Tuesday, January 24, 2006: Learning Series

B2B TRENDANALYSIS - 2006
TOP TEN (10) B2B MARKETING TRENDS - AND IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH

Presented by: RUTH LUKAWESKI, RML RESEARCH

2003 and 2004 were years for "sitting on the sidelines" - B2B marketers focused internally on themselves and accountability to current customers.

In 2005, B2B marketers became less "reactive" and more "proactive" - and began to focus on customer acquisition and seeking new markets.

For 2006 the focus will be on "tactical" marketing to encourage "corporate growth".

This seminar will:

  • Review the B2B marketing trends of 2005 and project the top 10 key B2B marketing issues of 2006.
  • Present case studies to demonstrate how these trends are being implemented - and the implications for B2B marketing research.
  • The presentation will also review key issues covered by the 2004 and 2005 BIG conference - the pre-eminent B2B market research conference in the world.
  1. CMO SCRUTINY - CMO's are in the spotlight - they must deliver measurable results and have to be more accountable. How will this affect the role of market research?
  2. EFFICACY IN MEASUREMENT - the emphasis (for now and in the future) continues to be on marketing "metrics" and "measurable" marketing.
  3. BETTER LEAD MANAGEMENT - 54% of CMO's said their company had no formal process for generating, clarifying and validating leads: "Most companies have a very short quarterly focus on sales".
  4. PARTNER MARKETING - an increasingly popular "tactical" approach to B2B marketing which involves leveraging the strengths of marketing and channel partners.
  5. TACTICAL GIMMICKS (ONLINE VIDEO ADS/INSTANT MESSAGING/DIGITAL PRINT) - many marketers are counting on new technologies to break through the clutter and capture the attention of prospects and customers.
  6. GUERILLA MARKETING - unconventional marketing tactics are being adopted by B2B marketers for both tactical and strategic reasons.
  7. BEHAVIOURAL SEARCH - search techniques will be integrated with behaviour analytics to help B2B marketers get a handle on target audience definition.
  8. RESEARCH METRICS --
  9. EMPHASIS ON CUSTOMER FOCUS - especially on the dynamics of B2B purchases: in addition to the "what" there will be a new emphasis on the "why" and the "how" purchase decisions are made.
  10. PROMISE AND FRUSTRATION OF EMAIL - this is the biggest story of the past five years in B2B marketing. Early response rates were good - but permission and deliverability became issues.

 
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