B2B marketing has emerged to as a specialty that is treated as distinctly different from B2C marketing.  This is based on the premise that B2C marketing is characterized by consumer goods like food products and services (restaurants).  Marketing for Subway as a smart alternative to MacDonald’s is vastly different than marketing cloud solutions to IT buyers. No duh!

The purchase process for consumer electronics (laptops, tablets, and smartphones) in addition to high value items like automobiles is, however, very similar to the IT purchase process.  Consider the following factors:

1.     Length of the Purchase Process – The time invested in making a decision to buy a new car or laptop is often measured in months.  This is the case unless consumers are forced into making a quick decision, (the transmission has fallen out of your old car or your laptop was stolen).  The average purchase cycle reported for IT decisions has dropped dramatically in the past couple of years…to around 6 months. 

2.     Average Deal Size - Investment of hundreds or thousands of dollars makes consumers consider the purchase carefully before making a decision. 

3.     Number of Decision Makers – Few IT buyers makes a purchase decision without consulting business users. Like it or not, your spouse (or even your kids) may have significant influence on your next car or laptop.  No self-respecting teen will support mom’s temptation to purchase another mini-van.

4.     Higher Risk Decision – The purchase process for b2b and high tech consumer goods is longer because it is a higher risk decision.  It the b2b IT decision maker makes a poor choice, it reflects poorly on him/her.  Business users may point fingers.  This is not so different than choosing what car to drive for the next 48 months.  Who wants to listen to their spouse complain for 48 straight months.  Who wants to live with a laptop that doesn’t meet your needs?

5.     Role of Content Marketing is paramount in higher risk decisions.  Shoppers will seek information from multiple sources to support their decision process.  They will seek out expert commentary, independent comparisons, specifications, and pricing. 

I spent nearly ten years in marketing at Nissan North America.  We analyzed the purchase cycle for our products and those of our competitor’s.  We had a plethora of syndicated data to analyze and learn from.  We designed marketing campaigns to strategically “plug the leaks” in our purchase funnel.  I applied the same principles in high-tech B2B marketing.  Google analytics, CRM tools like Salesforce.com, and marketing automation tools give B2B users similar data.  In a recent Pardot survey, many B2B marketers claim the lack of time and resources make tracking marketing performance difficult.  The good news: 80% of B2B marketers claim that they will invest more time and resources in marketing metrics in 2012.  

Data suggests that over 70% of the buyer’s purchase process is completed before a sales person is every contacted. The buyer is in the drivers’ seat of the shopping process as they research their problem and possible solutions. They develop a short-list of solutions, open questions and price ranges before they ever contact sales.

This new process gives sales a limited influence on the buyer’s decision and raises the bar for your marketing team.  Providing prospects with the information they need to get your product or solution on their short lists is just as important as the features of your product or solution.

Since the buyer controls the process, marketing must:

1.   Listen to the buyer in order to learn about:

a.  Pain points which are urging the prospect to seek solutions

b.  Purchase process that prospects are likely to take

2.  Support the purchase process with educational content.

3.  Make the process simple by pointing prospects to the next step.

Buyers sit squarely in the drivers seat of the purchase process - with steering wheel in-hand and a foot on a pedal (brake OR accelerator).  They are busy and driven to distraction by information overload. What is a B2B marketer to do?  Four simple ways to improve the performance of your content marketing:

1.   Remember that B2B prospects are people too.  Your content needs to catch their attention; even entertain them.  Surprise them with a little humor, creativity, or something unexpected:
  a.   If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then consider an infographic or short-video clip instead of a traditional 14-page whitepaper. 

  b.   A little humor has the potential to increase the share-ability of your content.  I forwarded Eloqua’s Juan Eloqua series to many of my marketing peers. 

2.   Repurpose your content into different mediums and smaller “bites”.  For example, take sections of a webcast and publish them as short podcasts.  Prospects may not have an hour to invest in a webinar but they may give you 15 minutes for a podcast.

4.   Identify the next step for your prospects.  Don’t close the door on future engagement.  In other words, make sure to point your prospects to other marketing content, groups, and sources of information as they educate themselves.

Content marketing has evolved as a critical component to support the B2B purchase cycle. B2B marketing, in contrast to B2C marketing is characterized by:
1.   Longer purchase cycles than B2C
2.   Requiring more content to support the decision  - as making a purchase decision for a business is riskier for those involved.  Making the wrong choice can cost an organization in many different ways.  A poor decision could cost a decision maker his/her job.
3.   Multiple people who influence the purchase decision

Content Marketing became increasingly critical as organizations implemented Marketing Automation Tools such as Eloqua, Marketo, and Pardot in the past decade.   The success of these tools is dependent on leveraging a library of marketing content.  Operating under the old mantra “Content is King” marketers published webinars, podcasts, white papers, case studies and comparison guides.    
The purchase process of B2B prospects is changing dramatically:

