WWW 2012 Key Themes

What Works Where
in B2B? 2012
How marketers are marketing.
How buyers are buying.

In association with The Marketing Society and Circle Research #wwwb2b

What Works Where in B2B Digital 2012

Background

What Works Where in B2B digital marketing 2012 was conducted in Spring 2012.

• 98 B2B marketers - collective budgets of £78m.

• 224 B2B buyers – with £150m spending power.

Four key sectors: financial services, professional services, manufacturing, IT/telecoms.

Conducted in partnership with Circle Research and The Marketing Society in the UK.

© Omobono Limited 2012. We are happy for you to reproduce the information contained in this slide, but please acknowledge the source.


Four key themes
Relationship Building
• Deepening customer relationships remains the number one objective for B2B
marketers. Are they doing it well?

Thought leadership
• Marketers recognize that the name of the game is thought leadership – ensuring that
buyers come across your name and expertise when they are keeping up to date with
issues in the marketplace. What impact are they having?

Channels of influence
• Digital remains a crucial part of the marketing mix. The challenge is to understand
which channels work most effectively in each situation.

Spend vs effectiveness
• As in 2011, the research reveals exactly where marketers are spending their
budgets, and what they perceive as being effective. What are the significant gaps
between what they are doing and what buyers want?



Building relationships – an overview

• Marketers’ top objectives
1.

• Buyers – contact by existing vs prospective suppliers
2.

• Buyers – open to contact via social media
3.

• Marketers – low spend on extranets
4.

• Buyers – high reliance on supplier information
5.

• Buyers most likely to buy from personal /existing relationships
6.

• Marketers – lack of focus on internal engagement
7.

• Buyers – heavily influenced by influencers
8.



Relationships matter



1. Marketers top 3 objectives

% increase from 2011

% decrease from 2011

8% 1% 3%
Deepen customer Raise brand Strengthen ‘thought Develop brand Better understand Launch Ensure organisation
relationships awareness leadership’ position position target market product/service is living the brand

77% 56% 50% 44% 26% 24% 16%

3% 4% 3%



2. Buyers are contacted more often by prospective than by
existing suppliers.

Prospective suppliers contacting buyers

36% 32% 27% 17% 15% 15% 13%
Personalised Generic Direct mail LinkedIn Email sharing Telemarketing Personal visits
email marketing useful content
email

Existing suppliers contacting buyers

19% 17% 18% 9% 8% 9% 12%
Personalised Generic Direct mail LinkedIn Email sharing Telemarketing Personal visits
email marketing useful content
email

% receiving contact at least once a week



3. B2B buyers are open to contact via social media

% positive reactions % positive reactions
to contact by to to contact by
prospective suppliers existing suppliers
Personal visits 79% 79%
Trade events 70% 68%
Bespoke events 69% 76%
Email sharing content 63% 65%
LinkedIn 56% 53%
Webinars 53% 55%
Personalised emails 52% 65%
Industry sponsorship 51% 55%
Twitter 47% 56%
Mobile messaging 43% 37%
Direct mail 36% 42%
Facebook 35% 40%
Generic email 16% 21%
Telemarketing 13% 16%



4. Marketers – low spend on extranets

65% positive 79% positive 67% positive 76% positive 66% positive

92% 90% 86% 85% 84%
Personalised Personal visits Trade events Bespoke Email sharing
email events content


82% 79% 74% 67% 65%
Direct mail Generic email Industry Webinars Extranet
sponsorship


% of buyers reacting positively to these
channels 61% 59% 84% 25% 25%
% of buyers contacted by suppliers LinkedIn Telemarketing Mobile Twitter Facebook
through this channel messaging



5. Buyers – high reliance on supplier information
How frequently do you use each of the following in order to keep yourself informed
on developments in your profession or industry?

