The 2011 edition of our annual 'What Works Where' research. The 2012 edition will be released shortly, but until then the statistics and insights here are still very useful.

1. DIGITAL BRAND ENGAGEMENT
What works where
in B2B?
Digital benchmarking research
April 2011
In association with The Marketing Society and Circle Research. #wwwb2b

2. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 2 of 35
Introduction
While case studies abound for consumer- We hope it will be of value to marketers in 3 So whilst the survey reflects the established
centric digital marketing, a constant cry specific ways: practice – is that enough in a day and age
from the business to business marketing when audience engagement is all important?
community is how difficult it is to find
out what others are doing. Perhaps
unsurprisingly, as so much B2B activity
1 F
irst it allows you to benchmark your own
activities against the norm. Select your
own marketing priorities from the list and
Marketers are following established lines but
perhaps it’s time to challenge the received
wisdom and think about things differently.
is select in its targeting. As a result, it’s compare your own expenditure in time
hard to know whether you are doing and money against what others are doing. We look forward to continuing the debate and
the right thing, or whether there is Are you underspending in key areas? Are knowledge share during 2011. Later in the year
something else that might work better. your activities far more time consuming an online version will go live which will allow
or costly than others find them? you to input your own data to gain
With this in mind, Omobono has partnered a comparative benchmark.
with The Marketing Society and Circle Reseach
to develop a collective understanding of what
B2B marketers really think of digital – how
2 S
econd, it highlights the areas which B2B
marketers are finding the most cost effective
and some which aren’t. It’s an opportunity
To share your views in the meantime
please join us on #wwwb2b.
are they using it and how well is it working? to reflect and reconsider whether some
activities should be scaled up – or down – to
Results are based on responses from senior level really maximise the impact of your budget.
marketers with budget and strategic responsibility
for some £33 million. With over 60% of the
respondents coming from large organisations,
including some of the UK’s largest energy,
3 T
hird, it opens up a debate. Despite the
increasing use of social media and the
presence of other methods of audience
telecoms, IT and financial services companies engagement, marketers are primarily using
this is an authoritative view of what works where. digital to push their messages, regardless
of whether this is what people want from
them. In short, it would seem that although
channels have changed, behaviours haven’t.

3. Survey objectives
The research set out with three specific objectives:
• hich marketing goals are the highest priority for
W
B2B marketers?
• ow are the time and money dedicated to B2B
H
digital marketing allocated amongst digital
marketing channels?
•
Which digital marketing channels are the best
means to achieve marketing goals?

4. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 4 of 35
Q: What matters in B2B marketing?
Q: What is the highest B2B
marketing priority for your
organisation over the next
12 months? Ensure organisation
is living the brand
(0%)
Raise brand
awareness
Deepen customer (26%) Other
(4%)
relationships Strengthen
‘thought
(36%) leadership’
position
(7%)
Deepen
understanding Launch a
of target market new product
Develop or service
(10%) brand
positioning (9%)
(9%)
A: Making sure you have a deep relationship with your customers
and increasing the profile of your company.
Highest priority

5. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 5 of 35
Thought leadership and brand positioning are Q: What are the three highest
B2B marketing priorities for
important secondary priorities your organisation over the next
12 months?
Highest priority
Second highest priority
Third highest priority
4% 36% 26% 10% 9% 9% 7% 0%
1% 29% 6% 14% 16% 7% 23% 3%
0% 13% 16% 6% 23% 11% 19% 10%
Other Deepen customer Raise brand Deepen Develop brand Launch a new Strengthen Ensure
relationships awareness understanding positioning product or ‘thought leadership’ organisation
of target market service position is living the brand
It may be no surprise that companies are not
prioritising product launches in the present
marketers are struggling with budget and
resource issues, one of the impacts is that
Are marketers struggling
economic climate - but given the importance
of building customer relationships and
they simply cannot cover all the bases. But
the upshot is that the marketing effort does
to deliver joined up
building brand awareness it seems surprising
that such low importance was given to living
not join up the external and the internal. marketing which links
Given the size of the organisations involved
the brand. This highlights one of the first
‘disconnects’ which we have identified as a
we also found it interesting that brand top line objectives with
awareness was so high on the list of priorities.
result of the research. Perhaps, given that corporate behaviour?

6. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 6 of 35
Marketing priorities for larger companies % choosing as 1st priority
% choosing as 1st - 3rd priority
Significant increase on overall response
80% Significant decrease on overall response
43%
39%
43%
20% 14%
Deepen customer Raising brand Deepen understanding
relationships awareness of target market
Q: What are the three highest B2B marketing priorities for your
organisation over the next 12 months?
A breakdown of responses by company this was more important than the norm. set store by – perhaps because they know
size revealed, as might be expected, that for that this in turn leads to success in the more
larger companies, brand awareness was less Perhaps there is a need for them to get their important objective to develop their client
of a priority than for smaller companies. particular light out from under the B2C bushel. relationships and thought leadership position.
There was an interesting sub grouping of Finally, deepening understanding of the target
Perhaps also it is only larger companies, with
companies whose B2B operations were part market, remains a secondary (or tertiary)
larger resources, who have the luxury of
of a B2C organisation however, for whom consideration which only the larger companies
prioritising this objective.

7. What works where in
terms of channels?
We looked first at what marketers were spending their
time and money on.
Overall, 3 channels take up more than half the time and money allocated to
digital marketing – corporate website development, email marketing and
social media – with 56% of the budget spent between them and 58% of
marketing time.
Search marketing (SEO and PPC combined) is responsible for 14% of
budget allocated to digital, and 13% of time allocated to digital.
Mobile marketing (site optimisation, SMS/MMS and apps) takes 4% of the
budget, and 5% of time.

8. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 8 of 35
Digital allocation by channel - budget Q: In the next 12 months, how do
you expect to allocate your B2B
digital marketing budget?
Time Budget
Website
development
(31.3%)
Social
Email media
marketing (10.4%)
(14.3%)
Display PPC
advertising (6.7%)
(7.1%)
Online SEO
video/podcasts (7.1%) Extranet
(7.3%) (3%)
Affiliate
SMS/MMS
Microsite (2.5%)
development (0.6%)
(5.5%)
Mobile optimisation Apps
(1.8%) (1.5%)
Other
(0.9%)

9. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 9 of 35
Digital allocation by channel - time Q: In the next 12 months, how do
you expect to allocate the time your
organisation dedicates to digital?
Other
(1.6%)
PPC Apps
(3.9%) (2.1%)
Extranet
(2.3%) SMS/MMS
(0.7%)
Online SEO
video/podcasts (8.8%) Affiliate Mobile optimisation
(7.8%) (2.3%) (2.2%)
Microsite
development
(6.3%)
Display advertising
(4.4%)
Email
marketing Social
(15.8%) media
(14%)
Website
development
(27.9%)
Time Budget

10. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 10 of 35
Digital allocation by channel - budget vs. time
Time intensive Cost intensive
Time Budget
Affiliate
(2.5% - 2.3%)
Social media Microsite
(10.4% - 14%) development
(5.5% - 6.3%)
Display advertising
Mobile Online video/ (7.1% - 4.4%)
optimisation podcasts
(1.8% - 2.2%) (7.3% - 7.8%)
SMS/MMS Website development Extranets
(0.6% - 0.7%) (3% - 2.3%)
Apps Email (31.3% - 29.7%)
(1.5% - 2.1%) marketing
(14.3% - 15.8%)
PPC
(6.7% - 3.9%)
SEO
(7.1% - 8.8%)
Four channels are particularly time intensive in Three channels take a significantly larger share of The figures in this chart have been calculated using data accurate
to 1dp. This approach has been adopted to establish the nuances in
that they take a greater share of time than of budget than time: PPC, display advertising and the data for comparison.
budget: mobile apps, social media, SEO and development of extranets (possibly this is due to
mobile optimisation. the costs involved in setting up sites which are
often more complex from an IT perspective).

11. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 11 of 35
Digital allocation by channel - overall effectiveness
Q: How effective are the following channels in achieving the marketing priorities?
Website
development Email Online video/
marketing Social media podcasts
Microsites
SEO
Extranets Display PPC
advertising Apps Affiliate Mobile
optimisation
SMS/MMS
29% 28% 20% 17%
24% 13%
53% 43% 29%
70% 64% 63%
68%
5% 12% 9% 11%
11% 19% 38% 47%
24% 26% 32% 37%
29%
Effective Neutral Not effective
Five channels are seen by more than half of Seven channels are seen as effective in achieving These low scores however reflect the niche nature
marketers as an effective channel for achieving marketing priorities by less than a third of B2B of these channels - they are seen as more effective
their marketing priorities: website development marketers: SMS/MMS; mobile optimisation; apps; for certain marketing goals than they
(70%); email marketing (68%); social media (64%); PPC; development of extranets; display are for others.
online video/podcasts (63%); development of advertising.
microsites (53%).

