The Evolution of The Marketer in 2023 By Victoria Albert
VP of Marketing

Comparative to the B2C buyer’s journey, the sales cycle (buying process) for B2B has always been more drawn out, less linear, and certainly more complex, particularly given the average number of stakeholders. However, these characteristics have been exasperated by the current economic climate and the readjustment of the tech market since 2020.

Indeed, according to Forrester, buying scenarios involving one to two decision makers have decreased to only 18% of total purchases. The number of buying interactions has also jumped from 17 in 2019 to 27 in 2021, representing a higher probability of roadblocks—particularly if buyer data has become outdated. Whilst the adoption of digital marketing and content creation to suit independent research may have had influence, this mostly indicates greater scrutiny from buyers.

Difficulties from changes in buying attitudes are largely due to the state of the market, resulting in buyers becoming increasingly scrupulous with purchases and demanding of companies to prove the worth of their solutions.

This has resulted in longer sales cycles and therefore more internal pressure on marketers to deliver on influencing buyers and demonstrating value over such an extended time period. Due to this development, the organisational role of marketing as a department must evolve to meet these challenges.

Sales and marketing alignment should be a worst-case scenario as an organisation should be aligned from its inception. However, the fact of the matter is that synchronising teams requires strategy and upkeep, particularly in the case of rapid growth.

Misalignment presents an obstacle for all, but in the case of marketers, it only exacerbates the issue of delivering and demonstrating marketing performance. After all, without the right insights and interdepartmental communication, marketing efforts are unlikely to strike a balance to provide effective enablement for sales teams.

Many companies have realised the importance of marketing in relation to sales, yet have struggled to measure its effectiveness or tie it to revenue. As a result, some organisations have opted to move their marketing teams into their sales divisions in hopes to better understand their impact and tie it to revenue.

A recent Forrester report predicts that some 20% of demand teams will be incorporated into the sales organisation in 2023—hardly a measure of trust in demand teams delivering the performance these organisations need.

Not only does this highlight the impact of poor alignment, but it also puts greater emphasis on marketing performance and the role of the marketing team within an organisation—particularly when it comes to the attribution of quantifiable value for growth and revenue.

This move can be avoided by following the right strategy, as presented below:

It was not until recently that B2B marketing began to depart from its B2C counterpart, subsequently leading to specific strategies, technologies, practices, and metrics for success.

A decade or so ago, the role of marketing was primarily to boost brand awareness with audiences and expand reach. Whilst B2B marketers regularly adopted new and upcoming channels, digital channels did not hold the same dominance as they do today. The infancy of these platforms and their relevant strategies had an impact on performance as marketers aimed to keep pace with their development.

This broader focus, as well as the nature of brand marketing’s objectives, led to internal scrutiny, with many attributing marketing performance and ROI to a clouded form of revenue attribution (a problem that still persists today).

In response to these concerns and to better facilitate the complex buyer’s journey, B2B marketing and its performance metrics shifted for many to an emphasis on lead generation.

Not only did this bring marketing more in line with the sales process, but it also determined the role of B2B content for inbound marketing. This was particularly important to support the influx of independent buyer research.

As a result, content marketing became a powerful strategy due to its potential for high ROI and lead generation. This was in part a consequence of the ability to quickly repurpose content to suit trends and multiple formats with relatively low effort.

The delivery of MQLs highlighted the importance of marketing for B2B, but the dialogue about MQLs and their role in the sales process is ongoing, as companies assess how well they reflect the likelihood of purchase.

The motivations for marketing's current state are evident, even when only discussing its recent evolution.

Now, with the realities of a recession, the need has become apparent for marketers to adopt a holistic approach that combines brand marketing with long-term demand generation outcomes.

Change is particularly pertinent as reduced budgets together with a higher expectation on performance presents quite the challenge. How marketing supports longer sales cycles necessitates an evolution that will impact entire organisations.

Holistic marketing is the most suitable approach for catering to a longer sales cycle and the pressures from other departments on marketing to achieve success.

As holistic marketing aims to consider the entire lifecycle of a brand, the synergy of all departments is essential for producing the best results. Breaking down boundaries begins with internal marketing. After all, acquiring the buy-in of internal stakeholders is just as important as that of external clients in order to work toward common goals.

A critical element of adopting holistic marketing is therefore synchronising all teams on the core value of the business. Reevaluating the legacy of an organisation and its unique offering is tremendously useful in today’s context for setting the foundation for a strategy to competitively position the business.

Teams who stand firmly behind company core values are more likely to deliver performance. Indeed, much in the same way that marketing must account for its role in supporting all other processes, other teams must be aligned to aid the marketing process. This enables organisations to quickly pivot to meet challenges and objectives to stay competitive and generate impactful results.

