The four things that will matter the most for B2B marketers next year

The four things that will matter the most for B2B marketers next year

Will Green lists the factors that will make the most difference to marketers’ lives in the year ahead

As 2015 draws to a close (already? Surely not…), thoughts inevitably turn to what next year will hold. It is a time-honoured journalistic tradition that the closing months of the year are a time for myriad features where those that have them gaze into their crystal balls and make lists of predictions for what’s to come.

There are two obvious and contrary problems with this. Either the predictions are so outlandish that they are almost certainly wrong (‘2016 will be the year for B2B marketers to embrace the power of VR Hoverboards’). Or, they are simply banal expressions stating what is already patently obvious – if you don’t know that ‘social media’ and ‘data’ will matter to B2B marketers in 2016, you’ve probably picked up this magazine by accident. (If that is the case, I hope you’re enjoying it and well done for making it this far.)

In truth, the four categories found in this piece – predictive analytics, recruitment and team upskilling, marketing automation (MA), and the power of the multichannel customer – are unlikely to give the postman a hernia from delivering so many letters of outrage and shock. They have all been issues in 2015 and will continue to be important over the next 12 months. What makes these four factors worthy of selection, however, is two-fold: first, unlike some areas whose importance have reached their peak, these issues are going to grow next year and occupy more of marketers’ time.

Second, they are all related to the broader shift in the marketing function: by becoming the advocate for the customer in organisations, marketing is moving from being a cost-centre to a revenue driver. These four factors are the ones that will ultimately allow marketers to do great work in 2016 – and get the credit for it.

1) Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics is changing the face of marketing. As Andrew Davies, co-founder and CMO at Idio, says: “Marketers are used to using analytics to tell them what is happening or what has happened. In 2016, we will be able to look forward with predictive data, not just sort through what happened yesterday.”

As our editor, Maxine-Laurie Marshall, found in her examination of the trend in last month’s magazine, it’s an area which has suffered from buzzword burnout. Surely, its function – to predict future actions – is essentially the same as ‘analytics’?  

Well, to an extent; but that’s not the whole story. The innovations in data processing mean that it really is becoming possible to look into the future. By examining historical outcomes and the things that lead to that outcome, marketers can build predictive models they can apply to present-time information when the outcome is unknown. Chris Benedetto, director of marketing, sales automation and onboarding at Pegasystems, argues: “2016 will be the year when organisations finally put their money where their mouth is and turn predictive analytics from a theoretical nice-to-have, into something that can drive real prospect and customer engagement.”

The technology is exciting; but really for marketers the excitement isn’t the tech itself, but what it can achieve. As Barbara Marino, commercial director, EMEA at Datalicious argues: “B2B marketing is becoming a lot more sophisticated in seeking to understand the customer journey in a lot more granular detail. Predictive tech exists to ensure that B2B marketers can pre-empt customer needs and provide a better customer experience.”

As with any tech innovation, the power of predictive analytics lies in how marketers can use it to reach, engage, convert and retain customers. It’s never a case of buying the product and plugging it in, however: marketers must have the right teams in place to make sure they’re making the most of any investment.

2) Recruitment and upskilling

The patterns of recruitment in marketing in 2016 will greatly reflect the way marketing is changing, both in terms of the makeup of its teams and how the function is perceived within organisations. As Vera Loftis, MD at Bluewolf says: “Putting a stronger focus on marketers’ diverse skill sets and investing more in actionable data, collaborative systems and flexible tools will help marketing organisations continually meet customer needs.”

At a fundamental level, the shape of marketing teams is shifting – skill sets are expanding to include data analysts and tech experts within the marketing fold whereas they might have previously existed elsewhere. Rick Schultz, senior VP of marketing at Alteryx, makes the point plainly: “Every single role in marketing now needs analytical skills. Not everyone needs to be a data specialist – but they have to have the ability to think analytically about data in a way that allows them to test and measure ideas.”

Data and tech roles are not going to eliminate visionary, creative and strategic marketers from the mix; far from it. The most successful marketers will have to understand what is possible with technology and data and the ways this can be creatively harnessed. An imbalance either way will be harmful. Paul Coxhill, CMO of WGSN, illustrates the point vividly: “One of the most important roles in my team now is head of MA. Marty [Lyon] is a good example of the modern marketer: he started as a content writer, then widened his skill set to become a data and campaign analyst, and now heads up all MA decisions in the team. It’s important he’s part of the marketing team rather than in a different department because he understands the tech and what it is supposed to be doing.”

3) Marketing automation

In 2016, getting MA right is more than likely going to be the factor separating those who have a good year and a disappointing year. The reason, as Simon Ward, CEO at Inspired Thinking Group, says, is simple: “Managing marketing campaigns is becoming increasingly complex and time-consuming. The migration to digital has given us more channels, the rise of social media has given us a greater number of voices to engage with, and the ever-increasing importance of measuring and delivering ROI has created the need for far greater scrutiny of procurement, workflow and channel selection.”

As marketing moves from being an unmeasurable cost centre towards the bright plains of being a revenue source, MA is the tool that allows marketers to do their jobs better and demonstrate success. As Richard Neale, EMEA MD at Birst, argues, using MA as a tool for creating the customer journey means: “Marketers can see where different channels are performing better than others and then decide on how to go after those more productive investments.”

Automation is only set to grow in importance. The automation of a greater range of marketing functions will undoubtedly be a feature of 2016. As Paul Houston, director of Cognition, says: “MA isn’t just limited to email. Your social media activity can be integrated into your campaigns. For example, by engaging with the right audience on social media in a helpful manner, you can expand your audience and capture a consistent flow of qualified leads for automated follow up.”

Of course, MA does not mean the robots are taking over. It’s less a tech solution, and more an efficient means of building your customer journey. The hard work with MA is not buying the tech or even learning to use it – it’s the planning and strategy that must go in to make sure you’re targeting your customers.

4) The multichannel customer

All of the above factors are really parts of the final trend: the empowered multichannel customer. This, more than anything, will impact on marketers’ lives in 2016. This is an obvious area where B2C is affecting B2B: the customer in a B2B funnel is also a multichannel consumer outside of work expecting much more from their buying experience.

How B2B marketers respond to this is probably the most important challenge facing marketers next year. Counterintuitively, B2B marketing departments need to remember that though their customers are multichannel, that doesn’t require a multichannel marketing department. As Youtse Sung, senior manager, global marketing programmes at EPiServer, says: “The first step to achieving [a multichannel customer approach] in 2016 will be to remove the barriers between marketing teams. Rather than having a web design team, a social media team and a mobile development team, businesses need to encourage collaborative working.”

Ultimately, the marketing department needs to focus on the overall customer experience, making sure that all customers receive a consistent and coherent journey. As Henning Ogberg, senior VP and general manager EMEA at SugarCRM, concludes: “What customers really want is to be able to switch between channels seamlessly while continuing a single conversation or transaction with a business. If they’re not
able to do this, marketers risk facing a disgruntled customer.”

Good times ahead

While there are many challenges for B2B marketers to face in 2016, the mood of the industry is overwhelmingly positive, with marketers seeing far more opportunities than obstacles. Technical innovations used by modern marketers with a far more diverse set of skills than ever before mean that marketing is leading the charge within organisations to take control of the customer journey and take ownership of the funnel. The year just gone saw the rise of the marketer; in 2016, that rise is only set to continue.

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