The document discusses a study on B2B digital marketing practices, highlighting the difficulty marketers face in benchmarking their activities and understanding effectiveness across various channels. Key findings include a focus on deepening customer relationships and brand awareness as top marketing priorities, with website development, email marketing, and social media being the most heavily invested channels. The research emphasizes the need for B2B marketers to adapt their strategies in light of changing audience engagement behaviors and the effectiveness of digital channels.

1. B2B Digital Marketing
Digital bench marking research
January 2013
www.lifepalsglobal.com
Lifepals Global Technologies

2. Introduction
While case studies abound for consumer-centric digital marketing, a constant cry from the business to business marketing
community is how difficult it is to find out what others are doing. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as so much B2B activity is select in its
targeting. As a result, it’s hard to know whether you are doing the right thing, or whether there is something else that might
work better.
With this in mind, Reseach to develop a collective understanding of what B2B marketers really think of digital – how are they using it and how
well is it working ?
We hope it will be of value to marketers in 3 specific ways:
1
First it allows you to benchmark your own activities against the norm. Select your own marketing priorities from the list and compare your
own expenditure in time and money against what others are doing. Are you underspending in key areas? Are your activities far more time
consuming or costly than others find them?
2
Second, it highlights the areas which B2B marketers are finding the most cost effective and some which aren’t. It’s an opportunity to reflect
and reconsider whether some activities should be scaled up – or down – to really maximise the impact of your budget.
3
Third, it opens up a debate. Despite the increasing use of social media and the presence of other methods of audience engagement,
marketers are primarily using digital to push their messages, regardless of whether this is what people want from them. In short, it would
seem that although channels have changed, behaviours haven’t.
So whilst the survey reflects the established practice – is that enough in a day and age when audience engagement is all important?
Marketers are following established lines but perhaps it’s time to challenge the received wisdom and think about things differently.
Lifepals Global

3. Survey objectives
The research set out with three specific objectives:
• Which marketing goals are the highest priority
for B2B marketers?
• How are the time and money dedicated to B2B
digital marketing allocated amongst digital
marketing channels?
• Which digital marketing channels are the best
means to achieve marketing goals?
Lifepals Global

4. Q: What is the highest B2B marketing priority for your organisation over the next 12 months?
Making sure you have a deep relationship with your customers
and increasing the profile of your company.
Q: What matters in B2B marketing?
A:
Deepen customer
relationships
(36%)
Raise brand
awareness
(26%)
Deepen
understanding
of target market
(10%)
Develop
brand
positioning
(9%)
Launch a
new product
or service
(9%)
Strengthen
‘thought
leadership’
position
(7%)
Ensure organisation
is living the brand
(0%)
Other
(4%)
Highest priority
Lifepals Global

5. It may be no surprise that companies are not prioritising product
launches in the present economic climate - but given the importance of
building customer relationships and building brand awareness it seems
surprising that such low importance was given to living the brand. This
highlights one of the first ‘disconnects’ which we have identified as a
result of the research. Perhaps, given that
marketers are struggling with budget and resource issues, one of the
impacts is that they simply cannot cover all the bases. But the
upshot is that the marketing effort does not join up the external and
the internal.
Given the size of the organisations involved we also found it
interesting that brand awareness was so high on the list of priorities.
Thought leadership and brand positioning are
important secondary priorities
Q: What are the three highest B2B
marketing priorities for your organisation
over the next 12 months?
Deepen customer
relationships
Raise brand
awareness
Deepen
understanding
of target market
Develop brand
positioning
Launch a new
product or
service
Strengthen
‘thought leadership’
position
36%
29%
13%
26%
6%
16%
10%
14%
6%
9%
16%
23%
9%
7%
11%
7%
23%
19%
Ensure
organisation
is living the brand
0%
3%
10%
Other
4%
1%
0%
Highest priority
Second highest priority
Third highest priority
Lifepals Global

