B2B

A recent survey shows that the right hand seldom knows what the left hand is doing when it comes to melding virtual and in-person B2B events.

Against the backdrop of seismic changes in customer behavior, B2B companies are taking major steps to optimize their marketing assets and cultivate more collaboration among disparate teams who share the same goals.

The pandemic has forced many B2B marketers to reevaluate their overall content marketing strategy, what with buyers’ needs changing at a rapid clip. Amid the last gasps of ‘spray and pray,’ B2B companies seem to be finally moving toward developing more personalized messaging that seeks to solve customers’ problems rather than just provide them with information.

Amid a growing reliance on data, taking a gut check still holds a good deal of value for B2B marketers readying a new advertising or marketing campaign. It’s not a zero-sum game, of course. But as they get better at scrubbing their data and making sure it’s up to date, marketers will have an easier time striking an amicable balance between the data and human intuition.

Most B2B professionals taking part in a recent survey say that building a human connection with their buyers has become more important to closing sales since March 2020, when the pandemic hit. Nevertheless, many B2B marketers continue to struggle with cultivating a personalized approach to getting their message out.

Patti Cocciolo, senior director of global brand marketing at Cisco, says starting the company’s in-house agency, The Hatch, took a “leap of faith.” But the move has proved beneficial for the tech giant’s marketing efforts. The in-house team brings an institutional knowledge of the company to the table while relations with outside agencies are a lot closer and more productive.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) required big banks to reach more small businesses, and those located in underserved communities in particular. The effort has led Chase to significantly expand the company’s products, advertising, and content marketing.

At the height of the pandemic, B2B marketers placed a much bigger emphasis on supporting existing relationships and cultivating lifetime value. As things start to ease up and acquisition-level marketing commands more budget, it’s crucial that marketers not lose the momentum they built up over the past year with their long-term customers.

B2B marketers have been investing more heavily in brand advertising in the past few years, realizing that they need to espouse what they stand for beyond offering competitive prices. At the same time, the pandemic has caused B2B companies to reevaluate their marketing priorities as the top and bottom lines take on new urgency.

Major B2B brands bring several advantages to the market compared to smaller businesses and startups, including brand recognition, significant resources, and longtime relationships with customers and suppliers. But when it comes to leveraging their own data for opportunistic growth — not just incremental performance gains — B2B marketers lag behind their entrepreneurial competitors and could be ceding precious market share.

Call it a feedback loop: Sales reps are under increasing pressure to sell their wares via multiple channels, and B2B marketers need to support these efforts by supplying a steady flow of relevant content for every stage of the buying cycle. At the same time, marketers need to generate revenue regardless of channel, which means steering more and more of their customers to e-commerce platforms.

Despite working from home for the past year, business pros are tapping into mobile apps to do their bidding. With a growing reliance on mobile platforms, buyers are cutting to the chase even quicker than before the pandemic hit, and B2B marketers must respond accordingly.

It’s no longer about sales and marketing alignment per se. It’s about two teams working in tandem to drive revenue and nurture relationships, as the pandemic has provided an opportunity for B2B marketers to steer the relationship in a fundamentally new direction.

A new report explores the “consumption gap,” or the time between when content is requested and the moment it’s opened for consumption, and how this varies according to job title. As B2B buyers become even more elusive, it’s incumbent upon marketers to distribute their content more strategically and strengthen their measurement efforts.

Marketers stress that outbound calls should cater to specific accounts, personas, and/or industries, and they should be integrated within the cadence of email campaigns so that every call is highly relevant. “Spray and pray” has run its course.

Jonathan Copulsky, senior lecturer of marketing at Northwestern University and co-author of an upcoming book on business transformation, says moving to a digital-first strategy requires B2B marketers to employ perpetual change — and realize that success has no finish line.

The pandemic has put pressure on B2B marketers to craft a better customer experience and build more multichannel programming. Experts suggest that the right place to start is with existing customers.

B2B marketers have made little progress in tackling some chronic problems (read: sales-and-marketing alignment) and cultivating digital revenue streams. Could the increase in digital adoption caused by the pandemic help clear some of the logjams and spur an online-first strategy once and for all?

B2B CMOs are much more hopeful about the post-COVID economy than their CEOs, says a recent survey. Cockeyed optimism? More like a sense that the pandemic presents marketers with an opportunity to demonstrate their value to the C-suite and drive better business results.

As B2B marketers prepare for a new set of challenges, they're counting on ramping up their social media channels and virtual events throughout 2021 — and most likely beyond — to steel them for the future.