Prepared by Slack and Company

Rich Dettmer

Justina Nguyen

SLACK AND COMPANY’S B2B MARKETING

PREDICTIONS AND TRENDS FOR 2015

[ 2 ]

B2B Marketing Predictions and Trends for 2015

As always, we approach digital marketing not

from a “gee wiz, that’s neat” perspective, but from

a “what real changes are going to provide

opportunities and challenges for our clients”

perspective.

[ 3 ]

Mobile marketing will reach equal consideration with the desktop in

B2B

What it is: B2B is beginning to

see mobile response rates equal

those of desktop response rates.

What it means: We are finally at

the inflection point in B2B where

mobile marketing channels must

be considered at the same level

of emphasis as desktop channels

Why it matters: If our clients

continue to focus only on the

desktop they will be missing half

(or more) of their marketing

opportunity

[ 4 ]

Mobile marketing will reach equal consideration with the desktop in

B2B

• 5.9 billion people are mobile

users out of 7 billion people

worldwide

• It’s projected that by this year,

mobile usage will surpass

desktop usage

• 68% of mobile users are using

Android, while 19% use iOS.

• Mobile is being used more and

more for the purposes of

emails, social media, news, &

research/surveys – averaging

over 50%.

[ 5 ]

Marketers will fine-tune their content distribution strategy, with an

increase of using social as a key amplifier

What it is: In 2014, B2B marketers

realized the importance of creating and

publishing content, with “content

strategy” as a core focus. However,

many failed when it came to executing

a successful content distribution

strategy (only 38% rate their efforts as

effective).

What it means: Even if you have the

best content out there, it won’t matter if

the content doesn’t have visibility. Only

26% of marketers are investing in

content distribution, even though more

than half believe they need to.

Why it matters: 54% of the most

effective B2B marketers have a

documented content strategy. Strategic

distribution and personalization of

content is what will set businesses

apart in this hyper-competitive

landscape.

[ 6 ]

Marketers will fine-tune their content distribution strategy, with an

increase of using social as a key amplifier

• 26% of marketers are investing in

content distribution, even though

more than 50% believe they need to

• 60% of B2B marketers plan to

increase their content marketing

budgets

• 94% of marketers say that social

media is an important part of their

marketing mix, with 80% indicating

their efforts increased traffic to their

websites

• The focus on social media

distribution will lead to increased

organic usage and increased paid

social media advertising to extend

the reach of content and lead

generation

[ 7 ]

Social ad spending and paid amplification will increase

What it is: There are changes in the

social landscape like the decline of

Facebook’s organic reach & decline in

promotional page posts starting Jan.

2015, and Twitter’s new results-driven

business model of its ad platform.

What it means: Content visibility will

become more competitive, and the

demand for ads will increase. Marketers

will need to spend more for their content

(via ads) to reach their audience.

Marketers will also need to take

advantage of Twitter’s performance-

based structure.

Why it matters: With the increase of

content creation and curation, there will

need to be a push to boost content

consumption to stay abreast with

competitors in real-time. Continued

testing and optimization will be key

here.

[ 8 ]

Social ad spending and paid amplification will increase

• 70% of marketers will increase

spending on social media marketing

– Marketingsherpa.com

• Social advertising spend increased

by 40% in 2014 and will top $8.5

billion, growing to nearly $14 billion

in 2018.

• Top metrics used by marketers to

measure social media success

include: social media traffic,

audience engagement, audience

growth rate, overall brand

awareness, and lead gen.

[ 9 ]

Marketing automation will be considered the “standard” demand

generation and management approach

What it is: Marketing automation has

long been predicted to become the

standard approach to direct

marketing. This is the year in B2B

where the majority of savvy

marketers will adopt it.

What it means: There will be a

fundamental shift in the way demand

generation is handled for B2B

companies. This will make for a

bumpy year for many marketers, but

will yield improved results.

Why it matters: Marketing

automation has been found to

increase demand generation

performance by as much as 18%

while reducing resource

requirements for program

management.

[ 10 ]

Marketing automation will be considered the “standard” demand

generation and management approach

• As more and more companies

are now utilizing marketing

automation, training on the

technology is becoming a

more important initiative and

mandate from the C-Suite

• Marketing automation is also

getting cheaper, now that there

are dozen of alternatives for

all-in-one solutions – which

means more widespread

usage

[ 11 ]

Video content creation, consumption, and advertising will continue to

grow

What it is: In Q4 2014 alone, 38.2

billion videos were watched (+43%

from 2013). Videos continue to be

one of the top 5 most effective tactics

for B2B marketers. (82% report

success)

What it means: Video is being used

more and more as a way to talk

about products and services instead

of a long whitepaper or article, along

every stage of the buyer’s journey.

Why it matters: Attention spans are

declining and expectations of content

are growing. Not only is it important

to create attention-grabbing, quality

visual storytelling, but it’s also crucial

to have a video distribution strategy

in place.

[ 12 ]

Video content creation, consumption, and advertising will continue to

grow

• 73% of B2B marketers use video as a content marketing tactic

• The popularity of whitepapers as a B2B content marketing format is actually declining in relation to more interactive, easily digestible formats such as video

• In 2014, the use of video content for B2B marketing increased by 8% to 58%, while the use of infographics topped the adoption list increasing in usage by 9% to 52%.

