My tastiest takeaways from B2BMX.
I recently headed to Scottsdale, AZ to join analysts, authors, industry experts, and influencers at B2B Marketing Exchange (B2BMX)―the education and networking event for tech-enabled marketers.
Building effective long-term strategies – especially given economic uncertainties is easier said than done, so I was excited to hear about the latest marketing trends and best practices, to gauge how they align with what MOI is doing.
Much of the event focused on efficiency and how B2B marketers should be smarter about their audience, tech, and strategies.
And content.
There was a much larger focus on content than I was expecting, but it served as a great reminder that we have to think about our go-to-market approach through our customers’ eyes and how content satisfies those needs.
Here’s what I took away from my three days in Arizona.
Lean on your data to develop your audiences.
Many of the speakers talked about the importance of marketers knowing their best customers, and why we should be using data to inform the buyer persona, specifically the importance of:
- knowing our existing customers
- analyzing closed/won deals and average revenue, per account
- gathering basic firmographics (at a minimum)
- understanding the buyers who influence opportunities
- evaluating the common denominators across accounts
- and collaborating with sales to ensure the quantity and quality of data matches.
This data should fuel the systems that enhance prospecting efficiency. And, based on insights, we should be able to identify the activities they tend to engage with, and understand how we can do more of them. If there are any gaps in our customer database, using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator and/or Zoom Info supplements our data.
To increase efficiency and returns on our marketing spend, we shouldn’t group all our prospects (e.g. “CSuite” isn’t a persona). Instead, we should consider different subsets when developing audiences and prioritizing them based on their role in the buying committee or group, their pain points, their consuption behaviors.:
Marketers should be prepared to play ‘paparazzi’―and get comfortable with omnichannel marketing that’s present at every touchpoint―while keeping entry-to-engage levels low.
Increase the impact of your content by asking, what terrifies me?
I came away with a lot of handy tips for boosting the value of content, but this one really stood out for me: imagine being my own customer. What terrifies me?
Typically, marketers focus too much on us in our content, and not enough on buyer empathy. So, when creating content that helps drive buyers along their journey, we should think more about how what we say puts them at ease.
Ask what value our content provides our customers, and don’t focus solely on the story we’re telling about our brand or those we represent.
Ineffective or limited content won’t cut it, today. Remember, people are going to come across it with or without you. And with between 17-27 buying interactions and 13 pieces of content along the average buyer journey, we all have a responsibility not to miss connection opportunities.
Focus on getting the best from your technology.
We also heard a lot about how marketing tools and tech are used ineffectively,; wasting time, effort, and a lot of money. And we learned that to get more value from it, marketers should:
- audit our tech stack to maximize utilization and minimize duplication
- be aware of our data streams and how to make them clean and transparent
Make sure your strategy plays out
Now, this came as no surprise to anyone at B2BMX, but we were reminded of the need to make every marketing dollar count. And while content is and always will be king, we should avoid wasting our investments in leads through poor nurture strategies. We need to think about:
- F.I.R.E. campaigns that are built on Fit, Intent, Engagement, and Recency
- building practical playbooks that follow the model of: strategic planning + stakeholder management + integrated reporting = driving more efficient growth and revenue.
At MOI, we have a responsibility to our people, clients, and prospects to innovate, ask the right questions, collaborate among our global functions and experts, share our unique POV, develop strong partnerships, and help our business partners scale effectively.
That’s why this quote from Bombora’s Jeff Marcoux made so much sense.
“Conversion and velocity matter, especially in the current economy. Where’s the friction in the buying journey and how do you address it? Incremental changes at the bottom of the funnel can drive massive impact. It’s better to work a smaller set of accounts over and over again than it is to work a wider market, especially in a tight economy. You don’t need to be Coke to the world. You don’t need to be Coke to your entire TAM. You just need to be Coke to a couple of companies.”
Why not share your thoughts on these, or if you were at B2BMX, your own key takeaways?
#B2BMX #B2BMarketingExchange #MarketingContent
