B2B digital marketing‘s influence on organisational buying behaviour and its key success drivers for promotion of cloud computing services - An empirical study as part of a Master's thesis

1. MASTER’S THESIS RESULTS
B2B digital marketing‘s influence on
organisational buying behaviour and
its key success drivers
for promotion of cloud computing services
An empirical study by Stephanie Schulze
stephanieschulze@hotmail.com
31 January 2014

2. Presentation Outline
The researched fields and perspectives should be especially interesting to
professionals, who sell or market IT services to a cloud knowledgeable
audience.
B2B digital marketing‘s
influence on
organisational buying
behaviour and its key
success drivers for
promotion of cloud
services
Abstract:
Summary of Findings
Slides 3-8
Study Outline
Slides 9-14
Study Results –
Key Findings
Slides 15-33
Study Results –
Additional Evaluations
Slides 34-56
2

3. Master‘s thesis topic: B2B digital marketing‘s influence
on organisational buying behaviour and its key success drivers
for promotion of cloud services
Desktop
Research
How is online and social marketing used to influence the B2B buying process?
At what point does it have the biggest influence?
Which marketing methods are the most successful in B2B social media?
Online
Analysis
Which cloud players are most performing on social media?
Towards which target group should cloud providers direct their marketing efforts?
What are the main trends in cloud computing as perceived by its community?
Empirical
Research
How do IT professionals perceive marketing for cloud services?
Which online marketing channels are potentially the most successful?
How are professionals engaging with cloud providers?
Outcomes
How can B2B digital marketing influence organisational buying behaviour and
what are the key success drivers for promotion of cloud services?
3

4. Research abstract – Findings from secondary research
Desktop
Research
How is online and social marketing used to influence the B2B buying process?
At what point does it have the biggest influence?
Which marketing methods are the most successful in B2B Social Media?
The B2B buying cycle
Brand awareness
Recognizing
the need
Implementing
& evaluating
Need recognition
Evaluate
purchase
options
Brand consideration
According to several
secondary sources,
marketing should address
each of these stages.
Other authors highlight
that especially the first
stages of the buying cycle
are crucial.
Solution search
Purchase
Making the
purchase
decision
Resolving
concerns
Long list
An exemplary model for a
potential marketing mix
can be found on page 21
of the thesis.
Trial
How can B2B digital marketing influence organisational buying behaviour and
Negotiation
Investigation
which are the key success drivers for promotion of cloud services?
Proposal review
Short List
4

5. Research abstract – Findings from the online analysis
Online
Analysis
Which cloud players are most performing on social media?
Towards which target group should cloud providers direct their marketing efforts?
What are the main trends in cloud computing as perceived by its community?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was
identified as the most powerful player in the
cloud market – not only according to online
rankings, but also based on the results from
interviews and online questionnaire responses.
Marketing of cloud computing services should be designed in line with a
two-sided approach:
1. IT benefits: CIO and the IT staff
2. Business benefits: CEO, CFO, COO and other high-level
decision makers
This applies for cloud providers, as well as for their partner companies,
such as Managed Service Providers (MSP) and Value-added resellers
(VAR) that offer cloud services.
Security concerns and integration
issues are still roadblocks of the cloud
trend. Therefore hybrid cloud
solutions and cloud brokers are
expected to dominate the cloud market.
Cloud providers further need to consider how to address MSPs and VARs
in order to be recommended to end-customers. This kind of marketing
requires direct contact measures such as events.
Branding is in any case essential, since B2B brands rely on trust, which is
How can B2B digital marketing influence organisational buying behaviour that the
created through brand awareness. Also, IT professionals claim and
cloud market is not transparent. As a result, many customers stick to the
which are the key success drivers for promotion of cloud services?
companies they know. Therefore, educating customers in the early stages
of their search for a cloud provider can help to establish trust.
5

6. Research abstract – Findings from empirical research
Empirical
Research
How do IT professionals perceive marketing for cloud services?
Which online marketing channels are potentially most successful?
How are professionals engaging with cloud providers?
 The most important marketing channels are technology blogs and
LinkedIn groups, since they are the major online sources of
knowledge about cloud services.
 LinkedIn is the leading social media channel among the survey
respondents.
 The majority of marketing outlay is still distributed to the traditional
forms of online marketing:
Email marketing, display advertising and search marketing
 Advertisements for cloud services can be successful if they are directed towards the correct target
group, that is the group of professionals who are interested in cloud services.
How can B2B digital marketing influence organisational buying behaviour and
 Considering that the second most popular form of engagement is participation in webinar sessions,
which are the key success drivers for promotion of cloud services?
adverts that involve webinars can be potentially successful.
6

