The new imperative for B2B Marketing
By Rob Mitchell
B2B content and sales have not always been close companions. In sectors like technology and consulting, B2B content usually means thought leadership, and that refers to an activity that has been traditionally focused on the top of the funnel. The goals have been brand-building and reputation management, and there’s often been an aversion to bringing thought leadership too close to the sales coal face.
The limits of this approach are becoming clear. Marketing directors are under greater pressure than ever to demonstrate a commercial return for what they do. It’s not enough to show activity or emphasise difficult-to-prove brand benefits; instead, boards expect marketing to be an engine of growth. The KPIs are changing: whereas before it was about MQLs, downloads and social media metrics, now the success criteria are more hard-edged. The expectation is for revenues, cross-sells, pipeline velocity and renewals.
A new approach is needed
This requires a different approach to marketing, and to the campaigns that are produced. Too often, marketing and sales teams have operated with a degree of mutual suspicion. Sales leads complain that marketing campaigns are not aligned with the conversations they want to have, while marketing leaders say that sales teams do not do enough to make use of the assets they create. For marketing to play a more active role in commercial growth, this layer of suspicion needs to be removed. A more positive approach is needed, in which there are shared ambitions, end-to-end collaboration on campaign planning, and KPIs that both teams can get behind.
Marketing campaigns need to interlock with every stage of the sales process, rather than being seen as something that precedes this. Instead of just top-of-the-funnel thought leadership, companies need full-funnel campaigns. This requires a portfolio approach, with different pieces of content serving the needs of different stages of the sales cycle. Some may be geared towards demand creation, others to building consensus or overcoming objections, and others to closing deals. Marketing should work with sales to understand where the blockages are in the sales process, so that they can design elements of campaigns with appropriate messaging that addresses them.
The problem with silos
A common problem in B2B marketing is that content campaigns are planned and designed without input from sales. The finished product is “tossed over the wall” to the sales team, who unsurprisingly fail to make use of it because they have not been consulted and so don’t feel invested in the output. This can easily be fixed. By involving sales teams in the planning process, marketing teams can understand better what will work, while sales teams feel that they have input and can influence the final product. This makes it much more likely that they will use it as part of their sales conversations.
Just because a B2B content campaign is designed with sales in mind, that does not mean that it needs to be sales-y in tone, or just another version of a product sheet. By giving sales teams strong, research-driven content that is grounded in good ideas, they can have a more consultative conversation with their prospects, rather than just pushing product. Helping a potential buyer understand how they compare with their peers, for example, or how other companies have overcome a similar problem to the one they are facing, can be a powerful way of getting a sale to the next stage.
It’s changing fast
B2B content is changing. It’s no longer enough to focus on top-of-the-funnel. That just does not cut it in today’s highly competitive, uncertain business environment. Marketing leaders who understand where they can make an impact, and how they can partner with sales teams on content campaigns, will demonstrate their value more clearly. That does not mean that they should ignore thought leadership or brand activities. Instead, they should complement these with more sales oriented content that can clearly demonstrate how they enable growth.