SMFE 2016 Research_final

Marketing & Selling Through the Buyer’s Journey

Research Report

2016 Research Report

Smart Marketing for Engineers

2 Smart Marketing for Engineers Marketing & Selling Through the Buyer’s Journey

Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Meet our Expert Panel 3. Methodology & Sample 4. Executive Summary 5. Audience Overview 6. Survey Findings 7. Further Reading


Introduction Marketers in charge of generating awareness and demand from technical audiences continue to grapple with the shift toward online and content marketing and how to implement this approach effectively. To drive marketing ROI, you need to know where and how to shift your resources by understanding the changing behaviors of your prospects, such as how often engineers and scientists seek content for educational purposes vs. purely for purchase decisions, what content they look for, what percent of the buying process occurs online, and when sales should engage. TREW Marketing, with its partners, is committed to providing data that informs marketers on the most effective ways to target highly technical audiences and drive the greatest ROI. With this study, we take a deeper dive into the buyer journey of the engineer and scientist to learn about their behaviors at the top of the funnel during early research, through the consideration phases to the point of purchase decision at the bottom of the funnel. For this study, TREW Marketing partnered with The Linus Group to survey engineers and scientists in North America in industries including medical/biotech, manufacturing, energy, and aerospace/defense. We invited Hamid Ghanadan, founder of The Linus Group, as well as John Hayes, CEO of ENGINEERING.com (a past research partner of TREW) to share their insights on these report findings.


Meet Our Expert Panel Rebecca Geier With 25 years of global marketing experience and named by The Wall Street Journal editors among the Ten Most Innovative Entrepreneurs in America, Rebecca leads the TREW team in building strategic, thoughtful, and sustainable marketing programs for a wide variety of companies. In 2016, Rebecca released her debut book, Smart Marketing for Engineers: An Inbound Marketing Guide to Reaching Technical Audiences. In it, she details the steps to using an inbound marketing methodology to generate awareness and demand in B2B technical markets.

Hamid Ghanadan Hamid Ghanadan is the founder of The Linus Group, a strategic marketing firm focused on experiential marketing for science and healthcare. As a biochemist, he focused his career on understanding how scientists and clinicians make decisions and how to influence them. He is the author of two books: Persuading Scientists and Catalytic Experiences. Hamid is a frequent keynote speaker at many industry events and the wider media stage such as TEDx.

John Hayes John Hayes is CEO of ENGINEERING.com, a digital media company that engages a worldwide community of more than 2 million engineers each month. ENGINEERING.com runs hundreds of campaigns every year to help marketers reach those engineers. John has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon, where he developed advanced data analytic skills. He routinely shares his experiences as a publisher and marketer through his Digital Marketing for Engineers ebook and blog.


Methodology and Sample Methodology Survey recipients were chosen from The Linus Group and TREW Marketing databases. Respondents were sent an email from the respective companies asking to participate in an 8-9 minute survey, with a link to the online survey questionnaire. The survey was further promoted via company e-newsletters, social media, and websites. •  Data was collected in July 2016 •  Incentive: respondents were offered the choice of an Apple Watch,

a drone, or a $500 charitable donation to the Nature Conservancy Sample •  427 technical professionals responded to the survey. This group is

noted as “All Respondents” in the following report, and includes engineers, scientists, academicians, researchers, etc.

•  Of the total 427 respondents, a subset of 73 engineers responded to the survey. This group is noted as “Engineering Respondents” in the following report from industries including manufacturing, energy, aerospace/defense, and automotive.


Executive Summary Engineers and scientists are solving some of the world’s grandest challenges, from medical breakthroughs that improve health and quality of life to discovering new and more affordable sources of energy to improving transportation safety. To do their jobs better, faster and cheaper, they need information they can trust, and products and services they can use. Companies seeking to sell to this highly technical audience must take a unique and thoughtful approach to marketing and selling that places a high bar on accuracy and diversity of content and a level of patience that allows the prospect to give the buying signals before sales engages. The old days of interrupting the prospect are over. The customer is in control, and it behooves vendors to change their marketing and sales tactics to create a win-win for them and their prospect. To do this, they need to invest in a strong online presence, commit to high-quality content along the funnel, develop a pipeline management model that defines shared accountability between marketing and sales, and implement marketing and sales automation to increase speed, intelligence and scale.


