Download 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report

WHAT ABOUT
MARKETING
PRODUCTIVITY?
The First Annual State of Marketing Productivity Report
Foreword
In the B2B world, few topics get as much airtime and focus as sales productivity. How often do you hear:
•  “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get our reps to be productive”
•  “What if we could get our reps to spend more time in front of customers”
Is there anything more precious than a sales person’s time? Companies religiously track it, analyze it, and look for ways
to increase time spent on revenue generating tasks. No reasonable person will dispute that rep productivity is an
important metric. However, I have two bones to pick:
1.  It is a lagging indicator
2.  It overshadows another key leading indicator – marketing productivity
While companies are incredibly precious about sales reps’ time, marketing rarely gets the same level of love. It’s as if
marketing has infinite capacity, and its time and resources are free. The data in this report sheds some light on the
astounding discrepancy in how companies think (or don’t think about) sales versus marketing productivity.
This first of its kind study aims to provide data and fact-based intelligence on the state of marketing productivity, to
identify challenges, and provide recommendations for maximizing this vital functions’ effectiveness. I want the readers of
this report to leverage the data to build a business case for increased marketing productivity investments in their
organizations.
Alex Gorbansky
CEO and Co-founder
Docurated
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
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Executive Summary
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report examines the key trends and challenges facing marketing leaders at
leading B2B companies. Leveraging anonymized data from the Docurated marketing productivity solution and a survey
of 1,241 sales and marketing executives, the report examines the state of marketing productivity from both the CMO and
CRO perspectives.
While much has been made about the state of sales productivity, there has been surprisingly little focus on the state of
marketing productivity. Our survey data highlights an alarming lack of progress in this area.
Key Findings:
#1
Only 12% of companies reported measuring marketing productivity, while over 89% of companies regularly track
sales productivity.
#2
Marketing teams spend more time on ad hoc requests from sales than revenue generating activities.
#3
85% of our marketing survey respondents listed supporting the sales team as their number 1 priority.
#4
In a time when sales reps are faced with increasingly complex selling situations, our data shows that marketing
teams are increasing their spend on content, but 90% of that content never sees the light of day!
#5
56% of sales people prepare their own sales materials, which is indicative of a major disconnect between what
marketing envisions and how sales people actually work.
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
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Counting the Cost of Low Productivity
To put the sorry state of marketing productivity into some
kind of perspective, our survey respondents say that 90%
of marketing-produced content goes unused by sales.
With an average of 25% of marketing budget devoted to
content, as much as 22.5% of total marketing budget is
being wasted.
Meanwhile, 85% of CMOs list supporting the sales
team as the top area of marketing focus. At a time
when millions are wasted on marketing content that
goes unused by sales, it is clear that marketing teams
are falling short of their number 1 priority – supporting
the sales team.
Taking these figures one step further, a company with a
marketing budget of $100 million wastes an astonishing
total of $22.5 million. These costs come before you even
consider the detrimental effect of presenting lower quality
content to prospects.
This failure is not altogether unsurprising when you
consider that only 12% of the companies surveyed
measure marketing productivity while 89% regularly
track sales productivity.
Top 5 Areas of Marketing Focus (% Respondents)
85%
Supporting the sales
team
75%
Meeting lead
generation goals
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
73%
Contributing more to
revenue generation
72%
Producing high
quality content
69%
Measuring marketing
results and impact
4
Counting the Cost of Low Productivity
Is marketing productivity measured at your company?
Yes
12%
70%
No
Unsure
18%
Is sales productivity measured at your company?
Yes
89%
No
5%
Unsure
6%
“Measuring marketing productivity based on activity – as an example, the amount of
content created – is a complete waste of time. Instead, marketing needs to be measured
on effectiveness.”
- Fergal Glynn, VP Marketing, Docurated
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
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Where is the Trust?
With highly skilled marketing teams creating large volumes
of content to support their sales reps, it would appear that
B2B marketing in 2016 is in a highly productive state.
However, our research has highlighted the millions of
dollars wasted on content that never sees the light of day
and has shows how marketing is anything but productive.
To get a sense of precisely where the breakdown in
marketing productivity lies we asked our survey
respondents where their customer-facing materials come
from.
We learned that over half of the content being used to
support opportunities was prepared by salespeople
themselves.
These figures are somewhat surprising given the high
levels of spending on content. If a certain type of
messaging does not suit the specific situation the
salesperson finds themselves in, it is highly likely the
they will adapt the content to suit their own style.
Clearly, sales does not trust marketing to create content
that will resonate with their prospects.
Where do your customer facing materials come from?
Content prepared by sales reps
Content prepared by others
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
56%
44%
6
Where is the Trust?
The fact that so many salespeople are preparing their own
materials should be cause for concern. Yet herein lies an
opportunity for marketing. If a salesperson can pull
together content from a number of documents to tell the
right story and close a deal, it can be a huge opportunity
for marketing to get their hands on this field-generated and
proven content to refine their existing materials.
Marketing teams that force feed approved content to their
reps are overlooking one of their biggest assets - the reps
themselves. It is the sales rep, and not the marketing
manager after all, who is most in tune with the needs of
the customer. Field-tested content is much more likely to
close deals than unproven content dreamt up by the
marketing team.
Our survey data shows minimal sales involvement in
content creation. Not only are sales reps preparing
customer facing content much of the time, but marketing
is also missing out on the opportunity to leverage this
field-tested content.