Twitter
Facebook
Podcasts
YouTube, online video
Trade blogs
Webinars LinkedIn the only ‘B2B’
Advertising campaigns social network? 65% of
LinkedIn B2B buyers use it regularly
Print trade press for business
Online trade communities
Online mainstream press
Print mainstream press
Print business press
Online trade press
White papers, similar content
Seminars
Online business press
Trade events
Email newsletter
Supplier websites
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Offline Channel Online Channel



6. Buyers most likely to buy from personal relationships and
existing contacts

Personal relationship - honest and open
22%
Good, compelling pitch
17%
Competitive price
16%
Understood my needs, tailored offer
12%
Good timing
11%
Quality of product/service
10%
Offer was relevant
9%
Made a personal visit
9%
Not too pushy
5%
Previous relationship
5%
Known brand
3%
Other
5%
Don't know
% making a purchase after being contacted
10%



7. Marketers –lack of focus on internal

• If marketers think that developing customer relationships is the most important objective. Why
isn’t making sure the entire organisation is living the brand the second most important objective?

• Only 3% of marketers believe that it’s of primary importance.
% increase from 2011

• 16% (1 in 6) think its in the top 3 things in terms of importance.

8% 2% 3%
Deepen customer Raise brand Strengthen ‘thought Develop brand Better understand Launch Ensure organisation
relationships awareness leadership’ position position target market product/service is living the brand

33% 17% 15% 11% 9% 9% 3%

3% 9% 1%



8. Buyers – heavily influenced by influencers

• When identifying potential suppliers, 42% of Large
Corporates use word of mouth as primary source of
information (ask peer, work colleague, finance
department or consultant), compared to 18% of SMEs

• Similar patterns are seen when evaluating potential
suppliers and defining specific need

• The relationship may not be direct. 51 % of buyers say
Professional advisors and consultants are the most
useful source for identifying and evaluating a supplier,
making it the most influential source in the research.



Thought leadership – an overview

• Marketers being known for something
1.

• Buyers – visit wide range of places to keep up to date
2.

• SM may not be as effective as marketers think
3.

• Marketers – SM trajectory continues
4.

• Marketers – challenges of delivering Thought Leadership
5.

• Marketers – internal co-ordination not happening
6.

• Buyers – importance of search
7.



Thought leadership is the name of the game



1. Marketers want to be known for something
What are your organisation’s top 3 B2B marketing priorities?

8% 1%
Deepen customer Strengthen ‘thought
relationships Raise brand awareness leadership’ position

77% 56% 50%

What is your organisation’s highest B2B marketing priority?

8%
Deepen customer Strengthen ‘thought
relationships Raise brand awareness leadership’ position

% increase from 2011 33% 17% 15%


3% 9%



2. Buyers – wide range of places to keep up to date
How frequently do you use each of the following in order to keep yourself informed
on developments in your profession or industry?

Twitter
Facebook
Podcasts
YouTube, online video
Trade blogs 29% of B2B buyers don’t
Webinars use any social networks
Advertising campaigns regularly for business
LinkedIn
Print trade press Industry focused events
Online trade communities and the press still have a
Online mainstream press role to play.
Print mainstream press
Print business press
Online trade press
White papers, similar content
Seminars
Online business press
Trade events
Email newsletter
Supplier websites
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Offline Channel Online Channel



3. Are marketers using social media for the wrong thing?

Social media effectiveness

54% 88% 91% 75%

Deepen customer Raise brand Strengthen thought Develop brand
relationships awareness leadership positioning

Website effectiveness

69% 80% 79% 85%

Deepen customer Raise brand Strengthen thought Develop brand
relationships awareness leadership positioning



4. Marketers – SM trajectory continues
10% Social media

Fall in budget despite rise in
perceived effectiveness
Mobile optimisation

Website development
Change in perceived effectiveness

Online video

PPC Mobile apps
Affiliate marketing SMS/MMS
-10% SEO Display advertising 10%
Microsites

Email marketing

Increase in budget allocation despite
Extranets slight fall in perceived effectiveness
-10%
Change in budget allocation



5. Marketers – challenges of delivering TL



6. Marketers – internal co-ordination not happening

• But thought leadership puts additional pressure on
an already pressurise marketing department.

• Creating cut through, staying innovative and creating
quality content are all significant issues for
marketers.

• But with only 1 in 6 putting it as a priority there is
evidence that marketers either don’t feel that this is
central to their roles, or it slips off the long list of
things they need to achieve.



