The B2B buyer journey & marketing’s big plays
When it comes to B2B marketing I have way too many hills I’m prepared to die on.
And none more so than when I hear someone say that marketing is no longer working for them. Or worse, that sales needs to get involved earlier in the sales process and/or there’s no longer a need to invest so much in marketing.
Since most B2B tech companies invest the greater proportion of their marketing spend on lead gen, this usually means that lead gen done the way it has always been done - linearly filling the sales funnel in readiness for sales to pick up the baton - is no longer delivering a ROI.
What is triggering this disillusionment in marketing?
I’m sensing a growing disconnect between the general acknowledgement that the B2B buyer journey has transformed enormously over the past decade and the equally pressing need for companies to respond by shaking up the way they go to market.
And the usual first obvious symptoms of a commercial approach being out of synch with the way buyers are buying come to the surface in observations like:
‘marketing isn’t generating the quality/quantity of leads any more’
‘our sales team need marketing to create more collateral’
It’s not new for commercial leadership to respond to a fall in pipeline quality or quantity by throwing more resources at sales whilst reducing marketing investment.
However, whilst I appreciate that cutting marketing activity is a sure-fire way of reducing costs, how do we know what marketing to cut? Or, more importantly, what marketing we need to start or do more of?
And so we come to the hill I am willing to die on; Marketing really does work!
At a time when the B2B Buyer Journey is increasingly happening online, I would further argue that companies need marketing more than ever. The challenge is that not all marketing is made equally. Cut the wrong thing, or fail to invest in the right strategies, and you risk a deleterious impact on your commercial targets over the medium and longer term.
Improving marketing outcomes requires a multi-factorial approach – and a greater understanding of both marketing and the evolution of the B2B buyer journey.
The changing B2B buyer journey
The B2B buyer journey is the process your buyer takes from evaluation to purchasing your product or service. It’s a process that, due to digitisation, no longer happens linearly from awareness, interest, desire and purchase, with clearcut roles for marketing and for sales.
Instead, it has become much more complex, messy and takes longer as buyers conduct more research online and need to process more information than ever before. So, what are we seeing?
With more information than ever at their fingertips, B2B customers are now in control of the sales process;
A greater number of stakeholders are now involved in the purchasing decision process. According to Gartner, the average B2B purchasing process involves up to 20 stakeholders!
Buyers are increasingly turning to online user forums and other third-party online sources that are less accessible to vendors. Commonly called the ‘dark funnel’ or ‘dark social’, these resources create blind spots in the buyer journey Gartner cites that up to 50% of the buyer process is now invisible;
As trust in digital channels grows, B2B buyers are opting for convenience and smooth digital channels over personal sales relationships. McKinsey observes that this has resulted in a 250% increase in B2B mobile app ordering since before the pandemic.
The sales process now begins way BEFORE your buyers get in touch or speak with your sales team! Gartner found that only 17% of their total buying time is spent talking to a sales person!
Marketing’s big plays
In response to these changes, there is a strong argument that there is a greater role for marketing. A role that is more integrated with sales - as well as the wider go-to-marketing plan. The list of how and where marketing is involved is long and varies from company to company and plan to plan. However, here are where I see some of marketing’s big plays:
1. Creating competitive advantage
You are not operating in a vacuum and your buyer has a lot of choice. As Patrick Campbell so eloquently states in his Competitive Research Playbook, the days of ‘building a 10x better product isn’t possible anymore’. As commercial leaders we therefore need to accept and respond to the fact that, in the absence of us creating monopolies like the next Google or Facebook, ‘competition is permanent’.
2. Standing out from the crowd
As I covered above, B2B buyers typically consider five different software providers before landing on their final purchasing decision. You need to research what your market is looking for, really getting under the skin of what they need and then working hard to position your product or service by tapping into their pain points to ensure you stand out - and make that list. Remember, they are likely to make this list WITHOUT speaking with you!
3. Recognising content is king
If we take the total number of decision makers in the typical B2B buying process, with each independently scouring online for five to six content pieces to bring to the table, we need to create - and disseminate - a lot of content! Sales and marketing need to collaborate closely as a single revenue team to ensure no stone is left unturned in the creation of impactful content for each stage of the buyer process, for each stakeholder in the buying process.
4. Becoming a thought leader
One-third of businesses surveyed seek advice from industry analysts and experts according to Gartner. Companies who position themselves as thought leaders, strategic partners and/or trusted advisors, therefore, have a clear competitive advantage by being in a prime position to help buyers make more informed decisions.
5. Hunting your audience hangouts
A Bain & Co. survey of over 1,200 B2B customers found that more than 80% of B2B buyers have a shortlist of vendors in mind before they even start researching potential solutions— and 90% of them will buy from their initial list.
Your sales and marketing teams need to work together to ensure that your company’s name makes these lists. You need to know where your buyers are hanging out digitally, uncover and understand your audience’s sources of influence - and be able to tap into these and educate them.
Conclusion
To tap into today’s B2B buyer journey we need MORE not LESS marketing investment.
And there needs to be much greater collaboration.
Firstly, between your sales and marketing teams and, secondly, between your company and your buyers as you are viewed as educator and trusted advisor. This approach will help build a powerful competitive advantage by connecting your brand even more closely with buyers, enabling you to offer differentiated experiences that match new demands.
As Patrick Campbell says: ‘Your entire mission as an operator is to understand your customer and the market that seeks them as a customer better than anyone else’. If you haven’t invested in the marketing resource, expertise and focus to embed this at the heart of your commercial strategy, your sales team will struggle to do this on their own. And, rest assured, that your most potent and successful competitors have likely figured this out already!
Sources
B2B Buying: How Top CSOs and CMOs Optimize the Journey