Executive Summary Key Research Findings •  Engineers have very little time each week to search for and

consume content •  Most engineers say over 60% of their buying process happens

online •  Over 80% of engineers prefer to research vendor websites

before talking to sales •  Nearly 80% of engineers expect a vendor to thank them for

their interest within 48 hours after completing a web form •  Close to 70% of engineers say they are more likely to do

business with vendors who thank them for their interest and offer related resources

•  60% of engineers said a company’s website has considerable impact - the highest rating possible - on their perceptions


Audience Overview Demographics: Industry

All Respondents

n=427


Audience Overview Demographics: Employee Size

All Respondents

n=427


Audience Overview Demographics: Job Title

All Respondents

n=427


Audience Overview Demographics: Field of Interest/Engineering Discipline

All Respondents

n=406


Engineering Respondents

Audience Overview Demographics: Industry

n=73


Audience Overview Demographics: Employee Size


n=73


Audience Overview Demographics: Job Title


n=73


Audience Overview Demographics: Field of Interest/Engineering Discipline


n=73


Survey Findings


Role in Purchase Decision

I am the sole decision-maker 12%

I make recommendations and someone else makes the decision 16%

I am part of a group that makes the decision 51%

I am the final decision-maker in a group decision 14%

I am not involved i making the purchase decision 7%


The majority of engineers are part of a group that makes purchase decisions.

Q: Which of the following statements best describes your role in purchasing significant products or services (instruments, software, services) for your lab, department or organization?

Hamid: Many decisions are made as a group, especially for significant products or services. Internal influence plays a significant role in decisions. Only 14% of our respondents make final decisions, but clearly they rely heavily on the 51% of respondents who influence those decisions. As marketers, we need to identify champions, but equally as importantly, we need to identify those whose role is to review possible purchases, but who have little to no decision authority to say ‘yes’.

John: Engineers rarely make decisions on their own. As a group, they also tend to have a high aversion to risk. Marketers can influence those engineers in the group by providing highly detailed and accurate technical content, and lots of it.

n=73


Passive Content Consumption Patterns

n=72

1 - 5% 1%

6-10% 15%

11-15% 25%

16-20% 19%

21-25% 14%

26-30% 6%

>30% 21%

Left chart: Roughly what percentage of your total work time do you spend seeking or reading information & content for work?

60% of engineers spend up to 1.6 hrs/week reading content for work. In the best case scenario (>30%), they spend

~3.6 hrs/week reading content for educational purposes.

1 - 5% 14%

6-10% 22%

11-15% 7%

16-20% 10%

21-25% 13%

26-30% 13%

>30% 22%

Right chart: Of your total content consumption time, what proportion is spent exploring/reading content for educational purposes?

n=73

John: Providing content for passive consumption is a great way for marketers to reach a technical audience. Our research indicates that over half of engineers use their smartphones or tablets to access engineering information, often while not at work. To reach engineers on these devices, marketers need to make sure that their content is mobile friendly.


Total Time Per Week Seeking/Reading Content for Work

Total Time Per Week Seeking/Reading Content for Educational Purposes

Rebecca: Engineers are busier than ever, and as marketers we are competing for a small fraction of their time to consume our content. The bar is high so our content must be great. That means it must be accurate, well-designed, and offered in diverse formats with high-quality graphics such as diagrams and application images.


Importance of Passive Content Consumption

All Respondents Engineering Respondents

Q: In your opinion, how important is it to read work-related content that is educational or interesting versus only seeking information that you need (i.e., product information, actively searching for a protocol, etc.)?

Not At All Important 1%

Somewhat Unimportant 2%

Neutral 8%

Somewhat Important 40%

Very Important 49% n=385

Not At All Important 0%

Somewhat Unimportant 3%

Neutral 6%

Somewhat Important 47%

Very Important 44% n=64

Both engineers and scientists believe it is important to read work-related content

for educational purposes.

Hamid: Increasingly, scientists and engineers engage with content through searching for the specific piece of information they seek at the time. During this activity, they do not want distractions. But when they are passively “perusing” or engaging in content for general interest or educational purposes, they are open to finding tangential information that may be of interest. This is the narrow window in which marketing content can be of value to scientists and engineers.

