Editor's Picks for ANA Magazine's B2B Department

B2B brands continue to struggle getting the most out of their marketing technology stack. The problem ranges from a lack of training among sales and marketing teams to the integration of all of their disparate software programs. But that's starting to change, as companies put more strategies in place based on collaboration.

Bombarded by marketing content for nearly the past two years, B2B buyers are feeling burned out and are dramatically reducing their content intake. But that doesn’t mean brand managers can let up when it comes to developing their messaging efforts. To the contrary, CMOs and marketers have to stir their creative juices to develop the kinds of campaigns that have a touch of fun and, perhaps more important, treat their customers like humans.

Marketplace and industry factors are forcing marketers to adopt new metrics for measuring email engagement, and they’re taking a close look at the value (and content) they’re providing to customers and prospects while they’re at it.

While search still commands the biggest portion of the budgeting pie, display advertising is poised to pull even with search in 2022 and overtake it in 2023. As digital spending continues to shift, B2B companies are looking to optimize all their various online ad formats and drive better outcomes.

B2B marketers were betting that the economic impact of the pandemic would be short-lived. It hasn't turned out that way, and now they're facing major budget cuts. With fewer dollars to demonstrate returns, marketers are turning to pure-play channels — encompassing paid, earned, and owned media — and moving more of their work in-house. Lead-gen programs are also taking precedence over branding efforts.

A recent survey shows that the right hand seldom knows what the left hand is doing when it comes to melding virtual and in-person B2B events.

Against the backdrop of seismic changes in customer behavior, B2B companies are taking major steps to optimize their marketing assets and cultivate more collaboration among disparate teams who share the same goals.

The pandemic has forced many B2B marketers to reevaluate their overall content marketing strategy, what with buyers’ needs changing at a rapid clip. Amid the last gasps of ‘spray and pray,’ B2B companies seem to be finally moving toward developing more personalized messaging that seeks to solve customers’ problems rather than just provide them with information.

Amid a growing reliance on data, taking a gut check still holds a good deal of value for B2B marketers readying a new advertising or marketing campaign. It’s not a zero-sum game, of course. But as they get better at scrubbing their data and making sure it’s up to date, marketers will have an easier time striking an amicable balance between the data and human intuition.

Patti Cocciolo, senior director of global brand marketing at Cisco, says starting the company’s in-house agency, The Hatch, took a “leap of faith.” But the move has proved beneficial for the tech giant’s marketing efforts. The in-house team brings an institutional knowledge of the company to the table while relations with outside agencies are a lot closer and more productive.

At the height of the pandemic, B2B marketers placed a much bigger emphasis on supporting existing relationships and cultivating lifetime value. As things start to ease up and acquisition-level marketing commands more budget, it’s crucial that marketers not lose the momentum they built up over the past year with their long-term customers.

A new report explores the “consumption gap,” or the time between when content is requested and the moment it’s opened for consumption, and how this varies according to job title. As B2B buyers become even more elusive, it’s incumbent upon marketers to distribute their content more strategically and strengthen their measurement efforts.

Marketers stress that outbound calls should cater to specific accounts, personas, and/or industries, and they should be integrated within the cadence of email campaigns so that every call is highly relevant. “Spray and pray” has run its course.

The pandemic has put pressure on B2B marketers to craft a better customer experience and build more multichannel programming. Experts suggest that the right place to start is with existing customers.

B2B marketers have made little progress in tackling some chronic problems (read: sales-and-marketing alignment) and cultivating digital revenue streams. Could the increase in digital adoption caused by the pandemic help clear some of the logjams and spur an online-first strategy once and for all?

B2B CMOs are much more hopeful about the post-COVID economy than their CEOs, says a recent survey. Cockeyed optimism? More like a sense that the pandemic presents marketers with an opportunity to demonstrate their value to the C-suite and drive better business results.

With lower-than-average CPMs, B2B companies are turning to digital advertising to combat the decline in their traditional marketing channels. This reallocation doesn’t equate dollar for dollar, but there has been enough of a budget shift to drive substantial growth via paid digital channels.

Across the country, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are suffering from closures, restrictions, and changes brought about by the novel coronavirus, and many are scrambling to do what they can to stay in business. To help, a number of B2B brands, including Deluxe, Vistaprint, American Express, and The UPS Store, are developing tools, grants, and resources for SMBs.

While the impact from the crisis has varied, most B2B sectors are scrambling for effective ways to boost their marketing efforts to retain customers and find new ones.

In a post-COVID world, digital interactions with customers and prospects will rise dramatically, and e-commerce transactions for expensive B2B purchases — long the domain of in-person sales — will become much more common.