1.   Recent research by TechTarget shows that the IT B2B sales cycle has shrunk significantly in the past year.
Implication: 
·   It is imperative to deliver marketing content to support a compressed purchase cycle. 
2.   Usage of mobile devices as tools to research and to stay connected via social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) has exploded.  Prospects are more connected and dependent on their social media groups. 
Implications:
·   Content needs to be available in smaller bites and optimized for smaller screens.
·   Content Strategy needs to be designed to engage prospects - not just educate them.  
3.   Prospects are deluged with marketing content and are increasingly:
·   Adept at tuning out marketing messaging.
·   Seeking unbiased content shared by peers or influencers (via Twitter, LinkedIn Groups, Blogs)
·   Making purchase decisions based upon what others are saying  (versus outbound marketing messaging).
Implications: 
·   Existing customers are your best sales people.  Exceeding their expectations goes a long way in earning their support.
·   Marketing Content must be worthy of sharing.
·   Products/solutions must meet customer expectations - because more than ever before, they will be evaluated and judged in open forums.  


The race is on.  B2B marketers must evolve their Content Marketing Strategy to compete.   

I was struck by a discussion on the difference between Lead Generation and Demand Generation -  "Lead Generation is Crippling Demand Generation"  The two terms are often used interchangeably - but they are absolutely different.  I had this discussion just yesterday with a marketing leader.  

Before you build a launch plan, recommend specific marketing content and campaigns, you need to know what the organizations objectives are?  How will the ROI of this investment in marketing be measured?  Additionally, where is the marketing funnel working, and where are the "leaks", where your prospects are opting-out of the purchase process?

Lead Generation is characterized by offering up relevant content to prospects.  If a prospect fills out a form to download your white paper, case study, comparison guide, or archived webinar...they are characterized as a "lead".  There are all sorts of leads, however, in different stages of the purchase process.  The quality of the lead can be measured by the rate at which they convert to sales readiness.  A lead is not simply a job title at a specific type of business.  A lead is a hand-raiser - a prospect who has a problem that you can help them solve.  The quality of the content, how well the title and summary engage a prospect (who has a problem your solution can solve) is imperative.  

Demand Generation requires more broad distribution of content and messaging.  All of your content cannot be gated behind a registration form.  Building awareness with potential buyers (early in the purchase process) is important.  Snippets of your content and messaging must be integrated across your website and social media conversations.  Ensuring that your organization builds a reputation for leadership in your space will get you on the "shopping list" when prospects are ready to actively shop.  

Development of a comprehensive Content Marketing Strategy integrates content across both Demand Generation and Lead Generation.   Executing on both will accelerate the ROI of your marketing exponentially.  

I have been designing an awesome info graphic that shows how marketing has changed over the past decades.  Fortunately, I found this "History of Marketing" info graphic which does a great job of telling the story.  This saved me at least a week of work!

The Bad News:  Marketing is much more complicated as the number of ways to engage customers has ballooned.  Talking at your customers is no longer effective.  They are adept at tuning out unwanted messaging.  

The Really Good News: Your ability to engage with customers is no longer a function the size of your wallet.  Inbound marketing (attracting the shoppers to you) utilizing a solid Inbound Marketing Plan utilizing SEO and Content Marketing delivers leads to your sales team.  

The Best News
Inbound marketing can be integrated across all outbound marketing campaigns (email, content syndication, events) to maximize impact of your marketing spend.  

I admit it…I watch the Super Bowl for the ads – not the football.  You know people like me; I get quiet during the advertising breaks.  I enjoy evaluating each $3.5 million ad and distract the real football fans in the room.   Super Bowl is likely the only event that audiences remain glued to their televisions to watch the ads.  Viewers use TiVo or a DVR to skip advertisements the other 364 days a year. 

I, as a marketer, have been asked by sales, “Why can’t we run Super Bowl Commercials too?” Next time they ask, I will pull out this handy list of 25 Things You Could do with a Super Bowl Ad Budget.   While $3.5m may get your product on the shopping list, there is much more work to be done to close a sale.

The shopping experience has changed fundamentally – especially for long purchase cycle consumer goods (consumer electronics, cars, etc) and B2B solutions.  We live in world in which we are deluged by marketing noise.  Prospects have adapted by tuning us out.  They skip our ads (except on Super Bowl Sunday), toss direct mail, ignore our banners, and snicker when the see our emails languishing in their junk email folders.  Our world is a nightmare for the “Mad Men” marketers of the past. 

Prospects will actively engage when they are ready to make a purchase decision. Investments in branding advertising can help you make their short list. According the recent research, the B2B IT purchase cycle has shrunk significantly.  This is one of the reasons content marketing becomes a critical investment.  Prospects want information quickly.  Marketing content includes white papers, case studies, comparison guides, video demonstrations, webcasts, and podcasts.  Prospects may visit your website.  They are more likely to seek unbiased reviews from blogs, industry experts, twitter and other social media venues.

Integrating your content marketing with messaging, positioning, and calls-to-action across multiple sources allows you to leverage the web to its potential.  Inbound marketing, where your SEO optimized marketing content draws prospects to you is evolving to be one of the most cost-effective ways to generate qualified leads. 

One Super Bowl Ad is not likely to sell a car; but it can get the car on the shopping list.  Once it is on the shopping list, savvy marketers need to have marketing content ready to help the prospect make the purchase decision.