Rebecca: Engineers are life-long learners, and they want to grow their knowledge. The opportunity for marketers is to create great content that engineers choose over the competition. One tactic is to look at the content that comes up in the top search results for keywords you want to get found on, and brainstorm with your SMEs how yours can be better.


More Time for Passive Content


Q: Do you wish you had more time to explore or pursue educational or interesting work-related content?

n=66

Yes 83%

No 12%

The vast majority of engineers wish they had more time to explore work-related

content purely for educational purposes.

Hamid: Passive content consumption is widely seen as the source of inspiration and/or serendipitous discoveries among technical audiences. Many experienced scientists openly admit that the increasing “seek-and-retrieve” content consumption due to online access to content limits their purview.

Rebecca: Engineers need information they can trust, new products and technologies they can use, and trusted services they can employ to do their jobs better, faster and cheaper. Developing trustworthy content along the funnel, with a mix of educational content at the top and moving to more promotional/sales-oriented content as you move through the funnel, is key to attracting engineers along their learning and buyer journey.

n=66


Frequency of Passive Content Consumption


Q: How often do you spend time pursuing educational or interesting work-related content?

I Try to Suppress All Information I’m Not

Actively Seeking 1%

Only When An Interesting Subject Line or Topic Grabs

My Attention

19%

Approximately Once Per Month 7%

Approximately Twice Per Month 7%

Weekly 33%

Once Per Day 20%

Several Times Per Day 13%

I Try to Suppress All Information I’m Not

Actively Seeking 0%

Only When An Interesting Subject Line or Topic Grabs

My Attention

19%

Approximately Once Per Month 8%

Approximately Twice Per Month 8%

Weekly 44%

Once Per Day 14%

Several Times Per Day 9% n=66 n=388

Most engineers and scientists frequently read content passively, but nearly 20% only read

content when a subject line grabs their attention.

Rebecca: Given their limited time, engineers rely heavily on key elements of content such as subject lines, headlines, and images. While we spend much time as marketers on the copy details, we should be disciplined to spend equal time on these critical aspects of our content to drive opens, clicks and engagement. Cost-effective marketing automation software makes techniques like A/B testing for email, landing pages, etc. easy so you can try out different subject lines to get to the best-performing approach.


Top Sources for Educational Content


Q: In thinking about content you read for educational purposes (vs. for specific purchase), where do you usually search for it?

Technical/Scientific Journal Websites 16%*

Supplier Company Websites 13%

Print Technical/Scientific Journals 10%

Email Alerts From Journals 10%

Scientific Social Media Channels 7%

n= ~380

Technical/Scientific Journal Websites 13%*

Supplier Company Websites 12%

LinkedIn (Shared Articles 5%; Groups 5%) 10%

Print Technical/Scientific Journals 8%

Trade Magazine Websites 8%

n= ~70

Websites rank highest in both

groups as the top two sources.

Engineers listed LinkedIn articles and groups as a

combined 3rd source.

Rebecca: Engineers and scientists go to sources they trust to educate themselves, and this starts with journal and supplier websites. As marketers, knowing technical professionals are looking to their suppliers to educate them, make sure you have a healthy library of top-of-the-funnel content that is primarily (80%) educational. This builds trust, and over time, strengthens their consideration of your products and services at the time of purchase.

* Top five choices are listed in each chart. Other answer options included vendor enewsletters, vendor blogs, advertisements, Facebook, Twitter, etc.


Number of E-Newsletter Subscriptions


Q: How many e-newsletters do you subscribe to?

0-1 12%

2-3 38%

4-5 27%

> 6 22% n=388

0-1 15%

2-3 32%

4-5 36%

> 6 17% n=66

Most engineers and scientists subscribe to 2-5 e-newsletters.

John: Engineers crave technical content that is well-presented. The challenge for marketers is to find ways to create and deliver that content. Since engineers read journals, social media and email alerts, many marketers are leveraging those channels with paid editorial and webinars.

Rebecca: In our research, engineers consistently say they value e-newsletters. Email is a valuable and effective tool for marketers to use to nurture leads and gather intelligence about their interests. Use lead scoring, a tool in most marketing automation software, you can measure a lead’s engagement with your e-newsletter, other segmented email marketing, and their activity on your website and other content to “score”, or rank their quality, so the highest qualified leads can immediately be passed to sales to follow-up.


When Do Respondents Want To Talk to Sales?

