Etai Beck, CEO at Folloze chats about a few proven practices that can enable better B2B buying experiences:

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat, Etai, tell us about yourself and more about Folloze…as a co-founder, how has the journey been growing the platform?

Hello and thank you for having me. I’m a co-founder and CEO of Folloze. Before I started Folloze, I was climbing the corporate ladder at Juniper Networks, and while I liked it, there was something missing. I had a desire to do something that could make a bigger impact, perhaps even change the world. A close circle of collaborators and I started looking at the challenges we experienced as B2B marketers, trying to deliver a good experience for buyers across a complex buying community and customer journey. We thought about how we could start a business that helped solve those challenges.

When a friend asked if we’d looked at hobby-sharing sites, a lightbulb came on  – the way hobbyists shared ideas and presented their content would also help business marketers. Being able to identify, curate, present and measure content in a way that’s meaningful for individual buyers and ideally, useful and shareable for someone else. We built the platform to help marketers create and scale personalized experiences that follow the buyer through their journey and allow them to share with others. “Folloze” was born.

Growing Folloze has been exciting – in particular, the innovations we’ve made in the last three years have been transformative. Three years ago we saw a substantial demand for brand-compliant digital design that was rich and flexible and recognized this as an opportunity to disrupt the current B2B engagement model. We set out to bring the ability to develop personalized digital experiences to every corner of the organization. It was thrilling to design a whole new experience that everyone in an organization can use to build, leverage and measure any asset they want and share it across their organization.

I’m not sure we’ve changed the world yet, but it’s incredibly exciting to know that we’re helping to solve some of the biggest challenges for marketers and I look forward to what’s ahead as we think about the challenges businesses have and how we can solve them.

What would you say are some of the critical challenges facing B2B marketers today?

B2B marketers face many critical challenges today – they are trying to garner buyer attention across many highly competitive channels. Marketers are trying to increase sales and cultivate new customer relationships with less budget. And they are working in a post-pandemic world where disruption is the norm, not the exception. The landscape, economy and buyer behavior are also changing dramatically and quickly; so marketers need to rise to the top of the noise, act quickly and stay consistent to instill confidence and build trust among buyers.

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How can B2B marketers create journeys/experiences that are more buyer centric, given today’s dynamics?

With the proliferation of digital marketing, buyers now research products and services across an average of 10 channels. In addition, more stakeholders are increasingly involved in the process who have different needs that need to be addressed. They need the right messaging, at the right time that addresses their challenges and helps them build trust in a brand and inspire action. With marketing functions that are highly distributed across the organization, the Folloze platform provides a way for all marketers to create rich personalized experiences at scale and measure it all on the backend.

As marketers prepare for volatility and talks of looming recessions, what do you feel can help them stay afloat or better still, succeed despite it?

In lean times, relationships are everything. It’s important for companies to provide more value and build trust. At the same time, it’s important to focus marketing and sales on opportunities with the highest potential for valuable, long-term commitments. Don’t get me wrong, winning new logos is important, but it’s even more important to maximize the relationships you already have with your customers.

We’re also seeing more marketing organizations leveraging ABM best practices and data across their demand generation efforts. This helps them to focus opportunities and marketing efforts for better personalization and buyer group targeting that builds trust by providing relevant value. Using a tool like Folloze to deliver rich experiences at scale and get comprehensive behavioral insights, maximizes return on content and informs ongoing strategy.

At the end of the day, growth doesn’t have to slow down even if the economy does. As we face economic uncertainty, marketers are expected to drive company’s growth without expanded budgets as buyers become more risk averse. From acquisition and acceleration, to doubling down on customer retention and expansion, marketing teams have the power to innovate and engage buyers through new channels and digital programs with Folloze. With the right tools, doing “less” can yield more results – sales and marketing are aligned, interactions are purposeful and buyer confidence is increased.

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What are the five things in marketing that you feel marketers don’t do enough of today?

When we developed the Folloze Buyer Experience Platform 3.0, we looked at underutilized marketing strategies and approaches. We then worked to create a platform that would encourage those aspects to be leveraged with rich, flexible tools.

• Simplicity – Keeping marketing simple, consistent and clear is key to keep buyers’ interest and build trust.
• Personalization – Buyer centricity requires B2B marketing that is as tailored and personalized as consumer marketing.
• Consistency – A consistent, reliable message across every platform builds recognition, interest and trust.
• Integration – The entire company must be in lock-step to provide a coordinated, comprehensive experience for buyers.
• Comprehensive – To be truly effective, marketing must focus on the entire customer lifecycle.

The Folloze Buyer Experience Platform 3.0 is the easiest and most powerful buyer experience solution – simplifying martech stacks to bring a personalized, consistent experience to the entire organization throughout the product lifecycle – helping marketers better leverage and utilize successful marketing strategies and techniques.

Some last thoughts, on making the most of your martech to drive marketing in 2022…

It is crucial that marketers meet buyers where they are. In the last two years, we’ve seen disruption become the norm. Effectively responding to the unexpected requires sales and marketing to always be in lock-step; working as an integrated, seamless team no matter the situation. This year and beyond, it will be incredibly important for marketers to take a step back, and create a consistent, yet comprehensive and personalized approach that allows them and stakeholders across the organization to drive results. We are even more so excited to see what customers will do in 2022 with the easiest and most powerful buyer experience platform.