To say that today’s marketing arena is changing is the understatement of the decade. Seemingly every time you blink there’s a new technology that’s primed to create a paradigm shift in how we can market, and how consumers want to be marketed to.
This lightning-fast change is amplified in the B2B space where growth functions have more change, more complexity, and are under more pressure than ever before.
Don’t believe us, take a look at what John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco had to say:
“First, 40% to 50% of the Fortune 500 will not exist in a decade,” he said, joining HPE CEO Antonio Neri in a pre-recorded video for the Discover keynote. “It’s going to be a brutal change. And these terrible events we’re now seeing will actually accelerate that. Probably 60% of the startups won’t exist in a decade and a number of them won’t exist in two to three years. So, it’s a period of time where you either disrupt or you get disrupted.”
It’s a perfect storm of exponential tech advancements and significantly increased expectations from buyers and businesses. Put it all together and now more than ever before there will be a divide between the B2B losers, survivors, and winners. Follow along to find out how to make sure you come out on the other side as one of the winners.
Digital Transformation
In case you’ve been living under a rock, we are firmly ensconced in the age of digital transformation. From IOT and E-commerce to CRM, CDP, and FinTech (all the acronyms!) - for CFOs, there isn’t a field that hasn’t been forever changed.
The roles of CRO, CXO, and CMO are at the forefront of these changes—able to take advantage and claim the biggest wins, or fall behind if they don’t learn and adapt fast enough.
Just look at the advent of RevTech (revenue-generating tech) onto the scene. They’ve expanded, and in some ways complicated, the capabilities of these roles. At the root you also have the explosion of “Big Data” that fuels everything, especially the latest advancements in AI. These changes have seemingly happened overnight, but their effects are here to stay.
So what does this digital/tech transformation mean? It gives marketers tech-powered customer insights that can fuel B2B buyer journeys.
- Now we know who your best prospects and customers are vs past sales-driven relationships. That translates to growing average order value (AOV) and lifetime value (LTV), all while lowering CAC by targeting your best, most profitable customers and prospects.
- Now we know when your best customers are buying at every stage of the sales cycle: early, late, and everything in between.
- Now we know what buying experience they want based on their unique needs, engagement, and role.
While prospects may feel overwhelmed by the constant change resulting in a combo of confusion and complexity (gotta love a little alliterative parlance)—in the end, if they are guided through by experienced marketers they’ll make it out on the other side as happy customers.
Exponential Expectations
Hand-in-hand with digital transformation comes greater customer expectations. All these technological advancements, if used correctly, result in a better buying experience, and they know that. So if you’re not stepping up to the plate, they’re going to pass you by.
B2B buyers expect you to know:
- Who I am: My role, my needs, my pain points
- What I do: My vertical, my industry, my product in market
- When I am: In the market to solve a problem you can solve.
Additionally, there are prospect-specific insights driven by case studies, research, and general team insights. These can be related to the specific industry, product, customer buyer needs, or even the service offering i.e. media-specific challenges/complexities.
Due to all of these, prospects can feel pressure, stress, and as if too much is being asked of them and their team. With the right process, your marketing team can alleviate those maladies across the buying journey, once again turning prospects into happy customers.
What are the winners of tomorrow doing today?
Spoiler alert: They’re giving prospects and customers exactly what they want, sometimes before they even know they want it.
Basically, it’s a lofty way of saying that the top marketers are using the latest tech and data-driven strategies to provide a higher level of engagement to buyers than ever before. What’s the key to doing that you ask? Take a minute to ruminate while we illuminate the possibilities.
FIRST, you have to build digital trust, as opposed to old-school relationship selling. This may seem obvious, but it’s much easier said than done. Customers want to know you’ve got the goods, but they don’t want to ask you to see them. That means you have to meet them on their terms—scrolling on their phone while they’re commuting. Your tools here are social proof, peers, chat, content, POVs, etc.
Once you earn their trust, then you have to prove the promise. What does that mean exactly? Simple. You must show them how customer-centric you really are. You need to show them you know what’s important to them now. Not just new features and functions, but that you’re offering them solutions based on their needs and their problems.
It’s also important to note that most, if not all, of this will be taking place without having ever met the prospect. Their digital experience is more important than ever, and is a significant singular competitive point of differentiation for you. Your sales team’s new role is part guide really. To be helpful without overly “selling.”
SECOND, you have to demonstrate real Accelerated Business Impact (ABI). For customers, this means seeing how quickly effective Account Based Marketing can show results. Leveraging data, data analysts, technology, and technologists we can give you the ammunition you need to show success.
ABI is tied to time, which no one ever seems to have enough of. By implementing the right ABM strategies, we maximize your time and dollars toward profit-making ventures. We know how to get you the quick wins that can help grow marketing spend, and how to best use those dollars for bigger wins.
This is never about running the clock or billable hours. Why? Simply put, it’s because we (BOL) only grow when you (our clients) grow. Your success is literally in our best interest. Your goals are our goals. We want to build long-lasting relationships with our clients, and those come from building strong and effective marketing strategies together.
For us, customer-centric isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a way of life.
What do you need to build digital trust and generate ABI?
Clarity: First we audit. Next we identify the right problems. Then we solve them. Fast. With over two decades of B2B growth, we know how to deliver, and have the track record to prove it.
Consistency: Like we mentioned, we have a proven track record of success. That comes from building, optimizing, and scaling growth over two decades. For context, we’ve been doing this since before iPhones even existed.
Because of this, we were among the first B2B agencies to understand ABI and innovate on ABM.
Confidence: It’s all about ABI. You have to demonstrate weekly incremental efficiencies backed by insights. Together this helps optimize quarterly revenue impact.
From day 1 we have been a tech-first agency. We’ve been able to identify, master, and implement the latest in revenue-optimizing tech for Fortune 1000 companies.
As a prospect you’ll feel at ease, understood, and supported. You’ll have access to the best and brightest minds that help you look good and show wins out of the gate. Together we’ll solve problems, inspire action, and help you get the resources you need to continue to show growth.
How to build buyer trust and prove ABI
Alignment Framework:
First, it starts with our alignment framework. You cannot accelerate without ensuring you have functional alignment (right ICP), buyer alignment (sculpted from a better buyer journey), and tech alignment (data interoperability to drive scale & efficiency). This simple yet powerful framework enables your teams and ours to understand constraints and build programs, campaigns, and tactics that result in future wins near and far.
Process:
With alignment in place, we are able to optimize existing campaigns, content, and channels to maximize efficiency. That allows us to launch new, end-to-end campaigns that drive the greatest performance with the least resources & time (ABM powers ABI)
Technologists:
Here we can help scale efficient business impact, faster. But that’s nothing without proving the impact. By understanding and optimizing tech we can report on vanity and value metrics. That means we can also understand the big picture, how all these campaigns, programs, and tactics support each other. Together this data and these insights combine to deliver ABI.
This isn’t some new-fangled fad. It’s the culmination of processes, approaches, and frameworks to consistently deliver on the ultimate promise.
When looking for a B2B growth marketing agency, try asking the following questions...
- Do you have something like ABI (Accelerated Business Impact)?
- How do you ensure you are getting wins fast?
- What's your term for it?
- What's your process to ensure it?
- Where are your case studies to prove results, in less time?
B2B growth isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s more complicated than ever in a more crowded field than ever before. With the right expertise, measurements, data, intelligence, and of course technology, you can be set up for wins today, tomorrow, and further into the future. All you need to make that happen is the right partner who has a decades-long track record of success. Three guesses as to who we’re talking about. Hint: we literally wrote the article on it.