We asked key figures in the agency and industry worlds about the type of tone of communications that they trust most—and why. 200 respondents. 20 questions. And answers you can act on.

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2015 IRIS B2B
PARTICIPATION
SURVEY
TRENDS, OBSERVATIONS, RESULTS

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You’re a business.
Who would you rather get involved with: a brand that’s always in a suit and tie?
Or a brand that’s comfortable in flip-flops? And how do you want them to get
in touch with you: through glossy print publications? Or with a hashtag on your
Twitter feed?
B2B is changing, and iris is at the forefront of discovering the new rules. Our
2015 B2B Participation Survey asked key figures in the agency and industry
worlds about the type and tone of communications that they trust most—and
why. 200 respondents. 20 questions. And answers you can act on.

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Today, There are
TWO TYPES of brands:
Participation brands.
And dying ones.

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But what does participation
mean to b2b brands?
Marketing today is a two-way street that strives to make brands culturally
relevant with your target audiences. Participation branding takes marketing
and puts it into the context of people’s lives—creating culturally relevant
conversations, experiences, and moments that mean more than messages.
But we wanted to know how this concept translates into the business
world. B2B marketing is such a different beast in which people put on their
professional personae and interact differently. OR DO THEY?
Read on to see how our 2015 B2B Participation Survey uncovered the ways
business marketers see the world—both as the ones sending marketing
messages and as the ones receiving them.

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 
We set out to discover
what business marketers
really think—both about
what they send out and
what they receive.

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5 big findings
79% start their day by looking at work-related emails
64% delete emails without reading them first
49% want their emails to be more example-driven than advice-driven
63% prefer face-to-face new business meetings versus virtual meetings
56% sign up for webinars just for the post-event materials



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But we learned a lot
more than this…

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Marketing to businesses:
The who

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Who were these people?200 respondents. 20 questions (plus follow-up interviews for some).
Organization Size Job Level
90%+ are decision makers (manager level or above)
83% are from company sizes of 1,000+
25–99 100–499 500–999 1000–4,999 5,000+ people
4% 6% 7% 44% 39%
Company Size
% Respondents
AssociateManager
C-level executive
(CIO, CTO, COO, CMO, etc.)
President/
CEO/Owner
Director
Vice President/
Sr. Vice President
39%
13%
8%
3%
27%
10%

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And what are their key challenges?
200 respondents. 20 questions (plus follow-up interviews for some).
While marketing today is so focused on one-to-one relationships, perhaps this
data shows us that traditional methods of awareness building are still key in
ensuring success throughout the customer journey.
Awareness/traffic
Budget
Calculating ROI
Identifying the best channel to use
Lack of internal resources
Quality/engagement of leads
Lead generation
Timeliness of messaging
Undefined/unknown personas
Inability to use social media
Lack of enough content
Poor content quality
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Not surprisingly, budget and
general awareness fall at the
top of the list in terms of
challenges. On the contrary,
we often hear from clients
and prospects that content—
creating it, maintaining it,
and making sure it’s high
quality—is a big challenge so
were surprised to see it at the
bottom of the list.
What does
this mean?

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Marketing to businesses:
The when
& the where

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How do people deal
with their inboxes?
When you first open your computer
(or mobile device) in the morning, what do
you find yourself doing first (or most often)?
When you think about the morning
activities from the question above,
which accounts do you normally
check first?
Reading/replying to emails
Deleting emails
Reviewing my schedule
Checking social media
Working on a project/document
Other (please specify)
Mostly personal
Mostly work related79%
21%
With all of the marketing noise out there, it’s difficult enough cutting through the clutter. Don’t make things harder
for yourself by sending emails during a time that they’re unlikely to be read. People prefer to begin their day by
reading the emails that are most important to them, so consider sending your promotional emails later in the day.
76% of respondents are somehow interacting with
emails as their first item of business every day.
What does
this mean?
51% 25% 15% 6% 2% 1%
Work is top of mind for them, as 79% look at
their work-related emails before personal.

