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According to Forbes, ‘personal relationships used to drive B2B sales, but now buyers want convenience and smooth digital channels’. Buying cycles take longer, potentially because collaboration across decision-makers has increased in recent years, but also because buyer demographics are rapidly changing. Decision-makers prefer to research the market themselves, and ask peers for recommendations, before making a purchase. The need for online thought leadership, credibility, and self-service resources has never been greater: and the role of the B2B marketing agency has shifted significantly as a result.
In our ‘best small agency of the year’ award entry, it was really important to us that we reflected just how much we are adjusting client campaigns, and outcomes, to meet the needs of this new buyers market. Wise & Zeal is a company of ex-client side, senior, marketers that work with market leaders to transform processes, programmes, projects, properties and people to deliver greater return on investment from each marketing dollar spent.
Diving more deeply into the data behind our claims, as we prepared our submission, was invaluable in confirming just how successful our campaigns have been for clients. With an average ROI of $181:1, and marketing contribution to pipeline rates as high as 73%, it seems we don’t just ensure our clients reach targets – we actually make sure they smash them. Creativity to make your mark in a crowded market place is also fundamental (and under increasing pressure) as attention spans are reduced; our creative approaches, such as the “Engagement Banking Revolution” campaign, demonstrates our ability to think outside the box AND deliver tangible results as we established the book authors as change makers and thought leaders, and empowered sales to open over 40% of their dark accounts.
Perhaps unusually, we don’t set financial goals for our team. Instead, our success is measured by outcomes for clients and reinforcing the impact of our work, that is always the priority. And the supporting statistics speak for themselves; the average marketing contribution to pipeline (MCtP) in our demand generation programme that we have delivered is 52% (lowest 30%) whilst 73% is the highest MCtP delivered – twice. C-Suite Connections programmes run by us, have opened 136 global dark accounts in 3 months and 100% of returning customers have bought more services.
At the core of Wise & Zeal’s ethos is an unwavering commitment to authenticity. In a world where corporate culture often feels manufactured, Wise & Zeal stands by its principle of creating genuine connections; whether with the team, the client, the buyer or the end-user. We are output focused, building exceptional symbiotic working relationships with clients, and have an excellent repeat client ratio of 100%. We have helped clients recruit experts in-house and continue to engage with partners to develop/improve/adjust processes with transparency – genuinely focused on the best outcome, not the most profitable route. We pride ourselves on anticipating what our customers will need before they know they need it and are ready to respond to deliver the highest impact. The team skill set ensures we excel for our customers, with genuine excitement. We are incredibly proud of our small (but mighty) team.
Being recognised by our peers, in award programmes such as the UK Agency Awards, has become critical in an increasingly competitive market. Independent awards are an endorsement of our hard work, and shine a light on our successes. Wise & Zeal is delighted to be a finalist in 3 categories; Best Small Agency, Best Agency Culture and Best Flexible Working Policy and the team is excited to be part of the awards night in September where we will celebrate all the hard work from a super exciting sector.