6. What works where in
terms of channels?
We looked first at what marketers were spending their
time and money on.
Overall, 3 channels take up more than half the time and money allocated
to digital marketing – corporate website development, email marketing
and social media – with 56% of the budget spent between them and 58%
of marketing time.
Search marketing (SEO and PPC combined) is responsible for 14% of
budget allocated to digital, and 13% of time allocated to digital.
Mobile marketing (site optimisation, SMS/MMS and apps) takes 4% of
the budget, and 5% of time.
Lifepals Global

7. Digital allocation by channel - budget
Website
development
Email
marketing
Social
media
Online
video/podcasts
SEO
Display
advertising
PPC
Microsite
development
Extranet
Mobile optimisation Apps
SMS/MMS
Other
Affiliate
(31.3%)
(14.3%)
(10.4%)
(7.3%)
(7.1%)
(7.1%)
(1.8%)
(3%)
(0.6%)
(1.5%)
(2.5%)
(0.9%)
(6.7%)
(5.5%)
BudgetTime
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to
allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Lifepals Global

8. Digital allocation by channel - time
Website
development
Email
marketing Social
media
Online
video/podcasts
SEO
Microsite
development
Display advertising
Mobile optimisationAffiliate
SMS/MMS
Extranet
PPC
Other
Apps
(27.9%)
(15.8%)
(14%)
(8.8%)
(7.8%)
(6.3%)
(3.9%)
(4.4%)
(2.3%)
(2.3%) (2.2%)
(2.1%)
(1.6%)
(0.7%)
BudgetTime
Q: In the next 12 months, how do
you expect to allocate the time your
organisation dedicates to digital?
Lifepals Global

9. Digital allocation by channel - budget vs. time
Four channels are particularly time intensive
in that they take a greater share of time than
of budget: mobile apps, social media, SEO
and mobile optimisation.
Three channels take a significantly larger share
of budget than time: PPC, display advertising
and development of extranets (possibly this is
due to the costs involved in setting up sites
which are often more complex from an IT
perspective).
The figures in this chart have been calculated using data accurate
to 1dp. This approach has been adopted to establish the nuances
in the data for comparison.
Time intensive Cost intensive
Time BudgetTime
Extranets
(3% - 2.3%)
Affiliate
(2.5% - 2.3%)
Online video/
podcasts
(7.3% - 7.8%)
Mobile
optimisation
(1.8% - 2.2%)
SEO
(7.1% - 8.8%)
Website development
(31.3% - 29.7%)Email
marketing
(14.3% - 15.8%)
Display advertising
(7.1% - 4.4%)
PPC
(6.7% - 3.9%)
Microsite
development
(5.5% - 6.3%)
Apps
(1.5% - 2.1%)
Social media
(10.4% - 14%)
SMS/MMS
(0.6% - 0.7%)
Lifepals Global

10. Digital allocation by channel - overall effectiveness
Five channels are seen by more than half of
marketers as an effective channel for achieving
their marketing priorities: website development
(70%); email marketing (68%); social media
(64%); online video/podcasts (63%);
development of microsites (53%).
Seven channels are seen as effective in
achieving marketing priorities by less than a
third of B2B marketers: SMS/MMS; mobile
optimisation; apps; PPC; development of
extranets; display advertising.
These low scores however reflect the niche
nature of these channels - they are seen as more
effective for certain marketing goals than they
are for others.
70% 68%
64% 63%
53% 43%
29%
29%
28% 24%
20% 17%
13%
5% 12% 9% 11%
11% 19%
24%
38%
26% 32%
29% 37%
47%
Website
development Email
marketing Social media
Online video/
podcasts
Microsites
SEO
Extranets Display
advertising
PPC
Apps Affiliate
SMS/MMS
Mobile
optimisation
Effective Not effectiveNeutral
Q: How effective are the following channels in achieving the marketing priorities?
Lifepals Global

11. What works where when it
comes to specific marketing
priorities
As might be expected, the perceived effectiveness of digital
channels throws up some differences when they are assessed
against individual marketing priorities.
The same 3 channels take the lead in overall effectiveness as in budget and time
allocation, with online video, microsites and SEO also punching above their
weight.
For example, when the priority is deepening customer relationships, the
development of extranets is seen as a more effective channel than it would be on
average. Conversely SEO, PPC and display advertising are seen as significantly
less effective in achieving this goal. On the other hand, when the priority is
raising brand awareness, SEO, PPC and display advertising are seen as more
effective channels than they would be in general.
In contrast, the development of microsites is seen as less successful in raising
brand awareness than it is in general.
Lifepals Global

