Samuel Scott wrote an article for The Drum titled An exclusive look at Binet and Field’s new B2B marketing research (23 May 2019).
« Binet and Field’s six principles of B2B growth are to build a strong brand, expand the customer base, maximise mental availability, harness the power of emotion, budget for growth and balance the budget between brand building and activation. Just like in B2C. »
« “Advertising does work in B2B,” Binet said. “Share of voice is a relevant metric in B2B. How fast a brand grows to a very large depends on its share of voice and in particular whether its share of voice is above or below its share of market. That rule seems to apply almost exactly to B2B… The rules for budget setting in B2B seem to be pretty much exactly the same as in B2C.” »
« 54% sales activation and 46% brand building… “B2B is a bit more rational, a bit more activation-heavy,” Binet said. »
« Too many B2B marketers care only about what happens immediately in dashboards and spreadsheets and not what changes occur inside people’s heads over the long term. But it is our brains that tell us what to buy. »
« ‘Reach is the name of the game in B2B’ … One ongoing debate in the marketing industry is whether it is better to acquire new customers or to get existing customers to spend more. Byron Sharp, for example, argues for the former, and Binet said he agreed with the advocacy of ‘penetration-first strategies’ in the context of both B2C and B2B. »
« Mental availability is also key… Binet and Field had found earlier that the reason for the 60% average focus on brand building is in part to increase top of mind awareness among all potential category buyers. Then, when a consumer decides to make a purchase, he will be more likely to choose the advertiser’s company. Binet said the same is true in B2B. »
« “In B2B, it seems to work exactly the same way,” Binet said. “Brand building is primarily emotional, activation is primarily rational. You do have to have a slightly more rational approach. Targeting matters a little more.” »
« Separately from Binet and Field’s new research, the UK-based marketing agency The Marketing Practice also recently released a similar study on B2B effectiveness inspired by the two’s earlier findings… “The longer sales cycles in B2B mean that long-term thinking isn’t just brand building – sales and demand generation also require long-term mindsets,” [chief marketing officer David van Schaick] said. “The research also suggests leading marketers are more likely to test, learn and adapt rather than cut and run.” »
Les Binet tweeted: « Our data suggests that in B2B, as in B2C, brand building is primarily emotional, while sales activation is more rational. Brand has a slightly smaller role in B2B, so overall B2B needs to be a bit more rational. But only a bit. »
Articles of Interest 