• Video content can increase the changes of front page Google ranking by 53 times

• 50% of those who viewed a marketing video went on to make a purchase for their business

[ 13 ]

“Content alignment with the buyer journey” will be the new black

What it is: In order to properly

automate a marketing campaign,

marketers must identify content and

offers that are appropriate and

compelling to each target audience

at each point in the buyer journey.

What it means: Marketers will be

required to audit their content to find

where it aligns with their target

audiences and where they have gaps

in their messages and offers.

Why it matters: In order to take

advantage of the opportunity offered

by Marketing automation, B2B

marketers have to have content “in

the can” for each stage of their

automated programs.

[ 14 ]

• 79% of marketing leads never

convert to sales; 61% of B2B

marketers send leads directly

to sales, while only 27% of

those leads are qualified

• Aligning content with the

buyer’s journey yields 73%

higher average conversion

rates for marketers who do vs.

those who don’t

• Content aligning may open

your audiences’ eyes to goals

they may be missing or pain

points they need to change

“Content alignment with the buyer journey” will be the new black

[ 15 ]

B2B Marketing will play a much larger role in B2B sales

What it is: As B2B buyers

behavior becomes more self-

service, B2B marketers will take

on more and more of the buyer

journey.

What it means: In order to

maintain a consistent voice to the

B2B buyer, it is critical that

marketing and sales become

more aligned in messages and

content.

Why it matters: A lack of

alignment between marketing and

sales will create a buyer journey

that “hits a cliff” at the point the

journey switches from marketing

to sales.

[ 16 ]

• B2B organizations with tightly

aligned sales and marketing

operations achieved 24%

faster three-year revenue

growth and 27% faster three-

year profit growth

• The objective of marketing and

sales alignment is knowing

when a process is working and

when it isn’t

• Improve communication

between departments, set

measurable goals/guidelines,

improve transparency, and

build mutual respect

B2B Marketing will play a much larger role in B2B sales

[ 17 ]

Email will come roaring back as spam subsides

What it is: Acceptance of a variety of email certification standards including Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM), Sender Policy (SPF), and DMARC (Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) are making a real dent in spam traffic.

What it means: If B2B marketers follow the rules, their emails will make it through while spam gets stopped at the server level.

Why it matters: With the growth of automation, it will be key to have high deliverable rates on scheduled and triggered messages through email.

[ 18 ]

Email will come roaring back as spam subsides

• The email deliverability score

for B2B marketers has

increased from last year, as

many databases contained

less outdated/incorrect email

addresses.

[ 19 ]

Marketing applications will appear on wearable technology

What it is: Wearable technology is

becoming more widespread, which

opens up a whole new way to

connect.

What it means: Because current

adoption is low, it’s a great time for

low-stakes experiments on marketing

strategies with wearable tech.

Why it matters: This is the holy grail

of marketing: delivering the right

content at right time and at the right

place. As technology becomes even

more embedded into our daily

routines, marketers can expect a

data flood from the ocean of

information collected by apps.

[ 20 ]

Sales Percentages

Marketing applications will appear on wearable technology

• Multi-screen marketing,

responsive design and

integration with other devices

will be areas of focus as

wearable technology becomes

more widespread

• By 2018, the wearable

technology market will rise to a

value worth $5.8 billion.

• Although Google Glass web

browsing only accounts for a

small part of the total online

traffic, it’s incidence has also

rise 135%, more than the

growth of tablet (39%) and

mobile growth (38%)

[ 21 ]

The B2B e-commerce market is big and about to get bigger

What it is: B2B ecommerce has

lagged behind consumer

ecommerce as B2B organizations

have been challenged in serving

up multi-touch, multi-decision

purchases through ecommerce

What it means: Increasing

support for repeat purchase

models and service oriented

ecommerce models has

increased the match between

B2B needs and ecommerce

capabilities

Why it matters: 2015 will be a

year that sees and acceleration of

B2B entities trying and adopting

ecommerce business modules

[ 22 ]

The B2B e-commerce market is big and about to get bigger

• B2B ecommerce is growing

slightly faster than US online

retailing at a rate of 19%,

compared to 17% for B2C

ecommerce

• At over $500 billion in total

sales, the market is an

increasing target for

innovators, developers, and

retailers

[ 23 ]

Integrated customer experience marketing in B2B will be a point of

emphasis in 2015

What it is: Consistent branding and messaging across the entire customer experience has long been a goal of B2B marketers but is a challenge given the complexities of multi-decision buyer processes

What it means: Increased visibility of customer interactions, particularly through web reviews and social media has increased both the focus and the measurability of the customer experience

Why it matters: Savvy B2B marketers will use both direct research and a variety of social signals to measure and optimize their customer experience so that it is consistent and integrated across all customer touch points and channels

[ 24 ]

Integrated customer experience marketing in B2B will be a point of

emphasis in 2015

• 71% of B2B marketers agree

that their customers’ rising

expectation for consumer-like

convenience experience

impacts how to interact with

them

• It’s predicted that by 2020,

customer experience will

overtake price and product as

the key brand differentiator

• 85% of B2B marketers view

customer experience as critical

to achieving their strategic

growth priorities