12. Strengthening
‘Thought
Leadership’
position
Display
advertising(18%)
Emailmarketing(79%)
Social
media
(82%)
W
ebsite
development
(76%)
(64%)Microsites
(30%
)Extranets
(42%) SEO
(12%) PPC
(12%) Affiliate
(3%) Mobile optimisation
(3%) SMS/MMS
(24%) Apps
Onlinevideo/
(85%)
podcasts
Deepening
customer
relationships
Display
advertising(17%)
Emailmarketing(76%)
Social
media
(59%)
W
ebsite
developm
ent (63%)
Microsites(61%)
(37%)Extranets
(30%
)SEO
(19%) PPC
(19%) Affiliate
(20%) Mobile optimisation
(15%) SMS/MMS
(24%) Apps
Onlinevideo/
(65%)
podcasts
What works where for - specific marketing priorities
% of respondents selecting ‘effective’
Lifepals Global

13. What works where for - specific marketing priorities
Raising brand
awareness
Display
advertising(53%)
Em
ail
m
arketing
(66%)
Social
media
(78%)
W
ebsite
developm
ent (75%
)
Microsites(38%)
(25%)Extranets
(75%)SEO
(53%) PPC
(28%) Affiliate
(16%) Mobile optimisation
(13%) SMS/MMS
(28%) Apps
Onlinevideo/
(72%)
podcasts
Developing
brand
positioning
Display
advertising(45%)
Em
ail
m
arketing
(73%
)
Social
media (64%)
W
ebsite
developm
ent
(88%)
Microsites(52%)
(24%)Extranets
(55%
)SEO
(27%) PPC
(18%) Affiliate
(24%) Mobile optimisation
(12%) SMS/MMS
(21%)Apps
Onlinevideo/
(67%)
podcasts
% of respondents selecting ‘effective’
Lifepals Global

14. Displayadvertising(14%)
Em
ail
m
arketing
(43%
)
Social
media (52%)
W
ebsite
developm
ent
(29%
)
Microsites(33%)
(29%)Extranets
(19%
)SEO
(19%) PPC
(19%) Affiliate
(19%) Mobile optimisation
(14%
)SM
S/M
M
S
(19%)Apps
Onlinevideo/
(24%)podcasts
Deepen
understanding
of target
market
Launching a
new product
Display
advertising(37%)
Em
ail
m
arketing
(79%
)
Social
media (47%)
W
ebsite
developm
ent
(84%
)
(37%)SEO
(42%) PPC
(11%) Affiliate
Mobile
(21%)
optimisation
(26%) SMS/MMS
(26%)Apps
Onlinevideo/
(58%)
podcasts
(11%)Extranets
Microsites(53%)
% of respondents selecting ‘effective’
What works where for - specific marketing priorities
Lifepals Global

15. What works where for - perceived effectiveness vs. budget
0%
25%
50%
75%
25%
SMS/
MMS
Apps
Mobile
optimisation
Affiliate
ExtranetsPPC
Display
advertising
SEO
Online video/
podcasts
Social
media
Microsites
Email
marketing
Website
development
Budget
Unsurprisingly, the three most effective
channels are also the ones that receive the
most time and money. Interestingly,
online video and development of
microsites are also seen as effective, but
this is not reflected in their share of digital
marketing budgets (7% and 6%
respectively).
Contrast this with PPC and display advertising,
channels which both receive 7% of marketing
budgets, but are seen as effective in achieving
marketing priorities by less than a third of B2B
marketers (28% and 29% respectively).
As the above chart demonstrates, there
are some ‘niche’ channels that perform
extremely well, particularly given their
relative cost. These activities provide a
useful reminder to marketers to consider
additional activities in addition to the big 3.
Perceived
Effectiveness Lifepals Global