7. Research abstract – Findings from empirical research
Field
Empirical results
Knowledge
87.8 % of all respondents either know a lot about cloud computing or are experts.
Source of knowledge
50.4 % of respondents gained their knowledge from technology blogs and 43.5 % from cloud computing
groups on LinkedIn.
Attitude towards
advertising on websites
51.1 % either don’t mind it or like the advert if it is interesting, while 45 % find online ads annoying or just
don’t like them.
Inbound marketing
activities
It is remarkable that almost 80 % are likely or very likely to search for a cloud provider online. Almost half of
the respondents would look up a cloud provider on social media and more than a half of the respondents
would click on an advert that informs them about a cloud service.
Social media usage
LinkedIn is clearly the most used social network, followed by Facebook and YouTube, which are similarly
popular. Twitter is less used and Google+ is the least popular.
Perceptions about
advertising on social media
Advertising on LinkedIn is the most appreciated. The second most acceptable are adverts on Twitter and
thirdly on YouTube. Google+ adverts are less appreciated and Facebook ads are the most disliked.
Marketing channel mix
Email marketing is the most used marketing channel. The second most used channels are display advertising
and paid search marketing. Advertising on LinkedIn is in third place and Facebook and Twitter follow behind.
Cloud computing groups on
LinkedIn
Cloud Computing, SaaS & Virtualization and Cloud Computing are the most visited groups for cloud
computing on LinkedIn.
Engagement on LinkedIn,
Twitter, Facebook, Google+,
YouTube
The respondents follow all social platforms almost equally – just Twitter and YouTube are slightly ahead.
The majority does not use a provider’s customer service on social media. For those who do, Facebook and
Google+ are the best platforms. The respondents are slightly more likely to comment on updates and they
are even more likely to take invitations for webinars. Most webinar invitations will be accepted on LinkedIn
and Google+.
7

8. Research abstract – Outcomes
Outcomes
How can B2B digital marketing influence organisational buying behaviour and which
are the key success drivers for promotion of cloud services?
1. Challenge industry
best practices
Cloud provider
benchmarking
Industry
perceptions
2. Clearly define the
target group
Cloud provider
buying
centre
3. Define the right
digital marketing mix
Effective digital
marketing
techniques &
channels
Social media
communication
in cloud
computing
8

9. STUDY OUTLINE
 Purpose and design of the study
9

10. Marketing of Cloud Computing Services
What makes the cloud trend so interesting for marketers?
“I can’t think of anything that isn’t
cloud computing with all of these
announcements. The computer industry is
the only industry that is more fashion-driven
than women’s fashion.”
– Larry Ellison, chairman, Oracle (2013)
 It used to be a pure IT trend and surprisingly transformed into a business trend.
 Highly technical solutions are communicated as easy-to-use toolkits and draw the
attention of business professionals just as much as of IT professionals.
 It has been promoted just as much by the media and by business decision makers
as by the IT industry.
 This phenomenon is even more curious considering that a lot of IT professionals do
not find the hype around cloud computing justified.
 Which role does digital marketing play in this trend and what are key success factors?
10

11. Research Focus
In order to discover the major success factors of cloud marketing,
empirical research will focus on…
Effective digital
marketing
techniques &
channels
 Inbound and outbound marketing techniques of cloud providers,
 The most effective marketing channels for promotion of cloud services,
 The effectiveness of online advertising for cloud services,
Social media
communication
in cloud
computing
 The use of social media marketing for promotion of cloud services,
 Electronic word-of-mouth (WOM) in cloud computing – social media discussions
of trends in the cloud market and perceptions of cloud professionals,
Cloud provider
benchmarking
 Competition in the cloud market – benchmarking of the major cloud providers’
online and social media marketing techniques,
Cloud provider
buying
centre
 Defining the main decision makers within the buying centre of a cloud customer
and their functions,
 Identification of other industry players that have an influence on organisational
buying behaviour of cloud services,
Industry
perceptions
 Perceptions about online and social media marketing within the industry,
 And different players’ awareness towards cloud brands.
11

12. Research Design
B2B Digital Marketing’s Influence on Organisational Buying Behaviour
and its Key Success Drivers for Promotion of Cloud Services
Management Decision Problem
What are the key success factors of B2B online and social media marketing and how these can
be used to boost sales of cloud computing services?
Marketing Research Problem – Research Question
How should online marketing for cloud services be designed to influence organisational
purchase intentions and what role does social media play in the marketing mix?
Research Aim
To define target groups among IT professionals and promotional message elements, that can
potentially influence organisational purchase intentions through online channels.
Research Objectives
1) To define the best target group for promotion of cloud services.
2) To investigate cloud professionals’ perceptions of major trends in the cloud market.
3) To discover the most effective marketing channels for promotion of cloud services.
4) To investigate the major players’ online and social media marketing mix and to define
key success factors.
5) To investigate IT professionals’ perception of online and social media advertising for
cloud services and their user behaviour on social media.
12

