1、Table of ContentsIntroduction1|Martech2|Marketing Channels3|Strategy4|Analytics,Metrics&ReportingConclusionpg.3pg.5pg.9pg.12pg.14pg.167 STAGES OFB2B MARKETING SOPHISTICATION7 Stages of B2B Marketing Sophistication3Do you think your marketing team is on the cutting edge?If youre not sure,where on the
2、 spectrum do you fit and how do you get better?We created the sophistication framework to help marketers see where they are in their development as a team.The framework is also intended as a roadmap to help marketers continue to grow.One things to note:The framework is fluid.You may not find that yo
3、u fit every single category within a stage.Most of the rows are heavily connected(e.g.analytics and metrics),but not all.The clearest example is number of marketing channels.You may currently be using six marketing channels without optimization technology or you could be using two marketing channels
4、 with optimization technology.Similarly,you may be using six marketing channels with single-touch attribution or four marketing channels with multi-touch attribution.Thats ok.When trying to find which stage your marketing organization fits in,pick the stage that you most identify with.Lets get start
5、ed!INTRODUCTIONOne of the strongest signals that a B2B marketing organization is maturing and growing in sophistication is their martech stack.While certainly not perfectly correlated,a marketing team needs the resources(time and capital),experience,and organization to derive value from additional t
6、echnologies.For example,if your team is already struggling to just manage and maintain the best practices on table stakes marketing channels(e.g.AdWords,Facebook),it doesnt make sense to add an optimization tool on top of it.Therefore,as companies move forward through stages of B2B marketing sophist
7、ication,it stands to reason that their martech stacks will become larger and more sophisticated as well.GOOD:Basic Martech StackThe basic martech stack for B2B marketing organizations includes the following capabilities.CMS/Blogging platform Marketing Automation Channel Platforms Optimization TechWh
8、ile these are not lightweight technologies,they are the base of a well-functioning B2B marketing organization.With the exception of possibly optimization technology,these technologies are table stakes.This aligns with Stage IV in the chart.CMS/Blogging PlatformInbound lead generation is usually buil
9、t on the base platform of CMS or blog.This provides a web-based location for blog articles to be posted,downloads to be offered,and other site pages to provide necessary information.Occasionally,the CMS or blogging platform and marketing automation program will be combined into one comprehensive mar
10、tech service,and this integration can help to facilitate more holistic analytics across top-of-funnel activities.Marketing AutomationAutomation of marketing activities increases efficiency and tracking simultaneously.Lead nurturing is enabled,lead scores can be tracked based on engagement,and top-of
11、-funnel analytics(views,click-through,downloads,etc)are also provided.Channel PlatformsPlatforms for paid search,paid social,digital advertising,and other avenues of marketing can provide additional metrics and data,though this data is siloed within each ad platform.Each channel is assessed individu
12、ally,regardless of any channel overlap in lead generation,opportunity conversion,or revenue contribution.Optimization TechnologyOnce a marketing team has a good handle on the previous three technologies,the next step is to introduce an optimization tool to run experiments and try to improve performa
13、nce.This could mean A/B testing elements of your website design,or optimizing landing pages for specific behaviors.BETTER:+AttributionBuilding on top of the base is the ability to connect marketing data to sales data,which requires attribution technology.While the CRM is a table stakes technology fo
14、r the sales team,its not a given for the marketing team.Attribution connects marketing to the CRM by integrating the marketing technology.However,not all attribution solutions are the same.At the most basic level,attribution connects marketing data to sales data on a single-touch basis(Stage V).That
15、 means that it only tracks and credits the opportunity and revenue credit(in the CRM)based on one marketing touchpoint(first touch,lead creation touch,or last touch).A more advanced attribution solution has multi-touch capabilities(Stage VI),tracking all the marketing touchpoints and dividing the cr
16、edit according to a multi-touch attribution model.This technology allows marketers to do much more granular revenue analysis,which we will see in the chapter on Analytics,Metrics&Reporting.BEST:+Custom&Predictive TechnologyFinally,the most sophisticated B2B marketing teams are using custom and predi
17、ctive technology to get the most accurate and actionable data.Custom marketing technology,like custom attribution modeling,allows marketing teams to tailor how the technology models data specifically to their organizations buyer journey based on advanced data science modeling.While multi-touch attri