16. 76%
9%
65%
63% 61% 59%
37%
30% 24% 20% 19%
19%
17% 15%
13%
6% 9% 9%
22%
22% 30% 37% 37%
30%
43% 44%
Website
development
Email
marketing
Social media
Online video/
podcasts Microsites
SEO
Extranets
Display
advertising
PPCApps
Affiliate
SMS/MMS
Mobile
optimisation
EffectiveNoteffectiveNeutral
What works where for - deepening customer relationships
Q: How effective are the following channels in deepening customer relationships?
Lifepals Global

17. What works where for - deepening customer relationships
When it comes to the things that work for
deepening customer relationships, online
video, microsites and extranets are the best in
class. Social media also performs well. As
might be expected, the traditional promotional
mechanisms (PPC, display and affiliate) are felt
to be less effective. It’s interesting however that
email marketing – a push technique – is felt to be
the most effective channel against this priority
and yet not for some of the more traditionally
push objectives such as raising brand
awareness.
SMS/
MMS
AppsMobile
optimisationAffiliate
Extranets
PPCDisplay
advertising
SEO
Online video/
podcasts
Social
media Microsites
Email
marketing
Website
development
Perceived
EffectivenessBudget
0%
25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Q: How effective are the following channels in deepening customer relationships?
Lifepals Global

18. What works where for - raising brand awareness
78%
3%
75% 75% 72% 66%
53% 53%
38% 28% 28%
25%
16%
13%
6% 3% 9% 9%
6% 9%
13% 19% 25% 22%
22%
38%
Website
development Email
marketing
Social media
Online video/
podcasts
Microsites
SEO
Extranets
Display
advertising
PPC
Apps
Affiliate
SMS/MMS
Mobile
optimisation
EffectiveNoteffectiveNeutral
Q: How effective are the following channels in raising brand awareness?
Lifepals Global

19. What works where for - raising brand awareness
0%
25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
SMS/
MMS
Apps
Mobile
optimisation
Affiliate
Extranets
PPC
SEOOnline video/
podcasts
Social
media
Microsites
Website
development
Email
marketing
Display
advertising
Budget
Social media tops the poll against this marketing
priority, reflecting how the world has changed in
recent years. It also confirms how far social
media has established its role in B2B, an area
which has traditionally lagged behind BC2
behaviours.
Thereafter the more expected activities
perform well, with the surprising finding that
only half of respondents felt that display
advertising, the most obviously broadcast
medium, was an effective channel for raising
brand awareness.
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Q: How effective are the following channels in raising brand awareness?
Perceived
Effectiveness Lifepals Global

20. What works where for - strengthening ‘thought leadership’ position
85%
3%
82% 79% 76% 64%
42%
30% 24%
18%
12% 12% 3%
3%
3% 3% 3%
3%
3% 3% 3%
3%
Website
development
Email
marketing
Social media
Online video/
podcasts
Microsites
SEO
Extranets
Display
advertising
PPC
Apps
Affiliate
SMS/MMS
Mobile
optimisation
EffectiveNoteffectiveNeutral
Q: How effective are the following channels in strengthening your thought leadership position?
Lifepals Global

21. What works where for - strengthening ‘thought leadership’ position
0%
25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
Budget
SMS/
MMS
Apps
Mobile
optimisation
AffiliatePPC
Online video/
podcastsSocial
media
Microsites
Website
development
Email
marketing
SEO
Display
advertising
Extranets
Thought leadership was the mantra of 2010,
and it looks as if it will continue to be a key
marketing objective for B2B marketers for
the next 12 months as well, as companies
jockey for position to be seen as expert in
their respective fields. As might be
expected, the use of online video and
podcasts and social media overall performed
particularly well in this respect. Email marketing
makes its habitual appearance, perhaps because
it is the mechanism which carries the deeper
content to the end user.
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Q: How effective are the following channels in strengthening your thought leadership position?
Perceived
Effectiveness Lifepals Global

22. What works where for - developing the brand positioning
6%
88%
73%
67%
64% 55%
52%
45%
27%
24%
24% 21%
18%
18%
9%
6% 3% 12%
9%
30%
24%
21%
33% 36%
21%
39%
Website
development
Email
marketing Social media
Online video/
podcasts
MicrositesSEO
Extranets
Display
advertising
PPC
Apps
Affiliate
SMS/MMS
Mobile
optimisation
EffectiveNoteffectiveNeutral
Q: How effective are the following channels in developing your brand positioning?
Lifepals Global

