Laura Ramos, Vice President, Principal Analyst WEBINAR Which Tactics Work Best In The B2B Marketing Mix? The Results May Surprise You Laura Ramos, Vice President, Principal Analyst Matt Camuso, Research Associate May 4, 2016. Call in at 12:55 p.m. Eastern time

Image source: Amazon (http://www. amazon Image source: Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/), Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page), and Oracle (http://www.oracle.com/index.html)

In B2B marketing, what you say is more important than where you say it.

Agenda The state of B2B program budgets Which tactics work best? Three ways to boost your B2B mix results

Who did we survey? 15% 30% 38% Primary industries 84% 16% IT consulting Business software Financial services Professional services Information technology 84% 16% Exclusively B2B Mostly B2B 15% 20,000+ employees 30% $1 billion+ in revenue 38% Executive marketers Base: 97 B2B marketing professionals; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 North American B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey

B2B program spend averages a steady 6% “What percentage of annual revenue did you spend on marketing in the past fiscal year?” 7% 6% 4% *Base: 97 marketing executives; *Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 North American B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey †Base: 132 marketing executives; †Source: Forrester’s Q4 2014 North American B2B Marketing Budget Online Survey ‡Base: 49 marketing executives; ‡Source: Forrester’s Q3 2013 North American B2B Marketing Budget Online Survey

Smaller firms spend a larger percentage “What percentage of annual revenue did you spend on marketing in the past fiscal year?” Average spend: 6% Large firms: 3.4% Smaller firms: 8% Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey Note: We excluded responses of “Don’t know.”

2016 budget expectations remain bullish versus 51% in the past year versus 8% in the past year Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey

2016 spending plans reveal few surprises “What percentage of planned 2016 program budget will be spent on the following?” Base: 68 B2B senior marketers; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey Note: We excluded responses of “Don’t know”

Expect increases in digital and content “Do you plan to increase/decrease spending on the following?” Decrease Increase Decrease Increase Base: 68 B2B senior marketers; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey Note: We excluded responses of “Don’t know” (top five responses accepted).

Yet marketers struggle to prove value “Which describes your top three challenges in setting marketing budgets?” Base: 91 B2B marketing professionals; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey

What makes a successful B2B marketing mix?

When it comes to tactics, not much works 50% A majority of marketers failed to rate any single tactic as “very effective.” Base: 68 B2B marketing professionals; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey

Awareness: PR and sponsorships stand out Influencer/press relations can work as well as events at less cost. Apply sponsorships to highly targeted industry/role-specific opportunities. Base: 68 B2B marketing professionals; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey

Demand: a mix bag of opportunities Count on Webinars to deliver demand. Telemarketing gets a mixed review. Hospitality pays off in intimate settings. Rethink digital. Base: 68 B2B marketing professionals; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey

B2B marketers still face digital hurdles “Do you agree or disagree with the following?” Responses of 4 and 5 on a scale of 1 [strongly disagree] to 5 [strongly agree]; the top two and bottom three responses are shown. Base: 68 B2B marketing professionals; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey

Digital must pay off across buyer lifetime “How have you measured the impact of digital on your business?” Base: 68 B2B senior marketers; Source: Forrester’s Q4 2015 International B2B Marketing Budget And Spending Online Survey

Three ways to make your B2B marketing mix deliver higher ROI

To make your B2B mix pay off, make it . . . Engaging. Customer- centered. Digital.

Capture interactions to digitize events Participants networked with speakers, sponsors, and each other. 83% used app = 5,600+ interactions Source: National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (http://www.nreca.coop/)

Use events to boost community activity Image source: Influitive (http://influitive.com/)

Use video to make abstract tangible Image source: Intel (http://www.intel.ph/content/www/ph/en/homepage.html)

Personalize experiences to incite action Image source: Oracle (http://www.oracle.com/index.html)

Center your content strategy on customers

Make buyer’s journey the foundation for content strategy

Tell more stories Image source: Domtar (http://www.paperbecause.com/) and Boston Scientific (http://www.raceagainstpain.com/)

Atomize your primary points of view Image source: Intel (http://www.intel.ph/content/www/ph/en/homepage.html)

Compel buyers with content built for their journey What your customers want What you can provide Market trends and a future vision Real challenges they can relate to Engaging and aspirational content Present unbiased market data. Focus on audience relevancy. Offer thought-leading content. DISCOVER Peer approaches and successes Assessment of current capabilities A vendor and provider landscape Share peer use cases. Assessment on relevant needs Overview of solution category EXPLORE ROI validation Confidence in the specific solution Situation-specific insights Business cases and estimators Unbiased solution reviews Sales enablement tools BUY

Make digital your top priority

Make your website the hub of online experiences Demonstrate customer empathy. Design for quick testing and iteration. Create seamless interaction across customer-facing disciplines.

Focus on digital content that matters Validate your approach. Differentiate from competition. Describe business opportunities. Highlight expected outcomes.

Lead with digital when planning Image source: The United Sidecar Association (http://www.sidecar.com/) and The CrankCase (http://thecrankcase.com/)

Treat mix like a portfolio of investments. Image source: AAAMP (http://www.arborinvestmentplanner.com/)

Assess your digital maturity

Recommendations Boost your digital savvy to make hard-won budget gains and produce higher ROI. Shift seamlessly between digital and physical contexts — this includes sales! Invest in digital (tactics, processes, and skills) to make marketing dollars pay off.

Image source: TrinityP3 (http://www.trinityp3.com/)

Laura Ramos lramos@forrester.com Twitter: @lauraramos