The shift in information power from the seller to the buyer has had an equally profound effect on the B2B marketing process. Vendors can no longer rely on outbound "push" marketing programmes to generate interest amongst potential buyers - not least because traditional broadcast approaches to marketing are increasingly resented and avoided by their potential prospects.
B2B marketers who embrace Marketing 2.0 are, instead, having to work out how they can get recognised for thought leadership and ensuring they get found by prospects when they realise that they have to start searching for solutions - and on developing tools and programmes that support the buying process.
Marketing’s role has changed. In today’s complex, high-value B2B environments, marketers must be purposefully engaged throughout the revenue cycle, whether in connecting with more of the right sort of prospects, or in creating sales tools and programmes that shorten the sales cycle and increase sales win rates.
We’ve been pleased to work with a growing number of highly successful, B2B marketing and sales organisations, and we’ve identified a handful of initiatives that consistently differentiate the winners from the also-rans:
Today’s winning vendors have invested in deeply understanding their prospect’s buying processes, and identifying how and why they choose to buy. You can find out more here...
Scatter-gun approaches have no place in today’s B2B marketing environment. The smart companies are taking pains to identify their ideal prospects. You can find out more here...
It’s not enough to identify your prospects - you have to identify with the key stakeholders in the buying decision process, and understand what influences their decision-making.
Which people, and which organisations, are most influential in shaping your prospect’s thinking? The key lies in mapping the BuyerSphere that surrounds them. You can find out more here...
Your prospects are increasingly turning to B2B-orientated social media like LinkedIn and Twitter to reserach issues and identify potential solutions. You can't afford not to get involved. You can find out more here...
Most B2B marketing plans make reference to establishing thought leadership. Find out how leading organisations have managed to turn the principle into practice.
What causes your prospects to start searching for solutions? And how can you be sure that they will turn to you for advice? Find out how vendors are turning trigger events to their advantage.
What sets you apart from your competition? Compelling Value Propositions are part of the story - but they need to be tuned to each prospect. You can find out more here...
Smart marketers are creating messages that matter, and which concentrate on the issues that their prospects simply cannot afford to ignore. You can find out more here...