At a time when technology is raining down and radically changing the business landscape, B2B marketing is hiding under an umbrella.
We need to get wet and get in the game. We need to lean far out over the carousel horse and grab the ring.
Here are foundational areas where our thinking, testing and effort can yield big dividends — for us and the companies we serve.
What’s our goal?
We all need to be aligned on either revenue or profit.
- Revenue is a short-term, incomplete metric.
- Profit is the long-term metric I’m signing up for. That’s the future.
Most investment right now goes to producing revenue. Here’s one example.
Whether for sales or CX, commissions are paid on the transaction. That’s short-term thinking. Only rewarding transactions incentivizes short-term thinking in the people responsible for nurturing the relationship.
We need to measure and reward both perspective and innovation. Profit is generated by creating happier customers who stay longer and buy more. Customer lifetime value (CLV) is what we should invest in.
Dig deeper: Driving customer growth with value-based B2B marketing
Are we optimally organized?
Let’s evolve into an organization focused on profitability, structured around increasing customer lifetime value.
You can see we aren’t doing that in the names of departments’ names. They’re rudimentary and feel inconsistent with a customer focus.
To customers, “marketing” is a label with no specific value. The label “sales” may even make you wince. (“Please hold while I transfer you to sales.”)
Having separate sales and marketing departments is an old and inefficient way to operate. Two siloed departments impede evolution.
B2B is personal — it always has been and always will be. The personal touch is the best way to generate trust and trust is everything to a buyer.
The best salespeople are innovative marketers. The best marketers sell every day of their lives.
Your high-value prospects want empathy, commitment and ongoing investment in their success. Long-term relationships require continuity, and that is personal, too.
I’ll never forget what a CEO said when I asked the primary value provided by a vendor. The answer: “Our salesman. He is part of our team. He knows what we need and goes and gets it.”
Then why is onboarding a new customer a series of hand-offs? Each time a customer is sent to someone else, that person must start the relationship from scratch. We need is a single point of responsibility from birth to Earth.
How are we going to market?
It makes sense for ideal customer profile (ICP) to drive prospecting. Despite that many companies, especially new ones, use wide-net marketing tactics. New companies are under pressure to get new logos and show some numbers. However, many converted prospects are low-value, producing less revenue, costing more to maintain and churning faster.
The result is a treadmill — you’re expending much effort but not going anywhere.
Dig deeper: How B2B marketing is becoming a strategic growth driver
How does marketing become a stronger partner in martech?
Frans Riemersma, founder of MartechTribe, believes we are entering the golden age of marketing operations but that technology alone cannot solve all the problems. I agree. This is our ticket to greater impact and greater career longevity.
Realizing this golden age requires strategic planning, collaboration and adaptability from marketing and martech. We need to be strong partners who bring our expertise to the table. Together, we must find the best use cases and determine when and where human involvement is required.
We must focus our influence where it yields the most significant return: composability and strategic use of data — both tailor-made for our strengths.
Composability
Increasingly, technology, including agentic AI, will be composable — like putting Legos together. Marketing no longer needs other people build the tech it needs. It can be the artchitect and builder of customer experience.
Strategic use of data
We’ve barely scratched the surface of what martech can teach us — because we’re not asking enough questions. And that’s likely because we don’t know enough. The first step is mastering our new tools. Change is hard, but we’re not there. Not even close.
Will marketing survive?
If reengineering marketing for greater relevance and impact doesn’t fire you up, maybe survival will. AI is eyeing marketing and licking its chops. Marketing and the creative arts are at P(doom) max unless we dive in, get to work and start playing to win.
The human touch brings it all home. No technology can replace it. However, too many corporations will settle for what AI thinks is right. Speed, cost and scalability are pretty convincing. It’ll be “good enough.”
I say no, it isn’t. If we put our heads together, we can build and prove it. And if not, AI will eat our lives. Colleagues, we do not have to set the table.
Dig deeper: The hard truth about what AI will do to GTM
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