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Business Buyers Are Consumers, Too: What Are You Doing To Engage Them?
Jeff Ernst, Principal Analyst

April 6, 2011

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Digital and social channels enable new ways to reach and engage buyers.

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Lots of hype around consumer success stories

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B2C and B2B are both P2P.

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What motivates us to engage with companies?

As consumers: As consumers:

As business buyers:

Games Contests Humor Entertainment Deals Intrigue Etc. I want to do my job better.

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Starting with tools and tactics spells disaster.

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Agenda

How business buyers engage socially How and when to go social Examples of B2B marketers doing it well

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Business buyers are social

US online adults, for any purpose* B2B decision-makers, for business purposes

24% 33% 37% 20% 59% 70% 17%

29% 20% 40% 35% 45% 76% 15%

Base: 1,011 business decision-makers at firms with 100 or more employees 9

Source: North American And European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey, Q1 2010
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Participation varies by function

HR/benefits (N = 150) Finance (N = 146) Marketing (N = 152) IT (N = 563)

27% 22% 36% 25% 43% 69% 19%

15% 10% 19% 17% 36% 66% 24%

30% 28% 33% 34% 62% 77% 13%

33% 20% 48% 42% 44% 81% 12%

Base: 1,011 business decision-makers at firms with 100 or more employees 10

Source: North American And European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey, Q1 2010
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Traditional sources influence purchase decisions

Base: 1,011 business decision-makers at firms with 100 or more employees 11

Source: North American And European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey, Q1 2010
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Business buyers go social to solve problems

Which of the following would motivate you to participate in social activity or participate more for work purposes? (Up to three responses accepted)

Base: 1,011 business decision-makers at firms with 100 or more employees

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Source: North American And European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey, Q1 2010
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What the customer buys and considers value is never a product; it is always utility that is what a product does for him.
Peter Drucker

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Source: Bob Embry (http://homepage.mac.com/bobembry/studio/biz/conceptual_resources/authors/peter_drucker/about.html)

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Agenda

How business buyers engage socially How and when to go social Examples of B2B marketers doing it well

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Buyers go social early in their problem-solving cycle

Learn about approaches. Gain commitment to change. Understand problem/ opportunity.

Define requirements. Identify possible solutions. Build business case.

Compare alternatives. Measure and share results. Participate in communities and user groups. Adopt and use solution. Make decision. Acquire solution components.

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But B2B marketers are pitching products and PRs

Jeff Ernst: Hello, this is Forrester 911, whats your emergency? Caller: Were putting together our social media marketing strategy. Weve created a Twitter account and a Facebook page, but we havent gotten many followers. Were tweeting our press releases and product http://www.flickr.com/photos/johttp://www.lesarcsnet.com/eshlabotnik/ announcements . . .

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Business buyers dont buy your product; they buy into your approach to solving their problem.

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How to get buyers to engage and share

Provocative Forward-looking Trailblazing Inspiring Game-changing

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Challenges conventional thinking

Anticipates whats coming over the horizon

Differs from what everyone else is saying

Energizes people about way of thinking

Can produce breakthrough results

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Agenda

How business buyers engage socially How and when to go social Examples of B2B marketers doing it well

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Kaspersky Lab: at the center of the IT security conversation

Challenge  Reach IT security professionals  Little brand recognition  Commoditized product  Different approach than Symantec and McAfee

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Kaspersky Lab: at the center of the IT security conversation (cont.)

Strategy  Raised awareness of cyber-attack and online threats  Hired three prominent journalists  Delivers news with own commentary  Original content and video  Editorial never discusses products.  Syndicates to channel partners

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Kaspersky Lab: at the center of the IT security conversation (cont.)

Results  90,000 visitors per month  200 comments per month  1,200 leads per quarter  10,000 newsletter subscribers  Referenced by hundreds of sites  Content for programs  Brand awareness
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Xerox Services: Create dialogue around industry issues

Opportunity  Engage document process professionals  Suspects >> prospects >> clients  Be perceived as innovative and trustworthy  Be considered when prospect has need

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Xerox Services: Create dialogue around industry issues (cont.)

Big ideas Strategy  Seven topical experts  Create provocative content on emerging business challenges  Share with corporate social media accounts Videos Podcasts Blogs Speeches Byline articles  Content supply chain

eNewsletters
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White papers

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Xerox Services: Create dialogue around industry issues (cont.)

Tracking results  Tie newsletter subscribers to sales cycles and closed deals  Hits on content  Where content is getting reused  Size of sphere of influence

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Corning: Showcase innovation and vision

Opportunity  Create demand with product designers at OEMs  Demonstrate consumer preferences for products with Gorilla Glass

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Corning: Showcase innovation and vision (cont.)

Strategy  Ingredient-branding campaign  Show vision of how glass can be used  CorningGorillaGlass.com  Supported with outdoor, airport, PR  Viral video  Facebook page

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Corning: Showcase innovation and vision (cont.)

Results  Positive impact on partnership opportunities and negotiations  Collecting anecdotes on impact on sales  Most successful corporate video ever: 11 million views

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Qvidian: Challenge conventional thinking on sales portals

 Challenge: Generate pipeline for new product among sales ops professionals and difficult-to-reach audience.  Solution: Viral eBook > white paper > workshop  Result: 4,000 downloads, 800 leads in four weeks
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MetricStream: Engage risk and compliance pros early

 Challenge: Hypercompetitive market with long sales cycles  Solution: Community, news, premium content, alerts, blogs, and podcasts on burning compliance issues  Result: 500,000-plus registered users, 30% of leads
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What they have in common

P O S T
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People Assess your customers social activities. Objectives Decide what you want to accomplish. Strategy Plan for how relationships with customers will change. Tactics Decide which marketing tactics to use.

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Recommendations
 To integrate social media into the B2B marketing mix, start with the people, not tactics and tools.  Understand the social behaviors of your target audience:
For different buyer segments. At different stages of the problem-solving process. Ask your best sales reps, new customers.

 Use this insight to craft social objectives and strategy.

Engage with substance, not gimmicks. Take provocative positions that challenge conventional thinking.

 Measure impact on existing metrics.

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Thank you
Jeff Ernst
+1 617.613.6754 jernst@forrester.com Twitter: @jeffernst www.forrester.com

Engage beyond the forum

Community http://forr.com/CommunityML Blog http://forr.com/BlogML Twitter #FMF11 & http://forr.com/ForrTwitter

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Understanding buyers social behavior

Creators Conversationalists* Critics
Publish a blog Publish your own web pages Upload video you created Upload audio/music you created Write articles or stories and post them Update status on a social networking site Post updates on Twitter Post ratings/reviews of products or services Comment on someone elses blog Contribute to online forums Contribute to/edit articles in a wiki Use RSS feeds Vote for websites online Add tags to web pages or photos Maintain profile on a social networking site Visit social networking sites Read blogs Listen to podcasts Watch video from other users Read online forums Read customer ratings/reviews Read tweets None of the above

The Social Technographics ladder

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

Groups include people participating in at least one of the indicated activities at least monthly. *Conversationalists participate in at least one of the indicated activities at least weekly. 34
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