B2B Marketing 2011 Year In Review
Hey B2B marketers! What did you learn in 2011? And what was the biggest surprise?
Next week I will be joining my good friends Adam Needles (@abneedles), Ardath Albee (@ardath421) and Craig Rosenberg (@funnelholic) for a round table discussion on #B2B Marketing – 2011 Year in Review and predictions for 2012. Please join us on December 13th at 4pm ET.
But for those of you who cannot make it, here is my list of the biggest 2011 B2B Marketing lessons and what I thought was the biggest surprise…
What Did We Learn In 2011?
- We learned that social media has exited the peak of hype and entered the “trough” of inflated expectations. Some brands even retreated or kept flat their investment in social efforts as 2 recent studies suggested. I expect 2012 will bring slow and steady progress as marketers who really “get it” are starting to show business leaders that becoming a social business in an imperative for survival.
- Content Marketing, once the bastion of mid-level managers has begun to gain the attention of senior marketers who recognize that their over-reliance in promotional materials and outbound push tactics is starting to hurt their effectiveness. 2012 will bring content strategists into the planning discussions where they can impact investment.
- Mobile marketing is maybe the Big News of 2011 and most B2B brands are just trying to figure it out with testing and media dollars. I expect this will start to take off in 2012 as response rates from mobile campaigns average higher than online display.
- Senior marketing leaders are beginning to realize that they need to address the Digital skills gap in their organizations. I expect to see much more discussion at the B2B CMO level of their action plans in this area.
What Was The Biggest B2B Marketing Surprise?
It might seem like a “boring” answer but I do not think it’s social or mobile or even “gamification” – which are all a lot of fun to talk about. I think Content Marketing has left the mid-level marketing realm and entered the serious conversations by senior marketing leaders as they seek to get and keep more customers.
The reason for this is that content is and has always been the backbone of the internet, the social and now the mobile revolution. It is the changing nature of the way people get information that is causing senior B2B marketers to wake up and realize that we are over-weighted on promotion and under-weighted on valuable content created to meet customer information needs.
To respond, CMOs are looking at their content supply chains and they see a gap between what they produce and what customers are looking for. They are realizing that implementing an audience-first mentality and an effective content strategy is the priority for 2012.
What do you think are the biggest B2B Marketing lessons of 2011? And what was the biggest surprise for you?
Michael Brenner is the author of B2B Marketing Insider and serves as Sr. Director of Integrated Marketing for SAP. Michael's blog is dedicated to sharing the ideas, topics and marketing strategies that drive real results like sales, leads, and higher customer loyalty. Follow online at http://www.B2BMarketingInsider.com Follow on Twitter: @brennermichael @B2BMktgInsider
To me the biggest surprise of 2011 is the continued back and forth debate on Social Media ROI and the outcry for a unified metric. Yes, I understand the difficulty and the need to do calculate Social ROI but many, and I want to say most, companies lack an established strategy. Organizations are “doing” Facebook and Twitter because their major competitors are. How can you quantify results when you don’t know where you are headed? Furthermore, when harnessing the total power of social media and aligning it to organizational/Marketing goals and objectives…Demand/Lead Generation, Sales/Marketing Alignment, Customer Relationship Building etc. Each of the aforementioned goals can be nurtured with Social Media but each set has its own benchmarks in which to be measured. There shouldn’t be a unified metric on how to measure Social Media ROI, Social Media is multi faceted and should be tailored to each organization unique tactical set. It starts internally with “what are our goals?” then Social Media integration to support your other Marketing efforts, setting actionable goals, measuring, adjusting and then repeat. Think the biggest thing to watch for in 2012 is how companies who “get social media (companies leaving the experimental stage)” and how they evolve into becoming a Social Business.
Great summary.
I definitely think Content Marketing has hit the mainstream this year.
We used to have to evangelise the idea and tell clients what it was.
Now they come to us specifically for it.
Hey Chris,
I couldn’t have said that any better myself. We are seeing the same thing within SAP and are setting up a matrix of metrics across each stage of the funnel as social can really touch all of the stages. Then as each stakeholder defines their objective, we can point to the right metric. Or conversely, if they say “we want more “likes” we can help them better define their objectives. Great insights and thanks for sharing!
Best,
Michael
Thanks Doug, I am also seeing more and more marketers enter the “content marketing” conversation. I think at large companies it is still very much an educational effort but we are getting there. Now if I could just convince someone to do an amazing manifesto like you guys
Best, Michael
Hi Michael, Enjoyed this post. We are exploring the theme of B2B marketing trends for 2012 via a series of posts. We see the following as key themes or trends (Love to get your thoughts, as well as those of our fellow marketers):
1. Maximize the Revenue Performance Management (RPM) Investment
See: http://www.kwanzoo.com/blog/b2b-marketing-2012-trends-part-1-maximize-your-rpm-investment.shtml
2. Campaign and Funnel Automation
See: http://www.kwanzoo.com/blog/b2b-marketing-2012-trends-part-2-campaign-and-funnel-automation.shtml
3. Go Social, Go Cloud without IT
Coming up week of 12/12/11
4. Connectors, Connectors, Connectors
Coming up week of 12/19/11
5. Marketing on Mobile to Business
Coming up week of 12/26/11
Regards,
Mani
Thanks Mani,
I am researching my own 2012 predictions and update from 2011. This is great stuff. Thanks for the links!
Best, Michael