Fast forward: The road ahead for

B2B marketers Joel Harrison

Editor-in-chief, B2B Marketing

www.b2bmarketing.net

About B2B Marketing From a magazine to much, much more

Revolutionary

times

Marketers struggling to respond

Which factors are defining B2B

marketing in 2015?

1. The buyer is in control

CHANGING BUYING BEHAVIOURS

© 2014 The Corporate Executive Board Company. All Rights Reserved.

ceburl.com/CE2

2. Tech is enabling marketers, not enslaving them

3. Everyone

needs to be

a data head

4. Coming to a workplace near you: Generation Y

Changing generational characteristics

Generation X • Sceptical • Pragmatic • Adaptable • Self reliant • Informal • Tech-literate • Diversity-minded • Focused on today

Generation Y

• Tech-savvy and connected

• Optimistic

• Confident

• Very self-reliant

• Entrepreneurial

• Success-driven

• Inclusive

• Environmentally-minded

Source: Generation Y: Powerhouse of the global economy, Deloitte

5. It’s time to get emotional

Yesterday:

The

broadcast

era

Today:

The social media era

“If you can’t make them feel it, don’t do it”

“There’s no room for emotion in B2B.”

STOP PRESS!!! B2B customers feel

MORE brand

connection than B2C

Two types of brand benefits

1. Business value

• Functional benefits

(e.g. efficiency)

• Business outcomes

These will drive

consideration

2. Personal value

• Professional benefits

(e.g. promotion)

• Social benefits

(e.g. popularity)

• Emotional benefits

(e.g. confidence)

Over twice as important in

influencing purchase!

To download the full report go to ceburl/GoogleB2B

Importance of content marketing

Base: All respondents (98)

Q: How important a role does content play in your marketing activity?

43%

44%

13% 1%

71%

0

29% Critical

Important

Of some

importance

Of limited or

no importance

2014

2013

N.B. ‘Important’ removed as option in 2014

Amount of content created in last 12 months

Q: Over the last 12 months, has the amount of content you and your team have created increased, decreased

or stayed the same?

Stayed the same – 9%

3%

Slightly

decreased

Don’t know –

2%

52%

significantly

increased

34% slightly

increased

Effectiveness – compared to 2013

Base: All respondents (98)

Q: How effective do you feel each of these is in engaging your target audience(s)? 24

2%

18%

9%

9%

23%

19%

17%

21%

31%

42%

30%

8%

10%

11%

23%

29%

34%

35%

37%

39%

46%

47%

Podcasts

Press releases

Advertorials

Webcasts

Infographics

Blog posts

Extended opinion…

Reports

White papers

Case studies

Video

2014

2013

Who is involved in content marketing?

Base: All respondents (98)

Q: How involved would each of the following teams be in content marketing in your

organisation?

11% 12% 18%

39% 50% 52%

8%

41%

57%

65% 26%

33% 37%

90%

48%

31%

16%

36%

17% 11%

Marketing Expertswithin the

company

Seniormanagement

Sales Editorial Externalagency

JuniorStaff/intern

Closely involved Involved to some degree Not involved at all

Are all departments encouraged to

contribute?

Base: All respondents (98)

Q: To what extent would you say all departments in your organisation are encouraged to contribute to

content creation?

24%

35%

40%

1%

Strongly encouraged

Encouraged

Not encouraged but

allowed

Not allowed to

contribute

I don't know

Who ultimately ‘owns’ content marketing?

Q: And who has ultimate responsibility for the success of your organisation’s content

marketing?

Figures = 99% because of rounding up

72%

12% 6%

2% 1% 1% 5%

28

Biggest challenges – (vs. 2013)

Q: What would you say are your three biggest challenges in relation to content marketing?

0%

13%

17%

23%

19%

21%

24%

34%

23%

27%

29%

30%

25%

42%

46%

34%

1%

4%

8%

12%

12%

13%

17%

17%

18%

19%

19%

21%

29%

29%

34%

37%

None of the above

Other

Difficulties in localising content

Choosing the best format or channel

Creating a content marketing…

Lack of internal expertise

Sufficient budget

Getting colleagues to…

Enabling sales activity

Personalising content

Creating an integrated approach

Time management

Selecting topics of interest

Generating leads

Measuring ROI

Engaging target audience

2014

2013

29

How to stand our from the crowd

Base: All respondents (98) and all who do find it a challenge and answering question (72)

Q: Do you find standing out from the crowd a challenge due to all the noise on the internet?

84% find standing out from the crowd a

challenge

Tailored

content

13%

More

relevant/

commerciall

y useful

content

42% Visually

attractiv

e

10%

Using the

right

platform for

audience

19%

Originali

ty

13% SEO

4%

Integrat

ed

campaign

s

6%

Engaging

content

7%

Work

closely

with

customers

7%

Content

easy to

consume

6%

Have

authority

on

subject

7%

3%

Collaborate with other

organisations

4%

Different angle to

competitor

Other

7%

So, what does all this mean for you?

1. Marketing is the future… sales is the past

Solution 1 2. Experimentation is key…

…balanced

with

what you

know

works

3. Once upon a time… Time to invest in

storytelling

4. REALLY

understand

your

customers

5. Be passionate

‘There’s never been a better time to be a

B2B marketer’

Thanks for listening.

Joel Harrison

Editor-in-chief

B2B Marketing

Tel: +44 207 014 4923

Email: Joel.harrison@b2bmarketing.net

Twitter: Joel_b2beditor

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joelharrison

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