13. Connection of Research Focus and Objectives
The research objectives need to be categorized according to the
research focus as follows…
Effective digital
marketing
techniques &
channels
3) To discover the most effective marketing channels for the promotion of
cloud services.
Social media
communication
in cloud
computing
5) To investigate IT professionals’ perception of online and social media
advertising for cloud services and their user behaviour on social media.
Cloud provider
benchmarking
4) To investigate the major players’ online and social media marketing
mix and to define key success factors.
Cloud provider
buying
centre
1) To define the best target group for promotion of cloud services.
Industry
perceptions
2) To investigate cloud professionals’ perceptions of major trends
in the cloud market.
13

14. Methodology
The research was distributed over several periods and conducted
through various research methods.
Research Method
Phase I
Phase II
Research Input
IT professional
Cloud customer
•Exploratory research:
Face-to-face
interviews
Perceptions about online and social
media marketing for IT services;
decision makers for cloud purchases
IT professional at an IT
services company
(VAR), US
Technology Support
Specialist at a retail
company, US
•Exploratory research:
Telephone interviews
Insights about the cloud selling
process, cloud purchase decision
makers & social selling practices
Business Development
Executive at a MSP, India
Vice President of a video
distribution company, US
Phase III
•Observation Research:
Trend analysis &
competitive analysis
Perceptions concerning cloud trends Cloud trends: Analysis of responses to a LinkedIn cloud
& social media marketing
computing group discussion,
benchmarking of major cloud players Cloud player benchmarking: Social media performances
Phase IV
•Exploratory research:
Telephone & e-mail
interviews
Insights on cloud purchase decision
makers & digital marketing practices
of cloud companies
Email: Senior Consultant
at a MSP, India
Telephone: ICT Consultant
at a retail company, South
Africa
Phase V
•Exploratory research:
Telephone & e-mail
interviews
Detailed insights in the situation of a
cloud provider and a MSP, as well as
current marketing practices
Email: Marketing
Manager at a Cloud
provider, Germany
Telephone: IT services
specialist, self-employed
and VAR, Germany
•Descriptive Research:
Online survey
Brand awareness of cloud providers,
social media usage, perceptions
towards cloud advertising
Phase VI
131 respondents from both sides
14

15. STUDY RESULTS – KEY FINDINGS
15

16. Phase I – Exploratory research
Perceptions about online and social media marketing for IT services;
Contact persons and decision makers in the cloud buying process
Summary of interview results
Perceptions about online and social media marketing for
IT services
LinkedIn:
 No postings in groups for promotion of services
 Used to contact prospects
 However, prospects often don’t respond to contact requests
Phase
I
•Exploratory
research:
Face-to-face
interviews
 Facebook:
 Blocked in many firms
 Not seen as a business marketing channel
 Promising non-social media marketing channels:
 Events, webinars, emails
 SEO
 Website appearance
Contact persons and decision makers in the cloud buying
process
Hypotheses in
respect to findings
Hypothesis I:
The key decision
makers for buying
cloud services are on
the C-level and obtain
functions such as
CEO, CIO and CFO.
Hypothesis II:
Marketing needs to
address the business
and the IT level in
order to influence
buying behaviour for
cloud services.
 CEO and CFO are the most important decision makers
 Almost all IT manufacturers are marketing to the CIO
 For more details see slide 35
16

17. Phase II – Exploratory research
Insights about the cloud selling process, cloud purchase decision
makers & social selling practices
Summary of interview results
Insights about the cloud selling process




Selling to existing customers
Major selling channel: emails
Cloud selling is a long process of negotiations
Identifying the right contact person is critical for success
Cloud purchase decision makers
Phase
II
•Exploratory
research:
Telephone
interviews
 Who is the best contact person depends on each company
 Some prospects will rather contact a company when they need
something
 Assumption: specific product marketing will not
influence them, rather branding
Social selling practices
 Indirectly related: since there are so many cloud offers on the
market and sales cycles become longer, new forms of
communication are needed
 LinkedIn is used to collect information about prospects;
however since the prospect usually does not respond to
invitations to connect, the actual contact is created by phone or
by email; in most cases by email
 Facebook is rather restricted in companies
 For more details see slide 36
Hypotheses in
respect to findings
Hypothesis III:
B2B sales people still
rely on traditional
sales techniques such
as emailing and cold
calls.
Hypothesis IV:
A large amount of IT
services are sold to
existing customers.
17

18. Phase III – Cloud trends
Perceptions concerning cloud trends –discussion in a cloud computing
LinkedIn group about the top cloud trends in the next 5 years
Security
35%
Respondents: 48
professionals of the LinkedIn
group Cloud Computing, SaaS
& Virtualization
Integrated solutions
31%
The displayed results only
summarize some of the
mentioned aspects and many
of them are connected with
each other
IaaS
25%
More data in the cloud/ more hosted
& managed services - 17%
Private cloud
14%
Mobililty
12%
Big data
14%
SaaS
12%
Cloud becomes standard
10%
Community cloud
8%
Cloud brokers
6%
Cost management
14%
Hybrid cloud
12%
Public cloud
10%
Pay as you go
6%
According to the observed
discussion, the most mentioned
trends are security and
integration of cloud services.
Cloud-enabled apps
8%
Data privacy
6%
PaaS
10%
Since the hybrid cloud trend
responds to security issues
and cloud brokers offer
integrated solutions, the
results are coherent with
Gartner‘s major trend
prediction for 2014:
hybrid cloud services
and cloud brokerage.
Gartner‘s Trends for 2014
Disaster recovery
8%
Amazon Web Services
6%
Evolving hardware
6%
http://goo.gl/aTjcPt
Network aaS
6%
Interoperability between cloud services
4%
MSPs become cloud
Long-tail phenomenon
providers or disappear - 1%
1%
Automation
1%
Dominance of biggest cloud Less differences between
providers - 1%
on-premise and SaaS - 1%
OpenStack
1% 18

