Only 8% of CFOs trust marketing’s ability to spend its budget wisely. Contrary to popular belief, this cannot be fixed by channel tactics or technology. It can be fixed by a change in approach. In this SlideShare, we recommend three changes senior marketers can make to transform the way their department performs and is perceived.

1. The Marketing Practice
Making B2B marketing
INDISPENSABLE
TO THE BUSINESS
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2. B2B marketing has an
uncomfortable truth.
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3. B2B marketing has an
uncomfortable truth.
It’s this:
Despite all the progress in recent years, business leaders are still sceptical
of the value of B2B marketing, and are still quick to cut its budget.
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4. Why
is this?And here it gets even more uncomfortable...
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5. B2B Marketing budgets get cut because
business leaders
can’t see the return
on their investment.
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6. B2B Marketing budgets get cut because
business leaders
can’t see the return
on their investment.
“Just 8% of CFOs
trust marketing’s
ability to spend its
budget wisely.”CEB
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7. This isn’t just a
measurement
problem.
Though it’s not perfect,
B2B marketing has come a
long way on measurement.
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8. And we’ve got
better at plenty of
other things too...
At content.
At technology.
At managing suppliers.
At managing AQLs, MQLs, SQLs, SALs,
and so on.
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9. Yet despite all this progress,
the actual ROI marketing delivers,
whether measured or not,
just isn’t
high enough
on too many programmes.
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10. Marketers
have tried
plenty of fixes
over the years
to solve this:
CRM
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11. CRM
MARKETING
AUTOMATION
Marketers
have tried
plenty of fixes
over the years
to solve this:
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12. CRM
MARKETING
AUTOMATION
INBOUND
Marketers
have tried
plenty of fixes
over the years
to solve this:
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13. CRM
MARKETING
AUTOMATION
INBOUND
CONTENT
MARKETING,
lotsofcontent
marketing
Marketers
have tried
plenty of fixes
over the years
to solve this:
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14. CRM
MARKETING
AUTOMATION
INBOUND
CONTENT
MARKETING,
lotsofcontent
marketing
Marketers
have tried
plenty of fixes
over the years
to solve this:
Or the latest
big hope:
PROGRAMMATIC
ABM
Strange how often
these involve
buying software
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15. If any of these silver-bullet solutions
were as effective as claimed,
why are marketers’ ROI challenges
as acute as ever?
And why are B2B marketing budgets
still under such scrutiny?
BUT
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16. B2B marketing needs
to raise its game.
The challenge is brutally simple:
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17. For marketers to win respect in the
boardroom, we all need to deliver
results that matter to the business.
That means more than just a new
martech stack.
It needs a change
in approach.
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18. OFFER THE BOARD
DIFFERENT KINDS
OF VALUE
TAKE DOWN
YOUR SILOS
CONTINUAL
IMPROVEMENT
1.
2.
3.
A change in approach.
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19. OFFER THE BOARD
DIFFERENT KINDS
OF VALUE
Different business leaders
have different priorities…
1.
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20. If your business worries
most about differentiation
and margin…
• Explore how a premium-level
positioning might help
justify higher prices.
• Or how marketing can influence
help your sales teams land
larger, more strategic deals.
OFFER THE BOARD DIFFERENT KINDS OF VALUE
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21. If your business worries
most about hitting this
year’s sales plan…
• Recommend marketing takes
a more central role in the bid
process on must-win deals.
OFFER THE BOARD DIFFERENT KINDS OF VALUE
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22. • Analyse your total pipeline by
offer, or by geography.
• Compare the percentage
breakdown of your pipeline
to the growth ambitions
of your business.
Or try this to start a
conversation about strategic
growth goals and how
marketing can contribute:
OFFER THE BOARD DIFFERENT KINDS OF VALUE
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23. TAKE DOWN
YOUR SILOS
A quick test:
2.
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24. A quick test:
• Are your campaigns organised
around customers rather
than products?
• Do insights from other functions
– sales, solution architects,
product development – reach
your content, digital and inside
sales teams?
• Do all functions do their
bit for priority products
or segments?
• Does your segmentation run
through everything you do?
If you can say ‘yes’
to those questions,
good for you.
TAKE DOWN YOUR SILOS
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25. A quick test:
• Are your campaigns organised
around customers rather
than products?
• Do insights from other functions
– sales, solution architects,
product development – reach
your content, digital and inside
sales teams?
• Do all functions do their
bit for priority products
or segments?
• Does your segmentation run
through everything you do?
For everyone else,
your silos are hurting
your ROI.
TAKE DOWN YOUR SILOS
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26. Great marketing
happens when
different functions
share information and objectives,
identify problems and opportunities,
and collaborate on solutions.
TAKE DOWN YOUR SILOS
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27. CONTINUAL
IMPROVEMENT
Sometimes a proposition,
campaign, channel or tactic will
deliver great results first time.
But this is no formula for
ongoing high performance.
3.
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28. CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT
Plan, test, measure,
pore over the data,
and learn.
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29. Plan, test, measure,
pore over the data,
and learn...
again.
CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT
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30. When your marketing
results are just not
quite good enough,
all your functions – each one of them – need
to come together to pore over the data. To find
whether the problem is with the proposition,
creative, content, data, the customer journey,
inside sales calling, or sales handover.
This is only possible once you’ve taken down your silos.
CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT
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31. And when your numbers are good,
the work still isn’t finished...
Work out how to make
them even better.
CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT
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32. This atmosphere of improvement
and collaboration doesn’t just boost
performance, it motivates.
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33. This atmosphere of improvement
and collaboration doesn’t just boost
performance, it motivates.
Excitement grows.
EXCITEM
ENT
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34. This atmosphere of improvement
and collaboration doesn’t just boost
performance, it motivates.
Excitement grows.
Purpose grows.
PURPOSE
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35. And the whole
marketing team
walks a little taller.
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36. In summary... ALIGN WITH WHAT
MATTERS MOST TO
THE BUSINESS
ENSURE MARKETING WORKS
WELL AS A WHOLE.
FOCUS RELENTLESSLY
ON RESULTS.
1.
2.
3.
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37. None of this is
revolutionary.
But to prove marketing’s value
to the board and earn their trust,
that’s a game-changer.
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38. MAKING B2B
INDISPENSABLE TO
THE BUSINESS
The Marketing Practice’s mission is to provide marketing that
delivers the best commercial outcomes. To make B2B marketing
accountable – and famous – for the results it delivers.
To do that, we bring the full range of skills and specialists
together in one place to solve the toughest marketing
challenges, from strategy to creative to delivery.
themarketingpractice.com
info@themarketingpractice.com
038
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