Being a B2B Tech Marketer Leigh Hopwood B2B Technology Marketing Consultant Website Call LinkedIn /leighhopwood or /reddmarketing

How I got here… Saturday jobs …1993 Placement Year 1995 BSc (Hons) Business IT Wrote to tech businesses Marketing Executive Started studying CIM 1997 Marketing Communications Manager 1999 DipM MCIM 2000 Marketing Manager 2003 Chair of CIM Surrey 2009 Client Marketing Director 2010 Marketing Consultant 2011 Chair of CIM South East 2013 Chartered Marketer 2001 Joined CIM Surrey committee Head of Marketing 2006

What’s unique about B2B tech? Jargon! Company size – many SMEs Large deal sizes Long sales cycles Business and IT DMU (decision making unit) Influencers are important Relationships are key Develop customer advocacy’s Vendor and channel relationships

The marketing role = marcoms Vendor Sprawling global marketing team Potential for travel Central Team own the brand Marketing assets provided by Central Marketing team Local delivery (Field Marketing) Channel Marketing v Field Marketing Access large agencies Larger budgets; greater need for ROI Channel Small intimate teams Board level engagement Own the brand Control over marketing plans Creating everything from scratch Greater breadth of marketing experience on offer Agency selection based on capability; boutique agencies Marketing on a hunch!

A year in the life… Annual planning process Align sales and marketing Campaign planning Campaign execution Communicating with stakeholders Evaluate ROI

When to use which tactics Events

Key takeaways Planning is essential Use the right tactics, with the right message, at the right time, to the right people for the desired outcome Thought leadership for brand awareness; be memorable, recommended and visible when they are looking for a solution Monitor and measure effectiveness The B2B tech industry… Growing, fast paced industry Need to ‘get it’ from a business perspective Lots of opportunity in marketing, but can be difficult to get into