Don't look back in anger. 10 years of game changers in B2B marketing

As I am sure it is for many of you, every December I am usually asked to pull together my predictions for 20XX (insert the year) and this is generally no easy task. I mean, in marketing how much really changes in 12 months? A few years ago, when asked for my predictions I responded with, “this year, why don’t we add a section that reviews last years predictions and see how accurate they were?”. The response was concise. ‘Richard, no one is interested in how accurate last years predictions were, they want something controversial for the coming year that will be picked up by the press”. That put me in my place and also taught me a life lesson about PR.

As a historian, or so my degree certificate states, I can’t help thinking that there has to be some benefit in looking at the past to help us better understand the present and prepare for the future. So as an antidote to the endless New Year predictions, and as we are fast approaching midsummer, I thought it is time to right that wrong.

I posed the question “what is the biggest game changer in B2B marketing in the last 10 years” to my colleagues on the DMA’s B2B Council, and I was not disappointed. The results are part-surprising, part-intriguing and certainly interrelated. One thing I can confirm, they would not have matched my predictions back in 2009.

What has most changed in B2B marketing?

The Role

The role of B2B marketing and B2B marketers has changed dramatically over the last decade. Traditionally B2B brands were built as ‘sales’ organisations with marketing seen as a ‘back office’ service. Today, this has changed with marketing now being brought into the strategic functions within the business. This has been driven by marketing becoming more commercially credible, with marketing leaders becoming accountable and responsible for more than just ‘brochures and brollies’, as one colleague put it. B2B marketers have had to become story-tellers, not just outwardly to customers and prospects, but internally to Sales, Finance, Compliance, Legal, the Board.

The Technology

Without a doubt, technology has had a huge impact on marketing over the last decade. Technology has moved from enabling to empowering what we do. Today it has given us the ability to create, segment and personalise campaigns and experiences in a timely manner - even real-time - and across multiple channels like never before. Our marketing departments are now bursting at the seams with tools and technology, from Marketing Automation, Email Service Providers through to Account-Based Marketing platforms. In some cases, not all advances reduce complexity!

The Big G

Nothing sums up the impact of technology on B2B marketing more than one company. Google. Search, in all its forms, is now a foundational part of all B2B marketing. Cost effective and extensive analytics for all business has transformed our understanding of on-site visitors and the huge educational drive to upskill marketers in all things digital. And perhaps most importantly, it has given unprecedented access to B2B buyers.

The Buyers

However, perhaps the biggest game changer of all has been the B2B buyers themselves. Admittedly, enabled by technology, the buyer is now truly in control. Buyers now lead the sales (or should I say buying) cycle, a fact that has forced marketers to change. Marketers have to cope with buyers who have access to all the information they could ever want at the click of a button, or a whisper into a speaker, at any time of day, and all of them demanding an increasingly personalised experience. It is now a complex world for B2B marketers.

The Speed

All the above is happening at an ever increasing speed.
We can find things faster (Google); We can access things faster (mobile); We can consume things faster (shorter attention spans, quicker consumption, micro-attention); We can speed up customer journeys (targeting, personalisation, 'live chats'...); We can build solutions to meet increasing expectations quicker (the last best digital experience you had is the expectation for all future experiences); We can process things faster (the provision of answers quicker, with more insight, based on more information that's more readily available). This is for both buyers and marketers.

The Close

It’s been a crazy decade driven by a ‘cocktail of killer game-changers’. What will the next 10 years bring? Watch out for my predictions in a few months time!

The Thanks

Huge thanks to my fellow DMA B2B Council members for the insights and opinions they shared.

Please note, no predictions were hurt in the writing of this blog!