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How much they ignore?
Like all of us, you probably get “too many”
emails. What do you usually do with the
ones you don’t like to read?
When thinking about the communications
you ignore or delete—why don’t you simply
unsubscribe from that list?
In general, subscribers want to give people a chance—when they don’t just hastily unsubscribe, that is.
It’s so easy to be fickle or write off an email using just the delete button. Just because you CAN send
an email doesn’t mean you SHOULD. Use metrics to see what your audience is really responding to and
optimize so your message does get noticed.
Delete without reading Sometimes they send
me something good
Open and unsubscribe I want to see what other marketers/
competitors are doing
Add to spam folder block
I only subscribe so I can get more
valuable content (reports, invitations,
exclusives)
Move to a “save for
later” folder
I like to give publications a chance
before unsubscribing completelyOther (please specify)
I feel bad unsubscribing because I know
marketers rely on numbers to keep their
programs alive
63%
19% 32%
9% 11%
6% 9%
3% 3%
What does
this mean?
55%

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How often should your
Company email?
When you think about publications you
subscribe to for work-related information,
what is your preference?
There is limited direction on communication frequency as responses are spread out—some like regular news,
others just want a periodic recap. What’s clear, though, is that relevancy is key.
The last thing you want to do is annoy your customers/audience with too-frequent communications. To
avoid this, give them the option to choose their communication preferences through a subscription center.
Additionally, marketing automation tools can help ensure you are communication to the right people, with the
right message, at the right time.
I’d rather receive an edition once a month that has all the best
content from the past four weeks
I’d rather receive content as soon as it becomes available
I’d rather receive editions twice a month with less—but more recent
—content
I’d rather they update the content on a blog/website often but only
send me a single monthly recap
None of the above (please specify)
6%
24%
23%
21%
26%
What does
this mean?

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How do people find information?
When you need to find relevant information or content for a project at work,
what do you do to ensure you find the best information? [Choose your top 3]
I do a web search and explore the websites/blogs that come up to see whose information is best
I do a web search and look at the most recent news about the subject
I consider the brands I think do a good job in the area and find case studies/examples that can help me
I ask my coworkers what they think about the subject/topic
I do a web search and rely on what comes up first
I reach out to my online network to see what they have to say about the subject/topic
I look at social media—mostly at what industry experts/publications are saying about the subject
I search my email inbox for conversations/threads about the same subject from past projects
I search my email inbox for content from publications I subscribe to
Web search represents
the top two ways
respondents go out to
find information they
need. Case studies and
examples come next.
People naturally want to go online sources for the easiest to find answers. However, as one of our
interviewees mentioned this has also “leveled the playing field as big and small shops can communicate
the same thing and compete for the share of voice with thousands.” It’s important to be present online
but it’s equally as important to continue your efforts to differentiate yourself to those contacts.
What does
this mean?
0 50 100 150

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Marketing to businesses:
The how

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What should you sound like?
42% prefer the serious side of content, while 20% prefer humor. However this does shift when viewed by company size.
Smaller companies want more humorous and fun content, while larger companies skew towards serious content.
Overall, people want more fact and figure based content, with slight deviations depending on industry: advertising/marketing,
technology and government over-index in preferring benefit-focused communications.
It’s tempting to use humor or irreverent content to try to cut through the noise, but be careful—your audience may not appreciate
it as much as you think. While your content doesn’t need to be “all business all the time,” you should definitely consider when it’s
appropriate to incorporate humor into your marketing messages.
Your customers are constantly being told that something does or does not work, but rarely are they told WHY. Rather than sending
high-level messages that just scratch the surface, dig in and back it up with facts and figures that get them thinking.
Serious/no-nonsense Humorous/fun38% Neutral 20%42%
Streamlined Detailed24% Neutral 33%43%
What does
this mean?
What does
this mean?
SERIOUS VS. HUMOROUS
DETAILED VS. STREAMLINED

