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Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014 Todd Lebo, Senior Director of Marketing, Ascend2 Ian Pennell, Chief Sales Officer, Marketing Advocate February 26, 2014 #AskTPMA blog.marketingadvocate.com

Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

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Access the slide deck from the “Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014” Webinar. In addition to identifying growth initiatives in channel sales enablement tools and partner incentives, you’ll also gain insight into vendor channel strategies for the calendar year. Guest speakers include Todd Lebo, Senior Marketing Director for Ascend2, and Ian Pennell, Chief Sales Officer for Marketing Advocate.

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Page 1: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Todd Lebo, Senior Director of Marketing, Ascend2Ian Pennell, Chief Sales Officer, Marketing Advocate

February 26, 2014

#AskTPMAblog.marketingadvocate.com

Page 2: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.2

Todd Lebo, Senior Director of Marketing

[email protected]@ToddLebo

Guest Speakers

Ian Pennell, Chief Sales OfficerMarketing Advocate [email protected]@TPMASoftware

Host: Courtney Wiley, Vice President of MarketingMarketing [email protected]@wileyccoyote

#AskTPMA

Page 3: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.3

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Lead generation Thought leadership Customer acquisition

B2B marketers as a whole Channel marketers

Lead Gen* Still Focus in 2014, Brings New Shift to Digital Platforms

*Source: The Channel Company and Holger Schulze, group owner of the 50,000-member B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn. **Source: Ad Age’s 2014 B2B Outlook: Marketing Priorities & Plans Survey

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79.90%

67.00%

2014 2013

Percentage of Marketers Planning To Increase Digital Spending

This YOY increase results in a greater portion of budgets going to digital. In 2014, 38.7% of B2B marketers say they will spend 30% or more on digital, up from 30% the year prior.**

Page 4: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.4

Decline in lead conversion represents a known gap in the sales cycle for channel-oriented firms. How do channel marketing execs plug the gap?

In the Channel, Lead Gen Does Not Equal Lead Conversion

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Page 5: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

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The Holy Grail of Channel Demand Generation: Quantity + Quality

What are the MOST IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES for your inbound marketing strategy in the year ahead?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Reduce marketing costs

Improve analytics/reporting

Increase retention rate

Improve search rankings

Increase website visits

Increase product awareness

Increase conversion rate

Improve quality of leads

Increase number of leads

Enterprise SMB

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Reorient your marketing enablement program to target line-of-business customers.* Partner marketing enablement is all the rage. Forrester’s data shows clearly that the buying center is shifting away from the IT organization to the line of business decision-maker. Increase quality by targeting the LOB buyer persona.

*Source: Forrester Research, Inc., “Cloud Channel Trends, 2013-2014

Source: Inbound Marketing Benchmark Survey, Ascend2 in partnership with Marketing Advocate, published Nov. 2013, N=519

Page 6: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.6

Marketing automation is leveling the playing field for smaller companies.

Automation Provides A Strategic Opportunity to Compete in the Channel

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

Extensive use of marketingautomation

Limited use of marketingautomation

We don’t use marketing automation

Enterprise SMB

Almost half of survey respondents employ limited use of MAPs today

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But don’t invest in marketing automation for the sake of investing. Partner with an agency vendor whose specialty is channel demand generation.

Source: Inbound Marketing Benchmark Survey, Ascend2 in partnership with Marketing Advocate, published Nov. 2013, N=519

Page 7: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.7

Creating Content is Not Only the Most Effective Tactic, It’s Also the Most Difficult to Execute

What are the MOST DIFFICULT TACTICS to execute for inbound marketing purposes?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Social sharing buttonsOutbound mktg integrationPress and public relations

Blogging or guest bloggingSocial media/networking

Use of marketing automationSearch engine optimizationLead nurturing and scoringContent creation/marketing

Enterprise SMB

#AskTPMA

Most channel partners’ marketing content and sales pitches are oriented to the technical buyer (i.e., the IT organization).* Vendor channel professionals need to teach and equip their partners to: a) market and sell service values (service levels, on-demand variability accommodation, etc.), and b) market and sell to the business decision-maker (business value, business outcome, economic model, etc.).

*Source: Forrester Research, Inc., “Cloud Channel Trends, 2013-2014”

Source: Inbound Marketing Benchmark Survey, Ascend2 in partnership with Marketing Advocate, published Nov. 2013, N=519

Page 8: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.8

Marketing Limitations Reported by Channel VARs, Execution is Key To Success

Source: Forrester Research, Inc., “Tech Channel Marketing Trends 2012”

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Page 9: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

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One Trend NOT Seeing an Increase in 2014: Partner Use of Self-Service Tools

Source: IPED Partner Enablement & Marketing Study, The Channel Company

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Page 10: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

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Hard incentives for marketing activities and results in your partner program. Most channelGTM companies incentivize their channel partners solely for revenue generation (i.e., theultimate “effect”), whereas they may be better served by incentivizing the “cause” (i.e., partners’marketing activities and results). While some may think of market development funds (MDFs)as an incentive, MDFs are really at best an indirect support mechanism. Better you carve outadditional margin discount points or back-end rebates for partners’ marketing performance.

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Page 11: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.11

Through-Partner Marketing Automation (TPMA) Encapsulates Today’s TrendsA Proprietary Digital Demand Generation & Channel Sales Enablement Process

#AskTPMA

Local, custom audiences Curated content Considered purchase Automated nurture campaigns personalized to prospects to stay top-of-mind Brand-reseller collaboration

Page 12: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.12

Key Takeaways

• 2014 brings greater shift to digital platforms in the channel– Marketing automation effective, levels the playing field

• Buying center is shifting away from IT to LOB• Look for GTM orgs to incentivize partners’ marketing performance• There exists a conversion gap in the channel demand gen

funnel that can be plugged • Limitations reported by partners map directly to today’s channel

marketing trends• TPMA drives quantity and quality, helps to achieve top 3 goals

for channel marketers: lead gen, thought leadership, new acq• Content marketing done well can yield great results• Partner self-service tools are not enough, execution enablement

key to success

#AskTPMA

Page 13: Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014

Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.13

About Marketing Advocate

Marketing Advocate accelerates revenue growth through the channel with its Through-PartnerMarketing Automation (TPMA) software. The company’s industry-leading TPMA solutiondrives effective B2B channel marketing for many of the world’s largest brands, including HP,IBM, Microsoft, and NetApp. By maximizing lead efficiency, generating sales-ready leads, andbuilding pipeline, Marketing Advocate helps global organizations turn channel marketing into arevenue driver. The company was recently recognized as a 2013 Gartner “Cool Vendor” andshowcased as a corporation that is innovating sales and marketing techniques to help global ITproviders go to market more effectively. For more information, visit MarketingAdvocate.com.

[email protected]

#AskTPMA

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