18、bution models work for the large majority of organizations,custom modeling is useful for organizations with truly unique buyer journeys.Furthermore,predictive technology leverages historical data and advanced data science modeling to deliver predictive insights while prospects are still in their buy
19、er journeys.Most marketing analytics technology allows marketers to analyze the data only after the outcome is complete,enabling you to make adjustments and optimize for future prospects.Predictive technology is different in that it allows for in-journey optimizations.One of the strongest signals th
20、at a B2B marketing organization is maturing and growing in sophistication is their martech stack.While certainly not perfectly correlated,a marketing team needs the resources(time and capital),experience,and organization to derive value from additional technologies.For example,if your team is alread
21、y struggling to just manage and maintain the best practices on table stakes marketing channels(e.g.AdWords,Facebook),it doesnt make sense to add an optimization tool on top of it.Therefore,as companies move forward through stages of B2B marketing sophistication,it stands to reason that their martech
22、 stacks will become larger and more sophisticated as well.GOOD:Basic Martech StackThe basic martech stack for B2B marketing organizations includes the following capabilities.CMS/Blogging platform Marketing Automation Channel Platforms Optimization TechWhile these are not lightweight technologies,the
23、y are the base of a well-functioning B2B marketing organization.With the exception of possibly optimization technology,these technologies are table stakes.This aligns with Stage IV in the chart.CMS/Blogging PlatformInbound lead generation is usually built on the base platform of CMS or blog.This pro
24、vides a web-based location for blog articles to be posted,downloads to be offered,and other site pages to provide necessary information.Occasionally,the CMS or blogging platform and marketing automation program will be combined into one comprehensive martech service,and this integration can help to
25、facilitate more holistic analytics across top-of-funnel activities.Marketing AutomationAutomation of marketing activities increases efficiency and tracking simultaneously.Lead nurturing is enabled,lead scores can be tracked based on engagement,and top-of-funnel analytics(views,click-through,download
26、s,etc)are also provided.Channel PlatformsPlatforms for paid search,paid social,digital advertising,and other avenues of marketing can provide additional metrics and data,though this data is siloed within each ad platform.Each channel is assessed individually,regardless of any channel overlap in lead
27、 generation,opportunity conversion,or revenue contribution.Optimization TechnologyOnce a marketing team has a good handle on the previous three technologies,the next step is to introduce an optimization tool to run experiments and try to improve performance.This could mean A/B testing elements of yo
28、ur website design,or optimizing landing pages for specific behaviors.BETTER:+AttributionBuilding on top of the base is the ability to connect marketing data to sales data,which requires attribution technology.While the CRM is a table stakes technology for the sales team,its not a given for the marke
29、ting team.Attribution connects marketing to the CRM by integrating the marketing technology.However,not all attribution solutions are the same.At the most basic level,attribution connects marketing data to sales data on a single-touch basis(Stage V).That means that it only tracks and credits the opp
30、ortunity and revenue credit(in the CRM)based on one marketing touchpoint(first touch,lead creation touch,or last touch).A more advanced attribution solution has multi-touch capabilities(Stage VI),tracking all the marketing touchpoints and dividing the credit according to a multi-touch attribution mo
31、del.This technology allows marketers to do much more granular revenue analysis,which we will see in the chapter on Analytics,Metrics&Reporting.CHAPTER 1:MARTECHFRAMEWORK7 Stages of B2B Marketing Sophistication4CHAPTER 1:MARTECHOne of the strongest signals that a B2B marketing organization is maturin
32、g and growing in sophistication is their martech stack.While certainly not perfectly correlated,a marketing team needs the resources(time and capital),experience,and organization to derive value from additional technologies.For example,if your team is already struggling to just manage and maintain t
33、he best practices on table stakes marketing channels(e.g.AdWords,Facebook),it doesnt make sense to add an optimization tool on top of it.Therefore,as companies move forward through stages of B2B marketing sophistication,it stands to reason that their martech stacks will become larger and more sophis
