••• b2b research
Gartner urges rethink of B2B marketing content
Move away from the ‘more’
In order to engage B2B buyers in a way that overcomes information overload and drives progress to a successful purchase, marketing leaders need to shift their content marketing strategy, according to research from Gartner Inc.
B2B marketers must move away from a model built on “more” (more content = more engagement = more progress). In a world where customers are struggling with too much information rather than not enough, the most successful marketers are focused on providing less information, specifically designed to make buying easier.
During a presentation at the Gartner Sales & Marketing Conference in October, Gartner Vice President Brent Adamson explained how organizations need to focus on “buyer enablement” and developing content that guides customers through critical buying tasks and helps them overcome challenges they encounter throughout the buying process. “Buyer enablement” is defined as the provision of information and/or tools to customers that support the completion of specific buying jobs throughout the purchase process.
“B2B buyers today will reward suppliers who make the purchase process easier,” Adamson said. “Our research shows that customers who receive helpful information that eases the purchase process are three times as likely to buy the bigger, more expensive option, with less regret.”
According to Gartner research, there are two types of buyer enablement:
Prescriptive advice: Help customers understand what steps to take and how to take them. This information should be clear and credible with actionable recommendations specifically designed to help customers overcome buying challenges and complete each specific step along the buying journey.
Practical support: Help customers complete discrete, job-related activities through the purchase process. This information represents the tools customers might use to follow through on the prescriptive advice.
“By focusing on these two types of buyer enablement, marketing can engineer a complete content ecosystem designed to help drive high-value, low-regret deals – and, ultimately, better support sales,” Adamson said.
Shifting the commercial strategy to buyer enablement requires reallocating resources to producing a different kind of content altogether. There is an urgent need for marketers to move their content marketing portfolio away from thought leadership, industry trends and infotainment, which comprise the bulk of today’s content marketing fare, and toward buyer enablement.
To do this, marketing leaders should consider the following to ensure their buyer enablement content meets customers’ needs.
Focus on buying jobs: Ease the buyer purchase process by building buyer enablement content aligned with critical buying jobs and providing either prescriptive advice or practical support.
Enable self-service: Repurpose successful content by identifying pre-existing sources of buyer enablement from functions such as sales or customer service and modifying them for customer self-service.
Constantly update: Build and deepen ongoing understanding of buying needs as they arise by implementing a buyer enablement system and strategy.
Ensure cross-channel consistency: Allow customers to self-serve by providing a consistent set of enablement resources across in-person and digital information channels.
••• cannabis research
One in six Americans is a cannabis consumer
10 percent consume once a month or more
The growth of mainstream cannabis is creating opportunities for brands in a host of categories, from CPG to travel to technology. But making wise decisions about this new market requires a rich understanding of cannabis consumers – and of the diversity of attitudes towards legalization.
Researcher MRI has released results from the first National Cannabis Study, capturing the spectrum of cannabis use across the U.S. The first wave of this study shows that 16 percent of all U.S. adults – over 38 million people – claim to use cannabis, with 10 percent of the total U.S. population consuming at least once a month and 4 percent daily.
The new research – created in collaboration with marketing consultants Miner & Co. Studio and conducted on KnowledgePanel – also shows that, among cannabis consumers: 26 percent (over 10 million people) consume daily; 55 percent are recreational consumers, while 15 percent are medical – and 29 percent report both kinds of use; 19 percent live in the South Atlantic region – tying the Pacific for the highest concentration of cannabis consumers.
The study taps into MRI’s data on aspects of U.S. consumer life, from general buying styles to typical media use to the full array of social attitudes. MRI’s analysis reveals that cannabis consumers are more likely than average to say that they: generally like variety in brands; strive to achieve high social status; like to post reviews online; and like to connect with brands through social networks. In addition, the new research divides the U.S. population into six segments based on their perspective on legalization and views of cannabis.