23. What works where for - developing the brand positioning
0%
25%
50%
75%
25%
50%
SMS/
MMS
Apps
Mobile
optimisation
Affiliate
PPC
Microsites
Website
development
SEO
Display
advertising
Extranets
Online video/
podcasts
Budget
The final significant objective, developing
the brand positioning, was the first time
that corporate websites took the lead
role, despite being perceived as the most
effective digital channel overall.
Correspondingly websites performed
best at launching a new product or
service. Whilst social media was not in the top 3
for once, it also gained the lowest score for not
effective, whilst display advertising is seen as
least effective by the most people with the
exception of mobile activities. Online video
scores well again.
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Q: How effective are the following channels in developing your brand positioning?
Perceived
Effectiveness
Email
marketing
Social
media
Lifepals Global

24. A word on mobile
To our surprise, mobile (whether optimisation, apps or
messaging) performed consistently badly in the survey. Some
of this is understandable – the spend on the medium is low
and so correspondingly is the time spent on it.
Perceptions of effectiveness for something that isn’t a priority medium are
understandable, but despite that, other niche activities have their moments of
glory or at least of effectiveness. Extranets perform well in terms of relationship building,
online video waves the flag in terms of raising brand awareness and strengthening
thought leadership. The mobile picture looks consistently underwhelming.
And yet, the word on the street is that Smartphone adoption, 3G penetration and
unlimited data plans have driven a surge of mobile media consumption across
geographies and deepened the integration of mobile devices into everyday life.
We believe that in a year’s time the picture may be different, particularly given
the predictions that by 2014 mobile internet will have taken over desktop internet
usage.
Lifepals Global

25. 26 26
Digital is seen by almost
all as important in achieving
their priorities...
Critical! Important
Less
important
Not
relevant!
(44%)
(51%)
(3%)
(1%)
Lifepals Global

26. Yet three fifths of marketers spend
less than 40% of budget on digital
percentage
of marketers
that spend...
11%
17%
18%
17%
8%
11%
6%
8%
5%
2%
25%
0%
0-10%
10-19%
20-29% 30-39% 40-49% 50-59% 60-69% 70-79% 80-89% 90-100%
percentage of budget
Lifepals Global

27. Time and money are holding digital back
95% of respondents
believe digital
marketing is critical
or important in
achieving their
marketing goals...
...but only one third of
respondents give the
lion’s share of budget to
digital, and only 15%
spend significant
proportions.
This is reflected in some of the issues
raised by respondents in terms of the
most significant challenges they faced
in relation to B2B digital marketing.
Financial constaints are closely linked
with resource issues - money is needed,
but so is the resource to do it properly.
Budget
constraints
Internal
resources
Adequate
resources
Cost
Budgets
and lack of
them
Physical
people
resource
Lack of
budget
Lack of
funds to find
experts to
implement
(strategy)
The cost
and time that
needs to be
allocated to doing
it properly
Lifepals Global

28. Definitions of effectiveness
95% 85% 56% 51% 51% 44% 37% 34% 29%
Web analytics/traffic Lead generation Conversion rates Sales pipeline Spend per campaign Brand awareness Closed sales Cost per enquiry Profitability
Two metrics are used by more than 80% of B2B marketers
As might be expected in a study on what works
where, we were interested to know how people
were measuring the effectiveness of their
activities and 59% of marketers use a range of
monitoring tools to provide this information,
with a further 34% planning to do so.
However, of those who currently measure
return, 83% say it’s not with the accuracy
they’d like.
It’s useful to think of the metrics as splitting
between the two immediate, ‘easy to measure’
activities (web traffic and lead generation), and
those which are harder to measure but are more
closely linked to business performance,
particularly closed sales or profitability.
The approach used by the majority of
respondents is to supplement the two
‘immediate’ metrics with two or three other
metrics of their preference. Some measure only
the immediate metrics, while others measure as
many as possible, with particular focus on the
most valuable, difficult to measure metrics.
Unsurprisingly those in the latter grouping are
most likely to be the ones with the highest
marketing budgets.
The fact that most marketers use a
combination of metrics (the mean is just under
5), would suggest that there is no one clear
way to assess effectiveness and it’s often a
judgement call. This would seem to be backed
up by the fact that only 1 in 10 respondents
were confident in the accuracy of their ROI
measures.
Q: What metrics do you use to measure return on digital investment?
Lifepals Global