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What should you sound like?
Mostly, want more example-based content. However, this dynamic does shift when speaking to C-Level executives or Presidents of companies
toward advice driven communications.
Overall participants want content to be professional, with a “hint” of friendliness. Technology and non-profit over-index in the desire for more
professional communication, while consumer goods wants to push the limit on being more friendly.
Example-driven Advice-driven20% Neutral 10%70%
6%Professional Friendly15%66% 19% Neutral
EXAMPLES VS. ADVICE
PROFESSIONAL VS. FRIENDLY
Overwhelmingly, it almost seems that people prefer to see what others have done, so it’s important to use case studies, testimonials,
and videos to showcase that in almost all situations. When dealing with higher levels, however, exerting authority and really sounding
like you’re the expert will augment any experience and proof of concept you also publish.
What does
this mean?
While we should never forget that we’re always talking to people with feelings, needs, and pain points, our data shows that
friendliness and personality isn’t that important to business recipients.
What does
this mean?

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What should you sound like?
We asked our respondents how they thought
businesses should communicate on various spectrums.
Serious/no-nonsense Humorous/fun38% Neutral 20%42%
Streamlined Detailed24% Neutral 33%43%
Fact & figure-focused Benefit-focused19% Neutral 22%49%
Example-driven Advice-driven20% Neutral 10%70%
6%Professional Friendly15%66% 19% Neutral

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Let’s see some examples
When thinking about marketing content (in this example, an article about big data),
which of these headlines is most compelling to you?
“All in a data’s work”
“Get up close & personal with your data...”
“Put data to work for you”
None of the above (tell us why)
15%
17%
57%
11%
Many respondents chose none of the above and had some interesting things to say:
“Too vague,” “Too generic,” “Too cute,” “What data?”
What we learned is that the more specific you are about what the reader is getting, the better. While promotional messages and
awareness plays could call for broader, more eye-catching headlines, emails and content pieces should be direct—not too cute.
Pay attention to your audience and make note of how your tone should be according to the above data, too.
What does
this mean?

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So we know how to speak—
but how do we segment?
On average, how many target
segments (personas) do you use
for marketing communications?
When you think about target segments, how
many do you think are manageable in order
to see a return on both time and money?
1–2
3–4
5–8
9
Personas are a way of segmenting your audience into relevant groupings. People who think about purchasing versus people
who are ready to purchase, for example. If these two people walked into your office, you would talk to them in a different ways,
wouldn’t you? One needs more hand-holding while the other merely needs to be convinced that they’re about to make the right
decision. Segmentation is definitely worth the time and effort it takes to do it right.
What does
this mean?
3-4 target segments
appear to be the “sweet spot”
for both what organizations
currently use, as well as what
they feel is manageable.
Manufacturing, technology and
advertising/marketing seem
to use personas the most.
56%
24%15%
5%

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Marketing to businesses:
The WHAT

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Trade shows Road shows
Customer
events
Webinars
Direct mail
campaigns
Email
nurturing
programs
Traditional
advertising
Paid search
Paid
influencer
program
Press
releases
My company does not do this and has no plans to
26% 56% 9% 23% 30% 26% 24% 46% 61% 8%
My company does not do this but I think we should
6% 5% 8% 12% 6% 10% 7% 7% 7% 5%
My company does this—and I DO NOT think it’s worth
the time/money involved 17% 10% 11% 12% 21% 11% 13% 14% 15% 10%
My company does this—and I think it’s worth the
time/money involved 42% 10% 66% 44% 34% 48% 45% 28% 13% 69%
My company used to do this but we stopped
9% 11% 7% 9% 10% 6% 10% 6% 5% 8%
WHAT’S WORTH IT—AND WHAT ISN’T?When thinking about the types of marketing activities you
execute as a marketer, how do you feel about the following?
Top activities participants execute that they feel are WORTH the effort: press releases, customer events, email nurturing. Interestingly,
this range includes extremely low effort (press releases) and very high effort (events)—though people seemingly think events are
worth it due to the opportunity to connect with contacts (which you’ll see more evidence of on the following page)
While respondents were in favor of customer events, they felt road shows weren’t worth the added effort, presumably because
customer events are more intimate and can serve to build relationships better. On the subject of influencer programs, a respondent
said in a follow-up interview that “it’s too difficult to measure the impact.”
46% of respondents said their company does not do paid search: This seems like quite a disconnect considering the fact that these
same people said THEY find information via search [see slide 15].
What does
this mean?
Percentage of respondents who agree with the statement