Improved communication and processes between teams allow marketers to better deliver an optimised and seamless experience across all channels. This is known as integrated marketing and supports a strong and consistent brand image that drives demand outcomes.

Synchronising activity on all channels helps to ensure that all prospective clients and business partners have a shared perception of the brand. This is key to driving continued growth and stronger relationships with audiences by building trust.

For best results, this should be combined with a well-optimised channel mix and an omnichannel marketing strategy. Despite omnichannel marketing requiring more resources and investment, it remains one of the most effective, outcomes-driven approaches.

Whilst not a new concept, holistic marketing and the processes it supports facilitate the implementation of performance marketing, which originated from the need to track marketing value.

Under a holistic approach, performance marketing has an amplified range of metrics for quantifying the value and return on marketing efforts. This expands upon immediate revenue attribution, such as sales revenue, to include long-term drivers such as:

This should also include partner and channel marketing, as well as the general impact and influence of an organisation beyond its clients and teams. Performance marketing with its associated strategies is beneficial for B2B buyers as it provides a long-term focus that allows for a more complex purchasing journey, and time for teams to produce desired outcomes.

With the rise of performance marketing and revenue optimisation, the organisations that will thrive are those led by teams empowered with the right skills. As a result, start by reviewing your teams, upskilling, and hiring where necessary.

Find individuals who are eager to grow and learn as much as they are motivated to innovate and drive your business forward. In terms of hard skills, look for talent who are data-driven and know their way around your tech (or have the ability to be upskilled).

You will want your team to be able to interpret data and use insights to action strategies that drive performance. Ultimately, achieving results requires the right team for the job.

Also referred to as human-to-human marketing (H2H), relationship marketing is a powerful approach that aims to establish stronger emotional connections between clients/prospects and a brand.

The idea is to cultivate loyalty and a more genuine bond rather than interaction only when necessary. This approach is more likely to be appreciated by today’s prospects as they prioritise partnerships with organisations that invest in their clients with personalised experiences.

Relationship marketing is organisation-wide, spanning all departments. Executed correctly, it has the potential to drive demand outcomes by building brand image and contributing to consistent revenue streams—as a result of increased renewals, longer client relationships, and word-of-mouth marketing.

This makes relationship marketing a priority for companies looking to maximise performance to secure ground in today’s competitive market, as loyalty is arguably the most valuable commodity in the face of economic uncertainties.

In this way, this strategy also makes a logical accompaniment to holistic marketing and client obsession (see below).

Measure your team’s performance by encouraging feedback as clients and prospects progress through the buyer’s journey. This could take the form of surveys and questionnaires or by including case studies in deal proposals. Investing in growing and training your client success team is also a must, as they will be responsible for most of the contact with clients.

Both of these tactics serve to make the client feel heard and valued, thereby increasing loyalty.

Ensuring that clients receive the best experience possible is essential for demand performance. Whilst this is reliant on multiple factors, CX plays an important role in boosting client satisfaction.

Delivering impactful CX requires a wealth of data in order to glean the insights necessary for actioning optimisations. Be sure to collect and utilise UX data on user behaviour, preferences, and the areas of most friction. This will allow you to prioritise CX projects without overwhelming your team’s capacity to make impactful change.

Essentially, client obsession is the practice of prioritising client retention and loyalty above obtaining new clients. Not only does this represent savings by cutting down on the amount spent on new acquisitions (CAC)—particularly considering the complexity of the B2B buying cycle—but it also promotes a healthy stream of revenue.

As organisations strive to break competitive ground, innovative CX has the potential to create powerful differentiation that aids positioning and, therefore, retention.

Given the CX skill shortage reported by Forrester (2022), those who succeed in providing the best experience and, therefore, client obsession, will be those who adequately invest in building and upskilling CX teams to innovate in their industry. Without such investment, up to 50% of above-average brands are likely to stagnate with their CX.

However, as with any strategy, it is essential to ensure that development is aligned to solving pain points by collecting regular feedback from clients (in addition to gathering UX data). Demonstrating dedication by actioning feedback to support a seamless experience for clients will not only result in a better experience across the board, but will also increase the likelihood of retention.

The need for better CX and client obsession to drive performance has resulted in the rise of ABX, a combination of ABM and UX/CX best practices to provide buyers with a personalised experience at an account level. Whilst requiring a significant investment, ABX promises to deliver performance far beyond the capability of ABM alone. Success in ABX has the potential to establish stronger relationships with impactful experiences and, therefore, client retention and loyalty as a result.

Building on the strategies explored above, a crucial element of any campaign is the nurturing of prospective buyers to guide them through their buyer’s journey. More often than not, leads are pushed forward to SDRs and BDRs without the requisite nurture, despite the risk.