All Respondents


Q: When you are in the buying process for a significant purchase of a product or service for work, in moving through the research, consideration, and decision stage, which best describes your preference?

I want to talk to a salesperson early in my research 17%*

I want to search online on multiple vendors’ websites and read available information about their

products and services first before talking to sales 81%

n=380

I want to talk to a sales person early in my research 15%*

I want to search online on multiple vendors’ websites and read available information about their

products and services first before talking to sales 83%

n=65

In both groups, over 80% prefer to search on multiple vendors’ websites before talking to sales.

John: These results validate what we’ve all heard - that most of the sales process now happens digitally. The result is that marketers are being tasked to qualify their contacts more fully before passing them to sales. That’s difficult to do, and most industrial marketers struggle to develop good lead nurturing programs.

Rebecca: Engineers don’t want to be bothered when they are doing their research and building consideration. They are in control of where, when and how they search and it is our challenge, and opportunity, as marketers to ensure they find our companies in their search. This is good news for sales and marketing – we can work together to market our high quality content so our target personas find our companies when they are searching. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it requires thoughtful planning and discipline over the long-term.

* A third choice “Other” garnered less than 2% from each respondent group.


Percent of Buyer Journey Online


Q: In thinking about your purchase decision, what percentage of this process occurs online before communicating directly with the vendor company (e.g., visits to their website, email communication, attending a webinar, etc.)?

Less than 50 percent 12%

About 50 percent 28%

>60 percent 21%

>70 percent 19%

>80 percent 20% n=378

Less than 50 percent 6%

About 50 percent 29%

>60 percent 25%

>70 percent 20%

>80 percent 20% n=65

A combined 60 percent spend over 60% of the buying process online.

Even more engineers’ buying process is

online.

Hamid: These findings are highly concordant with the purchase decision cycles from complex sales in other industries (CEB study) as well as The Linus Group’s model for how technical professionals make decisions.

Rebecca: Data up to this point for broader B2B markets has shown that over 60% of the buying process happens online. However, with this study, we now have definitive data specifically for scientists and engineers, and it aligns with the broader market studies. The power has shifted, and our personas are now in control of the buying process. Marketers must shift the majority of their focus to online marketing, and lead the internal culture shift required of sales and business leaders inside their companies.


Number of Pre-Sales Interactions


Q: In thinking about your purchase decision process for a significant product or service purchase for work, how many interactions do you typically have with the vendor before communicating directly with the company (e.g.,

visits to their website, email communication, visiting their trade show booth, attending a webinar, etc.)?

66% of engineers say they have 3-7 interactions with a vendor before communicating with them directly.

1-2 times 30%

3-4 times 50%

5-7 times 16%

8+ times 5% n=64

John: Wow! Over 70% of engineers have 3 or more interactions with a company before connecting with sales. If there was ever a slide that a marketer could take to her boss to justify a higher budget for content marketing, this is it.

Rebecca: To summarize the last three findings, over 80% of engineers want to search multiple vendor’s websites before talking to sales; 65% indicate that over 60% of their buying process happens online; and here, we learn the majority have at least 3 interactions with a vendor before talking to them directly. Content is the currency of marketing today, and creating content for a logically, disciplined audience like engineers requires hard work and the involvement of subject-matter experts inside our companies.


Response Time Preferences


Q: After completing a form on a vendor’s website, how soon do you expect to be contacted by the company to thank you for your interest?

Within 24 Hours 42%

Within 48 Hours 33%

Within 72 Hours (3 days) 15%

Within a Week 6%

I Do Not Expect To Be Contacted 4%

n=376

Within 24 Hours 49%

Within 48 Hours 29%

Within 72 Hours (3 days) 15%

Within a Week 5%

I Do Not Expect To Be Contacted 2%

n=65

A combined 75% expect to be

contacted in 48 hrs.

Nearly 50% of engineers expect to be

contacted in 24 hrs.

Rebecca: This is very important for marketers and sellers to understand. Scientists and engineers have high expectations of vendors to acknowledge their interest. As your traffic and leads grow, however, this becomes difficult to do manually. This is another area where marketing automation software brings efficiency where pre-written emails are triggered to send to leads at the designated time you specify based on actions they took on your website.


The Power of Thank You

Q: After you’ve completed a lead form on a vendor’s website, how much more likely are you to do business with them if they thank you for your interest and offer further related resources?