The National Cannabis Study was conducted using a nationally representative sample of over 3,000 respondents on KnowledgePanel. (Note: The cannabis survey was conducted on KnowledgePanel while it was owned by GfK; the panel has since become the property of Ipsos.) The resulting dataset was fused to MRI’s consumer dataset for profiling purposes and nationwide universe estimates. MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer is based on over 24,000 in-person, in-home interviews each year in both English and Spanish, capturing a range of information on U.S. consumers’ media use, buying habits, lifestyles and attitudes.
••• children research
Study finds kids are overscheduled
Fewer playdates, more time outdoors?
Results from a survey conducted for Montreal-based footwear and apparel manufacturer Kamik indicate a significant decrease in outdoor play among children ages 3-12. At the same time, the survey found that kids are still spending more time playing outside (81 percent play outdoors in their free time) than they are playing on computers and tablets (69 percent).
An overwhelming majority of mothers agreed that their best childhood memories took place outdoors while playing with a friend or a sibling. These memories elicit strong feelings of joy, freedom and a sense of adventure for them (75 percent in America and more than 60 percent in Canada). Ironically, their own children are not having the same experiences in today’s hectic, overscheduled environment.
American and Canadian mothers readily admitted they spent significantly more time engaged in moments of outside free play, defined as unstructured, child-initiated activity that allows kids to develop their imaginations while exploring the world around them, often out of the view and supervision of adults.
American children spend 35 percent less time playing outside freely than their parents did. Sixty-five percent of parents surveyed said they played outside every day during their childhood, while only 30 percent of their children do the same today. Even more alarming, nearly one in five kids today play outside only once a week or less. Toronto showed the highest proportion, with 35 percent of children there playing outside once a week or less.
On average, American children between 3-12 years old participate in five structured activities a week. Overscheduling and the social pressure to keep young people occupied with extracurricular activities is contributing to the decline. In fact, over 80 percent of children in America and 90 percent in Toronto are registered to at least one structured activity per week.
Weather is another leading outdoor play deterrent: 31 percent of parents in America and 18 percent of parents in Canada noted inclement weather as the reason why their children don’t spend more time outside.
The overscheduling is also coming at a cost, literally. Nearly one in three (32 percent) Canadian families agree funding their children’s extracurricular activities is putting a strain on family finances.
A global study commissioned by Kamik surveyed parents of kids ages 3-12 in the U.S., Canada, Germany and Norway to gauge their relationship to outside free play experiences compared with their children and determine the generational differences in youth free play experiences. For the U.S. and Canada survey data compilation, 2,002 women ages 24+ identifying as mothers with children ages 3-12 agreed to take a survey about both their personal play patterns as youth and their children’s current play patterns. The survey was conducted from August 3 to August 16, 2018 by research firm Ipsos on behalf of Kamik.
••• photography research
Premium products propping up global photography market
Smartphones gut demand for basic cameras
According to a study by researcher GfK, the only sector of the global photography market to show revenue growth and increased sales numbers was that of fully-equipped premium models. Global sales from digital cameras came to €3.9 billion in the first half of 2018, a drop of 11 percent compared to the same period last year. The number of items sold also dropped, by 15 percent.
These drop-offs can, in part, be attributed to a particularly strong first half of 2017. The market was driven by new product launches and the exceptional circumstances triggered by the earthquake in Japan in spring 2016 which made for difficulties in delivering image sensors, leading consumers to buy later.
However, the photography industry has been under pressure for years. One challenge is posed by the increased quality of smartphones, meaning there is now barely any demand for traditional, basic digital cameras. The digital camera boom relied on the mass market, from which demand has disappeared. Between 2013 and 2017, global sales of digital cameras with built-in lenses shrank by an average of 30 percent per year.
Compact cameras with larger image sensors and high zoom ratios recently slowed this downward spiral and increased the average price of a compact camera from €148 in 2013 to €240 in the first half of 2018. Global revenues from compact cameras came to just under €1 billion in the first half of 2018, 21 percent below those in the same period in the previous year.
