The Path to B2B Growth: Branded Demand

B2B marketers are dealing with multiple challenges today but two problems are topping the list: doing more with less and increasing pipeline targets. According to a recent survey by Pipeline360 and Demand Metric, 50% of B2B marketers in North America and the UK cite cuts to budgets, staff, and resources as their top challenge. The research also shows 53% of B2B digital marketers are falling short of their pipeline goals.

The shift to a digital-first environment has rendered traditional sales approaches obsolete. B2B buyers are armed with a wealth of information at their fingertips, leading to longer sales cycles and intensified competition for quality leads. According to Forrester, 80% of the B2B purchase process now occurs before a buyer even engages with a sales representative. Moreover, the complexity of purchasing decisions has escalated, with buying groups expanding to include an average of 10 or more decision makers. Getting your brand to stand out and developing a relationship with B2B buyers is hard and getting harder.

B2B marketers know they need to build both brand and demand today, but they have been forced into managing these as separate and distinct functions. In today’s world, B2B marketers need to shift their approach toward a “branded demand” strategy. This approach emphasizes the fusion of brand building and demand generation, focusing on establishing trust, aligning brand goals with customer needs, and using data and insights to engage buyers throughout their purchase process.

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Build Trust

At its heart, B2B marketing is about connecting with real people who have real problems that your product or service can solve. And building trust is key to nurturing enduring relationships beyond mere transactions. Given the digital-first world, the path to trust and an ongoing relationship requires providing valuable insights, information and content that help buyers do their jobs. At the same time, this is also the time when buyers are establishing their brand preferences. And while demand generation in the form of content-syndication clearly engages buyers, if brands are not also doing brand building however, the result can be an “un-branded” lead. The buyer remembers downloading valuable content but is not aware of your brand value proposition.

Build Brand and Demand

It’s time for digital marketers to break down the silos. No matter how you slice it, brand awareness and demand go hand-in-hand. Aligning brand awareness with demand generation ensures familiarity with the brand when Sales interacts with potential clients. Today, we must acknowledge the changing buyer journey dynamics and emphasize value over constant sales pressure. Shifting from aggressive sales tactics to a supportive approach equips Sales with resources to drive purchase decisions.

What does this look like in practice? Marketing develops compelling content and leverages that content through a combination of targeted display, leveraging ABM and Intent-Data, in combination with advanced content syndication to generate high-quality, branded leads. And when it’s time for Sales to engage with buyers, they can now build on the relationship by offering additional content and resources to support buying decisions, rather than pushing for meetings and demos.

This not only builds trust with potential clients, but also positions the brand as a thought leader in the industry. This allows Sales to have more meaningful conversations and tailor their approach to better meet the client’s specific needs. By working together in this way, Marketing and Sales can collaborate effectively to drive conversions and increase revenue for the company.

Measuring Success

Effective measurement is a cornerstone for B2B marketers, enabling insights to demonstrate ROI. Integrated measurement highlights the powerful impact of combined brand awareness and demand generation programs and sets the stage for lead nurturing or direct sales follow up.

The Path to B2B Growth

As the B2B landscape continues to evolve, marketers need to embrace a more integrated approach tailored to the realities of today’s buying committee and purchasing process. This requires a Branded-Demand approach that leverages the power of data and analytics resulting in programs that drive pipeline and revenue growth.

Also catch; Episode 187 of the SalesStar Podcast: Building End-to-end Digital Campaigns that Boost ROI: with Curtis Tingle, EVP and CMO at Vericast

 

 

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