Nearly 70% of engineers say they are more likely to do business with vendors who thank them for their interest and offer

related resources.

Much More Likely 23%

Likely 45%

No Opinion 31%

Somewhat Unlikely 2%

Much Less Likely 0%


Rebecca: Our parents taught us it was good manners to say “Thank You.” Now we know, it’s not just good manners, it’s a competitive edge. Engineers don’t want to be bothered during the early phase of research, based on earlier findings. However, once they engage with our companies by completing a lead form, attending a webinar, or interacting in some other public way, they expect to be acknowledged in a timely manner, thanked for their interest, and offered further information as they continue their buyer journey toward purchase decision. If your competitors are doing this, and you’re not, it could be the difference between your sales team marking the opportunity Closed-Won or Closed-Lost.

n=65


Communication Preference


Q: When a vendor contacts you to thank you for your interest and offer further, related resources, do you prefer to be contacted by phone or email?

Overwhelmingly, engineers prefer vendors contact them via email to

thank them for their interest and offer related resources.

.

Phone call 14%

Email 75%

No preference 11% n=65

Hamid: We see this as a way for prospects to continue keeping the company at a safe distance, as email is less intrusive or personal a contact.

John: Marketers can make a big mistake with their follow up emails if they try to rush the sales process by, for example, making a sales offer too soon. Engineers are very deliberate in their purchase decisions, so offering more information is usually the right approach until you have had a clear buying signal, such as downloading a pricing guide.


Impact of Your Website on Prospects’ Perceptions

Q: What impact does a company's website have on your perception of them as a credible, technically competent vendor?

Hamid: The website is the single most critical asset for technical companies, and will continue to become considerably more important for companies as scientists and engineers continue pulling themselves further away from having personal contact with companies.

The majority of engineers - 61% - said a company’s website has a considerable impact on their perceptions of

them as a credible, technically competent vendor.


NO Impact 3%

SLIGHT Impact 17%

SOME Impact 39%

CONSIDERABLE Impact 41%

NO Impact 3%

SLIGHT Impact 17%

SOME Impact 19%

CONSIDERABLE Impact 61%

Rebecca: The most important marketing investment you can make is your website. It has great influence across the buyer journey, from early brand perception to strengthening consideration as your visitors dive deeper to serving as reinforcement during the final purchase decision. It is like a 24/7/365 employee who is always ready to communicate your brand value and generate leads to fill your pipeline.

n=374 n=64


Number of Webcasts Attended

John: Tons of marketers (OK, we didn’t weigh them) are now using webinars as a way to get their experts in front of an engineering audience. Your engineer prospects attend webinars because they trust vendor engineers to understand their applications and tell them what they need to know.

Q: How many webcasts or webinars have you attended within the last three months?

Most engineers have attended up to 2 webinars in the past 3 months.


0 16%

1-2 47%

3-4 23%

> 5 14% n=64

Rebecca: Webcasts are a valuable middle- and bottom-of-the-funnel content type. They can be done live to draw in prospects at a specific time and day as well as recorded for use in ongoing lead generation and nurturing. With today’s affordable technology, webinars can be done on a tight budget. However, success requires highly valuable content, prepared speakers, and a solid pre- and post-webinar communication to drive attendance and engage the audience following. To take full advantage of the investment, gather intelligence with questions at registration, polling during the event, and a brief post-webinar survey.


Content Types You Want More Vendors to Offer

Hamid: While these data are concordant with prior studies with scientific and engineering audiences’ stated desire for technical information (such as case studies, application notes or white papers), this type of content is only effective in the middle or end-stages of their decision-making cycles, when they are actively seeking and comparing solutions between multiple vendors. If the company desires to attract audiences earlier in the decision-making cycle in order to influence and shape their thinking, more emotionally-charged mediums for capturing attention are far more effective.

Q: What type of content do you wish more of your vendor companies provided? (Select the top 3 choices)

John: Our research has shown that content has to be technical to be satisfying to engineers. The bad news is that only other engineers can write this kind of content, and not many of them like to write. It’s no wonder that marketers find creating content to be one of their biggest challenges, leading them to pay for editorial to get their stories told.


Engineers want vendors to offer more white papers, case studies webcasts and videos to

their content libraries.


Further Reading @ trewmarketing.com/SMFEResearchFall2016

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SMFE 2016 Research_final