Revenues from interchangeable-lens cameras dropped 8 percent in the first half of 2018 to a little over €3 billion. Within the sector of interchangeable-lens cameras, premium models with 4K video capability and integrated Wi-Fi saw a revenue jump of 90 percent. These premium devices therefore account for approximately 45 percent of revenue within interchangeable-lens cameras.
“Increasing demand for high-end cameras could now slow the downward trend in the photography industry,” says Markus Kick, GfK’s expert in photography and consumer electronics. “However, this can only be achieved using products with the right equipment package. A large sensor on its own is no longer enough to guarantee market success. Manufacturers need to offer cameras sporting capabilities with which users are familiar from their day-to-day interactions with consumer technologies. The top priorities are 4K, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The capabilities of digital cameras must far outweigh those of a smartphone camera to give the photography industry the logical advantage.”
The trend toward high-quality cameras is also evident in the increased significance of retail sales of camera bodies. Almost one in five interchangeable-lens cameras was sold with no lens in the first half of 2018. These cameras sell for over €1,500, a much higher average price than cameras which are sold with a lens included. SLRs and mirrorless cameras are equally ranked in the statistics.
Specialist retailers are benefiting from this trend toward premium products – their share of global revenues has risen to 44 percent. Almost 70 percent of revenues from cameras priced €1,000 or above went to specialist retailers. Almost 30 percent of global revenues from cameras is now generated online, as internet sales continue to grow in significance.
This move toward high-end photography equipment is also evident in lens sales. Lens sales generated over €1 billion in revenue in the first half of 2018. Lenses for mirrorless cameras are particularly popular at the moment, with an increase in revenue of around 25 percent. In the first half of the year, more than 700,000 lenses for mirrorless cameras were sold globally and the average price has increased from €560 to €580 within a year. Fixed focal lengths are in demand and the current offering reflects this: over 80 percent of lenses available for mirrorless cameras have fixed focal lengths.
GfK uses the Retail Panel as a regular source of international point-of-sales data on photography equipment such as cameras, lenses and accessories. This assessment of the global market is based on data on cameras from 54 countries and data on lenses from 29 countries.
••• brand research
Research identifies drivers of ROI for event sponsors
Inspire awe, appeal to the senses
According to Chief Marketer, brands will spend 20.7 percent of their overall 2018 marketing budget on events and experiences – up from 18.7 percent in 2017. As a crowded communications landscape makes it increasingly more difficult to reach customers, marketers are turning to creating experiences that cut through the clutter. New research provides brands some guidance on what drives ROI for experiential marketing efforts.
The study, commissioned by Cincinnati-based experience marketing firm AGAR and conducted by researcher Burke, Inc., shows that “memorable events” are most likely to drive consumers to learn more, feel positively and be inspired to purchase a product or service from the sponsor. The top drivers of memorable events are those that are awe-inspiring, fun, adventuresome, liberating and appealing to the senses. The lowest drivers include: affordability, cause-based, family friendly, accessibility and unexpected.
The research also shows that sponsors benefit significantly from their association with memorable events in three key measures. Of sponsored events, 32 percent remembered the sponsor for the 12-month period following the event. In addition: 57 percent were inclined to learn more; 93 percent felt more positively about the sponsor; and 70 percent were inspired to purchase.
Also of note from the study, memorability is driven by the experience, not the group with whom participants attended the event. In fact, 18 percent of study participants attended events alone.
“Memory-building is most predictive of intentions to learn more about event sponsors, feelings of positivity and interest in purchase – surpassing event satisfaction, likelihood to recommend and likelihood to return as key indicators,” says Burke’s Mark Travers. “This research can help bring needed clarity to experiential marketers. It’s about being purposeful about a real return on investment.”
Burke conducted an online survey for AGAR from June 4 to June 14. Statistical testing was conducted at 95 percent confidence level.