Turn your B2B marketing campaigns into the Best-in-Class with the SPOTONVISION Maturity Model

Do you want to take your marketing campaigns to the next level? SPOTONVISION introduces a way to help B2B marketers understand their pitfalls and strengths. Our maturity model is a tool to measure your maturity when it comes to B2B marketing campaigns and identify the areas in which you can grow. Familiarise yourself with our model using the B2B Campaign Maturity Scan or Checklist. Or contact us directly for more information.

By using the SPOTONVISION Maturity Model, you can discover where you stand as a marketer or marketing team. It will also give you insights into possible next steps and help you on your way to become more successful in B2B marketing campaigns.

In this article, you will find out how our maturity model can help you! First, we will take you through the different stages of maturity of a B2B campaign and its most crucial ingredients. We’ll also tell you more about the B2B Campaign Maturity Scan and Checklist mentioned above and how to improve your B2B marketing campaigns.

Jump to:

• Ingredients for successful B2B marketing campaigns
• Stages of maturity
• Scan and Checklist: Which stage of maturity are you in?
• How to use a maturity model to upgrade your B2B marketing campaigns
• Want to take a sneak-peek at how others are performing in our 2022 report, click here!

By adopting our maturity model you can make your B2B campaigns best-in-class. But what is best-in-class? A best-in-class B2B marketer contributes visibly to the business. They know how to find and engage their target audience like no other and make smart use of both data and marketing technology. Successful marketing is not one-dimensional. It is not just about having a strategy in place or acquiring marketing technology. To be successful, you need to have much more set in order.

And far from everyone has that! Sometimes routines creep into your work, you have a certain way of rolling out campaigns, and you’ve been doing it that way for years. Or, you’ve never actually taken the time to properly map out your buyer or customer. Somewhere inside, you feel that there are blind spots hidden in your marketing.

Ingredients for successful B2B marketing campaigns

A lot is involved when it comes to effective lead generation. The pillars of Strategy, Campaigns, Technology and the collaboration between Sales and Marketing all influence the success of your organisation, making them the four most important pillars.

Strategy

Your strategy is the basis for all your marketing activities, that’s where it all starts. What do you want to achieve with your marketing? What is the focus in the coming quarters? And, how do you take plans to execution?

The foundation for any B2B marketing strategy is choosing your target audience. What does the DMU (Decision Making Unit) look like within your target accounts? And which persona within the DMU is most attractive for you to set up campaigns for?

Next, it is important to gain insights from your buyer. An operations manager has different concerns than an end user, or the purchasing department. Adapt your strategy to the goals, challenges and information needs of your buyer persona.

Campaigns

Campaign management covers a wide area. With campaigns, you have an on- and offline presence. In addition, content, planning and channels are crucial. Working account-based is also important. Personalising content and deploying multiple channels are best-practice.

Content personalisation, despite many assumptions, does not necessarily involve complicated marketing technologies. For example, you can already personalise by personally advising customers which of your report chapters are relevant to them.

You can read all about content personalisation in this blog. Or, find more tips on account-based marketing campaigns.

Marketing technology

The world around us is changing at lightning speed and especially when it comes to technology. With this change, data is the new gold and everything is digital. Marketing technology makes your marketing truly measurable.

Several factors play a role when considering a tool. These include your organisation size and budget, your lead management process, integration with CRM systems, and your marketing and sales processes. This blog will help you on your way.

In addition, topics such as artificial intelligence and marketing automation are growing in popularity. They’re not mere hypes, but developments that can make your life easier as a marketer, provided they are implemented correctly.

Sales & Marketing alignment

Both contribute to the success of the organisation. Sales and Marketing alignment is about an aligned lead process and continuous feedback on the quality of the funnel. Because how do you accomplish working together to captivate and bind customers?

After all, the degree of cooperation between Marketing and Sales distinguishes a ‘Starter’ from a ‘Best-in-Class’. To what extent have you already set joint goals with Sales? And is a weekly update call already scheduled? SPOTONVISION has 5 tips for a great alignment for you.

Stages of maturity

Based on these ingredients, you can be placed in one of the following stages of maturity. Stage 1: Starter, 2: Practitioner, 3: Advanced, or stage 4: Best-in-Class.

Level 1: Starter

The ‘Starter’ has some elements in place, but without a strategy and coherent content. In addition, campaigns are not based on buyer insights and data is not secured. Results are occasionally measured. No clear agreements have yet been made between Marketing and Sales on lead distribution and quality.

Level 2: Practitioner

As a ‘Practitioner’, you are on the right track. You partly have your strategy and content in order. There are few or no buyer insights, or you don’t yet have your promotion or systems in place. Perhaps there is one overall lead generation campaign running. This campaign is not yet differentiated by theme or proposition.

Level 3: Advanced

You are ‘Advanced’ and your marketing is in the works. Your strategy, content and promotion are in order.  CRM and marketing automation are now integrated. Several campaigns are up and running, and there is insight into conversion through the entire funnel (from promotion, to MQL to opportunity to deal). Marketing and Sales have clear agreements and know what to expect from each other.

Level 4: Best-in-Class

You are ‘Best-in-Class’ and your marketing activities produce visible results. You know better than anyone how to find and engage your target group. Moreover, you use marketing technology and can automatically respond to your buyer’s behaviour with dynamic campaigns. Marketing and Sales handle a seamless lead process.

Scan and Checklist: What stage of maturity are you in?

We at SPOTONVISION offer two tools to get acquainted with our maturity model: the B2B Campaign Maturity Scan and Checklist. These will give you an idea of your maturity stage!

In our interactive checklist, you can tick the boxes that apply to you. For example, in the Strategy dimension, one of the options is ‘gain insights into the buyer and buyer journey’. If you are already doing that, you are already at Practitioner level. If your marketing technology is linked to CRM, you are already approaching the Advanced level in martech.

Would you instead answer questions and get tips on how to become best-in-class? For that, we have developed our marketing maturity scan. It gives you a quick insight into where you stand and the next steps to move up a level.  The scan makes clear what level you are at with your marketing campaigns. You will also get tips and ideas for enriching your B2B campaigns and making them even more successful.

How to use a maturity model to upgrade your B2B marketing campaigns

Maturity model for B2B marketing campaigns

SPOTONVISION’s maturity model is based on years of experience and collaboration with major B2B companies. These include Cyclomedia, Elsevier, Salesforce and T-Mobile. The model helps B2B marketers and their teams understand the path to the best B2B campaigns: campaigns that convert and generate results.

How do you use a marketing maturity model?

Bas Brinkman, Corporate Marketing Manager at Cyclomedia, uses maturity models to show his team what level the company is at, and how they can grow to the next:

“A maturity model is a guide to improve our marketing actions.”

According to Bas, the advantage of a model is that it helps you prioritise tasks. Moreover, you better understand what it takes to increase maturity in a particular area.

Start with a self-assessment

Working with a maturity model usually starts with a self-assessment. Each question of the scan shows what level you are at when it comes to your B2B marketing campaigns for each of the four dimensions Strategy, Campaigns, Marketing Technology and Sales & Marketing Alignment. Once you know your level, you will know which capabilities you need to develop on. In addition, you will learn what actions you need to take to grow. 

Get to work

Once you know what you need to focus on, you can get started with new ways of working. Best practice is to use the model and review your progress every six months. Keeping your progress up-to-date and visible will continuously motivate your team.

Get to know our maturity model using the B2B Campaign Maturity Scan or Checklist. Or contact us directly for more information on what the SPOTONVISION B2B Campaign Maturity Model can offer you!