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WHEN IS IN-PERSON
STILL THE WAY TO GO?
Training
Session/keynote led
by someone high-
profile in my company
New business pitch
meeting
Creative concepts
presentation
Product reveal/launch
to press/market
Networking
Respondents who agree that face-to-face isn't necessary
and it's okay to do virtually
27 25 18 24 28 30
Respondents who believe this can be done face-to-face or virtually 108 83 56 93 93 90
Respondents who feel this absolutely needs to be done
face-to-face or live
63 90 124 81 77 78
When thinking about meetings with potential clients
or customers, how do you feel about the following?
Participants feel strongly about being in person/live for new business pitch meetings, although most of these activities skew toward
the “in person.”This feeling is supported on the previous slide which companies expressing their interest in trade shows being worth
the investment.
While we have so much technology at our fingertips now, it seems as though that’s just not the same as meeting in person to
understand whether or not you have chemistry, to bond in a real way, and to build relationships. Choosing a new vendor, partner, etc.,
is a big deal. When you’ll be working with someone and trusting them with your professional success, really knowing them personally
is key—and it becomes a more personal decision than some purchases made outside of the workplace.
What does
this mean?

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No, my audience wouldn’t care about that
Yes, but only if it ties into some deeper-level branding/messaging content
Yes, it’s a great way to ensure that customers/prospects show up
Yes, it’s a great way to reach unknown customers/prospects
No, nobody internally would sign off on that
Can b2b marketers make big
splashes?
37%
25%
25%
8%
6%
Thinking about business-to-business marketing, is it
okay to hold a big event (think 10+% of your annual
budget) whose main purpose is making a big splash
(e.g., a concert, PR stunt)?
While B2C marketers get to make big splashes simply for the sake of awareness—publicity stunts, pop-up events, etc.—most B2B
marketers don’t think they would be able to get away with such a thing unless there were a deeper motivation—some substance to
go with that style.
This makes sense—B2B marketers feel they need to be more conservative, professional, non-nonsense. But they also said awareness
was their biggest problem. So why not take a risk to show what their brand really stands for? Is that reason substantial enough?
What does
this mean?

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So we know that most people sign up for these virtual events knowing full well they won’t be attending. This is in line with what
we tell our clients—expect about half of your registrants to actually attend.
However, does this show a disconnect? Data from additional survey questions shows respondents still feel webinars are a highly
effective way to connect with customers. 44% reported their company does webinars and they feel it’s worth the time/money
involved, while 12% said their company does not do webinars but they feel they should. So is it really worth it to take the time if
people aren’t really going to attend? Or are we okay knowing that most people are sort of cheaters at heart?
In the end, are we all just
cheaters at heart?
56%
44%
Never
Of course
What does
this mean?
Be honest: have you ever signed up for a webinar or event just
to get the post-event follow-up materials like reports, slides,
etc.? Over 50% of respondents admitted to doing just that.

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KEYLEARNINGS

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KEY LEARNINGSIt’s not “just business”—it’s “human to human”
Hitting the right tone in business communications is critical.
It’s how your clients relate to your service, and how they build a
relationship with your brand. Yet, in the B2B world advice on tone
usually amounts to little more than “be professional.” Not helpful.
Technology, like marketing automation tools, can help you not
only control the frequency of communications, it can also help
marketers navigate the complexities of both B2B and B2C.
Lastly, you can’t be everything to everyone:
• Personas matter—keep it manageable
• Know how target audiences interact with content overall… are they more mobile?
• The easier it is to communicate to an audience, the less authentic it can look and email
makes it easy to write someone off (delete)
• Approachable is good—too “friendly” is not.
If you’re disconnected internally, it will show externally.
The top communication
challenges are focused
at the top of the funnel
Top Internal Challenges
1. Budget
2. Calculating ROI
3. Identifying the best channel to
Top External Challenges
1. Awareness/Traffic
2. Quality/Engagement of leads
3. Lead Generation

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THANKSwww.iris-chicago.com