Viewpoints (9)

Analyst Viewpoint The focus on B2B marketing success has become a significant opportunity to refine the planning, operations and market strategy, enabling performance and agility at a speed and intelligence previously thought impossible. The methods and processes used must be reexamined and should meet the requirements of business continuity as marketing operates in a more virtual and resilient manner. Improvement is always being addressed, but a renewed focus on the brand’s digital experiences and interactions is necessary for success. We assert that by the end of 2023, one-half of organizations will conclude they need to replace existing marketing automation technology for a better digital experience. The reason is that marketing technology today can dynamically and autonomously adapt and operate alongside the buyer’s journey. This transition to focusing on the experience and truly becoming digital is the enlightenment the industry has needed. Marketing will be able to refocus its efforts on a variety of existing and new effort as the ingredients for the new recipe for achieving the outcomes desired by the CMO, marketing department and the entire organization. Marketing organizations, no matter how virtual they operate at any given time, need to embrace the full range of opportunities available to them in the digital environment. Organizations can now bolster their efforts by using customer data for marketing optimization, and by listening to digital demand signals and appropriately responding with personalized content that encourages the buyer to click and engage. These opportunities are vital to supporting interactions with marketing, and inevitably to the sales and, hopefully, the purchasing process. This level of response agility can empower marketing to play a more direct role in the revenue requirements of the organization. The ability to engage new buyers is only one of the requirements for B2B marketing success. Focusing on digital interactions with existing customers and increasing the lifetime value of those interactions requires new, more impactful strategies. Unfortunately, while many organizations have been evolving their account-based marketing (ABM) efforts to focus on these interactions, the energy and investment has not necessarily aligned with sales efforts. We assert that by 2023, one-half of all marketing organizations’ ABM efforts will fail due to not being synchronized with sales. If brought more strategically into the B2B marketing processes and complemented by a level of digital nurturing that leads to a higher value and respect from the buyer, the value of relationship marketing can be achieved. Marketing in B2B has never had a more vibrant opportunity to increase the value of the brand and contribute to the revenue potential and success of the organization. A focus on optimizing marketing must consider how to effectively measure, monitor and collaborate across the team to ensure continuous improvement is being achieved. This optimization is enabled by data science and marketing analytics that contribute to the “closed-loop” behaviors that marketing organizations use to increase engagement. B2B marketing tools are becoming more sophisticated to support closed-loop requirements, including lifecycle marketing that can support product-as-a-service and subscription-based models. These approaches help the organization further monetize the value of their assets today and in the future. The ability to be agile and intelligent in supporting the business is a fundamental part of marketing’s responsibility, and when the marketing organization can achieve this agility based on improved use of data and analytics, the benefits that follow include increased revenue and enhanced buyer and customer satisfaction. CMOs and B2B marketing leaders have a significant opportunity to rebuild or refine the recipe for digital success. We assert that by 2022, one-half of marketing organizations will have transitioned from marketing automation to digital experience marketing that is focused on delivering frictionless interactions across all channels and devices. Marketing should assess its current processes, examine where they need transformation and improvements, and utilize the modern marketing technologies of this decade. Doing so will ensure the resilience needed to operate at the current market pace and showcase the CMO’s dedication to the craft and trade of B2B marketing.

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