19. Phase III – Competitive analysis
Social media benchmarking of major IaaS players, which are represented
in Gartner’s magic quadrants for IaaS and European Managed Hosting
First analysis:
Gartner‘s
Magic Quadrant
for Cloud IaaS
IaaS cloud
players that are
represented in
the Gartner
magic quadrants
for IaaS and
European
Managed
Hosting
Second analysis:
Growth rates of
fans and
followers within
3 months
(November 2013
– January 2014)
Cloud providers that
are represented in
Gartner’s magic
quadrants for IaaS
and for European
Managed Hosting
Company
page
number
of fans
Company
page
number
of followers
1.
2.
3.
4.
IBM
Rackspace
Fujitsu
Verizon
Terremark
5. Century Link
(Savvis)
1.
2.
3.
4.
1. Fujitsu
(21 %)
2. Century Link
(9 %)
3. IBM (8 %)
4. Rackspace
(5 %)
5. Verizon
Terremark
(4 %)
1. Rackspace
(8 %)
2. Century Link
(8 %)
3. IBM (8 %)
4. Verizon
Terremark
(7 %)
5. Fujitsu (6 %)
IBM
Fujitsu
Rackspace
Century Link
(Savvis)
5. Verizon
Terremark
Among the compared cloud players, IBM,
Rackspace and Fujitsu have the most followers.
On Facebook, Fujitsu has shown a superior
growth rate of fans next to its competitors.
19

20. Phase III – Competitive analysis
The top 10 most influential cloud players in 2013 and the principle cloud
services that they deliver; Social media performance comparison of three
providers
Salesforce is behind IBM in point
of LinkedIn followers, but beats
the IT giant with a Facebook
audience of >320,000 fans and
has with >156,000 followers the
largest audience on Twitter
among the compared companies
1
IaaS
PaaS
2
PaaS
> 210,000 > 45,000 > 1,615,000
vCloud
3
# of
followers
> 156,000 > 52,000 > 87,000
SaaS
> 320,000 > 81,000 > 293,000
According to Gartner, Rackspace
is outstanding with its marketing
mix; in regard to the IaaS
benchmarking, it is the provider
with the most LinkedIn groups
and Twitter channels next to IBM
With more than a million
followers IBM has an outstanding
LinkedIn audience
4
5
PaaS
> 23,000 > 377,000 > 36,000
PaaS
SaaS
OpenStack
IaaS
IaaS
6
7
SaaS
IaaS
PaaS
SaaS
> 39,000 > 4,000
> 35,000
Benchmarking 31.01.2014
 Among the three cloud
providers, Salesforce is
most successful on Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube
Salesforce, Rackspace and IBM were
CloudStack
PaaS
8
chosen for the benchmarking, since they
are three cloud-focused companies,
 IBM is leading on LinkedIn
which are leading on social media in
9
IaaS
their categories.
and Rackspace on Google+
Amazon and VMware were excluded,
because they are clear leaders in their
IaaS
10
market segments. Microsoft and Google
Source: Business Insider (2013) http://goo.gl/UaYB1U
were not analysed, because they are
by nature strong players on social media. All the other players are less competitive in their social media appearances.
20

21. Phase III – Competitive analysis
Salesforce, Rackspace and IBM – What are these companies doing right?
Analysis of the best practice social media pages and their key success factors
Salesforce is continuously publishing
new articles from their blog, which
makes the channel enriching for
customers and prospects.
The Facebook page appears
automatically in the user’s
country format. To the success
of the page contribute market
studies, which are conducted by
the Salesforce software and prove
Salesforce’s expertise.
One of the most viewed videos
shows Salesforce’s engagement in
helping Haiti’s rebuilding.
Salesforce is successfully proving
corporate social responsibility,
which is essential in today’s
marketing.
Rackspace is actively promoting
Google+ hangout sessions, which
they are doing on a weekly basis.
 These sessions provide an expert
talk, during which questions are
answered.
 They are connected with the
Rackspace community, an open
forum for customers and
prospects.
 This concept is especially
successful, since its content is
accessible by everyone without
any registration.
Company page:
More than one million
followers due to its brand and
its product portfolio
Groups:
IBM Cloud Computing is with
> 11,000 the biggest cloud-focused
group among the competitors.
 The group is not only a
promotional channel for IBM,
but also a discussion forum for
cloud-enthusiasts.
 Most importantly, it encourages
engagement!
21

