B2B Tech Marketing Execs: How to Optimize Your Budget

“We need to optimize and right-size the budget (or staff) to maximize performance.” 

Where have you heard this lately? 

It is the common mandate CMOs and vice presidents of marketing are hearing in the boardroom as B2B companies address economic uncertainty and increased costs. 

In other words, “do more with less.”

Couple that approach with a labor market experiencing high levels of churn and challenges filling in-house positions, and you can see why 61% of marketing leaders report they lack the in-house capabilities to deliver against their strategy, yet spending on in-house labor is static. (Source: Gartner)

It is that lack of staffing and capabilities that led nearly 8 in 10 B2B tech marketing leaders to increase their reliance on outsourcing to marketing and PR agencies to meet their objectives. (Source: LinkedIn B2B Technology Buyer and Marketer Survey)

In a discussion about where marketers allocate their budget, HubSpot points out that while agencies aren’t cheap, they eliminate many of the challenges of hiring in-house talent, including the time required to hire, train and onboard, plus the costs of salary and benefits, and the management required for a large in-house team. 

“Partnering with a full-service marketing and PR agency gives you access to a team of specialists who may help you hit your goals faster and won’t waste your marketing budget," HubSpot writes. 

But even those marketing leaders who have been outsourcing marketing and PR are looking for ways to become more efficient, which often means finding a new agency partner.

Why B2B marketing execs are shopping around

One way B2B marketing leaders are trimming their outsourcing budgets is to seek out more competitive agency options. 

More than half of B2B tech marketing execs (52%) are shopping around for new agency partners, with nearly 1 in 4 (23%) having already put their agency relationships up for bid, and about 3 in 10 (29%) saying they are currently reassessing/reevaluating their agency partners. (Source: LinkedIn B2B Technology Buyer and Marketer Survey)

While the data doesn’t say “why” this is happening in droves, the marketing leaders I have talked with tell me they are looking to switch firms to reduce agency spend without compromising on deliverables. There is simply a heightened expectation to do more with less. 

Another reason for shopping around for a new agency relates to the same type of burnout that in-house marketers experience. Many marketing execs say they aren’t getting what they need from their current agency or freelance partners because the agency staff is experiencing burnout and turnover, resulting in subpar work and a revolving door of junior staff that disrupts campaigns and diminishes results.

For B2B technology start-ups with venture capital funding, there may be an added challenge of restrictive caps placed on the rates startups can pay agencies. That often means a forced reduced rate for current agency partners, which tends to tarnish the relationship. Or, it forces marketing leaders to shop around for a competitively-priced agency with the expertise, skills and bandwidth to deliver without compromising results. 

At JONES, we have a people-first and people-always policy. We staff our accounts with ample, experienced high-performing team members to ensure they never have to work late or on weekends to get their jobs done and done well. We don’t bait-and-switch because we don’t employ junior staffers. As a result, we have an average client tenure of 8 years. 

I’ve been watching a firm build in public during the last three years. The firm has a founder and one senior team member, alongside 11 or more team members with less than three years of experience. It’s no surprise the firm is experiencing churn. It’s simply impossible to deliver high-quality results without an experienced team doing the work. 

In addition to an experienced team, we take project and account management seriously to ensure we allocate the appropriate resources to our client teams. Why? 

Because I remember when I worked in other agencies (before starting JONES). I regularly worked 70-80 hours a week. It was not sustainable. So, I refuse to put my employees in that situation. I simply won’t do it.  

That’s one of the reasons our team members stay with us for years. 10-12 years. Why? Because we treat them well, respect their work/life balance and give them interesting work.

I believe three things make a real difference: 

1. No junior staffers. 

2. No staff burnout. 

3. No revolving door of team members. 

Why marketing execs are consolidating agencies

Finding a more cost-effective agency partner is not the only change that can make a significant difference in reducing agency expenses. Choosing a full-service marketing and PR agency can replace multiple specialized agencies or freelancers, creating efficiencies in many areas. 

For example, our experience has shown that our clients save approximately 20% (or more) on agency fees by consolidating to our full-service agency. 

Beyond budget, a single full-service agency with the expertise to deliver integrated marketing and PR programs (plus video, design, web development, SEO and more) often delivers higher-quality output in all areas.

By reducing agency overlap and choosing partners that bring integrated capabilities to the table, B2B tech marketing leaders can:  

• Improve brand awareness and message alignment across channels.
• Streamline content development and repurposing.
• Better synchronize campaign launch and content distribution schedules.
• Reduce time spent meeting with and managing multiple teams.

Wouldn’t you prefer to spend your time managing your marketing strategy rather than trying to create cohesion amongst a fleet of agencies?

Our clients tell us that selecting one high-caliber, integrated agency partner that is more competitively priced enabled them to cut expenses while maximizing productivity, output and results. 

Potential for project-based agreements

A third change:  B2B tech marketing execs are shifting away from traditional agency retainer contracts to project-based agreements.  

Rapid changes in the market mean B2B marketing executives need to pivot and redirect resources quickly, which can be difficult to do alongside regular retainer confinements. It appears this could be the new normal. According to Harvard Business Review, the project economy is here and it may be here to stay. 

While most of our long-standing clients continue to operate via retainer agreements, we’ve also seen a trend toward new clients seeking flexibility to work within their leaner budgets. Project-based agreements are one way they’ve done that with great success. 

Two recent projects that have propelled clients through market expansion or growth include:

• Actium Health: JONES stepped in to fill the gaps and create the needed content to bring a new brand to life for this healthcare IT company. Following a content audit to determine the greatest needs and opportunities, JONES provided content development and design for approximately two to five content pieces each month on an ad hoc basis, including product sheets, research reports and infographics. (Read more.) 

• Viiz: A 6-month project included messaging and positioning, a new brand identity and website, and a go-forward marketing plan to support its expansion into the Emergency Services and Customer Care markets. This B2B telecom company is building an IoT-connected network and needed to convey how it is innovating to ensure “smart” technologies can be put to their fullest use — saving time, creating experiences, tracking information and even saving lives.   (Read more.)

Project-based agreements can be a great way for B2B technology brands to find the flexibility needed to achieve efficient growth goals during uncertain economic situations. Projects also enable marketing leaders to test the waters to determine if an agency is the right fit for a longer-term arrangement.

During the past 20 years, JONES has provided branding, marketing and PR strategy to countless B2B tech companies and helped bring hundreds of new technologies and services to market, while executing innumerable integrated campaigns.  

As a full-service agency, we provide all of the capabilities our clients need to execute marketing and PR strategies without duplication of effort or burdensome management.

If you are a VP of marketing, CMO or startup founder trying to maximize your current marketing budget and need support from an agency partner with the expertise to deliver integrated programs that achieve exceptional results, I’d love to talk. Book some time on my calendar to learn more about how we can help. You can access my calendar here.