With buying committees expanding, alongside an ever-complex B2B buying process, nurturing is crucial now more than ever. This includes prospects or accounts, in the case of ABM, that have demonstrated high levels of intent. Prospects must receive nurturing even if they are demonstrating a propensity to buy.

For the best outcomes, this should be as personalised as possible (see ABX) in terms of the type of content shared the platform, as well as the format. Where possible, consider implementing nurturing over all active channels so as to stagger outreach and match the preferences of your target market.

Be sure to regularly audit content to identify opportunities for optimisation. Fuel this with feedback from sales to ensure that teams are equipped with the content perfect for nurturing leads.

The more you invest in nurturing, the more likely that your strategies will gain better results. In short, without nurturing, campaigns in 2023 are unlikely to yield the demand performance necessary for driving the outcomes you need.

Given how little time buyers spend interacting with sales teams (17% of the buyer’s journey, Gartner 2019), it is imperative for marketers to craft a compelling online presence with enough materials to empower buyer research.

Creating a regularly updated body of quality content is the first step for many—particularly given the potential ROI of content marketing and how readily content can be repurposed for multiple channels and formats.

Once generated, it is important to consider developing a strategy commensurate with each channel's performance goals, its unique experiences, and most importantly, buyers’ needs. For many looking to secure performance today, omnichannel marketing is ideal (and required) for adapting quickly.

Indeed, implementing and maintaining an omnichannel presence is essential for ensuring the reach of brand awareness, authority, and image—all contributors to demand performance. Despite the significant investment it requires, omnichannel is the most optimal solution for supporting a fluid, frictionless process for prospective buyers.

Whilst omnichannel refers to all channels, it is crucial for marketers to deploy an optimised channel mix, particularly given the budgetary pressures faced today. After all, the essence of omnichannel is building an experience that is best suited to your audience’s preferences.

Conduct regular audits to ensure that spending is optimised for each channel with the highest performance to maximise the results of your campaigns and therefore, your budgets. On top of spending, be sure to consider the workloads of your teams versus the performance you received per channel.

The greater the accuracy of your channel mix and campaigns, the stronger the buyer experience.

Whilst a long-term focus is important for generating demand, the ability to adopt new practices, strategies, and processes to meet the changing needs of your target market is also crucial. After all, guaranteeing performance means investing in winning strategies and high-performers to maximise the impact of marketing budgets.

Here are my recommendations for staying agile:

ICPs are the foundation for building out strategies to target and drive engagement with buyers. As such, it is imperative to evaluate the accuracy of your ICP, their current needs, challenges, and goals, as well as how you are currently meeting them—particularly in line with market developments.

This should also inform an analysis of your current target accounts and whether they are a good fit, both in terms of your product for their needs, as well as their ability to purchase. Doing so will help you adjust current strategies and optimise spending, alongside measuring general performance.

Actively measuring the results of your strategies and campaigns is essential for determining the value being brought back into the business. Start by determining your goals alongside a shortlist of priority KPIs that support them being met.

Whilst it is crucial to be thorough, be careful not to overcrowd your analysis with too many metrics, as this will likely complicate your process for quantifying performance and actioning optimisations. In addition, schedule reporting and feedback sessions to avoid teams fixating too much on past performance over managing current campaigns. Focus these meetings on a balance of current and older strategies to best inform the creation of new campaigns.

In essence, measuring performance will not only empower your teams to pivot as necessary to secure better outcomes and competitive ground for your organisation, but also to celebrate your wins.

As mentioned in delivering exceptional CX, client obsession is the practice of investing in client retention and loyalty above finding new clients. Whilst expanding your client base is important, effective client obsession represents an opportunity to drive consistent revenue for your business, reducing client acquisition costs.

This is particularly pertinent today, given longer sales cycles, larger buying committees, and the scrutiny of decision makers. Client obsession strategies have the potential to also drive growth from increased awareness, demand outcomes, and loyalty from word-of-mouth marketing.

Creativity has the potential to elevate and differentiate messaging to capture the interest of your buyers. Therefore, approach content creation with a quality over quantity approach.

This will allow you to develop content that leverages impactful insights in a creative manner. After all, your content should establish your brand as industry thought leaders equipped with the experience and knowledge to deliver outcomes.

Start your process by assessing the content of your top competitors to identify opportunities for characterising your message in a unique manner. Of course, all of your creative marketing efforts should be informed by the pain points and preferences of your ICP, including their favorite content formats.

Lastly, be sure to also consider how content can be repurposed for omnichannel marketing strategies, as this will help to maximise the ROI of your content.