22. Phase IV – Exploratory research
Insights on cloud purchase decision makers & digital marketing practices
of cloud companies
Summary of interview results
Insights on cloud purchase decision makers
Phase
IV
•Exploratory
research:
Email interview
(cloud
consultant) and
Telephone
interview
(cloud
customer)
 Only the senior management can approve and sign cloud deals,
since they affect the whole organisation
 Marketing actions need to be addressed towards two target
groups:
a. Business decision makers, e.g. CEO and CFO
b. IT professionals, e.g. CIO and the IT staff
Hypotheses in
respect to findings
Hypothesis V:
Marketing is
responsible for the
buzz around cloud
computing.
Digital marketing practices of cloud companies
 Marketing is responsible for the buzz around cloud computing
 IaaS, PaaS and SaaS can be equally promoted
 Assumption: In any case branding is most crucial
 Marketing needs to address not only the key decision makers,
but also the IT people who have to implement the solutions
 Storage is one of the hottest topics and needs to be addressed
Hypothesis VI:
The cloud trend may
be supported by the
CEO, but not
necessarily by the IT
staff.
Learnings:
 Within cloud customer companies, there are often cloud
specialists, who worked for cloud companies before
 This needs to be considered when addressing the target
group of IT professionals
 For more details see slide 37
22

23. Hypotheses and Assumptions
Phases I-IV led to the formulation of hypotheses and assumptions.
These were then tested in Phases V and VI.
Research Input
Hypothesis I: The key decision makers for buying cloud services are on the
C-level and obtain functions such as CEO, CIO and CFO.
Phase I
• Exploratoryabout online and
Perceptions
research: marketing for IT
social media
Face-to-face
services; decision makers for
interviews purchases
cloud
Phase II
•Insights about the cloud selling
Exploratory
research: cloud purchase
process,
Telephonemakers & social
decision
interviews practices
selling
Hypothesis IV: A large amount of IT services are sold to existing customers.
• Observation
Perceptions concerning cloud
Research:
trends & social media
Trend analysis
marketing benchmarking of
& competitive
major cloud players
analysis
Assumptions: Trends – Cloud brokerage and hybrid clouds are the major
trends. Thus, marketing for cloud services needs to address the issues of
integration and security.
Competition – Brands are potentially successful with a consistent, informative
marketing mix, which engages the community of cloud enthusiasts.
Phase III
Phase IV
• Exploratory
Insights on cloud purchase
research:
decision makers & digital
Telephone & emarketing practices of cloud
mail
companies
interviews
Hypothesis II: Marketing needs to address the business and the IT level in
order to influence buying behaviour for cloud services.
Hypothesis III: B2B sales people still rely on traditional sales techniques such
as emailing and cold calls.
Hypothesis V: Marketing is responsible for the buzz around cloud computing.
Hypothesis VI: The cloud trend may be supported by the CEO, but not
necessarily by the IT staff.
23

24. Phase V – Exploratory research
Hypotheses and assumptions from phases I-IV were tested based on
further expert interviews with a cloud provider and a MSP.
Hypotheses
Responses from a cloud provider and a MSP
H I: The key decision makers for buying cloud services
are on the C-level and obtain functions such as
CEO, CIO and CFO.
H II: Marketing needs to address the business and the
IT level in order to influence buying behaviour for
cloud services.
Phase
V
•Exploratory
research:
Expert
interviews
Cloud provider: Mainly CIO and IT department, CFO later
MSP: CEO, CFO, CIO are equally important; also highly
influential are consulting firms, such as auditing companies
Cloud provider: Business benefits are more highlighted
MSP: Business benefits drive the buzz, but those who need
to implement the cloud don’t get the essential information
H III: B2B sales people still rely on traditional sales
techniques such as emailing and cold calls.
Cloud provider: A direct mailing campaign was very
successful; Sales mainly rely on events and webinars
H IV: A large amount of IT services is sold to existing
customers.
Cloud provider: 60 % existing – 40 % new
Trends – Cloud brokerage and hybrid clouds are the
major trends. Thus, marketing for cloud services needs
to address the issues of integration and security.
Competition – Brands are potentially successful with a
consistent, informative marketing mix, which engages
the community of cloud enthusiasts.
Main roadblocks: Cloud provider: Security concerns, loss of
control, issues to achieve cost-savings, integration of
existing legacy; MSP: No transparency of cloud providers in
regard to their pricing and services - Main topics and trends:
Cloud provider: Security, integration, big data, open cloud
standards; MSP: cloud brokerage, few major providers
H V: Marketing is responsible for the buzz around
cloud computing.
MSP: The problem of the cloud trend is that it’s all
marketing. It makes it difficult to assess the technical details.
H VI: The cloud trend may be supported by the CEO,
but not necessarily by the IT staff.
MSP: It‘s a wrong perception that cloud services replace
people. Someone still has to implement and run the services.
24