12. What works where
when it comes to specific
marketing priorities
As might be expected, the perceived effectiveness of digital
channels throws up some differences when they are assessed
against individual marketing priorities.
The same 3 channels take the lead in overall effectiveness as in budget and time
allocation, with online video, microsites and SEO also punching above their weight.
For example, when the priority is deepening customer relationships, the
development of extranets is seen as a more effective channel than it would be on
average. Conversely SEO, PPC and display advertising are seen as significantly
less effective in achieving this goal. On the other hand, when the priority is raising
brand awareness, SEO, PPC and display advertising are seen as more effective
channels than they would be in general.
In contrast, the development of microsites is seen as less successful in raising brand
awareness than it is in general.

13. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 13 of 35
What works where for - specific marketing priorities
advertising (17%)
(65
%)
On podc
line
)
Display
6%
vid sts
g (7
eo/
a
tin
ma ail
advertising (18%)
rke
(24
Em
%)
(85
A pp
%)
s
(15%
On po
)
) SMS
9%
Display
lin dc
/MM
e v ast
S
g (7
ide s
(20%) Mobile opti
tin
Deepening
ma ail
misati
o/
on
rke
Em
Social
(59%)
ffiliate
customer media
(24%
(19%) A relationships ) Ap
(3%) ps
C (3%) Mo SMS
% ) PP bile o /MM
ptimisat S
(19 ion Strengthening
W (12%) Affiliate
) SE
O
de ebsi ‘Thought Social
(82%)
% ve te (12%) PPC media
(30
lop
m
en
Leadership’
ets
t (6
3% position
tran
Microsites (61
SEO
) %)
(42
Ex
%)
(37
ts
ne
W velo
ra
%)
eb pm
de
xt
)E
sit
sites
e ent
0%
(3
Micro
(7
6%
(64%)
)
% of respondents selecting ‘effective’

14. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 14 of 35
What works where for - specific marketing priorities
)
(72
ising (53%
%)
On podc
line
y
Displa
advert
vid sts
)
eo/
6%
a
(28
%) (6
(67
)
tising (45%
(13% A pp ail ting
%)
) SM s Em arke
On podc
(16%) S/M m
line
Mob MS
y
ile op
Displa
timisa )
vid sts
adver
tion %
3
eo/
(21 (7
a
(28%) Affiliate %) l
ai etin
g
(12
Raising brand Social
media
(78%) %)
SM
A pp
s Em ark
m
awareness (24%
) Mob
S/M
MS
C ile op
timisa
% ) PP tion
(53
W (18%) Affiliate Developing
de ebs
ve ite
lo
brand Social
media (64%)
positioning
O
pm PC
7%) P
SE
en (2
Micro
t (7
(25%) Extranets
%)
5%
(75
)
sites (
O
) SE
38
%
55
W velo
%)
(
eb p
de
ets
sit me
e
tran
Microsites (52%
Ex
nt
(8
%)
8%
(24
)
)
% of respondents selecting ‘effective’

15. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 15 of 35
What works where for - specific marketing priorities
)
(58
ising (37%
%)
On podc
line
y
Displa
advert
vid sts
)
(24%)
%
eo/
(26 9
a
(7
g 4%)
%) g
ail etin
Online vid
A pp Em ark
rtisin (1
(26% s
) SM m
podcasts
(19
S/M (14
adve y
MS % )
la
%)
%
eo/
)S
Disp
3
(4
A
(21%) M
pp
Mobile S/
(19 M l
ai etin
g
s
optimisation
Launching a Social
%)
Mo
bile
M
S Em ark
(11%) Affili
ate
new product media (47%)
opt
imi
sati
m
on
C
%)
PP Deepen
(42 (19%) Affiliate
understanding
of target
W vel
Social
eb op
EO
de
media (52%)
sit m
S
market
e en
ets
C
%)
PP
9%)
Microsites (53%)
tran
(37
(1
t
(8
) Ex
4%
O
SE
)
(11%
)
%
W velo
(19
eb p
de
ets
sit me
e
tran
Microsites
Ex
nt
(2
%)
9%
(29
)
(33%)
% of respondents selecting ‘effective’

16. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 16 of 35
What works where for - perceived effectiveness vs. budget
Website
development
Email
75% marketing Social Online video/
media podcasts
Microsites
Effectiveness
Perceived
50%
SEO
Display
advertising PPC Extranets
Apps
25% Affiliate Mobile
optimisation SMS/
MMS
0%
Budget
25%
Unsurprisingly, the three most effective Contrast this with PPC and display advertising, As the above chart demonstrates, there
channels are also the ones that receive channels which both receive 7% of marketing are some ‘niche’ channels that perform
the most time and money. Interestingly, budgets, but are seen as effective in achieving extremely well, particularly given their
online video and development of microsites marketing priorities by less than a third of relative cost. These activities provide a
are also seen as effective, but this is not B2B marketers (28% and 29% respectively). useful reminder to marketers to consider
reflected in their share of digital marketing additional activities in addition to the big 3.
budgets (7% and 6% respectively).

17. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 17 of 35
What works where for - deepening customer relationships
Q: How effective are the following channels in deepening customer relationships?
Email
marketing Online video/ Website
podcasts development
Microsites Social media
Effective
Extranets
SEO
Apps Mobile PPC
optimisation Display
Affiliate advertising
SMS/MMS
30% 24% 19%
37% 20% 19% 17% 15%
63% 61% 59%
65%
Neutral
76%
9%
13%
6% 9% 9%
22% 30% 37% 37% 43% 44%
22% 30%
Not effective

18. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 18 of 35
What works where for - deepening customer relationships
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Q: How effective are the following channels in deepening customer relationships?
Email
marketing
75% Online video/
Website
podcasts
development Social
media Microsites
Effectiveness
50%
Perceived
Extranets
SEO
Mobile Apps
25% Display PPC Affiliate optimisation
advertising SMS/
MMS
0%
Budget
25%
When it comes to the things that work for to be less effective. It’s interesting however that
deepening customer relationships, online email marketing – a push technique – is felt to be
video, microsites and extranets are the best the most effective channel against this priority
50% in class. Social media also performs well. As and yet not for some of the more traditionally push
might be expected, the traditional promotional objectives such as raising brand awareness.
mechanisms (PPC, display and affiliate) are felt

19. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 19 of 35
What works where for - raising brand awareness
Q: How effective are the following channels in raising brand awareness?
Social media Website
SEO development Online video/
podcasts Email
marketing Display
PPC
advertising
Effective
Microsites
Affiliate
Apps Extranets Mobile
optimisation
SMS/MMS
16%
38% 28% 25% 13%
28%
53% 53%
78% 75% 75% 72% 66%
Neutral
3% 6% 3% 9% 9%
6% 9%
13% 19% 25% 22% 38%
22%
Not effective

20. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 20 of 35
What works where for - raising brand awareness
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Q: How effective are the following channels in raising brand awareness?
Social
Website media
development Online video/ SEO
podcasts
75% Email
marketing
Display
advertising PPC
Effectiveness
50%
Perceived
Microsites
Affiliate Apps
Extranets
25% Mobile
optimisation SMS/
MMS
0%
Budget
25%
Social media tops the poll against this marketing Thereafter the more expected activities perform
priority, reflecting how the world has changed in well, with the surprising finding that only half of
recent years. It also confirms how far social media respondents felt that display advertising, the most
50% has established its role in B2B, an area which has obviously broadcast medium, was an effective
traditionally lagged behind BC2 behaviours. channel for raising brand awareness.

21. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 21 of 35
What works where for - strengthening ‘thought leadership’ position
Q: How effective are the following channels in strengthening your thought leadership position?
Online video/
podcasts Social media Email Website
marketing development
Microsites
Effective
SEO
Extranets
Apps
Affiliate PPC
Display Mobile
advertising optimisation
SMS/MMS
12% 12% 3%
30% 24%
42% 3%
76% 64% 18%
82% 79%
Neutral
85%
3% 3%
3%
3% 3% 3%
3% 3% 3%
Not effective

22. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 22 of 35
What works where for - strengthening ‘thought leadership’ position
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Q: How effective are the following channels in strengthening your thought leadership position?
Online video/
Social podcasts
Email media
Website marketing
development
75%
Microsites
Effectiveness
50%
Perceived
SEO
Extranets
Apps
25% Display
advertising
PPC Affiliate
Mobile SMS/
optimisation MMS
0%
Budget
25%
Thought leadership was the mantra of 2010, and it podcasts and social media overall performed
looks as if it will continue to be a key marketing particularly well in this respect. Email marketing
objective for B2B marketers for the next 12 makes its habitual appearance, perhaps because it
50% months as well, as companies jockey for position is the mechanism which carries the deeper
to be seen as expert in their respective fields. As content to the end user.
might be expected, the use of online video and

23. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 23 of 35
What works where for - developing the brand positioning
Q: How effective are the following channels in developing your brand positioning?
Website
development
Email Online video/
marketing podcasts Social media
SEO Microsites
Effective
Display
advertising
PPC Extranets
Mobile Affiliate
optimisation Apps
SMS/MMS
18%
24%
27% 18%
52% 24% 21%
64% 55%
67% 45%
73%
Neutral
88%
6%
9%
6% 30%
3% 12%
9% 33% 36%
24% 39%
21% 21%
Not effective

24. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 24 of 35
What works where for - developing the brand positioning
Q: In the next 12 months, how do you expect to allocate your B2B digital marketing budget?
Q: How effective are the following channels in developing your brand positioning?
Website
development
Email
marketing
75% Online video/
Social podcasts
media
SEO
Microsites
Effectiveness
Display
50% advertising
Perceived
PPC Mobile
Extranets optimisation
25% Apps
Affiliate
SMS/
MMS
0%
Budget
25%
The final significant objective, developing the service. Whilst social media was not in the top 3
brand positioning, was the first time that for once, it also gained the lowest score for not
corporate websites took the lead role, despite effective, whilst display advertising is seen as least
50% being perceived as the most effective digital effective by the most people with the exception of
channel overall. Correspondingly websites mobile activities. Online video scores well again.
performed best at launching a new product or

25. A word on mobile
To our surprise, mobile (whether optimisation, apps or
messaging) performed consistently badly in the survey.
Some of this is understandable – the spend on the medium
is low and so correspondingly is the time spent on it.
Perceptions of effectiveness for something that isn’t a priority medium are
understandable, but despite that, other niche activities have their moments of glory
– or at least of effectiveness. Extranets perform well in terms of relationship building,
online video waves the flag in terms of raising brand awareness and strengthening
thought leadership. The mobile picture looks consistently underwhelming.
And yet, the word on the street is that Smartphone adoption, 3G penetration and
unlimited data plans have driven a surge of mobile media consumption across
geographies and deepened the integration of mobile devices into everyday life1.
We believe that in a year’s time the picture may be different, particularly given the
predictions that by 2014 mobile internet will have taken over desktop internet usage2.
Give us your view #wwwb2b
Sources: 1 - Gigacom - Mary Meeker: Mobile Internet Will Soon Overtake Fixed Internet 2 - The comScore 2010 Mobile Year in Review

26. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 26 of 35
Digital is seen by almost
all as important in achieving
their priorities...
Critical! Important
(51%)
(44%)
Less
important
(3%)
Not
relevant!
(1%)
26 26

27. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 27 of 35
Yet three fifths of marketers
spend less than 40% of budget
on digital
25%
18%
17% 17%
percentage
of marketers
that spend...
11% 11%
8% 8%
6%
5%
2%
0%
10-19%
20-29% 30-39% 40-49% 50-59% 60-69% 70-79% 80-89% 90-100%
0-10%
percentage of budget

28. What works where in B2B? 15 April 2011 Page 28 of 35
Time and money are holding digital back
95% of respondents This is reflected in some of the issues
raised by respondents in terms of the
Financial constaints are closely linked
with resource issues - money is needed,
believe digital most significant challenges they faced but so is the resource to do it properly.
in relation to B2B digital marketing.
marketing is critical
or important in
achieving their Cost Physical
marketing goals... people
Adequate resource Lack of
resources funds to find
...but only one third of Budgets experts to
respondents give the and lack of
them
implement
(strategy)
lion’s share of budget to Lack of The cost
and time that
digital, and only 15% budget needs to be
spend significant allocated to doing
it properly
proportions. Internal
Budget resources
constraints