Top priority for B2B marketers revealed

New research from B2B Marketing and Ogilvy shows that content marketing now rivals measurement and brand at the top of business marketers’ to-do lists. Joel Harrison investigates.

Content marketing is now rivalling measurement and effectiveness as the number one topic of concern for B2B marketers, according to new research by B2B Marketing in association with Ogilvy.

The survey identifies the key issues and concerns for B2B marketers from all sectors, and ascertains the level of sophistication and expertise that marketers can bring when dealing with this issue. Approximately 300 B2B marketers responded to the survey, which was conducted in March. Comprehensive results and a host of additional content will be made available to download from the B2B Marketing website in the next few weeks.

Brand lags behind content


Respondents were asked to demonstrate how they prioritised a series of 10 key topics, stating whether each was a ‘top three issue’, a ‘general concern’ or ‘not a concern’. Measurement and effectiveness was shown to be the highest priority issue, with 76 per cent of respondents ranking it in their top three, as compared with content marketing which was regarded as a top three issue by 65 per cent of respondents – which is surprising for what remains a relatively new topic in B2B marketing.

Third most popular, and a long way behind the top two, was brand, cited as a top three priority by 37 per cent of respondents, closely followed by marketing and sales integration which was put in the top three by 35 per cent of respondents.

Among the least important topics for B2B brands were mobile, regarded as a top three issue by less than eight per cent of respondents, and CRM systems, which was seen as pressing by only 23 per cent of respondents. Despite the hype regarding social media, only 27 per cent cited it as one of their top three concerns.

Measure for measure
Just over half of respondents (54 per cent) were confident on the subject of measurement and effectiveness, claiming they were able to measure most or all of their activities. Of the remainder, only five per cent said they were unable to measure anything.

Despite its relative novelty as a B2B term, attitudes to content marketing were surprisingly advanced, with just over 50 per cent of respondents, “creating content in a considered way… integrating with demand generation activities”. This suggests content marketing is widely understood and utilised in the B2B sector. However, less than five per cent described themselves as ‘content marketing experts’, demonstrating that there is still much to learn.

Reassuringly, respondents also suggest a wide level of understanding and appreciation of the power of branding exists within B2B

organisations, with almost 80 per cent regarding brand ‘critical’ or ‘important’.

Long term ROI
B2B marketers’ focus on ROI and measurement was also underlined by the response to a later question – when asked ‘To what extent is the following true for your organisation: every activity needs a business rationale and clear ROI’, almost two thirds of respondents (65 per cent) said that it was ‘mostly’ or ‘always’ true (45 and 20 per cent respectively).

Contrastingly when asked in the same format whether ‘every [marketing activity] must result in a short term lead for sales’, less than 40 per cent responded ‘mostly’ or ‘always’, suggesting the majority of marketers recognise the need for longer term nurturing of prospects, reflecting complex sales cycles. In other words, although measurement is important, marketing works at a different pace to sales, and marketers must respect and reflect that in their strategies.

Hand-to-mouth marketing
Less positively, the survey also confirmed the lack of time spent on testing of marketing activities or techniques, with only around a third of respondents generally or always reserving budget to experiment, in order to refine communications. B2B, it seems, remains often too hand-to-mouth, with practitioners unable or unwilling to allow the time or budget to scientifically evaluate the best approach to marketing. Ultimately this will undermine the effectiveness of a brand’s marketing, and result in missed opportunities.

Areas for concern
James Myers, joint head of planning at Ogilvy speculates on the reasons behind the key findings. 

The research highlighted the top concerns for B2B marketers. The results threw up some surprising anomalies and confirmed the big concerns.

Social media is a concern for the large majority but isn’t as pressing as other factors, with respondents expressing anxiety at a more general level. Most feel they are doing okay but this is difficult to reconcile with the amount of chatter on B2B forums. Maybe our expectations are low and we don’t know what good is, alternatively the business doesn’t recognise the value.

Content appears in the top three concerns for 65 per cent, the second highest score. Over half believe their organisation is making a decent fist of it. The only question this raises is ‘how is their content distributed?’ since they are struggling with social media, and email and search can only get you so far. Content distribution is the real challenge. We are already suffering from infobesity and I worry there is too much reliance on the PDF department.

Brand, however, is seen as less of a concern and 97 per cent of marketers feel their organisation gets the value of brand. Twenty eight per cent say it is seen as critical to how their business performs and competes. Although a large majority say brand is secondary to revenue-generating activity.

Measurement is the other biggie. It is a top three for over three quarters of respondents yet only seven per cent claim to have robust procedures and processes in place. It is reassuring that businesses recognise the challenge of measurement, effectiveness and optimisation but it looks like we need to crack small data before we worry about big data.

Finally, a word on mobile. Our survey says it’s not an issue for marketers (less than one per cent regard it a top priority). However, as marketing and sales integration is a concern (82 per cent), perhaps mobile’s role is more important than they think, maybe it is the best way to support sales?

 

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