MARKET VIEW 23
Vala Marcou
MARKETING DIRECTOR
B2B Customer Acquisition: The role of human engagement in a world of digital-first enterprise marketing
Buyers don't want to be sold to. It's more about building those relationships, those networks, and establishing trust.
Is in-person engagement becoming more important for B2B sales?
The fact is that sellers are much more interested in face-to-face contact than buyers are. We have found that CTOs, CIOs, and IT professionals don't want to speak with salespeople and marketers.
Having said that, there has been a renewed interest in human interactions. After the pandemic, everyone is really eager to meet with each other, but this will not last long. Buyers don't want to be sold to. It's more about building those relationships, those networks, and establishing trust. There will be a balance between offering virtual engagement in the early part of the sale and then introducing human interaction to close the sale once there is a demand.
Word of mouth is crucial, and the key is bringing those mouths together so prospects don't hear about the benefits of your products and services from you, but they hear it from each other. It pays to have partner links with other strong brands to bring people to the table. For example, partnering with Gartner or McKinsey for a research report lends credibility. Organising a social event can also be very successful if it helps strengthen those relationships but also if it results in positive social media feedback from your customers or guests.
In B2B, word of mouth is the most respected reference source, and marketing can provide case studies to echo that process.
How should marketing and sales work together in practice?
It is vital that marketing and sales work closely together, making prospects aware that you exist and of your value add for them. The relationship with marketing is most important at the early stages, identifying the audience and building the messages or content to create awareness, interest, and opportunity. At later stages, there will be direct sales contact with the prospect. In between, it is about keeping the brand top of mind and focusing on the relationship, not the sale.
People want to do business with people they trust. The sales team has the high-level skill to open the door, and then it's the entire company that needs to support them to offer the expertise and create trust. Marketers can help sales build trust by accelerating buyers' understanding of the challenge or a solution, demonstrating market and industry expertise, and arguably, increasingly taking on the role of the thought leader. Marketing can support this with round tables and market reports. In B2B, word of mouth is the most respected reference source, and marketing can provide case studies to echo that process.
Marketing strategies should help buyers build their own social capital by providing joint content opportunities, such as customer testimonials, success stories, articles, press releases, and industry awards, for them to share.
How do you market to a digital generation that ignores ads and focuses on entertainment?
By thinking outside the box and being creative about how you promote your business. However, there’s a fine line between getting noticed and missing the point. You might entertain them, but they didn't get the message, and that's no good. By the same token, it’s important to adopt your communication and meet them where they are.
Millennials for example, share more content and spend more time on LinkedIn than the previous generation. So marketing strategies should help buyers build their own social capital by providing joint content opportunities, such as customer testimonials, success stories, articles, press releases, and industry awards, for them to share.
Once you can capture and analyse target audiences’ behaviours, you can then start segmenting your database and develop different strategies to deliver experiences and nurturing programmes tailored to each segment.
VALA MARCOU
Marketing Director
MAKEPOSITIVE (PART OF SABIO GROUP)
How should companies capture and analyse prospect behaviours?
Connecting your customer relationship management (CRM) tool with the systems and applications that support the different touch points of the prospect or customer with the business is key. This will allow you to have visibility to your prospects’ and customers’ interactions across your business in a centralised manner.
You can also integrate with external sources to acquire additional information. For example, we recently started using a Tech Target service that provides insight relating to their subscribers in our sector, what they are reading, and the information they are providing, enriched with third-party data sources. They bring to our attention companies and individuals that behave in a certain way, search certain keywords or read specific articles.
Once you can capture and analyse target audiences’ behaviours, you can then start segmenting your database and develop different strategies to deliver experiences and nurturing programmes tailored to each segment. It will also allow you to uncover opportunities that might have gone unnoticed.
Share this page
Get in touch
Share this page
+44 (0)1273 102811
info@techpros.io
Get in touch
Share this page
+44 (0)1273 256495
info@techpros.io