25. Research overview – objectives, hypotheses & phases
Overview on the research objectives and the connected hypotheses,
as well as on the areas that will be regarded in phase VI
Effective digital
marketing
techniques &
channels
Objectives
3) To discover the most effective
marketing channels for promotion of
cloud services.
Social media
communication
in cloud
computing
5) To investigate IT professionals’
perception of online and social media
advertising for cloud services and
their user behaviour on social media.
Cloud provider
benchmarking
4) To investigate the major players’
online and social media marketing
mix and to define key success factors.
Cloud provider
buying
centre
1) To define the right target group for
promotion of cloud services.
Industry
perceptions
2) To investigate cloud professionals’
perceptions of major trends in the
cloud market.
Hypotheses from phases I-IV
H III: B2B sales people still rely on traditional sales
techniques such as emailing and cold calls.
H IV: A large amount of IT services is sold to existing
customers.
H V: Marketing is responsible for the buzz around
cloud computing.
Competition – Brands are potentially successful with a
consistent, informative marketing mix, which engages
the community of cloud enthusiasts.
H I: The key decision makers for buying cloud services
are on the C-level and obtain functions such as
CEO, CIO and CFO.
H II: Marketing needs to address the business and the
IT level in order to influence buying behaviour for
cloud services.
Trends – Cloud brokerage and hybrid clouds are the
major trends. Thus, marketing for cloud services needs
to address the issues of integration and security.
Phase VI
Social Media
usage frequency
Source of cloud
knowledge
Blog popularity
Forms of social
engagement
Perceptions
about adverts
Favourite cloud
providers
Cloud provider
marketing mix
Professional
status
Cloud selling
involvement
Hottest topic in
cloud computing
25

26. Phase VI: Descriptive research
Online survey about cloud provider brand awareness, social media usage
patterns and perceptions towards cloud advertising – respondents
Classification
Total number of
respondents:
131
C
I
Phase
VI
Online
survey
Percentage of
respondents
Companies
= Influencer on other
companies e.g. MSP/VAR,
cloud consultants, consulting
firms and other independent
advisors

•Descriptive
research:
= Cloud provider,
telecommunication company
with cloud services or cloud
partner/MSP/VAR that is
focused on certain providers

Those cloud companies
that have an influence on a
customer’s decision to
choose a certain cloud
vendor

X
And that can be influenced
to recommend a cloud
service by a cloud vendor’s
marketing or sales activity
Those cloud companies
that have their proper
cloud portfolio, which they
will not modify in response
to a cloud vendor’s
marketing or sales activity
= Cloud customer

A company that is a
potential or an actual
cloud customer

And that can be influenced
by a cloud provider’s or an
influencer’s marketing or
sales activities
36.64 %
51.15 %
12.21 %
31 identified companies,
4 unknown
50 identified companies,
14 identified companies,
8 anonymous cloud consultants, 2 unknown
17 unknown
The qualitative study was conducted through an online questionnaire filled out by professionals from the LinkedIn groups
“Cloud Computing, SaaS & Virtualization” and “Cloud Computing France”. For more details see slides 38 et seqq.
26

27. Phase VI: Addressed fields of digital marketing
The roles of owned, earned and bought digital marketing channels
and how they were addressed in the questionnaire.
Q 8) Cloud provider
marketing mix
Q 1-2)
Source of knowledge
about cloud services
 Search online,
blogs, LinkedIn
groups,…
Q 6, 9)
Frequency of social
media usage
(LinkedIn, Twitter,
Facebook, Google+,
YouTube,)
Q 12)
Popularity of
technology blogs
DIGITAL MARKETING
INBOUND MARKETING
Content Marketing Strategy
Owned
Earned
Q 5, 10)
Forms of engagement with IT
firms on social media
 Look them up on social media
 Follow them
 Comment on updates
 Use their customer service
 Take webinar invitations
Q 11) Most popular firms
Bought
Social Media
.com
Organic Search
Blogging &
Social Media
Social Media
Newsletter subscription
Online videos, Pod casts
Webinars, Ebooks
Calls to action
Q 3) Favourite cloud
providers
Q 13) Hottest topic in
cloud computing
Q 4, 7)
Perceptions about
advertisement on
 Websites
 Social media (LinkedIn, Twitter,
Facebook, Google+, YouTube)
= Content
Marketing
Paid Search,
SEO, Digital Ads
Social Media
Email marketing
Display advertising
Search engine ads
Social media ads
Mobile advertising
Direct Mailings
Bought
Telemarketing
Cold-calling
Trade Shows
Seminars
TV commercials
Banner adverts
OUTBOUND MARKETING
The in dark blue highlighted areas are those, which were addressed in the survey.
27

