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B2B Teams Turn to Buyer Insights to Deliver Next-Level Personalization
The Rise of Precision Demand Marketing B2B Teams Turn to Buyer Insights to Deliver Next-Level Personalization
Contents
For B2B marketers, the days of intrusive sales calls, irrelevant display ads, spammy LinkedIn requests, and broad-brush marketing are over. Today’s buyers expect personalization at every stage of their journey, across every channel. The stakes are high, as the Read the report and get powerful insights into: digital age has placed buyers firmly in the driver’s seat. To break through crowded channels and convert prospects into buyers, B2B The top issues preventing B2B teams from executing teams must deliver next-level personalization that speaks directly personalized, buyer-centric approaches. to a buyer’s pain points, needs, and business goals. How marketers can tear down the walls that prevent teams But new research shows many organizations are still stuck in the past and have yet to adjust their marketing tactics to deliver the from working across channels. personal touch that today’s buyers crave. According to the survey, only 20 percent of marketers personalize their strategies and tactics The importance of maintaining a healthy, connected for buyers. It should come as no surprise then that only 12 percent database to gain an accurate view of prospective buyers said their teams are hitting their marketing goals with their current and accounts. personalization strategies. Why it’s time for B2B teams to rethink their tech stacks. This report examines where marketers are falling short on their personalization efforts and explores the emergence of Precision Demand Marketing (PDM), a new approach that delivers buyers the relevant information they need, right where and when they need it.
Survey Overview What is your function on the marketing team? What is your level within the marketing team? Demand Generation % Director % 25 36 Digital Marketing 19% Manager 29% CMO/VP of Marketing 18% Executive 16% Growth Marketing 10% Practitioner 10% ABM 8% VP 9% Content Marketing 7% Marketing Operations 7% Other 3%
Most marketers are falling short of meeting modern buyer expectations
It’s no secret that B2B teams aren’t hitting the mark on What level of personalization do you utilize across personalization efforts. According to the survey, only your marketing strategy and tactics? 12 percent of respondents strongly agree with the idea that their teams are meeting their goals. Just 16 percent said their database is effective and unified enough to enable their personalization strategies, while a mere % 18 percent said their current tech stacks have actually 6 enabled them to orchestrate a personalization strategy. We define our personalization Given the data, it’s clearly time for marketers to move efforts differently. beyond simply targeting accounts and personas and instead double down on a personalized, buyer-centric approach. After all, accounts don’t buy: People do. % % 20 29 We personalize our strategy We personalize our and tactics for account-level strategy and tactics customization. for buyer-based personalization. % % 21 25 We don’t currently We personalize our strategy prioritize personalization. and tactics for persona-level customization.
PDM empowers marketers to meet the What’s holding marketers back from personalization? challenges of this new world. But to reach this level of marketing maturity, B2B 30 percent said teams must first address gaps in their their personalization processes. That means tearing down the strategy is siloed per tool. walls between teams, technology, and data––walls that prevent communication % % and cross-channel insights and lead to 51 30 72 percent said their disjointed, impersonal programs with efforts are siloed per tactic or limited to one disappointing conversion rates. or a few channels. 51 percent said their biggest challenge to moving toward a personalized approach is a % disconnect between how 72 teams build and execute strategies.