29. Definitions of effectiveness
0%
7%
10% 34%
49%
50%
The majority of marketers
measure ROI, but few are
confident in its accuracy
Q: Does your organisation currently
measure return on digital investment?
Don’t measure ROI, no plans
to start
Measure ROI, and confident
in its accuracy
Don’t measure ROI, but plan
to start doing so
Measure ROI, but not with
the accuracy we’d like
Lifepals Global

30. What are the most significant
challenges you face in relation
to B2B digital marketing?
Our final area of investigation was to establish the
most significant challenges faced in relation to B2B
digital marketing.
There were four particular areas into which the vocally expressed challenges
fell overall - money, time, ideas that work and organisational structures.
As has been mentioned earlier – a consistent theme among B2B marketers is
the challenge to increase and manage resources behind delivery, but a
second significant area coalesced around the need to create cut-through,
produce quality content or engage with the audience more effectively.
Marketers, it would seem place high importance not just on reaching people
but on engaging them effectively when they do. The third area of
consistency was around organisational structures – whether the challenge of
scaling projects globally or breaking through the internal silo mentality.
Lifepals Global

31. What’s stopping us?
Managing resourcesChannel coordination
Keeping content relevant
Measuring ROI
Getting buy-in internally
Prioritising time
Creation of quality content
Cost for return
Data quality
Doing something different
Insights
Regulation
Finding experts
Ensuring the right channel mix
IT challengesCutting through the noise
Acting quickly
Internal silos
Reaching the right people
Global scale
Client engagement
Q: What are the most significant challenges you
face in relation to B2B digital marketing?
Lifepals Global

32. Conclusions
We know that digital marketing is seen as an essential part of achieving the marketing priorities of our sample. 95% of respondents
believed that it was critical or important. On one hand this might seem obvious; these are digital marketers after all. On the other,
many of the objectives are not necessarily ones which are only achieved by digital means. Deepening customer relationships has
traditionally been the province of sales, account or relationship managers. Raising brand awareness has formerly relied on above
the line media, or strong presence at key industry events.
So digital is now firmly part of the B2B marketing canon. Even social media has arrived firmly in the list of channels which are seen to contribute
positively to marketing success.
In conclusion, digital is a central part of the B2B marketing toolbox.
Three channels in particular seem to be well-established, and are
utilised to achieve a variety of marketing goals.
Yet the research highlighted three interesting disconnects which are
worth bearing in mind. First there is evidence that B2B marketers
don’t seem quite sure how to approach digital marketing as a whole
just yet. Indeed, it’s not always clear that B2B marketers invest in the
channels they see as most effective for the marketing goal they would
like to achieve.
Beyond corporate websites, email and social media, other digital
marketing techniques are underutilised and not being aligned in
support of the main goals. This problem is perhaps reflected by the
trouble B2B marketers have measuring the return on the investment
they’ve made.
Secondly, activities would seem to be more orientated towards
pushing messages out than deepening the customer experience,
despite this being a key priority. In particular, the goal of engaging
the organisation with the brand, and behaviours that might be
required, is curiously missing.
Third the lack of importance placed on mobile belies the attention
it is receiving elsewhere. And yet, if it follows the path taken by
social media it could appear as a major contributor in future years.
We hope this report has been useful in highlighting just what
people are doing in terms of their digital activity – and will help
B2B marketers work out What Works Where for their own
particular case.
Lifepals Global

33. 35 35
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you maximise the effectiveness of your digital
activities:
please email
connect@lifepalsglobal.com
www.lifepalsglobal.com
Lifepals Global Technologies