28. Phase VI: Descriptive research
Survey evaluation – Target groups for cloud providers and influencers
Cloud provider
buying
centre
1) To define the right target group for promotion of cloud services.
Professional status
The sample includes 37% of cloud
providers, 51% of influencers and 12%
of cloud customers.
Thus, the C and the I groups are most
representative. They both include a
majority of cloud professionals, IT
professionals and account executives or
sales persons.
Roles among cloud customers are
widely distributed. The sample shows a
significant C-level involvement, as well
as a dominant number of IT
professionals and CIOs.
 For more details see slide 39
Cloud selling
involvement
Within the cloud provider sample, 90% of professionals have been involved in
cloud selling processes. Thus, the sample can be seen as representative.
From the perspective of a cloud provider, who wants to be recommended by an
influencer, the sample is partly representative. 48% of I-category respondents
indicate that they would consider themselves as the right contact person for a
cloud provider who wants to sell a service to their company.
Among the cloud customers, professional functions are widely distributed. It shows
clearly that both IT professionals, like cloud professionals and CIOs, as well as
business professionals, such as CEO, CFO and COO, can be involved In a cloud
buying process. Professionals in these positions stated that they have been
involved in cloud selling processes.
Inside of these companies, there also need to be considered influencers, such as
security consultants or sales people who don’t consider themselves as the right
contact persons, but have been involved in a cloud buying process.
 For more details see slide 40
 The study confirms that both IT professionals and business professional in C-level positions need to be addressed by cloud
providers. It also needs to be considered that some cloud customer companies have their own cloud professionals.
Since this also applies for influencers, who are addressed by cloud providers, a clear marketing focus has to be directed
towards the IT-relevant benefits. Also, a two-sided (business and IT) marketing approach can be considered.
28

29. Phase VI: Descriptive research
Survey evaluation – Cloud trends
Industry
perceptions
2) To investigate cloud professionals’ perceptions of major trends in the cloud market.
Hottest topic in
cloud computing
I = Influencers
C = Cloud providers
X = Cloud customers
Percentage of professionals from
category C
Percentage of professionals from
category I
Percentage of professionals from
category X
23% - Security and privacy
22% - Security and privacy
25% - Security and privacy
10% - Big data
10% - Big data
18% - Internet of things/ big data
8% - Hybrid cloud
4% - IaaS
6% - PaaS
3% - Cloud Service Broker
Hybrid cloud
Mobility, Microsoft
4% - Cloud Service Broker
2% - DaaS,
SaaS,
Storage,
Google,
Integration,
Disaster and recovery
1% - Advertising and communication
Cloud insurance
Business Intelligence
SaaS
Storage
Automation
VMware
12% - Big data
6% - Cloud Service Broker
Infrastructure
Data sovereignty
 Security and privacy are considered as the majors trend by all respondent categories
29

30. Phase VI: Descriptive research
Survey evaluation – Marketing channels for promotion of cloud services
Effective digital
marketing
techniques &
channels
3) To discover the most effective marketing channels for promotion of cloud services.
Source of cloud
knowledge
88% of all respondents either know a lot about cloud services or are
experts.
 This was a precondition for participation in the survey, since only
professionals with cloud knowledge can have a veritable impact
on the cloud buying process.
100% of respondents from categories C and I do have their
knowledge from their profession. The same applies for 81%
of X.
Marketing-relevant sources:
50% or all respondents named search on the internet and
technology blogs as sources of knowledge.
Technology magazines and LinkedIn cloud computing groups were
mentioned by 40-43% of respondents.
Interestingly, only respondents from category C named technology
blogs and cloud groups on LinkedIn with an equally high strength as
the major sources. For I and X, technology blogs are the most
important sources.
Social Media
usage frequency
Blog popularity
LinkedIn is clearly the
most used social
network…
Professionals who regularily read
blogs:
 followed by Facebook
and YouTube, which
are similarly popular.
70% cloud professionals
 Twitter is less used
and…
 Google+ is the least
popular.
 For more details see
slide 46
63% of influencers
50% of cloud customers
The most mentioned blogs from
both cloud professionals and
influencers are:
 TechCrunch
 Gigaom
Among cloud customers, there is
no dominating blog.
 The most important marketing channels are technology blogs
and LinkedIn groups, since they are the major online sources of
Further mentioned by respondents from all three categories were
knowledge about cloud services. Also, LinkedIn is the leading
business meetups, conferences and webinars.
social media channel among the survey respondents.
 For more details see slides 42-45
Abbreviations: C = cloud providers, I = influencers, X = cloud customers
30