7. Buyers – importance of search

• One element of thought leadership that shouldn’t be
overlooked is the importance of search, right through
the buying process.

• 58% of buyers use Search to define their specific need
– second only to using the suppliers’ websites
themselves.

• 54% of buyers use it to identify potential suppliers.

• At 98% it’s the most useful tool for evaluating
suppliers.

• SEO, which the majority of clients outsource, only
takes 6% of the total budget, less than what was spent
in 2011, suggesting that marketers are, perhaps
wrongly, de-emphasising search as a valuable activity.

• 21% of clients don’t do any search engine marketing
at all.



Digital channel usage – an overview

• Digital very firmly part of the marketing mix.
1.

• But digital is not the only thing that marketers are doing
2.

• Buyers’ connectivity with digital
3.

• Best practice is personal
4.

• Marketers don’t really vary channel by objective
5.

• What channels work where for looking, choosing and buying.
6.

• Some channels are more effective than others.
7.



The role of digital in communications



1. Digital very firmly part of the marketing mix

• 94% of marketers view it as critical or important.

• There is a slight rise in those who think it’s less
relevant or important vs last year.
2012

6%

3%
Critical
2011
Important
43%
44% Less important
Not relevant
51%
51%



2. But digital is not the only thing that marketers are doing

Almost two-fifths of B2B budgets are invested in digital customer loyalty
remains the primary focus

<20% 2011 = 27% 20-70% 2011 = 60% >70% 2011 = 14%
2012 = 22% 2012 = 68% 2012 = 10%

Mean* 2011 = 37%
22%
2012 = 38%

19%
2011
18%
17% 17% 2012
15%

11% 11% 11%
10%
8% 8% 8%
6%
5% 5%
4%
3%
2% 2%

<10% 10-19% 20-29% 30-39% 40-49% 50-59% 60-69% 70-79% 80-89% 90-100%



3. Buyers connectivity with digital

Personal visits 45%
Personalised email 28%
Trade events 25%
Bespoke events 20%
Email sharing content 16%
Direct mail 16%
LinkedIn 13%
Industry sponsorship 11%
Webinars 10%
Generic email 8%
Telemarketing 5%
Twitter 4% Don’t provoke particularly
Facebook 4% negative reactions, but don’t
lead buyers to act, either
SMS/MMS 2%
None - no need for any goods/services 8%
None - no-one made a compelling case 11%

Offline channel Online channel



4. Best practice is personal

• Buyers use a range of on and offline ways to keep up to date,
clarify needs, identify and evaluate suppliers.
• 41% of buyers say personal visits are the best way to get in
contact with them.
• And they are the best way to get people to act.
• Of top 4 methods, 3 rely on face to face contact.
• Buyers are slightly more likely however to get a personal visit
from prospective suppliers than from their existing suppliers!

Personal visits Personalised email Trade events Bespoke events LinkedIn

45% 31% 25% 22% 17%

Average % of channels which lead to sales



5. Marketers don’t really vary channel by objective

75% Website development
Not enough Social media
budget
allocated? Online video
Email marketing

How effective are digital
Perceived effectiveness of channel

marketing activities?
50% Microsites
And what proportion of
SEO
your organisation’s B2B
digital marketing spend
Mobile have you allocated to
optimisation/
Too much budget
each of them over the
apps PPC
25% Display advertising allocated? next 12 months?

Affiliate marketing
Extranets
SMS/MMS

0%
0% 15% 30%
Budget allocation



6. For buyers, some channels work better than others

Passive - Buyer keeping Active - Buyer searching
Passive - Buyer contacted by
informed about industry identifying and selecting
suppliers
developments suppliers
Online • Content on websites and • Email (personalised, sharing • Website and microsites
microsites content) • SEO
• Email newsletters • LinkedIn • PPC
CORE • Online display advertising • Webinars
• Webinars • Extranets/ Twitter (for
CHANNELS existing suppliers)
Off line • Print display advertising • Personal visits • Word of mouth
• Seminars, trade events • Bespoke/trade events
Online • Online communities • Twitter (prospective
• LinkedIn suppliers)
SUPPORT • Mobile? • Mobile messaging
CHANNELS
Offline • Ad campaigns • Industry sponsorship



