MARKETERS IN SEARCH MARKETING

Expensive (44%) & needs an expert knowledge (44%) were the top Search Marketing

challenges picked by marketers.

As mentioned by us earlier, given the need for expert knowledge, outsourcing Search

Marketing activities could be a way of addressing this challenge.


FOR A MAJORITY OF COMPANIES, REVENUE FROM SEARCH MARKETING EDGES PAST INVESTMENT

56 percent of respondents said less than 10% of their budget was allocated toward

Search Marketing; against which 61% of respondents said 10% - 25% of their revenue

was generated from it.

What percentage of your revenue is generated from Search Marketing?

What percentage of your marketing budget is currently allocated towards Search Marketing?

25% - 50% 11%

25% - 50% 22%

61%10% - 25%

22%10% - 25%

Above 50% 0%

Above 50% 0%

28%Below 10%

56%Below 10%


17 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS SAY THAT OVER 50% OF THEIR WEBSITE VISITS ARE DRIVEN BY SEARCH CAMPAIGNS

In all, a third of the respondents we spoke to, said over 25% of their website visits were

coming from search campaigns.

What percentage of your website visits is driven by your search campaigns?

25% - 50% 17%

28%10% - 25%

Above 50% 17%

38%Below 10%


MARKETERS DO NOT SEE THEIR SEARCH MARKETING BUDGETS DECREASE OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS

When asked how they see their Search Marketing budget change over the next 12 months,

56% of marketers said they expect it to increase; the rest 44% said they expect it to

remain the same.

How do you see your Search Marketing budget change over the next 12 months?

56% 44%Increase Remain the same


FINAL THOUGHTS


Given the increasing complexity of a digital multi-channel environment and the

increasing dominance of mobile, companies need to keep their eyes wide open while

navigating the Search Marketing space.

The possibilities are numerous. Paid or organic search, recent studies have shown

that organic search is still by far the biggest driver of traffic on the web. So one can’t

get away with just a paid search strategy. On the other hand, a combination of paid

and organic search strategies seem to bring in better results. So, content is important.

Social media presence is key. Mobile is critical. And search algorithms, for better or

worse, keep changing.

There are no right or wrong answers here. Companies need to see what works best

for them. In our survey, we found that companies were already pursuing multiple

strategies to achieve their search objectives. Search Marketing, in our opinion, will

always remain a work-in-progress. While costs are an important factor, companies will

do well to seek help from outside when the going gets tough.

ABOUT THE ANALYSTS

Nimish VohraSVP, Principal Analyst

Nimish, Senior Vice President, works with CMOs and senior

marketing professionals. His research focuses on customer

experience management, predictive analytics, mobile

enablement and other emerging trends that help customers

leverage technology as an enabler of marketing and

business outcomes.

Srinivasan SeethapathySenior Marketing Manager

Srinivasan’s research is focused on optimizing customer experiences

across all channels. His research is aimed at marketers who want to

understand how they can spend their budgets more efficiently by

improving customer experiences across marketing channels.

ABOUT REGALIX RESEARCH

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we help the CMO organization leverage emerging digital practices for creating marketing leverage as they bring new products and innovation to market. Regalix Research helps marketers through research-based insights, consulting and peer-to-peer programs that guide marketing strategy development and execution. Our focus is helping Technology companies leverage innovation and best practices to create real differentiation. Our analysts are practitioners with a successful track record of delivering real marketing results for both leading Fortune 500 companies as well as venture backed firms.

Regalix is an award-winning Global Innovation company that leverages technology and marketing to help companies grow. We create successful ventures with our clients through co-innovation and idea-driven frameworks that inspire companies to think different. We bring ideas to life by envisioning new companies, developing brands, engineering products, and designing technology platforms. Founded in 1998, Regalix is based in Palo Alto. Our Silicon Valley setting has enabled us to stay ahead of emerging trends in digital technology and marketing.

For over a decade, we have provided complete marketing services – Social, Mobile, Content, Multi-channel Campaigns, Technology Development, and Analytics – to companies such as CA Technologies, Citi, Apple, eBay, Cisco, VMware, NetApp, Cypress, LSI, Keynote, and MetricStream.

For more information

To find out how Regalix can help you, please contact our office, or visit us at www.regalix.com

Regalix Research

1121 San Antonio Road, Suite #B200 Palo Alto, CA 94303

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STATE OF B2B SEARCH MARKETING 2015€¦ · among B2B marketers today. So we spoke to senior marketing professionals in B2B companies to get their perspectives on Search Marketing