B2B marketing predictions for 2023 and beyond.
Digital self-service will dominate the B2B buyer journey.
The buying committee is bigger and more diverse. There are more roles involved, which means many responsibilities and preferences (for example, the CFO wants marketing to be cost-effective). According to a Forrester Consulting and Outreach survey, 75% said there are more people in the decision-making process.
Buyers will do their own research (visiting a website or attending a webinar) before accepting a meeting with a salesperson.
As people involved in the buying cycle expanded, so too did the time. That same Forrester survey found that 75% said the average buying cycle has increased in the last 24 months.
Millennials and Gen Z make up the majority of B2B buying committees (65% of buyers are between the ages of 18 and 40, according to a recent American Marketing Association survey).
Marketers will own the full customer life cycle and widen their use of B2B tactics.
This holistic approach will provide marketers customer insights to use in new business campaigns, resulting in better engagement and conversation rates.
Marketers must focus on retention plus upsell and expansion on loyalty and on advocacy:
This holistic approach will provide marketers customer insights to use in new business campaigns, resulting in better engagement and conversation rates.
“Strong customer experience programs will center on brand, company values, and talent,” Voss said. You need strong collaboration between the CMO and chief experience officer.
A purposeful brand, meaningful company values, and attention to talent can help foster deeper connections with your customers.
Purposeful branding is important in building trust with Gen Z and millennial buyers, and some will even pay more for purchases from purpose-driven companies.
Personalized, targeted content will be imperative.
Marketers should embrace B2C tactics for customer experience (CX):
54% of US and UK B2B marketers expect to spend more on content creation and strategy in 2023, according to Integrate and Demand Metric.
54% also said they will spend more on customer marketing.
“For years, B2B marketers said they would start with the customer, and they would base their new business messaging on the needs of current customers. But now they really have to budget and focus on the customer to achieve business success,” Voss said about the need for CX investment.
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