7. And some are more effective than others
% reacting very or quite positively to contact
% reacting very or quite positively to contact

Engineering/
Financial services Business/ prof. services Technology/ telecoms
manufacturing
1 Personal visits (83%) Personal visits (87%) Bespoke event (75%) Bespoke event (78%*)

2 Trade events (73%*) Trade events (69%*) Personal visits (74%) Personal visits (69%)

3 LinkedIn (71%) Industry sponsors (65%*) Trade events (69%*) Trade events (69%*)

4 Email sharing content (67%) Bespoke events (62%*) Email sharing content (66%) Email sharing content (64%)

5 Webinars (67%) Personalised email (56%) Personalised email (60%) Twitter (54%*)

% who had actually purchased something as a result of contact through this channel

Engineering/
Financial services Business/ prof. services Technology/ telecoms
manufacturing
1 Personal visits (36%) Personal visits (58%) Personal visits (53%) Personal visits (33%)

2 Personalised email (20%) Personalised email (27%) Trade events (45%) Personalised email (31%)

3 LinkedIn (19%) Trade events (25%) Personalised email (33%) Bespoke events (24%)

4 Bespoke events (17%) Direct mail (22%) Bespoke events (29%) Email sharing content (20%)

5 Trade events (17%) Bespoke events (10%) Industry sponsors (24%) LinkedIn (16%)



Spend vs effectiveness – an overview

• Top 3 spend
1.

• What Works Where
2.

• ROI issues
3.

• SM – marketers vs buyers pov
4.

• Spend on mobile vs use of mobile
5.

• Video expenditure and usage
6.

• Variations by sector
7.



What works where in 2012



1. Top 3 spend

• As in 2011, corporate
websites, email
marketing and social
media take the lion’s
share of the spend,
with microsites and
online video/podcasts
and webinars
following close behind.

• Mobile’s share now up
to 7%, comparable to
display, SEO and PPC.



2. What’s working where?

64% 51% 42%
5% 10% 3%

Website Social Online Email
Microsites SEO
development media video marketing

4% 2% 1%
75% 74% 66%

28% 20% 20% 13%
1% 7%
1%

Display Mobile Mobile SMS/
PPC Affiliate Extranets
advertising apps optimisation MMS

1% 9%
29% 25% 24%



3. ROI issues

2012
Yes, and confident in its accuracy

15% 17%
Yes, but not with accuracy we'd
7% 10% like

2011 No, but plan to start

No, and no plans to start
34%

28%
% measuring ROI:
49%
Total (2012) = 57%
39% Financial services = 61%
Engineering/manuf. = 67%
Business/prof. services = 54%
Technology/telecoms = 64%



4. Social media – marketers vs buyers

Channels’ effectiveness at keeping buyers informed increasing customer loyalty remains the
primary focus

Supplier websites 31% 51% 17%
White papers, similar content 24% 55% 18%
Email newsletters 15% 63% 16% 5%
Online trade press 14% 63% 21%
Print business press 16% 61% 18% 5%
Seminars 23% 53% 22%
Print trade press 22% 54% 20%
Trade events 25% 48% 25%
Webinars 23% 49% 25%
Online business press 18% 53% 28%
Online mainstream press 15% 54% 26%
Print mainstream press 13% 52% 27% 7%
Online trade communities 8% 53% 32% 5%
LinkedIn 14% 45% 30% 10%
Trade blogs 8% 49% 35% 8%
Advertising campaigns 9% 46% 38% 6%
Podcasts 11% 44% 30% 13%
Twitter 11% 43% 33% 11%
Facebook 19% 24% 34% 21%
YouTube, other online video 9% 30% 49% 10%

Very useful Quite useful Not very useful Not at all useful Don't know



5. Spend on mobile vs use of mobile

Use of mobile device to visit website

Twitter 15% 35% 28% 19%

Facebook 9% 29% 33% 21% 9%

YouTube, online video 24% 25% 37% 10%

LinkedIn 6% 17% 24% 33% 20%

Online trade communities 15% 22% 37% 25%

Trade blogs 14% 27% 33% 23%

Online business press 6% 8% 19% 39% 29%

Online mainstream press 5% 9% 23% 35% 29%

Online trade press 11% 21% 31% 33%

Supplier websites 9% 17% 32% 40%

Always Most of the time Half of the time Rarely Never



6. Video expenditure and usage

• Users are the most vociferous - saying they find it more
useful for defining specific needs than any other
channel’s users do.