34、ticated as well.CHAPTER 1:MARTECH7 Stages of B2B Marketing Sophistication5GOODBESTBETTERBasic Martech Stack+Custom and Predidctive+AttributionGOOD:Basic Martech StackThe basic martech stack for B2B marketing organizations includes the following capabilities.CMS/Blogging platform Marketing Automation
35、 Channel Platforms Optimization TechWhile these are not lightweight technologies,they are the base of a well-functioning B2B marketing organization.With the exception of possibly optimization technology,these technologies are table stakes.This aligns with Stage IV in the chart.CMS/Blogging PlatformI
36、nbound lead generation is usually built on the base platform of CMS or blog.This provides a web-based location for blog articles to be posted,downloads to be offered,and other site pages to provide necessary information.Occasionally,the CMS or blogging platform and marketing automation program will
37、be combined into one comprehensive martech service,and this integration can help to facilitate more holistic analytics across top-of-funnel activities.Marketing AutomationAutomation of marketing activities increases efficiency and tracking simultaneously.Lead nurturing is enabled,lead scores can be
38、tracked based on engagement,and top-of-funnel analytics(views,click-through,downloads,etc)are also provided.Channel PlatformsPlatforms for paid search,paid social,digital advertising,and other avenues of marketing can provide additional metrics and data,though this data is siloed within each ad plat
39、form.Each channel is assessed individually,regardless of any channel 7 Stages of B2B Marketing Sophistication6One of the strongest signals that a B2B marketing organization is maturing and growing in sophistication is their martech stack.While certainly not perfectly correlated,a marketing team need
40、s the resources(time and capital),experience,and organization to derive value from additional technologies.For example,if your team is already struggling to just manage and maintain the best practices on table stakes marketing channels(e.g.AdWords,Facebook),it doesnt make sense to add an optimizatio
41、n tool on top of it.Therefore,as companies move forward through stages of B2B marketing sophistication,it stands to reason that their martech stacks will become larger and more sophisticated as well.GOOD:Basic Martech StackThe basic martech stack for B2B marketing organizations includes the followin
42、g capabilities.CMS/Blogging platform Marketing Automation Channel Platforms Optimization TechWhile these are not lightweight technologies,they are the base of a well-functioning B2B marketing organization.With the exception of possibly optimization technology,these technologies are table stakes.This
43、 aligns with Stage IV in the chart.CMS/Blogging PlatformInbound lead generation is usually built on the base platform of CMS or blog.This provides a web-based location for blog articles to be posted,downloads to be offered,and other site pages to provide necessary information.Occasionally,the CMS or
44、 blogging platform and marketing automation program will be combined into one comprehensive martech service,and this integration can help to facilitate more holistic analytics across top-of-funnel activities.Marketing AutomationAutomation of marketing activities increases efficiency and tracking sim
45、ultaneously.Lead nurturing is enabled,lead scores can be tracked based on engagement,and top-of-funnel analytics(views,click-through,downloads,etc)are also provided.Channel PlatformsPlatforms for paid search,paid social,digital advertising,and other avenues of marketing can provide additional metric
46、s and data,though this data is siloed within each ad platform.Each channel is assessed individually,regardless of any channel overlap in lead generation,opportunity conversion,or revenue contribution.Optimization TechnologyOnce a marketing team has a good handle on the previous three technologies,th
47、e next step is to introduce an optimization tool to run experiments and try to improve performance.This could mean A/B testing elements of your website design,or optimizing landing pages for specific behaviors.BETTER:+AttributionBuilding on top of the base is the ability to connect marketing data to
48、 sales data,which requires attribution technology.While the CRM is a table stakes technology for the sales team,its not a given for the marketing team.Attribution connects marketing to the CRM by integrating the marketing technology.However,not all attribution solutions are the same.At the most basi
49、c level,attribution connects marketing data to sales data on a single-touch basis(Stage V).That means that it only tracks and credits the opportunity and revenue credit(in the CRM)based on one marketing touchpoint(first touch,lead creation touch,or last touch).A more advanced attribution solution ha
50、s multi-touch capabilities(Stage VI),tracking all the marketing touchpoints and dividing the credit according to a multi-touch attribution model.This technology allows marketers to do much more granular revenue analysis,which we will see in the chapter on Analytics,Metrics&Reporting.7 Stages of B2B