Despite the challenges, there’s hope. How soon do you think your organization More and more marketers now see the will be able to execute scalable buyer-level value of moving toward buyer-level personalization programs? personalization and are planning to ramp up their efforts in the coming months. 40% Among the respondents, 22 percent said they plan to prioritize buyer-level Prioritized for the next 12 months personalization strategies over the next six months. 27% Prioritized in the next 2-5 years 22% Prioritized for the next six months % 11 Not a priority
Organizational silos and burnout are preventing B2B teams from shifting to a buyer-centric approach
My team is achieving its marketing goals with our Today’s B2B buyers rely on a multitude of digital channels to current personalization strategy research purchasing decisions. As sales’ role shrinks in the face of self-service buying, the responsibility for connecting with buyers has shifted. 52% Marketers must deliver connected, personalized, and multichannel buyer journeys that reach prospects where Somewhat agree they are, right when they’re ready to buy. But too many B2B marketing teams aren’t structured to do so. As a result, % prospects and clients are the unfortunate recipients of 23 unwanted, intrusive, and irrelevant content rather than the Neutral personalized, meaningful vendor interactions they seek. B2B buyers are consumers at heart. They have a low 12% tolerance for poor digital interactions. If marketers aren’t Strongly agree driving conversations, we’re driving disconnections. And it’s costing millions. 10% Somewhat disagree % 2 Disagree
Organizational silos are major obstacles on the path What are the negative impacts of organizational silos to delivering omnichannel, buyer-centric experiences. on omnichannel personalization? When building marketing campaigns, many marketers must also deal with disconnected data and technology, which prevents them from getting a single, clear view of accounts and buyers. With so many unaligned teams, marketers are unable to rise to the occasion. They simply can’t deliver the % % personalized programs that reach precisely the right 64 51 buyers at the right times. This takes a toll on morale and performance, leading to overwhelmed, burned-out marketing teams and higher turnover rates. 51 percent report a 64 percent said they disconnect between don’t have the bandwidth how their teams build to deliver true omnichannel % and execute strategies. personalization. 79 79 percent said their personalization strategy does not exist across key tactics, is limited to only one or a few channels, or is multichannel but siloed per tactic.
In order to have a single view of prospective accounts, you need a tech connected database
Our database is effective and unified to enable our The foundation of any good marketing campaign is high-quality, personalization strategy in-depth, and up-to-date data. This is especially true when it comes to personalization. If marketers are going to deliver the right messages at the right times, they need to know where each buyer within a B2B buying committee is on their journey, as well 38% as each buyer’s pain points and needs. Somewhat agree For that to happen, you’ll need in-depth account-level, buying committee-level, and buyer-level data––the kind of information % that allows marketing teams to intelligently shift channels, 24 messaging, and strategies to create relevant multichannel Neutral experiences for every buyer that’s based on the needs of the rest of the buying committee and the stage of the account. 16% But the research shows that most personalization strategies are Strongly agree built on shaky foundations. 15% In fact, an overwhelming 84 percent Somewhat disagree of marketers said they do not strongly 7% believe that their databases are Disagree effective and unified enough to enable their personalization strategies.
Without a connected, single view of How are you using Intel, psychographic, prospective accounts and buyers, technographic, firmographic, PIL and behavioral marketers are forced to rely on less insight data? mature personalization strategies, 37 percent said they such as account- and persona-level are incorporating behavioral insights data, rather than behavioral insights. on key buyers into That’s why, when asked about their their personalization biggest challenges in moving toward a % strategies. personalized approach, 61 percent cited 53 37% siloed data. 53 percent said they use this data to figure % out which personas 57 to target. 57 percent said they are currently utilizing personalization data to determine which accounts to prioritize for ABM.
Breaking data out of silos will enable marketing teams to fuse intent, psychographic, technographic, firmographic, PIL, and behavioral insights and apply them to accounts, buying committees, and individual buyers. In short, it will give them a clear understanding of what buyers are really interested in. Siloed data is preventing B2B teams from providing customized offers that could help convert prospects into customers 94% 93% 92% 92% 90% Said siloed Unable to create a Challenged by Said they lack Struggle with information was unified view of the inaccurate or omnichannel inaccurate or a top issue. buyer. incomplete data personalization incomplete data on accounts. experience. on buyers.