• Marketers now pump 9% of their budget into online
video, podcasts and webinars – up 2% on the previous
year.

• Marketers perceive it as more effective across a range
of objectives, than email marketing, although they
spend less money on it.

• Despite pressure on resources and expertise, 27% of
marketers do it in-house.

• Sharing such content is part of best practice for
contacting buyers - 63% find it useful, with 20% in the
technology sector saying they had bought as a result.

• YouTube is only used by used by 5% of respondents,
although they are the most positive.

• Focus should be on hosting such content on supplier
websites or microsites, not on YouTube or other online
video sites



7. Variations by sector
% of B2B marketing spend allocated over the next 12 months according to sector

Financial services Engineering/ manufacturing Professional services Technology/ telecoms

Microsites 25% Website dev. 25%

Website dev. 22%

Website dev. 20%
Microsites 18% Email marketing 19%

Email marketing 17%
Social media 16% Website dev. 16%
Social media 15%
Email marketing 14%
Social media 13%
Email marketing 12% Microsites 12% Microsites 12%

Social media 9% PPC; online video 9%
Display advertising 8% Display advertising 8%
SEO; display advertising 7%
SEO; online video 6% Online video 6% SEO; online video 6%
PPC 5%
PPC; display advertising 4% SEO; mobile apps 4% PPC 4%
Mobile site; mobile apps 3% Mobile site; mobile apps; Mobile apps 3%
Extranets; affiliate; Mobile site 2% affiliate 2% Mobile site extranets 2%
SMS/MMS 1% SMS/MMS; extranets 1%
Affiliate 0% SMS/MMS; extranets 0% SMS/MMS; affiliate 0%

Other – 4% Other – 1% Other – 0% Other – 3%



In summary

• Relationships matter – and needs consistent investment and planning

• Thought leadership works – but throws up its own challenges which need to be
tackled.

• Digital is a major contributor – think not only about how it works but also how it
could augment the personal.

• Matching spend to objectives more closely creates value.



About The Research
Omobono’s What Works Where in B2B Digital Marketing research has been produced in partnership
with The Marketing Society and Circle Research.

The research was conducted in spring 2012 with 96 senior B2B marketers, responsible for budgets
totalling over £78 million. Many of these are heavyweight marketers from big companies. In addition,
224 senior B2B buyers responded with their views, spread across business & professional services,
financial services, engineering & manufacturing and technology & telecoms. Collectively they have a
buying power of £150m.

Omobono is an award-winning digital agency, specialising in brand engagement for large
corporates and government.

Omobono works with some of the world’s largest companies to drive their relationships – with
customers, employees and stakeholders. Which leads to increased sales, loyalty and share of voice.
Our combination of business expertise, creativity and technical delivery is unique.
We offer a full service, from strategy and communications planning to creative delivery
and implementation of complex, dynamic websites, through to mobile and social media
marketing.


Thank you

For further information on the research or on how Omobono
can help you tackle the challenges outlined please contact
Francesca Brosan fran@omobono.co.uk or call 01223 307000
©2012 Omobono Ltd. All ideas, concepts, brand-related names, strap lines, phrases, copy/text and
creative concepts developed and contained in this document remain the intellectual property of
Omobono Ltd until such time as they are procured by a third party.

Anyone viewing this document may not use, adapt or modify the contents without our prior consent.

Omobono Ltd. T +44 (0)1223 307000
St Giles Hall F +44 (0)1223 365167
Pound Hill
Cambridge
CB3 0AE, UK www.omobono.com

WWW 2012 Key Themes

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