the significance of marketing automation for business to business organizations - presentation

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MARKETING

AUTOMATION FOR BUSINESS TO

BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

School of Economics and Business AdministrationDepartment of Business Administration

Chair of Marketing Master’s thesis defence 24.01.2014

Author: Lassi NummiSupervisor: Iiro Tainio

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MARKETING AUTOMATION FOR BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS 24.01.14

Agenda

1. About the author2. Why this topic3. Research problem and claim4. Challenges while working on the subject5. Structure of the study6. Research methodology7. What is marketing automation8. Key findings and analysis9. Conclusion10. Questions


Why topic marketing automation and B2B?

• Author’s personal interest

(career as digital marketing

consultant)

• The size of market between

businesses is attractive from

commercial point of view.

• Recent news and opinions by

marketers indicate that B2B

purhcase behaviour is changing.

• The way companies interact is

changing due digitalization and

amount of avialable information

online.

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Building more profitable customer relationships Tapping the full potential of today’s customer-empowered marketplace requires

a complete view of the customer across the organization and across every

touchpoint in every medium. Understanding what customers want, need and

expect—and having the right people, processes, cultures and technologies

in place to respond in real time—will be critical to how successful your

organization can be.

By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their

relationship with the enterprise without interacting

with a human.

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2 Overview

4 Keynote Sessions

5 Agenda Programs

6 Summit Highlights

7 Benefits of Attending

8 Meet the Analysts

10 Marketing Program

11 Excellence Awards

12 Agenda at a Glance

14 Solution Showcase

15 Registration

Senior business and IT

leaders responsible for

understanding, growing

and engaging customers:

• Chief customer officers

• Chief marketing officers

• Chief information officers

• Marketing and sales leaders

• Customer experience and

service executives

• Web and social

media strategists

• Managers of customer

data and analytics

Table of contents

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Customer Focused Content Survey 2013, Pardot, N=398


Why topic marketing automation and B2B?

There is actual business need: In 2012 nearly 30% of European marketing

executives stated that they are investing to marketing

automation or lead management automation

solutions within next 12 months. (Forrester 2012)

Objective of the thesis: The objective of the thesis is to provide a pragmatic,

practical guide and information source for B2B

organizations when they are evaluating the benefits

of marketing automation platforms.


Research problem and claim

Research problem:

How does the change of buyer behavior reflect to B2B marketing

communications, and what is the significance of marketing

automation for B2B marketer?

Claims:

1. When used effectively, marketing automation can bring substantial benefits for B2B

marketer.

2. B2B buyers are using more digital channels to find purhcase related information.

3. Organizations that operate based on their customer’s needs and customer data can

benefit most from the current situation. (and marketing automation)


Challenges while working with the topic

The concept of Marketing automation is new (2000)

There is very little academic research done on marketing

automation.

Therefore the most recent references are from:• Articles in journals. (Harward business review or similar)

• Research reports by marketing automation providers.

• Reports by different research organizations (Gartner, Forrester)

• The terminology can vary significantly by source, even tough

the discussion is about same topic.

• Understanding specific terminology can be difficult without

first hand experience.


Structure of the study

Significance of

marketing

automation?

- B2B marketing

- Segmentation

- Purchase behaviour

- Digital marketing

- Marketing automation

- CRM

- Lead generation

B2B BUYER SURVEY

B2B MARKETER SURVEY

EMPIRICAL FINDINGS AND

EXPERT INTERVIEW

Significance,

challenges and

benefits of

marketing

automation for B2B

organization.

RESEARCH

PROBLEM

LITERATURE

REVIEW3 RESEARCH METHODS DISCUSSION,

FINDINGS AND

CONCLUSION


Research methodology

2 online surveys were conducted:

500 Business purchase decision makers in UK,

Germany, France. Purchase over 20 000 GBP

conducted in 2013. (Base One, UK)

70 Finnish B2B marketers

Empirical review of marketing automation solution

Marketo.