Power personalized buyer experiences by rethinking the tech tech stack
Our current tech stack has enabled the orchestration Moving to personalization requires a of our personalization strategy closely integrated tech stack through which teams can connect each buyer’s journey across channels, identify known 42% and unknown accounts and buyers, and Somewhat agree engage with those showing intent. But fragmented technology continues to 25% plague most B2B organizations. More than Neutral 80 percent of marketers don’t believe their tech stacks have enabled orchestration of % personalization strategies. 18 Strongly agree % 11 Somewhat disagree % 4 Disagree
Many marketers just don’t have the platforms they What tools do you use to enable omnichannel need to tear down their silos and execute omnichannel personalization? personalization. In fact, 23 percent of B2B teams say they’re missing the right tools to execute a personalized % approach and 30 percent said their personalization strategy 63 is siloed by tool. An additional 20 percent said they are only CRM relying on a single activation platform for personalization, though specific examples were not given. One write-in 58% response was from a marketer who is, “doing it manually,” Marketing automation highlighting how B2B marketers are still constrained by time-consuming processes. It’s this inability to scale that % hinders deliverability of the customized, omnichannel 39 experiences that today’s buyers expect. Social media management CRM and MA platforms are built to route leads through an 34% email-based funnel to sales, and B2B teams that rely solely Web personalization tools on these tools may miss out on the opportunity to activate buyers on other channels. Meanwhile, sales enablement % and ABM technology push marketers to focus too heavily on 33 persona- and account-level personalization rather than drilling Sales enablement down to reach the individual buyer. Such tools just aren’t % designed for multichannel personalization. 31 Content personalization tools % 10 CDP 8% DMP
Marketers need new technology to enable omnichannel The research shows that too many personalization strategies. marketing teams are allowing ill-equipped tech stacks to dictate marketing A mere 7 percent strategies. By relying on MA, CRM, and said their current ABM platforms, marketers are restricting personalization themselves to focus only on accounts tools are exceeding % expectations. or personas on a single channel. As B2B 44 % teams prepare for the year ahead, they 7 must remember that their strategy should 71 percent said guide their tech stack decisions. their existing tools and analytics are at the early stages 44 percent admitted they of omnichannel don’t have the right tech personalization. stacks to enable cross- channel management of their personalization % strategies. 71
Precision Demand Marketing is needed to fill MarTech gaps and promote better personalization. As B2B buyers grow accustomed to receiving hyper-personalized B2C experiences, By moving beyond an account-based strategy and into PDM, marketers can deliver many are now expecting the same treatment in B2B. While the research shows buyer-based personalization at scale, help B2B organizations gain deeper insights that most marketers are just dipping their toes into the power of personalization, into prospective accounts and buyers, break through data silos, and better align their it’s encouraging to see that 62 percent are planning to ramp up their buyer-based teams in 2022 and beyond. When revenue teams relinquish control and move away strategies within the next six to 12 months. from marketing-driven and sales-driven approaches to align around a buyer-driven model, a precise personalized approach to marketing will quickly expand across their Marketers need to break down silos in their data, technology, and organizational organizations, delivering predictable results. structures, and then connect their strategies across channels to create a unified experience. They need to fix their data to more effectively apply and activate account, persona, and buyer-level insights. Furthermore, they should reassess their technology stacks, connect systems, and acquire technology that ensures omnichannel, automatic data governance and enables cross-channel targeting, activation, and measurement. With these changes, marketing teams can finally align through a single view of accounts, buying units, and buyers to orchestrate the personalized cross-channel experiences B2B buyers crave.
Integrate is the leader in Precision Demand Marketing, an emerging category to help B2B marketers develop and deliver an omnichannel demand strategy, convert customer and prospect data records to revenue, and drive marketing ROI. Integrate works with high-growth and enterprise organizations like Salesforce, Microsoft, Akamai, and Pluralsight to power their Precision Demand Marketing strategies. Over the past decade, Integrate has evolved from solving the complex challenges across each demand generation channel to powering account-based, buyer-driven omnichannel experiences. Today, Integrate’s Demand Acceleration Platform helps marketers orchestrate connected buying experiences that drive qualified conversations at scale, simplify ABM management, and accelerate revenue generation. www.integrate.com/contact Demand Gen Report is a targeted online publication that uncovers the strategies and solutions that help companies better align their sales and marketing organizations, and ultimately, drive growth. A key component of the publication’s editorial coverage focuses on the sales and marketing automation tools that enable companies to better measure and manage their multi-channel demand generation efforts. [email protected]
