Thoughts on 2010 for B2B Technology Marketing

It's that time of year: time to reflect on what became of 2010 and look forward (hopefully) to 2011.

For the B2B marketer, particularly in technology markets, 2010 seemed to be significant for three things:

1. the coming of age of the marketing automation platform
2. the rise and rise of social networking
3. the broad usage of terms reflecting a focus on marketing outcomes rather than activity

Marketing Automation

With the acquisition of Unica by IBM, followed by the recently announced acquisition of Aprimo by Teradata, a period of consolidation has started in the marketing automation market, reflecting a growing maturity and use of these tools in day-to-day marketing campaigns. Adding Unica to the analytics and reporting capabilities of Cognos and Coremetrics, IBM is seeking to provide integrated sales and marketing platforms which focus on metrics and data to provide real-time customer intelligence in the pursuit of revenue growth. Eloqua launched Version 10 of its leading platform for B-to-B marketing automation, completely redesigning the interface and workflow usability and opening the door for traditional Marketing campaign managers to catch up with their digital campaign cousins.

Social Networking

2010 may be seen as the year of social media. Twitter has released figures showing that 50 million tweets are sent a day across its network (compared with an average of 5,000 just 3 years ago). Facebook meanwhile boasts half a billion users of which half on average are logged on per day. My search on LinkedIn came up with over 670,000 English-language groups - there is definitely an appetite for sharing information. It remains to be seen how effective these media are in influencing B-to-B sales. Even more difficult will be assigning ROI to social media channels, when they become just one of many customer touchpoints.

Marketing ROI

Marketing performance management (MPM), Marketing operations, Revenue performance management (RPM) - these and many other terms have more frequently entered the marketing lexicon in 2010. The one thing they have in common is a focus on identifying the financial returns from expenditure on marketing. This recognition of the need to justify Marketing's contribution to the enterprise based on it showing a healthy return on investment is an idea that seems to have come of age in 2010. My good friend Jim Lenskold wrote the book on this back in 2003 so it is good to see companies embracing marketing metrics, underpinned by contact databases and automated marketing platforms, to show that each dollar invested can show a $4, $5 - or whatever - return. 'Can' is key here of course because this isn't easy - you have to measure the right things, often over a long period of time and processes and data need to be carefully monitored to ensure that the information needed to support the metrics is gathered consistently. As we know, even getting Sales to complete a few fields in the CRM system is difficult, so full visibility of marketing returns may be impossible. But the journey is beginning and 2010 showed that it is becoming the responsibility of more people, often in senior positions, to take the first steps.

2011: more of the same?

I won't run the risk of making any predictions for 2011. While I believe the 2010 trends, above, will continue and be reflected in the skillsets required of marketing professionals, the fact that technology is playing a greater part in marketing execution also makes it more unpredictable. The mobile channel, location-based marketing and other factors may also leave a more significant mark in the forthcoming year.

Whatever happens, have a good one!

Is B2B Marketing Changing Fast Enough?

'Despite the rapid, decade-long growth of Google and other digital forms of advertising, traditional channels still commanded 66% of b2b marketing budgets this year, according to the “2011 B2B Marketing Outlook” study.'

I was struck by this headline in BtoB magazine. What does this say about the state of Marketing? Either we are kidding ourselves about the impact of the Web, Email, Search marketing and social networking on our businesses or we are simply not putting our money where our mouths are! How can it be that in B2B, where budgets are comparatively small and market segments easier to target directly, we are not spending more on digital marketing? Do we think it's a passing fad?

Trade Shows Rule, Ok!
This article goes on to say that the top three areas of expenditure are 'trade shows and events (28%), magazines/trade publications (13%) and direct mail (9%). Apart from direct mail - which frequently could be replaced by email and eNewsletters - this off-line expenditure is in areas in which it is often hard to show any ROI. In my experience, Sales love events because it gives them an excuse to meet people (often people they already know). But ask what happened to the leads and things go very quiet! I'm not saying there isn't a place for target seminars and events - but 28% of budget...?

Decisions Must Be Data-Driven
80% of B2B marketers are using some form of digital marketing (what are the other 20% doing then..?) which is a relief, and it is even mentioned that through-the-line (digital plus off-line) campaigns are working, but, reading between the lines, this article suggests to me that many B2B marketers are still running campaigns from within their comfort zones and adding digital activity at the margins ('Yes, we're doing SEO'). How many marketers are looking at integrated, channel-neutral campaigns aligned to the sales pipeline and targeted at key stages of the buying cycle? How many are making decisions based on data, not just what they've always done or what Sales have asked for?

Not enough I would wager.

Marketing Leadership in Changing Times

Marketing is experiencing unprecedented change. From Social networking to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Marketing Performance Management (MPM). How it responds to the challenges of the digital age on the one hand and the calls from the C-Suite for accountability on the other, may be a defining moment in its quest to be regarded seriously as an investment and not just a cost of sale.

Is it time for Marketing to subject itself to the kind of scrutiny that other functional disciplines have faced for decades and begin to recognise its need to show a legitimate ROI?

Marketing ROI Not Just Tactics

If Marketing is the 'voice of the customer' then it must show that it can truly align marketing tactics to the strategic imperatives of turning customer demand into profit. In high-tech, marketing continually competes for attention with R&D - who make the products - and Sales - who sell them. R&D know that they need to 'package' 'price' and 'promote' their products (marketing tactics). Sales like trade shows, sales aids and the web site - the 'shop windows' of their trade.

But these are just the costs of 'doing business' - no one is really clear, in my experience, what the true ROI of Marketing is: how to measure it; how much to spend; whether PPC is 'better' than Twitter etc. The smoke-and-mirrors of marketing will remain that way unless Marketing itself shines some light (excuse the mixed metaphors) on what we do.

Marketing Metrics Drive Accountability

When the annual budget round comes along, Marketing needs to have a case to present to the CFO that demonstrates why the budget should not be cut; or, indeed, why it should be increased, for example, from 6% to 8% of revenue.

Metrics need to be established for demand generation tht are tracked through to sales revenue using marketing automation/CRM systems such as Eloqua and Salesforce,com. Metrics for intangibles, such as brand awareness and brand value are harder to establish, but again need to be agreed and reported against. These metrics should be part of the CMO's dashboard.

Is Marketing ready to stand up and be counted? The digital age presents the opportunity - we need to seize it.