Interview with digital marketing manager of Vaisala

Plc, with several years of hands on experience on

marketing automation in international B2B market.


What is marketing automation?

BUYER

ORGANIZATION’S

DECISION MAKING

UNIT

SELLER

ORGANIZATION’S

MARKETING AND

SALES FORCE

• IT solution usually delivered as software as

service.

• Automates marketing communication tasks

between buyer and seller using digital channels.

• Builds automated two-way dialogue between

buyer and seller.

• Operates based on pre-programmed rules by

marketer.

• Can act as delegate of sales force.

• Gathers data from buyer using digital

technologies (cookie).

• Measures action performance and revenue.

• Works with CRM data.

• Widely used in e-commerce on B2C.

MARKETING AUTOMATION


Key findings from B2B buyer survey

In 97% of the replies the buyers are looking for information related

to purhcase at hands.

Buyers are well aware of their topic of purchase. (48% expert)

Buyers almost always start their purchasing process from online

search.

Over 70% of the buyers ended up to seller company’s website

during the purchase process.

51% of the buyers downloaded at least one digital document by

seller.

The most searched after information was related to pricing and

product or service technical specification – also most influencal.

The selected sellers used more e-mail and digital channels than

those not selected.

Social media channels did not have significant effect on business

buyer purchase decision.

In 78% of cases the DMU size was more than one person.

BUYER

ORGANIZATION’S

DECISION MAKING

UNIT


Key findings from B2B marketer survey

76% of the respondents stated that they dont have

the sales force to keep up one to one contact with

potential buyers.

73% of the respondents stated that their clients are

not willing to buy from first contact.

Only 60% felt that their customers are specialized

buyers who do research before buying.

50% of marketers use their CRM solution

efficiently.

50% of marketers use their e-mail marketing

efficiently.

Large companies (50M€+) use more effecively

CRM and E-mail marketing than small

organizations.

SELLER

ORGANIZATION’S

MARKETING AND

SALES FORCE


Empirical findings and interview from the

marketing automation solution user

Using marketing automation solution efficiently requires in-depth knowledge

and specialization on the solution in use.

Marketing automation has to be integrated to organization’s sales and

marketing processes to have real benefit.

Data gathered by marketing automation provides valuable insight to sales

force.

Marketing automation requires CRM data in order to function properly.

Marketing campaign planning takes more time compared to traditional

methods when using marketing automation.

Errors in campaign planning can cumulate if marketing campaigns are not

tested properly when using automation.


Conclusion 1/3

B2B purchase decisions are rational and affected by several

individuals.

These individuals carry out research on the purchase trough digital

channels and they have limited buying windows.

The information is consumed trough various digital devices.

Not all marketers are fully utilizing digital marketing tools. (In Finland)

In order to succeed, the marketer should understand the structure of

the customer’s DMU.

The more data marketer can gather from their customer, the better they

can eliminate the risk of uncertainty of DMU members.

Recognizing the latent need of buyer is important in order to be able to

form a dialogue with buyer the earliest phase possible.


Conclusion 2/3

When used correctly, marketing automation can:

Form a dialogue and relationship between buyer and seller using

pre-defined rules.

Replace routine tasks carried out by natural persons.

Save resources of the marketer company.

Make the marketer constantly accessible in various markets.

Gather data from the buyer and deliver competetive advantage to

marketer trough customer insight and help to segment CRM data.

Copy and multiply best marketing practices easilly and in short

time.


Conclusion 3/3

It’s also safe to say that using marketing automation guides

marketer organization:

To improve their marketing processes.

To act more result-driven

(marketing campaigns are more measurable).

To improve collaboration between sales and marketing units

in company.

To act more customer-centric

(trough measurement and continuous dialogue).


Thank you for your attention.

[email protected]

http://fi.linkedin.com/in/lassinummi

mailto:[email protected]

http://fi.linkedin.com/in/lassinummi

the significance of marketing automation for business to business organizations - presentation

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