31. Phase VI: Descriptive research
Survey evaluation – Benchmarking of cloud provider marketing strategies
Cloud provider
benchmarking
4) To investigate the major players’ online and social media marketing mix and to define key success factors.
Cloud provider
marketing mix
Favourite cloud
providers
The most liked cloud company among all listings is Amazon Web
Services.
Cloud professionals further indicated Google, IBM, Microsoft,
Rackspace, Salesforce, Softlayer, VMware, Oracle, HP and Verizon
Terremark as their favourite providers. After AWS, Microsoft has
the most votes. However, it needs to be considered that almost all
of the above mentioned cloud companies were strongly
recommended by their own employees.
Among the group of influencers, AWS and Microsoft are equally
the leaders. Amazon was the most mentioned cloud provider.
Several votes also received Google and Rackspace and on the third
row IBM, Salesforce and VMware.
Cloud customers mostly mentioned AWS and at second instance
Google and Salesforce.
 For more details see slide 48
Among all respondents, email marketing is the most
used marketing channel. Second most mentioned are
display advertising and paid search marketing.
Cloud providers indicated that they are using the
different marketing channels as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Email marketing: 85%
Display advertising: 75%
Paid search marketing: 67%
Advertising on LinkedIn: 56%
… on Facebook: 38%
… on Twitter: 33%
The first mentioned overall distribution of marketing
expenditure is thus the same for cloud providers.
 For more details see slide 49
 Amazon Web Services is the clear leader in the cloud market among all three groups of respondents.
 The majority of marketing expenditure is still distributed to the traditional forms of online marketing:
Email marketing, display advertising and search marketing
31

32. Phase VI: Descriptive research
Survey evaluation – Social media engagement and digital advertising
Social media
communication
in cloud
computing
5) To investigate IT professionals’ perception of online and social media advertising for cloud services and their user
behaviour on social media.
Forms of social
engagement
The most performed activity by all
respondents is to follow a technology
company on social media. In this regard,
there is no clear leader among the
investigated social networks.
The second most performed activity is to take
webinar invitations and at third place is to
comment on updates. The lowest number of
respondents uses the customer service of
cloud companies on social media.
Most of all respondents indicated that they
look up cloud providers online and half of
them are likely to search them on social
networks.
 For more details see slides 50-51
Perceptions
about adverts
More than half of all respondents would click on an advertisement that
informs about a new cloud service.
Also, 31% of respondents indicate that they even like adverts if they are
interesting. Adverts are more likely to be successful if they are informative,
engaging and not too intrusive.
 For more details see slides 51, 52, 55
An approximate 30% distribution of respondents, who like interesting
advertisements, was observed in all three categories of respondents.
Overall, positive and negative perceptions are almost equally distributed
among C, I and X respondents.
 For more details see slide 54
Among the social networks, LinkedIn advertising is perceived as the least
negative. The second most acceptable are adverts on Twitter and thirdly on
YouTube. Google+ adverts are less appreciated and Facebook ads are the
most disliked.
 For more details see slide 53
 Advertisements for cloud services can be successful if they are directed towards the right target group, which is the group
of professionals that is interested in cloud services. Considering that the second most popular form of engagement is to
take webinar invitations, adverts that involve webinars can be potentially successful.
32

33. Outcomes: How can B2B digital marketing influence organisational buying behaviour
and which are the key success drivers for promotion of cloud services?
Final results – Hypotheses in relation to the quantitative research
sections that confirm their credibility
1. Challenge industry
best practices
2. Clearly define the
target group
Cloud provider
benchmarking
Industry
perceptions
Competition – Brands are potentially
successful with a consistent,
informative marketing mix, which
engages the community of cloud
enthusiasts.  Proven in section:
AWS proven as
Perceptions
leading in:
about adverts
Favourite cloud
providers
Trends – Cloud brokerage and hybrid
clouds are the major trends. Thus,
marketing for cloud services needs to
address the issues of integration and
security.
Hottest topic in
 Proven in section:
cloud computing
Cloud provider
buying
centre
H I: The key decision makers for
buying cloud services are on the
C-level and obtain functions such
as CEO, CIO and CFO.
 Proven in sections:
Cloud selling
Professional status
involvement
 Proven in sections:
H II: Marketing needs to address the
business and the IT level in order
to influence buying behaviour for
cloud services.
3. Define the right
digital marketing mix
Blog popularity
Forms of social
engagement
Effective digital
marketing
techniques &
channels
Social Media
usage frequency
Social media
communication
in cloud
computing
H III: B2B sales people still rely on
traditional sales techniques
such as emailing and cold calls.
 Proven in section: Cloud provider
marketing mix
H IV: A large amount of IT services is
sold to existing customers.
 Due to the general character of
the questionnaire, this was not
part of quantitative research.
H V: Marketing is responsible for the
buzz around cloud computing.
 Can be assumed from section:
Source of cloud
knowledge
33

34. STUDY RESULTS – ADDITIONAL EVALUATIONS
 For more detailed results, please don’t hesitate to contact me at
stephanieschulze@hotmail.com
 Also find me on LinkedIn under
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stephanie-schulze/33/384/828
If you are a recruiter or you are searching for someone
with my abilities to enrich your team, please read on…
I am a Double Master’s degree graduate with 2.5 years of professional experience in Assistant,
Analyst and Junior Consultant positions in different fields of marketing and consulting.
Since I gained these experiences in India, Germany, France and the U.S., I was able to develop
exceptional intercultural communication skills.
As a next step in my career, I would like to work in a digital marketing manager position in the
technology industry, preferably in France, starting from March 2014.
34