Do you involve sales in the content creation process?
Always
8%
Sometimes
22%
Rarely
Never
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
39%
31%
7
A Shift from Lead Gen to Revenue Gen
Marketers in 2016 are faced with an increasingly complex
landscape that spans the tools and tactics needed to do
their jobs right down to how prospects research and buy
products and services.
marketing has produced more names/leads/suspects,
whatever you want to call them. But how have these
names/leads/suspects contributed to growth in revenue?
We asked survey respondents to identify their top metrics
for success, as shown in the chart below. Traditionally
marketing has been focused on Lead Generation and
Digital Marketing, but it is clear from our survey results
that sales wants revenue contribution and help closing
deals.
In addition, heavy investment in top of the funnel programs
such as Content Marketing and Thought Leadership has
actually created noise and confusion on the buyer side.
Buyers think they’ve read everything and know the pros and
cons of all the different product/solution permutations. In
fact, buyers are confused and drowning in all the materials
they have access to.
Over the past 5 years marketing has advocated itself as a
machine when it comes to things like data-driven lead
generation and conversion rate optimization. However,
most CROs are not able to confidently say that this work
has led to more revenue coming in the door. Yes,
Marketing can’t continue to operate as just a cost center;
marketing needs to act as a revenue generating function. A
revenue producing Marketing group will focus on things they
didn’t worry about before such as effectiveness, and how
their work affects the entire enterprise at the macro level.
Top 5 Marketing Metrics for Success (% Respondents)
32%
30%
28%
28%
27%
Revenue
Generation
Content
Analytics
Marketing
Effectiveness
Return on
Investment
Lead
Generation
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
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A Shift from Lead Gen to Revenue Gen
While there is a desire is to see marketing take on
increased revenue generation responsibilities, this shift
has yet to play out in the enterprise. Our survey data
shows that only 39% of marketing time is spent on
revenue generating activities.
Tactical ad hoc requests from sales and other activities
like implementing new systems and administrative tasks
are eating into valuable marketing time.
What is marketing time spent on?
Ad hoc sales requests
System integration and training
40%
7%
Revenue generating activities
Administrative tasks
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
39%
14%
9
Marketing Needs to Support Sales
As highlighted earlier, 85% of our respondents cite
supporting sales as a priority. We asked our audience to
pinpoint marketing investments and campaigns that could
better support sales.
HOW CAN MARKETING SUPPORT SALES?
Marketing has influence over every deal in the form of a
generated lead, a piece of content that closed the deal, or a
great campaign that brought the prospect to an event.
There is unanimous agreement that the right story wins
the deal. Unfortunately, there is also agreement that not
all reps can tell that story, and no reps can tell the right
story every time.
Marketing needs to drive sales by making it easier for reps
to sell and by helping the sales team close more business.
There are many ways that marketing can do this, from
driving demand, to creating collateral, to hosting
conferences.
Marketing should also view their campaigns more like
product launches. No marketer would ever launch a
product without understanding demand, so why would a
marketer release content without knowing the market?
How Marketing Can Support Sales (% Respondents)
83%
Arming the sales
team with the right
stories
74%
Understanding
marketing
effectiveness and
efficiency
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
63%
Thinking about
Content as a product
63%
Better understanding
how sales use
marketing assets
59%
Generating more
leads
10
Content Marketing and Productivity
With such a commitment to content creation in place, we
asked our participants whether or not they measure the
return on their content marketing investment? Companies
are spending 30% to 50% of their Marketing budget on
content initiatives, yet only 37% of companies measure
their content ROI
In a time when sales reps are faced with increasingly
complex selling situations, our data shows that marketing
teams are increasing their spend on content, but 90% of
that content never sees the light of day!
Do you measure the ROI on your
Content Marketing investments?
14%
37%
Yes
No
Not Sure
49%
How will your Content Marketing budget
change this year?
2%
2%
Increase
7%
Dramatic
increase
31%
58%
Remain the
same
Decrease
When you consider the level of investment in content
marketing, it seems remarkable that almost half of all
companies do not measure content ROI. It would be highly
unusual for similar investments in other areas of the
business to go unmeasured. Marketing leaders should
make measuring content ROI a priority for the benefits it
can bring including:
•  Equipping sales teams with content proven to close deals
•  Presenting executive teams with detailed figures and
statistics that justify large content investments
Not sure
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
11
Evaluating Marketing’s Contribution
When we asked marketers, “What are the key efficiency improvements marketing should make?” the number 1 response
was a more effective use of marketing dollars that contribute to revenue. This is an area where many companies struggle
and analysts have built healthy businesses showing CMOs how to measure marketing’s contribution to, and influence on,
sales pipeline.
Key Efficiency Improvements
#1
% of marketing investments
that contribute to revenue
#2
Higher quality leads and
conversion rates
#3
Insight into exactly what
content closes deals
On average, marketing’s contribution to revenue is 27%. However, the range is broad; marketing at mature software
companies can deliver 60% and at professional services firms deliver 5%. Revenue contribution varies by industry and
marketing investment.
How is Marketing Evaluated? (% Respondents)
82%
Revenue contribution
from Demand
Generation
75%
Quality of sales
support
The 2016 State of Marketing Productivity Report
65%
Overall sales growth
(a shared goal with
sales)
62%
Brand awareness
61%
Total leads
12
MARKETING CREATES CONTENT,
WITH DOCURATED, SALESPEOPLE USE IT